SuzanneM

The train operates on Friday all day but after the mid-afternoon there are many fewer options. It will be complicated but doable. It won't be half a day. You'll be 2-3 hours each way, so 4-6 hours round-trip just for the commuting time. You would need to be very careful about your return trip on a Friday, planning it carefully. Is the ship also going to Ashdod, by chance, or just Haifa? Ashdod is a much easier distance to Tel Aviv. If you do want to go from Haifa, probably easiest is to take a cab ride for the 2.4km to the nearest train station (I just checked Google Maps). The nearest is the Bat Galim station. Here's a link to the station map: https://www.rail.co.il/en/pages/stationsnlines.aspx Usually you can't get a cab until you walk out of the port and onto the bridge. There are often cabs waiting near the bridge or on it. There is no cab in all of Israel that is inexpensive (except in places like Karmiel where there are mandated city-wide prices). Also, you're not supposed to tip them. If they try to get you to tip them, they've marked you as a sucker tourist. No one tips cab drivers here. Round-trip, probably the train would be about 50 shekels. Round-trip, probably a cab ride would be about a 800 shekels minimum. That's just a guess; it could be much more. If you'd like to get a free quote from a decent cab company for long-distance trips (I've used it a few times), you can request a quote here: https://booktaxi.co.il/ But they, too, are expensive. I only use them when desperate (like, I had a ride lined up but there was an unexpected issue and they can't pick me up and I have to get to another city by a certain time). One positive thing though is that you could pay by card, ahead of time. You can only pay by cash (shekels) in a taxi cab hailed off the street. In my opinion, Haifa is a more interesting city than Tel Aviv (which is like almost any large city). Nearly everything you'd want to do in Tel Aviv, you can do in Haifa. I guess it's a matter of what you're wanting to do exactly. Edit: Oh hey. I just saw that your cruise was for 30 August and that means you're talking about the Friday that was two days ago. Well...I hope whatever happened, you had fun!

Probably for bookings made with the UK site. I make bookings through the Israel site. There are promotions specific to each country sometimes, both for sailings and in the cruise planner.

Actually, my guess (speaking as someone in the IT world) is that Royal Caribbean has an ultra-sophisticated CRM that tracks both your ecommerce habits between cruises as well as your habits on the cruises. I'd be shocked if they didn't. They're probably devoting significant money toward data science and AI predictive models specifically so they can cater to guests' wants, needs, and preferences and anticipate them when they can. That said, I doubt they waste time acting on such a granular level, determining this stateroom should receive an envelope and that one shouldn't. Cabin stewards have enough to do in a short amount of time. Easier just to give everyone. They probably only get to that level of detail for high-status C&A members, suite guests, etc. And even then, I doubt the data they keep is at all related to whether or not to leave a tipping envelope.

For cruises out of Haifa currently, the Refreshment package is $14USD/day, deluxe beverage is $39USD/day, soda package is $6USD/day, the Key is $13.99/day, and the internet packages are super cheap as well. I snapped up stuff for all five of my future cruises. Not sure if it's a glitch or not. The extreme prices are only for things with daily prices. I know they're having a sale right now but it claims it's much less a percentage off. I had already bought Refreshment package at $30/day a few days earlier, so I canceled that. And I think the deluxe package was around $67/day.

Is it the same cheese plate you can get in the main dining room? If it is, you can get it every single day without paying extra, so long as you go to the main dining room. Probably you can even take it to go.

Oh, nice! I was wondering what Flight was about. This makes me want to see it more.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the anti-gravity stuff yet, shown when they're saying "a new, diverse, additional variety of entertainment onboard". Or is that something that already exists? Maybe it's just a video in the escape room on Oasis (I haven't been)?

There are a bunch of cruises where solo supplements aren't at 200%. You can track them here: https://www.cruiseplum.com/solo-supplement-deals I sail solo all the time and it's not hard to find good deals for solo cruisers if you search enough and then reprice often once you've given a deposit.

This all has been known for over a year.

Thanks for this thread. On a B2B in September on Independence. This info will definitely come in handy.

When one reads HaAretz one must do so with ten buckets of grains of salt. Even better, not to read it. They're sensationalists with very little objective journalism. Obviously Israel did not want to sell vaccines to a luxury cruise line. I'll hold my breath for them to correct the claim. RC website does not have Odyssey out of Rome this year. Maybe the person who saw it was looking at a cruise website that hadn't removed the old Rome '21 schedule?

Israelis don't have to watch the news to understand what's going on. It's right here. And we remember what has happened multiple times in the past, including for ground invasions. They usually have a very specific objective, and then they're done. A few days, or a few weeks, and things will be quiet again. The cancellation was almost certainly due to vaccination issues. RC expected to receive them on 7 May and didn't. This is the preparation they're probably referring to that they couldn't resolve. The conflict flared up in the last week. So they tried the political approach with the vaccines and failed. Israel doesn't have a formal government right now (which is why we keep going back to the polls; I expect we'll have a fifth election in two years before long). Lots of red tape, lots of budgetary issues held off because you need a formal cabinet to create a new budget, approve spending plans (for vaccines!), etc. The Ministry of Health is being very strict about who receives vaccines that is not a resident. Currently it's Palestinians, undocumented foreign workers, and refugees. No one else can get one without purchasing minimum three months of tourist insurance from the Israeli national insurance, because it's meant for people staying here long-term, not people coming for a trip to get a vaccine. That's probably where RC hit a snag. The Ministry of Health obviously wouldn't make an exception, same as they don't for any non-Israeli without long-term tourist insurance.

These are different factors. The 85% is referring to the eligible population. The 30% refers to the total population. 85% of people able to get the vaccine in Israel (people age 16 and older) have done so. However, this 85% of the eligible only amounts to 60% of the total population. 10% are eligible but haven't gotten it and 30% are children under age 16, therefore ineligible. In other words: The population of Israel is just over 9 million people and of that, about 6.3 million are eligible. 70% of the total population is eligible, but only 60% of the total population have opted to be vaccinated. Another 30% are children under age 16, and therefore currently are ineligible. 10% have opted out thus far, despite being eligible. 60+30+10=100. Of the 6.3 million eligible, about 5.35 million have gotten the vaccine. 85%. Of the 6.3 million eligible, nearly a million have not gotten the vaccine. 15%. 85+15=100. Make sense?

It's the same thing. 60% of the total residents, i.e. Israel's population, is vaccinated. That's 85% of who is eligible for vaccination (the rest, 30% of the population, is under 16 years old). Eligible residents: Anyone age 16+ Total residents: All ages, children and adults This is relevant for calculating possible herd immunity, among other things.

Currently about 85% of eligible residents in Israel are vaccinated, and that's about 60% of the total residents. 30% of our population is children under 16. Haifa Port is a couple hours' drive from the main conflict. It's out of range of most rockets. Also, it's very possible everything will quiet down in the next few weeks, whereas the Odyssey is booked out of Haifa through end of October. It's been selling well. If there are any issues, it will almost certainly be related to vaccinations. Likely they're swapping out unvaccinated crew for those who have been vaccinated, and vaccinating those who need it. I'd expect them to be back for the 2-4 June cruise—which I'm scheduled on, haven't received any notifications of cancellations, and was told earlier today by a RC rep that the cruise is still planned.

Somewhat of a zombie post but wanted to confirm: in the Royal app, it says Odyssey's Coastal Kitchen is on deck 14.

I booked a solo balcony with an obstructed view for 2 June on Odyssey so I can take pictures to show, if you'd like.

Coronavirus privacy policy: Corona_Virus_Privacy_Policy_and_Health_Measures_Information.pdf Supplementary terms updated as of 24 March, sent to me today as the price went down a couple hundred on my JS and I called them to adjust it. It's pretty much the same, from what I could tell just browsing it: COVID_19_Supplementary_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf In other news, thanks to the current sale, I grabbed a solo balcony for the non-official maiden voyage (2 June). So I'm exactly seven weeks from cruising again!! ? Just a two-day but the price was great and it'll totally be worth exploring the Odyssey on its first voyage. I'll be taking a billion pictures. ?

That's almost exactly what I thought when I heard it. ?

I booked over the phone and they played a message that I had to verbally agree to, acknowledging I take full responsibility for my choice to book this cruise, knowing it could result in illness or death. They really are covering *all* the bases. I think it's as up-to-date as can be expected; it was provided last week during the booking process so we can trust at least that it was still the plan last week. Israelis are generally less likely than Americans to be open about private matters like this. Americans are provided a list of questions on a form, answer each one carefully, and sign their name and provide the date in the date field. Israelis skip most of (if not all of) the questions and sign their name, no date unless mandatory, let's just be done with it. As an American-Israeli dual citizen, I've seen it play out that way with both groups more times than I can count. I doubt the full medical history is needed, nor do I expect them to request it. But it does seem reasonable for them to give notice they may need to request more information.

Independence - 12 September 2021 - Galveston Independence - 12 September 2021 - Galveston Navigagor - 24 January 2022 - Los Angeles Navigagor - 28 January 2022 - Los Angeles Navigagor - 31 January 2022 - Los Angeles Oasis - 18 December 2022 - Miami

I thought some of you who will be cruising this year may be interested in seeing the various terms and conditions RC added for COVID, at least as pertains to the cruises out of Israel. This was provided upon booking for my Odyssey cruise this October. It's an interesting read. Maybe it will give an idea of what precautions and conditions may exist for other cruises soon after. Safe and happy cruising to all. ? https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/israel/israel-supplementary-terms-and-conditions.pdf

Thank you, it's great to get a peek into these meals and especially your ratings. Dinner clearly looks much better but what are your thoughts on how the breakfast and lunch compare to other options?

I'm on a JS on Odyssey in October and it explicitly said when purchasing a couple weeks ago that CK dinner was included.

I loved the class! They easily accommodated my request for no shellfish and gave me substitutes. At the end I had delicious sushi to eat. It was totally worth it and I plan to go to the class every time I'm on a cruise with Izumi on board. And yeah, they provided all the ready ingredients and demonstrated how to assemble the sushi. My own efforts on Jewel of the Seas in 2019: