WAAAYTOOO

CDC loves Cruisers!

The CDC relevancy is slipping away. Gotta heap on and control the cruise lines. Forget those overbooked airlines. ?

Yet again no warning from the CDC for other high risk areas on land.  Gotta love their devotion and fixation on one single industry.  

This just blows.  Sick.
WAIT !  I just read the post on the blog and we qualify under #3.  We both have signed medical contradictions.  Unfortunately, they will probably still restrict us from the casino which is not acceptable to us so chances are we still won't be able to go but at least SOMEone is finally recognizing medical contradictions.  Hopefully natural immunity will follow close behind.

Too long! ?
We started calling pool companies in the beginning of July 2020. We started with a list of 8-10, and only 2 ever got back to us. Those two came out to meet with us the first week of August. We received the proposals back a couple ofweeks later.
 
We decided which we wanted to go with pretty quickly and signed the contract/paid the deposit, and started the refinancing process on our home so we could pay for the project. That was the beginning of September. I used to be a loan processor, so they had all the docs they would need right away, but it still took a while because the they were so busy. We closed mid-November and once we had the cash in our account, we told the pool company we were ready to schedule. 
Our dig date was December 28, 2020, and we were able to finally get in the water on August 6, 2021.
We were originally quoted 3-4 months by both pool companies, but now they are quoting 7-12. 

We put in a royalup bid for a star class suite and initially it was a 'weak' bid but enough to fuel our "what if" dreams. 
BUT, thanks to this post and a couple others we learned that we'd get the money we've already paid for our drinks and speciality restaurant packages if we do get the bid so we upped it to a strong bid. It'll make for a fantastic "welcome back to cruising" if this goes through.
Even if we don't get it, we'll still eventually be at sea, on our balcony, drinks in hand, listening to the sound of the Allure cutting through the ocean while gazing at the sunset skies. Pure bliss!  ?

I still have two of my old ones from 30+ years ago  
I wonder what kind of looks I’d get boarding the ship with one of them on my shoulder?

It's crazy.
We can now get up to see my in-laws, but they can't come down here yet.
There's been a few great-grandchildren born since the pandemic started, and they are so sad that they can't see them.
Once the border opens up freely, they plan on moving down here.  The way NB handled things over the past year or so has left a sour taste in their mouths.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”

After watching the video in the article link, it's pretty clear the couple didn't use a TA. Yet another great reason to enlist the help of a great TA! ?

Curacao is one of the easiest and most fun places to just "walk around".
When you get off the ship, walk out the gates and keep to the right.  That walk will take you through the renovated fort and around to the Princess Emma pontoon bridge.  Across the bridge is the floating market and a really interesting part of town.  We love to take the a tuk tuk tour (they usually wait for new customers right on the other side of the bridge) around town and we always learn something new.  I was very surprised to find that this area has a very strong and rich Jewish tradition.  Who would have thought ?  I love, love, love Curacao.  It is my favorite Caribbean island.

Yes, 100% sure since my son got them on Adventure. But on the start off that cruise I was told that was the first week minors got the drinks. Note this is minors who are actually diamond, not just children on a reservation of parents who are diamond.

Curacao is one of the easiest and most fun places to just "walk around".
When you get off the ship, walk out the gates and keep to the right.  That walk will take you through the renovated fort and around to the Princess Emma pontoon bridge.  Across the bridge is the floating market and a really interesting part of town.  We love to take the a tuk tuk tour (they usually wait for new customers right on the other side of the bridge) around town and we always learn something new.  I was very surprised to find that this area has a very strong and rich Jewish tradition.  Who would have thought ?  I love, love, love Curacao.  It is my favorite Caribbean island.

Quite the kicker here:
 

Same @teddy. 16 days to go for Allure and still GTY on the interior. Here's to hoping a bid comes in! We went for the following, all at the min bid. 

Ok.  I contacted them.  It is only if you are hospitalized, but the transfer once you are hospitalized does not have to be medically necessary.  In other words, even if that hospital feels they can treat you without a transfer, you can choose to be transferred to a US Hospital.  Considering I have a heart condition, I think I would probably be hospitalized if I were COVID positive, even without additional symptoms.  If so, then their transfer would kick in, so I may keep both to have a belt and suspenders so to speak.  Besides, if I spend that much on insurance, I can be pretty sure I will never need it.

Hmm... @AshleyDillo and @WAAAYTOOO it takes a lot of take me out of my happy place on a cruise, but I would seriously be unhappy if that is true. 
After our next cruise (whenever that might be), my two girls will be Diamond on their own as well.  I would not expect them to be able to redeem for alcoholic beverages, but if they did not get them at all because of their age, it just doesn't sit well with me.....

Curacao is one of the easiest and most fun places to just "walk around".
When you get off the ship, walk out the gates and keep to the right.  That walk will take you through the renovated fort and around to the Princess Emma pontoon bridge.  Across the bridge is the floating market and a really interesting part of town.  We love to take the a tuk tuk tour (they usually wait for new customers right on the other side of the bridge) around town and we always learn something new.  I was very surprised to find that this area has a very strong and rich Jewish tradition.  Who would have thought ?  I love, love, love Curacao.  It is my favorite Caribbean island.

Definitely leaning towards an aft balcony at this point.

@melmar02 So beautiful, much family enjoyment to be had. What was your time line?
Contract signing?
Dig date?
Completion?
Thanks so much for sharing your journey! So appreciated! 

Yap , I will give it a try although almost forgotten how to write a cruise blog.
First why did I choose  this name ? I guess it's quite obvious no one really knows what will happen during this crazy times so it's hard to plan. What we are planning is to be as flexible as we can and have lots of plan B/C/D and even E if needed mainly to try and have fun with whatever will be. Regarding the name , I wanted to call it "cruise to the unknown" but that unfortunately already taken here (remember the days people were cruising and written blogs about it ?).
Why started now ? Two weeks looked like a good time to start and beside while writing this first post I am seating at one of my favorites beach near my home and what is better place to start writing a cruise blog if not here ?
What is the plan , in high level
1. Try avoiding cathing COVID-19 in the next few weeks . Take a c19 test 3 days before the cruise. 
2. Fly to Orlando (cheaper ticket than Miami)
3 Visit Universal park 
4 Drive to Miami and get on Symphony. Convincing the check in people to accept our vaccination paper (the vaccine card here is a pdf file which we need to print but it contains all the information RCL asking for) . Both of us already got the third  Pfizer booster shot this week so I hope no issues.
5. Do our first B2B , first time in grand suite.
6. Fly to the West coast to meet some family ( stopping in Vegas for few days)
7. Fly back home
More information to follow , for now going to seat back relax and enjoy the  breeze and sunset here
 


 

"We don't know the answer, but we're recommending something anyway" has been an unfortunate trend in CDC guidance.

+1 on what @Vancity Cruiserjust said.  This is getting ridiculous.
It better be open by December for my Allure sailing or same thing, I will have to drive 4 hours to Toronto and pay 2-3x the amount instead of driving 45 mins to DTW.  I cannot lose that December sailing....

Just checking in, we are still on for a 3 day trip.  Tried getting a visitor guide sent to me with no luck but I’m sure we will find plenty to do!  And since both the Orioles and Bosox currently suck, I’m sure tickets will be plentiful!