crisgold52

This is very worrisome to me. I know that the CDC hasn’t been entirely fair to the cruise industry but I’m not terribly happy that the White House is overriding them either. Cases are still going up in most of the country. I’m afraid to say much more because I know we aren’t supposed to be political here. But overriding the CDC isn’t a good solution either. We trust them to make these kind of decisions for us to keep us safe even if we don’t always understand or agree with all of them. 

I feel RCCL should start giving a full refund offer to anyone who wants it, starting 30 days out from your boarding date. With airfare, hotels and work schedules, I feel it’s not fair to be held hostage waiting for them to cancel. My daughter is looking to start a family next year so a FCC or lift and shift don’t help me, things change daily and I would love to cruise, but to travel to Florida with rising numbers I’m don’t feel it’s safe. Have Us cruisers buy a insurance package that would cover our care if we get covid and start cruises November 1st for whom ever wants to, but give others the easier option to cancel with no penalties.

I don't beleive that Royal would define an age class of old or older people.This could be problematic.It opens a whole hornets nest for age discrimination suits.
 

Cases are starting to go back up... there isn't going to be any cruises sailing from the US until next year at the earliest. , covid needs be under control before any type of sailing is possible.

It also means those of us with November cruises won’t get much notice before the next round. I’d be RC and Others spend the next few weeks pleading their case and my November 8th cruise doesn’t get cancelled till 10/15. 

Read CDC wanted to push to Feb '21 but others in the gov't believed too long so  Oct was used as starting peg with the option for a month-to-month slip.   Think that reduces probability of Nov restart.   The CDC could still just sit on the plans until they decide to allow.

I’m wondering if this is indicative of more cancellations coming OR they’re trying to reduce capacity again without having to boot people. I’ll go with option 2! 
 

You mean that Hubby is all set.  lol
I just need a cruise!  Look, you can see that desperation is setting in, I currently have a hold on a Radiance class ship sailing to Alaska!  @JLMoran was right earlier today, I am losing it! ?

Flying is our only option to Florida given its a 44 hour drive each way. We would be fine with flying but the Canada quarantine act is the problem for us. And unfortunately I don’t see this being discontinued any time soon. ?

You wont be driving anytime soon..Canada wont open the border for a long time yet...and even when they do, they wont be removing the 14 day quarantine...and I am guessing you will need to show proof of vaccination before you can leave or enter Canada...
 
SO as of right now...flying is the ONLY option and will be for another year or more I am guessing....so its not a matter of being willing to drive or not......
 
I would fly today if I could cruise....we are looking at a trip to Cuba or Dominican to replace our cruise we missed...but with the 14 day quarantine when we come back, it severely limits our vacation options...

While I have not flown since the pandemic began, I think I would still be comfortable flying, provided some of the new policies remain in place such as empty middle seats and enhanced sanitation.

I have still been flying regularly since March (kinda essential for my job), so for me "pleasure" flying really depends on the situation at the time. I really, really am not a fan of long distance driving, so I would probably still lean towards flying if airlines are still doing a decent job of enforcing mask rules, and if the positivity rate is not too ridiculous. I am young and fit, so it's so much a concern of death or even getting sick, but of possible unknown long-term side effects in even asymptomatic cases. 

This question depends on where you live, but with the pandemic, once cruises start up again, will you drive to your departure port instead of flying?  We are in Ontario.  I have a bad back, which means that I can't sit for long, so would not be able to handle a drive to a Florida departure port.  And before, I wouldn't consider driving to New Jersey (8-10 hr drive...vs a 1.5 hr flight).  But with the pandemic, I am thinking thinking we do the drive to New Jersey to avoid airports.  We would still need a hotel for a night though to split up the drive and would need to do many stops.  Both our August cruise and our December cruise are out of this port.  March is out of Port Canaveral so no choice there.
What about others?  Will you drive until this goes away to avoid flying?  And if so, how long is your drive?

What I'm wondering is, supposing you test positive and get denied boarding, what do you do then? Fine if you drove to port, you just get back in your car and drive home. But if you flew in, you're stuck because you can't fly if you're covid positive, so you then need to find somewhere for you and your whole party to stay for the next two weeks while you self isolate? 
Methinks drive-to ports are going to have to be the way to go for the time being.
 

Welcome to the blog. No one knows, it´s all conjecture. Inside cabins, old people, people with preexisting conditions. Only RCG knows or think they know and are waiting for approvals. They will tell us as soon as they know. 

Any ideas or rumors If RC starts sailing and minimizes occupancy who will get told they can’t cruise? 

Has anyone looked into the COVID tests?  My insurance won’t cover it unless it’s medically required which in this case it’s not.  Most tests I’ve found our $100 each which means another $200 to our cruising budget.  I understand the need for the test but places are going to make a pretty penny with this.  Does anyone happen to have any thoughts?

5-14 day gestation period so anyone "catching" it in one of those places should be off the ship and on the way home again before becoming "sick"

I don't disagree at all, but I definitely understand what Andrew is saying.
Heck, people pick up sniffles and a fever all the time; what happens if one of 
those times is at pre-board?  Surely everyone in the party will have had taken the
Covid test a couple of days earlier and all with negative results.
 
I worry about having a fever when I go to the gym and being denied.  I can't imagine
the rage these folks will see from people who flew in from the midwest, or like me - I
just drove 7 hours and paid for this hotel and I can't go because I have a little fever?

My thoughts are that they treated this like a college student who wrote their term paper the night before.  More questions than answers, and literally just made bullet points of obvious protocols, like masks and social distancing. They put on a dog and pony show, and RCL fanboys lapped it up. How about you let us know about November? My sailing is about 40 days away, and I have no clue if it's going out or not. Do I need to be looking at getting tested a week before? If so, I need to take an additional day of of work to do so. When is the cutoff point for them canceling? Is it while I'm at the airport? Shame on them for dragging people along like this. If you don't have answers 30 days prior, then you do right by your customers and cancel.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/09/21/royal-caribbean-new-cruise-ship-health-protocols-include-wearing-masks-social-distancing
 
What are peoples thoughts on the Healthy Sail Panel recommendations?  I recall the Royal CEO talk about it needs to be a the same or better experience pre-covid for them to sail again.  We did a lift and shift till 2022 for our next cruise but have some concerns about the recommendations.  The biggest one will be the denial of boarding if there is an issue/pre cruise testing.  We would be traveling from the midwest to Florida and who knows what will happen with the flying in a day early.  How is Royal going to handle the your kid has a fever, thanks for coming but the door is that way? or what?
The other issue is the open an honest culture mindset with crew about feeling sick.  I know way too many people that need that paycheck where they will work through stuff but with COVID its going to be difficult to encourage that behavior.  My 2 cents Royal needs to make sure that its employees are still made whole if they get sick so there isn't a penalty for reporting. 
 

The thing that has me most puzzled is what happens with a positive test in the terminal after someone has been in a taxi/uber/lyft, hotel, touched doors, tipped porter, luggage handled...it seems like a formula for a mess

TUI Cruises is a cruise line based in Germany. It was formed in 2007 as a joint venture between the German tourism company TUI AG and the American cruise line operator Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., both of whom hold a 50% stake in the company.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/09/28/covid-19-tui-cruise-12-crew-members-test-positive/3559971001/
 

I didn't have to pay grats on my Anthem GC drink package either so definitely embarkation port related.

I think the probable outcome will be that the CDC doesn’t extend the no-sail order in practice, but puts an indefinite delay of “until health plans are reviewed and approved”