pcvchristine

Check out the cruise compasses and/or app each day, and for things that you really want to do, show up as soon as they open registration/sign ups, which might be about a half hour before the activity starts. It usually will list something like “bumper cars: 9-12, sign ups 8:30). Have fun! 

I think it’s kind of hard for cruisers to say that the ports are being unfair. The ports have a responsibility to their citizens, and while a lot of the islands are doing pretty good on vaccination, they still have less medical capacity overall if there is a huge spike in cases. Preliminary data about omicron is looking positive (in the sense that it appears to be less severe) but it’s still a little early to make the call that omicron is no big deal. 
 

My take: I think cruise lines are doing a good job overall, but I also don’t blame the ports for being cautious. 

Oh no! That’s terrible to be at the port but unable to get off the ship. Worse than if they had just stayed at sea, I think! 

I would still probably drop off my bag at the terminal, and take a small bag of large purse with the things you’ll need for the afternoon.  
Otherwise, you’ll have to carry you stuff around with you until your room opens. 
If your check-in time is around 2 pm or later, it might make more sense to carry on, since your room should be ready by then. 

1 hour ago, Nate Y said:

Where are you seeing that?  The embassy web site I linked says something else.

https://opm.gov.bs/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Emergency-Powers-Covid-19-PandemicManagement-and-RecoveryNo.2AmendmentNo.8Order-2021.pdf

16 hours ago, Nate Y said:Looking at Nassau's web site it looks like you can enter with a negative PCR test even if you aren't vacced, so I don't get why its required.

That’s the Bahamas rule for air travel. Not cruise ships. Different modes of travel = different logistics = different rules. 

I read elsewhere that this email went out inadvertently to Anthem passengers sailing out of Bayonne. It’s based on the UK protocols (notice that it mentions the UK 2 day requirement), and doesn’t actually apply to US sailings. 

As Matt had said many times, nobody knows for sure what Royal is going to do until they announce a policy change. 

Until then, this is all speculation, and mostly speculation that is colored by folks personal and political opinions about vaccine mandates. 

Right. You would not pay anything extra, but you would get double points. The double points are not always applied automatically. You may have to call the loyalty desk. 

I haven’t been on Indy, but Mariner is a great ship! I don’t feel like you’d be compromising at all! 

I’m so sorry to hear that! I’m at 20 days til our cruise, so I’m going to start taking extra precautions now.

Unfortunately, my partner has grand jury duty all the way up to our cruise, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed the doesn’t pick anything up there. 

19 hours ago, rcrabb said:

The CDC document released justifying their extension of the Conditional Sail Order reported many cases of COVID-19 infection of both crew and passengers on cruises with > 96% vaccination rates of passengers and 100% vaccination rate for the crews.  The CDC did not name the cruise lines by name but what is apparent is the cruise lines were obligated to reported the infection data to the CDC but did release the same information to the general public.  I understand the business reasons to keep the infection data close to the vest.  It also reveals cruising is not as risk free as it seems.  

I would like the cruise lines to be more forthcoming with infection rate information so we all can decide for ourselves what the risks are and we are willing to take.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/pdf/CDC-CSO-Extension-10-25-21-p.pdf

 

This is an interesting read, thank you for sharing it. Especially the recounting of situations where people boarded ships despite knowing they were symptomatic and later causing a number of breakthrough infections. Unfortunately, some people are just not going to do the right thing, so I understand why both the cruise lines and the CDC want certain protocols in place. 

Can you check the room against the deck plans? You should be able to see whether or not it has a balcony there.  

It does work. When check in (re) opened for the harmony group cruise, I stayed up til midnight and got the first time available, noon. I might have gotten earlier if I’d been able to check in when it first launched, but I wasn’t booked yet. 

On 10/16/2021 at 8:25 PM, 904Duval said:

Pretty awesome! I have received $500 back from Amex already.  Charged $1500 with my Amex card with a Royal Caribbean Rep last Friday the 8th. $500 was credited this past Thursday. Very quick turnaround. 

Same! We got ours back a lot sooner then we expected! 

I feel like the “normal” apology for when something goes wrong on the ship is a bottle of wine/champagne in the stateroom, or some chocolate covered strawberries. Thinking of something more significant than that, but not outrageous… I’d say asking for a complementary dining experience or some onboard credit would not be out of the question. 

This sounds really challenging, and wonder if it’s just this ship being overly cautious or interpreting the rules a bit too strictly? Or if perhaps there was a case of transmission linked to AO and now they’re overcompensating? I say this because @Matt recently had his kids on a cruise and it doesn’t sound like AO was so unpleasant. Different ages though, so who knows! 
 

I agree with the above poster that hopefully soon kids will be able to get vaxxed too, and we’ll ALL get to go back to having cruising experiences that are closer to pre-pandemic normal! 

I momentarily had the same thing happen to me the other day. On the refresh it was back to normal. 

I can’t speak to the cruise context (yet!), but masking has absolutely been demonstrated to be effective at reducing (but not completely eliminating) the spread of COVID. Particularly indoors. I agree that outdoors it is more “theater” - very little transmission happens outdoors. 
 

Testing is also effective, though not perfect. Every positive case that is kept off the ship reduces the risk for others. But I won’t be sad when they go back to only testing unvaxxed kids. Hopefully as the cases continue to drop! 

I feel like the actual reason isn’t social distancing in the sense of not having anyone next to you, but more to spread people throughout the ship to reduce choke points and balance the number of cabins a stateroom attendant is working with (since that’s a potential vector). Or else, as others have said to create a quarantine area. 
 

I would be a bit surprised if the cruise lines are gunning to get rid of vaccine requirements already. No doubt they will eventually, but I feel like they want the requirements to keep spread on the cruise ships low and keep them out of the news. But who know. 

Yeah, the folks in guarantee rooms getting this is downright perplexing. 
 

I haven’t gotten anything, which is funny since I only just booked (so you’d think maybe I’d be first to reshuffle). In my mind that gives some credence to the idea that they need to clear a specific section to use for quarantining or perhaps to balance stateroom attendants. 

If you know you are going to do specialty dining (but not a package), 25% off can be pretty nice. Especially at Izumi/Playmakers where they wouldn’t necessarily be other discounts onboard.