UNCFanatik

We will see how this goes:

"Florida’s U.S. Senators introduced legislation Tuesday to override the Centers for Disease Control’s existing framework cruise ships must follow to resume operations and replace current regulations with a new set of recommendations to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 aboard ships."

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article250629204.html

It will be interesting to see how the cruises that Royal are going in June from ports in the Caribbean do with children under 16 not being required to be vaccinated but just provide negative Covid test to see if there will be any Covid spread. I know Royal will need to appease the CDC Gods with possible vaccine requirements with no exceptions well before June if July is a possibility. But still I am looking forward to see the data from the June Caribbean sailings

However, it seems like a logistical nightmare to make vaccines a requirement even for children for restart in July. How many families will have to cancel and then have their cabins rebooked with vaccinated adults. And then the question becomes how long will vaccines for all passengers with no exception be the rule. How far out is Royal willing to effectively ban families with children from their cruises? 

I realize the name of the game is to get cruising right away again and fully vaccinated cruises may be short term answer but how long would it take casual cruisers with families to come back? Especially if Carnival or other competitors relax their vax rules before Royal.  

22 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

It's November 1st.

Yes.. thank you for correction I was typing either oct 31 or nov 1 and somehow ended with nov 31... I blame it on my iPhone.. lol

Yes, and Biden made that remark about July 4 before he moved up dates for people to get vaccines

its not wanting it bad enough. It’s the cruise lines being unfairly shutdown in US until oct 31 when no sail order is expired

given the data, the cruise lines are being very realistic about when they should be allowed to sail again especially given the CDCs inaction 

PCR tests have always been a problem for case counts because the sensitivity of the tests can be ramped up to indicate false positives. 
 

I agree with @JeffB case counts are always a poor metric. Hospitalizations are what to pay more attention to. Especially with the amount of a symptomatic cases. People either don’t know or tend to forget that in 2010 there were an estimated 60.8 million cases in the US of H1N1. 

As long as the government has the attitude of “let no crisis go to waste” and can use the pandemic to pass more and more spending bills, there is an incentive to keep panic among the populace by talking about mutations and variants which actually is counterproductive to get more people vaccinated.

with cruising, it’s hard to get politicians to truly see the economic damage of keeping the cruise industry shutdown that are not from states that are not affected by it.

sadly it seems the time of the government treating the general populace as responsible citizens who are capable of doing their own risk mitigation is passing. The Nanny state now seems to have the attitude that is their job to protect us from ourselves.
 

42 minutes ago, ChessE4 said:

Until Florida gets a handle on controlling the virus (e.g, new cases and hospitalizations), I doubt Florida ports will stand a chance of reopening.  We need folks to be less self-centered and follow protocols so everyone is safe.  Many Floridians are doing the right thing, but the visiting spring breakers and some others haven't really helped the port re-opening.  I'd urge politicians to pledge to follow recommended COVID protocols.  Then the petitions and lawsuits will appear to be on-target.  Without evidence we are really following safe practices, we can't expect the CDC to have confidence in the mitigation strategies proposed by the cruise lines.

CDC recommendations change all the time and are often times not based in science but politics. 6 ft changed to 3ft for social distancing in schools. CDC now saying plexiglass dividers are not needed in schools. Wearing masks outside where multiple studies have now shown that there is virtually ZERO chance if acquiring COVID outdoors. Kids required to wear mask while playing outdoors is anti-science. Florida has the right to determine their own Covid protocols and looking at Florida compared to Michigan,NY and NJ where Covid protocols are stricter, they are doing better. I think States like Texas and Florida have shown the CDC that they are ready to open their cruise ports. Sorry, I will follow the data rather than the highly politicized CDC whose director has to walk back her proclamations on a regular basis

I have to verify this but listened to some commentary abs they said DeSantis was asked that if the cruise lines require vaccines, would he make exception and he said no.

What if CDC came back and said, cruised can resume with vaccinated crew and passengers, would DeSantis hold firm and be the reason that ships couldn’t sail from Florida? Will be interesting to watch If CDC turns the pressure back onto DeSantis. In that case it seems that it would be politically untenable for DeSantis then be the reasons no cruises out of Florida and continued job loss at the ports 

6 minutes ago, Razorbackhead said:

So we sail? Since the state of Florida just sued the feds. Lol  

I am hoping so!

This is what it shows on the final statement they sent me

15 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Are we talking about a significant amount? Maybe some sort of fee the TA charges?

Added:

@Lovetocruise2002 Got the the point I didn't want to flat out say. With the TA charging more than Royal's invoice.

I got the same price that was shown by Royal on their website when I booked. I wasnt charged more than quoted. 

Its close to $700. that I see charged to agency on my CC statement rather than Royal

7 minutes ago, Reigert2008 said:

Did you purchase outside Travel Insurance?  I've had some in the past where i had 3rd party travel insurance where my cruise amounts went to the cruise line, but then the agency's travel insurance provider was a separate charge to the agency.  

Stay Safe

 

 

No i did not

I noticed that when I made my final payment for my July cruise that I booked through a travel agent that when I looked at my credit card statement that my initial deposit was charged to Royal. When I made my final payment, my credit card statement had two entries, one of the lion share of final payment was charged to Royal while the rest was charged to travel agency

Is this common practice? If my July cruise is cancelled would it affect the amount of FCC that i would be given? Would only the money i see charged to Royal be used as a basis for FCC?

19 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

Roll it to Thanksgiving which IMHO (and many others on the blog) is the best week to cruise!!

Why do people feel thanksgiving is the best week to cruise? Please elaborate 

13 minutes ago, JeffB said:

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WILL NOT REQURE COVID-19 VACCINE PASSPORTS.

That's the headline and its going to spark numerous questions.

Can a private entity require proof of vaccination or negative COVID test to enter their premises? Yes, according to Fauci when asked and depending on how states deal with this.

The bottom line for cruising is that cruise lines can and very likely will require proof of vaccination AND negative COVID tests (probably PCR) to board. Full stop.

For private entities that do require proof of vaccination, get ready for heaps of complaining, cries of unfairness and claims that there are now two classes of American citizens. You've heard a lot of this before when it came to mask mandates. Desantis has already issued an EO to prevent businesses operating in FL under FL business licenses from mandating vaccines to receive services offered. That WILL NOT affect cruise ships - already discussed. 

I'm not going to get into the pros and cons of this. Just a heads up that we're going to see a battle royal between those that think people should be vaccinated to do stuff and those that don't.    

I respect Royal’s right to require vaccines but hope that until the vaccine has been given full approval for all ages that they don’t deny children from cruising in the mean time

Thank you all for your input. I just saw that Carnival has cancelled all their June cruises so I would suspect Royal wont be far behind cancelling June cruises with July still very much in limbo

I went through one round of cancellations last summer with a July cruise. So tell me if I have this straight if Royal were to cancel my 2021 July cruise. I will use round numbers here to simplify the math

I paid $1000 Deposit

$1000 Came from FCC from last summer

Lets say $500 in taxes and fees

and lets say my remaining balance was $1000 just for math sake.

So if my understanding is this. If Royal cancels, I will get straight refund for taxes and fees of $500 to my form of payment. My previous FCC would remain the same at $1000

and then my balance + deposit would be $2000 and I would get $2500 in FCC if Royal still offers 125% FCC 

I would then have 2 FCCs on at $1000 and the other $2500. Am i understanding this correctly?

Whereas if I just cancel the June cruise myself, I would get a full refund without any penalties? And still have my previous FCC from last summer

OK, I know I am opening myself up and I welcome all feedback so here goes.

I have a July 17 cruise scheduled on the Symphony of the Seas out of Miami that I have fully paid. 

What would you experienced cruisers recommend:

1. Keep July 17th cruise scheduled in hopes that it sails

1a. Keep July 17th cruise and if its cancelled, receive 125% FCC and MAYBE receive extra cruise credit on Cruise Planner Purchases

OR since I dont wait to keep the family waiting until next summer for their first cruise (i have been on cruises previously) and we were scheduled for cruise in summer 2020 that was cancelled:

2. Cancel July cruise and go ahead and book Thanksgiving week cruise on Oasis of the Seas or Symphony of the Seas out of Miami

2a. put refundable deposit down on Thanksgiving week cruise to lock in price and wait and see if July cruise is cancelled so I will not miss out on any extra FCC that Royal may give me for them cancelling July Cruise. And then roll money into the Thanksgiving week cruise

I am so conflicted because of the roller coaster ride of whether or not the CDC will let July cruises happen and then the thought of maybe relaxed protocols on Thanksgiving cruise

AND on top of all that the normal concern of Hurricane season for a July cruise

*edited to add. I am welcome to any suggestions in addition to what I have come up with this far

Unfortunately science has left the building a long time ago and replaced by politics when it comes to the restart of cruising. "Never let a crisis go to waste" is the motto of many in government these days on both sides of the aisle. As long as there is a health crisis, the more legislation and spending that can be passed. CDC is just waiting on the green light from the White House I believe as we have seen at least twice now the CDC Director make proclamations regarding Covid that later have to be walked back by the administration. 

I think the more framing the cruise industry stoppage is causing economic harm to Port Cities will play better in court of public opinion rather than the general public just perceiving that entitled people are mad they cant go on a cruise. They fail to see how many people have lost jobs and are struggling because of the shutdown. 

Just like the CDC was saying 6 feet was the magical social distance but then the CDC changed it to 3 feet for school reopening guidance 

I hope they remember the 3 feet rule with cruises as well in outdoor spaces and drop mask wearing outdoors because the data now shows us that outdoor transmission is extremely rare

follow the data 

In charleston:

Straw Market

Waterfront Park

Fort Sumter and/or Fort Moultrie  if history buff

Dolphin tour

Patriots Point again if you like Military History

Stroll on battery, go down rainbow row on east bay, 

Ghost Tours

Carriage Tours

Colonial Lake

Food Tour. Be sure to eat local while in Charleston. 

Within an hour of charleston

Angel Oak

Botany Bay

Head out to one of the beaches. I would recommend Kiawah but Isle of Palms is very nice as well. Folly Beach has a more eclectic vibe

30 minutes ago, jticarruthers said:

Would you be any happier that it was just outright cancelled because there are no cruises running?

I think NCL is looking at it as "We can sail vaccinated only or not at all".

I get it. They are bleeding cash and need to get up and running. I just think its a short sighted plan.

Again, as NCL pointed toward data in their petition to the CDC they could have pointed to the data on small children and risk and spread as well. They could have copied Royal plan for those under 16. 

IF and its a big IF at this point the CDC goes along with NCL plan, I would be upset if I had a large family with multiple children under 16 and had made a reservation only to have it cancelled because of the proposed vaccination rules. 

I would be hard pressed to want to rebook a cruise with NCL at that point. 

Looking at the data we have now, small children are not a high risk group nor are they major vectors of spreading the virus.

I like what Royal is doing better with their restarts in the Caribbean 

If my July cruise is cancelled, do you think they would offer 125% credit for cruise planner purchases to be used on future cruise? 

Summer cruising without those under 16? Good luck with that

My "scheduled" July 2021 cruise on Royal includes a 13 year old who would not be eligible most likely by then so if royal goes that route its a deal breaker for us and will have to reschedule. 

I know there is pent up demand for cruising this summer but for some cruise lines to not allow children over the summer seems like a bad business model.

*edited to add. But I guess some revenue > 0

I wonder how NCL is handling those under 16? Will they follow Royal with negative tests required for quest under 16 or will they prohibit those who cannot get vaccine who are under 16?

and yet, millions of Americans have been flying since the pandemic with little to no social distancing and masks of course but when you eat or drink on plane you can take off masks because everyone knows Covid doesnt spread when people take off masks to eat/drink. yet, we have never heard of air travel as being super spreaders or major vectors of Covid spread. 

But yet, CDC cant release any new guidance on cruising all the while turning a blind eye to air industry