JasonOasis

USA Today has it's own agenda and they have quite a few people with a known bias against the cruise industry. dv70 posted a link to the US embassy website which clearly states passengers arriving on cruise ships are subjected to the testing requirements of the cruise line that have been approved by the Bahamian Government. USA Today could have easily made it clear nothing thus far has changed for cruise ships but decided not to so.

You are absolutely right. The airlines have been far more aggressive than the cruise industry in fighting the CDC from the very beginning of this pandemic. I said this when I first joined this blog site in 2020 COVID did not arrive in the US via cruise ship it arrive via airplanes. And I get the irony I work in the airline industry but I'm fighting for the cruise industry because I firmly believe the cruise industry has been scapegoated, unfairly targeted, shut down, dragged through the mud, held to a higher standard just to resume operations, not given a dime in bailout money (I could go on for days) all while the airline industry has positioned themselves as necessity to keep the economic engine of America running and therefore should not be subjected to any CDC oversight. What a ******* joke!!! Although Fauci continue to throw around the idea of a vaccine mandate in order to travel domestically within this country I'm willing to go out on a limb here and say it will never happened in this country because there isn't a single airline in favor of it. The airlines in this country want the public to believe they all compete against each other, they don't like one another but that is an illusion. The truth is this nations airlines have a powerful lobbing machine in Washington D.C. perhaps not as powerful as the NRA but close to it. And that machine has been working overtime since the beginning of this pandemic to keep CDC and Fauci at bay. The unfortunate truth is cruise lines pale in comparison when it comes to the power the nations airlines wield. And that is just the nations airlines lets not even talk about the hotel industry. My husband and I went again to Las Vegas in mid December stayed at the Venetian yet the CDC wants me to believe I'm SAFER at the Venetian in Las Vegas than on a cruise ship with vaccine mandates, negative COVID test 2 days before boarding, 60% capacity, social distancing at all venues, and more. Oh I can't stop laughing at this bull(fill in the blank).

Oh no you are perfectly safe going inside all of those establishments and taking those modes of transportation. The only thing where there is increase risks of COVID exposure is on a cruise ship per the CDC. For an agency that claims to follow the science and the data why then do they continue to single out the cruise industry when both the science and the data shows lower risks of COVID exposure on a cruise ship than any where on land. They are still trying to use COVID to gut the cruise industry and it totally unfair. The CDC is a joke.

I don't think the CDC is looking at shutting down the cruise industry again. Even if Fauci and Walensky wanted to shut down the cruise industry I think the White House would stop them from doing it from behind the scenes because 2022 is an election year. The Biden Administration is doing everything they can to convince school districts across the country to remain open. They are even going as far as saying children are safer in school than they are at home which is funny because I remember the Trump Administration saying the same thing but that a discussion for another day. What I think the CDC is trying to do is convince either the public or the cruise lines themselves to either cancel their cruise (public) or voluntarily shut down (cruise lines). Reading all of the stories over the past 2 weeks or so it does appear as though customers onboard experience is suffering with ports refusing to allow ships to dock and even onboard with shows and venues having to be closed do to crew members testing positive. I still believe the CDC's singling out of cruise lines out of all other industries that make up the travel industry is 100% wrong because cruise lines have the highest and most stringent level of safety protocols in place and again in the grand scheme of things positive cases on cruise ships are much lower than they are on land and most of the people who test positive on a cruise are either asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms not requiring hospitalization. For people who have cruises book in January at this point in time you know what you're getting yourself into. You know there is the possibility your ship may be turned away from one or more ports of call. You know the onboard experience my be diminished slightly if the ship has to cancel shows and close venues do to positive cases amongst the crew. Anyone who decides to go on a cruise in January has a tough decision to make do you go on the cruise and take the chance of not having the experience you are looking for or do you cancel your cruise and rebook at a later date. Personally if I had a cruise scheduled in January I think I would cancel and rebook a cruise at a later date. Not because I'm afraid of COVID or put much faith in the daily case count, I would cancel because the risk of disruption to my vacation is too high for me to ignore. For me cruising is about the experience and if the cruise ship can't provide the experience that I'm expecting (through no fault of their own) then I would just reschedule my cruise.

I received that same email and got excited only to be let down when I clicked on the link and realized even though the email state Europe 2023 the cruises advertised are all 2022, and that they still haven't posted the 2023 European season. Such a let down, but I've waited this long what's a few more days, hopefully they post both the European and Caribbean summer season the first week of January.

I think there needs to be some clarity on cruise ships that homeport in San Juan. When Puerto Rico first announced this change this was one of the questions that came to my mind is is what will cruise lines do with ships based in San Juan if this new restriction applies those ships as well.

How much information did the captain have? Coming from the airline industry I can tell you sometimes captains at least at the airlines are not given all the information needed to adequately address passengers concerns. Some times people at world headquarters or even in station operations (airlines again) get so caught up in trying to handle the situation they don't give pilots all the information they need. Although the article stated the department of health made this change yesterday what we don't know is when this yesterday this change was announced. There was literally no news of this change until early this morning so they may have made the decision yesterday to implement this change but when was it communicated to cruise lines like Royal? And when did Royal communicate the information to the captain of Symphony, do you remember what time it was when the captain made the announcement? I happened to be looking at cruise ship tacker this morning at work around 6:30am Chicago time which would be 7:30am ship time and it appeared as though Symphony was still on course for San Juan at that time and there was no news of Puerto Rico's entry requirement change. I understand the frustration of passengers onboard who were expecting to enjoy a great day in San Juan but is Royal really at fault or is the crew of Symphony at fault I'm not sure they are.

For the adults you still have to show a negative covid test taken 2 days prior to your set sail date and for the children I believe the time frame is still 3 days prior to set sail date. I think the issue is you should have a back up plan especially if your plan is to go to for example Walgreens, CVS or any other accredited testing location as some of these locations are now taking 3-5 days to return test results do to overwhelming demand. Here in Chicago right before Christmas our local news was reporting that the time it takes test results to come back was up to 5 days from 1 day do to the crushing demand for test and labs just not able to keep up. For anyone taking a cruise that is horrible news especially if they don't have the at home test kits. Having the at home test kit could be an insurance policy for you just in case for one reason or another you don't get your test results back in time. However it may be difficult to get your hands on the appropriate at home test kit that Royal accepts.

That really sucks for people who originally booked those suites and have now been downgraded as a result of the swap. Couldn't Royal have simply sent Wonder to Port Everglades from November 2022 through April of 2023 and then moved Wonder to Cape Canaveral and Harmony to Port Everglades in May of 2023 especially seeing the summer 2023 Caribbean season wasn't open for sale?

Normally a Crown Loft Suite does not include Royal Genie. However I think I read somewhere where Royal would still provide the same amenities to those passengers who were booked in higher tier suites on Harmony but were downgraded as a result of Harmony being swapped out for Wonder.

I understand what you are saying and you raise a good point about medical service onboard being overwhelmed. However this is where the devil is in the details, the same details the CDC refuses to share. Delta cases in this country have been going up for months now it is one of the reasons Royal changed their pre-cruise testing policy and shortened down to 2 days. Even with the Delta surge there have been no reports of onboard medical facilities being overwhelmed thanks to vaccination policies. If that were to ever happen we all know the CDC would be overjoyed to share that information with the media because it would fit their narrative and could use it to shut down the cruise industry. We know the CDC is keeping a close eye and tracking every single COVID case detected on a cruise ship. Just a few weeks ago the NCL ship arriving in New Orleans with 14 confirmed cases onboard were referred to the CDC. The CDC wasted no time in making sure the media knew there were 14 positive cases onboard but notice how we've heard nothing since. I would wager the reason there hasn't been any further information no follow up story about those 14 passengers is because none of those passengers developed severe disease requiring hospitalization, an ICU bed, or a ventilator. This is why I firmly believe it is time to stop reporting total case numbers and using it as a measuring stick for what the virus is doing. The reason why people have lost faith in the CDC is because of what you stated in your first sentence about the CDC. However at this point in the pandemic the CDC and NIH have a lot more data and information than they lead us to believe and I'm sure Royal Caribbean turned over all that relevant information to the CDC about the symptoms or lack of symptoms these 48 people reported to Royal. I think if the Fauci, Walensky the NIH and the CDC attempted to shut down the cruise industry again the fallout would be severe especially heading into an election year, and it all goes back to the fact that a positive case is no longer a positive case and the CDC needs to shift away from the sensationalism of reporting total number of cases and shift towards realism in reporting severe disease numbers requiring hospitalization, ICU beds and ventilators.

I disagree with a case is a case is a case that isn't true at all, but it is what the news media and many at the CDC, NIH and in government want us all to believe. On Thursday or Friday I was watching NBC Nightly News and one of the doctors on the broadcast went off script (I love when they do) and suggest we need to stop reporting and stop focusing on the total number of cases and start focusing on the total number of serious hospitalization requiring ICU's and incubators. He suggested this because the total number of cases also includes people who are fully vaccinated and boosted but we know 99% of people who are fully vaccinated and/or boosted avoid serious disease requiring hospitalization. His suggestion at why the CDC, NIH and news organizations continue to focus on total case numbers is they wish to continue to use fear to convince people to get vaccinated. A cases isn't a case, although I'm fully vaccinated I had a break through COVID case back in early July my symptoms where not even mild I never needed to set foot in a hospital. Cases are spiking across the country, here in Illinois we are setting daily case records but our hospitalization rate and death rate have remained steady. Even look at South Africa where if we are to believe the reports Omicron has swept across the entire country replacing Delta, yet South Africa just two days ago reported their hospitalization rate has drop an astounding 91% with Omicron verses Delta. Google it, it is all there but it is something the media in the US and the CDC wishes to hide by continually focusing on the total number of positive cases instead of hospitalization or serious disease. I'm not saying we shouldn't take COVID seriously, we should and I'm sure Royal is concerned about the rise in cases around the country. But a rise in cases does not necessarily mean there is a rise in severe disease resulting in increased hospitalizations, ICU beds and death. If there were 50 cases on Symphony of the Seas out of those 50 how many of those cases were severe disease and how many simply tested positive with mild to no symptoms at all. We have vaccines, we have COVID pills, and we have many other tools in the tool shed to fight COVID this isn't 2020 it is the end of 2021 and today a cases isn't a cases isn't a case thanks to many of those tools which are not designed to prevent a individual from contracting COVID the tools are designed to reduce or prevent serious disease.

It may be difficult if not impossible to score a royal up bid on Wonder of the Seas. My suggestion would be if you know you like to cruise in a grand suite or higher and you are looking at cruising on Wonder you may want to book your suite earlier than you normally would on any other Oasis Class ship because there aren't a lot of Sky or Star Class suites available for purchase.

Although I'm disappointed that I will have to wait a bit longer for the 2023 European season I am glad Wonder will stay in the US a bit longer and to snag on of those crown lofts I had no choice I had to book the October 29, 2023 Halloween cruise (yes I have no shame I'm already booking fall 2023 cruises ) on Wonder of the Seas.

Do you have any information on why 2023 European season update has been delayed or when Royal will post the 2023 European season?

On my October Symphony cruise I loved the fact that we sailed at 50% capacity the ship felt more spacious (and an Oasis Class ship is already spacious) without feeling empty. I've never really experienced any rude crew members on any Royal Caribbean cruise that I've taken but this past cruise the crew members (all of them) were genuinely happy to be back at work, and happy to create an unforgettable cruise vacation. When Royal announced the suspension of self serve buffets I will admit I had my doubts they could pull off having the crew serve you. I was shocked at how well service went in Windjammers for both breakfast and lunch (wasn't open for dinner on the October 29th cruise), and I actually enjoyed having the crew serve me instead of having every one touch all the utensils.

I don't think so, cruise lines operating out of the US have made it abundantly clear they will not be going back to "normal" operations when the CSO ends. I think all the lines have done a great job managing customer expectations as we head into 2022 and I would hope that would be enough for the CDC to drop the CSO. Also according to the Washington Post which just put out an article about the cruise industry they are saying from June through October they could only find 1,350 COVID cases out of an estimated 600,000 passengers who've boarded a cruise ship here in the US. https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/11/05/covid-cruise-cdc-positive-us/ What gets under my skin still is the continued flip flopping and/or double standard the cruise industry continues to face. The vaccines are meant to prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death as long as you're on land. But the moment you step foot on a cruise ship the CDC, NIH, and the news media all of a sudden believe the vaccines are supposed prevent 100% of all COVID cases. Having 10 people test positive on a cruise ship with over 3,200 people onboard shouldn't be cause for alarm especially when you have states like Illinois that have been averaging over 12,000 positive COVID cases every day for the past 10-11 days.

It all depends on when they open the doors, on my most recent Symphony cruise although we were back in port by 4am and they showed doors opening at 6am they actually didn't open the doors until 7am, they advised passengers of the change in door opening on the last day of the cruise. Hopefully you are not asking this question because you have a tight connection to a flight out of FLL. Even though FLL is close to Port Everglades I wouldn't try to catch a flight before 10 am just in case they don't open the doors at the time noted on your cruise documents. Our cruise returned to Port Miami on November 6th and even with Royal not opening the doors until 7am and my husband and I walking off with our luggage by the time we got outside the terminal there were no cabs and there were quite a few people who were first off the ship trying to catch 8am and 8.30am flights out of MIA standing in the taxi line waiting for cabs. We ended up standing there for quite some time waiting for a cab, so keep that in mind although you may be first off the ship you could still run into the situation where you are waiting 15-20 minutes or more for a cab. If I had to estimate I would say we waited outside Terminal A about 20 minutes for a cab on November 6th because there is still a shortage of cab drivers.

If they are moving Symphony to Europe for the 2023 season is it possible that there will be no Oasis Class ship sailing out of Miami from May through the end of October of 2023? Assuming Oasis returns to Cape Liberty from May through October 2023, Harmony stays put at Port Canaveral, and Allure remains in Galveston, the only Oasis Class ship whose homeport is still up in the air is Wonder. But if she does finally make her way to China in 2023 that would leave both Miami and Fort Laurderdale without a single Oasis Class ship. Besides the 18 or so month COVID shut down and since the introduction of Oasis OTS when was the last time there wasn't an Oasis Class ship departing from South Florida during the spring and summer months?

You booked an actual Royal Caribbean shore excursion and they wouldn't let you and your 4 year old son off the ship? That is interesting because I thought the policy was if you booked a shore excursion through Royal Caribbean you could get off the ship but if you booked your shore excursion through a third party then you can't get off the ship at all in Nassau with unvaccinated children.

It all depends on what you were looking for in the cruise planner. I purchased among other things the UDP and the DBP for my upcoming Wonder OTS cruise, the UDP was definitely a deal at $190 dollars per person taxes and fees included and the DBP was $1090 dollars for two people. While the DBP is more than what I paid for our October 2021 Symphony cruise what I had to keep in mind is the beverage package has gone up for the 2022 cruise season. According to Royal's website the UDP price now tops out at $89 dollars per person per day. That is expensive but when I look at liquor, wine and beer prices here in Chicago they've all gone up as well so one can only expect Royal to raise their prices as well to cover the higher prices they are being charged. I'm just hoping the price comes down once the supply chain issues are dealt with and inflation is back under control which is why I didn't purchase the DBP for any of my remaining 2022 cruises. Quick side note for those of us who think Royal is expensive I just happened to look at NCL's Unlimited Premium Beverage Packages and they range from $99 dollars per day to $128 dollars per day. Royal's 2022 UBP prices are looking more and more like a deal compared to NCL.

Yes I'm eagerly waiting for Royal to drop the entire spring/summer 2023 Europe and Mediterranean season. Where I will have to make a hard choice to either do a European cruise out of South Hampton or a Greek Isle cruise out of Rome, Athens or who knows what port.

Come on 2023!!!!

I agree 150 Central Park has changed but it is still a good restaurant. However if I had my way I would have them return 150 Central Park to its former glory and scale back or get rid of Wonderland. Every time I eat at Wonderland I have a great experience but I leave hungry or wanting more we usually end up going to Jonny Rockets for a burger or something else after Wonderland. I like 150 Central Park it is still at step above Chops but Royal really should rethink the direction they have taken the restaurant in.

I think depends on the cruise, I found some good deals for my April cruise on Wonder OTS. But for my July (Allure) , October (Harmony), and November (Navigator) cruises the deals were not deals at all so I've decided to wait to purchase cruise planner items for those cruises with the hope that their Memorial Day sale will be better.