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Freedom of the Seas first Test Cruise in July


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24 minutes ago, Jill said:

Anyone think Royal might sail their most popular “family” ships as the vax/unvax ones and sail other ships as fully vax’d? 
 

That seems like a logical step. It gives an option for everyone 

Based on Fain's comments on Monday, it doesnt sound like that is the plan.

Certainly anything can change.

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Based on what I've heard and seen from the CDC, ships have to declare themselves to be 95% of passengers vaccinated on every sailing, which would allow them to skip the test sailings. From what Richard Fain said above, they're not even going to try to go that route, which would then mean, every ship that wants to sail from a US Port, would have to do at least 1 test/simulated sailing. Maybe more, if they need to finish testing protocols, or something goes wrong and the CDC scraps the attempt (it's the CDC, who knows what they'll do).

So that also follows with his previous comments about a slow restart.

Now what I am curious to hear, is ok, they pass the test sailings.. what are the onboard protocols then? Will they apply to everyone, regardless of whether you're vaccinated? Social Distancing.. ship based excursions? THAT will be a big decision.. 

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16 hours ago, Josh C said:

Now what I am curious to hear, is ok, they pass the test sailings.. what are the onboard protocols then? Will they apply to everyone, regardless of whether you're vaccinated? Social Distancing.. ship based excursions? THAT will be a big decision.. 

 


agree.  I overreacted yesterday believing others’  posts as fact  about Royals post test cruise regulations.   I applaud Royals decision to mandate vaccinations for those eligible (12+ after Aug 1) .  Thanks, Royal. 

Reality has taken hold, and I just need to sit back and wait for the protocols to be released by ship.    I still have faith that Royals vaccine mandate for the majority of passengers (12+) has to translate to maskless situations (we already know no testing required) for the vaccinated passengers.   A new day, a new attitude for me.  
 

 

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12 minutes ago, Marlena said:

Does a test cruise mean for sure they aren't going to be using the 95% vaxxed module?

Richard Fain confirmed Royal Caribbean International will not do 95% vaxxed. Hence why they need to do test cruises.

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20 minutes ago, Matt said:

Richard Fain confirmed Royal Caribbean International will not do 95% vaxxed. Hence why they need to do test cruises.

There is no way for Royal to hit 95% vaccination once you throw children in the mix.  

However according to the article on this sites homepage if you look at the article right below the fireworks illusion article it states until August 1st Royal will require all passengers over the age of 16 be fully vaccinated, then on all cruises that depart after August 1st Royal will require all passengers over the age of 12 be fully vaccinated, Royal expects these restrictions will be temporary.  So what this means is if you are over the age of 16 and you are unvaccinated you can not cruise once cruising resumes, and that age limit drops down to 12 years of age on August 1st.  This means the only unvaccinated people who will be allowed on Royal's ships after August first are children younger than 12, hence the reason Royal won't hit 95% but Royal's vaccination rate will probably fall somewhere between 90%-94% fully vaccinated. 

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43 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

There is no way for Royal to hit 95% vaccination once you throw children in the mix.  

However according to the article on this sites homepage if you look at the article right below the fireworks illusion article it states until August 1st Royal will require all passengers over the age of 16 be fully vaccinated, then on all cruises that depart after August 1st Royal will require all passengers over the age of 12 be fully vaccinated, Royal expects these restrictions will be temporary.  So what this means is if you are over the age of 16 and you are unvaccinated you can not cruise once cruising resumes, and that age limit drops down to 12 years of age on August 1st.  This means the only unvaccinated people who will be allowed on Royal's ships after August first are children younger than 12, hence the reason Royal won't hit 95% but Royal's vaccination rate will probably fall somewhere between 90%-94% fully vaccinated. 

Not sure if you were agreeing or disagreeing with me, but yes, I agree with your post ?

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On 5/25/2021 at 6:19 PM, Phoenix said:

Freedom of the Seas will be sailing 3 & 4-night Bahamas cruises from Miami starting July 2nd...see below FotS schedule:

1f294200d2211ff244a38690fc31fed59e545860-14.jpg

The test cruise is June 20 these I believe are paying trips...

 

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10 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

I already pointed this out in another post.  These dates look like placeholders.  Look how the dates overlap.

I didn't notice! Wow... Where did this even come from in that case?  I do know the test run was slated for the 20th... Assumed these were pay dates but makes zero sense now...

 

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11 minutes ago, deep1 said:

I didn't notice! Wow... Where did this even come from in that case?  I do know the test run was slated for the 20th... Assumed these were pay dates but makes zero sense now...

 

For me, the Royal App only works while onboard.  The information found on it looks like "copy-pasted" items.   I wish the app were fully functional like the Delta app, for example, for all Royal Caribbean related matters

 

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Sorry...  Somewhere along the way somebody who doesn't actively participate on the boards but watches asked me if these were test trips as well...  I answered here instead of directly to her...  As for the app, like any RC IT , it

 

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On 5/25/2021 at 7:22 PM, smokeybandit said:

I hope that there's something in the works to allow a successful test cruise to apply to more than one ship

Every ship will need a test cruise.  This is why you will see the Celebrity fleet ramp up much quicker, they don't need test cruises under the 95% CSO model. I'd be shocked if RCCL can even get half is fleet back and running by year end. 

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On 5/27/2021 at 12:49 PM, JLMoran said:

Question about this -- if Freedom is doing her test cruises out of Florida, does that mean she'll stay in Florida for the rest of the season once cleared for revenue sailings? Or will she move up to NJ to resume her already-scheduled 5-night Bermuda sailings (and possibly the 9-night Bahamas)?

I purely want to go back to Bermuda and sail out of NJ / NYC at this point. Freedom is my only option from Royal, along with the late-October offering just released from NCL. (why so late in the year, Mr. DelRio?) So if Royal is going to move Freedom and replace her with something else, please announce that. And if she's staying in NJ and there is only a partial cancellation of Bermuda sailings (maybe August?), announce that. But give us something!

I'm set to sail Jan 10 2022, out of Port of Miami on Freedom

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Well, based on the rumors out of Port Miami, it would definitely appear that Freedom won't be sailing out of Bayonne at all. Her current Bayonne->Bermuda sailings for July are still listed, along with all the future dates, but I'm just assuming now that it's a matter of time before they announce cancellation of all those sailings.

do think she'll be replaced with another ship. From the Vision cancellation email, there is this key sentence (emphasis added):

Quote

We know this news is disappointing - rest assured, while we may not be homeporting in Bermuda, our plan is to visit this beautiful island nation with several of our ships sailing from the U.S. later this year.

So I think it's clear they will be sending ships there, hopefully including one from Bayonne. But I seriously wish they would finalize those plans already and make an announcement. The FCC certificate will be issued automatically no later than June 15, with option to revert that to a full refund by June 30. I would really like to know their plans so that if I decide to book on NCL Breakaway, I can make the refund request knowing I had all the information and made a solid choice.

Which is to say -- Tell us if you're just replacing Freedom with another ship and keeping the 5-night itinerary, or replacing the ship and changing the itinerary to 7 nights (with 3 days in Bermuda, or 2 days plus a day in Coco Cay like before). The latter would, for me, be enough on par with the Breakaway itinerary that I'd stay with Royal and finally get to Platinum as a side benefit.

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2 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Well, based on the rumors out of Port Miami, it would definitely appear that Freedom won't be sailing out of Bayonne at all.

Don't tell RCG Customer Services OR your TA this as they are denying it tooth and nail even if you send them a screenshot. Never seen so much sneakiness in my life. You can't even say, as the saying goes, "that they are parked on dumb and stuck on stupid". They are just liars!

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39 minutes ago, Phoenix said:

Don't tell RCG Customer Services OR your TA this as they are denying it tooth and nail even if you send them a screenshot. Never seen so much sneakiness in my life. You can't even say, as the saying goes, "that they are parked on dumb and stuck on stupid". They are just liars!

They're not liars, per se.  Companies will deny until it is time to announce. Apple does this all the time when it comes to rumors about what features next iphone will have. It's all about competitive advantage and waiting for contracts to be signed, etc.

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12 minutes ago, Matt said:

They're not liars, per se.  Companies will deny until it is time to announce. Apple does this all the time when it comes to rumors about what features next iphone will have. It's all about competitive advantage and waiting for contracts to be signed, etc.

I can sorta buy that but why would they not cancel Freedom from Cape Liberty in July (first week) knowing very well that it's sailing from Miami??? You know what they say, if it walks like a liar duck, talks like a duck, it probably is a liar duck.  ?

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21 minutes ago, Phoenix said:

I can sorta buy that but why would they not cancel Freedom from Cape Liberty in July (first week) knowing very well that it's sailing from Miami??

Fair point, and all I can say is perhaps those plans aren't 100% certain.  Maybe 98% certain, but who knows.

Just because something is probable/likely, doesn't mean it is definite.

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56 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

It’s the RCG multiverse! 

Not good enough. I want the ULTIMATE RCG Multiverse! Get the ships upgraded with those warp drives and teleporters that @twangster dream-blogged about a while back.

And while I'm there, I'll see about a cosmic accident to get my super-powered form! ?

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16 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Does any cruise line have more than 1 ship set up for test cruises?

Right now it's just Freedom of the Seas and Disney Dream that I'm aware of that have test cruises approved.

Granted, it seems the only way the public is aware of test cruises is when something gets leaked/announced.

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10 minutes ago, Matt said:

Right now it's just Freedom of the Seas and Disney Dream that I'm aware of that have test cruises approved.

Granted, it seems the only way the public is aware of test cruises is when something gets leaked/announced.

I'm still wondering if there's something in the works to just have a single test cruise count for the entire fleet and not just on a per ship basis.

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19 hours ago, PG Cruiser said:

 

You're on to something here guys!  Now I can see why the sailing dates can overlap!

image.png.8ec9710d1f7a161cfa379a17501578ff.png

I am sure someone has already suggested this but perhaps this is 2 schedules. As RC does not know the exact date maybe they start on the 2nd or maybe the 3rd.

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8 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm still wondering if there's something in the works to just have a single test cruise count for the entire fleet and not just on a per ship basis.

Doesn't any ship that goes into service and does not require 95% passenger must do a test cruise?

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12 minutes ago, cruisinghawg said:

Doesn't any ship that goes into service and does not require 95% passenger must do a test cruise?

Yes, but is RC going to do 95% on every ship except Freedom?  To me it seems there'd be a big rush to get as many ships through a test cruise as possible, no matter the actual plans for the ship.

 

What if you don't do a test cruise, then one of your cruises ends up being at like 93%?  Do you have to cancel it? Since RC isn't doing any vaccination checks prior to embarkation day, that could be one hell of a bad day for 2000+ people

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58 minutes ago, cruisinghawg said:

Doesn't any ship that goes into service and does not require 95% passenger must do a test cruise?

Yes.

Royal Caribbean International will not do the 95% rule, thus, they must conduct test cruises.

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55 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

To me it seems there'd be a big rush to get as many ships through a test cruise as possible, no matter the actual plans for the ship.

Yes and no.  You're right that the lines obviously want to get their fleet going and you know, make money.

But, they've said all along their restart will be slow and methodical. Part of this is the logistics of getting crew onboard and vaccinated. Then there's the supply chain and restarting that, among other restart costs/logistics.

Based on comments from Fain, I expect there will be some ships still not sailing by the time 2022 rolls around.

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36 minutes ago, Matt said:

Yes and no.  You're right that the lines obviously want to get their fleet going and you know, make money.

But, they've said all along their restart will be slow and methodical. Part of this is the logistics of getting crew onboard and vaccinated. Then there's the supply chain and restarting that, among other restart costs/logistics.

Based on comments from Fain, I expect there will be some ships still not sailing by the time 2022 rolls around.

So am I right in assuming, that if Allure does not carry out a test cruise fairly soon my Aug 22nd cruise is off?

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50 minutes ago, icf75 said:

So am I right in assuming, that if Allure does not carry out a test cruise fairly soon my Aug 22nd cruise is off?

Not necessarily.  In short, no one knows the answer to that question.

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