LollyPop

Yuppers, I'm embarrassed to be a Canadian amongst the Americans that dominate the cruising world with how complicated travel is to our country - but just have to gulp and hope for the best that eventually things will settle down.   
Just know, we're all in the "same boat" and hopefully once we understand how to cope with this virus, that life will be less stressful when we try to plan a holiday.  
WE CAN DO IT!!!

Yuppers, I'm embarrassed to be a Canadian amongst the Americans that dominate the cruising world with how complicated travel is to our country - but just have to gulp and hope for the best that eventually things will settle down.   
Just know, we're all in the "same boat" and hopefully once we understand how to cope with this virus, that life will be less stressful when we try to plan a holiday.  
WE CAN DO IT!!!

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-authorize-covid-shots-children-5-june-rcna25386
 
So again this is coming up pretty fast. I'm not worried about Royal Caribbean making this mandatory but Canada which is the most skittish and scared of the countries making it mandatory with no wiggle room. Now our son won't be 6 months till June 19th. It's just something I'm gonna have to keep my eye on. 3 doses for a 6 month to 5 year is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary. Use a little common sense here FDA, just make it 5 years old is the earliest anyone should get vaccinated. Just a little common sense please. 

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/moderna-plans-file-eua-covid-19-shot-very-young-kids-by-april-end-2022-04-20/
 
I'm one of the biggest vaccine advocates. I have 3 shots, my mom has 3 shots, my wife and 8 year old son get their 2nds shots tomorrow. I got mine pretty early on when you had to fight for an appointment. That being said I will not get our 3 month old, or 6 month old at the time of our sailing in July vaccinated. I just feel that is too young and I have not seen data that 6 months to 5 year olds are getting severe Covid, hospitalized with Covid or dying from Covid. I'm worried that this will be a requirement by the cruise lines in general and Canada in particular where we are going in July.
If this becomes a requirement what are our options? Will we be able to cancel? I mean this wasn't the deal when we booked so I would think we would have that option. I'm more worried about Canada. Love ya Canada but they seem the most cautious to fault than other. This would be a deal breaker for me. 

I'm the same Stargazer with the anti-gen test.  Though good news (I'm Canadian) now that the surge of nonesssential Canadians have done their sprint to the gates of freedom (to travel for vacation rather than previous government requirements for " nonessential" only).  Finding a place for affordable anti-gen tests has become easier / less expensive (Walmart is where I'll be getting mine done the day before I head out on my cruise). I'm thinking positive that the test will be negative for all of us!  Also, I'm solo on this trip - and I'm a little bit nervous - but I used to always travel solo before I got hitched up to a wagon 🙂  over 30 years ago.  Got my big girl pants stuffed in my 35L backpack (I travel light even as a Type 1 Diabetic with a lazy pancreas with 3X what's required in meds/technology to stay alive incase our cruise ship decides to do a longer "3 hour tour" 😉  ).
Counting down the hours - working my bleep bleep off - so I don't have to work when I'm in an area with freebie wifi! If you see me buried in my laptop or mobile - slap me ... gently ... and tell me to R E L A X.  

Just remember the only thing you have to have is your vaccination card, covid test results, passport and the cloths on your back.  Everything else is extra.  If you forget something you must not have needed it.  Have fun

We are OK with paper work,and documents.It's the COVId Test 2 days before we leave that have given me and my wife  sleepless nights.I wish they would have given us 3 or 4 days before to take the test.But I know we will be fine,along with my daughter and her friend
 

Honestly, after my first cruise experience, where I walked around not knowing what I was doing/needed to be done, I would prefer to be highly organized than to "go with the flow" and later discover I missed out on things.
It seems like you have thought of every scenario.  The only thing  I do (and I may have missed it) is I print the schedule of ports (time arriving/day of week/location/time departing) and what we are doing.  I do it in columns, on color paper, so it can't get lost in the shuffle.  I make a copy for everyone (my kids are separate cabins).  It sure beat "what are we dong tomorrow? What time?  This was only for planned excursions and of course the dinner time was noted as well as if it was formal night.  As the planner I enjoy the planning however I hate being asked 10 different times daily "what's today/what's tomorrow".
The app is for all the rest of the stuff....

As for paperwork.  I paperclip their covid vaccine cards into the back of the passports and use an upside sticky note-sticking out and stuck into the info page of the passport-I write each family member name on the portion that sticks out and the sticky note makes it easy to open the page to the required info.  I distribute the passports as needed and collect them all at once when they are reviewed.   I also like to print out the set sail pass and the seapass and now the Covid test results as well-so we aren't fumbling for phones.  I write each family member name in large print at the top of their papers, staple the individuals papers together  those get passed out as well when we get to the appropriate line and collected once they pass through.  My folder has the itinerary and calendar written on the outside along with confirmation #'s, contact numbers for airline, transportation etc (in case my phone craps out).  All papers in my folder move from right to left.  Airline papers start in the front, and move to the left when done-to become scrap paper and records in case it is needed.  Next are the hotel reservations, then cruise papers, etc....Onboard they all get my predone schedule.  By the end of the trip all papers should have shifted to the left.  The folder fits in my large size pocketbook.  The passports go into one of those smaller pouch type bags I can wear around my nect, or throw into my large pocketbook-it is an obnoxious color/decoration making it easy to find-my kids all recognize it for what it is should I ever lose site of it (has not happened in 15 years but you never know).

When I don't travel with my family it goes to hell in a hand basket, but that's their problem.  Typically things will go smoothly if I organize it.  One of the few times it did not was a late night arrival (I had let the hotel know) and it turns out my credit card that I had to replace due to being compromised was no longer valid for my room, which they gave away-we were a party of 8.  It was a HUGE hassle.  So now I know to note the credit cards used for reservations and be sure if there was an issue after reservations were made to update the hotel.  There is always something new to learn!

No car pre-pack for us.  We already did the suitcase pre-pack.  We are good.  Only plan on taking carry-ons and back packs on the flight and onto the cruise.  But for a road trip..YES...car pre-pack for sure!

That way you're always teed up and the anxiousness fades away in the background... Oh, and just ignore your bank account pleading for relief.
But seriously, 2020 was supposed to be the year we got back to our regular cadence post-kids... That didn't happen, obviously, and then we couldn't help but feeling like Charlie Brown every time Lucy would pull away the football up until we made it on a ship last fall. The not-so-great experience of cruising mid-COVID was enough to quell the excitement (somewhat) for our next one, but if this one is more normal we'll be in the same place as Newb and utterly unable to deal with the waiting for our next one!

Just relax. I always say if I forget something I probably didn't need it anyway. 

Thanks for that.  As a child, as I am sure many of you have experienced, my parents were the type of people who shoved us into the car and drove until sleepy, pulled into the first motel or hotel they saw, booked a room, ate at whatever restaurant was on the way, etc.  It made for some stressful and disappointing times.  I swore not to do that with my kids.  My kids are loving the pre-planning.  I am not (at least not anymore).

I'm on my first cruise since March 2020.  Trying out RCI for a change of pass ... on the Radiance of the Sea departing from Vancouver on April 29th, 2022.  So far, there doesn't seem to be a roll call for this cruise.  Once I'm allowed to be seen (Moderator hasn't approved me yet) ... not sure when/if I'll be able to open up a Roll Call for this cruise.  I am patient.  Actually, we all are patient with the return to cruising on the high waters that we all love, along with the new friends we make.
Stay safe. Be Well!  
 

I’ve been told yes. Radiance has an enclosed solarium (retractable roof) that has “family hours.” 
Ovation has retractable roof too. 
I’m being optimistic that we’ll get one of those rare 80 degree days and packing a bathing suit! 😁

I did the Halibut hunt in Ketchikan Alaska in 2017 on our cruise.  There was just six of us on the boat and we caught lots of Halibut.  I told our guide I would be using their shipping service to ship my catch home.  My fishing partners had planned to have their catches cooked but after we got back, they were told the cook was sick and couldn't cook the catch.  So they all donated their catch's to me and I had them shipped home...Halibut makes the best fish taco's.   Going back in June on the Serenade of the Seas and already have the Halibut Hunt booked on the 1st of July 2022 and I will be shipping my catch home again.  Hope I can get my fishing partners catches again!!!
 

Preboarding test.  As someone who is immune compromised, and work along side of many in the medical system I'm taking a break from on my next cruise (come on April 29th) - I want to not only protect myself, but others since even with being triple vaxxed (sing this along to ... I Love 🍬Candy <lol> ) we could still be carrying the virus (asymptomatic).  I'll be one of the passengers who when feeling abit stressed in crowded areas, etc.  I'll be wearing a mask.  I was wearing a mask, when going on my last cruise, out of LA in February 2020.  Meet ups with folks that share the same immune problem as I do, pulled out of meeting up, since Covid was starting to rear it's ugly head up there.  I learnt a lot from a Mum of an immunocompromisedd child ... and was glad that in 2019 before on a cruise in B2B Japan cruise ... made me aware of how important mask wearing is.  If you feel ill, wear a mask to protect others, or visa versa.  And yes, it was on that Diamond Princess that was stuck in Japan in March 2020 that I was on for a B2B.
Also, Pfizer is working on a YEARLY shot ... much like our flu shot that most of us get. 
Okay, off to watch the next episode of Picard (Trekkie fan here)

May be! 🤣 May 20 out of Seattle? Our first ever Alaska cruise and we are so excited! 

I would dump Vax requirement before testing requirement, personally i would dump both but that wasnt the question 😉
 

^^^^^This! Takes the fun out of the pre vacation excitement.

Bigger question is???? When would pre cruise testing go away? 2022? 2023?? I have 64 days until Alaska, so you know what I would be hoping for!!! 🤣

Sorry! I totally misread your post somehow. I'm so tired of having to think about vaccines and stuff. I apologize!

Agreed... But please don't give anyone any ideas. The number of people I spoke with last year who believed RSV was another crazy, new virus blew my mind.
This is a point where the degree of reduction matters (a proportional reduction in an exponential function might help for hours, days, or months depending on the exponent), and I'd point out not even the CDC is trying to say that vaccines reduce infection or transmission anymore. They've retreated to the idea that it reduces severe disease or death, and even couch that in the idea that you have to have been recently boosted.
We're more than a year beyond when early vaccine adopters got their course of shots (I'm in that group). Knowing what I know now, there is absolutely no chance I'll get a booster and the early data suggests I'm about as likely to catch and transmit delta as someone who is unvaccinated (if not more likely than someone with recent naturally derived immunity). I'll link the paper when I find it. 
The point being unless you're prepared to make sure people aren't more than 3-4 months removed from a booster, the benefit of vaccination diminishes pretty quickly in terms of limiting spread beyond what is happening in the community on a cruise ship. Cruise lines seem pretty unwilling to adopt booster requirements, so it seems like the time to circle back to the original vaccine mandate in the first place is right about now. As time goes on, it's hard to view it as anything but punitive.
Also, of course the b.2 variant is going to take off here. The only question worth asking now is who's going to play along.

At this point in the game, if you're going to continue to test for covid, you need to test for the flu, RSV, HMPV, and many other airborne viruses.

I would add as cases drop, it will be become more difficult to find and schedule an appointment. All these pop-up locations may eventually close up shop

Case counts are meaningless now.  Even the CDC has said as much.