JLMoran

Also above my pay grade (I’m not even a moderator ?), but my personal feeling is that may be overkill. If we were dealing with multiple cruise lines here and a much larger fleet I agree that would be useful. But I think Royal’s fleet is small enough that it should be manageable. We can always reevaluate if we find that the number of roll calls keeps growing super-fast after this initial surge.

Sorry to hear you're having a rough time with shot #2. But take comfort that at least it's not this... ? https://m.tiktok.com/v/6955324892459928837.html?u_code=di5idi3bfja18b&preview_pb=0&language=en&_d=di5jf3k5gceh76&share_item_id=6955324892459928837&source=h5_m

Hey all! Clearly the Roll Call sub-forum is something that had a lot of pent-up demand! In the interests of making it easy to search for a particular roll call and add new ones into the forum with a consistent format, please be sure to follow these guidelines: First, always search for your sailing to see if a Roll Call was already created Easiest way to search is use the first word in the ship's name, the word AND, and the date enclosed in quotes (e.g., Vision AND "Aug 14, 2021"); this should properly limit the search and not give a lot of false matches on just the ship or date Don't worry about searching on the full ship name since every ship ends with "of the Seas" If you don't find it through search, try sorting the forum by title (see later posts in this thread for screen shots); it's possible your sailing is there but the entry was created with a different style subject line. If you don't find your sailing in the search results or after sorting, go ahead and create a new topic. Please try to use the following format so it's easily found through search: Ship Name a hyphen Departure date using the format month name (3-letter), followed by the day, then the year; this should help avoid confusion for members from countries where an all-digit date usually puts the day before the month. Examples: Aug 14, 2021 Jun 12, 2021 Jul 22, 2022 An optional itinerary name / description in parentheses This should let anyone easily find any sailing here, without having to guess what date format got used or which ship it's on. Examples: Adventure of the Seas - Jun 12, 2021 Vision of the Seas - Aug 14, 2021 (Bermuda and Perfect Day) Radiance of the Seas - Jul 22, 2022 (Alaska Southbound) Forum moderators / @Matt, if possible can you update the existing topics that include "ROLL CALL" or use a different date format so they're consistent? I figure better to ask this now while we still have a relatively limited number of sailings posted. ?

Hi @Jennie Underwood, welcome to the forums! There is no updated information yet about mask wearing on the Lido deck or other outdoor spaces. As reported by @Matt this article, NCL just made an update that removes the requirement for passengers to book ship-hosted excursions on their fully-vaccinated sailings. As NCL is part of the same Healthy Sail Panel as Royal, I think we can expect to see similar changes and evolutions in the protocols from Royal over the coming months. One of those may (I personally hope will) include a change in overall mask policy as the CDC continues to update its guidance on mask wearing. That said, the overall policies on board might also be subject to requirements from the governments of the ports they're visiting. If those ports are all OK with fully-vaccinated sailings being mask-free in public outdoor spaces, then seeing that change is a lot more likely. But if any choose to be more cautious, at least in the beginning, then there could still be some delay around that particular change. Just as an example, the last I saw of Bermuda's policy said that even vaccinated travelers have to wear a mask in all public spaces, even outdoors; I haven't yet seen that updated on their tourism site, no idea if they will modify that soon or decide to remain ultra-cautious until enough of their own population is also vaccinated.

Thanks for the clarification, @MaryS! Hopefully Royal will provide concrete documentation on protocols, or at least a link, when those sailings get within 15-30 days of departure.

It’s not just Adventure sailings. I have the sale for my Vision sailing that’s coming up. Some genuinely good / reasonable prices that I’m seeing after going on there just yesterday. Pricing on snorkel gear rental and floating beach mats at Coco Cay dropped a nice amount ($23 and $11, vs $35 and $17 pre-sale). Purchased those for my wife, who had requested them even before our booking was complete. ? While I was in there, I also bought: 2-device surf & stream @ $28.49 per night DBP for me @ $58 per night — A bit higher than I’d like, $52-$55 would be ideal; but I did the math and with 4 sea days plus Coco Cay included, it shouldn’t be hard to at least come close to break-even Refreshment package for my wife @ $23 per night — Again a bit higher than the $18 lowest price I’ve ever seen in prior cruises, but she drinks enough water, soda, and coffees in a typical sea day that I think it still works out While the main list shows “you purchased this” without a visible price for the DBP after purchase, I found I can still click on the package and see the current price in the details. And the refreshment package doesn’t show that “already purchased” message since that’s in my wife’s name, so if I see a drop there I can wager that DBP also dropped. Will keep my fingers crossed for an intern special! ? EDIT — Me being me, I canceled the DBP purchase for now. Too much on my card at once, and I remembered I have OBC I can claim from my Celebrity Select VISA that can cover at least half the cost of the package; but not until next month. Fingers crossed for a comparable or better rate come Memorial Day / July 4 weekend.

Ugh. Attention to detail is key for any contractor. Not a ringing endorsement, and surprising after all the other work that seemed to come out so well up to that point. I hope this doesn’t escalate into anything major, and that this particular subcontractor steps up his game for the rest of the project.

@Scoular, after you get to the main page, you’ll have a big region on the left for searching flights with a booking number. But there’s a tab at the top of that block you can click to just get sample quotes. Click on that, then enter the cruise line, ship, month/year, and departure date. That’ll let you find the available options without being able to actually book.

No driving to the port for Adventure (sails out of Nassau) or Vision (out of Bermuda). Well, maybe if you’re James Bond and have the car sub. ? EDIT — Misunderstood the context of the question, sorry about that. I can tell you that I love to drive to the port, since Cape Liberty is so close by. I’ve done two other Bermuda sailings on Anthem out of there. But the subsidized flights for Vision made the cost only slightly higher than if I parked at Cape Liberty’s parking garage. And I’m getting a day in Coco Cay along with the Bermuda overnight, so this was a very enticing cruise for me.

Based on how slowly / poorly the sailings on Adventure and Vision are selling, I think that’s a fairly sold, “Nuh uh”. Even at 50% capacity cap, there is still a ton of inventory available.

But to do that without actually giving better itineraries or onboard perks / amenities is stupid. Making drinks, WiFi, and gratuities included offsets that to a tiny degree, since as you noted many times in other threads that was basically already a perk once you hit Elite or Zenith, or stayed in any suite. I imagine there are a lot of Select, Elite, and Zenith members who are fuming over these changes and getting ready to change lines. Princess and HAL will be more than happy to welcome them.

This is by far the biggest question mark with Royal’s Vision sailings, where every passenger and crew member (excluding kids under 16, if any on board) will be vaccinated. Bermuda’s own vaccinated traveler protocols (which are specific to land vacationers) say that after quarantining for 4 days and a second negative PCR test, a vaccinated visitor can travel freely and only has to follow current protocols for mask wearing in public spaces. With Vision passengers being on the ship and effectively quarantined until day 7, one would hope that all passengers qualify to roam freely during the overnight port day. But that hasn’t been stated yet by either Bermuda or Royal. And once we get past these Vision sailings and into “normal” sailings on other ships that may have a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers, will protocols revert to requiring ship-hosted excursions? To avoid a total thread hijack, I’ll say that in my opinion the best and most easily accessed beaches are Horseshoe Bay beach and Tobacco Bay beach. There are several others, but they usually require a lengthy ride on the bus line to get to them. Horseshoe Bay is easily reached via the shuttle vans constantly running at the port; but it is super-popular and you’re best off getting first thing in the morning, preferably on the second day if you have an overnight stay. Getting to Tobacco Bay requires taking the ferry from the port to St. George’s, then walking about a mile out of town. Walk is a little strenuous in a couple of places, but you pass some nice sights and landmarks along the way. It’s much smaller than Horseshoe Bay but also much less well known, so it’s never crowded. I can’t offer any advice on ship excursions as we’ve never done them. Always had the ability to go our own way and took full advantage.

Hmm, you may well be right about that. In which case I do apologize for the error. But I still don’t trust USA Today as a news source for the reason mentioned by @twangster. Good to see the WSJ is also reporting it without the “as reported in USA Today” part.

I got this ultra-lightweight and foldable backpack, based on recommendations from folks here. Not waterproof, but other than that it’s great for carrying all of our stuff and has held up like a champ. Outlander Packable Handy Lightweight Travel Hiking Backpack Daypack-Dark Blue-L https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TEIVNXM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_fbWEtiVJFelme

Considering that a journalist there just resigned and publicly declared on Twitter that her reason to quit was because she was forced to write a probably false story, I wouldn’t treat USA Today as any more valid or reliable than the National Enquirer, or Daily Mail in the UK. It’s become a tabloid rag.

Wow. I had observed the drastic upward price trend on Celebrity sailings over the last year and a half, but that is just bananas. They’re pricing themselves right out of the market. They’re getting into (if not surpassing) HAL pricing, without offering anything close to HAL amenities or itineraries.

So this was interesting. Royal’s site says the itinerary is 2 sea days after leaving Bermuda, then a day in Coco Cay, followed by two more sea days before the overnight in Bermuda at the end. But looking at the itinerary on my booking confirmation, that shows day three (second sea day) includes a technical stop in Freeport. We will be docked there from 5 PM until 2 AM. Then we go to Coco Key, arriving at 8 AM and departing at 5 PM. I’m guessing that instead of fueling and resupplying in Bermuda during turnover, they are doing that during this technical stop. Most likely because it’s a lot cheaper vs having everything imported to Bermuda with its high VAT and other import tariffs. But it’s going to be weird being docked right before the early dinner shift and just having to stare out at an island for half the night, instead of having a true full sea day.

I’m seeing Kelly Hoppen’s name a lot in that video. When the M and S class ships were revolutionized, there was a ton of negative feedback over on “the other place” about her designs and the new furniture / knick-knacks / other elements. All to the effect of, “Has this woman ever actually sailed on a cruise ship before??” The consensus being that her designs were far too neutral in color scheme in an environment that desperately needs some lively colors, and the materials used would never hold up well in a humid salt air environment. Even crew said they had to keep replacing cushions all the time because they got ruined after their first exposure to salt water mist. Let’s hope Ms. Hoppen has learned some lessons as they build her designs for Beyond.

The problem with that being the variants that have become dominant here and in other countries. There is growing scientific evidence, based on the ongoing tracing of study participants, that people who got infected with OG Covid have very limited protection from the variants, whereas at least the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are showing strong protection from UK, South Africa, and New York variants; possibly the others from Brazil and now India, but not enough evidence to say for sure. Not clear yet if the J&J and/or AZ vaccines also confer this broader immune protection.

Which could lead to an interesting dynamic. Royal has already canceled through June 30. They’ll probably cancel July unless the CDC caves before mid-May. August sailings will be canceled if the CDC digs in its heels until mid-June or even July 4 (Biden’s originally stated goal date with enough vaccinations to allow gatherings to resume, which it seems we’ve semi-hit). With each cancellation round, Royal could see a small flood of people decide to immediately transfer to a close-in sailing on Adventure (more likely from folks in the south / Florida imo) or Vision (less-likely even from folks in the northeast, but still possible). The enthusiasts like us got the advantage of early booking and cabin selection, maybe even some initial price drops; while those who held to hope might then be subject to surge pricing and more limited inventory. Or those folks will just rebook for later in the year, or even 2022, and Royal will have some very lightly filled ships going out this summer.

I was really surprised by this. When I was looking at cabins for Aug 14 on Vision, I was surprised by how many were still available. I’m wondering how much of that was previously due to the high airfares relative to the cruise price, prior to the announcement of subsidized airfares just a few days ago. I know that for me it was a huge deciding factor, as the cheapest flight to Bermuda for 2 would have been 2/3 the cost of the cruise. Are most people still unaware of the subsidized flight pricing with basically unchanged cruise fares? Is the vaccine requirement proving to be a blocker for more people than Royal expected? (either because of unavailability before the last week or so, or because there are so many who flat-out refuse to get it) My TA said she’s just as surprised by the lack of demand, and expects the cruise fares to start dropping soon on top of the flight subsidies. Otherwise forget about 50% capacity; she said Royal will be lucky if they see 30% or even 25% on any given sailing.

Vision of the Seas to Bermuda and Coco Cay — August 14, 2021 I did not think I’d be typing this, but those subsidized flights changed the total trip cost from bank-breaking to affordable again.

This gets an automatic laugh response for being the first actual CORN-y joke in a long time!

With the ships sailing at 50% capacity, I’d be shocked if they enforced mask wearing on the pool deck now, or any other outdoor space. They’ve shown enough chutzpah now with the CDC that I’m sure they’re going to take that announcement and run with it. There’s more than enough space for proper distancing in those areas with such lowered capacity. Only reason I could think of for why they wouldn’t is if the governments of the embarkation / destination ports (Nassau, Bermuda, etc) mandated it as a condition of being allowed to dock there and have passengers come in.

How do you all suppose this will impact the staffing efforts for the June sailings on Adventure and Vision? Would that crew likely have already been hired and assembled to ensure enough time for vaccinations and training? Or could this cause those earliest sailings to now be at risk of cancellation?