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I just want to make sure everyone is clear that these policies have nothing to do with CDC guidelines or "government bureaucracy." Nothing is forcing them to do this. No government is mandating these policies. RCI is doing this because their medically trained health experts, who are tasked with evaluating the efficacy of these types of policies, have determined that this policy will help to ensure safe cruising. This is a decision being made by a private business in the best interest of its future and the safety of its customers and employees. No government body is forcing them to do this.

This is a very good point as well. The loudest faction of people (but not necessarily the largest) are the people who see this as a bad thing. There are certainly people (likely those who cruise less often but could potentially be interested in doing it a lot more often -- a very important group of people for the industry) who will feel more comfortable cruising with this policy in place.

I totally understand why everyone here is upset, but I wish you would just step back and understand why they're doing this. They're fully aware there are people out there like you who would be upset about this. They have plenty of people calling them right now complaining. When they made this decision I'm sure they had a pretty accurate approximation in mind of the revenue they'd lose over the next few weeks by instilling this policy. They know they will lose bookings over this. They've baked that into this decision. However, their (very) educated decision -- as the people who lead this industry and know more about it than we ever could -- is that this policy will do more to keep cruising (and the public's perception of cruising) safe than the negative effect of people cancelling right now. I understand also that some people here think masks do not work. Unfortunately for those people, RCI listens to their full-time medical staff, who are medically trained doctors whose full-time job is to evaluate the efficacy of masks and other safety measures on cruising. It's a pretty specific job that they dedicate their life to. And those educated individuals (along with other business executives more concerned with finances and long-term viabilty of the company and industry) have determined this policy will help them continue to cruise safety. The executives at RCI don't give a crap about politics. They care about what's going to allow them to succeed now and years and decades into the future. That's why these decisions are made. That said, I think anyone with a cruise between now and Jan. 5 should absolutely be provided the opportunity to make changes to their itinerary if they don't wish to cruise under this policy.

Agreed. It's insane how entitled people are. RCI is doing what they feel they need to do to make sure the public views cruising as safe and to ensure long-term viability for the company and their shareholders. That's RCI's only agenda. They're not out to get you. There are plenty of places to spend your vacation budget. If you don't like it, go somewhere else.

I don't disagree with you on that. The timing stinks. But honestly this Omicron stuff has come fast and furious. A week ago I was living a completely normal life. I was going out and not thinking about it. My kids in school every day. I didn't know anyone with COVID. Now it's like everyone in my town has it. So I think it's somewhere in between. I don't think they purposely did this now to screw over their customers. I think they weren't expecting this and it came quickly. But I agree for sure they should be understanding and allow people to change their plans!

I get it, totally. It's a tricky situation. You do have other choices, but everyone has known for years that cruise ships are a time bomb for any kind of outbreak. This comes with the territory of cruising as long as you have thousands of people trapped on a boat for days at a time. What I'm saying is that you can't really be mad about it. They're doing what's best for the company. They aren't caving to any sort of trend or regulation. They feel any short-term issues and cancellations from people like many on this thread are easily worth swallowing to maintain the perception of a safe cruise industry.

This really doesn't have much of anything to do with the CDC. These executives have one focus: their revenue and their stock price. They are going to do whatever they have to do to maintain the viability of RCI. If they felt that this new rule would cause more cancellations than it would help them continue to cruise safely, they wouldn't do it. They're doing it because they feel it's their best course of action right now to ensure safe cruising and the long-term viability of the company.

Just remember: This isn't about you or your vacation. This industry cannot stomach a huge outbreak right now. It could kill them if they can't continue to prove that cruising is safe. We should understand that they know more about this than we do (these cruise execs have spent their lives focused on this for the past 22 months), and if they think it'll help they're probably right. At least more so than we can claim to know. They are FULLY aware that people don't like wearing masks and that it drives down demand to make people wear masks any more than they have to. They know this will cause people to cancel. So obviously they feel this is necessary or they wouldn't do it.

I get it, Matt. But it's very disrespectful that I type a sincere response to a post and for multiple people to laugh at it due to idiotic political rhetoric. That's antagonistic. If you're trying to maintain the standards of this forum, you should start there.

calvink669 - Why the laugh? Are you calling me a liar? I've lived in the COVID world for the past two years just as you have. And I'm telling you, previously, I knew plenty of people who got exposed to someone with COVID and it was only on an off chance that they got it too. Right now, everyone in my community is getting it. It's gone crazy the past few days. The contagiousness is noticeably different. Maybe you'll need to see it get to wherever you live. I'm telling you, it's not as dangerous. This isn't some kind of scare tactic. But it's definitely spreading way easier.

I fail to see the allure (no pun intended) of the Wonder as far as wanting to give it a spin. It's newer, sure, but it seems like its primary calling card that separates it from the other Oasis ships is that there's the special area for suite guests. To me, it's a turnoff that they had the opportunity to debut a new ship and chose to cater to the elite rather than do something that benefits all passengers.

For sure, but until they actually start replacing Labadee with DR there's no precedent for it (I don't think?) Also, honestly, there is way more at play here than we know about as far as docking fees, COVID restrictions, and other logistics, so who knows?

As of now, it looks like there are only a two RC ships per month scheduled to stop there in January, February, and March, and all but one is an Oasis class ship.

True but very, very few RC ships go to Puerto Plata, and there aren't any currently scheduled to stop at La Romana over the next several months.

If they add Nassau or a "double-dip" at Coco, it would have to be on Feb. 6, not the 7th (which is when you're supposed to be at Labadee.) Sorry, I'm a nerd about this stuff, but Nassau is 750 nautical miles to San Juan, where you need to be on the 8th. You wouldn't nearly be able to get there in one night. If they add one of those two, they'd have to make it the day after you leave and then move the day at sea on the 7th on the way to San Juan. Once you pass the Bahamas, there really aren't any other options on the way to PR other than Labadee, so I'd say you're either going to add Nassau or have a second day at sea.

That's interesting because I'm going on the Freedom in a couple weeks and I was looking at recent Cruise Compass. On Freedom, Deck 3 is for vaccinated passengers and 4 and 5 are for non.

My family of 4 (two kids -- 9 and 7) is headed out on Dec. 27 with a cruise going to Nassau. We are really trying to save money on anything additional out-of-pocket. In other words, I don't want to spend $300+ on a shore excursion in Nassau if we don't have to. On other cruises we've been to ports where you could have fun just walking around, but we've also been to others where you really can't venture outside of the port area and there's not much to do without an excursion. From everything I've read, there's the small beach, the straw market, and some other shopping/town-type stuff within walking distance of the port. Some shops, a beach, and a restaurant to eat would be enough for us, but it also seems like people are saying that it's not a desirable area. I'm also reading there are a lot of aggressive vendors around there (but it sounds like aggressive vendors are everywhere at Nassau even if we took an excursion to another beach.) Should I feel like we should need to do an excursion on Nassau or is walking around those areas safe and sufficient? Looking for any thoughts. Thanks!

They definitely would dock two ships at CocoCay on the same day, even if one is an Oasis class. Someone else on here was asking about a Labadee change and the day they're scheduled to be at Coco, the Symphony is going to be there as well. Not ideal. My guess is you're going to Nassau.

This is pretty telling. If Odyssey is at 80% now, I have to imagine all the major ships (if not all the ships) will be at least 80% during the holidays.

When I was a kid the formal night was more of a publicized thing onboard and pretty much everyone followed it. I have photos from formal nights with my parents on Nordic Empress and Majesty. But it's just unreasonable with how big the cruising industry has gotten to expect everyone who takes a cruise to bring formalwear. Now that I've been on cruises with my kids (6 and 8 the last time we went), we've learned that the room is not our friend. It's just too small to contain all four of us for very long. The idea of having to head back to the room a couple hours before dinner with enough time for everyone to shower and get ready, keep the kids happy in that tiny stateroom for all that time, and get all dressed up for a dinner that's going to last 45 minutes (kids just don't sit for hours), is just too much stress for a vacation. Even just the idea of having nice clothes that need to stay impeccably clean and wrinkle-free in that little room with a week's worth of luggage, other crap we pick up along the way, and 2 adults and 2 kids bouncing around is a bit much.

You're right, but it's difficult to simply say "everyone should just do what they want to do and not worry about anyone else" because, while I definitely don't want to dress formal on a cruise ever, I can see why it's off-putting to come dressy and be sitting next to a dad in a tank-top, mesh shorts, and flip flops. But I believe there's a very reasonable middle-ground here. I believe there should be minimal dress requirements for the MDR but that they should be just that: minimal. Just be reasonable: Nothing tattered or dirty. No tank tops or for guys. No bathing suits (which I believe may already be a rule.) I'd say we can probably do without mesh shorts. Just enough to preserve a reasonable level of decency without forcing anyone to dress formal on their vacation.

If you're going to dress up I would really recommend you get the photo package, if you're not already planning to. Every night before dinner there were tons of opportunities for great, posed photos. On Symphony, they provided several different designed backdrops each night on top of also taking pictures on staircases, etc. You end up coming out with all sorts of great professional photos that can be used for printing and hanging, holiday cards, etc. Even if you're not dressing up, I'd still recommend it just for the sheer number of opportunities there are to get professional photos.

Welcome to perhaps the most hotly debated topic among cruisers. There are two camps on this: Some people want to feel like they're in the old days of cruising and want dinner to be a special occasion where everyone gets dressed up like they're going to the homecoming dance each night and dinner is truly an elegant event. Other people feel that they're on vacation -- a tropical vacation, no less -- and don't want to have to dress up just to get the dinner they've paid for. Besides, it's really annoying with airlines charging for checked bags these days to have to bring all sorts of separate dressy clothes that need to be packed and cared for more seriously than, say, a t-shirt and shorts. I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't want to have to bring really nice clothes on my vacation, and I don't want to have to wear a jacket and tie to dinner. However, these are legitimately beautiful dining rooms with wait staff that are dressed up as to create the aura of a nice restaurant. And there are lots of people who do want it to feel upscale. For that reason, I don't think it's respectful to go in a sleeveless t-shirt and basketball shorts. But, for me, I think a nice pair of shorts and a polo shirt is fine. It doesn't offend the people who want to treat it like an upscale dining experience, but it's not uncomfortable or annoying to pack.

That's frustrating. I assume they will have to open more tables, otherwise it's a logistical mess for them with dozens of people walking around with plates looking for somewhere to eat. The only other option would be to limit capacity of the Windjammer and force people to make reservations. That would really annoy me because part of what I enjoy about the WJ is the ability to just show up, or even go myself to grab something if my family isn't eating.

Not really sure what kind of privacy you're worried about. What are you trying to do that you're worried other people are going to see? The balconies on either side of you can easily see over around the barrier so it's not like you're going to sit out there nude or something. I agree with @melmar02that it's the room below you (with you looking down from above) whose privacy is more open to infringement.