joshgates

Yup, I started to fill it out and just realized the answer is "yes, oh dear god why are you even bothering to check". I just need to get a cocktail version of this for easy mask wearing and drinking and I'll be set.

To me there's not really much to discuss about it. I'd imagine that as part of any lead up to sailing resuming that they'll announce what will happen if you're denied boarding, similar to how they did in the last couple of sailings before everything shut down. Likely a FCC or refund for the cruise fare. It'll be up to people traveling to make the choice, do they want to accept the risk that they could get denied and have to make their way home and lose the costs associated with travel, or if they want to take advantage of one of the CWC options. I fully agree that we'll likely see some irate people if they get denied boarding, but I want the lines to be strict about it, and I have no doubt they will be. People will have to accept that's a potentiality and that there will be some additional restrictions if they decide to take a cruise. One of the things that gave me a little more confidence was seeing MSC deny reboarding to a group that went away from their excursion group, they were willing to put the health and safety of the rest of the passengers and crew above inconveniencing a few. Cruising, like everything, will be a bit different for at least awhile (although I hope some changes stick around for good) and with leisure travel we're going to have to accept that there's a chance it won't happen and if it does that it'll have extra restrictions on it.

Haha, not much of an actual chance of that! I like to book out of Port Canaveral so I can come in a couple days early for some quality time at KSC ?

Having later checkins like that makes me somewhat more willing to catch an early flight the morning of now knowing there's a bit more leeway in the day.

The more lines I see releasing their protocols/guidelines the more optimistic I get that cruising will return sooner rather than later. One thing that did stand out for me was that they're asking you to only eat with people in the same booking, which makes sense. Since I mostly travel solo sometimes I find it fun to request a larger table to see who I meet, looks like those days are gone for awhile ? QR codes and reduced occupancy I'm looking forward to though.

It gives me some measure of hope that I'll actually be on Harmony in December, I'll take it ? Worst case...I'm just paying off some of next years early.

it's a (much) smaller line and right now operating strictly in Norway, but Seadream's been having some fantastic success with it's sailings so far. They had a webinar yesterday where they went into some details about the precautions they're taking and how excursions/etc are working for them.

Of those I'd go with the T6i, it's just a little more versatile than the T7 and gives a bit more room to grow while they figure out what they really enjoy. LCD, microphone input, better SD card capabilities, and higher iso capability pushes above the T7 for me. Reality is, don't overthink it too much though, pretty much anything from the last decade is going to be sufficient and allow for a _lot_ of growth to someone just starting out and as they figure out what they like doing a lens/reflector/flash etc will offer a much larger improvement than a new feature in a camera body. (some exceptions for low light, astrophotography, some sports, etc etc) I'd second both @twangster and @JLMoran Start with a kit lens, while I personally love prime lenses for multiple reasons, let them figure out what they like shooting and what focal length's they tend to go towards before you invest in them. And avoid a lot of the cheap accessory kits that seem to come with half the cameras online nowadays, most of the time they're really not worth the extra cost.

Yeah, to me that's the main indicator that they have confidence in sailings resuming shortly in some capacity. I just have no clue what it takes to get a ship/etc ready that's been without passengers and a large portion of the staff/crew for several months, if there are other indications that a ship is being prepared for passengers again.

Spent some time this morning deciding how I wanted to handle upcoming final payments, current FCC's, etc and started to wonder, what would the initial signs be that Royal (or any major cruise line in the US) be that they're confident in restarting sailings and what would a timeframe from those signs be? A few things that I figure we'll see first, and I'm going to use the assumption that they are confident in their ability to protect themselves, their crew, and passengers. Detailed plans announced for mitigation (reduced capacity, reserved seats at shows, how dining/bar services will work, etc.) Confirmation of agreement with the CDC that the line has met or exceeded their requirements Removal of no sail order (by expiration or otherwise) Announcement of additional cancelations excluding specific ships (assuming phased startup) Staffing up of a(or multiple) ships Announcements of changed itineraries on select sailings I'll admit though, I don't know much about the actual operations of a cruise line, so would love some feedback/discussion on what others would expect to see logistically that some sailings would be resuming within a couple months?

To be expected, I figure anything that I have booked between now and spring will be canceled. Worst case...I'm right and my vacation fund for next year just keeps getting bigger (maybe I'll finally get to Antartica?). Best case I'm wrong and "yay cruise day!".

How many cartwheels would it take an average height adult to get across (bow to stern) deck 15 on an oasis class ship? Bonus points if the degree of inebriation is taken into account.

Yup, no idea if I was "victim" of a beneficial mix up or not, but I got everything back as cash except 25% of the fare. Really surprised me since I expected to just get it back as a FCC.

Hmm, not sure there. I canceled one for July just after final payment but before they canceled it, got a refund for 75% with a FCC for the other 25%. I'd thought the same as what you said so inquired and was told that you'd get a refund for anything that you'd typically get refunded without the CWC and a FCC for anything that you'd ordinarily forfeit. In this case I'd assume they'd get a refund for everything except the deposit and that they'd get as a FCC. That said, I got the refund relatively quickly but the FCC I had to call about, evidently some sort of mixup with that. Got corrected within a few days though.

1: Hard choice, but I’ll go with wandering around Nassau and Jamaica trying to find a light up Santa hat a few days before Christmas so I could fulfill a promise I made while slightly inebriated. 2: Relaxing with no responsibilities for awhile, and that first drink on the pool deck after boarding.

The travel day on the way back. Upside of all this is I’m looking at sailings out of NY/NJ now so I can just drive. Even with a 6 (ok, we’ll say 7 with traffic and a stop midway), that’s faster than getting back from the south. Fewer distractions from my audio books too ?

I'd be perfectly fine with and possibly even prefer a social distancing enforced cruise. I cruise solo for the most part and it's the atmosphere of fun, cheer, and lack of responsibility that keeps me coming back, the people I meet and the activities are just a happy bonus. A good portion of my days are spent sitting in a quieter area either reading, working planning for an idea (or brainstorming a new one), or working so I can afford to keep cruising. Long as I can continue to spend my evenings enjoying a beverage with some decent conversation and the occasional antics, I'm pretty good. To be honest the next cruise I have booked that's still going is in December, I'm more concerned with my flights to/from Orlando than I am of the actual cruises themselves. Depending on if it's canceled or not and the state of things I may cancel it myself for that reason. There's a good chance that for the foreseeable future I'll be booking only ones leaving from the northeast that I can drive to.

Well, I'm a little disappointed, but figured this was coming. Glad they did it well before final payment dates though. Think I'm going to stick to my plan of not rebooking anything until sailings start though. Still four more this year that have a good chance of getting canceled and just can't see the sense of adding more yet.

Checking a bag, I prefer hard shell and I've got an amazon basics 24" spinner that's seen it's share of being tossed around and is still holding up like a trooper. Like @CGTLH my intense dislike of the clamshell style opening lead me on a search for another solution. I kind of wish I'd seen the one he had linked, but went a different direction. Luckily I'm an excessively light packer so this may not work for everyone. Basically, carry on only regardless of the length of the trip with an ONA Brixton for camera/iPad/kindle/misc electronics and important things, and a duffle bag for shoes/clothes/toiletries. Do generally have to send a few things out for steaming/pressing the first night and on a multi week trip I'll have to do laundry, but it works. Now I'm going to be stuck going down the rabbit hole of hard shell luggage with a flap/compartment design for when I do need to check a bag...

It's a hard choice to make and depends on what's more important to you; the chance to take the cruise or the peace of mind that comes from a certainty. For me, I had to make the choice on my July 12th trip a little while ago. Flights, hotel, excursions, drink package, etc were already done and the final payment was all that was left and I opted to cancel. The stress of not knowing if we'd be sailing or not (95% not) didn't let me enjoy the lead up and planning for a trip like I usually do. If I kept researching and planning on sailing then I'd just be extra disappointed if (when) the sailing was actually canceled, instead I decided to just focus on further out plans and making new ones. It didn't hurt that I'd already had a few land based trips canceled as far out as September already. Knowing that this cruise wasn't going to happen for sure let me destress a bit and I'm spending time thinking about December and February trips and figuring out what I can do in 2021. Still does leave a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth though since it was planned for my 40th birthday, alas I guess pandemics take priority.

On my way to dinner a stop at the Wonderland bar for a Rolling Stone, although looking forward to trying the urban garden martini at CP150. After dinner an espresso martini or another stop up to Wonderland to ease into the evening before switching to Titos and soda with a slice of orange (occasional splash of cranberry too).

This portion of the post is just saying what was originally intended to be completed prior to the capital expenditure reductions or deferrals, while the linked article and translation list what's currently slated to be done.

Royal math. Something to do with how many they plan on selling, what the current sales numbers are, and likely a ton of other factors. I've got pricing for DBP on Harmony for $49 one week and $57 the next, then two months later on Odyssey it's $84. If you're going to be getting internet too a lot of times the DBP+Voom package is a better deal too, on the Harmony ones above it's only $8 extra for voom instead of the $11.50 for getting it separate. As far as I know though the current promotions they're running are only for sailings from September -> December. Buy when it hits a price you like or can deal with and if it drops later you can cancel and rebuy ?. I use it as an excuse to check back several times a week and daydream a little while waiting...

@WAAAYTOOO and @AshleyDillo Thanks! That's part of my worry is that I'll get sick of them, at home I eat pretty cleanly and after a few days of heavy/rich food I'm just craving a salad or something very vegetable heavy yet I'd feel "obligated" to eat at a specialty. Most lunches wouldn't be of interest to me either, maybe one each week. I think the 3 night dining package each week would be the perfect way to do it, realistically I'd want to do Wonderland, Izumi Hibachi, Chops, and Jamie's once each and CP 150 twice, then augment with Izumi ala carte whenever I'm in the mood for that. Much obliged! Sometimes I just can't decide until I get an outside view ?

I know that procrastination feeling all too well! let me know if this works to attach it, I just took out the confirmation numbers/etc and left everything else. Trip Overview - HoS - December 13-27 2020 - clear.numbers