JLMoran

AARGHHH!!!! Things have already gotten less-than-great again, and doctor wants me back on the Dakin's Solution. Quarter strength this time instead of half, but I imagine that's still going to irritate the heck out of the skin that's still healthy.

In hindsight, Royal canceling my August cruise might have been a blessing in disguise. At the rate things are going, this might be healed enough by then to have taken that trip or enjoyed it to the fullest.

Well, based on the rumors out of Port Miami, it would definitely appear that Freedom won't be sailing out of Bayonne at all. Her current Bayonne->Bermuda sailings for July are still listed, along with all the future dates, but I'm just assuming now that it's a matter of time before they announce cancellation of all those sailings.

I do think she'll be replaced with another ship. From the Vision cancellation email, there is this key sentence (emphasis added):

Quote

We know this news is disappointing - rest assured, while we may not be homeporting in Bermuda, our plan is to visit this beautiful island nation with several of our ships sailing from the U.S. later this year.

So I think it's clear they will be sending ships there, hopefully including one from Bayonne. But I seriously wish they would finalize those plans already and make an announcement. The FCC certificate will be issued automatically no later than June 15, with option to revert that to a full refund by June 30. I would really like to know their plans so that if I decide to book on NCL Breakaway, I can make the refund request knowing I had all the information and made a solid choice.

Which is to say -- Tell us if you're just replacing Freedom with another ship and keeping the 5-night itinerary, or replacing the ship and changing the itinerary to 7 nights (with 3 days in Bermuda, or 2 days plus a day in Coco Cay like before). The latter would, for me, be enough on par with the Breakaway itinerary that I'd stay with Royal and finally get to Platinum as a side benefit.

If you’re on Oasis and Chef’s Table is not an option for you, I’d probably go for Chops or 150 Central Park.

In addition to the cell coverage, Royal has blanketed Coco Cay in high speed Wi-Fi. If you bought a VOOM package and also have Wi-Fi calling enabled with your carrier, then you can make calls just using your VOOM connection.

I would agree with the comparison of the main dining room to a really good catering hall. There are a couple of up-charge items you can order from there on any night — filet mignon, whole lobster (vs lobster tails, which is served as a regular entree choice on one night of the trip), maybe one other item. Those couple items will be cooked to order, but everything else is prepared in bulk.

I consider myself a foodie, and I’ve never had any real complaints with food from the MDR beyond the amount of salt they use. But I tend to eat with very little salt in my food at home, so I’m just used to that compared to what many restaurants would consider “normal”.

I’ve tried a few of the specialty restaurants, and I would say they’re usually on par with a premium chain restaurant on land. No question they’re really good, but still not up to the most amazing meals I’ve splurged on a few times.

Since you mentioned it’s your honeymoon, and you are considering making a specialty restaurant reservation, I’ll also mention Chef’s Table. It is 100% a splurge and indulgence, around $90 or $100 per person; but in addition to a really good 6-course meal, you’re served a different wine pairing with each course. The meal is limited to I think 12 or maybe 18 people per night, so it’s a very private and more-intimate experience socially as well; the chef comes out and talks about every course, and you have a private waiter (I believe one of the ship’s most senior wait staff) taking care of just your table and making the wine selections. If you and your bride would like that kind of thing as another special something for your special week, I can’t recommend it enough.

1 hour ago, foxrunner said:

Does Royal decorate the ship for Easter? Any special events.

I sailed on Freedom over Easter week in 2018. No decorations or special events that I recall seeing for that.

8 hours ago, OutToSea said:

depends how load the screaming is

This. My daughters were in a connecting room next to our cabin on our first cruise, and one night my older daughter got into a horrible fight with her then-boyfriend. Woke my wife and me out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night. But that was the only time we heard anything from their room.

I think the bigger reason to change cabins is the potential cost savings noted earlier. Royal has caught on that parents like to book their under-21 kids in a connecting room so they don’t have to worry about the “one person over 21 per cabin” rule, and they’ve begun charging a (sometimes-hefty) premium for that.

Yesterday’s follow-up went about as well as I guess it could have gone. Doc said the pseudomonas infection was definitely cleared out, and I can stop using the Dakin’s Solution. Everything is looking as good in his eyes as can be expected after that, now it’s mainly a matter of waiting through the delay in healing this caused.

Even before yesterday, I could see that some areas are starting to fill in again with healthy new skin. So fingers crossed I’m back on track, although the doc was more conservative this time in his estimate. He hoping that in two more weeks, I’ll be healed enough that I can safely start wearing a compression stocking, or maybe just my Bombas compression socks. That’ll also help with the swelling as I sit for longer and longer.

Got a silver nitrate swabbing before I left, to cauterize the open areas and promote more healing. He gave me a few sticks of the stuff (looks like a long match stick) so I can self-apply round 2 in a week and save the expense of another follow-up for just that. Hurt like the dickens in one spot by the time I was home, but I had some Tramadol left from before the surgery and one of those let me get the first 8 solid hours of sleep I’ve had in a couple months. Woke up feeling a hell of a lot better.

Oh, and I’m down to just a light gauze wrapping around the site. He wants it to get air, and it’s healed enough (finally) that the wrap is enough. No more ace bandages or gauze pads. So all around, things are finally turning the corner.

A cruise blog is coming! A cruise blog is coming!!!

Question about this -- if Freedom is doing her test cruises out of Florida, does that mean she'll stay in Florida for the rest of the season once cleared for revenue sailings? Or will she move up to NJ to resume her already-scheduled 5-night Bermuda sailings (and possibly the 9-night Bahamas)?

I purely want to go back to Bermuda and sail out of NJ / NYC at this point. Freedom is my only option from Royal, along with the late-October offering just released from NCL. (why so late in the year, Mr. DelRio?) So if Royal is going to move Freedom and replace her with something else, please announce that. And if she's staying in NJ and there is only a partial cancellation of Bermuda sailings (maybe August?), announce that. But give us something!

12 minutes ago, Jaymac Radio said:

maybe an official update/name of the ship when the keel-laying takes place

First guess at the name: Icon of the Seas (apart from Vision class, isn't the first ship in each series the one that has the series name?)

Second guess: Boaty McBoatface of the Seas 

For me, it was the all-day boat trip we did in St. Maarten through Soualiga Destinations. Saw tons of interesting places, had two good snorkeling stops (at least that's what my wife and kids said; I stayed on the boat and talked with the couple who were our pilot and guide), and just an overall great day.

My wife would probably say her best was the dolphin swim we did in St. Kitts. Mainly because it was a bucket list item. The huge smile on her face when she was lying on a boogie board and being pushed by one of the dolphins, or when she had one pose next to her in the water, says all you need to know.

My assumption is that with ships on reduced capacity, it's creating artificial scarcity in cabin availability and the algorithmic pricing is jacking up the prices.

Well, that and the fact that Royal seems to want to make up all of the revenue lost in 2020 before year-end 2021.  

It might be valid, if they have a group rate that was set when the sailings first came out. My TA explained their group rates are set and locked in at the time the cruises are first announced, so it can become a significant savings if Royal jacks up the prices on their site. But she also said big savings, like the size that you’re seeing, aren’t very common.

If it’s like Labadee, the workers won’t let you miss it. We were running late on getting back on our day there, and multiple staff were telling us we had to head back. If you’re pushing all aboard, they’ll usually get you there on the tram if one is nearby.

Dragon coaster is a lot of fun. If you think you’ll ride it at least twice, get an all-day pass and make that one of the first places to go to in the morning. I was able to ride it 4 times in an hour, 90 minutes tops.

Also, IIRC one ticket allows for two riders (maybe only when one is a child under a certain age?), with one sitting right in front of the other.

It gets very popular in the afternoon, so much so that my wife and older daughter could only get on it once with an hour-long wait time.

As far as the zip line, my wife and both daughters did it and loved it. There are a bajillion CYA notices about not going if you have a bad back or neck, and my wife (who’s had some back issues) said it was fine. Everyone has to be a minimum height, but I don't recall if there’s a minimum age.

Just my $0.02 — With the change in vaccination policy plus the speculation of sailings not starting until August, I’m wagering that Royal is going to cancel all sailings that will be requiring vaccinations (and most likely reduced capacity, at least in the beginning), and replace them with new itineraries or direct replacements for the old ones.

This is part of why I am waiting to use my FCC, rather than booking Freedom for October now. I have a sneaking suspicion that I did, it would be canceled and substituted with something else in a matter of a couple of weeks.

That’s looking gorgeous!

Congrats on the cabana. Definitely the right call to get it now, prices on those tend to only go upward the closer it gets to cruise day.

@melmar02, it’s definitely much improved. I’m starting to see some small areas healing fully and looking more normal. Not sure how long I’ll need to keep this up, but definitely until at least this Friday’s follow-up. I’m guessing I’ll need to keep it up until I have a complete skin barrier again so it can’t get reinfected.

And yeah, it was indeed a mild infection. I spoke with the nurse after the first couple days and she said it was almost certainly a pseudomonas infection. I read up on that bacteria, it tends to be antibiotic-resistant and I guess that’s why they wanted to use this treatment. Not much in this world that can live through prolonged chlorine exposure and alkaline environment.

Most likely a requirement of the UK that Celebrity has to comply with. I was going to have to do the same for my Bermuda cruise on Vision before it was canceled.

7 minutes ago, coneyraven said:

Or you could do Oasis in September ..... just sayin.... lol

Guess it's time for me to put my original avatar back in place...

This rumor / likely-sounding news is making me hold off changing my canceled Vision booking over to Freedom for just a little bit. Between this and a supposed travel agent event Royal is said to be holding next week, I'm going to see if there are new sailings announced out of Bayonne (possibly fully-vaccinated, since our governor isn't blocking / banning proof of vaccination) and if any sailings already available are getting canceled.

I wouldn't have a problem sailing in August, considering we were already booked on an August sailing. But it would definitely depend on what was offered; could still end up booking Freedom in October.

17 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Bermuda is an expensive island. No $1 beers like in Cozumel. I assume Royal planned to provision Vision in Bermuda opposed to Coco Cay based on port facilities. The passenger load required to break even on a sailing with higher provisioning costs likely influenced cancellation decision. 

Royal was going to provision during a technical stop in Freeport, not in Bermuda. Covered that in another thread here a few weeks back. But yeah, it was still going to be more expensive even from Freeport than it would be from any US port.

18 minutes ago, coneyraven said:

Plus, flights to Nassau, especially from Florida are a lot less expensive and easy to come by (more airlines) than flights to Bermuda .... it only makes sense to keep the Adventure sailings

Not only are the flights to Bermuda more expensive, but Royal was subsidizing the hell out of them. I was able to see when looking at the options on ChoiceAir that Royal was eating over $600 per person on those subsidized flights, after factoring in taxes.

So just looking at my wife and I, Royal was covering over $1,200 in airfare for us, but our cruise fare including port taxes was all of $1,500 for our OV cabin. Since everyone who booked those sailings had to fly in and was probably taking advantage of the subsidized rates, that means Royal was barely making anything at all on each booking, if not losing money outright. We all know the real money-making is in the onboard spend, but if they're even more in the hole due to the flight subsidies then I can see why they'd cut their losses and cancel those trips.