Cruising With JT

2 hours ago, LovetoCruise87 said:

It's not you. I just looked and they have been removed. 

They pulled them likely to make sure they can accommodate enough people from other ships being moved over to the Odyssey. Those people have to be booked first before opening the rest to the public. They should've done this from the start honestly.

Welp that was quick...I found a studio balcony room on Ovation sailing 8/27 out of my hometown Seattle and I pulled a @Mattand YOLO booked it!!! Got the last studio oceanview balcony room on deck 6! Hoooray!! Excited to be back on Ovation 2 years later!! Pretty much exactly 2 years later... I went 8/30/2019 now going 8/27/2021...lovely

@CruisingKat(Kathy)I am on your sailing!!! can't wait to meet you!

1 hour ago, CruiseGus said:

depending on date it will be ALL passengers over 16 or later 12 years old, no exceptions.  Looking for little or no protocols

True....I am looking at doing a solo studio balcony on Ovation (availability is very limited right now unfortunately or none at all) or going on the brand new Norwegian Encore in their studio cabin...it's right in my backyard here in Seattle and I love not having to fly to go on a cruise...40 minute drive and I am there.

Norwegian has already come out and said ALL guests must be vaccinated so that means no kids I am guessing, and I also went on Ovation 2 years ago to Alaska so think I may temporarily go back to my 2nd fav cruise line for this one and try their newest ship...got 5 Royal after that  including my next one on Odyssey, Royal's newest ship, pretty cool to do b2b newest ships in the fleet!

I want to go on Freedom in August but I hear that the weather is extremely hot in the Caribbean then... plus the risk of hurricane season...sigh..would hate to miss my 1st ever trip to Perfect day @ cococay.

Wow so many things are changing... it's like a risk to book any of these new US sailings.

Hey all, have the health protocols been released for Ovation/Serenade to Alaska from Seattle starting in July/August? I recall it will be vaccinated for guests who are eligible but wondering about masks, social distancing etc. Thank you.

Crazy... I almost booked one of these last night as well...not sure what's going on but we'll know soon enough.

32 minutes ago, Matt said:

I heard this happened with Serenade's first sailing too.  Not sure, but as I often have noticed, Royal's IT is usually to blame than anything else.

Can we get another drink package glitch, oh dear Royal IT?

20 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I cannot see this sailing on Royal's website anymore.  Anyone know what might have happened to it?

Good catch. I highly doubt it sold out. I think cruise lines are kind of backed against a corner right now... while the restart plans are great, all these other laws around mandating vaccines, banning vaccine information etc is just going to create more of a mess. At this point, I will be surprised to see any cruises sail from the US this summer. if they do, hooray!

Such exciting news, Chris!! Congratulations on joining the newest ship in the fleet, well-deserved! It must feel so good to get back on after such a long time. I am on Odyssey in November (the original inaugural) so look forward to meeting you then! Cheers!

3 hours ago, steverk said:

Captain just announced that  good morning America will be broadcasting live tomorrow morning from millennium 

Oh nice! I love GMA...looking forward to it.

11 hours ago, Mpr said:

We are excited as were booked on Indy out of miami July 3 2021 and just had our reservation moved to same type of room at no extra cost on Odyssey for that same sailing date out of Fort Lauderdale. 

What a great deal! No extra charge...and if you look at how much the Odyssey is selling for on July 3rd, you will be happy. Prices are insanely high!

On 6/4/2021 at 3:25 PM, FionaMG said:

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. 

I still don't like the way the name is written on the side of the ship though.

I am with you on this, looks like they just threw the name on there with extremely large font. The old look is way more classy and not "out there". 

Wow, seriously awesome pics and footage, thank you for sharing! I am booked on her old inaugural now on Nov 15th, looking forward to hearing about the cruise for those going on her new inaugural July 3rd. The prices are wild!

Cool thanks for the feedback. Excited to see these cruise ships restart and hope to be on one of them... I booked Odyssey in November because the way things were looking a month or so ago, ships sailing out of the US this summer seemed like a long shot. Hoping to get 1 additional cruise in before Odyssey in November. 

If money is not an issue, I would definitely book Odyssey from Florida over Adventure from Nassau. Odyssey is a newer ship, offers more amenities and you don't have to go through the various hoops like flying into another country such as the Bahamas (health visa and all that). I checked prices for July 3rd and they are insanely high, so be prepared to open up your wallet if you decide to go that route. If not, the Adventure sailing should work out nicely as well  

I am looking into Freedom summer cruises, most notably the 3 and 4 days sailings out of Miami leaving in July, however I know that Freedom is also the first to conduct test cruising from 6/20 to 6/22. What happens when Freedom "passes" or "fails" those test cruises? If they pass, the July cruises are good to go I assume...and if they fail, they are a no go? Curious since we are in final payment at this time. 

15 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

Thank You for giving me a CHOICE, and I will pick number Two please.  It really should have not been this complicated!

I think if getting the vaccine wasn't shoved down peoples throats and where allowed to coexist on a cruise with vaccinated people, I think many of those un vaccinated passengers would be compliant with the rules imposed upon them.  

Everyone has an idea of what a cruise looks like for them going forward. If you're down with the restrictions, please have a good time! And I get what you mean about vaccines being shoved down people's throats, let's just say there was a reason for that...

11 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

Here is an idea! And a real way to possibly have a test cruise!

Have two Royal Ships!

One with Vaccinated People

One with unvaccinated People

After the voyage see if any people pop positive because we all know vaccinated people can still test positive and carry Covid!

I actually want to see a full 7-night cruise happen (no test cruises). One is vaccinated with no masks and restrictions, One is unvaccinated with masks and restrictions. Tell me which one is more fun and which one you'd rather go on.

20 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

What does it take to shut down a single cruise for an outbreak of norovirus?  I think it is about 2% of the guests onboard the ship.  Say there are 4000-5000 guests on average so only 80-100 people "reporting" gastrointestinal symptoms and the cruise ship goes back to port I believe. 

I agree, just a couple of cases of covid found during the daily testing on the people who aren't vaccinated will shut everything down again.  It won't really matter if people are reporting symptoms or not if they are testing.  I'm thinking about 5-10 positive tests and my cruise will be toast and future cruises will likely be cancelled again.

I personally wouldn't want to be the person contributing to the number of cases found onboard a cruise ship.   I'm vaccinated so hopefully I won't be.  If I'm one of the "breakthrough cases" at least I can say I was vaccinated.

Fully agree with this as well. I think that's what people are missing the point on...if an outbreak or something happens with unvaccinated people, you are putting the whole industry in jeopardy. I know vaccinated people can cause issues too BUT far less likely than unvaccinated people. Vaccinated people are less likely to get severe illness or die, unvaccinated people...well...you know the death count... 

47 minutes ago, JeffB said:

I think we'll see that 80% Bailey/Fain threw out there as having a preference for sailings where everyone is vaccinated right here. 

My take on the best reason to NOT sail if you're not vaccinated is that out of the gate, the microscope will be on the cruise lines. There's an increased risk of SARS2 infection in a mixed crowd. Even though it is small, it isn't zero. One case ..... ONE, will very likely shut down cruising no matter how well it is handled..... and it will be handled well and it won't matter. That may be and exaggeration but man, it would be a bummer if it happened.

100% agree with this...

47 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I would have no problem going on an unvaccinated cruise

That's awesome, we'll see how these unvaccinated cruises go at the restart. Fingers crossed shit doesn't go down and the industry gets shutdown again by the CDC. They are watching. Don't F up cruise operators!

53 minutes ago, Josh C said:

I would not, and further, I will not cruise on ships that do not require a vaccine for all who are eligible. 

I am with you...I really don't want to cancel my Royal cruises...shoot... look at Norwegian, Carnival, Celebrity, they are requiring the vaccine. Come on Royal... 

52 minutes ago, cruisinghawg said:

Thanks for that info, I forgot that. So I haven't heard of anyone getting covid after vaccination that had a severe case.

I haven't heard of any severe cases, but there have been breakthrough cases "people getting infected after getting the vaccine". It is around 10,000 people out of the 101,000,000 that have gotten the vaccine, so like .00000000001%

1 hour ago, cruisinghawg said:

How many people here who would cruise if not vaccinated?

I would not got on a cruise if I wasn't vaccinated. Plain and simple. 

28 minutes ago, gatorskin76 said:

There are Loyal to Royal cruisers that don’t feel the same way as you, at least one anyway.

All good, everyone has a different opinion, I was just going off of what I am seeing on other social media sites like Facebook and my thoughts, most people aren't too happy with the decision. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Fortunately for me my next cruise isn't until November. I am a big believer in that the best and safest way to get cruising restarted out of the US is to require vaccines for all those who are eligible. Plain and simple. It's temporary, not forever, just do it at the start, because if something happens onboard, the CDC is ready to shut it down again.