whitsmom

What I've been saying for a year.

Yup. On my first cruise, my sister thought that was the legitimate pronunciation. So I've kept it going!

I just had a vision of someone hacking into the system and randomly ejecting people from their loungers.
"There's the guy who cut in line at the WJ last night... gaboing" 

Yes, Vista and Breeze arrive in Galveston on Sunday.  They will be using the existing cruise terminals to vaccinate about 350 crew members across both ships starting next week.

Per Marine Traffic.. Vista will be one of them. 

This is surprising news!
According to this story, Carnival will bring ships in to Galveston on Sunday.  Their intent is to crew up and get ready to go.
Cruise ships set to return to Galveston this weekend in hopes to welcome passengers this summer - ABC13 Houston
 

FCC reinstatement and the fact that there is no central place to look up FCCs based on C&A numbers or your name.

We have a 9 day cruise NE-Canada for October 2021 and our final payment has not been change but I think we are considered a group as there are several of us going.  I just hope they lift the ban for cruising and for having more than 7 days because I really need a vacation!

I sense Matt is on the phone as we speak.  
"Hello, I'd like to know how much to upgrade all my sailings" 

The only itinerary where final payment date has been shortened are 2021 Alaska cruises.
Otherwise, should be same across the board.
Keep in mind some travel agencies set a final payment earlier than Royal Caribbean to avoid a client waiting a day or two from booking from getting their reservation accidentally cancelled.

Thought I'd post some interesting and good news today. We need that.
Read an interesting Bloomberg News piece on government's authority to mandate vaccines. A good deal of it dealt with Governor Desants' EO banning "vaccine passports." His intent was to ban such requirements for a patron to enter any business operating in FL under a FL business license. There was lots of misinformation about this pretty narrowly focused EO as you'd expect that implied it had broad effect and would include cruise lines. I had argued it won't as I understood it. The debate continues - mostly because controversy is newsworthy. Let's clear some things up:
A requirement to show proof of vaccine for entry wouldn't violate HIPA as has been claimed. That is because the entity requiring such information isn't a healthcare entity. According to the lawyer quoted in the Bloomberg piece, "there is no statutory, regulatory or constitutional bar to that (a requirement to show proof of vaccination for entry) to happen as long as it is applied in a non-discriminatory manner." I think that last legal opinion is definitive on it's face. Clearly that's not going to end the debate. What I think is clear is that the cruise lines have looked at the legal implications of requiring vaccinations to board and have decided that it is necessary layer of many other mitigation measures and requiring it is legal. Plan on getting vaccinated if you want to board a cruise ship when cruising restarts. I like that
Desantis was quoted as apparently implying the cruise industry would be required to comply with his ban. I can't find that direct quote. I also think that given his strong support for the restart of cruising, if he actually did say that, there are plenty of ways for him to side-step it.
In other vaccine news is you haven't heard it already, Pfizer has announced "a third shot (a booster) will likely be required 12 months from the date of your second shot." I never thought there was any question that SRAS2 would become seasonal much like influenza and that annual shots would be recommended to blunt it's effects. SARS2 is with us. I think this is good news. It indicates Pfizer thinks SARS2 will become seasonal and immunity will wane over time. It will need to be boosted. Like the influenza virus, its genomic makeup will vary. The one thing we have going for us is that these mRNA vaccines have 90-90% efficacy with effectiveness, even in the face of variants, around 80% effective in preventing death, serious illness and transmission. Flu vaccines are between 35 and 50% effective. 
A CBS's 60 Minutes segment aired on Sunday. It featured a scientist who works within DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) who described two pretty amazing advancements that "would stop the next pandemic in its tracks." (Link belwo) The reason I mention this is that most of us are suffering from pandemic fatigue and have lost some hope for the future. We'll let me tell you scientists and researchers haven't lost hope and continue to advance technologies and therapeutics in ways unimaginable a decade ago.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/last-pandemic-science-military-60-minutes-2021-04-11/
Unrelated to COVID, my daughter is such a researcher. She lives and works in Switzerland. Her work involves supervising a research project that builds synthetically derived tissues that when assembled become an organ. One can then test the effect of a therapeutic without involving human trials. The net result is speeding the introduction of advanced therapeutics through the regulatory process. A kidney and liver have already been assembled. Proof of concept is underway.  
Have nice day! ?

I made the decision to cruise Norway's fjords once I learned about the zero emission regulations coming in 2026.  Those regulations would ban virtually all cruise ships.  
I wanted to cruise there so I made a point of booking a cruise in 2020.  That was eventually eliminated by the pandemic so now I'm trying for 2022.  There is since a recommendation to delay the zero emission regulation until 2030 but regardless once I did the research i wanted to get to this bucket list destination so I'm not putting it off.
I've chosen an itinerary that is focused on Norway rather than one that includes a mix of Norway and other countries.  If I'm going all that way I'm going all in.     

We had 5 cabins on the Freedom and opened up the dividers, it was great.

Glad you got a deal, AlmondFarmer and Kudos for starting this thread.
I got a 7-Night Royal Suite midnight MST for the two of us 3/25/22. I was such a deal, I could not pass it up, despite having a TransAtlantic in the Aqua 1-Bd on the Allure just 3-weeks later.

This morning a Grand Suite on the same 3/25 cruise costs more.
I checked the same Royal Suite for the 3-Night & 4-Night following our return. Would you believe the Royal Suite was more per person on both of those individually than I paid for both of us on the 7-Night? It was.

I would never have received such a deal without this thread, updates, and all the great people in the 'Refresh Party' keeping me up to date, moment-by-moment. But you started the ball rolling.

Time and again it goes to show it never hurts to ask.  
 

I know that at times interactions with the RC service team can come with an element of frustration so I thought I would share an example of where the RC rep showed initiative and flexibility to resolve my query...
I booked one of the UK only sailings on the day they became available; however upon browsing the RC web site the very next day (as I am in the habit of doing whilst I await the green light for operations!) I noticed that the sailing was available at the same price but this time with OBC as an added extra.
I called RC and explained the situation, asking whether I needed to cancel the original booking under CWC and re-book in order to acquire the OBC. The rep (Christian) advised that the answer was technically yes I did, but as I would then be unable to apply the FCC from the CWC to the same sailing he would see what he could do.
After a few minutes he returned and advised that under the circumstances he had obtained authorisation to apply the OBC to my existing sailing, thereby saving me the inconvenience of cancelling/re-booking/dealing with the FCC/etc. Within two minutes of ending the call I received a revised invoice from RC showing the OBC and it was also available on my cruise planner.
Way to go Christian, and way to go RC! ?

Got me a booking!
Through a TA.  

For planning purposes this is what my TA can see:
19Nov2021    7 Night Cabo, Vallarta & Mazatlan 
26Nov2021    3 Night Ensenada  
29Nov2021    4 Night Catalina & Ensenada 
03Dec2021    3 Night Ensenada  
06Dec2021    4 Night Catalina & Ensenada 
10Dec2021    3 Night Ensenada  
13Dec2021    3 Night Ensenada  
20Dec2021    4 Night Catalina & Ensenada 
24Dec2021    7 Night Cabo, Vallarta & Mazatlan 
31Dec2021    7 Night Cabo, Vallarta & Mazatlan 
07Jan2022    3 Night Ensenada  
10Jan2022    4 Night Catalina & Ensenada 
14Jan2022    3 Night Ensenada  
17Jan2022    7 Night Cabo, Vallarta & Mazatlan 
24Jan2022    4 Night Catalina & Ensenada 

I just got mine too...
  Take action today
Browser View   Dear Valued Crown & Anchor Society members,

Royal Caribbean has deeply missed doing what we do best — delivering great
vacations for our guests. Unfortunately, just yesterday, we had to cancel more
cruises through June 2021, which marks 15 months since we have sailed from a
U.S. homeport.

But we haven’t been standing still. In recent months, Royal Caribbean and other
cruise lines have shown the effectiveness of health protocols while sailing other
parts of the world. The data speaks for itself — more than 400,000 healthy
guests have sailed on cruise ships outside the U.S., all made possible by
protocols developed over months of collaboration with top experts including our
Healthy Sail Panel. This demonstrated success, along with the rollout of the
vaccine in many countries, means cruising will be back this summer for
vacationers departing from the U.K., Israel, Cyprus, Bermuda,
The Bahamas and more homeports.

We’re grateful for our international partners who have invited us back to their
shores. The fact remains, however, that a U.S. return to cruising is essential to
our economy, travel agent partners, the destinations we sail to, and the overall
future vitality of this industry. The cruise community is a vital driver of our
country’s travel economy — and our job market. In fact, the cruise industry
supports nearly 500,000 U.S. jobs — and around 350,000 of these Americans
continue to financially suffer due to the suspension of cruising.

That’s why we’re calling on you, our valued Crown & Anchor Society members,
to make your voices heard. If you’re ready to see cruising return, we urge you
to call, email and tweet your Senators and U.S. Representatives in support of
lifting the CDC’s Conditional Sail Order (CSO) and allowing healthy cruising to
resume from the U.S. by the beginning of July 2021. Our friends at Cruise
Lines International Association (CLIA) have designed an Action Center that will
make it easy for you to craft and send your message in just a couple clicks.

If anyone understands the important role that these vacations play in our lives,
it’s you. And we believe with your help, we can bring our ships back to
U.S. homeports.

We appreciate your unwavering support.

Royal Caribbean International

Pfizer officially applied for EUA expansion to 12 years old and up this afternoon. 

Sounds like a great sailing!

Well, we pulled the trigger on this one to celebrate us both turning the big 65!  It isn't until August 2022 (hubby will actually have his birthday during the cruise) but at least we have something to look forward to.  Our New England/Canada (9 day) cruise in October probably isn't happening unless things change.
Now, I need to be building up lots of AmEx miles to help on the round trip airfare to Amsterdam.

Hey all! Doc said the surgery went great, no problems at all. I’ve got one heck of a sore throat from being intubated for anesthesia for 2+ hours, and I’m only just now getting off my usual post-surgery nausea (or maybe not so much; sat up to help with doing the breathing exercise that helps clear the anesthesia and felt another wave hit me ?). But foot is decently comfortable with meds; and doc said he wants to see me tomorrow to change the dressing and do an initial evaluation.

New Zealand Schools should be in session April 3rd. Looking on the Ministry of Education website Term 1 2023 run from Mon 1st Feb until Friday April 16th. Term 2 is Monday 3rd May until 9th July.

I just looked at your itinerary and you are going to have a fantastic time (We actualyl do the same trip on Ovation in Jan 2023).
The sounds (Which ironically are actually technical Fiords) are truly spectacular. When every I have visitors and want to show them some 'wow' New Zealand I'll take them to Milford Sound and do the boat tour which goes out into the sound.
Your next port is Dunedin where we live. The ship docks about 30 minutes out of the city but there will be free bus tranportation from the cport to the city. The port (Port Chalmers) itself is worth a look around with some nice little cafes and old buildings etc (The first ever ship carrying frozen goods left Port Chalmers for England  in 1882). Dunedin has some amazing architect including the Railway Station and the University)/ Also home to the worlds sterpest street which was a killer running up for ruby training (On the way up you thought you'd die... on the way down you knew you'd die).  Also some amazing wildlife tours etc.

Christchurch  is called the garden city and truly deserves it title. This summer (if they sail) will be the first time cruise ships have visited Christchurch since the earth quakes in 2011 (The main port out of action for cruise ships until this year. Ships went to Akaroa which is about 45 minutes from Christchurch and itself a beautiful location

Wellington is the capital. Don't miss going to Te Pap our national museum. I'm not a museum fan but I promise this is one you want to go to. 
Make sure you are awake as the ship comes in through the sound to Picton. Fantastic port town which si the ferry link between the South Island and North (Picton to Wellington Ferry). Some amazing wineries are within easy reach of Picton and any trip around the sounds will be amazing! (I spent some of my summer holiday there this year and loved it).
Napier is an interesting city. Nearly totally leveled in 1031 by an earthquake the city was almost completely rebuilt in a Art Deco style which is kinda cool.
If there is anything you want to know in particular feel free to reach out. I hope you really enjoy your time in Aotearoa/New Zealand (Aotearoa is the Maori word for New Zealand)

Woohoo! Progress!
Today we're getting our tile and coping. They are in the process of tacking up a guide line for the tile. I'm sure this helps support the weight of the tile as it dries too.