Jmccaffrey

I found him on the Freedom yesterday, he said he is going to the Odyssey as soon as she sails!

I bet the chair hogs that reserved one at 6am were kicking themselves in the butt later about that mistake! 

As far as the casitas go, there are so few and people snag them so early and then hang onto them all day anyway, so I'd never be able get one to begin with (a la 'chair hog mode').  The casita hogs might as well pay for the privilege of shade. ?

Saw his FB post.
As someone who is trying to support the cruise industry by sailing multiple lines I am seeing first hand the different companies handling the situation they have all been thrust into. 
I do like that Royal Caribbean and Michael Bayley has been pretty open, transparent and what seems to be honest during the restart.  

I bought the Key for our Symphony of the Seas sailing in October and I actually called the support line for purchased packages. 
 
I was put on hold for a bit until I finally got the answer to these following questions:
 
1: What happens to the Key lunch when boarding times can be later than 1:30pm at the Earliest?
2: The key gives the benefit of priority embarkation, is this still available? 
 
3: The key gives the benefit of “reserved” (for lack of a better term) spots at entertainment. 
 
The answers I received were that #2 & 3 are dead. You have to book those by availability because of covid. 
 
However for #1 they said they were extending the Key lunch past 1:30 and it’ll be in a specially sanctioned spot of the main dining room. 

I brought the Key a few months ago for Oct 10 Cruise. I was able to get a check-in time at 12:00-12:30pm (this time maybe set for key or maybe not) But in any case, the wifi and the lunch using Chops grille .... These 2 items pays for it even if some of the other parts of the program is not in play.

Guess I have to wait and see

My wife still uses an aol.com email address. She had no issues.

Err...whaaa?
Since when is yahoo not a real domain?

Like closing the barn door after most of the horses have already disappeared. But I still think it's a long-overdue and necessary step.

I think the facts are very simple.  However they made their reservations, it was their responsibility to know what the boarding requirements were, especially in the current situation.  The fact is they thought they knew, but they were wrong.  It doesn't necessarily mean they are bad or stupid people.  It is the same reason that you didn't check your pocket for the tickets that you left at home.  You didn't check because you KNEW they were in your pocket, however you were wrong.  If you had not been sure they were in your pocket, you would have checked. 
 
The real issues is that this shouldn't be news, and in no way should RCCL be blamed.  However, if they sought out the press to publicize their mistake and/or tried to blame RCCL, then I think it is possible to infer things about their personality based on that.

I'm sure you said this a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I don't see your statement as judgmental at all.
When people don't follow the rules, especially examples like abusing the unlimited use cup you mentioned, eventually it takes good things away from those that do. I say "usually" because exceptions do occur. An intersection near my house used to be "no U-turn," but, so many people made the illegal U-turn anyway, they removed the restriction.  Now that intersection has increased accidents (and near misses) because it is an unsafe place to make a U-turn, basically due to poor lines-of-sight in the necessary directions. Even on a good day, I would argue this has taken something away from those of us that do follow the rules at that intersection - the ability to make safe right-turns on red, etc.
I think, in the case of this person showing up for a vaccine only cruise, that they deliberately ignored the rules and tried to play dumb. Is that judgmental? Perhaps. But I have checked in for my October cruise online, and everything is well spelled out - online, in the app, etc. I know I need a Covid test within a few days of the cruise and my wife and I are making plans for this. I know, since it sails out of Florida, to pay attention to the vaccine requirements and the methods of reporting our status, etc. I'm not sure how anyone can say anything has changed or not been communicated. Perhaps I am wrong, though.
We can argue all day about the efficacy of the vaccine, the intrusiveness of wearing the masks, whether we should be required to wear shoes while walking around the ship, people pushing into the buffet line, why we cannot sunbathe nude on our private balcony (there's a great Love Boat episode starring Barbi Benton), and a great many other issues. We can work to change the rules, especially if they are unjust (intentionally or unintentionally - like the U-Turn intersection). But, in a civilized society, we should all agree to follow the rules.
Just my thought for the day... Maybe I should get a cup of coffee ☕ before posting. ?

Of course, I agree.
But it's not like hundreds of people are showing up to the cruise terminal each week for their sailing and denied boarding because they were unaware of the rules.
This particular family is an example of simple ignorance. They're like the Griswolds driving the Wally World without checking if the park is open before leaving.

I have no sympathy.  I’m not even considering an Alaska cruise and I knew the policy for sailings out of Seattle.  Each of us has a responsibility to find out what travel documents are needed anytime we travel.  If you choose not to take the time, it’s on you.

Totally off topic, but several years ago I saw a woman at a quick service restaurant at a Disney Resort who had several kids with her and one refillable mug.  She scanned the mug then proceeded to fill up an empty bread bag with pop from the soda machine and then headed off to their room. It takes all kinds...

People like this are why coffee cups say "Contents may be hot"

Super-duper official now with an event on the main page!

I'm on the 27th sailing and it's posted everywhere.
I have an awesome TA Kelley thru MEI who has updated me but so has Royal.
Even having a TA Royal has sent me updated emails abut the changes, they are just not as fast as Kelley.
No excuse. 

This is a classic case of ignorance, which is not an excuse.
Shame on media on reporting on this as if these people are some kind of martyrs. 

My issue with this, beside the obvious as stated in the comments above, is the news media practically salivating over these stories….’left to fend for themselves’…what, were they abandoned in a forest filled with wolves? …’trip of a lifetime’…isn’t that what they always say? …’fixed incomes. And they FRANKLY can’t afford to stay the night in Seattle and then fly home early to Illinois’ …what are they, penniless and laying in the gutter? …’They will work to be made whole by Royal Caribbean’…yeah, make sure you keep pushing the victimization narrative. It’s such a shame that agenda-driven so-called journalists can’t even google information and report the facts. Whatever happened to fair and balanced…or even just reasonable common sense? Nope. Gotta get eyeballs on the story.

Totally agree, and I would not recommend a flight that early.

Ovation was scheduled to leave from Seattle for over two years now.  I don't think they cancelled all cruises that were booked before the pandemic and created new cruises like they did for Serenade that was supposed to sail from Vancouver but moved to Seattle with ATRA.   
However I think most of us can read between the lines and know how this likely went down.  The dunce force is strong with some anti-vaxxers.  

They claim that they were never told of the “changes” but Alaska cruises have always been vaccinated only since the very beginning. The only change was getting a negative test, right?
So they checked online into the cruise, all without noticing that it was a vaccinated only cruise?
I have a feeling that they are also the kind of people that I would run into at windjammer trying to use a water cup to get soda out of the freestyle machine.?‍♂️
 

Sometimes the "play dumb and ask for forgiveness later" route doesn't work.
 
That whole story is one big red flag.  Their TA didn't know about the vaccine requirement? They just spent a few thousand on a cruise, but can't afford a flight home? (even though they presumably had their post-cruise flight home booked that they could just change?)

I wonder how long they spent on an executive conference call determining to use 99.98%?
Executive #1: "Let's say 99% of the crew are vaccinated"
Executive #2 "That sounds terrible, we said 100% of crew would be vaccinated"
Executive #3: "Then say 99.99%"
Executive #4: "We can't say 99.99%, that's 10% of a person who isn't, or something like that"
Executive #5: "Then use 99.95%"
Senior Executive: "We'll use use 99.98%.  That will confuse everyone in the media so they won't know what to report"