Odyssey of the Seas leaving Israel and heading to Florida! It will offload crew to Anthem of the Seas...

[Cruising With JT]

Just heard that Odyssey of the Seas is leaving Israel and heading to Florida. They will offload crew to Anthem of the Seas. More to come I am sure as the day progresses...stay tuned.

[Phoenix]

Can it be that RCG is rethinking sailing Odyssey of the Seas from Florida due to the conflict to avoid further "waves" in cancellations? Sorry to hear what's going on over their but this just might be a blessing for U.S. if the ports opens up. There will be a "running of the bulls" to start booking!!!

[barjpoe]

DH was wondering about that.

[smokeybandit]

Missile attacks or Ron DeSantis. Tough choice!

[smokeybandit]

Is it really going to Cypress or just milling around the Med awaiting things to calm down in Israel? It's recent course is a bunch of loops.

[PG Cruiser]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!    I, yes I, have already declared the November 15th sailing (which I'm on) to be the US Inaugural Sailing!!!

 

[Cruising With JT]

8 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!    I, yes I, have already declared the November 15th sailing (which I'm on) to be the US Inaugural Sailing!!!

 

Me too! I just saw this breaking news on YouTube from a trustworthy source so thought I'd share. We'll see what happens next.

[PG Cruiser]

10 minutes ago, johnt83 said:

Me too! I just saw this breaking news on YouTube from a trustworthy source so thought I'd share. We'll see what happens next.

I have to put my TA, @StephanieH on speed dial!  

[Cruising With JT]

It's news and a rumor, and I am sure more will come as the day progresses. I am not surprised given all that's going on there.... I was a bit surprised that Royal even put a ship out of Israel given the history of violence in and around that country... unfortunate what's going on there now... 

[nhilding10]

We know someone working on the Odyssey and they had posted that they were coming to the US. I wonder if they're making stops along the way?

[Cruising With JT]

A crew member just confirmed the captain announced that there has been a change of plans... so it sounds like it is true. I am sure we will hear official confirmation in the coming hours/days/weeks...

Edit: (removing image to protect crew member)

 

[Traveler]

The plan was to be in Haifa for only two days before starting to cruise at 2-June , I guess there is a vaccine issue 

[twangster]

Will Royal ever catch a break?  

[twangster]

Maybe they should pick up some Anthem crew and bring them to Florida to get vaccinated.  Then they can fly crew to the UK to rejoin Anthem.

[Cruise Pirate]

Can we then go back to the 9 night we already had for the Nov 11th aka 15th cruise?

[AshleyDillo]

Do they have enough time to sail to FL and back to Haifa before the start date of cruising there?  Maybe there will be a switcheroo of unvaccinated crew members with vaccinated ones from other ships and they'll send Odyssey back to Haifa.  

[twangster]

11 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Do they have enough time to sail to FL and back to Haifa before the start date of cruising there?  Maybe there will be a switcheroo of unvaccinated crew members with vaccinated ones from other ships and they'll send Odyssey back to Haifa.  

If they are getting a two shot vaccine in Florida that would make an early June start in Haifa a challenge.  Min. 3 weeks between doses.  

[Mike.s]

7 minutes ago, twangster said:

If they are getting a two shot vaccine in Florida that would make an early June start in Haifa a challenge.  Min. 3 weeks between doses.  

Could they not send back some already vaccinated crew and redeploy the original Odyssey crew?

[twangster]

11 minutes ago, Mike.s said:

Could they not send back some already vaccinated crew and redeploy the original Odyssey crew?

So many questions.

Is the US okay vaccinating crew who are then sent somewhere else in the world?  Kind of seems like these ports are vaccinating crew so ships can sail in the US from the ports that are offering the vaccination service.

[wordell1]

11 minutes ago, twangster said:

If they are getting a two shot vaccine in Florida that would make an early June start in Haifa a challenge.  Min. 3 weeks between doses.  

JJ is readily available and requires no 2nd shot.

[twangster]

17 minutes ago, wordell1 said:

JJ is readily available and requires no 2nd shot.

True but that isn't what has typically been used, so far.  

But more importantly why would the Port of Miami put all the effort into their vaccinate crew program just so the crew can be shipped off somewhere else?

PoM wants ships sailing from PoM.  That's why they offered vaccines to crew.  It wasn't supposed to be some global crew vaccination effort so that a cruise ship can sail from Europe.  

[Cruise Pirate]

Why would they go out of Miami? Port somewhere other then the US until all the crap from the CDC is over. Bermuda, Nassau or Barbados?

[twangster]

8 minutes ago, Justwanttocruise said:

Why would they go out of Miami? Port somewhere other then the US until all the crap from the CDC is over. Bermuda, Nassau or Barbados?

Might just happen that way, but they need vaccines first and that means coming to Florida.

[Cruise Pirate]

8 minutes ago, twangster said:

Might just happen that way, but they need vaccines first and that means coming to Florida.

so did they only get the first shot in Cypris? or no shots at all? ... damn put the shots on the ship and then send the ship over and give the 2nd shot enroute?

[Cruising With JT]

1 hour ago, Justwanttocruise said:

Can we then go back to the 9 night we already had for the Nov 11th aka 15th cruise?

Nooo! Please keep it to the 5-nights  That's what I booked on... who knows what they are going to do from here... heck the Odyssey may actually start sailing from Florida before November!

[Cruise Pirate]

10 minutes ago, johnt83 said:

Nooo! Please keep it to the 5-nights  That's what I booked on... who knows what they are going to do from here... heck the Odyssey may actually start sailing from Florida before November!

Wait we are on the Inaugural US sailing .. what the, how the, FFS just get me on a ship! 

[PG Cruiser]

1 hour ago, wordell1 said:

JJ is readily available and requires no 2nd shot.

JJ has been having PR nightmares lately.  First with the clots and other adverse reactions and now the Yankee guys getting COVID after getting the J&J vaccine.

This scares me because I got the J&J myself.

 

[cruisellama]

Uh oh - my wife predicted that 2 weeks ago.

[Phoenix]

16 minutes ago, johnt83 said:

Nooo! Please keep it to the 5-nights  That's what I booked on... who knows what they are going to do from here... heck the Odyssey may actually start sailing from Florida before November!

From your lips to God's ears!! 

[Jill]

Well at least we have something to speculate about while we wait for Judge Merryday

[smokeybandit]

Very conflicting reports out there on this, ranging from Cypress being cheaper to dock at when not doing training to all Haifa cruises being pulled from CruisePower

[wordell1]

25 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

JJ has been having PR nightmares lately.  First with the clots and other adverse reactions and now the Yankee guys getting COVID after getting the J&J vaccine.

This scares me because I got the J&J myself.

 

It has a 70 percent effectiveness vs 94 for the other 2. It is still highly effective at preventing serious symptoms.

If you assume that all of the Yankees were given the JJ vaccine and were directly exposed, it's nor shocking that about 30 percent of the team got it. None of them are even showing symptoms and the only reason they even know if because of regular testing.  This is a worst case scenario but actually shows that the vaccine is working.

[Traveler]

38 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Very conflicting reports out there on this, ranging from Cypress being cheaper to dock at when not doing training to all Haifa cruises being pulled from CruisePower

It was never planned to dock in Haifa beside two dates  2 days in April and two days in May both happened 

[twangster]

38 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Very conflicting reports out there on this, ranging from Cypress being cheaper to dock at when not doing training to all Haifa cruises being pulled from CruisePower

Cruises are still on the Israeli website for Royal.  

CruisingPower always had some blocks since they can only be booked in Israel.  When they were first released it was reported they weren't fully loaded in CruisingPower.  

[FlaBoy]

Great news!

[Matt]

Nothing has been confirmed yet. I'll post something if/when it does, but I want to caution everyone that this is still firmly a rumor at the moment.

[smokeybandit]

A post from another well known site claims Haifa port authority reps said nothing has changed and the routing of Odyssey is planned because she has been overnight docking in Cypress until cruises commence and is just coming to Haifa occasionally  for crewing and vaccination purposes

[TXcruzer]

1 hour ago, wordell1 said:

It has a 70 percent effectiveness vs 94 for the other 2. It is still highly effective at preventing serious symptoms.

If you assume that all of the Yankees were given the JJ vaccine and were directly exposed, it's nor shocking that about 30 percent of the team got it. None of them are even showing symptoms and the only reason they even know if because of regular testing.  This is a worst case scenario but actually shows that the vaccine is working.

Actual real world efficacy fluctuates regularlly as more doses are given, and longer followup is garnered. 

 

Right now,  all 3 vaccines being given in the US are hovering in the 83-85 percent range 

[SassynFL]

7 hours ago, Traveler said:

The plan was to be in Haifa for only two days before starting to cruise at 2-June , I guess there is a vaccine issue 

When they announced that Odyssey was cruising out of Israel, 90% of the Israeli population was vaccinated. Perhaps they don't want to take a chance that the ship will be blown up?

[SpeedNoodles]

40 minutes ago, SassynFL said:

When they announced that Odyssey was cruising out of Israel, 90% of the Israeli population was vaccinated. Perhaps they don't want to take a chance that the ship will be blown up?

I believe it's still the crew that needs to be vaccinated.