jticarruthers

We are booked to sail on Brilliance of the Seas Jan 17th with our 85 year old mom (this could be her last cruise).  I just read that there is a new requirement to wear a mask EVERYWHERE - even in all vaccinated areas - casino, shows, concierge club, etc.....  
We were on Jewel of the Sea July 5th sailing and were required to wear a mask in public areas but did not need to in the public vaccinated areas.  This was somewhat acceptable but we would have preferred no masks.  We decided to book again because we enjoyed the 50% capacity and were offered a great deal through the casino.  
BACK to Brilliance...I don't know if anyone from Royal Carribean reads this, but we are going to cancel our upcoming Jan 17th cruise due to the burdomsome requirements of masks.  Isn't being vaccinated enough?  Is having personal responsibility of how much risk one is willing to take enough?  Personally I am tired of the CDC recommendations shutting down entire industries.  I am fully vaccinated, including a booster. I have also had covid.  I am willing to take the risk. Why is everyone being burdened to adhere to these recommendations?  RC is a private company.  Please consider changing the mask requirement back - It just won't be enjoyable wearing a mask everywhere. 
We live in Florida and live my daily life without wearing a mask everywhere I go except Dr. offices.  We have no desire to adhere to rules much stricter than we have in daily life.  
How about offering a cruise that no-one has to wear masks and people can decide if that works for them?  

In my opinion…this action by the CDC was forced by a very powerful senator who has been on an anti-cruise crusade for years. His recent publicity-generating criticism of the CDC regarding it’s cooperation with the cruise industry, and what he describes as the CDC’s ‘failure to do it’s job’ by not pausing (aka/shutting down) the industry is based solely on headlines and not on that ‘science’ they’re always pointing to. So, to placate someone who is directly involved with their funding….oh, well. That’s politics.
And to add a little more perspective to this…this person has been under a lot of critical scrutiny this past month over attending a certain event. He has been pretty much in silent mode since then, trying to let it subside. So now one of his first public statements is one of diversion. Typical ploy. Check it out…google it. Again…just my opinion. Feel free to disagree or, in the event this is considered too political, delete it. 
By the way….cruising’s positivity rate is near or below 1%. His Petri dish-state is currently at 20%. So it’s 20 times more dangerous to be in his state. Maybe his constituents should flee to the safety of a cruise ship. 

I think the cruise ships are the last bastion of control the CDC has left. So they cling to that control because when this is all over, their moment in the spotlight, their fierce grip, is gone.  Too bad they don’t understand that for many of us, we hear circus music in our heads when they come out with their latest statements on cruise ships…and nothing about other close contact activities.  
The CDC, and the WHO, have no idea how much damage they have done to their reputations during COVID. 

OMG! I'm in love (in a very non-bad way) with all the respondents to this string. Common sense, fact driven, straightforward logic. The cruise ship is the safest place to be during this high sniffle event. All passengers and crew are tested, almost all are vaccinated, and all are aware of the facts. Nothing scares the fearmongers more than this group!

Oh no you are perfectly safe going inside all of those establishments and taking those modes of transportation. 
The only thing where there is increase risks of COVID exposure is on a cruise ship per the CDC.  For an agency that claims to follow the science and the data why then do they continue to single out the cruise industry when both the science and the data shows lower risks of COVID exposure on a cruise ship than any where on land. They are still trying to use COVID to gut the cruise industry and it totally unfair.
The CDC is a joke.

Ok, cool. So what’s the warning level for the following?
Airports
Airplanes
Sporting events
Concert venues
Movie theaters
Shopping malls
Grocery stores
Large chain retail stores
Amusement parks
Public transportation
Restaurants
Bars
Resorts

The CDC is a complete joke.  

I am taking this as serious as "Quarantine for 2 weeks to lessen the curve". 

So on the other hand the vaccination is not a real vaccination per se, it is more like a cough drop, it will prevent the symptoms but will not stop you from getting or spreading the virus. But once you have had it you should have Immunity per science prior to Covid which people like the CRC are not remembering.

So where does this leave us, same as prior to Covid, when you go on a cruise you take an inherent risk of everything a cruise could possibly cause. You might break a leg, net the norovirus, slip and fall or now get Covid.

Crew are tested regularly, and probably most of the positive cases are identified that way.
If a passenger feels ill, they are to call the medical unit on board and they will be scheduled to go down to the medical facility to test.  If positive, they would only test people with whom that person has had close contact.
"All" of the positive covid tests have equaled about 1% or less of the ships total population (crew and passengers).  
As usual, the cruise lines are being held to a standard that is not recognized on land.

Absolutely ridiculous. Sorry irrational decisions from these ports are impacting your cruise. 

We have never had any issues ordering drinks and giving them to someone else. You order the drinks, tell them you are using your Diamond allotment, and you can give them to anyone you want unless they are underage. Only restrictions are you have to order them and you only have 4 as Diamond or 5 as Diamond+  per day.

It is kind of funny that the supposed epicenter of omicron, South Africa, is stopping all contact tracing and quarantines and just focusing on symptomatic people because of how mild omicron has been there.

Incorrect. It was part of the service offered by RCL for international travelers. Of course they could stop this offer at anytime but for the clients that made their reservation based on the fact that this costly service will be provided for them, RCL should either offered compensation or full refund with no strings attached. 

Cruising during the restart won't be for everyone.  This policy change is a serious downer for any foreign (non-US) cruiser leaving from a US port but it is exactly the kind of last minute policy change that can occur during the restart.
For me the clear solution is to request a refund and accept no other outcome.
Many of us have stories to tell of something that didn't go our way because of the pandemic both on sea and on land well apart from cruising.  At the end of the day the virus is to blame for so much impact in so many ways.
Sorry the latest variant and reactions from governments around the world has impacted your cruise but sadly that is life during a pandemic.  Take the money and try again, or not, when you are more comfortable and hopefully we are all dealing with less impact.    

^^THIS^^

Honestly, slim to none are the odds of a cancellation.
Protocols worked, the lines have plans with ports and CDC. This is all planned for, and even Symphony went about her next sailing as scheduled.

ANYWAY, we’re on Mariner now ……. At least on this ship, that email they sent Friday was greatly exaggerated ……. Maybe to appease the CDC ……… nobody has masks on once sitting in bars, restaurants, or clubs and haven’t seen anybody asking them to put them back on.  Have also seen quite a few people have walking around the promenade with no masks on as well and haven’t seen anybody say anything to them.
We were told there are 2,700 passengers on the ship of which right at 700 are kids.
 

I would be much more accepting if Royal would publish some of their own medical data. Such as “ in the last 30 days we have seen xx cases of Covid onboard, including xx% of the omicron variant. Of these, xx were breakthrough cases of fully vaccinated passengers.”
They have already instituted essentially a no vax, no cruise policy. In addition to a Covid free test policy. Without showing this type of data, i personally think this is less a medical decision, and more of a let’s stay in the good side of the CDC decision.

Highly annoyed by this. 
On one hand, we were already bringing masks with us for the cruise.  It's not like we have to get a test on embarkation day now, versus 2 days prior.  Or PCR tests only instead of antigen.  You just have to wear your masks more of the time once onboard.  It could be much, much worse. 
On the other hand, I'm sick of this "health theater" nonsense.  Unless its an N95 mask, its not preventing squat.  Public health, and the collective population's commitment to it, is an interesting paradox.  The administration's promise that getting vaccinated will allow us to get back to doing the things we used to do, hasn't materialized.  I don't want to spend my vacation under siege.  If I am hassled by staff in between bites or sips, I might lose it. 
I have 2 short solo cruises booked in January, both after the seemingly-arbitrary end date of 1/5.  These sailings will get me to Diamond Plus.  If that wasn't at stake, I'd be cancelling them both as soon as the new protocols are released, and demanding a refund.  I'm done. 

WE (and I use that term collectively) are keeping the industry alive by continuing to cruise and book cruises.  I am one bad discussion away (and I suspect many others are as well) from walking away from the industry completely.  Yes they have to walk a fine line.....but they are off the line right now (AGAIN).  I can drop 5 digits a trip ANYWHERE but I choose to do it here multiple times per year......but not much longer

Carrying a drink doesn’t work ……… on our October and November cruises if you walked inside around with a drink you weren’t drinking at the time and weren’t in a vaccinated only area they’d yell at you to put your mask on ……… now you even have to wear a mask in the vaccinated only areas unless ACTIVELY eating or drinking 

It's gotten beyond out of hand. I'm sure we will be cancelling NYE sailing next week. I haven't heard from the Concierge yet, but we are definitely out if they are not selling tables on the Promenade like usual for the big party. There are plenty of places on land (especially here in Florida) where we can enjoy a festive NYE party so it's not worth it to pay over 10 grand for what it will probably look like on a cruise ship this year. So sad, another cruise down the drain.

Worked on Harmony over Thanksgiving.
 
Fortinet VPN worked fine, able to get on my network and transfer files slowly but without issue.
 
 

It was 6 weeks for my one picture from Mariner of the Seas.

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