JasonOasis

I have not made my final payment yet on my October cruise I"m waiting until mid-July. But isn't all bad news I have booked 5 future cruises with Royal 4 in 2022 and so far 1 in 2023 so Royal has enough of my money for now. Who am I kidding no matter what I will remain loyal to Royal. I've cruised with Carnival, Norwegian, MSC and they just don't do it for me.

This is an idea I can get behind with a few small additions, for those who are not vaccinated but present a negative test no more than 72 hours old they must submit to a rapid antigen test pier side before they board the ship. If that test is also negative they are then allow to board and perhaps a second rapid antigen test on day 2 or 3 of the voyage.

I hoping Carnival, NCL and Royal will have at least one ship from at least one of their brands sailing out of a US port by late July.

This isn't my area of expertise but I thought the physical ports themselves while within state boundaries are under federal jurisdiction. If the state of Florida somehow does have the power to ban cruise lines from asking for vaccine verification does that ban also apply to airlines? What is the difference between a cruise line asking to see your vaccination card and an airline asking to see your vaccination card? I just find it interesting that they are targeting the cruise industry while you have international airlines operating out of Florida right now asking to see a vaccination card or a negative COVID test depending on the passengers final international destination.

If they don't take this approach then only path forward for Royal is the CSO. Like someone else pointed out this is all about optics and of course it isn't fair to the cruise industry to see them subjected to this kind of scrutiny. If we are honest from July or whenever cruising resumes until November or perhaps even January the cruise industry is going to be subjected to an unfair amount of scrutiny from both those in media and unfortunately those in politics. It wouldn't surprise me to see all the major news outlets at Port Miami or Port Everglades the weekend cruising resumes and then right back out there the moment the cruises return looking for one passengers with a negative story so they can splash it across the 11 pm or 10 pm news. Lord forbid if CNN shows up they will find any reason they can to criticize the cruise industry and run the story as breaking news every hour on the hour. People should have a choice to get vaccinated or not but I think for those who choose no vaccination they may not be able to cruise until November maybe even January because the pressure and scrutiny cruise lines will be under for those first few months is going to be intense.

It was just 2 or 3 weeks ago where the CDC stated the very firmly the CSO stands until November 1st, which frustrated cruise lines, their employees and passengers alike. Now they are saying we are committed to resuming cruising in July but with 98% of crew and 95% of passengers vaccinated. Call me pessimistic that's fine but it seems like someone somewhere with some real authority is applying pressure on the CDC. As good as this news at this point nothing the CDC says or does can be taken at face value, and I do believe the CDC will step back and hope the cruise industry in this country fails. Cruise lines in this country have stated they can manage COVID and resume operations safely without any outbreaks. There maybe 1 or 2 cases on a ship every so often but no major outbreaks. I believe someone is putting the CDC back on a leash and saying give the cruise lines a chance to prove they can handle COVID safely in this country, and if there is an outbreak onboard a cruise ship we shut the industry down again. This is why I'm cautiously optimistic and why I believe cruise line will need to go further than simply asking to see vaccination cards especially in the first 2 or 3 months after operations resume. With there being a rise in fake vaccination cards if cruise lines don't take it a step further and verify vaccination status with a quick serologic test then it is possible that we will be right back where we are today in August or September. In my mind I believe the CDC is hoping the cruise lines trust but don't verify vaccination status, so at the first sign of 50 or 100 COVID infections on a ship they can shut the entire industry down again. And if that happens another shut down who knows when the CDC would allow cruise to resume. The cruise lines have one chance to get this right and prove the CDC wrong I just hope they don't fill in the blank it up.

But for any any ship to set sail the CDC requires 95% of the passengers be fully vaccinated so cruise lines don't really have a choice. And I'm willing to go out on a limb and say the CDC will be all over this especially for the first few months trying to see if any cruise lines break the rules and set sail without hitting the mandatory 95% for passengers. As much as I want to get excited about this news I'm not sure it is as simple as it is being presented. The CDC is placing the ownness on the cruise lines to verify they've hit the 95% threshold. With the possibility of passengers presenting fake vaccine cards cruise lines will have to take this one step further and perhaps verify passengers have in fact been vaccinated. We are seeing a similar system being deployed in Israel where Israel requires airlines to verify all passengers are vaccinated before departure but then upon arrival at Tel Aviv passengers will be given a quick serological test that confirms the individual has in fact been vaccinated and they didn't present a fake vaccination card to the airline. There are still a lot of unanswered questions surrounding how cruise lines will verify individuals are vaccinated and not simply presenting a fake vaccination card.

The refreshment package doesn't include non-alcoholic smoothies?

The CDC has no control over what a US citizen does in another country. The CDC does have a say or can offer it opinion on entry requirements into the US. If each individual EU states goes along with this and grants entry to fully vaccinated Americans there will be increased pressure on the US to reciprocate and allow fully vaccinated Europeans into America. If the US does not reciprocate then we may see the EU take a different stance toward Americans until our government allows Europeans to travel here. I said this in another thread and got some push back from others but this is what the airlines on both sides of the Atlantic are pushing for behind the scenes. They are pushing the EU, UK, and US to open their borders and waive the negative test requirement for fully vaccinated individuals. Airlines on both sides of the Atlantic are pushing to have this in place by July at the latest to help save their summer Atlantic travel season which other than Christmas is busiest travel season over the Atlantic. The fact that the EU Commission President is saying what he has said is leading me to believe progress is being made at least on the European side of the Atlantic, fingers crossed progress is being made on this side of the Atlantic. We are not there yet but at least with this announcement from the EU President this is a small step in the right direction. I have an 9 night Odyssey cruise booked for May of 2022 getting the borders reopened this year would give me peace of mind and I won't have to worry about when Europe will reopen to Americans.

I agree with you on this one both my husband and like to indulge when on vacation and we take full advantage of the deluxe drink package. However my sister doesn't drink a lot but her husband is an indulges himself when on vacation. He can no longer purchase the DBP in advance but instead he has to buy it onboard at full price which was around $76 dollars per day in 2019. I completely understand why RC implemented this policy because people were taking advantage but there has to be a better way than making customers choose between buying an unnecessary DBP in advance or paying full price on board.

There are quite a few things I find frustrating with Royal Caribbean the lack of consistency fleet wide is I big problem. If I book a Sky Class suite on on Oasis or Quantum Class ship I get one experience but if I book a Grand suite of higher on a Voyager or Freedom Class ship I get a completely different experience. Then you just nailed it for me in 2019 I sent Royal Caribbean an email because I was looking for cruise out of South America either Argentina or Brazil Royal doesn't cruise out of either of those countries but Celebrity offered several cruises that caught my attention. My email basically asked why I couldn't earn C&A points on a Celebrity Cruise since Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity cruises. My thinking from being in the airline industry was if I'm a member of (lets use United as an example) MileagePlus there are 22 other airlines United partners with that I can fly on and still accrue MileagePlus miles without having to ever set foot on a United aircraft. They politely responded that will never happen, although Royal owns Celebrity we really want you to cruise with Royal, if you decide to cruise with Celebrity we will do you the favor of honoring your C&A status while on Celebrity but nothing more. Their response was almost dismissive which to a point I can understand but I'm still frustrated about it because Celebrity has some really great itineraries.

Please go back and re-read my entire post. I realize this is a Royal Caribbean blog site devoted entirely to the cruise industry but the entire travel industry is inextricably linked. If the nations airlines can convince the government to at the very least drop the negative test requirement for fully vaccinated individuals, by default that helps out the cruise industry. As it stands now with the current CDC requirement cruise lines would have to test all passengers (vaccinated or not) upon arrival at all U.S. ports because there are no domestic cruises in this country. The CDC requires all international arriving passengers to test negative to re-enter the U.S. If the nations airlines can get the White House and CDC to drop this requirement for fully vaccinated individuals that is another piece of the puzzle cruise lines would need to restart cruising from U.S. ports. If cruise lines were to require all passengers 16 and older be fully vaccinated to cruise at least through the end of this year that would be a major step because it would eliminate the need to test passengers before disembarkation. Right now today international passengers over a certain age including Americans who test positive abroad can not return home. What happens if there is no change in US policy requiring a negative test, and a passenger on a cruise ship tests positive for COVID before disembarkation at a US port. Since the US government considers cruising international travel a positive test on the last day creates a conundrum for cruise lines and what to do with that passenger because the law currently states passengers over a certain age can not re-enter the US if they test positive. (Quick side bar this is another reason I strongly believe cruise line will require all adults over 16 be fully vaccinated whenever cruising resumes.) However if the nations airlines are successful in getting the CDC and the White House to agree to amend entry requirements and drop the negative test requirement for fully vaccinated individuals that is another link in the chain to restarting cruising in this country. If cruise lines require all passengers over 16 be fully vaccinated prior to embarkation then they've already cover the disembarkation. If you need to be fully vaccinated to board then you've already met the (proposed by the airlines) re-entry requirement before you ever set foot on the ship guaranteeing your re-entry at the end of your cruise at a US port. You may choose to believe it is impossible but I work in the aviation industry and I've seen first hand how the nations airlines have used testing to jumpstart domestic and Caribbean tourism, to reopen borders and ease restrictions. Hawaii is a prime example and are the Bahamas and Aruba but I'll focus on Hawaii. Hawaii's mandatory 14 day quarantine complete decimated demand last year at a time when airlines thought Hawaii would be a bright spot. The airlines came together to work with the Governor of Hawaii and came up with plan to use testing as a means to allow arriving passengers to skip quarantine all together if their test result were negative. Today Hawaii is open and passenger can skip the 14 day quarantine if they test negative prior to departing the mainland. Now the airlines working once again with the Government of Hawaii to get them to drop their negative test requirement for fully vaccinated individuals. With fake vaccination cards on the rise the industry and Hawaii are trying to figure out how to verify passengers have been vaccinated. However Hawaii has signaled it is open to the idea of dropping its negative test requirement for individuals who are fully vaccinated. One of the reasons Royal Caribbean is able to start cruising out of the Bahamas is because the Bahamas allow international passengers who test present a negative test to enter and avoid quarantine. Who do you think push for this change behind the scenes last year, it was airlines desperate to get borders reopen and ease quarantine restrictions so the could make money off Americans looking to travel. Now May 1st the Bahamas will a drop testing requirement for fully vaccinated travelers, which is the net logical step and a win for Royal Caribbean passengers setting sail out of Nassau in June. So I'm not putting the cart before the horse, unfortunately as much as I don't want to say this the airline industry is the horse and the cruise industry is the cart. If airlines are able to push through this change in entry requirements here in the US and get the government to drop the negative test requirement for fully vaccinated individuals by July it 100% will help out the cruise industry because the cruise industry could then go to the CDC and say we will require 100% vaccination prior to embarkation which means 100% of our adult passengers would be fully vaccinated and meet all re-entry requirements at the end of the cruise.

EWR only has 3 runways, an 11,000 foot long, a 10,000 foot long both of these are the parallel runways and a 6700 foot long cross wind runway which is basically useless because its so short. At an airport like EWR you have during the busy times of the day a plane landing every 90 seconds. That interval is fine when the airport is using the other runway 22L-4R for departures. But when you have both departing and arriving aircraft sharing the same runway the interval between arriving aircraft will have to be increased to a minimum of 270 seconds this will allow the arriving aircraft to safely land and vacate the runway and a departing aircraft to enter the runway environment and takeoff all while maintaining a safe distance from the vacating aircraft but also the aircraft landing right behind it. Going from a plane landing every 90 seconds to a plane landing every 270 or even every 360 seconds is what will cause the ripple effect (delays) which will at some point during the day will lead to cancellations because there is no way for airlines to make up that lost time.

I don't think we will have to wait that long because the US probably won't reach herd immunity until late fall or even winter 2022. In the state that I live in some counties we have gone from needing to make an appointment to get a vaccine to now many locations are accepting walk-ins. They now have more supply than demand. We are getting to that point especially with the adult population that we have vaccinated almost everyone who wanted a shot, and now it is about convincing those who hesitant to get the shot. However according to some reports some experts are estimating at least 20%-30% of the US population will not get vaccinated. Getting back to changing the entry and re-entry requirements here in the US I think by July the US will change its policy and instead of requiring a negative test they will require all individuals be fully vaccinated. Taking the lead in this fight to reopen international borders are airlines on both sides of the Atlantic. Airlines across the EU, the UK and the US3 ( American, Delta, and United) are all in talks with their respective governments trying to get the borders open by July by requiring all international passengers be vaccinated. Even Qantas and Air New Zealand are pushing their governments to reopen their borders by the end of October (start of their spring season) and to use vaccination requirement as a means to do so safely. Countries like Iceland, Israel, and Greece which will reopen to fully or are already open to vaccinated travelers only are now seeing a huge spike in demand. Cruise lines may not have much power or sway in Washington D.C. but the nations airlines do. If they are able get the CDC and the White House to agree to swap the testing requirement for vaccine requirement or at the very least give people a choice (you're either fully vaccinated or present a negative COVID test) that will also help the cruise industry.

The time frame was moved up, originally construction wasn't supposed to begin until summer of 2022, the last time this runway was overhauled was in 2012. Even though last summer would have been ideal, it is more than just a repaving project. They are also improving the runway shoulders, widening and improving the runway intersections, replacing all of the electrical infrastructure, which includes all wiring and all new lights for the runway, and the adjacent and intersecting taxiways. Also that all new electrical infrastructure also includes some updates to very critical safety systems that communicated crucial information directly with arriving aircraft. Pilots need this information to help them land a plane safely during inclement weather and low visibility. Luckily they managed to move this entire project forward one year. Trying to move it forward by two years to summer of 2020 was 100% impossible, especially when no one anticipated COVID's impact on travel.

If you want to call it a scare tactic fine I won't argue with you on that, but it is a scare tactic with absolutely no teeth at all. Like another poster already pointed out there are over 160 countries on the very high list of places Americans should avoid and yet the government can't stop a single American from traveling. Take for example Mexico which has been on the list since the early stages of this pandemic and yet there are more airlines, flying more aircraft, filled with Americans to Mexico's beach destinations than ever before. The State Department adding countries to a do not travel list even during a health emergency is simply nothing more than an advisory.

So far I've book a 7 night November 2022 cruise, in addition to Navigator I already have 2 other cruises booked for 2022.

I don't think they were hoping the CDC would just ignore their proposal, I think they were hoping for and are still hoping for an answer from the CDC. I think NCL like RCCL is frustrated and disappointed with the lack of corporation they are seeing from the CDC. Requiring all passengers and crew be fully vaccinated with either an FDA, EMA, or WHO approved vaccine is a great mitigation tool. It is much more effective at reducing the risk of on outbreak than testing lone and NCL would voluntarily restricted capacity. For the CDC to simply ignore them and not respond is just childish and once again demonstrates that even when a cruise line presents a decent workable plan the CDC has no desire to actually work with the cruise line to help them resume cruising in July.

But you are not taking into account when cruises resume there will not be cruises to no where here in the US or anything similar to what we will see when the UK resumes cruising where the ship will only visit UK ports. Whenever cruising resumes in the US most ships out of Florida will be heading out into the Caribbean to visit other countries. Testings prior to cruise is great but that doesn't go far enough and it is just one layer of protection. If we are to going to resume cruising in this country the only way to get there is by requiring all passengers and crew be fully vaccinated. It is the only way to assure these island nations that cruise ships will not import more virus into their countries. I don't like to use this as an example but if we look at the evacuation taking place in St. Vincent many Caribbean Islands are welcoming their neighbors however some islands will only take those who have been vaccinated. Islands like St. Lucia, and a handful of other islands are taking un-vaccinated evacuees but will vaccinate them upon arrival in St. Lucia. Why bring up St. Vincent, I brought it up to show if Caribbean Islands are requiring evacuees to either be vaccinated before leaving St. Vincent or be vaccinated upon arrival then why would they open their boarders and ports to cruise ships filled with thousands of Americans who could potentially be un-vaccinated. The CDC and whether or not to require vaccines and Ron DeSantis (no vaccine passport for cruise ships) is only one part of the equation the second part of the equation is complying with the entry requirements these countries in the Caribbean may have as well. It doesn't matter whether the cruise ship is docked for 6, 12, or 24 hours if passengers are disembarking then all passengers and crew would need to comply with that countries particular COVID protocols. Requiring all passengers be vaccinated would go a long way in persuading governments throughout the Caribbean that cruise ships are not bringing more virus into their country.

Marco Rubio first needs to get Ron DeSantis under control and they both need to get on the same page if they want to see results. Just yesterday Ron DeSantis came out against luxury cruise liner Silver Seas plan to require all passengers be vaccinated and show proof of vaccination before they are allowed to board. According the the Sun Sentinel the Governors press office came out against this requirement stating the governors executive order barring companies from inquiring or requiring vaccines also extends to cruise lines. Although according to the paper they are not sure if the governors orders can actually be applied to cruise lines operating in mostly international waters. It is possible the executive order as it pertains to cruising could end up being decided in court should the governor challenge. According to one maritime attorney he says "the governor wants to have his cake and eat it to" meaning the governor wants cruising to resume but wants to prohibit cruise lines from mandating all passengers and crew be vaccinated. On the one hand I want to applaud DeSantis for really standing up for the cruise industry, but on the other hand I'm like what are you doing? Do you actually think we can just resume cruises and pretend COVID ceases to be a factor once onboard? For his office to come out so strongly against the cruise industry requiring all passengers and be vaccinated has left me totally confused about what DeSantis wants. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-silversea-cruises-to-require-vaccinations-20210412-7ok6fwabpndc5aop6oyla5tgvq-story.html

I thought I read a couple weeks ago on this site a future delivery schedule that had been update to reflect the impact COVID has had on future deliveries. That updated schedule they posted showed Icon's expected delivery will take place in the 3rd quarter of 2023 and the only new cruise ship Royal Caribbean will take delivery of in 2022 is Wonder of the Seas. I remember seeing an updated schedule on the homepage. But no matter when she is delivered I'm excited to sail on her.

I'm from the Midwest as well and your right we have to fly no matter what. But you should let the fact that most cruise will be 3 or 4 nighters serve as a deterrent. If you're looking for a 7 night cruise then why not simply combine the 3 and 4 nighter, that is what I intend to do. I've been waiting for Royal to return to LA and I refuse to sail on Carnival I'm not about to let the fact that most cruises are 3 or 4 nights stop me from booking I'm simply going to book a B2B. Hopefully later this decade Royal will consider home-porting another ship in LA that will do longer cruises down the Baja Peninsula and offer more Panama Canal options, but for now I'll take what I can get and create my own 7 night cruise.

I agree it is misleading because those cruise ships didn't have a choice they were not allowed to dock. If they had been allowed to dock the number of cases and deaths would have been greatly reduced. But no one wants to have that conversation, the people who made the decision to essentially maroon cruise ships and their passengers in the middle bays and harbors will never be held accountable for their decision. CBS This Morning did a piece on the resumption of cruises in this country and of course they brought up the misleading facts in their lead in piece before sitting down with Richard Fein. And the message Richard Fein made sure he got out was cruising is safe, in fact with all the protocols cruising is probably the safest form of vacation today. He pointed out Royal Caribbean since the cruise line has resumed cruising has had more than 100,000 guest sail with them and of that 100,000 only 10 COVID positive cases reported onboard a Royal Caribbean ship. There is no other form of transportation or vacation destination that can make that assertion. Now with the arrival of the vaccines there is an even greater level of protection available to cruise lines to make sure there are no outbreaks of COVID onboard a ship. You may still have 1 case here and 1 case there but the chances of an outbreaks is zero or near zero if everyone onboard the ship is 100% fully vaccinated.

The CDC remains drunk on power they are not interested in creating a safe travel bubble on cruises. Both Royal and NCL when they resume cruises from ports outside the US have stated all passengers would need to be vaccinated. The CDC knows fully vaccinated individuals can not spread the virus, so even if the CDC were to go a step further and tell cruise lines in addition to 100% vaccinations we want all passengers tested at the port prior to boarding. Even if the CDC were to go that far and require rapid COVID test I do not think cruise lines would object. It is almost as though they want to create this environment of zero risk on a cruise ship and since they know its impossible to create a zero risk environment they are determined to just stand in the way and block all efforts to restart cruising.