JBC

Agree on most of what has been said.  MDR is the worst of the bunch, by far.  I always grab a drink on my way in and then order one as soon as the option presents itself because I know it will be a while.  Royal definitely could do better in this department.  
 

One of these days people are going to start to realize that when you are vaccinated and boosted it is from a variant we already know of. When new variants come around it's all bets are off and you are not protected no matter how many shots you've had.
At some point we have got to treat the Coronavirus like just another virus that humans get from time-to-time. The good thing is that with every new variant it is getting weaker and we are buiding better immunity against it. 
One day it will change but not any time soon with our current attitudes treating this as if it is the plague.

I think it depends on what the prices on board per drink are.  If the drink package prices are up 25%, I would imagine the prices per drink are up as well.  So are the $13 drinks now $16?  If that is the case, I think overall people will just drink less.  The next cruise I have booked that I don't already have a drink package purchased for is next February.  It's currently $77, which makes it $90 with gratuity.  Last week it was $72.  I am confident it will drop below $72 on some sale at some point.  If Black Friday / Cyber Monday comes and goes and it doesn't drop, then I guess I will have to make a hard decision.  I am in the $100 per day group, anything less than that and I will benefit.  My wife will not however, she is more of a $60 per day break even point.  Oh well, first world problems I guess.   

Sounds like something Canada would implement.  

My kids have been to the waterpark twice, and after the 2nd time, they basically said they don't care to go anymore.  When two ships are at Coco Cay, the lines in the water park get long really quick.  When you only have a certain amount of time in the park, it's terrible to spend half of it waiting in lines.  
Supply and demand though I guess.  If they keep selling it out at prices in excess of $100, then they will never lower them.  

My kids have been to the waterpark twice, and after the 2nd time, they basically said they don't care to go anymore.  When two ships are at Coco Cay, the lines in the water park get long really quick.  When you only have a certain amount of time in the park, it's terrible to spend half of it waiting in lines.  
Supply and demand though I guess.  If they keep selling it out at prices in excess of $100, then they will never lower them.  

Make sure your nose is clean (no nasal mucus). Soak a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and swap your nose with it just prior to taking the antigen test.  I would never advocate doing that if you knew you were newly covid positive, but in your situation where you know you are well past it and are not at risk of being contagious, I would do it so as to not risk my cruise being ruined.  It will all but guarantee a negative result.  If you are doing the emed proctored test, don't stick the swab very far up your nose or rub very vigorously, they can't tell anyways, they are watching you through a cell phone camera.  Good luck.   

Make sure your nose is clean (no nasal mucus). Soak a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and swap your nose with it just prior to taking the antigen test.  I would never advocate doing that if you knew you were newly covid positive, but in your situation where you know you are well past it and are not at risk of being contagious, I would do it so as to not risk my cruise being ruined.  It will all but guarantee a negative result.  If you are doing the emed proctored test, don't stick the swab very far up your nose or rub very vigorously, they can't tell anyways, they are watching you through a cell phone camera.  Good luck.   

Make sure your nose is clean (no nasal mucus). Soak a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and swap your nose with it just prior to taking the antigen test.  I would never advocate doing that if you knew you were newly covid positive, but in your situation where you know you are well past it and are not at risk of being contagious, I would do it so as to not risk my cruise being ruined.  It will all but guarantee a negative result.  If you are doing the emed proctored test, don't stick the swab very far up your nose or rub very vigorously, they can't tell anyways, they are watching you through a cell phone camera.  Good luck.   

Make sure your nose is clean (no nasal mucus). Soak a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and swap your nose with it just prior to taking the antigen test.  I would never advocate doing that if you knew you were newly covid positive, but in your situation where you know you are well past it and are not at risk of being contagious, I would do it so as to not risk my cruise being ruined.  It will all but guarantee a negative result.  If you are doing the emed proctored test, don't stick the swab very far up your nose or rub very vigorously, they can't tell anyways, they are watching you through a cell phone camera.  Good luck.   

Bionic bar at first seems like a good and fun idea, but do it once and there is really no reason to go back to it.  Between people not knowing how to work the touch screens, to the mess it creates, it's not worth it.  I like the interaction with a human bartender, and a human bartender can make multiple drinks in the same amount of time the bionic bar takes to make one, especially when factoring in how long it takes people to enter their orders.  I am surprised they are still adding them to new ships.  

Bionic bar at first seems like a good and fun idea, but do it once and there is really no reason to go back to it.  Between people not knowing how to work the touch screens, to the mess it creates, it's not worth it.  I like the interaction with a human bartender, and a human bartender can make multiple drinks in the same amount of time the bionic bar takes to make one, especially when factoring in how long it takes people to enter their orders.  I am surprised they are still adding them to new ships.  

Bionic bar at first seems like a good and fun idea, but do it once and there is really no reason to go back to it.  Between people not knowing how to work the touch screens, to the mess it creates, it's not worth it.  I like the interaction with a human bartender, and a human bartender can make multiple drinks in the same amount of time the bionic bar takes to make one, especially when factoring in how long it takes people to enter their orders.  I am surprised they are still adding them to new ships.  

Bionic bar at first seems like a good and fun idea, but do it once and there is really no reason to go back to it.  Between people not knowing how to work the touch screens, to the mess it creates, it's not worth it.  I like the interaction with a human bartender, and a human bartender can make multiple drinks in the same amount of time the bionic bar takes to make one, especially when factoring in how long it takes people to enter their orders.  I am surprised they are still adding them to new ships.  

If they are indeed sold out, the lines will be long.  My kids have complained about the long lines in the water park even when it wasn't sold out.  
If you do manage to get passes for it, my advice is go as soon as it opens, as it will only get busier.  And go on the bigger slides first.  Save the wave pool for the middle of the afternoon when the lines for the slides are longest.  

$10 to the guys sitting in the golf carts at the end of the pier and they will take you anywhere you want to go, door to door.  
The locals in the market are very aggressive there, more so than other islands.  It makes for a not very enjoyable shopping time.  I still like Labadee though.    

Two year old vaccines mean nothing as far as ensuring a covid free ship.  The take at home proctored emed tests are pretty worthless as well.  Time to put it all to bed.  Get quadruple vaccinated and wear three masks around if it worries you.  Or do nothing.  Up to the individual.    

Two year old vaccines mean nothing as far as ensuring a covid free ship.  The take at home proctored emed tests are pretty worthless as well.  Time to put it all to bed.  Get quadruple vaccinated and wear three masks around if it worries you.  Or do nothing.  Up to the individual.    

Two year old vaccines mean nothing as far as ensuring a covid free ship.  The take at home proctored emed tests are pretty worthless as well.  Time to put it all to bed.  Get quadruple vaccinated and wear three masks around if it worries you.  Or do nothing.  Up to the individual.    

Two year old vaccines mean nothing as far as ensuring a covid free ship.  The take at home proctored emed tests are pretty worthless as well.  Time to put it all to bed.  Get quadruple vaccinated and wear three masks around if it worries you.  Or do nothing.  Up to the individual.    

Two year old vaccines mean nothing as far as ensuring a covid free ship.  The take at home proctored emed tests are pretty worthless as well.  Time to put it all to bed.  Get quadruple vaccinated and wear three masks around if it worries you.  Or do nothing.  Up to the individual.    

Right... even though the original 2 shots that are still the required shots, are long outdated.  It's like forcing a 2 year old flu shot to fight the current strand.  Cray Cray 🙂

No cruise lines have given any indication that they are even considering dropping the vaccine requirement. From everything I have heard and read we shouldn’t expect the vaccine requirement to be removed for cruising at any point in 2022

I'm following along, our Thanksgiving sailing has us sailing with family that are also unvaccinated. I'm getting nervous even for then. I used to think no way they will continue this, a negative test to step on the ship should suffice, no? I hope they relax this in some way shape or form, but I'm not holding my breath. I don't want to cancel but enough is enough, we won't go without our group if they are not welcomed by then. 

I love Labadee.  A cabana or bungalow for a beach day is great, and the prices are a lot less than Coco Cay.  The lesser quality of the food doesn't bother me.  It's essentially lunch, which I really don't eat much at anyway because I don't want to spoil dinner.  Kids would enjoy Coco Cay better for the pools and water park, but my kids have told me the lines are awful in the water park when there are two ships at Coco Cay, which is pretty often.  Coco Cay is bigger, newer, more amenities, better infrastructure, etc.  Royal is also putting a lot of marketing behind it.