crisgold52

I am sailing in 36 days on November 1st.  Last Sunday I received my guest vacation documents by email which lists my itinerary as intact from when I booked.  Am I really going to sail?  I wish I knew.  We got off Anthem on March 15th (last pre-shutdown cruise) and are scheduled on Harmony (first post-shutdown cruise).  I have not received any documents which describe any restrictions for my up coming cruise.  Very strange...

I already live by myself and work from home.  Going on a cruise to eat alone in my room doesn't seem very appealing.
 

Then maybe they should improve the health services on boats that carry small cities. Imagine if we had to rely on them to identify something like a virus? Wait...

Correct.  Assuming the T&C say what the article indicates, this case should be dismissed and refiled in England.  

It is certainly terrible, no one can possibly argue that.  But given the incubation period, it is highly unlikely she contracted it from the ship.  The timing of this is really suspect given what's going on right now... 

Hi all! I don’t want to jinx things but I am feeling slightly encouraged that the 2020 holiday cruising season may actually happen. ? 

The new cruise planner sale has some really good deals but I am hesitant to buy anything (and have a bunch of $$$ tied up) until there is some indication that cruising (though limited) will resume in November. I plan to be on the 2020 Oasis thanksgiving cruise.
 
I foresee that if cruising does restart, many of the cruise planner items are going to go up in price and/or be sold out pretty quickly once the news is announced regarding cruise resumption. On the other hand, I don’t want to wait (and wait and wait) for a refund if the 2020 holiday cruises are cancelled. 
Are any of you planning to YOLO purchase cruise planner deals for your 2020 holiday cruises or are you holding off until we have word that cruises will resume in November/December?

That is strange to me.  How would the pharmacist or the bank teller know?  I work retail (specialty) I know many of my customers personally, but someone coming in off the street I would not know if they were a nurse/doc, etc.  I have no need to ask, thus, I cannot fathom why the bank teller or the pharmacist would ask since it has nothing to do with the transaction.
Honestly, as I said to @Lovetocruise2002 in that theory, they should keep me off the ship since I have a high risk of exposure.  That bank teller is probably at a higher risk than you.  Think about it, money is not sanitary.  I have to visit the bank to make deposits for the store.  They are not wearing gloves when they do it.  In that theory, they better list a "NO SAIL" order for careers all over the place.   IE my DS works as a Bio Chemist, and deals with blood products.  He could be infected.  My DD is a school teacher.  My other DS is a pilot.  So, just in my family I would have 4 out of 5 that would be considered high risk.
OBTW, thank you and your husband for being there for all of us.  It is a calling, and unfortunately people forget the personal sacrifices that you make.

Everything would be fine if they had testing upon arrival at the port with immediate results.

sad but true!

Fantastic, now we can decide between the beverage package, and dropping $400 on 2 covid tests

Here in Ontario, turnaround is about 48 hours.

This is the part that scares me lol

How would they know what profession you are in?

That's easy, PRIORITY BOARDING as well as a few cocktails on RCCL to start, thank the heavens for Healthcare workers and First Responders. You should be shown immediate gratitude, thanks you so much for what you do! Cheers to YOU!!
 

Its what was expected.  Looked over some of the CDC survey inputs and they look very close to those also.
 

Glimmer of hope, I received my cruise documents for Grandeur on November 9th!  Now let's see how CDC plays lifting the do not sail order.  I think they are getting just the amount of pressure at just the right time.  

Cindy Friedman is the experienced epidemiologist who leads the CDC’s cruise ship task force.  She believes during this pandemic cruise ships created a “huge strain” on the country. “Nobody should be going on cruise ships during this pandemic, full stop,” she says.
Part of the problem, she says, is that cruises are often populated with people at greater-than-average risk for the disease.   Crew members sleep in bunk beds and usually share bathrooms. “If these ships had stopped sailing, our large team could all be working on helping states and local public health authorities with their community outbreaks,” she says.
The CDC doesn't care about the jobs or the economic impact of the cruise industry.  The CDC doesn't want to be bothered by the cruise industry right now or for several years to come. 
They are solely focused on the pandemic and plan to be for the foreseeable future long after a vaccine is first available right up until the pandemic is completely over and we are past it.  Only then will the CDC allow cruise ships to sail, unless someone else intervenes.
Think about it.  When can we look in the rear view mirror and say the pandemic has been defeated?  Only once we are past it will we know we are past it.  That won't happen when a vaccine is first released.  That won't happen when the vaccine is generally available.  We won't know the pandemic is over until it is over and that might not be for several years to come.  That's not to say that life won't begin to return to normal before then, but we won't know with certainty it's over until it is over.  Only then can we declare it's been eradicated.  That is when the CDC wants to allow cruise ships to sail again and without intervention, not a day before.  

Both are of interest to me. 
The cost of Mississippi cruising has so far been beyond my budget for the perceived value for the type of cabin I researched.  I assumed that was due to an all-American workforce.  I'd rather sail Star Class on the ocean or do a rail journey across Western Canada for that kind of money.   I'd like to do the Mississippi but the price would need to come down before I consider it further.  
Europe river cruising is very interesting to me.  Family have done many and love it.  I think it's a great way to experience Europe to a much greater extent than you can on a Med. cruise.  
I've come to appreciate the value that ocean cruising on mass cruise lines has become compared to small ship river cruising although the service and on board experience is very different so that isn't a fair comparison.  

I would! Sounds like fun!

You betcha.  It would have to have a casino on board though.  Aside from that, we would definitely do it.

And i will be making a call to my TA in the next few minutes ?

After reading the article that Matt posted my first thoughts were there is no way that cruising will return this year. Now that the government wants to get involved I am willing to bet that we will start to see the lines announce that all sailing this year are cancelled. Disney has already canceled their sailings until late December so the other major lines will now be shortly behind them in my opinion.
 
-Eric

That pretty much says don't cruise for a very long time, unless you live in state with a port.
My state has done a semi-reasonable job.  We could have done better but we never got anywhere close to the positivity/rates/deaths that pretty much all coastal states did.  If we are good then 3 days before a flight to a cruise I find out a local fraternity had another party that resulted in 80 cases that causes us to be rejected by NJ/TX/CA/FL/WA I'm screwed days before my cruise.  Forget that, no cruises until 2023 or 2025 once this thing is hopefully beyond dead and buried.  
It might also be unconstitutional unless passed by Congress.  I don't think the CDC or a President can by them self stop interstate travel.   Each state has some power but even that hasn't passed all legal hurdles to close it borders that I am aware of.  If FL can arbitrarily decide on a whim effective tomorrow no visitors from X state, that pretty much says just don't cruise unless you are a resident.  If a truck driver can't drive into or across a state because they are from X state, that will put a huge hurting on interstate commerce.  

As said its all about the level of service you get and whatever you leave is a bonus so is appreciated 

Royal has long offered one of the better boarding processes in the industry.  That evolved from having mega sized ships where they couldn't afford to board inefficiently.  Having the mobile app and the pandemic will further this direction towards an even smoother and faster boarding process even to the point where special status won't help you board any faster.  All it could possibly do is satisfy the need to think there is special treatment. 
There are two aspects of priority that was offered in the past.  Priority to reach a check in agent and priority to board the ship from the waiting area after you were checked in.  
Priority boarding occurred after check in if you arrived early and were waiting for the ship to be ready to start boarding.  In the past if you arrived after boarding had already started then priority boarding did nothing for you while priority queues to reach a check in agent did.   
With advancements including mobile app check in the priority queues to reach a check in agent isn't as important as it once was.  With Expedited Boarding offered through the app you don't have to queue to reach a check in agent like you used to.  
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If the whole boarding and check in process doesn't start until after the ship is ready to board because of virus cleaning and mitigation then priority boarding after check in is a moot point.  
Combine the two, expedited boarding with instant boarding since the ship is ready and it's a whole different experience. 
Status people who enjoyed priority queues and then priority waiting areas of days gone by may feel slighted that these concepts aren't needed anymore.  It doesn't matter that the new process gets them on the ship faster, the fact that they don't get a red carpet to walk on will upset some status people.  Some may look for a special entrance for them that didn't exist before.  
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All that's left to think about is who gets what appointment time. 
I don't see them reserving the 2:30pm slots just for suites and high C&A status.  The numbers of Pinnacle vs. Diamond Plus versus Diamond and so on vary week to week.    Some Pinnacle and Diamond Plus who live close by don't even try to board early, they stay at home and wait for the crowds to dissipate.  They are such frequent cruisers that getting on early isn't a thing for them.  If Royal is blocking and holding 2:30pm slots for them that just backs up and overloads the later time slots. 
The logic starts to become complex.  If there are greater than X Pinnacle and they check in between 60 and 90 days out then Y% of 2:30pm slots are saved for them.  If there are Z Diamond Plus who are in a suite and they check in between 45 and 75 days AND less than 75% of Pinnacles in the first group haven't checked in yet then Diamond Plus not in suite can consume the remaining balance of the Y% of 2:30pm slots remaining.   
The logic and programming required to cover all the various status priorities over the check in time period that in the end shaves 30 seconds off the walk from the car to the ship simply isn't worth it. 
The boarding process isn't what it was 10 years ago when status and priority did accomplish something.  Royal is aiming to get everyone on board from the car to the ship in minutes and the app is a big part of that.  Red carpets and ego soothing oohs and awws are no longer needed, except for maybe Star Class.  Star Class pays big for it so leave a red carpet out for them.