VoidoftheSeas

37 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

My wife and I will be on this sailing in a two bedroom Aqua theater suite. Flying direct from San Francisco to Barcelona. Please share if you come across any must do things in Barcelona. 

Will do! 

I just wrapped up an incredible week on Allure of the Seas, sharing a first-time Star Class experience with my wife, our daughters and my parents in suite 10730, which is a 2 bedroom AquaTheater suite. The cruise was packed full of fun and activities, but not packed full of people! We had such a great time that my wife and I are going back for seconds next summer with a repeat sailing on Allure, but this time in the Mediterranean! This will be our first kids-free vacation in a really, really long time.

It's still quite a ways out, but we're going to start planning this week, so I figured I'd invite you all along for the ride!

Here are the details (mostly!):

Pre-Cruise

• Flying from Seattle to Reykjavik, Iceland where we will spend ~ 1.5 days. Ashley has been dying to see the Blue Lagoon!
• Flying from Reykjavik to Paris, France. We're going to spend at least 2 days in Paris, maybe 3, depending on what we plan to do. Ashley has been to Paris a couple of times, but I've only ever seen it from inside Charles De Gaul, so I'm really pumped about this leg.
• Intercontinental train from Paris to Barcelona, Spain. I have had this recommended to me by several people. Definitely want to do this during the day so we can see the countryside.
• Arrival in Barcelona. This is where we still have some question marks. We are going to spend a couple of days in Barca, but we are undecided about whether to do it before or after the cruise. Having just spent a day of traveling after debarkation, I'm leaning more towards touring Barcelona after the cruise is over, but we will see. 

Cruise Itinerary

• Day 1: Boarding in Barcelona
• Day 2: Palma de Mallorca, Spain
• Day 3: Marseilles (Provence), France
• Day 4: La Spezia (Florence/Pisa), Italy
• Day 5: Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy
• Day 6: Naples (Capri), Italy
• Day 7: Day at Sea
• Day 8: Sadness. I mean, Barcelona.  

Post-Cruise

• We will most likely spend a couple of days in Barcelona after the cruise and then fly back to Iceland before returning to Seattle. It just turns out that there is a strong case of 'you can't get there from here' between Barcelona and Seattle, so we're probably going to just book a round trip with Icelandair and then individual legs between Reykjavik->Paris and Barcelona->Reykjavik

We haven't planned hardly anything yet in terms of what we are going to do in each city, so I am open to recommendations and suggestions and I am particularly interested in people's best practices for how to do Rome in one day. I have a feeling that booking a Rome excursion through the ship will eat a lot of time, so we want to do it on our own, but I will need help.

The Suite

We are staying in one of the Star Loft Suites (#1720). I'm especially excited about this room. I loved the Aqua Theater suite, but it is pretty far away from the other suites and it's a hike to and from the elevators every time. Now that we've done Star Class once, I have a much better idea of how I want to do things this time around. 

Note: The chatter aboard ship this past week is that Allure will be getting amplified in April - though, I haven't seen any official announcements yet.
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All right! That's it to start with! I'd love for folks to follow along, and I am definitely open to recommendations for any of the ports or for Reykjavik or Paris! 

Let's do this!

On 8/18/2021 at 12:39 PM, cruisellama said:

BLT is now a LT

Nice try! That's just a salad.

We are only two nights into our cruise, but our kids (7&9) have eaten their value in the specialty restaurants so far. The staff is really accommodating to their requests, but there have been plenty for them to eat and they've been super happy so far.

18 minutes ago, 12thman said:

Excellent then we'll save that test for another cruise. Hopefully we'll still be able to use it then, ever changing rules who knows?

We also got our PCR tests done this morning. Going to hold on to these now in case we need them in the future.

Royal has updated their FAQs in the last few minutes: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/if-need-an-rt-pcr-test-before-i-cruise-where-should-i-go

cc: @Matt

More on Telehealth Testing

Telehealth self-tests taken at home under live supervision must meet these requirements:

• The test must have Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. FDA.
• The self-test process must happen under live supervision on a video call with a telehealth representative.
• The telehealth provider must issue you a result document that includes all the necessary information.
• An example of one test that meets these parameters is the supervised Abbott BinaxNow COVID-19 Ag Card Test available through the Abbott Navica app or eMed.com. Note that this test kit must be shipped to your home in most cases and may take up to 5 business days to arrive (in the U.S.) after you order.

58 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

Celebrity has updated/clarified their rules, maybe RCI is not far behind:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/faqs#testing-and-screening-faqs

This is well written and clear - I wish more of Royal's FAQs were written this way. 

@Matt: Did you ever get a response back from Royal?

30 minutes ago, Matt said:

I guess it depends on your definition of "administered"

This is the exact piece that I believe Royal needs to clarify more precisely in their FAQs. 

@Matt - Absolutely agree that the Social Media folks are not always perfect. I'm just trying to make sure I cover all my bases so I don't have a pair of disappointed kids on Sunday! Appreciate you reaching out as well, you almost certainly have better access than I do!

Edit 8/19: Royal Caribbean has updated its FAQs to confirm that the Abbot BinaxNow Home Test can be accepted as proof of a negative Covid-19 test as long as the test is proctored via a digital telehealth visit.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/if-need-an-rt-pcr-test-before-i-cruise-where-should-i-go

-----------

Last week, @Matt posted this up on the Blog: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/08/09/royal-caribbean-now-accepts-cdc-approved-home-covid-19-tests

I spoke to an RCCL rep today (via Twitter DM), who stated that the BinaxNow Ag Home Test is only accepted by RCCL if physically administered by a lab, and that results from the Zoom proctored version of the test will not be accepted at the port. I have appointments scheduled already for PCR tests on Thursday, but I'm increasingly concerned about delays with processing PCR tests. I have purchased a set of these tests, but now it seems like Royal won't actually accept them.

Does anyone have positive confirmation of RCCL accepting this test at the port for proof of recent negative test? Or do I need to take my chances with the PCR tests on Thursday?

We got a message from our genie this week that the Seafood tower is no longer available at Chops (we sail next week on Allure OTS). I'm not sure if this is because of the reduced capacity or if this is a permanent change, but thought I'd pass on the message. I know a lot of people who really like the tower.

3 hours ago, WannaCruise said:

We cruise more for the ship than the ports anyways so it's not so crazy for us, but anyone else limiting excursions until covid gets better?  

We were planning on excursions for both of our port days, but since one port got moved and our excursion for the other got canceled, we're considering it as a sign that we should just stay on the ship both of those days. We still have our floating cabana booked for Coco Cay, and that should be enough for everyone. There are several onboard activities that my kids are still interested in, so that's what we'll be doing on those days instead.

On 8/9/2021 at 5:29 AM, smokeybandit said:

I'm not sure being in a Star suite really means anything different for kids

I suppose it depends on their ages and personality. Our 7 year-old couldn't care less about the differences. Our 9-year old, on the other hand, is very excited about all things Star class. She's been watching Star class review and overview videos on YouTube for months ahead of our cruise.

33 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

This whole situation is getting weird fast. Now there's concern that bahamas won't waive its 14 day close contact quarantine rule for a commercial flight and they're looking into private flights for all quarantined kids.

Does this mean even if the test is negative you'll be flying on a private flight home? I mean, that sounds cool, but holy cow that's expensive for them.

13 hours ago, ChrisK2793 said:

there there’s no winning by default for the CDC

I'm operating under the assumption that the intermediate courts are predisposed to be favorable to the CDC's position. I could be wrong, but I think the reality is that by the time this thing works its way through the whole court system, we might already hit November, and none of it will matter much anymore. 

10 hours ago, jticarruthers said:

Why would that be important? Its not "their" time and money they are wasting so why does actually having a shot at winning matter.

Because they are an organization made up of actual people with the objective of maintaining the authority and status the CDC has with the government and healthcare organizations. They have a team of lawyers as any organization of that size would have and their leadership has determined this is a worthwhile cause to pursue.

On 7/18/2021 at 9:24 AM, JasonOasis said:

If you don't like what one judge has to say I guess you appeal and find another.

 

I wish this saga would just end, I don't understand why the CDC continues to fight this, when it is obvious cruise lines in this country know what to do to keep passengers safe while onboard.

I mean, yes, that's exactly how the appeals process works in the United States. The reason the CDC is continuing to fight is exactly because they don't want their authority curtailed in other situations, not necessarily related to cruising. Also, they must believe they have at least a fair shot of winning. It's entirely likely SCOTUS won't even hear the case, in which case, they win by default. 

Our first cruise (and first RC cruise) was on Oasis. We kind of got spoiled a bit with that I think. We took another cruise the next year on the Independence and it was a fine trip, but at this point, I don't think I would sail anything other than Oasis class or Quantum class unless I had to for the itinerary.

3 hours ago, CJS2766 said:

So excited as we are 90 days from sailing today on the SOS and I am already checked in!

It's awesome to see that check-in is back to 90 days out. I was getting concerned that this 30-day check-in was going to be the new normal. 

We're sailing Star Class on our upcoming Allure sailing next month with our girls (7 and 9). I'll be happy to report on the experience. 

However, we have flown recently, and both girls did their first plane flights pretty young. A lot depends on the length of the flight. If you're only on the plane for a couple of hours, it's not so bad, and there will be enough happening that they won't get bored. Longer flights are harder, and I highly recommend picking up some snacks at the airport gift shop and to be prepared with coloring books.

They may experience some preflight and takeoff anxiety (our kids were split there - our oldest has no problem with flying), so this will probably be the most challenging part.

On 7/6/2021 at 2:39 PM, twangster said:

There is more truth to this than you realize.

Some companies see no value in IT or the platforms they support.  It's a huge cost center and money pit.   So they refuse to invest in technology because it doesn't generate revenue they can see and touch, it's not a stand alone profit center like a ship is.  Ships print money, IT just wastes it.    

As a former IT executive as I moved between companies I learned pretty quickly to ask questions during the interview process to figure out what kind of company they are.  When I saw this pattern I ran away.  

Don't blame IT, blame the executives who see no value in IT or don't fund it properly.  Those same executives right now... don't care.  Just think of the money they've saved!  Once the pandemic is over everything in the company will be right again!

Oh, I don't blame IT. I work in tech. This is firmly a leadership issue. 

I wonder if it needs to be solved externally, though. Maybe someone needs to start a cruise line booking management system company.

 

The email never showed up. We called and confirmed that the FCC was issued on Jun 22. I love Royal's cruises, but they have a long way to go from a technology perspective. Their system still lives in the 80s/90s, and it's obvious they don't really see updating it as a priority.

11 minutes ago, Matt said:

FWIW, half the time my TA gets it instead of me getting an email.

I booked on the website directly for this one. I guess I'll give them to the end of the day and then call tomorrow. 

Has anyone seen their FCC email for the July 2nd deadline? 

I have scoured my inbox and spam to make sure I haven't missed something, but today's the last day and I haven't heard a peep.

These seem reasonable and as expected. It's a bit unclear if the restrictions also apply to unvaxxed kids under the age threshold. That would be a helpful clarification for planning. My wife and parents and I all have the shots, but my kids are still too young.