WAAAYTOOO

Yikes ! Nothing like a boat drill to wake everyone up ! Glad it was a false alarm.

@Matthas been pretty quiet on this leg. He must be having a lot of fun ! Good for him.

Wow, what a bunch of double talk to tell you that they don't have a clue which way things will go ! The only good news here is that they are suspending final payment, which is great.

I certainly cannot say why these cruises are not showing any availability. Could they be sold out ? Possibly....or maybe Royal is just shutting them down until they know what the capacities will be. Here is how it looks on CruisingPower. As you can see, the cruises from 3 - 25 July are showing "Closed" but then the ones in August and some of Sept are just showing no availability. 5 Sept shows balcony availability, then 11 Sept is showing additional availability and then 19 Sept is showing no availability again. It definitely means something...just not sure what that is !

I’ve been following this as well. OY is not showing any cruises available until 5 September on CruisingPower. Not sure what’s going on.

That's the first competent decision they've made since 2019

Another thing I prefer about Celebrity's protocols is that they specifically call out antigen only for testing.

We once went to the MDR, early in the cruise (day 1 or 2 I believe) to try and determine which night would lamb shank night since that's Dan's favorite dish. The attendant who helped us went to a closet and there we saw literally thousands of paper menus piled in what did not appear to be any coherent order. Eventually the attendant did find the lamb shank menu and determined which day it would be served but it was not a rational process to find that information. One would think that they had the menus posted somewhere but either that person didn't know where to look or this random sifting through mountains of random paper menus is the accepted process. From that experience I gleaned that there is generally very little variation in the menu planning. At least back then....all of the menus were pre-printed.

I just renewed my annual Allianz policy (US if that matters) and there was absolutely no mention of vaccination. Frankly, that surprised me. I expected there to be a requirement to be vaccinated but there is not (that I am aware of). They are still offering limited COVID coverage.

But won’t they be in violation of the [soon to be defunct, presumably] CSO if they sail with less than 95% vaccinated since they didn’t do a test sailing first ?

I just got one today for our 21 August sailing on Symphony....so probably 60 days out is the target.

Just got a RoyalUp offer for our August 21 Symphony cruise. Probably not going to make a bid as I'm pretty happy with our Suite.

Yes, they will bring roll away beds in but I'm not sure how many. More than 1, just not sure. There is definitely room.

Never won a RoyalUp bid. You’ve been waaay luckier than me !

We've had an Allianz annual policy for 5 years and knock on wood, we've never had to use it so I cannot comment on their service.

A bit of information relating to pre and onboard testing. OPKO Health subsidiary partners with Royal Caribbean for COVID-19 testing program | Seeking Alpha

Welcome back, Kayla !! Glad to see you back on the boards.

No one really knows what the new boarding protocols will be like but I would guess that the luggage drop-off will still be one of the Key perks. What might change is the Chops lunch on embarkation day since boarding, presumably, will be later than it used to be. Perhaps they will allow you to use your embarkation lunch some other day of the cruise. That would be very nice, I think.

Supposed to be on SY 8-21-21. Hopefully she will be ready to go !!

I absolutely agree with you on this. Since the abolition (I know that is the wrong word) of the CSO, will this now mean that NCL, Carnival and Celebrity can simply ignore the requirement to do test cruises and just march forward with their loosey goosey ~95% vaxxed program ?

That's a good question and is certainly depends on individual perceptions. For us it is really a matter of ambiance. You just can't beat the views in the Oasis class CK. In general, it is less hectic and certainly less crowded. Is the service or food actually any better than the MDR ? Many say "yes". We generally say "not really". We enjoy going to the CK if we are staying on Deck 17 but since we almost always have the UDP we generally only go to the CK for breakfast. It's nice to have the option to go to CK when the menu is agreeable.

Nope. You can do it the other way around though.

So glad you mentioned this. @ConstantCruiseris right ! The lobster meal at CK is NOT a lobster tail (I think they call it Lobster in Champagne sauce or something like that). It is some rubbery lobster pieces in a nasty orange sauce. It's not good at all, IMO. SO if you want the MDR lobster tails served to you in the CK, be sure and ask for the MDR lobster tails. If you just say, "I'll have the lobster", they are going to bring you the orange pieces and parts. Yuk. If you plan on eating in the CK on lobster night and decide that you want to have it, it is best to let them know ahead of time that you are going to want the MDR lobster tails so that they can have them handy. They generally will have some lobster tails available, but they will be sure and have enough of them if you tell them in advance. It is also true that the lobster tails served in the MDR are warm water lobsters and not NE cold water lobsters. If you're looking for NE lobster, you will not find it in the MDR.

They will certainly throw in the phrase, "...to enhance your experience..."

This is my understanding, too. Still unlimited access on the O class ships in the SL