RCVoyager

6 hours ago, JLMoran said:

My wife sent me a link to an NBC Nightly News video posted on Instagram, appears to be a recording of a Facebook Live session or maybe Instagram TV. The video was a discussion between Jose Diaz Ballart and Dr. John Torres, who they regularly have on broadcasts for health topics. He was asked a number of questions from viewers / people who posted via Instagram / FB. A couple of points I found particularly relevant:

1. The "vast majority" of those who have died were smokers. Not indicated how long they had been smoking, but I would assume for long enough to have impaired lung function. They openly said that if you are a smoker you would be well-off to start the effort to quit.
2. People who have asthma or chronic respiratory illnesses are not more likely to contract the virus, but are more likely to get a more severe illness / suffer complications if they do contract it.
3. As has been stated by some of those here who work in the healthcare industry, getting a mask if you are not sick is really not going to help you; it's more to help prevent spread if you have contracted it.
4. Household cleaners that have previously been labeled as effective against SARS and MERS are also confirmed effective against Coronavirus. But, you must allow the cleaner to air-dry after spraying, and not immediately wipe it up with paper towels; these cleaners need some time to properly kill any virus on the sprayed surface.

You can watch the whole video if you go onto Instagram, look up NBC Nightly News, click the bio link and from there click/tap the picture showing Mr. Ballart and Dr. Torres in front of a background with a big "Coronavirus CRISIS" banner.

Thanks for posting actual useful information.  This thing has taken on a life of its own with the US Media being the main culprit as usual. 

Why are these facts not at the top of every story about it?  Must be because it would calm the panic.  We can't have that. 

16 hours ago, RCVoyager said:

We are booked on the Carnival Breeze on the 21st and have a price guarantee.  I keep thinking the price will drop to fill cabins from those who have cancelled.  It hasn't happened yet.  I check about every 3 days.

I realize I'm responding to my own post, but looks like even if our Carnival Breeze trip doesn't re price, we still get $200 per cabin (2 cabins in our case) cruise credit.  That's pretty awesome considering the price we paid to begin with.

We are booked on the Carnival Breeze on the 21st and have a price guarantee.  I keep thinking the price will drop to fill cabins from those who have cancelled.  It hasn't happened yet.  I check about every 3 days.

3 hours ago, Smurfy said:

I've read many places that chairs by the pool are hard to come by because people save them. Would I be allowed to bring my own fold up chair instead? I've attached a pic to show what kind I'm referring to. 

There are tons of chairs.  They just may not be in the shade or right near the pool.  There are lounge chairs on several decks.

It was updated with new bedding and carpets a couple of years ago.  A steakhouse was added and a few other things.  It's  a great ship.  I would say that if the mini golf carpets have not been replaced by now, it is a real shame.  Otherwise an awesome ship.

14 minutes ago, McCartney5 said:

Hey everyone! We will be celebrating my husband being home from a 12 month combat deployment in June with a 4 night cruise out of Miami to Nassau & Cococay. Naturally, I’d love for things to move smoothly & it be a wonderful vacation for us. We have 3 kids (10,8 & 6). Currently booked in room 8500 on the Navigator but now worry about ship movement. We’re a roller coaster, thrill seeking family but motion sickness may get to us if it’s bad at the front of the ship. Thoughts?? Also, a bit confused about My Dining. Are we still in the main dining room? Can we make reservations for My Dining at 5:30 on our cruise planner? On a 4 night cruise, will there be a formal night? Lastly, are cruises in mid June insanely crowded & should we expect long lines at slides? Any & all info, tips/advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much in advance!

I can help a little with your questions, but first let me pay my debt of gratitude to your husband and family for his/your service.  Without it, and millions others we would not be free to share ideas on this forum, let alone actually go on cruises which everyone on here loves to do.

With regard to your stateroom on the Navigator I would say you have nothing to worry about.  The ship is huge and has built in stabilization.  Unless there is unusual weather you won't know you are on the water the vast majority of the time.  I will say a few years ago my now deceased beloved brother had his last cruise on the Carnival Magic which is a similarly sized ship with similar stabilization.  He was in a wheelchair and the only handicapped staterooms were all the way forward on deck 2 or 3.  He wasn't kept awake by the movement but rather the sound of the ship cutting into the surf.  It was a constant pounding even during calm weather.  However, that was deck 3 you are on deck 8.  I didn't look at the deck plan to see how far forward you are.  He and his wife were all the way to the front.  I don't think you have anything to worry about in that regard.

There is a section of the mail dining room that is for 'My Time Dining'.  Not sure about when you can make reservations and it may be a little difficult the first night, but should be fine after that.  We love RCCL, but typically choose our trips based upon what is best in given situation.  We are on the Carnival Breeze next month (my wife want to go to Grand Turk) and are working out the details of our 'My Time Dining' as well.  We had planned to do the standard early seating, but two of our ports are noon to 7 which would cut into our port time.  Hopefully you can work out what you need, and hope we can do the same.  I see a potential snag there.

I'm sure the ship will be full, but they pretty much always are, and for the most part, they are built to handle crowds.

I hope this helps a little.

On 1/27/2020 at 4:57 PM, NicoleC7932 said:

We have booked for 1/10/2021 departing San Juan. There are others not yet booked that intend to join...However a few have expressed concern about departing out of Puerto Rico instead of a Florida port due to Puerto Rico still being in some disarray from hurricanes of the past 3 years. I don't want to have to start over if I don't need to but I'm feeling the pressure. Please share your thoughts on yay or nay with San Juan, especially during the month of January. Also the reason we chose San Juan was because we're going southern Caribbean and there was a savings on a 7 day depart PR as opposed to an 8 day departing FT. Lauderdale. As much as we'd love more boat time we felt it was best for us to spend a little more on time and money for the flight than another pp/pd charge for the boat. I'm definitely open to any suggestions, as I have barely any experience choosing this type of vacation but I value the experience on this forum! 

This is right in my wheelhouse.  To me San Juan is easily the best North American port from which to begin a cruise.  I guess it may not technically be North America, but it's easy for people from North America to get to.  With a January sailing, your chances of good weather are much higher out of San Juan than anywhere in Florida.  You get much deeper into the Caribbean from San Juan than Florida.  Most Americans have been to Florida many times but much less to Puerto Rico, so it will be new for some.  Nowhere else in North America is so much History concentrated in a small area as in Old San Juan.  The tourist areas are cleaned up and in full operation.  These are a few of the reasons to stay the course.

If you can go 2 or 3 days early do it.  There is so much to do there.  Be sure to go at least one night early because of weather concerns in the States getting there.

1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Welcome to the forum!!

It's too early. I wouldn't worry about San Juan - everything has been running per normal there.  Congrats on coming back to the cruise world!

I tend to agree with you about San Juan, but I am getting concerned that currently in the Summer of 2021 the only ship scheduled (on Cruisetimetables.com) weekly from San Juan is the Carnival Fascination.  The Freedom is back there in November 2021, and I didn't look to see where the NCL Epic is next Summer, but there is some concern there.

I haven't been everywhere, but San Juan is the ultimate home port for me, and I would consider it a major blow to cruising should it cease to exist as a viable option.

Apparently the family's new talking point is that the grandfather could not lean out the window because of the distance between the rail and the window.  Maybe that's true, but it still does not change the fact he leaned far over that railing before picking the girl up and holding her far enough out that when she dropped, she dropped to the ground rather than between the rail and window on the ship.  No reasonable person could fault the cruise line.

10 minutes ago, jake1004 said:

Just booked a 6 day Western on Adventure. It will be stopping in the Grand Cayman and I am looking into excursions there. We did some snorkeling with sting rays previously and were looking at 7 Mile beach. I see two excursions: 7 mile beach break and Coral Beach club at 7 mile beach. I don't know which one is better! Any advice?

You can probably find an operator in the port who can give  you a good day at 7 mile beach for less $ than going through the cruise line.  Heck, it's about a $4 cab ride apeice to get there and 4 more to get back.  The question is what kind of accommodations do you want?  You can negotiate all of that on the spot.  Cayman is safe and aside from some traffic, easy to get around. 

1 hour ago, PattiHere said:

Sadly there is a part of me that feels the grandfather planned this. It appears to me on the video that he took his time walking to the window, leaning over and looking out the window, then picking up his granddaughter and putting her life in danger, knowing the window was open and it was a long drop to the ground.  So sorry for these feelings, but my heart is with this little girl and the last seconds of her short life.  The more the family pushes “it was the cruise lines fault” the more I begin to wonder if it really was.   Now the lawyer wants the videos dismissed!  

I'm somewhat surprised CBS broke this video.  It seems the media would like nothing more than to take down one of these giant cruise lines with all those ships burning all that fuel and dumping trash in the ocean (their perspective... not mine).

9 hours ago, Mandyc said:

First time cruiser here..probably doing too much reading ;-).   I am leaving out of Miami on the Navigator this Monday Jan 20, going to Nassau then CocoCay..I’ve read a few places how rough the water has been in that area lately?! That they will have some decks closed & barf bags hanging out because so rough?!     And that there’s a possibility they won’t be able to dock at CocoCay?!      I am worried this will ruin the trip we have waited so long for & saved our $$ to be able to do!!      Can anyone verify or is there a way to know ahead of time if the waters are in fact going to be super rough this next week? 

The easy answer is to say, don't worry about it.  The cruise lines are in business to get you to spend your hard earned money on a fun and rewarding trip to places you probably wouldn't ordinarily go to.  They are all pretty good at that.  While there is no doubt that I also look at the weather ahead of time, RCCL has staff meteorologists whose only job is to ensure your safety and comfort on your trip.

The Voyager class, Navigator included, are wonderful ships.  You've done the hard part.  You've saved your money and paid for the trip.  Now, go have fun.  Next time, book a 7 day.  You will like that even more. 

50 minutes ago, teddy said:

We chose her for both....we were on Mariner last January when we booked.  We were very happy with the Voyager class, so we looked for one to book on. We also wanted to go to the Eastern Caribbean during our winter months. 

Everything aligned and we booked on Adventure for next week.

 

When she is in Portland, Maine, I can see her across the water from where I park at work.   

If we do Canada New England it will be with a larger family group, and we have some family who have never been to ME, and are looking very forward to it.

8 hours ago, Robert B1 said:

We booked a cruise on the Adventurer of the seas but all I ever see in the ads are other ships in the fleet but never the Adventurer.

Did we make a mistake?  Should we have done Allure or one of the other ships?

Some choose a cruise because of the ship.  Some choose it for the itinerary.  We have sailed the Adventure of the Seas three times mostly because my wife and I like to sail from San Juan... the Adventure was home ported there for 15 years.  Most of the big new ships do Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries out of FL, and we mostly prefer deeper Caribbean trips.

So, we have never been on one of the newbies, but we love the Adventure and now that it has moved are looking at a New England/Canada trip on her.  Without having been on an Oasis ship, we don't have a good way to compare, but we see the Voyager class as the sweet spot, not too big and not too small.  It's a beautiful ship, well kept, and cheaper as Matt mentioned.  Certainly we will get to one of the new ships one day.

20 hours ago, Hutcherl said:

I have to admit, I’d feel a little bit upset by this.  I understand how the upgrades happen so it was definitely luck of the draw.  No intentional slap on Royal Carribean’s part.  But if the situation is as explained, and we all are being completely honest, I think everyone would feel a little something crappy about it.   No shame in admitting it would feel like a little gut punch if you’d been that loyal and a first timer in a group that you organized got that upgrade over you.  Just my thought 

Gotta disagree.  I would be very happy for my friends and have no additional concerns whatsoever.  The friends will know they got it and you didn't, and if they are a good friend may buy a pre cruise or post cruise dinner for you.  And they will remember what happened for a long time and see you in a better light because you were the bigger person.

2 hours ago, twangster said:

When I used to fly a lot frequent flyer programs were a thing that I paid attention to.  Top frequent fliers often get free upgrades to first class.  Two years straight I received complimentary first class upgrades 99% of the time.  The only time I didn't was when missing a connection due to flights delays.

It was interesting to hear complaints and claims of upgrade shenanigans from folks who weren't at the top level.  Claims of upgrades being given to employees or military or someone in a lesser level were commonplace.  

The wisdom I'll never forget was "Upgrades are not an entitlement.  Book a seat in the cabin your want to fly in".

If a stranger was given an upgraded cabin on a sailing 99% of guests would never know.  How Royal chooses to hand out upgrades before sailing is a mystery because it rarely happens.  

A loyalty ambassador in days of old sometimes had unused inventory at their disposal.  They might offer upgrades on board.  Loyalty ambassadors have no input to a pre-cruise upgrade.  Now with cruises selling out and with RoyalUp the loyalty ambassadors don't have upgrades to hand out very often.  

It's entirely possible someone wanted that cabin for a specific reason.  They may have asked and been denied by Royal, unless they were willing to pay to upgrade those guests to a suite.  

We'll never know the mechanics of why that cabin was chosen to be upgraded.  You were not owed an upgrade, Royal was not disloyal.  You can choose to dwell on this and let it impact your cruise or you can shrug it off and let it go.  

With thirty two cruises under my belt at the D+ level I'm not going to waste a moment to fret that at some point someone else got an upgrade.  In all those D+ cruises I was never upgraded.  I cruised in the cabin I booked and I enjoyed all thirty two cruises.

Agree 100%.  

I love cruising and always want friends or family to cruise with us.  On a previous RCCL cruise, when I was the point man, there were only 2 aft balconies left and we needed 3.  All 3 paid the same price, but my wife and I gave up the aft balcony and took one on the same floor right beside the 2 aft balconies (without discussing it with the other two couples).  Seeing the looks on their faces and enjoying the conversation about their great balconies... especially when both parties realized what we had done for them, made any sense of missing out fade to a feeling of having really done a good thing.

That was 2016, and they still talk about it.

It was a small gesture that made an impact on the 6 people involved.

4 hours ago, Marco57 said:

I used Paradise Rental last year and they were great delivering the car when we arrived to the cruise ship 340-643-2692

That is a solid first post.  Thanks for the info.  I'll be in touch with Paradise Rentals.

As always, I know I can come here for answers, and I appreciate that.

We are interested in renting a car for the day in St. Thomas.  I have confirmed that our ship docks at Havensight.  Is there a car rental nearby that anyone knows of?  I have searched Travelocity and Booking.  Both only bring up airport rentals which is a good bit out of our way and would cost a good deal of time to pickup and drop off.

Thanks.

On 12/30/2019 at 10:49 AM, twangster said:

A couple of years ago USA Today was all about Carnival cruise lines.  Best of everything. IIRC,  Vista was the best new ship and it hadn't left the shipyard yet.  Even their news reporting was heavily slanted to favor Carnival ignoring several huge mishaps while demonizing Royal over trivial incidents.  At that time it was blatantly obvious Carnival had bought their favor.  The views and news on the cruise industry was heavily one sided.

That's when I deleted the USA Today app and haven't looked back.  They are a pay for headlines journal.  They are not real news media. 

As with everything in the mainstream media, in my opinion, it has more to do with whomever supports their agenda than anything else.

I want the family to get the closure they need, but I hope RCCL's attorneys match the effort of their's and that none of them see a penny from this.

On 12/4/2019 at 5:47 PM, bobroo said:

Thank you for sharing @mworkman !

 

So Royal Caribbean does not appear to be so squeaky clean after all. Very interesting.....

 

I guess I don't understand your point.  RCCL is pushing back and doing so in a professional manner.  They are defending their position, and while it should not have been done is a public manner, the original info was leaked in an attempt to pressure RCCL into buckling.  What is not "squeaky clean" about the cruise line's response?

I'm warm natured.  I would plan on shorts, tshirts, and flip flops.  My wife is cold natured.  She would plan on jeans and something with sleeves... possibly layers she can remove.  Someone else mentioned if you are out after sunset, for an hour or so,  it can get cool pretty quickly.

All the replys are correct.  One way to know is to watch your ship on marinetraffic.com.  It's a cool website.

I don't think they are talking about ships home ported in San Juan (Freedom), just those stopping by for the day.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

8 hours ago, Ticca said:

Kids, 16 and 14, want to do something fun in San Juan.  In-laws want to walk to town and have lunch.  DH will take the kids, I will take in-laws.  Any suggestions for us?  BTW...it's our first cruise!

Your ship will port on the South end of the most history packed concentrated area in the Western Hemisphere.  There are two world class forts, the oldest churches in the west and a million other historic sites with in a 15 minute walk.  There is plenty of shopping and restaurants, including a Senor Frogs right across the street from the dock.  You can make San Juan a beach day, but there will likely be better beach days on your cruise.  You can make it a tour day (Bacardi Distillery or the rain forest, ect), but with all you have right in front of you, there is no need.  

My recommendation is once you finish at Senor Frogs, walk directly West on the outside of the wall (it is a walled city, but the Eastern half of the wall has been removed).  Once you curve around the wall you will see the city gate which is how the city was entered for centuries.  Once inside the gate it's 2 blocks up the hill to an amazing Catholic Church (and by the way, I'm no fan of the Catholic religion, but this place is awesome).  It's open all day long and contains the grave of Juan Ponce De Leon.  Once out of the chuch head up the hill North and West until you see the El Morro.  What a fort.  Even my teenage daughters liked it.  You can get ice cream and drinks about anywhere along the way.  It's a nice day.

Read up on it.  OSJ is a great place.  Find the sites you and your family want to see.  It's all in a 7 square block area.