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The journey toward a new Royal Caribbean Cruise Terminal 10 is in a sprint to the finish. I've updated my original post with information on the new terminal. I'll continue to update this as we approach Allure's arrival in November. We'll be on the inaugural cruise from Galveston and will add updates based on our experience on that first cruise.

Here are a couple slides presented to the Port of Galveston last week.  Items of interest from the meeting discussion:
Uber has come to their senses now that Galveston will have a 3rd cruise terminal and Royal and Carnival are putting their largest ships there. Uber is negotiating an agreement with the Port to be able to provide services inside the Port. That's great news for cruise passengers as Lyft is currently the only major rideshare service allowed. The LNG powered Carnival Jubilee arrives in November 2023. The next big cruise project for the Port of Galveston will be a renovation of Cruise Terminal 25 to accommodate Carnival's newest and largest ship. Royal Caribbean has told the Port that there is to be no more media access to the new terminal.  Royal wants to control the release of information leading up to the big grand opening, which is certainly understandable. Royal Caribbean is planning to dock some of the current Galveston ships at the new Terminal 10 a few weeks prior to Allure's arrival in order to test out the new terminal operations.  
 
 

Just got off the plane in Barcelona, they didn’t even check our vax cards. So easy.  

Woo Hoo! I am back and excited about this. After 3 cancelled cruises in the last two years, I am definitely overdue. 

Unless you're cruising from Singapore on Spectrum OTS - self-testing is NOT allowed and the eMed ones are not allowed either. There's even very strict criteria on 'time' of when to get tested for the cruise... for starters it HAS to be on the same day at Raffles but it also cannot be before 7 am on the day of the cruise or that test is not valid. Additionally, they verify the test result and vaccine proof at least four times before boarding the ship:
* once at before entering the Marina Bay Cruise Center,
* once at the check-in counters with RCL,
* once at the security / passport control line,
* and again by ship security upon boarding. All four verification ALSO scrutinize proper mask usage as well (ie mask CANNOT be below nose). The ship does provide The N95 masks for passengers though on a daily basis.
Wife and I are hoping that by our Mid October cruise there will be at least SOME relaxation on this testing though it seems VERY unlikely, there's no plans to get rid of the vaccine mandate for Spectrum anytime soon or masks.

For Adventure Ocean on Spectrum OTS, there are time slots to be booked from my understanding, and masking is required at all times for Adventure Ocean events including outdoors unless it involves the pool. There's also social distancing still for Adventure Ocean.

Test results are ALSO required to disembark in Malaysia at any of the port calls (although one doesn't need to disembark if they opt to not fill in the app), the results have to be uploaded to the "MySejahtera' app and cleared before we could even go on shore. Noticed some posters here complaining about ArriveCan, My Sejahtara is a similar type of app but it often crashes.

Interesting to hear this about Spectrum. I had no idea things were so strict yet there in Singapore. The reason not much is posted about it is most members are from North America, Australia, and Europe. Doesn't mean we are purposely ignoring what is happening in Singapore it just means we have no experience of it. So its great to have yourself post these updates and for us to hear your perspective and experience from Spectrum.
Just curious, are land based protocols similar to that on the ship or is the ship being held to a completely different standard?

Sounds like my sailing out of the Bahamas last August.  Seems like Singapore is moving super slow but there’s  no reason people sailing out of the US or Europe shouldn’t be happy.  I don’t see a lot about the Australia sailings but recall people happy they had cruises out of Australia again .
please continue to update us on Singapore.  It’s helpful for those who might be considering to cruise out of Singapore .  Also create a roll call for your sailing.  I’ve not seen some roll calls for some of my sailings, and I did not bother creating one.  I guess if we all wait for someone else there’d be no roll calls at all. 
 
btw, the Canadian cruises I have coming up still require testing and it’s not at 3 days out.  It’s the country you sail from, or to, that determines the protocols. I wonder what the Covid #’s are on Spectrum vs the US sailings.  (We’ll never know since the #’s aren’t reported) It’s been amazing to see the changes in cruising this past year, I hope your Singapore sailings loosen the protocols soon. 
 

Just got off Spectrum OTS in Singapore, masks required onboard and masks on outside decks strongly recommended. Have to test morning of cruise at Raffles Hotel in Singapore also at our own expense. Vaccination and test results must be in line or else denial of boarding. Don't get what is all this rejoicing about no test and no vaccine about? Almost no coverage on this board of Spectrum OTS or cruises from Penang, Singapore regions... and also almost no roll calls either? Why not? So many posters here say they are happy without these mandates, but to cruise on Spectrum OTS in this market, everything still required...
Also Singapore market no plans to drop the SAME DAY in person test any time soon OR allow unvax to sail due to Malaysia and Singapore governments. Come to Asia and cruise from here; its still as fun.

Also onboard in Windjammer crew all standing around reminding us to put masks on when getting up from our table to get food and food still being served to us by Windjammer staff.
Also people sitting on sun decks also masked; felt almost naked without one. Seems like the main focus of this board seems to only be Florida??? There should be more thoughts and coverage of Sepctrum OTS and the Penang Ports and Kuala Lumpur rather than just the Caribbean. Wife and I doing another Spectrum OTS in October, highly doubtful for that 4 night things will change.
Already received second set of cruise docs today again about booking proctored test (no remote test allowed) on site at Raffles Hotel in Singapore then board ship by 4 pm with rest results taken on SAME DAY only. Walking around Singapore even 90% of people masked outdoors, not to say on board Spectrum OTS also. Was gently reminded twice by crew members on Esplanade and in the Casino bar to mask up if not drinking, their very strict!

Hopefully the crew will now have the option, maybe some will want to continue to wear mask, others not so much.
This means people can now afford the drink package without worrying if they will break even

FINALLY
Some common sense !  Welcome aboard EVERYONE!!!
Yes I received my email this morning already also.  What a weight off our shoulders now for our Sep Cruise
 
Maybe we will see @WAAAYTOOOon board again soon!

eMed tests for sale - REAL CHEAP!!!

Yep, and you just take a picture of the negative test (or bring the negative test with you) and show it to them at the port. I'll just snap a picture on my phone.
 

(Not for Bermuda or Canada stops)
For All Sailings Departing on or after September 5, 2022 from U.S. Homeports with No Stops in Bermuda or Canada 
If your cruise visits Bermuda or Canada, test protocols for your cruise are in the next section. 
Guests 5 years of age and older who are not fully vaccinated must bring a negative test result for a COVID-19 antigen or PCR test taken within the 3 days before boarding day, regardless of the duration of their cruise.
Fully vaccinated guests 5 years of age and older must bring a negative test result for a COVID-19 antigen or PCR test taken within the 3 days before boarding day on sailings that are 10 nights or longer only. Testing is not required for fully vaccinated guests on shorter itineraries. 
Guests younger than 5 do not have any testing requirements.
Required testing for all guests, regardless of vaccination status, can be completed using any type of PCR or antigen test. It can be professionally proctored by a healthcare professional, such as your doctor or pharmacist, or you can use a home test kit. Home test kits are not required to be conducted under live video supervision. 
Tests must be arranged on your own and are at your own expense. 

The biggest news here, (IMO) is that you can use a home non-proctored test !  Who is going to go to a pharmacy to get tested if you can home test ?!
Still waiting for unvaxxed to cruise w/o a test but this is still a nice big step forward !

Rome.  Ship arrived at 7am.  Disembarkation started at 7:30am for guest taking their own luggage off the ship/suite guests.  8am was the first luggage tag group, 9am was the last luggage tag group, they called the 8am groups at around 7:50am.

Some random thoughts about my recent cruise on Wonder of the Seas (7 night Western Med)
Most comfortable bed i’ve had on an royal carribean ship in a long time.  Almost too soft for me, but way better then the rocks they have on Anthem This was my 4th cruise post “restart” — things are finally feeling “normal”, and I didn’t notice any staffing issues.  Perhaps it’s because it’s a new ship and they are staffed with their best employees?  It was night and day compared to my cruise on Anthem during Christmas.  Staff was overwhelmed on that cruise Was fun to be an American on a ship that was so focused on passengers from Spain and the UK.  MDR menu even had a rotating pie and a curry on the menu every night.

https://abc13.com/port-of-galveston-covid-cruise-guidelines-ez-parking-philip-keiser/12139486/

I took these from Grandeur 30 minutes ago 

I will let you know 2 weeks from today. I will be going inside the new terminal. Wife has a hook up. 🤠👍

Princess has a smaller ship in Galveston, Ruby Princess, this fall through next spring.  
I was searching on a TA site for prices of Royal’s January 2023 cruises from Galveston, and found the Ruby Princess cruises so cheap as a solo cruiser, that I couldn’t pass them up.  I have a b2b, one week they visit  Roatan, the next Belize.   There was no single supplement on the cheap January Ruby cruises when I booked a few days ago.
 

Thank you for posting. I think competition is a good thing, the more cruise lines that sail from Galveston the better.

I was on Adventure in February.  Granted we were the only ship but I was off early using self-assist and paid $57.80 on Lyft including tip from Galveston to Hobby.  Looking back at my receipt I was picked up in Galveston at 7:35am and dropped at Hobby at 8:21am.  
From Galveston but also from Port Canaveral surge pricing has often seen rates jacked up once the masses start to debark.  There is definitely an advantage with getting off early.  Once there are only a few or no cars in the area it triggers surge rates which can easily reach $150 or more for the same ride.

@Galveston Steve , Princess just released 2023-2024 itineraries from Galveston with Regal Princess .
Regal’s deployment starts and ends with 12 day FLL to GLV October 2023 and back March 2024.  There are several 10 and 11 day Holiday cruises,, and the rest are 7-day Sunday departures.
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