Canadian-Cruiser

Well, I think they're saying "welcome back vaccinated families"

Bad news for those with kids who want to cheat on Royal.
https://cruise.blog/2021/11/norwegian-will-keep-covid-vaccine-mandate-indefinitely

The risk of myocarditis with a COVID infection is 10x greater. 
 

About the same thing happened to us last month, October.  The day before we were set to leave on flight next morning, we took our Covid tests online, at home.  We are both vaccinated and had no symptoms.  My husband came up positive.  We were in shock.   Had to cancel the flight less that 12 hours before, plus the cruise, hotels, etc. You never know I guess.   Out next cruise is beginning for December for 2 weeks on Oasis.  We are not getting together with anyone for Thanksgiving.  And very little contact with people 2 weeks prior.   I have had about 10 cancelled cruises, and not going to chance this next one.
 

We got stuck in traffic and arrived about 25 minutes late for our check in at Bayonne.  They ushered us right to the front.   
 

CDC just voted unanimously (14-0) to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for ages 5-11. 

PR Airport has testing for $110 , worst case scenario im stuck in a hotel for 10 days with a mini bar and sports channels on the TV lol 

I was looking around for a COVID test for an upcoming cruise.  I checked my local Kroger grocery store and found they do have testing. It can be reserved 14 days in advance, but costs $25 USD.  They appeared to have many locations that offered the testing and plenty of openings. In fact, I could have had my choice of appointments for this afternoon!
I paid extra close attention, and they did not ask for my insurance, home address or citizenship information. Therefore I think it would work for both US residents and foreigners.
Please note that Kroger operates under several brands throughout the United States.  Depending on the port you may have to book with a different sub brand.  Their brands include: Kroger, Harris Teeter, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Shoppers, QFC, Ralphs, Roundry's and Smiths.
Please note: I only checked on my local Kroger branded store.  YMMV, especially if you are using one of the sub-brands.
If anyone else knows of testing locations that will accept foreign residents, I'm sure our Canadian European and other foreign friends would appreciate it if you would leave that in the comments.

We uploaded our vaccination records into the app a few weeks back, but they no longer show in our app at all now . Definitely doesn’t say in progress. We sail 11/6. Of course we have photos of them and will have them with us. Even though we’ve had three vaccine doses and have been very careful to wear a mask on top of that, this whole testing process can be anxiety provoking. I’m sure many feel the same even though we all understand it is important.

I am going to make a prediction that has no basis in fact.   I predict the February protocols will require children to be vaccinated and that the mask requirements/recommendations will be relaxed inside, unless there is a new increase in cases.  If there is, I would expect the mask rules to remain the same, they are not going to change something that is working.  And like it or not, agree with it or not, it is working.  They would be kind of silly to say "this is working, but let's change it and see if people get sick or die."

We just got off SOS on Saturday and our departure time got pushed back to 7pm and although they didn't change the order if where we went they did shorten times at 2 of them which I thought was extremely selfish considering the money people spend on excursions.
Hubby and I actually were speaking with some of the staff and there were just under 2500 passengers on board on a ship that holds over 6 thousand. We heard from several that Royal is not planning on getting close to capacity for a few months yet. They are still trying to make sure their safeguards are in place before that. 

It’s mask everywhere, bring vaccination card

Just realize, it seems that most people are assuming that all of these protocols stem from the CDC order.  None of us have any idea what any cruise line would do even if there were absolutely no recommendations or requirements.  Most people are assuming that they would do what they think is correct.  Unless you are the CEO of a cruise line, that is not a logical assumption.

And I will be first in line for my child, because she shouldn't die of a disease when vaccines make it preventable. 

I hope and believe that once the vaccine(s) is approved for ages 5-12, it will eventually be required to cruise.  Eventually schools will require it just like the other vaccine requirements for the past 150+ years.  Also in response to earlier comments about not basing their kids vaccine decision on cruising, I completely agree.  You should get your kids vaccinated for their health, your health, your family's health, and your fellow human beings health.  Cruising is just another excellent reason for people to vaccinate.  

I hope parents don't get their children vaccinated for ANY reason.
Edited to add:  I mean the COVID injection. I am not an anti-vaxxer, otherwise.

Although my assumption is that it will eventually become mandatory as it becomes available. I have to assume that they will give an amount of time for it to become in effect. A buffer to give people time.

Since it's a new dosage of vaccine, it's it even feasible for vaccines to be available next week (or even in a month)? It was easy for the 12-16 since they just pulled from the existing stock.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with your point of view, I just have a question since you suggested Royal should ignore the CDC and follow Florida's vaccination laws.  My question is are you saying Royal should also ignore international laws for arriving passengers into other countries. Take the Bahamas as an example if Royal were following Florida's vaccination laws they would not be able to port in the Bahamas even at their own private island, and that is just one country there are a whole host of Caribbean Island nations that are now instituting entry requirements requiring passengers regardless of how their arrive (air or ship) to be fully vaccinated. 
It is a conundrum and unfortunately Royal is stuck in the middle, it isn't just the CDC that Royal is following in order for their cruise ships to sail they also have to comply with the laws for the countries they intend to visit.  I'm not in favor of any mandates I think people should have a choice the unfortunate reality is this if Royal and other cruise lines wish to remain in business until this madness is over they are going to have to comply with rules put in place by the countries they intend to visit.  Complying with Florida's vaccine laws could result in a shutdown of the cruise industry or severely limit the ports Royal could visit as more and more Caribbean Island nations put vaccine requirements in place for all passengers.  At this point in the pandemic this has gone far beyond the CDC and their CSO and cruise lines are now having to operate a lot like airlines meaning if an airline wishes to fly to (for example Israel) that airline must check the vaccination status and COVID test for all passengers before they leave the US. If the airline isn't willing to comply with Israeli law requiring all passengers be fully vaccinated and also present a negative test then that airline can't operate flights into Israel. Israel isn't the only country there is a long list of countries requiring full vaccinations, and the next countries on the reopening list requiring full vaccinations for all passengers is Australia which reopens in a few days or weeks.  Starting November 1st anyone 12 and older traveling from the US to Canada will be required to show proof of vaccination (until now all you needed was a negative COVID test that all changes November 1st) and soon New Zealand when they reopen will require proof of vaccination.  It is unfortunate but this is where international travel is headed at least for most if not all of 2022 and cruises from the US are no exception because we have no domestic cruises.  
Following Florida's vaccination laws would be a death sentence for Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines operating out of Florida because they can't afford to wait this out, they can't afford to wait until things go back to many of us would consider "Normal".

I can't imagine subjecting kids to the current requirements onboard while other options remain essentially restriction-free. We're an 11/1 cancellation as a direct result of the continued madness, if anyone's looking for one of the spacious panoramic oceanviews on Indy.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2021/10/25/cdc-extends-conditional-sailing-order-cruises-through-january-15/8467745002/

I have no doubt that part of what is playing here is that Caribbean ports - the ones that are ostensibly open to cruise ships - are limiting how many ships they will host. Part of that is country or locally specific mitigation measures to reduce cruise passenger overload in the surrounding city.
As RCL sets out to ramp up sailings, they're finding that operationally berthing space is limited and port agents may be finding local authorities reluctant to have 6000 or more cruise passengers descend on their city. There's still a lot of COVID fear and apprehension. I know berthing space was a factor on our recent Apex sailing that was to port in Lisbon Portugal. That port call got cancelled and replaced with a sea day.
This weekend there was an article in the Economist about Asia reopening to tourism.  The most striking finding involving this process was that the Asian countries that most depended on tourism as a staple of their economies were the one's opening up much slower to tourists, being selective about which citizens can visit for a holiday and were likely to have more restrictive COVID mitgation measures in place.
One factor dictating slow openings according to the various Asian travel ministers interviewed for the article was concern about overwhelming hotels, bars and restaurants that had been closed for nearly 2y. One has to acknowledge, restarting travel and leisure dependent economies is not a whole lot different than restarting a cruise ship, just on a much larger scale. 

I just returned from a 14n west bound transatlantic crossing on Celebrity Apex. Up until a day before boarding, Apex had a no-mask policy outdoors and indoors. I received an email from Celebrity the day before the sail date announcing masks would be required, regardless of vax status, both indoors and outdoors except when dining or drinking.
I learned 2nd hand that the reason for this change was that on the sailing just before ours - 7n transit from Piraeus (Athens) via a few Greek Isle stops to Barcelona - there were 7 positive COVID tests among both passengers and crew. There were 56 close contacts identified and quarantined. 
First, cruise ships most likely have unpublished protocols that determine what mitigation measures are required aboard based on certain metrics or the COVID policies of nations they are calling on (BTW, Spain requires masking on all commercial conveyances and this may have been playing a part as well). In this case some number of positive tests among guests and crew may have triggered the indoor masking mitigation measure. Alternatively, mitigation measures within the EU suffer from a dizzying number of options. We had just sailed from Piraeus on Apex in August. Despite Greece formally requiring masks in doors in restaurants, bars, ferryrs and so forth, They weren't required in doors on Apex for that sailing. See the helpful link below to sort through these.
The reason I'm posting here is to relate one crew members take on the positives - all Europeans - on the cruise just prior to mine. I rarely if ever hear a Celebrity Crew member say anything disparaging about other passengers or crew policies. So, I was surprised to hear a server in Al Bacio (Celebrity's version of Starbucks) go off about how irresponsible and disrespectful of other passengers and crew that those passengers who had somehow contracted COVID were. The sentiment was that clearly those passengers didn't take adequate precautions to avoid getting sick.
That may or may not be true. I also think this crew member was aware of other specifics, she did not disclose to me .... antimaskers?), about how these 7 got infected such specifics casting doubts about how safety conscious they had been before boarding. The point is that this crew member - sample size of one but they talk among each other so I'm assuming this is a wide spread sentiment - are very aware of the risks of passengers who either unknowingly or knowingly take risks that increases their potential to get COVID.
Why is that? Well, this server was one of the 56 contacts. She was quarantined for 10 days and tested twice before getting released back to work. Crew hate quarantine. They did it on joining ship's staff for 2 weeks, hate it, and hate being sent back into it because of some passenger who she believes - maybe for good reason - behaved in risky ways and got infected. 
So, yes, crew are watching the behaviors of passengers and fellow crew members. They care deeply about their jobs and hate missing work and the potential of getting sent home if they become infected. It behooves us to respect those fears and do what we can to keep ourselves from being exposed and potentially infecting them and the consequences they will suffer because of that.
https://reopen.europa.eu/en  

And I and my customer's opinion is different.  That's why I don't think we can assume anything about what the crew would want.  I don't know that they would be honest if asked.  I'm just a little embarrassed that I had never thought about it until this thread.

None of us know, unless there is some crew following this.  If I were on the ship, those issues would bother me, because of coming into contact with so many different people increases their chance of getting it greatly.  So anything that would reduce those odds would be better.  They have more risk and exposure than the passengers do.  I don't think a lot of us, me included, had thought of the crew, and have been imposing our own views on them.    I wonder if they have a union or other group looking out for their interests, rather than having their situation be dictated by the comfort or discomfort and/or political views of the passengers.