ChrisK2793

32 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

You tip both the main attendant & the assistant? We have stayed in CLS a number of times and I guess I never really thought much of this since the main attendant was always the one who was the face of the operation and greeted my family. 

Yes, we usually end up talking to both of them a lot in the hallway throughout the cruise and getting to know them ….. they both also seem to share the work equally when we’ve come back while they were in the room.

24 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

How can it be "virtual?"  Will they be featuring performers at another location?  Could there be pre-recorded performances like the symphony at Two70º?

 

Right!  Unless they’re live streaming the performances every show, it’s not really “virtual”, it’s “pre-recorded” LOL 

7 hours ago, Eddy said:

I dont know what kind of service you are getting , but that sounds very very high.  If you are getting your hair done, or spa services , then perhaps, but for simple dining and cleaning your room and drinks?   You are high. Not that there is anything wrong with that. If you have money to burn and appreciate the staff and have a philanthropist  spirit in you then knock yourself out.  Note that some luxury cruise lines include tips , so if your tip level is up near $2,000 then perhaps that money should go toward that kind of cruise? just sayin    

We were just in a Crown Loft suite and in those you have 2 stateroom attendants who we always give between 200 and 250 each for the week ….. so that was a big chunk of it.

We have a 10 year old son and all our friends who travel with us also have kids in the same age range …… so I don’t think any of the luxury lines would be fun for the kids and probably not for us either.

We would like to try Celebrity Beyond though!

7 hours ago, Eddy said:

I tip for drinks all day. I give cash$$$ to my room steward. I tip cash to my server at dinner.

I do not pre pay anything and not ashamed to say so.

I’m starting to rethink doing the pre-paids myself.  We’ve been on Symphony since Saturday and thanks to this thread ….. this is the first cruise where  I’ve kept track of what we’ve been giving out on our own in cash tips …….. between room stewards, suite concierge, bartenders, specialty dining servers, and a few others we’re at over $900 in cash tips above the pre-paids….. and at least I know the people actually got the tips, I handed out because really I have no idea what they end up getting from Royal out of the pre-paids, ….. maybe it’s only pennies on the dollar, especially after taxes are taken out as well as what Royal may or may not keep out of the pre-paids.

7 minutes ago, LCinPDX said:

I wonder if RC has considered having two smaller casinos--one smoking and one non-smoking.  The non-smoking one could be more "open concept" and the smoking could be contained.  I can smell the smoke just walking by the outside near the elevators.

‘We’re on symphony now and even though the casino has been non-smoking since mid-December …… you can still smell the cigarettes when you go into it.

On 2/4/2022 at 9:21 PM, ROwens said:

. Am I able to check in everyone or do I have to check in each cabin separately?

THANKS!

Just make sure you grab each person’s boarding time separately ……. you can’t get a time for the group at once, not even for the people in the same room ……… if you forget to grab a boarding time for 1 person and go back later, it could be hours later than everybody else’s time  ……. They’d most likely let that 1 person on with the rest of your party, but it’s better not to have to deal with that stress.

6 hours ago, JWeiss said:

Are there formal notes on the odyssey of the seas February 25 through March 7?

Formal nights aren’t what they used to be ….. you’ll commonly see anywhere from one third to half the passengers now where men wear nice jeans and a polo shirt and women wear something similar.

What’s silly to me is that since they let us all leave them loose enough to take on and off ….. it’s really senseless to not use the silicon bracelets …… these end up coming off on the water slides and getting lost or fraying apart when people cut the ends ….. then they just have to replace them over and over …….. our son is on his 3rd band since we got on symphony on Saturday ….. they didn’t even verify his vaccination status before giving new ones.

As of February 12, Celebrity has dropped masks for all vaccinated guests except during boarding and in the Theater and Casino.

https://www.celebritycruises.com/content/dam/celebrity/pdf/celebrity-healthy-at-sea-protocols.pdf
 

On 2/12/2022 at 6:47 PM, smokeybandit said:

Which they can't do under the new CSO unless 95% of passengers have current boosters.

On 2/12/2022 at 9:00 PM, Cruiser4Life said:

Looking at the dates, it seems NCL announced no masks beginning in March on Feb 8th…. The new CDC program hit the news Feb 9th… is it possible it was just bad timing and now NCL will have to walk back the no mask rule because it was more important to them to opt into the CDC program?

It sounds like NCL was blindsided by the new rules and will be re-thinking their opt-in that occurred before the rules were released.

3 hours ago, twangster said:

Florida is wide open, cruising should be as well.

 

Florida is run by somebody with common sense ….. the CDC isn’t lol  

Symphony put all the “Vaccinated Only” signs back up today at all the bars.  They haven’t been out this cruise until now.

WOW!!!!!  A huge step up in style (especially the CL) from the same suites on Symphony!!!  Assuming these pics are the real thing …..

1 hour ago, wordell1 said:

Would you open your windows and run the AC at home?

YES …… Sometimes I do for a few hours when it’s cooler …….. windows open, ceiling fans on, central AC set to fan running constantly, because I want to recirculate the air in the house with fresh air from outside …….. we live in Florida so our windows are pretty much never open otherwise.  LOL  

I’ve been on Symphony since Saturday and they  already have not been enforcing masks in any of the vaccinated areas since day one.  So far the casino has still been nice and smoke free though.

13 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

The cruise lines can't accept this. It's actually MORE strict than the old CSO. I don't know what NCL was thinking in opting in but they've made a lot of blunders throughout the pandemic.

I saw a YouTube blog yesterday that said NCL opted in before they saw what came out …… and that they’re rethinking it now 

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I hate masks as much as anyone BUT I'm not sure that this is such a terrible trade-off.  No vax requirements, no testing requirements, just the mask nonsense.  To me, that's a win.

Their new “rules” don’t say no vaccination requirements …… they say 95% “fully up to date” on the vaccine for an excellence rating 

2 hours ago, VACruiser said:

Same here …… we have Symphony tomorrow …… then Wonder in March and Alaska in June that I can’t cancel because we have too many other people going with us that would be mad if we cancelled  ……. But after that, if it’s going to be masks, boosters, and/or ridiculous protocols, the other 6 cruises I have booked from that point on will all be cancelled.  It’s time for the cruise lines to tell the CDC to go to hell. 

6 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

Exactly, and NCL has no problem meeting the vaccinated threshold with their current policies.

‘The graphic above says NCL has 0 ships that meet the 95% “up to date” threshold 

38 minutes ago, JeffB said:

I get that HBCcruiser. I look at it this way. If I'm in marketing and I have input as to what health and safety protocols the line I'm working for might change if they elect to fully participate, and I think most lines will, is that they will continue to advertise that guests and crew are "fully vaccinated." The hair-splitting non-sense of being "up to date" that the CDC has now interjected into the decision making process of health and safety protocol policy makers is typical of the fence straddling on so many COVID issues they've taken that produce nothing more than confusion (see the idiotic masking stuff referenced above ..... laughable) 

The public is not going to look up and then know the difference in vaccination status between fully vaccinated and up to date when selecting a cruise line or ship to sail on. IMO, boosters will remain optional for guests, probably not for crew who are already getting them. We're slowly making our way to reasonableness in COVID policy. No more mandates. GIve people the data, guide them on how to assess individual risk and behave accordingly. In this case, given the current requirement for guests to be "fully vaccinated," some higher COVID risk guests may want boosters. Fine, that's a personal decision based on a personal risk assessment.  

The CDC has already said for a while now that “fully vaccinated and “up to date” are ARE NOT the same to the CDC  ……  quite a while ago the CDC declared that THEIR definition of “up to date” means “fully boosted” …… so there’s no leeway there at all for “marketing” interpretation.

The 2 blaring things I see screaming out in there are 

For cruise ship operators opting into CDC’s COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships, CDC will continue to exercise enforcement discretion regarding the requirements of its January 29, 2021, Mask Order, applicable to operators of, and crew and passengers on board, cruise ships.

and 

• Vaccination Standard of Excellence: ships with at least 95% passengers and 95% crew who are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines.

“UP TO DATE” meaning you have to be BOOSTED as many times and the CDC decides they want you to be boosted to be “up to date”

If Royal goes along with this, I’ll probably be done cruising until everything goes back to the Pre-Covid experience!  I’ve had 3 Pfizer shots and had covid …… I’m done with the vaccine FOREVER and will never take another shot!  I’m also done booking trips that require masks in vaccinated areas  …… if that comes back again, I’m done as well!

9 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

you'll be wearing a mask....and not smoking in the casino.
 

 

I don’t smoke and hate cigarettes so that part I’m ok with lol 

8 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

I'm surprised no one has posted from Matt's blog:

Beginning February 15, 2022, the stricter mask rules will go away and that means guests will not have to wear face masks at venues designated for vaccinated guests only, such as select bars, lounges, restaurants, shows and Casino Royale. 

Royal Caribbean International Assistant Vice President of Guest Experience, Aurora Yera-Rodriguez, told travel agents protocols will go back to the way they were before the stricter mask rules were added due to Omicron, "After February the 15th, we'll now allow smoking in the casino again. That is actually aligned, with us going back to protocol the way they were before, where you don't have to wear a mask in vaccinated areas."

I did not miss the smoking in the Casino.
I won't miss the masks in the vax only areas!

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/

What If your cruise leaves February 12?  Lol 

5 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

I would like for this to mean that two doses of other vaccines are needed except for the J&J where you only need one.   However, this seems to says that you need "at least two doses of vaccine OTHER THAN the single dose Johnson & Johnson."  English is not my native language so I might be having a comprehension problem here.  Please enlighten me

That’s just their way of saying that you only need to 14 days after ONE dose to board the ship if you were vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson ……. Only the others require 14 days after 2 doses to board.

On 2/6/2022 at 9:50 AM, San Diego Garrett said:

Does anyone know when the next Planner Sale will be? Thanks!

‘This morning DBP for the 3/25 Wonder OTS sailing was 30% off at $61/day …… it’s the cheapest I’ve seen it ….. same price we’d get on board as our first time being Diamond Plus for that sailing.