Biff215

Happy for Royal and the successful Freedom test, but now begins the waiting game for those of us on Adventure July 3. Speculation is that it will be our itinerary that gets changed to avoid two ships at CocoCay on July 4th when Michael Bayley has promised fireworks. Just lousy when we’re ten days out and booked since March, let alone any private excursions that can’t be altered. Royal seems to have quickly forgotten about Adventure. I get it, all the real money is in US sailings, it’s just disappointing after we chose to support them by flying out to Nassau. 

Just saw this but can’t find anything else about it. Confirmed myself that Edge is red on the CDC site and they were testing the crew recently. Hope it’s temporary or a mistake!
 

I doubt it makes a difference either way. The taxi will pull up to the hotel and the porters are right there to take your bag.
At 50% capacity your bags will come quickly.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

It was briefly offered back in late March right after we booked Adventure. They must have pulled it shortly thereafter, possibly once they set capacity. I can’t imagine it being worth it at 50% capacity or less.
I’d expect capacity to increase rather quickly if things go well and the demand is there. Royal may not publicize this though so you’ll have to base it off of firsthand reports. 

I would not cancel a March 2022 cruise based on what's going on now.  If current reporting is to be believed most Caribbean Islands are ramping up their vaccine roll outs.  The islands with the highest vaccination rate at 60% of the population in the Caribbean are the Cayman Islands but they have banned cruise ship until 2022. The next three islands are Anguilla at 40% then Turks and Caicos at 31%, and finally British Virgin Islands at 26%.  All other islands including the Bahamas and Jamaica are below 24%.  While over in Mexico and Central America, Mexico leads with just 15% of their population being vaccinated. However all of these cruise destinations with-in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America are ramping up their roll out as more vaccine becomes available so we should see much higher vaccination rate come of March 2022. 
I wouldn't cancel the cruise right now, instead I would suggest you wait until final payment is due and if it looks like cruise lines are still performing COVID testing during the voyage as that date nears then you make your decision. Don't make a decision based on what you are seeing right now because things will get better as time goes on.

March is a LONG ways away.  I certainly wouldn't make any decisions for March based on what's going on now.

Unless something drastically changes, here is the outlook.
The people that tested positive were isolated and treated. Not left to rot, like in 2020. People with close contact got isolated, tested, and most importantly...released after testing negative Everyone else went on with the cruise. The next sailing (and Adventure) are going as scheduled Glad to see things handled well.

I mentioned this in the roll call thread, but most of us that booked Adventure cruises back in March or April were under the understanding we'd have to get PCR tests 5 days before the cruise because The Bahamas required it.
Then The Bahamas dropped the requirement for vaccinated people.
So it's not completely out of left field.  However, if you're booked on the 19th, there's definitely a bit more scrambling to contend with.

Exactly, we’ll likely see more testing as a result of this. Can’t be a coincidence that this happened today along with the decision to test everyone before boarding Adventure.
Testing before someone travels doesn’t account for the airport, plane, and any pre-cruise stays. Rapid tests aren’t perfect either but it’s the best they can do at check-in.
Either way, the protocols are working even if the media coverage will focus on the negative. Go test every guest at Disney today and see how many positive tests you get!

I did watch it even recorded the episode for wife to see when she come home.  Yes the headline,2 second coming later said "Chaos" but when Gio Benitez filed his report he was talking about how this was how it was supposed to work, they were immediately isolated, they did say that medical experts say breakthrough cases are extremely rare but they do happen.
This was followed up by an interview with GMA's medical expert who said that this is why it is so important that everyone be vaccinated, which surprised me.
For me this just reiterates why all cruises should be only for those fully vaccinated if eligible, there are going to be cases and when the un-vaccinated contract it it will be worse for all involved

We like GMA but they are always overly dramatic, particularly at the top of the show. Gotta convince people to keep watching I guess. 

In theory based on that, if you go to the Bahamas for a week before your cruise, you could be 12 days past your test when  you board. 

I'm going 2 days prior, and I sure don't want to get to the terminal and get denied boarding because they *meant* 5 days before the cruise, not 5 days before arriving in the Bahamas.

Excellent article about it by a TPG writer who is on board here: https://thepointsguy.com/news/celebrity-millennium-cruise-ship-covid/

Exactly, we’ll likely see more testing as a result of this. Can’t be a coincidence that this happened today along with the decision to test everyone before boarding Adventure.
Testing before someone travels doesn’t account for the airport, plane, and any pre-cruise stays. Rapid tests aren’t perfect either but it’s the best they can do at check-in.
Either way, the protocols are working even if the media coverage will focus on the negative. Go test every guest at Disney today and see how many positive tests you get!

Ths is the most riduculous statement ever made. People can be asymptomatic and spread the virus. COVID-19 infections are common in people of all ages, including children who can be asymptomatic  and spread it.  The cruise line protocols are working perfectly to detect it and isolate them in order to stop the spread and not bring cruising to another halt. 

We thought the same thing and also booked a taxi tour. Seems they run around $50-70/hour for four people so it’s not too bad when Royal is charging $20/person for transfers alone. Depending on what time we actually get off the ship, we’re just going to do some sightseeing for 2-3 hours and then straight to the airport.

We thought the same thing and also booked a taxi tour. Seems they run around $50-70/hour for four people so it’s not too bad when Royal is charging $20/person for transfers alone. Depending on what time we actually get off the ship, we’re just going to do some sightseeing for 2-3 hours and then straight to the airport.

Cruise Mapper has been wrong for a while, they probably haven’t been able to catch up with all of the cancellations and changes. 

Points taken and I don’t want to turn this into a debate over vaccines and safety, I’m just sharing my initial thoughts upon finding this out. My kids have both been back to school full time for months, so although my primary concern as a parent is protecting them, I’m also well aware of the actual risk. We’re comfortable vacationing right now but have made choices knowing that our 8 year old will be unvaccinated.
To be perfectly honest, I was also (selfishly) hoping that we’d have the island all to ourselves!
As I said above, I’m more surprised than anything that Royal made this choice even though there appears to be other options. There’s a lot riding on that first U.S. cruise and you would think they’d want to work out any kinks first. Not my call though so we’ll just enjoy ourselves, can’t really beat two straight days at Coco Cay!

The Bahamas is more than prepared to handle 2 ships in port at once. They already can handle 5 ships, so 2 limited capacity ones will be a snap.
 
Actually it's the disembarkation of the prior AOS cruise that'll probably cause more headaches with the Freedom guests than the staggered boarding process for the next cruise.

A quick scan it looks like both ships will be in Coco Cay on July 4th, with Adventure doing an overnight and Freedom on a 10 hour stop.
With reduced capacity sailings and Coco able to handle two ships, the island is probably still at a reduced capacity... Or they flip flop Bahamas like you said since they'll (Nassau) have one ship embarking passengers and another coming to visit.
It is curious how they are scheduled to leave Nassau at the same time.

Thanks to Michelle at MEI, we’re staying in one of the “weird” rooms on Adventure next month. Deck 10 aft in the corner has the larger room and balcony similar to a junior suite but without the extra cost. Can’t wait!
 

That's #funnynotfunny, because mine has the same $600 savings banner at the $699 price.  The day pass is at $83.99 but just has pre-cruise deal banner.  I was able to snag it on Black Friday for $43.99.

Yep, talk about misleading, look at this current price on a water park cabana and its banner for Adventure in July!