DDemuth

Was available on Explorer during the Nov 12-20 cruise.  Did not attend, so I cannot comment on level of participation or show content.  

1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Good grief. Looking through these posts it seems that many think this is a place to apply to be a volunteer.  They really don't understand what this site is.

The information  that I have received from an unreliable source is that volunteers will have to complete a 15 page application form and submit that, along with their Social Security number, credit card information, and a copy of their current resume by email to duped@RCCL.com by midnight, November 30 (or the date that the presidential election is resolved, whichever is sooner).  The selection committee will consist of RCCL employees from all walks of the company including sales/marketing, customer service and upper level administration,... and maybe Matt. 

3 hours ago, Matt said:

Good news that some have tested negative now

 

The rapid test is most accurate in the first 5 or so days after becoming symptomatic.  If these individuals are a- or presymptomatic, this is not the ideal test to deliver. 

23 hours ago, deep1 said:

Yeah yeah yeah... I know not likely to happen. In fact I'm more likely to get pregnant than it going.  Had a couple days glitch trying to check in... While just looking at my account I noticed that this trip which is supposed to be a 7 night is now showing Nov 1- Nov 2 ????? 

Yes, the new policy is to change the daily plates in the elevators every 3 hrs.  An innovative approach to cram 7 days of fun into 24 hrs.  Ingenious, though good luck trying to break even on the drink package...  

15 hours ago, twangster said:

The state dance in South Carolina is the Shag.  It's got a whole different meaning across the pond.

Are you sure?  Have you ever seen a South Carolinian do the dance?

On 7/1/2020 at 2:16 PM, twangster said:

I'm more of a one piece kind of guy.  

This is the place to buy twangster's one piece suits.  Lots of selection, decent pricing, shows no leg, plenty of room to expand as your cruise progresses.

https://www.amazon.com/hazmat-suit/s?k=hazmat+suit

1 hour ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Then there is this company I have been following closely. Sounds very interesting to me but I am not a doc. Maybe it make more sense to some of you.

 

https://investors.sorrentotherapeutics.com/news-releases/news-release-details/sorrento-announces-selection-t-viva-19tm-targeted-protein

RCIfan,

Always good to hear of promising outcomes from potential SARS-CoV2 vaccines.  But realize that the link above reports results from a study done in mice.  So this is still in pre-clinical stage and must be approved for human subject studies.  Even with approval, the first human studies will primarily evaluate safety/side effects rather than efficacy.  The Pfizer study linked on your previous post looks to be a Phase 1 human study.  The promising news is that vaccination induced antibody levels higher than that seen is a typical infected individual.  The potential bad news is that at the higher doses, the vaccine exhibited some side effects and in one case (in my quick read), serious enough to cause cessation of that arm of the study.  Any positive outcomes in the early stage studies is reason to be optimistic, but there is a long way to go for testing the various vaccine candidates.  It is said that later this summer we will see results of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine results which from what I understand is currently being evaluated to determine if if can actually reduce SARS-CoV2 infection.  A positive result there would be very good.

22 hours ago, Baked Alaska said:

Just as long as those aren't pineapples in those hammocks!

This just in!!   RCI will limit swingers to 2 persons per hammock and/or 2 persons per room until further notice...

4 hours ago, twangster said:

It's possible there may be no vaccine but there is the possibility that society will reach a herd immunity eventually if a vaccine is never realized.  That's not guaranteed either.  

Given the infectivity of this virus, Mayo Clinic estimates that 70% of the US population would have to be infected and recover to reach herd immunity.  That is about 230 million infections.  We are currently at 1% of that in 4 months.  So are we to wait 400 more months for natural infection to reach herd immunity?  Given the ~5% fatality rate, the would mean over 12 million deaths.  Better hope that a vaccine is developed.  That said, this is worst case scenario and many things could alter those predictions, which I think that you realize and that don't warrant discussion at this time on this board.

2 hours ago, Baked Alaska said:

Now, I've got a server error:

That message dates back to mid-March....

We cancelled a July Mediterranean cruise on April 3.  Refund posted on our credit card on 4/24, but dated as issued on 4/19.  Ten business days.  We were told 7 - 10 business days; I guess we were fortunate given the experience of others here.

4 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Never really thought about it.  Is airfare through A2S completely refundable for whatever reason?

When we booked transatlantic flights, there were options for refundable and non-refundable fares.  My understanding is that RCI will refund a refundable fare upon cancellation but will send you to the appropriate airline for non-refundable fares.  In the latter case, it is the airline policy prevails.  That is how it was explained to us; don't know how widely applicable that will be to A2S fares in general.

When we recently cancelled our summer Mediterranean cruise, the RCI agent looked up our A2S fares and included them in the refunded amount (cancellation occurred before final payment date).

17 hours ago, JLMoran said:

And on a separate note from this particular article -- if I have to hear the phrase "floating petri dish" in association with cruising from a medical professional one more time in a news broadcast or video add-on to an article, I may well scream out loud at them as much as I want to slap stupid people I see on TV.

… and airplanes are flying petri dishes;  the subway is a rolling petri dish; and the Atalanta/Valencia Champions League game that contributed to the Italian and Spanish covid-19 explosions was a petri dish in a bowl.  

5 hours ago, rjac said:

Good example of kinetic energy at work. 

… and momentum.  

On 4/1/2020 at 9:47 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Probably making fresh water

This is the cruise ship equivalent of doing donuts in the snow covered parking lot at school.  Can you envision the smile on the face of the Master as he skids through the open sea...

List to the left,.. left,... left,...

Just looking for confirmation before calling RCI.  We have evaluated the current covid-19 situation and finally decided to cancel our western Med family cruise for this summer.  Just can't see a good  chance that a July cruise with ports in Spain and Italy will be feasible.  And given circumstances, this was pretty much a one-time chance to get the family together which will not happen again in the near future.  The cruise is fully paid, still 3 weeks ahead of the final pay date  and booked with a non-refundable deposit.  My understanding is that by cancelling, we will get a refund to our credit card for all payments except the non-refundable deposit.  Under the "Cruise with Confidence" policy, will the deposit be returned as FCC?  Is this correct?  

Thanks for your help.

2 hours ago, Ogilthorpe said:

Playing devil's advocate: I presume that it would depend on the real target. If it was intended to create media fueled hysteria and tank the global economy, then it was 100% effective

  Makes for a good novel.

1 hour ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

I think if you "close" to many of these stories recently that make that claim...are referring specifically covid-2 SARS. They know people will not discern the difference...just mention covid, & many will have a Mandela Effect, and think they are referring to covid-19.

Just what "difference" do you think that people will not discern?  The correct nomenclature is SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that is currently circulating across the world.  Covid-19 is the disease that SARS-CoV-2 causes (corona virus disease 2019).  That information has been publicly available for many weeks.  The genome sequences of literally hundreds of SARS-CoV-2 isolates have also been publicly available for many weeks and it is very clear that SARS-CoV-2 is most related to a bat coronavirus, even moreso that to its human relatives, SARS-CoV-1 and MERS corona viruses.  There is no conspiracy to cover up a genetically manipulated or weaponized virus (it is a p*** poor weapon if it kills only 3% of its targets).  The information is out there if you choose to look for it.

3 hours ago, ChessE4 said:

...my wife read a report yesterday indicating that the virus is not engineered, and it possibly came from or involved a virus in bats.   Something to think about.

This has been well established since the end of January and accepted in the scientific community.

Regarding SARS-CoV-2 and HIV,  see below as just one example.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7033698/

So at the local market this afternoon, I saw a customer pick an item from the shelf, read something on the label, then put it back.  A nearby customer went bonkers:  "you touched that!!!  You can't just put that back on the shelf!!"  I'm saying to myself, lady, you're the reason that there's no bread or  toilet paper left in the store....

I didn't realize until now how similar shopping was to eating at the Windjammer.

2 hours ago, Felpi said:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates

Regardless of nationality, boarding will be denied to:

a.  Any person who has traveled from, to or through mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Europe (See list of restricted European countries below), Iran, or South Korea 15 days prior to embarkation.

It would be quicker just to name the countries that still can board.  The list is shorter.

2 hours ago, twangster said:

What does this mean?  Hopefully it's a significant milestone towards a vaccine.

This is strange since the CDC has been culturing SARS-CoV-2 for over a month to provide samples to the research community.  Isolating the virus is not new information.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/grows-virus-cell-culture.html

Just now, WAAAYTOOO said:

I guess for once in our lives, Dan and I actually got ahead of the toilet paper stampede.  We went to BJ's just before I had my knee surgery and stocked up on all things paper.  We actually got Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, toilet paper AND beer AND water.  Those items have long since been picked clean so I'm thrilled that we went early. #theupsidetohavingkneesurgery.

Well, the beer and water are the most important things.  Just be sure not to confuse the Clorox wipes and TP...

Just now, dodgestang said:

"Live cultures"

Yogurt.