JasonOasis

I'm sorry you'e had issues with wow bands in the past but I've never had any issues with wow bands and I've never paid for a wow band, the wow bands have always been in my cabin on embarkation along with my key card. I've always thought they were free because ever since they rolled out wow bands they were always in my cabin. Like you pointed out they are useful for paying for drinks, food, and other stuff onboard the ship, also they come in handy should a person forget their key card in their room.

Exactly I don't see how cruise ships are any different from airlines. Take for example American Airlines and El Al Airlines, both of these airlines beginning in June will offer nonstop flights between Miami and Tel Aviv. Israel requires all inbound passengers from the US be fully vaccinated and it is the responsibility of each airline to check each individuals vaccination status before they board their flight to Tel Aviv. Although the federal government is responsible for screening all passengers, local government (police) is responsible for securing terminals. For example whenever a fight breaks out in a terminal it is local police that respond, not federal police. Why is this important? I think it is important because we don't see Ron DeSantis threatening American Airlines or El Al Airlines with $5,000 dollar fines per occurrence but yet he is picking a fight with cruise lines, it makes no sense

We don't know what the final health protocols will be we all have to wait and see what happens. But I don't fault Royal Caribbean for taking this approach. If Royal were to turn away families with children under 12 Carnival would love to snap them up. I have no children, neither my husband or I want children but I can understand why Royal can Carnival are taking the approach they are taking because it is no ones fault that for right now the vaccines are not available to children under 12. Just like you and I are eager to get back out there on the high seas so are families with children under 12. I think NCL is making a huge mistake by telling families with children under 12 years of age they temporarily can't cruise and I think it will drive families over to Carnival and/or Royal Caribbean. With Royal requiring everyone over the age of 12 be fully vaccinated I think 90%-94% of all passengers onboard will be vaccinated and with the CDC constantly changing the rules who knows what the mask situation will be onboard or what capacity limits will be at venues. Even though I don't have children I know people and have family members who have children who love to cruise. What I don't want to see happen is for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to turn into min version of Virgin Voyages.

Yes I'm sorry I think I'm confusing myself but yet we are in agreement.

There is no way for Royal to hit 95% vaccination once you throw children in the mix. However according to the article on this sites homepage if you look at the article right below the fireworks illusion article it states until August 1st Royal will require all passengers over the age of 16 be fully vaccinated, then on all cruises that depart after August 1st Royal will require all passengers over the age of 12 be fully vaccinated, Royal expects these restrictions will be temporary. So what this means is if you are over the age of 16 and you are unvaccinated you can not cruise once cruising resumes, and that age limit drops down to 12 years of age on August 1st. This means the only unvaccinated people who will be allowed on Royal's ships after August first are children younger than 12, hence the reason Royal won't hit 95% but Royal's vaccination rate will probably fall somewhere between 90%-94% fully vaccinated.

I don't believe in vaccine passports but I understand why the cruise industry would temporarily require them. What I think is comical and hypocritical is DeSantis has been preaching since the start of the pandemic that he trusts Floridians and Florida business to do the right thing and do what is best for the business, its employees and customers, and government needs to advise but not punish business and individuals. DeSantis this past March overturned all the fines that were levied by local governments against individuals and businesses who broke COVID rules put in place by their local government. But now the same DeSantis has signed a bill in direct contrast to everything he has been preaching since the start of the pandemic. He is not trusting local Florida businesses to do what they feel is in the best interest of their business and he also will levy $5,000 dollar fines each time a business breaks the law. And he has said COVID restrictions would have devastated Florida's economy but now the very law he championed could be the very thing that slows or stops cruising from resuming in the state of Florida. I like DeSantis but sometimes I just want to ask him what the heck are you doing? You are now playing the same political game you've accused everyone else of playing.

For my Symphony of the Seas cruise in October they are charging $58 per day for DBP and $71 per day to combine DBP/VOOM. They are also offering me a $350 dollar onboard credit not sure where the onboard credit came from but I'm all in DBP/VOOM for $71.

Four drinks per day on a cruise, I think I may have been over indulging over the past few years. ? What I'm looking for is a number around $60 dollar per day/per person DBP + Wifi bundled together, I think that is a fair price. Now if Royal decides to be generous and go as low as $48/day I will be all over it.

Exactly it all comes down to supply and demand, and it isn't just cruises charging more, customers need to be prepared to pay more for airfare, hotels, VRBO's, Airbnb's, rental cars, annything travel related is going to cost more in 2021 as more and more Americans look to make up for the vacation they didn't get to take in 2020. It would not surprise me to see cruise fares remain higher than usual until late 2022 or even early 2023 there is so much demand.

I don't see Royal letting that ship sit idle until November especially if cruising resumes as early as next month. If they open it up for bookings I for sure will be looking at booking a cruise on Odyssey in September, this is what I've been saving my vacation days for this year. My Las Vegas trip was short and need for mental health I needed a break, but I've got a ton of vacation days remaining and if they open up Odyssey I'm jumping on it and booking a September cruise immediately.

Okay President Biden thank you for letting it be known you intend to sign the bill. Perhaps the cruise industry does have a friend in the White house. Now all we need is for The President to get the CDC under control and have them do away with this ridiculously outdated CSO. President Biden wants to open up America in July well Mr. President I hope those plans include the cruise industry. I hope to see an end to the unfair treatment the cruise industry has had to deal with for over a year.

Exactly, now anyone who books a last minute cruise after RCG made their announcement about requiring vaccines the normal cancellation policy should appy. But for those who made their reservations prior to this announcement I think RCG should allow them to move their cruise or offer a full refund without penalties. It just good policy and good customer service you don't penalize your customers for a policy change that took effect after they booked their cruise. I completely understand why cruise lines are requiring vaccines, but the requirement seems to be temporary so do the right thing RCG and you will have loyal customers for life and this is coming from a fully vaccinated individual. Don't make your customers pay for your policy change.

Since this is the policy I think RCG should offer either a lift and shift or full refunds to people already booked but who for personal reasons have decided against getting vaccinated. Other than that RCG is basically forcing people to choose between canceling their cruise and perhaps loosing some of their money or making them get vaccinated just so they can cruise and not loose their money. For anyone who is currently booked on a RCG cruise between July and I would say perhaps December RCG should offer them options because being vaccinated against COVID was not a requirement when they booked their cruise, fair is fair.

In Florida Department of Health's responses to RC's request the department stated Florida has limited statute authority with respect to cruise ships and it does not need to give its permission for cruising to resume from the stat of Florida. However the state officials went a step further and stated nothing in state law stands in the way of cruise ship operations. This information was also on the homepage on this blog site. When I first read the response I immediately thought about DeSantis's new law banning vaccine passports and I wondered if the statement from the Florida Department of Health could also be applied to the law banning vaccine passports? I don't see Royal abandoning the Florida market so it would seem as if Florida's new law does not apply to cruise ships. Although I'm fully vaccinated I'm hoping this requirement is temporary and will fade away by late 2021 or January of 2022. Should cruising resume in this country in July I 100% understand why cruise lines are now onboard with requiring most passengers be fully vaccinated. There will be an immense amount of scrutiny on the cruise industry once sailings resume, they can't afford to have an outbreak on any ship. Right now public opinion is with the cruise industry, even people who are part of the never cruisers understand how unfairly the cruise industry has been treated. No other industry has been shut down do to COVID except the cruise industry so public opinion is on the cruise industries side because a lot of people are seeing this as government over reach by the CDC. But it would only take one COVID outbreak on a ship to turn the tide against the cruise industry, and if there is another shut down I'm not sure this industry will survive.

So basically it may appear as though Carnival has a head start but Royal can quickly catch up and salvage part of their Alaska season with relative ease. The biggest hurdles if and when cruising resumes would be re-crewing ships and Royal getting their hands on enough vaccine which hopefully won't be a problem. States from Washington State down to California should have enough supply to share with cruise lines.

Which ships can Royal quickly reposition, re-crew and fully vaccinate the crew in time for a late July or early August resumption of cruises to Alaska?

I certainly hope so. I just got home from a 6 day vacation in Las Vegas and except for concerts and Cirque du Soleil every thing on the strip and Fremont street is wide open without capacity limits. I've been putting off using any vacation days this year hoping cruising will return but I needed a mental break, and the funny thing was when the CDC announce no mask for the vaccinated within the hour people at the Venetian were taking off their masks. By the next morning I would say 95% of people had no mask on and this was at every hotel we went to. Our last vacation was to Cabo late last year everyone inside the resort was masked. But it was amazing to be in Vegas inside these fabulous hotels in the casinos going to comedy shows, the nightclubs are open no social distancing and no one is wearing a mask while indoors, yet I still can not set foot on a cruise ship. What is the difference between the Venetian and the Oasis of the Seas? I hope something happens to help the cruise industry out in this country because if Venetian had to adhere to even half of the restrictions the CDC has put on cruise lines they wouldn't be open right now especially not at 100% capacity.

Thank you @twangster I appreciate all the information, very thorough and the screenshots are a nice visual for people to see exactly what you’re talking about so there is no confusion at all.

I agree Port Everglades is a much better option and offers a superb arrival experience in terms of traffic. PortMiami is a nightmare the last few times I’ve left out of PortMiami on an Oasis Class ship it took us over 50 minutes to reach Royal Caribbeans terminal and that was after we arrived on Dodge Island. Luckily we had hired a private car but I felt bad for people in taxis because a certain point you just start seeing people jump out of their taxis dragging their suitcases because the meter continually runs, and when traffic isn’t moving for 15 or 20 minutes at a time it’s atrocious and a simple $30 dollar cab fare can quickly turn into a $70-$90 dollar cab fare for those not coming directly from the airport. Royal Caribbean has a stunning terminal at PortMiami I wish they had something equally as stunning at Port Everglades but I will happily cruise out of Port Everglades if the traffic situation at PortMiami worsens.

I’m confused as someone else was earlier so are you saying berths 9 and 10 are the two cruise terminals behind Carnival’s terminals? I’ve sailed on MSC on both the Divina and Meraviglia and the terminals they used were ancient. If those are the terminals and berths then yes they are in dire need of an upgrade but with MCS‘S aggressive expansion plans out of PortMiami and Royals continued growth as well it is strange to see them partner up with Royal under an agreement where Royal would have preferential use of the berths.

This bit of information just came out in the airline industry. Viking Ocean Cruises (I know expensive) will resume operations out of Malta this summer and they have partnered with Lufthansa to operate special charter flights from New York (Newark’s Liberty EWR) to Malta for Americans booked on their cruises. These flights are specifically for American’s booked on a Viking Ocean Cruise any one who just wishes to vacation in Malta, well you are out of luck and will have to find their own way to Malta. More and more options for Americans looking to cruise this summer no matter the price point as more and more governments around the world give cruising the green light for summer 2021 and allow American’s to enter. Also another tidbit of information that may have an effect on the European Cruise industry is Spain will decided over the next few days or perhaps a week or two whether to reopen to American’s and if they are going to reopen Barcelona’s Cruise Port this summer. If they do reopen the cruise port I don’t know if American will be allowed or not, we have to just take it one step at a time and the first step is reopening Spain. If Barcelona does reopen its port it could provide Royal with opportunities to set sail in 2021.

According to NBC News there could be new travel guidelines coming in the few days it will be interesting to see what if anything the CDC changes to help the cruise industry. One other thing according to Christine Duffy Carnival’s 2022 future bookings or booking a year out have already exceeded where they were in 2019 looking a year ahead. I’m thinking with this type of pent-up demand cruising will be a bit more expensive for at least the next year to 15 months.

This is exactly what some of the Senators in yesterday's hearing were talking about, the CDC's refusal to update policies and recommendations has eroded the agency's credibility and the more the CDC digs in its heals the more it contributes to vaccine hesitancy or worst people saying they will never take the vaccine. The CDC and the NIH are no longer independent organizations politics has found a home within their walls especially at the top, and I am by no means a conservative but even I can see the agencies (especially its leaders) are no longer above the political fray. It will take years to restore public confidence and trust in both the CDC and NIH, when NBC News is airing a segment saying CDC's credibility is eroding faster than COVID cases are dropping you know you have a problem.

I'm happy the CDC has realized they have no jurisdictional authority over what cruise ship passengers do once they step off the ship in another country including private islands when those islands are not US territories. Now we need them to get rid of the mask mandate while eating and drinking what indoor dining restaurant on land has to deal with these types of restrictions where patrons have to mask in-between every bite or sip of their drink? And what does the CDC have against buffets on a cruise ship? Here in Illinois most buffets are reopened and some especially in grocery stores reopened last year before the vaccines were in circulation and not a single COVID case attributed to those restaurants or grocery stores.

It is only a matter of time before Royal follows suit, and cancels most of their July sailings from US ports