WhiteSoxFan

Pretty much expected and unsurprising.  The only difference is X will, and has too, comply with the 95% vaxxed requirement (in the US) because they are all conditional sailings.  I am sailing on the Summit in Sept and the Apex in January so we'll see how much things change by then.

25 minutes ago, ChrisK2793 said:

CELEBRITY …… just announced the same protocols as RCL ……. Sounds like they may no longer be vaccinated only ……

https://www.cruisecritic.com/ab/agents/variation-a/news/6211/?source=99360&fbclid=IwAR3O63dWfoJXNU-U_kr8ba0vB83VFpvZwJViYJVjQDco1hpx0ARl_m8kihU

Except they plan on, and must, adhere to the 95% vaccinated guideline.  Not sure how they are going to handle that yet if greater than 5% of the pax are unvaxxed or choose not to provide proof.

I will be watching as I am sailing X in early September.

And by December the landscape will have changed again.  I expect changes every month or two as more ships sail and we see the results.

8 minutes ago, LovetoCruise87 said:

I agree. This entire situation is very fluid at the moment. What is said today may be completely different than what is said tomorrow. 

There 's no point to getting upset right now unless you happen to be booked on one of these first cruises.  Things are going to change.

I'm happy my next two cruises are on Celebrity.

Personally I think we just need to take a deep breath and let thing play out a bit.  Royal is trying its best to comply with the regulations and laws as they currently exist.  We've all seen how fast things are changing in the last few months.  

That said I do think that by putting these rules in place they may be trying to incentivize people that may be on the fence about getting vaxxed.

I

31 minutes ago, ConstantCruiser said:

It seems like Royal doesn't want to say anything until the protocols are fully defined and cast in stone.  The problem is they will never be cast in stone, they will continually change.  It's time for Royal to tell all guests what to expect and qualify it with "this may change".  

I believe "this might change" is the mantra of everything at this point.

On our last cruise my daughter left something rather important in the hotel room.  She was able to get off, go back and get it and get back on.  

Also when we sailed out of San Juan, with a late departure time, you were able to get off and explore.  In fact we had many B2Bers that got off between sailings.

Of course who knows in these COVIS times.

Two, both on X.  The Apex in January that we did an L & S on and we just booked a 4 nighter on Summit over labor day to replace the Brilliance one we just cancelled. 

11 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

However, IF Edge is able to pull off the 95% threshold, the CDC published protocol allows for no masks for everyone. Correct, or am I mistaken?

I do not think that the CDC has protocols for that.  What they do say is that if you sale with 95% vaxxed then you do not have to do test sailings.

I can attest to the deck 7 and deck 10 corner afts on the Voyager and Freedom class ships as I have stayed in both.  Deck 7 is a standard cabin with a HUGE balcony. Deck 10 has the aforementioned and  shown huge room with the pole in it.  The balcony isn't overly large but you are above and clear of the rear superstructure.

13 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

To reply to the original question. I am not sure it is safe to assume that there will be a need to distinguish between vaccinated and unvaccinated; the protocols on the early sailings out of Florida could be masks for all, effectively treating everyone as unvaccinated.  

We may get an indication what protocols RC will use when the Edge sails this weekend.  It will be interesting to see how Celebrity attempts to weave its way around the 95% vaccine requirement and the Florida law.

I fully expect to see fairly quick evolution of protocols as more sailings occur.  Cruising in three months may be very different than it is now.

@jeffb well said.   Here in IL we have over 50% of adults full vaccinated and just under 70% with their first shot and the case numbers are showing it.  They haven't been this low since the start of the pandemic.

That 80% aligns pretty well with the Celebrity demographic.  

1 hour ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Quantum has been sailing successfully for 7 months without vaccination requirement. 

To be fair, Quatum sailings are available to residents only in a country that had an aggressive lockdown and a total of confirmed cases that is just over 1% of the total population.

Reports say there is an exception for entities under the jurisdiction of another federal agency

41 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

So if I am reading the information from Michael correctly, they are offering a choice now when it comes to the Vaccine requirement?  A simple Yes or No will do!

Is there anything about this in which a simple yes works.  My answer is yes, but unvaccinated will be subject to testing and additional protocols TBD.

10 minutes ago, coneyraven said:

I'm rather surprised at some of the cancellations though .... for example, the port I'm most familiar with .... Baltimore, the terminal IS open, and yet, cancelled through August.  Through July I could grasp, but that far down the road?  Now, if the port was still closed, I get it, but this one has me baffled.

I think crewing up may be a big factor.  COVID sill raging around the globe makes it more difficult to get contracts signed and people onboard and vaccinated.  Plus I have no idea what kind of agreements and possible capacity limits may be in place with ports of call.

28 minutes ago, Matt said:

Totally agree. It never ceases to amaze me how little research people put into a vacation that costs them thousands, but they will shop around and research a new appliance, which costs a fraction of that.

Everytime someone tells me they are going on an RC cruise and I ask what ship the response is "Something of the Seas".

54 minutes ago, Neesa said:

It's really more than aggravating. My June 19, 2021  Brilliance sailing out of Tampa was cancelled in March, still have yet to receive my cash refund yet, @Sharla processed the request same day, its only 750.00 but a very excessive wait for my monies. 

 

One reason why I cancelled my Brilliance labor day cruise before final payment.  I know there is no way is is going to happen.

The slow re-start is why I just cancelled my Brilliance sailing over labor day.  My next cruise is in January on the Celebrity Apex which starts sailing in Greece in less than 2 weeks.  So at least I know that ship is crewed and sailing.

Not only are there the ever evolving rules and guidelines that the cruise lines are attempting to navigate, but the logistics of restarting is another hurdle.  Getting contracts signed, transporting crew, quarantining them & getting them all vaccinated is going to take time.  Managing that for 24 ships is going slow the quick restart that people are hoping for.

I have my backup vacation already planned if my early September Brilliance sailing doesn't go.  I'm pretty confident that I'll be needing it.

With the cruise lines cancelled through April, at this point it seems like July might be a best case, not worst case, scenario.  Currently the CDC seems to have little interest in helping out the cruise lines and there seems to be little movement by the cruise lines to attempt to satisfy the current CDC requirements.  It seems like the cruise lines have decided to run out the clock and hope that things can return to "normal" now that the vaccinations are picking up some steam.

I'm not sure how it is elsewhere but in Illinois they have stated that at the current vaccination rate it will take 10 month to vaccinate all those over the age of 18.  Certainly the rate of vaccinations should increase but how much remains to be seen.  Also keep in mind that it will take 5-6 weeks to become fully protected once you have your first vaccination.  All I know is that everyday that passes makes it feel less likely that I will be on my September cruise,

All our 13 cruises have been on Royal and the only one I won't sail again is the Majesty and only because its not in the fleet anymore.  

A big win pricing wise since there seems to be plenty of pent up demand driving up pricing.

I was supposed to be currently sailing on the Celebrity Edge instead I'm isolating with COVID-19.  Back in September we decided that things weren't looking good so I contacted my TA and she very easily shifted our res to 2022.  Current pricing is 60% higher than the price I got.

We did a L & S on Celebrity back in September as it was apparent to me that there was almost no chance that the whole pandemic situation would be substantially different in January of 2021.  MEI had it done in s flash.  We went from the Edge to the Apex.  I'm glad we did it because I just did a price check on the new date and it is almost 75% higher than the rate we have.

We've had a similar situation where we, as Diamond members, have access to the complimentary drinks every evening.  As my wife is not a big drinker we've never gotten the drink package and honestly have never come close to spending ala carte what would would have spent on the package.  However, when the cost of the drink package on our recently booked Brilliance cruise next September dropped to $43 I felt it was definitely worth a go.  Between the alcohol, beer, soda and specialty coffees I think we will be able to take good advantage of it and I've been really wanting to try it out to see how we would enjoy it.