Chadster

I'm just hoping that if they do extend their resumption of cruises, they'll push out FCCs or refunds quickly. I'm really trying hard not to cancel my original June sailing and go full-on with my July sailing (Canada/New England), but I worry if I wait too much longer, I won't get the FCC quickly enough, and I'll put a bit of extra financial strain on myself. ?
I'm not very good at this whole patience thing. ?

I'm just hoping that if they do extend their resumption of cruises, they'll push out FCCs or refunds quickly. I'm really trying hard not to cancel my original June sailing and go full-on with my July sailing (Canada/New England), but I worry if I wait too much longer, I won't get the FCC quickly enough, and I'll put a bit of extra financial strain on myself. ?
I'm not very good at this whole patience thing. ?

Very excited about this news! So excited that we changed our Serenade July 2021 sailing to the Quantum out of Seattle! This change leads me to wonder if QOS will receive a refurb/update besides the laser tag to appeal to the American market. Since this ship has been in the Asian market for quite some time, it has a noodle shop among other Asian specialties and interests. Does anyone have any idea? Heard anything? Granted, we will still be in the #teamCK crew as we will be Sky Class, but just wondering about some of the other offerings. So Psyched! Now, if we could get that intern to show up again! 
Thanks Sharla at MEI for making this happen!!

Actually.... it's a all been codified into US law.  While it may have been the Jones Act or The PVSA in origin, technically about 15 years ago those all sort of wrapped into various parts of US law (46. U.S.C. § 50101 and 46 U.S.C. § 55103 plus others).  Origins of both impact the cruise industry. 
The Jones Act was originally conceived to apply to merchant shipping but as written parts of it apply to any vessel, cargo or cruise (or other) in US waters.  Percentages of US steel in a ship, percentage of US workers on board, cabotage, etc. are items from Jones that apply to cruise ships while the concept of closed loop and distant foreign port comes (plus other items) come from the PVSA.
There will not be any waivers anytime soon.  Doing so would have ramifications beyond what anyone could imagine. 
The concept of cabotage, picking up a passenger (or a thing like cargo) in one US origin and dropping them (it) off in another US destination applies to airlines as well.  You ever won't see foreign carries such as Qantas, Air Canada or British Airways picking up a passenger in say New York and dropping them in Los Angles.  Nor will you see American, Delta or United (or any US airline) picking up a passenger in Sydney and dropping them off in Brisbane just as an example.  International agreements and conventions rule the movement of passengers and who can move who within a country versus to a foreign country.  They are delicately negotiated between foreign countries.
Many countries have variations of laws that apply to cabotage although some enforce them for airlines more so then for ocean travel because many countries have no domestic maritime industry they are trying to protect.  
Believe it or not there are significant international conventions that govern the maritime industry including the maximum time any one person can work on ship.  If a ship worker wanted to work two back to back contracts by maritime law and convention they can't if it exceeds established time frames.  Hours per days, week, month etc. are as well.  Many of these were established for maritime personnel before cruising became a thing.  If you think a cruise ship worker has it bad there are plenty of maritime ship employees on various other forms of ships that have it much worse.  Today they have it somewhat better because of how the merchant marine industry mistreated it's workers many decades ago.  It wasn't the cruise ship industry that drove the creation of these protections as many people believe.
The day any cruise line is granted a waiver or exemption from US Law there would be an avalanche and ripple effects through many closely or somewhat related industries.  No one is going to upset the carefully balanced apple cart that allows cruise ships (and other 'carriers') to operate as they do today.    A cruise line is just another "carrier" in a complicated system that governs all "carriers" - planes, trains, ships and others.
The reason Puerto Rico isn't subject to enforcement (at the moment) is that there is no US carrier attempting to operate passenger service on a maritime route to the US mainland.  If NCL gave up it's Hawaii operation, it's conceivable that eventually Hawaii could possibly be subject to a similar temporary waiver.  Keywords are conceivable, eventually and possibly.  The story of the NCL's ship that qualify as "US ships" versus "foreign flagged" is complicated and a very long story.  I don't see them giving up on that and any waiver granted to any foreign flagged vessel would surely be met with legal challenges that would go on for many years.

Now I wanna book an Antarctic cruise! ?
 

Now I wanna book an Antarctic cruise! ?
 

Now I wanna book an Antarctic cruise! ?
 

Now I wanna book an Antarctic cruise! ?
 

This one is for @SpeedNoodles.
https://www.wnd.com/2020/03/penguins-leave-habitat-go-exploring-aquarium-forced-shut-visitors/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=wnd-brief&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=brief

I'd like to echo this, PLEASE don't jump into the stock market willy nilly! Timing the stock market is impossible and if you aren't invested wisely and with a lot of diversity it is extremely risky.  Don't do options. If you want to buy some stocks right now please be doing a lot of research over the next couple weeks before making any decisions. Talk with a professional financial planner and stay away from day trading. Look for solid companies with a history of beating the S&P for the bulk of your investing. You can put a Little into higher risk, higher reward companies but that should also be diversified with many others and should be a small part of your portfolio. If you don't plan on keeping these stocks for the next 10 years then just DONT DO IT. If you just go with your gut you are going to lose, do your homework. 
Also please do not invest or stop investing in a company because of how you feel about them. Money doesn't care. Read their balance sheets. How much debt do they have compared to savings? What are their profit margins? ect....
God bless! Cruise and be Merry!

If all else fails you can always hook your laptop up to your largest TV. Put on your cruising clothes and watch live blogs of cruises....I am sure we are all stocked up to make our own DBP.
If that makes you sad, given this trying time, do what I do. Look at videos of cats, or any animal, riding out social distancing.

So while I understand your desire for a rapid release of some medical option to treat this novel virus, I've actually been involved in presenting the trials of new drugs to the FDA (WAAAAY back when I was getting my Masters degree and doing whatever basic temp work I could find to pay the bills). Yes, it's a bureaucracy of byzantine proportions. But it's very much built on the rigors of science and thorough testing. The FDA is probably looking at a few really important points that must be clarified before they start instructing doctors to administer it en masse:
Just because this drug is effective against SARS does not guarantee it's going to be effective against Covid-19. As you noted, the two are cousins. A big difference is that Covid appears to include genetic material from a virus that infects bats, which is something that does not normally happen and could lead to big differences in the drug's efficacy. If it is effective against Covid-19, what is the minimum effective dose? It could be a lot higher than what's needed to treat SARS, so much so that the side effects rapidly outweigh the benefits and severely limit the apply to supply the drug to a broad population. OR it could be (a lot) lower, meaning there's more to go around and patients get fewer side effects. What side effects? Look here; they aren't pleasant. If it's effective, how much does administering the drug reduce the patient's symptoms vs. no drug? And how much does it reduce the duration of the illness? When I was helping to put together a presentation on a new weight-loss drug to the FDA, this was a big topic during the presentations. You have to show statistically significant reduction in one, the other, or both to get approval. Why? Because... even a cheap drug will make the manufacturer a ton of money at times like these with high demand and tightening supply, and people will find ways to price gouge without crossing the legal border. And if it's only minimally effective at treating the disease, there's little reason to separate the patients who are already facing possibly large medical bills from this disease from even more of their money. The same line of questioning will apply to the drug Remdesivir, along with additional questions about how safely purely it's manufactured. Don't scoff at this; compounding pharmacies, especially overseas ones, have been taking a beating over the poor quality of their products as certain states in the US that still support the death penalty have been going to them more and more in their quest for the lethal injection cocktails they need to perform executions, which have been outlawed here and in many countries and require novel alternatives.
Believe me, we all want something that will let us get out of our homes faster and back to normal ASAP. But science and tests for safety and efficacy don't care about that; the research takes as long as the research takes. Yup, I've been on that side of the work in my past as well (though not for anything nearly as urgent). Some regulations can be loosened to help speed things along a bit, but the work still has to be done and proven. Consider the flip side: We rush out this drug without fully testing it, and it's not just ineffective but leads to thousands of deaths as people who would have been hospitalized were given the pills and sent home instead of being admitted to the hospital. No one in the FDA who's a licensed MD and scientists wants that on their conscience.

That was the one sailing I got the $18/day package on! Another reason I don’t want to lose that sailing.

You and me both! I'm ready to splurge on the DBP while heading north! ?

I know that for a lot of people outside of this community, it may seem silly to be so upset about canceled/changed cruises. However, we all understand that vacations like these are a way to escape reality and make once-in-a-lifetime moments. We all come together to enjoy these fantastic ships and destinations and we truly get to appreciate the good times. So given the hard times at the moment and what may come up, I wanted to take a moment to appreciate this community. We will get through this and cheers to our next cruise vacation (whenever it may be)! (Also thanks to @Matt obviously lol) 

It's true, we are on the west coast here in Florida and there are still resorts open for business. The beaches are packed and you would not believe the stores, drove the vehicles to keep batteries charged and the local stores are as busy as Holiday shopping time. And while the younger set is on the beach, it is the older generation that are in the stores. It's very frustrating because while we (our family) shelter in place (trying not to binge eat really nasty delicious food) we look about and shake our heads, what are they thinking? We can hear live bands at a local "resort" Just unbelievable! The bands are playing and the resorts are open because people are showing up! Stay safe & healthy everyone.

I sure hope that they start up again before July 15th!! ??

@Neesa I just saw that too about DCL. I hope Royal does the right thing this time and follows suit. ?

06 June 2020 the first Saturday of the month.
We are not cancelling our 28 June 2020 so if RCCL cancels we will take the 125% FCC and apply to the Thanksgiving sailing. Just saw DCL pushed final payments for their summer sailings back 30 days. I wonder if RCCL is considering this? My balance is due at the end of this month, I guess we will see. (Always pay balance last possible moment, nothing worse then the feeling of missing a price drop because you paid the balance early.)
 

This is the big concern right now, per the advisory:
" If you choose to travel internationally, your travel plans may be severely disrupted, and you may be forced to remain outside of the United States for an indefinite timeframe."

We have friends on the Celeberty Eclipse. They've been stranded off the coast of Chile for days. They left Feb 28th and truly have no idea when they'll get home.

@CHRIS WONG You described a weird feeling regarding your Day 5 vlog, and those of us following you certainly feel the same. We have been very grateful for the perspective you have been giving, and hope this does not mean that the company is planning a longer suspension. On land, it can feel like there is no end in sight. We prefer to think positive and do what needs to be done. God bless, and hang in there...I hope you keep us informed...and thank you for your posts.

I have found over the years that buying property is the way to go. I purchase as much as I can, even the less expensive ones. But I don't really care for Boardwalk or Park Place. There is a big pay off once in awhile, but the chances that people actually land on them is not worth the expensive. I also like the railroads and utilities!

@Neesa This is exactly what happened with me! I talked with Sharla about the June cruise on Adventure just before she left, and she told me if I wanted to wait to get back, she'd book it for me. Well, that's when all the madness started, I saw prices on Adventure were really awesome. I didn't want to take something away from Sharla, so I PMed Annette and asked her if there was any way somebody could put a courtesy hold on a cabin for me, but that I could still work with Sharla. Annette had a courtesy hold for me in a few minutes, and shortly thereafter, my connection with Kelley happened, and she's been a champ through it all -- even after I've said more than once "I shouldn't need anything else!", an email has gone out to her because of the fluid situation, and she's always helped me!
Now I'm trying to give them a break from me for a couple of days! ?? Besides, RCCL hasn't got any update on the situation with Canadian ports before July 1, so they can't really do much for me, even if I wanted them to!
MEI has been amazing! Somehow, their training and cool heads are able to handle me and my obsessiveness -- not even my loved ones can do that some days! ??

Of course, it'll also depend on how long the just-announced closing of the border to all but essential travel could have an impact, too, depending on how long it lasts.
Because as much as we'd like to think of cruises as "essential", they are not.
That hurt to type. ?