jticarruthers

March 20 2022? Absolutely.
I think you're looking at late spring, early summer before protocols significantly change.
Best case scenario is they roll back the strict face mask rules before your cruise.

However, Royal just posted another quarterly loss. They’re still bleeding. At some point they need to fill the ships and I’m not so sure that continued protocols (masking, testing, possible boosters) will allow that. They’re are still a lot of people out there wanting to cruise but the protocols are preventing them. 

I agree with you.  We were on the Harmony in Nov.  The mask thing did not make the cruise more pleasant, for sure.  But now they've tightened the requirements.  So we canceled our March cruise and are going to spend that time at the beach in an oceanfront hotel.  It's in SC so no mask requirements.  Hopefully things change before our Dec cruise on Oasis.

I certainly hope so. We have made the decision to not get our children vaccinated and have 18 months before the mandate kicks in for our oldest. I do expect we will be either finding other family vacations or going without the kids for some time, though. 

Latest poll: 70% of Americans are ready to put Covid in the rear view. Double vaxxed and boosted are getting sick too. I don’t think boosters are the answers to what appears to be the new common cold. 
 
I’ve got 3 cruises (Caribbean, Alaska and Holy Land/Greece) through October. I’ll do the damn booster to take the 2 bucket list cruises but I’ll stop cruising after that if boosters are required year after year after year. I’ll have to retire as a brand new Diamond Plus and never get to enjoy the benefits. 
 
70% is a pretty substantial number. 

I don't think many would say "ditch all protocols" but I think many want realistic protocols that match the current state of things.  Most protocols (other than vaccine requirements) developed by CLIA and CDC are from summer 2020. 

No information other than the original email that the order was received for me. 🤷‍♀️

The vaccines, at this point in the game, protect you from severe covid cases. While that is obviously valuable and important to the individual, it's pretty useless when applied to a group since vaccinated and unvaccinated alike can get and spread covid. 

At this stage of the game, you could drop all testing, masking and vaccine requirements and things wouldn't be any worse off on a ship.
 
Europe is going in that direction quickly
 
 

Have done the one on Mariner, it was a fun group activity.

If you're suggesting the cruise lines might sue the US government for damages in a tort claim, that's nearly impossible. Parties can sue the US government under what is called the FTCA (Federal Tort Claims Act) passed in 1946 but certain rules have to be followed and conditions met. It's complicated and I don't think the cruise lines would be able to cross the high bar to file a claim. Parties can sue the US government and it's agencies for injunctive relief and that's what Desantis did over a year ago.
Even though it appears that the CDC dodged being called to account for exceeding their authority granted to it by Congress (those maritime laws are also complex), the 3rd Court where Desantis filed his request for injunctive relief (from the CSO) stands. Judge Merryday, sitting on the bench of the 3rd District Court of Middle FL, wrote an opinion that just hammered HHS/CDC for acting unconstitutionally as if it were a law making body, instead of the administrative one it is. That will serve as precedent in the rather narrow application of the various maritime laws that the CDC claimed authorized them to issue the NSO in March, 2020 and the CSO a year later. Functionally, Judge Merryday's  ruling stands. That's because, as a result of CDC asking the 11th Court of Appeals to dismiss their own appeal, HHS is prevented from shutting down whole industries or companies within them under the guise of a PHE going forward. 
For Desantis, mission accomplished. 

Not only can you but its highly encouraged.

Usps site says "ships in late January". This from the postal service, taken with a grain of salt!

It's not the virus itself that has a hold on the psyche of the population because we have lived with disease and viruses our whole lives. It's the over reaction of those in charge of us that has us scared and talking nothing but Covid19 as if it has the death rate of Ebola - it doesn't even come close.
As this is a cruise site, and I'm sure this thread will get locked soon enough, I'll keep the rest of my opinions on those in charge of the Covid response to myself.

Oh No!  We only had 17 days until our Vision sailing!  Even had our eDocs and luggage tags printed!
Also, spent $180 on 6 eMed Abbott Binax Covid tests. 
And this was L&S'd from last year.  We've had so many cruises cancelled, I've lost count.

In my experience they arent reading the results they are scanning for key data, in fact the last couple of times they thanked me for taking a highlighter and marking the data they were looking for:
My name
Date of test
Test result
It didnt look like they were looking for anything else so i wouldnt stress over it. (All my tests have been CVS/Walgreens)

https://www.asta.org/About/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=31372
 
Alexandria, VA, January 5, 2022 – Zane Kerby, President & CEO of the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), issues the following statement in response to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) updated guidance on COVID-19 and Cruise Ship Travel, recommending that cruise travel be avoided regardless of vaccination status:
“An increase in reported COVID cases on cruise ships should surprise no one given the worldwide spike driven by the highly-transmissible omicron variant. The difference between enjoying a cruise vacation and visiting your local grocery store or restaurant, however, is the extraordinarily stringent anti-COVID measures put in place voluntarily by the cruise lines, in close consultation with the CDC. These measures include testing, vaccination, sanitation, mask-wearing and other science-backed measures, as well as protocols to respond to potential cases of COVID-19.
“If the average cruise ship were a U.S. state, it would be the safest in the country – by far. According to Royal Caribbean Group, since cruising restarted in the U.S. in June 2021, its ships have carried 1.1 million guests with 1,745 people testing positive – a positivity rate of 0.02 percent. Among U.S. states as of January 4, Alaska’s positivity rate is the lowest at 9.4 percent, with Georgia’s the highest at 38.7 percent.
“Cruising is no more responsible for the spread of the Omicron variant than travelers from southern Africa were at the outset of the current crisis. But we continue to see knee-jerk reactions singling out travel for discriminatory treatment. Because the travel industry is regulated more heavily than other activities, when COVID caseloads rise or new variants emerge, travel takes the hit. It brings to mind the old saying, ‘if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.’ This pattern needs to stop.
“The Administration has shown flexibility on its anti-COVID measures of late, including the recent decision to lift the November 26 travel ban on eight countries in Southern Africa. We call on it to do the same here. At this stage in the pandemic, the tools exist to allow us to combat this virus without crippling an entire sector of the U.S. economy in the process. Let’s use them.”

But yet, no CDC guidance for folks flying within the U.S. Don't have to have a VAX card, no health questionnaire and no negative covid test. Not sure who the CDC is looking for. Looks to me like it's their hip national bank!😡

I think to do anything else at this point would be a suicidal move by any cruise company.  And I base that only on the public's perceptions based on reporting from all news sources.  This might be one of the only stories where there was no difference on how it was (mis)reported by FOX and CNN and maybe even MSNBC and NEWSMAX.

Unfortunately, this means nothing as the cruise lines (Royal, at any rate) has already said that they will comply with the CSO even if becomes voluntary.  The CDC made it very clear that there would be OTHER ways that they [CDC] would make life difficult for the cruise lines if they don't.  I don't see anything changing soon....voluntary or mandatory. 

I'm sure there's a lot of back door handshakes that make both sides come out looking good.

No mask in cabins unless u like it. Lol The only real  difference I see is no smoking in casino and mask on in gym. Everything else is a "finger drill "

They were really comfortable on Freedom .. on a crowded sea day i might pay for one ... wouldnt be interested on a port day though.

Right after I got off the Brilliance on Christmas Eve, I headed to Epcot, mainly to watch the Candlelight Processional.  As they were lining us up, the usher kept on saying, please fill every available space.  It was so different from what I kept hearing on Brilliance - "Social distancing, please."  They wouldn't even let us form the "train" during the 70s party ha ha.

Alternate title: Thousands do exactly as millions do every day on airplanes and travel, albeit with better protocols

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/12/31/thousands-reject-cdc-advice-board-cruise-ships-for-vacations-amid-rise-in-covid-cases/
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Cruising into the new year, thousands of passengers are rejecting the CDC’s advice not to sail as COVID-19 cases reach record numbers. The CDC issued this guidance despite every passenger 12 and older being required to be vaccinated.
“We don’t like to see even one case, but our experience is a fraction of the comparable statistics of virtually any other comparable location or industry,” Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain wrote in a statement Thursday.
Royal Caribbean said since restarting in the summer, 1,700 of its 1.1 million guests have tested positive with 41 of those passengers going to the hospital and none of those 41 with the new variant.