jticarruthers

I didnt think a TA could tell you that, I know RC refuses to deal directly with me when i have a TA on the booking.

I didnt think a TA could tell you that, I know RC refuses to deal directly with me when i have a TA on the booking.

I didnt think a TA could tell you that, I know RC refuses to deal directly with me when i have a TA on the booking.

Ships are going to have cases.  Nothing new.  Not newsworthy.  

Yeah they are dragging a bit on an FCC (related to June) and Refunds (related to July) with me, im not stressing yet though.
The July ones were interesting, we cancelled in early June or so and they confirmed the cancellation to the TA (then and twice more, pre cruise) but would not cancel it in the "system" until post cruise and are now arguing the 45 days didnt start until post cruise.
I get protecting cash flow but its not like i dont have several more cruises that i am going to roll the money over to ...

And then F it up and not use the data collected anyway ... we were 2 vax, 1 unvax for Freedom ... despite answering that way we were all marked as vax in their system and treated that way throughout. We had to argue for example to be moved from the vax dining room to the general population one ...

Yes. And they will send it to you multiple times prior to your sailing, even if you complete it.

My concern is once masks go on, it'll take a hell of a lot to get them off again

If the calls are important enough to have to make/take, then I would definitely do the upgrade to give them the best chance at working properly ?
 

If the calls are important enough to have to make/take, then I would definitely do the upgrade to give them the best chance at working properly ?
 

I made mention yesterday this ticks me off to no end. The whole reason I got vaccinated was to avoid this cluster.  I work. My fiance'e works.  Our kids work hard at school. We work hard. This new wrench in the works involves us giving up work to get tested. For her a few hours or a day. For our kids it will be having to get out of school for the test during holiday school testing time.  For me, it involves cancelling a week long fishing charter for my guests so I can get tested in the window. Otherwise I would have come in from the carter and gone to the ship the next morn.  That's huge $$$$$ ....  We are slated for 4 cruises with 4 of us each trip. $600 just in test fees per trip ($2400 total). Wife 4 days work. For me??? 4 weeks pay and 4 weeks revenues to my business or bring in a hired captain at $400 a day times 28 days! Thats big... 
They were making tests available to the non vaccers at the port (at cost) . I see nothing like that for those of us who did as asked and got the vac... ??? Any ideas if somewhere in or near the ports (Miami, Canaveral, Lauderdale) we can get done? 

I for one am totally shocked by this ?

Who is surprised that RCI is giving out new/different information from what we all seem to think?

We got back from our weekend sailing on Freedom and it was quite the experience. We had great weather (it’s been raining like crazy in SoFL) at Coco Cay and Nassau. Being on the Freedom with only 1000 passengers is odd and I think we prefer the action of a packed ship but this was certainly interesting and had many positives. We opted for the Coco Beach Club and it was overall a good experience. The elevated dining experience had some nice choices like grilled Caribbean lobster which was prepared and presented very nicely. There was literally nobody at the beach club (see pics). My only complaint is that there’s not enough shade by the pool and it’s odd that upon arrival the host doesn’t bring over a bucket or pitcher of cold water to wherever you are seated. Minimal gripe but still it’s hot as h*ll (keep in mind I’m born and raised in SoFL and I still think it’s hot!). Onboard Freedom there was little to no action which is to be expected. It was nice to go to the suite lounge and have the entire place to yourself for a change. I know this type of reduced capacity cruising won’t last forever so we just rolled with it. IMHO my family and I felt very safe with young children in regards to RC’s COVID safety protocol. They did a great job and the ship and stateroom were extremely clean. The kids literally wanted to eat at Giovannis Kitchen every single night so we did (the pizza!) and it did not disappoint. We are looking forward to things hopefully getting back to normal and more cruises in our future!

Just make it a sea day.  Not a big deal at all.

I'm no lawyer but I don't see how this is around Florida Law.  Florida Law states that cruise lines can't ask for vaccine status.  St. Thomas states you can't come here if anyone over 12 is not vaccinated.
While I see Royal Caribbean trying to use this as a way around Florida Law, some Floridian (or their governor) is going to end up suing Royal Caribbean over this and I don't think this shields them at all. Legally it sounds more like if you sail from Florida, to follow both laws you would not be able to include the US Virgin Islands as a destination for the time being.

Agree, it’s certainly weird seeing a quiet promenade at night and empty roulette & blackjack tables but I figure it’s really a unique experience so trying to enjoy this while it lasts. 

Last night the cruise director told us there were 1000 passengers onboard freedom and nearly 1100 crew. You can certainly notice the extra attentive service. 

(No offense JeffB but I'm writing a JeffB-length post here)
 
It all started Thursday night after the debarkation round of testing. All three in my group were negative, but about 10:30pm got a call from the ship's doctor saying our son was identified as a close contact for a boy in Adventure Ocean who tested positive. We never really asked for details on when or what they defined as a close contact since I figured we'd never get that detail as I'm sure they'd cite privacy. (Adventure Ocean follows strict masking and 6-foot social distancing rules as well as avoiding shared toys/supplies so I really doubt it was a 15 minute close contact, but we know the pressure cruise lines are under.)
The medical staff will only call you with results that late if they're positive (not that that stopped me from waiting up until after midnight for the first one).  The next morning we got a letter saying "dear guest" saying "guest" was quarantined. This step in the process is the one RC needs to work on. The letter didn't specify who (aka, just our son or all 3 of us?) had to quarantine (ended up just being our son) and had no "for more information contact XYZ" info on the letter. While the letter did list all the free services we'd have during quarantine (room service, internet, movies, phone calls) it didn't do a good job of outlining really what to expect. In my comments to RC I'm going to urge they have guest services call those people directly and lay things out for them instead of just a form letter, especially since the letter said staff would check up on us throughout the day and no one really did.  So we called the nurses station for some info, and the doctor called us back saying our son was indeed negative but they (I'm not sure who "they" is but I got the inkling it wasn't solely ship management) wanted another PCR test 24 hours later. Which meant 10:30pm again. 

By afternoon (Friday) we get a call that guest services wanted our passports, vax cards and health insurance info.  We never really got details on who wanted this, but we think it was the Bahamas government.  Because a bit later, the guest services manager called and finally we got a good line of communication going. Despite the negative tests, the Bahamas didn't want to let our son take a commercial flight home since he didn't fulfill the country's unvaccinated quarantine window (14 days, tell me that wouldn't suck). Apparently RC tried to get a waiver for us, but as of later Friday, the guest services guy was prepping us for a private flight home.  
The 2nd test Friday night came and went negative (and I'm going to assume all 4 other contacts were negative too, based on a talk with our pilots) and we got one more call from guest services that they'd have updated flight info by 8am this morning.

We got that call and they were still working out the details of the flight, but were prepping for it to be a late afternoon/evening flight and we'd move to the Hilton for a few hours. Somehow that got moved up and by 9am we got our 1pm fllight time and were just instructed to hang out in the room until noon. 
At noon guest services walked us down and we were off the ship.
They had a limo van (aka, party van) for us right off the ship, drove us right to the plane, got on the plane, flew right to our home airport and had the town car waiting for us at the GA terminal to take us home. Apparently whatever deal they had set up required actual door to door delivery, so I got dropped off at the parking lot to get our car, and our wife and son got the town car ride home.
 
So count me as the "I'm not an actor but a true story" for anyone that has concerns about booking a cruise due to fear of being covid-stranded (even if you aren't the one testing positive), RC has you covered.
I can't compliment RC enough for how efficient they were with getting us (and apparently 4 other groups for a total of 20 people in the "contact tracing kid" bucket) out of there and thus avoiding having to stay another 10-11 days for the Bahamas unvaccinated quarantine period.

I'm not sure how long RCL can keep this up. Not sure what will happen first: we collectively learn to live with COVID and stop testing healthy people, or they stop doing anything more than 4 night cruises.

Covid must hang around in a cloud for unsuspecting victims who unwittingly walk through it and become infected.   This was all predicted by Star Trek.

Yep took my first trip back to Disney World just over a year ago and havent looked back since.

Yep took my first trip back to Disney World just over a year ago and havent looked back since.

No need to panic .........
From this morning’s Washington Post, they are reporting that an internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention slide presentation has a lot of people freaked out. It says “........there are 35,000 symptomatic infections per week among 162 million vaccinated Americans.”

That comes out to 1 out of every 4,628.57 people. I like those odds! If you are vaccinated you are highly unlikely to suffer from COVID. If you are unvaccinated, you are in COVID's cross-hairs.

I’m sure someone would say “yes, but that’s per week, meaning you face the same risk the next week!” Okay, so every week, I face a new metaphorical lottery of being that one person out of 4,628 or so who has a symptomatic breakthrough infection. I can live with that, and you can, too. Yes, it will stink to feel sick for a couple of days, but symptomatic breakthrough infections almost never results in hospitalization or death (something like 95%/99%.

People accept that much higher level of risk all the time. The chances of dying in a car crash are roughly one in 107, and the average person is involved in three motor vehicle accidents in their lifetime. If someone told you they refused to ever get into a motor vehicle because the odds of dying in an accident were too high, you would urge them to get counseling for runaway anxiety.
People are suffering from what is called "recency bias." What this means is that based on what you hear on day one, hour one or hour7, and so forth, influences your perception of future events. Is there any doubt, based on the "dire consequences" media narrative that people are scared?
I absolutely do not want to be dismissive of those who are close to acquaintances, friends or loved ones who have suffered from COVID or health care workers in hiospital who see the surge and suffering first hand. I am continually struggling with how this group perceives the threat of COVID compared to those of us, including myself that have been fortunate enough to not be burdened by it.
Still, in the big picture .........PERSPECTIVE PLEASE.