JLMoran

Oh, to answer about the chair and umbrella rental. There is a booth right as you enter the beach, a bit to the left of the entrance. You can rent chairs, loungers, and umbrellas. They have bundle options that save you a little bit, and some of those include a bucket of beers if you want that kind of option. Earlier you get there, the better the locations to set up. Even though it means a hike to get to the bar / restaurant and the gift shop, try to set up as far down the beach as they let you go. The area closest to the entrance gets absolutely packed by 11 AM. But I’ve gone all the way down both times we’ve been there and enjoyed much more open space and clear views of the bay all day. Even when we weren’t as close to the water as we could have gone.

I can also tell you the restaurant’s bar makes an awesome Dark & Stormy. ? My wife is at the point where if I bring up a sailing that goes to Bermuda, it’s an all but guaranteed yes. Where any other sailing will require days of careful broaching and negotiations. ?

This. Although my wife does like to also experience new ships, rather than sail again on the same ship a second or third time if it can be avoided.

You won’t have cell reception on board, except through what the ship makes available. And that doesn’t fall under your regular carrier plan or even the low-cost international plan like was mentioned. It is VERY expensive, especially for data. If you need wifi while on board at sea, you’ll have to purchase a package (or daily rate if offered). In port, you will likely have access to cell service through your carrier, and can then use your phone as a hotspot if needed.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Second post-op visit today. All sutures are taken out now, except a few that will dissolve on their own over the next week or two. Graft site is still not healed enough, and did degrade a little bit at the lower end, but doc said it’s nothing of concern; he could see there is still healthy tissue growing in that spot, so it just needs another week or two to finish firming up. Everything else is looking great. I’m able to sit normally for about an hour at a pop now before I feel like it’s time to put it back up again, so it seems I’m making some rapid progress on that front. I have another post-op visit in a week, and at that time I should be ready for a compression stocking. And right after that, it’ll be time to get back to work! Maybe on reduced hours to start, but it’ll be good to get back to some normal day-to-day living again.

Knock knock. Who's there? Dwayne. Dwayne who? DWAYNE THE TUB, I’M DWOWNING!!!

Not according to NCL’s CEO. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/05/06/norwegian-cruise-line-ceo-says-july-cruises-us-not-possible

PM: “Guys, shape the fire pit into a circle!” Stone crew: “What’s a circle?” PM: (annoyed) “Looks like a big zero. The same big zero I’m gonna pay you if you don’t $@1#ing get it right TODAY!!”

Only a few cruises under my belt, but so far all have been balcony / JS level. My wife and I love being able to sit on the balcony with a beverage in hand, looking out over that deep cobalt blue of the deep ocean and hearing the water gently lapping along the side of the ship. That said, I was perfectly ready to sail an inside cabin for the Iceland & Greenland cruise we were supposed to take in 2020 before Covid happened. Was going to be a very port-intensive cruise and the climate wasn't going to make staying out on a balcony for extended periods worthwhile in our minds. Eventually upgraded to an ocean view cabin before it was finally canceled, but only because the pricing got close enough to our original inside rate that it wasn't a deal (or bank) breaker. We wanted the daylight and to avoid that cave-like feeling. I'm in an OV cabin right now for my Vision sailing, because it's what my budget allowed and I really wanted to take this itinerary. Plan to stay outside on the deck most of the time anyway, so the cabin will be mostly for sleeping and cleaning up. But our Med cruise in 2020 is in an aft balcony, and I'm sure that future sailings will be balcony as well. We just like having that space too much to pass it up.

Not really much new to report. I'm able to keep the leg lowered and sit normally for 20-30 minutes at a pop now before it gets too uncomfortable. But because it's still so limited I spoke with the doc about my return to work date. He agreed it would make sense to push that out a week to May 17 instead of this coming Monday, and we'll see about restrictions on initial hours if even that doesn't get me to a point where I could pull off an 8-hour day at my desk right off the bat. In the meantime, I've found out that the guy on the airplane at the start of Die Hard was right. Making fists with my toes on the rug while I'm sitting really is a great stress reliever! ?

If children are eligible for the vaccine, and Royal / NCL / etc say that all who can be vaccinated must be, then yes. You’ll be locked out until such time as you feel it’s safe for your kids to get vaccinated. It is your choice to not have your children vaccinated with an emergency-approved novel vaccine, and I totally understand your reasons. It’s easy for me to make the choice because all of my kids are 17+. If they were younger, I might well also have reservations about rushing to give them a vaccine the second it was approved. So I’m in no way passing any kind of judgement here; everyone must make that choice on their own. But Royal and all other cruise lines are businesses. And business have the autonomy and authority to make rules and requirements such as this when it directly affects their ability to do that business. As @twangster has noted multiple times on other threads, the press is irrationally biased against the cruise industry and this is going to drive many decisions the industry makes. They know what will happen if a single case happens on board, and they will not take that risk after a year of no sailings. Their choices are grim: Mandate vaccination for all who are eligible, or don’t and instead mandate the safety protocols in effect on Singapore sailings, the upcoming UK sailings, etc. It’s a no-win scenario. Mandating means losing potential customers like yourself and others who don’t want the vaccine. Not mandating means losing both those who vaccinated expressly to avoid having to wear masks while outside (and hopefully indoors as Health protocols continue to evolve) and those who demand that absolutely zero restrictions be placed on them during a vacation; AND losing any port that won’t allow unvaccinated tourists. But they need to get back to business and stop hemorrhaging money. So they’re doing the math, running the numbers, and offering what they hope is the best way to get themselves up and running again. Its not permanent. May end up being longer than anyone wants, even well into next year depending how worldwide vaccination rates go. But it will eventually end.

And my 1M spacious OV cabin is up 40% from my booking price just one week ago. @twangster, I really hope you’re wrong about Vision sailings being at risk of cancellation. I need this!!

Well, poop. Guess I better put a reminder on my calendar for 2 weeks before sail date to go and buy at least the embarkation transport. But the good part about that is it means Cathy and I are actually free to go to Horseshoe Bay that last morning before our flight. At least, if we can find a place to safely store our luggage. I’m sure Royal will be holding to the usual final GTFO around 9 AM so the crew can sanitize the ship before the next set of passengers start to arrive.

What dates are your sailings? For my Aug 14 sailing this year I have the full set of options for purchase.

Interesting that your flights arrive so late. For my Aug 14 sailing the Air2Sea flight leaves EWR at 10 AM and arrives in Bermuda at 1:20 PM local time. Now, this is on United, so I’m half-expecting that we won’t actually take off until noon and then arrive at 3:20. Maybe Royal is expecting the same so that’s why it’s scheduled that way! ? Regarding the transfers — I thought that A2S flight bookings always included transfer by Royal between airport and ship. Is that not the case? My TA did the A2S booking for me same time the cruise was booked, and I didn’t get any question from her about whether I also wanted their transfer.

I’ll add to what @sk8erguy1978 said about ocean conditions. All of our trips have been in mid-late October, when the Atlantic can start to get rough thanks to nor’easters and the like. On Anthem for both sailings, and the only day we had any problematic “motion on the ocean” was the evening of the final sea day. Even on Anthem, that was a bit rough for me both times. Got mildly seasick if I stayed to long in Windjammer (aft) or Solarium (forward), but once back in midship I was fine. Seems that sailing west then north from Bermuda to NJ is the potentially rougher part of the trip; the first days from Bayonne to Bermuda where it’s east then south have always been smooth and very pleasant, even if there was some rain on the first day. It’ll be interesting to see what the Vision sailing that goes from Bermuda to Coco Cay is like for ocean conditions. Mid-August, so I’m hoping for generally milder ocean conditions all around.

Will be making my final payment for Vision sailing in about 12 days. So add me to the “greater than 0%” block. ?

My wife and I had our first visit to Bermuda in 2018 and fell in love with it immediately, to the point that we have taken (or at least tried to take) a cruise there every year since. This August will mark our third year year going there. @coneyraven and his wife are another couple who have been there multiple times and want to keep visiting it. And there are many more yet. Search for live blogs mentioning Bermuda and show her the photos. You should have little trouble changing her mind. ?

Nurse at our vaccination center told us to move the upper arm around every few minutes for a couple of hours. Said it helps distribute the vaccine through the muscle tissue and reduce potential arm soreness.

Can I nominate this for Post of the Day? ?

The infinite Verandah cabins have been panned pretty heavily. Apparently it’s just not the same as a true Verandah, even when the adjustable window is lowered as far as it’s able to go. I’m guessing it’s because even then the balcony section is still fully enclosed on the sides, so you don’t get the same wide views and ocean breeze. It sounds like it’s closer in design to the enclosed balconies I’ve seen photos of on some of Royal’s older ships. (Adventure? Radiance class?)

Reactions really are all over the map. My whole family got Pfizer, and all of us have had different reactions after the second shot. Mild chills and aches that lasted half a day for my mom and nothing more. For me it was fatigue, mild fever, and my whole body ached for an entire day. While my wife had bad chills that came and went along with mild body aches, and my younger daughter had a fever so bad she sweated through her pajamas and sheets that night, and then felt basically fine the next morning. My older daughter is the real outlier. She contracted Covid back in January, had a relatively mild case that cleared out after a week and a half. She just got her first shot of Pfizer this past Monday, and said it knocked her out for the whole next day with symptoms that were like having Covid all over again. Hopefully her second shot will produce little to no reaction.

Celebrity changed their model so that all sailings now include the classic beverage package, 2-device surf internet, and prepaid gratuities in the base booking price. So it’s not really possible any more to make an apples-to-apples comparison. It’s branded as “Always Included”. They have some upgrade tiers you can choose at time of booking to get the premium drink package, excursion credit, and general OBC. Or you can just upgrade the drink package once you’re past final payment for I think $12 per night. @monorailmedic wrote about it at length over on cruisehabit.com back when it was first announced. Not sure if anything has changed since then.

Welcome back! ? There’s a bit of a discussion going on the Celebrity forum about they’re starting to price themselves out of their market with the Apex class ships. Even their other ships are starting to get too pricey. @twangster found that the pricing for the upcoming Beyond is so high that he could get a Star Class sailing on Royal for what Beyond will cost in a premium (but non-suite) cabin. So I’d stick with Royal for now. The double points promotion is still active with Royal, too. So a 7-night sailing in March of next year would qualify to get you 14 points (28 if you go with a suite). Nice quick way to get up to Diamond when you’re already Emerald. How many port days / sea days on this 6-night sailing? If it’s mostly sea days, it would be a good opportunity to try out Quantum class and what it has to offer. The only thing I’ll note from my times on Anthem doing 5-night sailings is that the Two70 Lounge and Music Hall area seemed a bit under-utilized for live bands or other events compared to blogs I’ve read from longer sailings.