Jax

@AshleyDillothank you for this; reading now. Obviously I don’t know how to work the search engine! LOL No idea how I missed this thread. ?

I have been looking at the 2023 itineraries and would love any intel on cruising out of Galveston on Allure. The good, the bad, things to consider. With Canadian airline carriers reduced schedules it’s hard to know what future flight schedules will look like but there are typically lots of direct flights between Calgary to Houston, leaving us a short drive to Galveston. It looks like there are some nice hotels in Galveston so it may be better than Port Canaveral, where hotel availability was limited and we stayed in Orlando pre/post cruise. I am not sure about sailing on Allure without the amplification (after sailing on Oasis in a star loft suite) but I am keeping an open mind. Would be looking to book a star loft suite on Allure. Thoughts???

I always get a laugh out of your choice of words. “Royal rumble” ? Love it!

We always book the 7 day thermal suite pass. With reservations now required it will be interesting to see how this process evolves. Pre Covid we showed up spontaneously and always at separate times. Hubby would go early morning and me sometime much later. Lol It will be interesting to see if they encourage couples to attend together.

Interesting that you were able to order from multiple venues for a meal. On Anthem our genie said it was limited to one. Maybe this policy has been relaxed due to Covid?? Or maybe it’s ship specific or maybe just another one of those star class inconsistencies. Lol ?

Each time we ate at Chops I had the ribeye ? and it was delicious. I am from a province that is known for its world quality beef so my expectations are high. I can’t compare it to the filet in CK because I totally missed it. Rookie mistake LOL

Happy cruise day! Wishing you the best cruise ?

If this is anything like the pork belly from Chops it is amazing!! I attempted to duplicate it at home but it was a fail. Lol

Look forward to following along! Happy cruising ??

I kept the link to my original genie questionnaire and it looks like a few of the questions changed since our star class cruise Christmas 2019. Revised questionnaire attached. Off the top, it looks like Elon Musk is new and the deserted island and device preference have been removed. Interested to see what it may look like going forward.

True, that was dedicated as mine and I put the boys in main floor closet. Which was fine because I also had them share main floor bathroom LOL True. The upstairs balcony came in handy with our HVAC issues. We propped it open when sleeping when temps hit high 80s. I was thankful we had it. LOL

Posted at the same time. We seem to do that a lot. Too funny ?

It’s a personal preference but some prefer the middle GLS due to the layout and larger size. We preferred a corner GLS 10320 on Anthem last year because our son wanted the 2 side balconies and there were only 3 of us, so it wasn’t a big deal. And we were totally fine with the split main floor bathroom. Nothing wrong with either; just good intel to help with decision making. ?

? agree! The excitement of receiving the genie questionnaire, the first genie email, finding out who your genie will be, and then live genie communications is one of the best experiences IMO. It was so fun to share my genie in this forum and get some early genie intel! It really is the best feeling. ?

I did this ? when I read that Disney is considering moving some of its California operations to Florida due to difficulty in reopening its theme parks in California. Disney is our happy place. We have celebrated so many memories with Disney; my in laws 50th and 55th anniversary were at Disneyland along with so many others. We had to miss their 60th at Disneyland due to Covid. Sure hope we can all get back there soon.

I located this in the article so at least truckers are exempt. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair suggested Friday that the testing measures — though not officially announced at the time — would not apply to truckers “to ensure supply chains, essential services, and support for critical infrastructure” were unharmed.

Surprisingly, the rate of positive cases linked to travel remains low, at least in Alberta. Not sure about the rest of Canada as it isn’t reported like it is in Alberta. Under the Calgary quarantine pilot, its 1.11% and out of all Alberta’s active cases (5706) there are only 159 that are linked to travel. So I may be willing to assume that risk if I could return without being detained in a government facility. Lol ?

I can’t believe it’s been a year since I was following along on your live blog. Happy anniversary ? and I am sending good vibes for your future cruises. I can’t wait to follow along on your cruising adventures; there are always so many good laughs along the way!

Our next cruise isn’t until Easter 2022 so I am really hoping we are through most of this stuff by then; not just cruise restrictions but the travel and quarantine related restrictions we current face in ?? as well as the uncertainty of our vaccine rollout schedule. Masks to a limited degree aren’t a red line for me, but depending on the cruise mask policy at the time, may be a deciding factor for us as hubby and son may not be as accommodating as me. LOL I am not too worried about limited spots for dining, entertainment and activities as I am hoping the star class benefits will be that much more valuable.

I have a solution. Both countries have something the other one wants.......lets negotiate cruising for a signature on a certain permit. LOL

This is happening March 1 right??

Agreed, medical masks are required in our hospital too but in instances where non medical masks are required we have not had any problems with compliance with the mingle mask. As it relates to cruising, I found this list of non permitted face masks/coverings on Royals site. Time will tell if this policy changes. “Note that neck gaiters, open chin bandanas and scarves, and face masks with valves do not meet health authority guidelines and will not be permitted”.

We love the mingle mask. Who knows if they will meet cruise mask guidelines but they meet the guidelines in Alberta. These have been a life saver for my son attending in person school; he suffers from severe asthma and he uses these when his asthma is particularly bad. https://theminglemask.com/

I had heard something like this may be coming but hoped the test results from the pilot would have had a greater impact on this decision. I can’t speak to the rest of Canada, but travel related cases remain a relatively small number of Alberta’s overall cases. Current pilot program numbers As of January 21, 2021 - 42,344 participants Testing results: first test at port of entry 1.49%, Second test .76%, Total 1.15% (it’s possible the higher positivity rate on the initial test may have influenced the 3 day hotel policy ?, buts that pure speculation on my part) Variant cases: 20 UK, 5 South Africa (not sure what percentages of variant cases participated in pilot) As of this week, all but one was traced back to travel.