steverk

I can attest that cruise planner prices swing regularly.  Sometimes wildly!

For example, I had a Perfect Day cruise scheduled on Majesty. The price for Thrill waterpark was $75 when I first looked.  By following closely I was able to find it for $35. What a deal!

Now if only Majesty hadn't been sold! 

BTW: it is worth checking during an announced sale, but most of the time I don't find any real savings.

This will be my last post on this topic.  It's no surprise that feelings run deep, and I'd rather focus on things that bring us together.

I think we can all be happy about the following:

1. The death rates have been far, far lower than the original forecasts

2. The vaccines mean the end is probably in sight

3. We will all be sailing again in the future!

21 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

But even with these controls in place we are seeing days of over 3000 deaths from covid. Those numbers make it the number 1 killer in the USA.  Not only this heart disease is a build up of many years of things and doesnt kill you in a week. 

 

BTW, doesn't this support the point that the controls (i.e. masking, social distancing, lockdowns, etc.) are as ineffective as a medicine man doing a dance?

4 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

But even with these controls in place we are seeing days of over 3000 deaths from covid. Those numbers make it the number 1 killer in the USA.  Not only this heart disease is a build up of many years of things and doesnt kill you in a week. 

 

600,000+ have died from heart disease in 2020.  Approximately 300,000 have died of COVID.  I suppose it is possible that an additional 300,000 will die in the next 32 hours, but I doubt it.

1 hour ago, Floski said:

Oh man, if RC left from Charleston, I'd be a pauper.

I live close to Galveston.  If only RC could sail again, I'd happily become a pauper! 

1 hour ago, PG Cruiser said:

 

 

 

Are we trying to say here that because people die from taking Aspirin, heart attacks and falling down stairs that we will just let people get COVID-19 and die?

I am not a hater of cruising and the cruise industry.  Cruising has been my recreation of choice and I miss it terribly.  In fact, I'm booked for the Odyssey in November 2021.  But until I gain enough confidence that I will not be a carrier of this coronavirus, I will do my part and abide by the guidelines for mitigating its spread, however insufficient and controversial they may be.  They're all we've got at the moment.  I will wear a mask when needed, keep distance from people outside of my social bubble, and put my cruise activities on hold.

What I'm saying is that we've over reacted.  People dying is never a laughing matter, but it also needs to be kept in perspective.  We don't go in to a panic over the leading cause of death in the USA (heart disease) even though it is largely preventable.  People just don't worry enough about it enough to take proper care of themselves.

However, people will go in to a total panic, lockdown, financial ruin, depression, etc. out of fear for the pandemic, even though statistically there is much less risk that other problems.

I think the reason is 2 fold:

1. People are very bad at weighing relative risks.  This is especially true when the nightly news is set up to scare everyone to death. They overestimate their chances of succumbing to COVID and underestimate their chances of succumbing to more mundane issues.

2. People have been led to believe that science can fix anything.  Therefore, if we just let science solve this, life will be good.  The truth is we've never been able to beat a virus in such a short time. It is simply astounding how quickly the drug companies have developed the vaccine. However, the advice to lock down, mask up, etc. is beginning to look less like science and more like the dance of an ancient medicine man.

Changing the people in your cabin is not a problem as long as at least one person on the original reservation goes on the trip.

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your other questions.

3 hours ago, Matt said:

Then remind yourself that more than 3,000 people die every year from taking Aspirin.

And 640,000 people die in the US of heart attacks each year.

2 hours ago, monctonguy said:

New Health Minister(not what you guys call them in the US but I am drawing a blank) for Biden said its probably going to be fall now before vaccines are wide-spread in the US.....

 

News getting worse all around......for everything.

I've got balance that against this article: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/texas-to-receive-620000-doses-in-second-week-of-covid-19-vaccine-distribution/2509383/

It says 620,000 doses in one week for Texas alone, which is enough for about 1.5% of the population.  Assuming that rate is typical for all of the states, and there is some increase in production as the year progresses, I'd suggest that Dr. Fauci is being pessimistic.

I'm pumped! I've got a southern Caribbean sailing on Explorer of the Seas for Thanksgiving 2021!

The whole family is going, which includes my wife and I, plus our 4 adult children.  I'm really looking forward to it.

That said, I've never been to San Juan PR and certainly never sailed out of there. My plan is to fly in on Friday night before the cruise and get a hotel for 2 nights.  The ship sails on Sunday.

That will give us all day Saturday and a little bit of Sunday to explore.

Some of the things we'll probably want to do:

• Explore old San Juan, including the umbrella street
• Visit at least 1, and perhaps 2 of the forts.
• Go to the beach.

So here are a few questions:

• Does anyone have a good suggestion for a convenient, moderately priced hotel?
• Am I missing any of the really interesting things to do in San Juan?
• Is it better to use UBER/LYFT or rent a car?
• I know Puerto Rico is part of the USA, but it isn't a state. Does my cell phone need international roaming? What about the US Virgin Islands?
• Google says Royal docks at the Pan American pier, which is across the harbor from old San Juan.  Is this correct?
• Is it better to get a hotel in Old San Juan or should I find something closer to the pier?

I've purchased insurance through Allianz for several cancelled cruises.  Every time, my travel agent was able to get a full refund.

Everyone on this message board understands and sympathizes with your concern.  In fact, all of us share it to one degree or other.

However, I believe that all cruise lines will require the vaccine at some point.

Some of my additional thoughts on the matter:

• The cruise lines will be unable to require a vaccine until it is widely available to the public.  My guess, that will happen Late April or early May, but that's just a guess.
• The cruise lines may not have a choice in the matter as it is could be a CDC requirement. Please note that some airlines are considering proof of vaccination before flying.
• As we learn more about the vaccine, we'll probably be better able to predict who will react to badly to the vaccine.  The cruise lines will probably offer an exception to those passengers. (In fact, I don't see how they could avoid this!)
• At least some legal scholars have opined that the cruise lines will have to offer full refunds to anyone who refuses to take the vaccine and cannot take a previously booked cruise.
• I do not expect the vaccination requirement to be permanent. In 12-18 months, the virus will be effectively over and there vaccine will be a moot point.

Bummer! I not surprised, but I was booked on Majesty in October 2021.

As you can tell from the responses,  nobody really knows what is going to happen in 2021.

If you really have your heart set on a Hawaii cruise you might consider NCL. They have a 7 day round trip Honolulu cruise. No promises, but that's the only one I think is likely to sail.

Keep in mind this cruise is an awesome itinerary,  but the ship doesn't compare with Royal in any department. 

1 hour ago, CruiseGus said:

yes and add the factor of "to big to fail" we have seen it happen before, an industry bailed out by either a government or big financial institutions.  It seems to be that if too many big business would collapse, the whole financial market would collapse similar to a domino effect.  It not just popular themes in SciFi, but could be a real possibility.

As they say "owe the bank a dollar and the bank owns you. Owe the bank a billion dollars and you own the bank"

My worthless speculation says RCG group will to roll out slowly, which mean more cancellations are coming.  However, I'm optimistic that the cancellations will not be fleet wide, but based on when each ship can resume sailing.

This would mean lots of cancellations in March and tapering off over some unknown length of time as more ships sail.

As far as how RCG will address drydocks, I have no idea!

I was watching Don's Family Vacations (or maybe it was La Lido Loca) back in November when this came up.  They said that Princess would not allow B2B cruises as they viewed it as a violation of the order.  I'm not sure that position is universally accepted by all cruisers or cruise lines though.

I question if the cruise lines would voluntarily require the COVID vaccine, but I'm pretty confident that the CDC will require it to board a ship and the cruise lines will have no choice but to go along with it.

I hope the vaccine drops the cases to "0" by 3Q21 so we can do away with it quickly.

Thank you for your service to our country and I hope you enjoy Alaska as much as I did!

As you almost certainly know, a cruise tour is a one way Alaska cruise combined with a land vacation. 

I've never actually been on this combination, but back in 2006, my in-laws treated us to a 1 way northbound on Radiance of the Seas followed by a few days sightseeing on our own in Anchorage.  My 4 kids were between 9 and 15. Everyone enjoyed it tremendously!

Some of the things they enjoyed the most:

• Whale watching during dinner in the Windjammer (Dessert first of course!)
• Swimming during the family hours in the solarium. They especially enjoyed the waves that were generated by the rocking of the boat.
• Touching a piece of glacier that the crew fished out of Tracy Arm Fjord
• Riding the Whit Pass Railway
• Climbing Flat Top mountain in Anchorage.

It was an incredible trip that I hope to do again with the family in 2023.

As far as excursions and comments about some of the ports:

• Ketchikan: Very walkable place with tons to see just off the ship.  If you've got the dough, then I'd suggest a float plane trip to Misty Fjords. Absolutely incredible
• Juneau: Another very walkable town.  There's a tram to the top of the mountain, or you can walk the trail for free.  Mendenhall Glacier is there as well.  If I ever go back, I'll make it a point to visit at least one of these attractions.
• Skagway: This is another fun town.  It's got a national historic park there, and it took me a while to figure out that the park and town are one in the same.  As you walk down the street, some of the buildings will have businesses. Some will have national park displays.  Sounds weird, but it's actually kinda cool. This is also the jumping off point for the White Pass Railroad.
• Icy Straight Point: When I was there, things were just getting started and you pretty much had to make your own fun.  Perhaps someone will have a recent experience
• Sitka: Like everywhere else, it is very walkable. When I was there, it was a very long tender boat ride to port. Therefore, plan to eat lunch on shore so you get as much as possible out of it.  You'll find plenty to do within a 15 walk of the pier.
• Seward: I wish I had spent more time here.  There's a national park in town that is worth checking out.

I have more recently done a 7 day round trip Seattle trip with my wife. One way is better!

I hope you found this helpful. Please let me know if you need more of my ramblings,

On 11/2/2020 at 12:35 PM, twangster said:

I think the CDC is buying time hoping for a new administration that will accept their findings without interference.  

 

Looking at the election results, it appears that CDC will have a different administration.

I could see the new administration flexing their muscles and locking down everything they can. 

On the other hand, I could see the tone of COVID reporting in the American media taking a radically different tone (i.e. "look how far we've come.  Deaths and cases are down by X number of cases).  If this happens, the new administration may open things up even though nothing has fundamentally changed, but people will feel better about it.

We shall see how this plays out.

Always remember the ancient Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times!"

Jan 2020 on Rhapsody of the Seas.  Hit moderately rough weather and the pool in the Solarium had huge waves.  My (adult) kids and I had great fun playing in the pool!

I'd love to, but my employer won't allow it.

Hmmmm...Maybe I should just retire!

Can we start speculating on how RCI will begin sailing?  RCI indicates it will take about 6 months to ramp up.  Does this mean they start with one ship on or about Dec 1, and add 1 ship per week?  Do they sail only 1-2 ships for a while and then ramp up more quickly at the end?

Any thoughts on what ships/itineraries they will sail first?

This is mostly for fun as RCI will have to publish their December sailings very soon no matter what we guess!

My guess: They start with 1 ship out of FLL and add a ship out of Port Canaveral and one out of Miami all in December.  After that, my crystal ball gets fuzzy, but I suspect Galveston will follow pretty quick in late December or January as Galveston is a large drive in port that probably won't have much competition. (Of course I might be biased as I have a Liberty of the Seas cruise scheduled out of Galveston in January. )

Fantastic! We all hope it goes well for you 

37 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

I heard the same reported on the daily Cruise Radio News brief this AM. More info here.

Thank you! Let's hope Alaska opens in 2021 for cruises!