Jkaczano

At 7PM tonight the Oasis left Cape Liberty on its test cruise.  It went up the Hudson and turned around by the Statue of Liberty by 7:30 and passed under the Verrazano Narrows bridge about 8:15.  It was so exciting watching on the harbor cams knowing that we will be on her in 5 weeks.

Here are some pictures from the webcam

14 minutes ago, CrusingfromClayton said:

Very much hoping to hear she was able to sail today - fingers crossed!!!

She departed from the port right on time at 7PM, headed up river to turn around next to the Statue of Liberty, and passed under the bridge into the ocean at about 8:15.  

1 hour ago, barjpoe said:

As of 6:45PM, Sunday, she is still in port. She was scheduled to leave at 6PM. Is it weather related that she is still in port?

She left at 7

Issued on a Friday night, it’s not even on my news feed.  Ironically, Carnival only serving bacon every other day amid shortage is.  Probably stocks down for a day or 2, then ignored

13 minutes ago, ChrisK2793 said:

Well as of now, I’m 56 days away from my Symphony cruise and I haven’t heard a peep from Royal about anything …..the only email I’ve ever received from them about it was telling me that my final payment was due ….. which I’d already paid that over a month before then.

 

 

You’re still 56 days out and protocols for October aren’t released yet.  My cruise is September.  Protocols were released a day or 2 ago, I got an email from Royal that night which outlined exactly what I need to do to board and when with links to relevant q&a’s on their website.  

On 8/18/2021 at 11:36 PM, wozswoman said:

Does this mean they are sold out? The only thing available is a three day dining package plus the individual restaurant packages.

Oasis Sept 26 sailing has unlimited plan again as of right now. Not sure how long it will be there

47 minutes ago, Nqfondren said:

I am very upset with the way things are being handled. Received an email today that we would have to cancel 2 days before we are scheduled to sail ,due to no record of Covid testing. For your information I work in the medical field and you can not get the COVID testing unless you have symptoms or have been exposed, but we have been vaccinated like one of your earlier email suggested. But you wait till 2 days before we sail to send an email, so you have lost us as customers and will not recommend your company to anyone we know. Thanks for ruining my vacation time.

sincerely disappointed

Nora

The guys above are nicer than I am.  

It’s been known since the end of July that EVERYONE needs to be tested to board.  You are choosing not to be.  Testing is available for travel purposes at Walgreens, CVS, many urgent cares, independent labs, and airports.  Royal is being nice to allow you to cancel with only 2 days notice.

BTW - I always find it interesting when someone says they work “in the medical field”.  
 

Website now also updated for September protocols.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/do-i-need-a-covid-vaccine-to-cruise-what-counts-as-proof

If your cruise planner is the same as mine, the plain beach bed rental says in the text detail that it’s chill island. We’ve never been to Perfect Day but the choice seems to be all about what you want to be close to.  With smaller kids, I’d probably pick breezy bay for its proximity to oasis lagoon and food choices.   Adults with no kids, south beach with the swim up bar. We have 2 teenage boys and chose chill island. 

On 8/17/2021 at 6:35 PM, wozswoman said:

I haven't had a passport for 20 years so went to send mine in and at that time it still said 6-8 weeks.  As it is flying through the air to land on the desk at the passport agency the website now says 18 weeks! My cruise is on Sept 26.  Dummy me did not pay for expedited.  Thankfully per RCCL website as long as I have my certified birth certificate and drivers license I am good.   

We’re also on this sailing.  When we booked, I hadn’t received my boys’ passports yet so I confirmed with the RC agent on the phone that it was a closed loop sailing and a certified birth certificate would work for them.  Adults also needed their driver’s license.  

She’s sailing in the harbor again this morning

https://www.nyharborwebcam.com/

42 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

My husband uses "So Clean" as well.  Well SHOOT.  But I didn't think SoClean used high temps to clean, I thought it was just ozone.  Guess we better look into it more.

I may be wrong about it using high heat.  However it works, it was found to exacerbate the problem.  

DH is still using his.  From what we read, it appeared that the high temp cleaning methods (Ie So Clean) was accelerating the degradation.  Since he never used something like that and he hasn’t seen any evidence of black specks, we figured it was safer to continue using it.  

40 days to go!

2 days ago, a bunch of cabanas as Perfect Day opened up.  Most were still at the $1000 plus range, but thrill water park was available for $699, so we cancelled the beach bed and water park tickets and booked that instead.  This way we can all go into the water park and then the adults can take turns going out to explore the island.  
 

Prices also came down a little bit for the Nassau dolphin and sea lion encounters.  Mike had no interest and prefers to stay on the boat, J wanted sea lions, and M and my mom wanted dolphins.  Of course no one can agree, so I ended up booking mom and M for dolphins and J and I for sea lions. 
 

J and M’s passports also came in.  I didn’t expedite them because our next cruise wasn’t booked until February, so it was a pleasant surprise it was 9 weeks instead of the 12-16 we were quoted.  
 

I really need this vacation.  It can’t come soon enough

18 hours ago, melmar02 said:

Thanks for posting the questions! We won't get ours for another year and a half, so I have time to plan our answers.  I look forward to following along - we'll be in one of the 2BR ATS on Allure. 

I would love to get questions like your husband's at an interview, but I'm not great on the fly. I would hope I would be quick witted enough that my answers would be: Crazy Train by Ozzy, keep it to help wash the dogs, and competitive ballroom dancing - tradition would have me follow as the lady, but DH says I back lead. 

Interestingly, the person who the committee hired to be the new president got the song question (there was a new question for each internal candidate).  He answered that it was an interesting question and asked if he could think about it.  He emailed the committee an answer that night as part of his thank you letter.  

Did you get your upgrade?

Ironically, 3 out of the 4 vaccination cards for our family have no signatures at all.  The 2 teens were done at Walgreens, and just say “Walgreens”, and mine was done at a state/national guard site (SNHU) and is a sticker with Pfizer, lot #, and says SNHU.  No names at all.  Only my husband’s which was done at his work (hospital), has the name of the RN who administered it..

When I checked in for Oasis last week, all sailings for the first 2 months were available on the same day.  I had checked the cruises planner at 8:30AM and it was not open, but was available at around noon.  It may be different on ships opening up “on schedule”

17 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Honestly, I only answer the questions that have some relevance....like what kinds of drinks I want in my room, etc.  I think the esoteric ones are pointless.  Yes, I understand that the Genie [might] use the answer to get a feel for your personalities/attitudes but I just think they're silly.

I answered the ones that were relevant and was going to put “requires too much thought for vacation” but Mike said he would answer them.  Considering that he put he would have dinner with “Mother Theresa, Donald Trump, and Miley Cyrus because it would be entertaining” and that answering the dinner question was the biggest laugh he had in a while, heaven knows what the genie will think of us.   

More likely someone just can’t convert a decimal to percent without throwing in an extra 9.  Basic math skills are severely lacking in this country. 
 

Jenn - mother to 2 homeschooled teenage boys who wouldn’t have made this mistake. 

We got our first royal genie email!  I took pictures of the questions for anyone who hasn’t seen it before.   As much as I’m really excited to do our first cruise on Royal Caribbean (especially doing star class), questions like these make me anxious.  So I made DH (Mike) answer them.  Felt it was fitting considering he’s known among the hospital staff for asking tough questions of interviewees.  Some of his classics are - what song describes your life/philosophy, you’re given an elephant and can’t sell it so what do you do with it, and what sport do you like most and what position would you play.  Ie - questions that look at your personality, rather than just looking for information. Not sure what they’ll think when they read his answers.  Hopefully they get his sense of humor. 
 

44 days to go!

On 8/11/2021 at 12:29 AM, Ampurp85 said:

@AshleyDillo and @WAAAYTOOO Thanks, I was looking at a deck plan website and they had both listed as Sky class. A lot of suites have become available and if that one becomes available, I might try to snag it.

If any become available last minute, you might get a great deal like we did.  We booked at about 50 days out and pricing was $2-6k less than what I am used to seeing (we were planning to do this cruise fall 2023 and I’ve been watching prices).  

I didn’t realize that you homeschool.  We’re just starting our 9th year of homeschooling.  Cruising is usually such a good mix of family and adult only time.   

We applied for new/renewal passports for 2 teenagers 6/11 at local post office. Current passports were expired.  Sent standard processing. Changed to in process on 7/17 when check was cashed and to approved today 8/10.  Email I received says to expect by 8/16.  

We are checked in!  It seemed surreal to purchase a cruise and check in just 3 days later.  
 

Of course it opened today while I had J at urgent care.  He’s a competitive gymnast and banged his hand last night on pommel.  Luckily,  it looks like it’s just bruised and not broken.  We got a “health check” time of 12:30.  I added my mom’s, DH’s, and my passport information when I got home and then checked the  boys’ passport status.  We renewed theirs at the post office early June standard processing as we didn’t need them until February.  Passports were supposedly approved yesterday and we should have them next week.  
 

47 days to go!