Chadster

It is just dumb...
Look at what is happening in Louisiana

For us, an aft balcony is worth a 10% premium on the equivalent cabin somewhere else. Sadly, our Coronavirus-cancelled Grandeur trip this year was an aft JS. Not easy to come by.

My township's mayor has been doing daily webcasts giving us updates on the infection rate and hospitalizations for just our township. We're a population of about 55,000, so the numbers are still thankfully small. But our Shelter-in-Place order kicked into effect on March 13, and we had our first positive case on March 17. Since then, just over the course of 12 days, we've gone up to 93 confirmed cases.
We have a drive-up testing facility set up at the local college, which just went into operation a few days ago. They had administered over 140 tests as of this past Friday, and 45% of them have come back positive. We were at 56 confirmed cases on March 27, and on the 28th we jumped up to 80; much of that bump is due to the new testing center's results. Today, just a day later, we got another 13 positive cases (93 total).
My township, I have to say, is being laudatory with making all the data public on their web site. 59 of the 93 cases are in people aged 40 to 69; this is not singling out the elderly by any stretch. The good news is that out of the 93 total cases, only 3 are in the hospital; everyone else is at home, without major complications or severe symptoms.
Yet, our mayor says in every broadcast from every. single. day that the police are seeing groups of people gathering, having their children play together at playgrounds or parks, and generally ignoring the admonitions to keep away from each other. There are even people here who are still going to their places of worship and congregating together. It's insane!! No one seems to understand the ease with which this disease spreads from person to person, all while they're showing no symptoms.
Those of us who are acting like the nut job who built a doomsday shelter and won't come out except at hours when we're sure to be among few to none will hopefully come out healthy and unscathed. But all those who willingly disregard the warnings aren't just inviting disaster on themselves, but on everyone they infect in passing.

Another option...

It's now becoming a travel advisory from the CDC. It's all too little, too late. Spring Break shouldn't have happened. Mardi Gras shouldn't have happened.
The states need to learn from one another, and the federal government needs to give the states the support they need in order to take measures they need to. A federal quarantine order likely wouldn't have been legal, even if we're viewing this as "a time of war". But mostly, people need to learn.
They single out cruise-ship passengers and say "you shouldn't have packed into a space with 5,000 people!" all while heading to the beaches after they've been warned not to.
They're going to be toddlers...somebody says they can't do something, so they'll do it.
Meanwhile, my friend's uncle dies.
There's a really good chance I'm going to end up cancelling my spring/summer cruises (main in June, backup in July) that depart Cape Liberty. These governors are doing their best, but as has been said, you can't put the genie back in the bottle.

Under no circumstance should anyone book an aft balcony on any ship.  As a service to all of mankind, when I cruise, I will think of the other person first and take the aft balcony off of someone else's hands.  It's a heavy price for me as just one humble individual to pay, but someone's got to do it.
TIC of course.  Aft balconies are the bomb.

We're booked in an aft cabin on Adventure on a Baltic cruise next year, and cannot WAIT...

We have an aft JS booked for Odyssey inaugural. It will be our first aft cabin. Sure hope we will be able to go!

We had 1388 this Past Christmas and 1390 for New Years on the Adventure.  B2B

I miss watching the people,  kids so tired they can´t hold their heads up, parents also. lol Breakfast on the open deck at the back of the windjammer on the Anthem. My wife makes crocheted snowflakes and gives them to crew members before christmas, the joy in their faces is a great gift, You are right the RCL crew is the best!

This is the one reason I'm considering sticking with my June cruise on Adventure that was supposed to go to Canada, but will likely go to Bermuda -- I got an aft corner, and I'm really psyched about it!

Wow, the above is the first post I’ve ever made that got all six possible reactions. RCLBlog achievement unlocked! ?

It is a horrible effect sometimes...freedom. Illinois had a stay in place order since March 15th, we were one of the first and we didn't have that many cases. We had been asked prior to that to limit group interactions. Yet people bristled at the notion they couldn't do what they wanted. My own 80 yo grandmother, who normally never leaves her home for months a time, decided because they government said she should stay inside, she wouldn't. She said she survived 2 husbands, the lost of 3 children and the civil war. She has arms, legs and her faculties.....why shouldn't she do what she wants???
That was the notion of spring breakers, our president and people who refused to adjust to this real threat. In Chicago our mayor had to send out emergency alerts because people were congregating in groups along walking paths, beaches and bike lines. This is a week after the Shelter in place order had been issued. After they saw how much cases and deaths have risen exponentially. O'hare airport had lines for days when Shelter in place went into affect. My mother has worked for a grocery store for almost 40 years, she said they have never had lines that reached the parking lot before.
It seems like bans and quarantine won't do any good if people don't have the right mentality in effect. It is going to have to get real bad for people to understand how even though you might be fine, your actions have the potential to affect 20 plus and so on.

Another option...

Yup! #TeamSharla #TeamMEI

It's now becoming a travel advisory from the CDC. It's all too little, too late. Spring Break shouldn't have happened. Mardi Gras shouldn't have happened.
The states need to learn from one another, and the federal government needs to give the states the support they need in order to take measures they need to. A federal quarantine order likely wouldn't have been legal, even if we're viewing this as "a time of war". But mostly, people need to learn.
They single out cruise-ship passengers and say "you shouldn't have packed into a space with 5,000 people!" all while heading to the beaches after they've been warned not to.
They're going to be toddlers...somebody says they can't do something, so they'll do it.
Meanwhile, my friend's uncle dies.
There's a really good chance I'm going to end up cancelling my spring/summer cruises (main in June, backup in July) that depart Cape Liberty. These governors are doing their best, but as has been said, you can't put the genie back in the bottle.

Meeting New People ? 

Everything except for the last day!
If I had to pick one thing... definitely the moment after checking into your cabin and the unpacking is complete... realizing that your cruise is just about to begin and you're now ready to leave the cabin and explore the ship!
 

Yup. I log on to my cruise planner and then find myself thinking what's the point. ?

At this point I miss just being excited about any of my future cruises. There are just too many unknowns.

Just being away from the "real world"

So I have folks in my neighborhood (Harbor Inlet Neighborhood) in Fort Lauderdale that see the ships coming in and out on a daily basis and are fuming mad that “cruises are still operating”. Literally people so uninformed as to believe that cruises are coming into Fort Lauderdale and leaving with passengers. I’ve had to explain to my neighbors and friends that these people they see on the ships going out the inlet are in fact crew members not in uniform. Interesting to note we are seeing lots of ships come in for fuel & provisioning then heading back to anchor off shore. 

The build-up. Counting down the days and obsessively checking the Cruise Planner to try and snag a good deal on something. Checking a gazillion excursion websites for each port in an effort to find the best ones. Reading and re-reading the live blogs for our chosen ship in the run-up to cruise day.
It's hard to get excited and enjoy the thrill of planning when you can't be sure your cruise is even going to happen.

I miss everything.   The excitement of embarkation day, the first drink by the pool, getting to see our room for the first time, first night in the dining room, and so on.
But one thing that particularly stands out for me is watching the sun go down, the stars come out, smelling the clean ocean air, and watching the wake drift lazily behind the ship.  Such a calm and peaceful experience (for me anyway).