cruisellama

21 hours ago, USCG Teacher said:

This is my #2 U.S. bucket list trip, preceded only by taking Coast Starlight from LA to Seattle in a sleeper car, then driving back along the PCH.  Route 1 through the Keys looks like an amazing once in a lifetime type of trip.

Really is a nice place.  Great restaurants.

On 7/12/2020 at 9:56 AM, SpeedNoodles said:

I do hope that this doesn't come true.  I've been wanting to visit Key West via cruise ship - I really don't want to drive all of the way down there one day!

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23213-key-west-could-ban-big-cruise-ships.html?fbclid=IwAR1fwhOm4Osa3Lejta-w4sIPE1Ckp83Tk_Rq1xprRZvfc2gCiIkGkRZB5M4

Hope not   Key West is a great stop.   Its a long drive, even if you live in FL, we found cruising there to be a great way to sample the locale.

9 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Not silly at all, but a very prudent question.

In our case, once we were doing 4 or more cruises per year, we decided that it was worthwhile to get the annual policy.  We look at it a lot like we do the Deluxe Beverage Package.  It really isn't about saving money, it's about the convenience.  Our annual policy has been $623 per year for the past 3 years so I assume that is the price that it's going to be for the foreseeable future.  We have been doing between 6-9 cruises per year. The annual policy definitely saves money over buying individual trip plans but even if it didn't, we would still do the annual policy.

For one thing, the annual policy is not just for cruises.  It is any travel that we do (of course, neither of us is traveling at all right now....but that's an anomaly) and in the recent past, both Dan and I traveled a lot for work.  Are there less expensive annual policies ?  Sure.  But we have the most inclusive policy that they offer with high limits b/c we cruise in suites most of the time and the $$ value of the overall trips is fairly high.  Now that I am on Medicare, I would not have health insurance coverage outside of the US if I didn't purchase it elsewhere.  It is mainly for this reason that we have travel insurance.

Here are the coverage caps:

 

 

I came across the following, related to COVID while I was looking up the coverage caps :

 

Very helpful.  We have 4 cruises  booked over the next 12 months (starting Nov if that goes).   And we do occasionally have add-on flights in between.  I had already purchased individual policies, but in reading them, it appears they can be cancelled 14 days prior to the cruise.   I did the preliminary math and appears I do come out ahead on an annual policy over the individuals.   So may make the jump if I can.  Thanks again!

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I recently renewed my annual Allianz policy and was told that it does not cover any kind of travel delay or interruption due to CV-19 but it cover illness-related issues.  So, if you get CV-19 while on a cruise it would cover hospitalization and emergency evacuation/repatriation.

Might be a silly question but would you have a recommendation on when it makes sense to go with the annual?  Is it 2, 3 trips or more?

Curious, if the the cruises are initially restricted in length to  - 3-7 days, will B2B cruises be prohibited?  

Do not miss the bogged down elevators after a show, embarkation day, disembarkation day

8 hours ago, crisgold52 said:

Agreed but one would argue a cruise ship is out in the middle of nowehere for days on end whereas while its accurate a plane has lesser hours there will be asymptomatic bodies everywhere. It would not be fun to fly in and then fail a temp check before enbarkation 

Think if anyone has an upcoming cruise this year (that actually goes).   Guests should isolate themselves 14 days before they leave for the airport/port minimizing the contagion vectors prior to travel.  So if they get sick after the cruise, there's an indication it came from the travel event (and not brought on-board).  And then at least high probability you become symptomatic after your trip and not during.

Wonder if Silverseas line is able to spin up faster (get back to sailing) with the smaller ships.  They'll have penned up demand too.

On 7/10/2020 at 8:15 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

I guess the best news here is that Royal Caribbean has any money to purchase anything !  A bit of reassurance, I suppose

 

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3590167-royal-caribbean-acquires-remaining-stake-in-silversea?utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha&mail_subject=rcl-royal-caribbean-acquires-remaining-stake-in-silversea&utm_campaign=rta-stock-news&utm_content=link-3

That's interesting.  Guess the return on investment (ROI) is better completely buying a high end line than completing amplification.

Feel better about being on a cruise ship than the aircraft to get me to the port.

Think everyone has heard first cruising will be done at reduced capacity.   Rumor (just seen it in a couple of articles) that the break even point on a ship is about 30% - probably depends greatly on the class of ship and itinerary.  We also probably know the entire fleet will not be sailing to begin with.   Maybe 4-8 ships per line will start.   Those who participate on this site alone will account for a lot of penned up demand.  Also rumor that the rooms used for initial cruising will be the higher revenue rooms - balconies, suites upper decks. (And fuel is cheap so far).

Therefore - there might be some decent profit even with operating at the reduced capacity.  We'll have dollars chasing goods & services which is inflationary - prices don't have to be dropped.   

Just a theory

What's really cool on Oasis is go to Deck 7 (cabins on that deck) and walk to the front of the ship as far as it goes.     Look toward the stern and you'll see a tiny light which is an exit leading to the Aquatheater.   Its the one interior deck you can look unobstructed from bow to stern (no obstructions or bends/turns).    You really get a feel for the size of the ship.

Nice summary

FUN!

On 7/9/2020 at 9:28 AM, CruzOnBye said:

Really looking forward to seeing some form of cruising take place soon so we can gauge the aftermath and read about what people are saying about their on board experiences! 

That will be very interesting to read.

On 7/1/2020 at 9:18 AM, Deb826 said:

I'm wondering if I'm expecting too much from my TA.  I've been unhappy because it seems to take forever for me to get responses to any questions or concerns that I have for the TA.  And this has been since the beginning of 2019 when I originally scheduled my now cancelled Symphony cruise in August!  So it's not because of the situation with cruising today.  I figured a day or 2 seems reasonable for a response, but I'm talking weeks go by with nothing.  

As soon as RCCL cancelled my cruise, I told the TA we want the FCC, so she said she's taking care of that.  So I've made a decision on the cruise I want to book and I sent a message to the TA on Monday, 6/29,  to ask how this works.  Do I book it with another cash deposit in order to get the cruise and room type that I want (bookings are going fast!) or should I be waiting for the FCC? etc.  As of yet, I have had no response.  It's only been 2 days, but I'm worried about not being able to get a booking if I wait much longer.  Do you think I'm being unfair to her?

Also - do any of you use any of the TA's that I see on youtube?  Just wondering if anyone uses any of them and what they think?

 

We use 2 agents (when not booking ourselves)   One is an agent who I noticed on Youtube and the pitch made pushed me to give him a try. First cruise went well, was very responsive, able to give us a little OBC,   Using him for second for a Nov cruise (if it happens),and again, was able to get us a little OBC that our non-Youtube agent could not.   We're operating under strange times, so lots of churn with cancellations, bumps, L&S, FCC etc .  I haven't had a cancellation (yet) so informed on how he'll operate under distressed situations.  We haven't had to have those phone calls for contingency planning.  We've had very good luck so far, but with the stuff that's going on - who knows.

If you travel a lot during a year.  You can purchase an annual policy with some companies.

On 9/19/2019 at 7:03 PM, ellcee said:

I second this. Not about the food part as much as the company and the wine. I had such a great group of people. 

Ditto's.   We ran into neighbors on a chef's table on the Equinox .   Funny who you run into on ships.

On 9/17/2019 at 7:56 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

I have not yet sailed on Symphony but I feel certain that they will offer Chef's Table.

Once your sailing begins offering food packages in the Cruise Planner, you will find the Chef's Table option in the Dining section. 

Back when I first did the Chef's Table, they only offered it once during a sailing.  I believe that nowadays they offer multiple chances to book the Chef's Table.

When we sailed Symphony in the summer of '18, we asked about the chef's table.  At that time (and we haven't sailed her since then), they made a decision not to offer a chef's table because of the large number of dining venues on the ship.  Do not know if that's changed, but we really enjoy them.  First one we did was on Oasis and it was a great experience.

On 7/6/2020 at 10:27 AM, KBugNC said:

It seems that so many of the excursions for the underground rivers, caves and cenote visits are 8 around hours. Is this because they are so far away from the cruise port? They look really neat but I don't want to spend a lot of time on a bus to get there and back.

We really enjoyed the Secret Underground River at Playa de Maya.   It can be somewhat physical.  You wear a wet suit and walk/float through underground caves.  Not for the claustrophobic but a really neat experience.  Finishes up with a nice lunch. Will need to take a ferry (fine as long as the water is smooth) and a van ride to the site.

More please...

1 hour ago, USFFrank said:

If you get a covid antibody test and the results are positive that you have the antibodies for covid and you can't remember the last time you even coughed, then you are one of the vast majority of the population who had it, beat it and didn't know it.

Everyone is going to get it.  Just a matter of time.   Do you pull off bandaids fast or slow?

On 7/6/2020 at 3:01 PM, Jill said:

Well now I need to go look at November dates.

Thinking the same. Except Oct could be the early side of the restart.    Mid Sept will be tough to make.

Here's a friendly story:  https://www.foxnews.com/travel/health-expert-cruise-ship-safer-travel-coronavirus

On 7/2/2020 at 8:21 AM, stevendom57 said:

I am very interested. Where did you see these itineraries? I looked on the RC website and only saw the standard 7 day cruises for as far out as the "Find a Cruise" page gors.

I just went back to the RC website and not there.  Now can see only 7 day.  They were in the Nov-Dec 2021  timeframe and was a rotation from Europe. With a followup 11 day from Galveston to the canal.   Wondering if it was post-amplification which is now cancelled.  Sorry for that.