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RCL to Resume Cruising 9/16


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03:11 PM EDT, 07/06/2020 (MT Newswires) -- Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) said Monday it plans to resume sailing operations on Sept. 16.

However, some of its ships and sailings will have an extended suspension. Canada and Bermuda sailings will be suspended through Oct. 31, and Voyager of the Seas sailings through Sept. 30. Odyssey of the Seas sailings from Nov. 5 through April 17, 2021, will also be canceled.

Separately, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) collaborated in developing improved cruise health and safety standards by creating a group of experts called the Healthy Sail Panel in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The panel will release its initial recommendations by August-end after starting work almost a month ago.

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So with RC and NCL collaborating (that’s new news to me) I guess that means they don’t get along with Big Brother Carnival. I would have expected an united front with all 3. Hmmm

 

So health protocols due by end of August. Seems a little close to September 16. 
 

I’ll believe it when I see it. I’ve got Symphony October 17. I’m giving it a 10-15% chance of sailing. I think pigs will fly first but I’ll keep that sliver of hope. 

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3 minutes ago, Jill said:

So with RC and NCL collaborating (that’s new news to me) I guess that means they don’t get along with Big Brother Carnival. I would have expected an united front with all 3. Hmmm

 

So health protocols due by end of August. Seems a little close to September 16. 
 

I’ll believe it when I see it. I’ve got Symphony October 17. I’m giving it a 10-15% chance of sailing. I think pigs will fly first but I’ll keep that sliver of hope. 

They went back and said they will have the plan by August 15.. So that gives just about 30 days.. I personally think they will end up starting Nov 1 just in time for holiday season but I do hope your cruise goes in October.. 

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How ever close that they may be to a plan, I bet that they will hold off on releasing it until they see how the theme park re-openings go. Any serious epidemiologist on the joint panel will be watching what happens in Florida closely in the next few weeks.

I’m sure that they will be keeping a close eye on this for other reasons too: to see what the guest response will be; and, to see if any future infection hotspots has a finger pointed to what the media would be glad to blame on “the corporate greed of having re-opened too soon”.

The media would love to get attention from blasting Disney... and would twitch with pleasure to do the same with cruise lines.

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1 hour ago, Rene Desmarais said:

Question:    Where will RCL, Carnival & Norw..  port their ships to pickup their passengers to sail into the Caribbeans? 

It certainly will not be Florida and/or Texas  in the next 4 to 5 months.

 

 

If they do sail they will of course leave from Florida and Texas... Where else do you think huge Oasis Class ships could leave from.. If they don't feel its safe they just won't sail.. 

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On ‎7‎/‎6‎/‎2020 at 3:53 PM, Jill said:

So with RC and NCL collaborating (that’s new news to me) I guess that means they don’t get along with Big Brother Carnival. I would have expected an united front with all 3. Hmmm

 

So health protocols due by end of August. Seems a little close to September 16. 
 

I’ll believe it when I see it. I’ve got Symphony October 17. I’m giving it a 10-15% chance of sailing. I think pigs will fly first but I’ll keep that sliver of hope. 

I'm on that same sailing and the idea of moving it again just makes me ill. Since I used FCC I won't be able to do anything else. Not sure when I would try to do it for. The holiday season is out for us as we do a lot of things with family on land. Right now I'm just gonna keep that staring at the sliver of hope. "Some people" may want to make sure cruising happens by Nov. due to voting. :4_joy::4_joy:

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Yep, we've got a B2B on Symphony that starts 9/19...already preparing for the worst, but then again, SOMEBODY has to get lucky SOMETIME! ?

38 minutes ago, Mrs. Thomas said:

I'm on that same sailing and the idea of moving it again just makes me ill. Since I used FCC I won't be able to do anything else. Not sure when I would try to do it for. The holiday season is out for us as we do a lot of things with family on land. Right now I'm just gonna keep that staring at the sliver of hope. "Some people" may want to make sure cruising happens by Nov. due to voting. :4_joy::4_joy:

 

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4 hours ago, Rene Desmarais said:

Thanks,  wasn't aware Oasis class ships can only port out of Miami and Texas..

Actually Oasis class ships currently can only leave from Florida and NJ.. There are no other ports that can hold them yet.. Texas will be coming soon.. Also they can leave from Europe too but I was only counting places in USA

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11 hours ago, AGSLC5 said:

Actually Oasis class ships currently can only leave from Florida and NJ.. There are no other ports that can hold them yet.. Texas will be coming soon.. Also they can leave from Europe too but I was only counting places in USA

Whoops, forgot about Europe?

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@crisgold52 I was mostly meaning that I can't get a refund if they cancel again, instead of FCC. I almost wish I would have opted for the money and just did something else with it. However, I'm trying to have something to look forward to. This all HAS to end EVENTUALLY! We can all sit and be pessimistic about how things will go and it is easy to. But, there is that small ray of hope that since there are previous CDC and government officials on the panel that it will help/speed up the time frame of getting back into the water. They know the ropes of the CDC and can keep that in mind while working on the new policies. If we can't get going by Sept. 16, then maybe Oct. 1st. We cannot stop looking towards the brighter spots of hope.

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On 7/6/2020 at 8:06 PM, danv3 said:

JMO, but I think November 1 would be pretty optimistic.  September 16?  No chance.  

Arrgh, my next cruise is on Nov 1st.  All this uncertainty is driving me crazy!

At this point, I am kind of just waiting for the cruise start date to be pushed out again...

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34 minutes ago, YOLO said:

Arrgh, my next cruise is on Nov 1st.  All this uncertainty is driving me crazy!

At this point, I am kind of just waiting for the cruise start date to be pushed out again...

Same. I'm hesitant to rebook my extras for my Oct. sailing. I may just sit on the money until closer to sailing. It may cost more if we do get to go, but then I won't have to worry about waiting on refunds again.

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I think Nov 1st seems like a more realistic restart, nothing scientific just thoughts. As we heard the panel has been meeting for a few weeks, and it will hand in the first draft report by late Aug, then it has to be gone through, then presented to the CDC. That gives them a very short time to get it all approved, then collect all of their staff and be ready to sail Sept 16. I think it is more realistic that the plan is hopefully approved by Oct 1st and restart Nov 1st.  I wish I could be more optimistic, I have no problem wailing til we get the ok from RCCI, just wish it would be sooner than later.

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Last night I heard one manufacturer who hopes to have a vaccine ready for distribution early in 2021.  That's just one or many working towards a vaccine.  Hopefully someone else can get one out in 2020 otherwise I don't see cruising occuring in the US in 2020.  Even if a vaccine starts to become available in November the CDC will need to see a firm trend of declining numbers before they'll give a green light to cruising and that could take a few months after a vaccine is ready. 

The massive case count and ICU utilization we see today are what happens when you open up too much.  Like bars and restaurants, cruising falls into that "too much" category.  The virus isn't becoming less contagious and we haven't managed to kill off all of our most vulnerable or at risk yet despite America's efforts to so absent of the virus just disappearing out of the blue I don't see bars, restaurants or cruising coming back soon.  

I booked a cruise for December hoping I'm wrong but it's refundable so I'm good either way.  

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42 minutes ago, Mike.s said:

Mrs Thomas, Not sure I agree with your London Crime rate comments??

https://metro.co.uk/2019/06/16/murder-graph-shows-london-killings-compare-us-cities-9971033/

A lot of Americans are constantly fed information about how dangerous big cities are.  I live in one and I'll take my chances walking my dog around the block ahead of going on a cruise right now and possibly getting Covid

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The situation is very volatile at the moment and hoping I’m wrong, it could remain this way for quite a while.  The problem with cruising is that everyone on the sailing will be affected by any covid related incident.  Someone testing positive, foreign ports closing, US restrictions tightening, etc can all turn what would have been a nice vacation into a nightmare.  Some have compared cruise ships to theme parks, but nobody stays inside a theme park for 4 to 5 days or more. Plus, people can go home if a covid case presents itself.  But we’ve all seen what happened on cruise ships with covid cases when this was just starting.

Even if Royal resumes operations in September, there are many ports that can’t operate at that time.  I have Florida ports in mind.

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2 hours ago, Mrs. Thomas said:

Thank you for posting this! The article says that it may be safer than a vacation in London. With their crime rate, I would have to agree.

You are correct with what you say, the article does state that a cruise may in fact be safer than going on a vacation to a city such as London....HOWEVER it says in a Covid environment at no point does it mention crime rate. 

My question would be have you ever been to London or are you just going by reports in newspapers. 

London is no different to any other major city in the world! It has its good and bad areas, good and bad citizens, US cities will have far worse crime rates, shootings, killings and thats just the police! 

 

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11 minutes ago, TempoGL said:

 I'll take my chances

That’s the word right there, “chances”.

Some people have taken chances and nothing happened.  But unfortunately for some, they got the covid.  In my circle, we’ve got one who suffered a stroke while being treated for COVID in the ICU,  one on rehab for impaired brain function, one who had to go on dialysis, and sadly, one who died.

That makes it really dangerous for us.

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@Mrs. Thomas @TempoGL

1 minute ago, PG Cruiser said:

That’s the word right there, “chances”.

Some people have taken chances and nothing happened.  But unfortunately for some, they got the covid.  In my circle, we’ve got one who suffered a stroke while being treated for COVID in the ICU,  one on rehab for impaired brain function, one who had to go on dialysis, and sadly, one who died.

That makes it really dangerous for us.

Exactly.  That's why I will walk my dog and go outside in my "dangerous large American city" but I will not be going on a cruise ship any time soon

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I live in Chicago and have been to London, crime is quite arbitrary. You could easily end up on a ship with someone who goes crazy and stabs people when they see a man in a speedo. Just like you can walk down any "crime ridden" neighborhood and see children playing. Cruising can be safe with honest protocols. I have no reason to believe the ban will be extended, if the CDC intended to do so they would have already done it.

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13 minutes ago, TempoGL said:

@Mrs. Thomas @TempoGL

Exactly.  That's why I will walk my dog and go outside in my "dangerous large American city" but I will not be going on a cruise ship any time soon

I got what you meant.  I just wanted to latch onto the phrase “taking chances”.  Some people like taking a lot of chances, as in Russian roulette style chances.  I’ve even heard of college kids holding parties and betting on who gets covid first.

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