emmef

47 minutes ago, deep1 said:

Trying to speed up getting a Vaccination...

 

Two things that have worked for my friends here in Texas.

1. Volunteer at a vaccination site (don't have to be a medical worker, they also need people to run paperwork, guide traffic).

2. Sign up on lists everywhere you can (hospitals, county sites, pharmacies). In some cases friends have been able to get vaccinated because pharmacy had "leftover" vaccine that would otherwise go to waste because some people that had appointments didn't show up.

9 hours ago, twangster said:

This problem of crewing the next ship or trying to plan which ship should be next and where is complicated by public health agencies that refuse to work with the industry. 

That's kind of like trying to buy a house when no mortgage lender will allow you to apply for a mortgage even though you are guaranteed to qualify.  You know your financial situation.  You believe you qualify.  You have a sizeable down payment.  You have a high paying stable job.  Your problem isn't the ability to qualify for a mortgage, your problem is the lenders aren't answering the phone, responding to emails and their websites are blank or unchanged.   You know the home you want to buy, you know when you need to move, but you are stuck in limbo waiting for a lender to take your phone call.  The lights are on but nobody's home.

That makes it very challenging to commit to the next ship and port where you are going to send resources.

Singapore and Israel are example of what occurs when governments work with industry.   Cruise lines can play the game when they know what sport they are playing and where the goal posts are. 

It's really hard to build a team when you don't know what sport is going to be allowed to be played on the field.  

In an ideal world cruise lines would have a clear path to restarting.  That doesn't exist today so it makes the job of bringing crew back incredibly difficult.

@twangster As usual, you hit the nail on the head with this analogy.

Encouraging news from NY Times on vaccination efficacy,

"In Britain, the daily number of new Covid cases has fallen by more than 90 percent since peaking in early January. The decline is larger than in virtually any other country. (In the U.S., new cases have fallen 79 percent since January.) Given that the contagious B.1.1.7 variant was first discovered in Britain and is now the country’s dominant virus form, “Britain’s free-fall in cases is all the more impressive,” Wachter told me. “Clearly their vaccination strategy has been highly effective.”"

Just booked Explorer Aug. 16, 2021

1 hour ago, em.down.the.rabbit.hole said:

Was it too cheeky for me to say "I wanted it to just Sail" 

Nope.

4 hours ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

Yes, it's for the muster drill; but, for tracking as well, in use for contact tracing.

But they can also use the Wearable tracelet, not a smartphone. Seen in use on Quantum in Singapore.

I have Ovation to Alaska booked for June. I have given up hope. Just waiting for cancelation to rebook (already have next year on hold). 

15 minutes ago, Joe01 said:

Never been to GC but I did the Coz, Roatan, CM on Harmony 2 years ago, far better than Falmouth which is the worst port in the Caribbean. I don't know why Royal would choose to send cruises there than the ports around Mexico.

Some people just like Jamaica

3 hours ago, nhilding10 said:

 I find myself in the same situation every cruise though, I always order a Bahama Mama. I never drink them all year, but once on the ship, it's all I get. 

I, too, always always get a Bahama Mama on a cruise! It is my one that I always have to get on a cruise.

Friday, July 2

On 12/7/2019 at 11:51 AM, twangster said:

They've added a library to Central Park:

That library would be my go to quiet place!

1 hour ago, twangster said:

I don't like flying in the day of a cruise and I have been burned by making this choice before, but if you feel inclined to do so or must for any reason, Air2Sea does come with some promises to get you to the ship even that means getting you to the next port of call should you have flight issues the day before or day off a cruise.  

Air2Sea also allows you to choose to arrive day(s) earlier or depart day(s) later than your cruise. If you want to spend more time in your port city.

4 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I still think we need 3 months from when the lines finally get CDC blessing to start test cruises until any revenue cruising starts. 

So IMO June cruises are still firmly in the crosshairs

RCL has said that it would take them 60 days from "approval" to sail. 

@WAAAYTOOO It is A2S via AA. I believe it is a normal flight.

Royal has already said that they don't believe it will be profitable.  We will see if they change their mind now that cruises will actually happen in the UK.

16 hours ago, em.down.the.rabbit.hole said:

I've just booked 2 B2B 7 night cruises for May ... within 60 days so had to pay full price.  I have always got the cruise with confidence 48hr cancellation full refund policy as a backup.  But, either I'll be moving my remote working from locked down house to balcony on the Anthem OTS with panoramic views of the Fjords with great food on tap, or RCL suspends May sailings and gives me 125% FCC on full payment (suite and solo prices).  Win Win ...

 

May has just been canceled, so 125% it is.

You paid, but you get the FCC issued in the names of all those in your party. So there will be one FCC for you, one for Guest 2, Guest 3, Guest 4 and so on.

Recently they changed the rules a bit so that you can now rebook and stack the FCCs together.

@twangster @WAAAYTOOO @SpeedNoodles   @Galveston Steve Not unexpected, but still a bummer.

13 hours ago, Galveston Steve said:

Same here. Somebody (either A2S or AA) assigned our seats a few days after we booked through A2S.  We can't change seats online but we can see the booking on AA.com and it shows "Ticket pending".

A2S let me pick seats while I was on the phone with them.  Try calling.

1 hour ago, FionaMG said:

I currently have at least half a dozen in the cross hairs with my finger on the "buy now" trigger and I can hear my credit card squealing in terror from deep within my wallet! 

Book refundable!  prices will rise once cruises restart.  Best to "SAVE" by booking now. 

The article also says that you can visit with other vaccinated persons in small groups.  This is not a free for all or let's all go pack into a theater and watch a live show together free pass.

My husband is disabled, and we are booked in disabled Jr. Suite on Ovation. So, according to the disabled room photos we have seen the disabled rooms have fold down benches in the roll in showers. I mentioned to special needs at sea that my husband would need a shower chair, but was told that since we were in a disabled cabin that is already provided in the form of the fold down bench.  So my thought is that they must have shower chairs, but you would definitely need to request one using the special needs request form. We sailed once in a non-accessible cabin on another cruise line, and it was not a great experience as my spouse was using a travel scooter at the time. Storing the scooter, charging the scooter, getting around the scooter in the room was a real pain. The only way I could see taking a non-accessible cabin would be if your wife is able to get around with only a cane or walker. Even then, getting over the door thresholds into the room and onto the balcony could take a bit of maneuvering.  Best wishes for a wonderful cruise!

I have gotten this after riding water slides for 6 hours.  Usually it goes away after a night's rest.

So I am also an NCL loyalty member and today they sent an email about an upcoming "docuseries" called Embark they will be streaming on their website. This series purports to follow their journey to sailing again.

The link below goes to the teaser video.

NCL Embark

On 3/3/2021 at 9:24 AM, joshgates said:

Well, somehow I booked a Star Class suite on the Allure for March 2023.... Can't say I'm upset about it.

"SOMEHOW" lmbo