Wheels87

10 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

disagree with this. My job for the last two years has been to manage tracking all tye

covid cases and testing at work. We did have someone test positive when tested for a medical procoedure; who had recently recovered from Covid. The health department told us to disregard the positive test. We are also allowing people to get doctors notes for 90 days following recovery to be excused from Future testing and plenty of doctors are writing them. The CDCs standard is that once recovered from Covid (10 days past initial infection) you are clear for at least 90 days and a positive test can be considered false. 
 

 

my understanding of this issue is that some people who have had Covid can continue to shed the dead virus for up to 90 days. I believe this is a much bigger problem on a pcr test than antigen test. Pcr tests are much more sensitive than antigen tests and are design to detect the presence of the virus (even dead). While anitigen tests are designed to test for an active infection and detect that presence of the virus at a higher amount. This doesn’t happen to everyone with Covid. The best thing to do is to take an antigen test today. If you are negative, you will likely be negative for the pre-cruise test.

This is 100% accurate.  Kudos for providing great information.

In fact, if someone tests positive with a PCR test who has had COVID in the last 4 months, some places will allow the use of an antigen test to clear that individual to return to work.

Good luck!

Testing is is almost useless as a strategy to get people cruising again. The reason...there is a rather high false negative rate (upwards of 30%). The cruise lines can have people quarantine all they want and someone, either a passenger or worker, will turn up positive. 

The only way cruising will begin before an effective vaccine is developed is if everyone changes their philosophy and is willing to accept the risk of infection. For the most part, the folks who are dying from this aren't out and about traveling. There are exceptions to this, including children, but if you are worried about your child dying from this, then you should definitely NOT ever put them in a car because they are any dozen of tines more likely to die in an auto accident. That is a fact.

Cheers, 

Brad

May

4 hours ago, legaljen1969 said:

So you are saying that Royal decided to press charges to "get even" with the family? Or to intimidate them into dropping the suit?  That certainly does not look good for Royal if that is the case. I mean,  money definitely talks but to press charges to convince a family not to sue is pretty heavy handed. 

 

No, because Royal Caribbean cannot press charges against anyone.  The fact is that within three days of the accident, the family had retained the attorney, who then immediately blamed Royal Caribbean publicly many many times for the incident.  The family, including both the parents and the Step Grandfather, also blamed Royal Caribbean in the media repeatedly.  The Puerto Rican authorities have great leeway in their decision to charge or not charge the grandfather.  What I am saying is that if the GF had been honest, instead of changing his initial story and taken full responsibility, the authorities might not have charged him.  But when he began mouthing off to every camera how it wasn't his fault, that may have had an impact.

I mean, if I am the prosecutor and I see a very upset and contrite GF taking responsibility for his actions, I am much more likely to take the approach of "He has suffered enough" rather than charging him.  If he insists that RC is at fault, I am much more likely to proceed with charges.

Cheers

10 am was my experience as well on my recent back-to-back.  It appeared that everyone was off around 10:15.

Cheers!

I have had this card since 2011 and for many years, used it exclusively as my daily card. I pay it off at least twice per month and have never paid a single penny in interest. If you ever plan on carrying a balance, do not get this card. 

That being said, the reward system can be used in many different ways, which can cause confusion. I will comment on how I have used it exclusively over the last ten years. 

If you use the reward points to "Pay for purchases" which essentially means cash back, you can actually get 1.5% I stead of the standard 1% as long as you are applying it to a charge which was at least $1,500.  E.g. If your cruise fare was $1,872, then if you select that purchase to pay towards, you will get 1.5%.  So, let's say you have 50,000 points to use. If you selected the $1,872 purchase then you would get $750 cash back toward that purchase. What that means is that if you use the card solely for purchases on Carnival, then you would be getting 3% cash back since 1.5 times 2% (double rewards for Carnival purchases) is 3%.

That is how I use my card today.  I have many other cards, but my Capital One Savor card gives my up to 4% for dining and some other purchases, so I use it for everything else now. Otherwise, the Carnival Mastercard is a good card for those who cruise frequently and NEVER carry a balance. 

Good luck! 

11:30 is their check in time, not boarding time. FTTF boards after Diamond, Platinum and suite guests and would typically be around 11:30. I would speculate that their group would board about 15 minutes or so after you.

Good luck. 

I embarked on the Freedom of the Seas on the very next voyage after that one.  I was pleased to see that the windows were still in a mixed state of open and closed as usual.  By the way...this window was located right next to the bar in the "Children's play area."  There was no additional signage posted or any other evidence that the tragedy had happened.  It is clear that the GF knew exactly what he was doing based on the two videos which were released.

Something that has never been pointed out before is this...millions upon millions of people, including young children, have cruised on ships similar to the Freedom and this has never happened before.  That makes a very strong case that the circumstances were beyond extraordinary which led to the child falling.  That being that an irresponsible adult dangled her out the window and dropped her.  I am not saying he dropped her on purpose, but he did hold her out the window on purpose.  I also think that if the family had not hired an attorney and threatened a lawsuit, the GF would not have been charged.

Just my 2 cents.

3 minutes ago, Qchell said:

Cozumel also has some great all-inclusive resorts catering to the cruise community.  

Yes, that is a great point. Our favorite place in Cozumel is Paradise Beach. We always take a taxi there. Now, they off an all-inclusive option, which includes food from the taco truck, for $63 per person. 

Good luck! 

I've cruised been on 22 Carnival and 8 Royal Caribbean cruises. Honestly, they are similar, but based on what you've described I would recommend the Carnival Fantasy 4 day (Thursday - Monday) out of Mobile. The only port day is Cozumel and that sounds like a port that your group would enjoy. 

Just my 2 cents. 

Cheers! 

I am currently sitting in Houston Hobby Airport on my way home after doing a B2B on the Dream (my 4th).  You should receive a letter in your stateroom on the last day of the cruise with specific instructions on where to meet. If you don't, make sure and go ask at guest services. They did forget ours once. 

The only better than a B2B is a B2B2B! 

On the Dream the most recent two cruises were luggage tags. They seem nice enough. 

Cheers! 

Cha-ching! 

Good for you! 

18 minutes ago, ssb said:

 

Enchantment and Dream Officers , Coast Guard and Pilots are controlled and make these decisions for various  reasons.     

I am just so thankful all cruisers, tanker crew and surviving fishing vessel crew are okay . 

Prayers for the deceased  and missing .    

Hope to see you on the Seas under better conditions ! 

 

Same to you! 

53 minutes ago, ssb said:

Salvage and securing Vessel continued on Thursday 

While that may be true, that is not why the Enchantment couldn't leave and the Dream couldn't arrive. 

The port of Galveston was closed to all marine traffic due to the dense fog. You couldn't see 100 feet off the ship. It was the worst I've ever seen. That was announced and reiterated more than a dozen times throughout the day. The salvage and rescue was taking place on Wednesday. 

Good morning from the 6th day of our five day cruise on the Dream! 

I understand about the tragic accident and search and rescue on Wednesday, however, just to clarify, the only thing keeping Dream from docking and the Enchantment from leaving on Thursday was the heavy fog. The port was officially closed to all marine traffic. 

At around 1:00pm, the Captain announced that the pilot boat would pick us up at 2:30 and we would dock around 4:00. Then the fog got much heavier and that plan was scrapped. 

They put out a schedule of activities covering the entire night and told us the dining rooms would be serving dinner at the usual times. Then, at 5:30, they said that we were heading in and would be docking at 7:00 at which time debarkation would begin immediately. They made an announcement about where all guests, priority, suites, etc should go to wait to exit the ship. 

Since we are Platinum, we loaded up our stuff and headed for the theater. As soon as we sat down, they told us that we could stay on the ship overnight, if desired. We elected to stay on since our flight was scheduled for the next day anyway. 

Anyway, I just wanted to provide a few details. 

Cheers! 

Funny...we are in the opposite situation on the Dream. We were supposed to come in early this morning and gave been sitting about aile offshore since about 0600.  No word on when we will be headed in. I've already changed my flight out and am waiting for. A call back to change it again. 

Oh well, that's cruising from the gulf in winter. 

Cheers

We began turning around at 7am on the first sea day, so I imagine cheer had kicked in. 

I am currently on the Dream and they still have Coke products. I did see a gentleman ask for a club soda only to be told they were completely out of club soda at that bar as they were using up all their stores before switching to Pepsi products. 

Good luck! 

So, just to provide and update...we returned to Galveston yester evening and docked around 9pm.  Emergency response vehicles rolled up while we were docking. As soon as we disembarked the passenger, we pulled out and headed back out to sea. 

Good night! 

Brad

I guess I should mention that they immediately offered a 20% future cruise credit, so that is nice. Not necessary, in my book, but a nice bonus. That should come in handy for my 15 day Hawaii cruise next January. 

Yes, let's hope the passenger is OK. 

God bless, 

Brad

Well, as I was sitting out by the aft pool at 0700, I noticed the we seemed to be turning. We headed north for about an hour and the turned west/northwest and were headed back towards Galveston. 

At that point, there were no announcements at all about it. I asked several officers who seemed genuinely unaware that we had turned around. In fact, the gentleman at the shore excursions desk assured me that if we had turned around, the Captain would have made an announcement. 

Finally, about 1030, he did just that and said that we had a medical emergency involving a passenger and that the winds were too high to attempt an air evac. So, we are, indeed on our way back to Galveston. 

We will offload the passenger and head straight to Progresso and have to miss Cozumel.  No big deal at all, considering someone's life is at stake. 

Fortunately, we have been to Cozumel 21 other times, so we don't feel like we are missing out. We were just taking a taxi to Paradise Beach, as we usually do. 

Also, we are on a B2B, so we still have the second leg to go to Cozumel. 

I sure hope they cover this in the news. The media is quick to bash the cruise industry for every little thing, yet refuse to cover these types of stories. Just for the record, this is the second time I have been on a cruise which altered course. Back in January of 2014 I was on the Elation when it turned around and headed north for four hours so the Coast Guard could fly out and evac a passenger. 

I just wanted to update everyone. 

Cheers! 

Brad 

John Heald.

Just pass whatever message you have for the CD on to him.

Bon Voyage!

Good day!

Having been the unofficial cruise coordinator for my entire family and extended family for many years, I've had some experience with this kind of situation.  If I am going to the trouble of making arrangements and setting things up for folks, I have one expectation...that I get to see, either in person or via a pic, everyone's proof of citizenship.  I don't care how many times they tell me not to worry about it, that is the deal.  I also ask to see everyone's proof when we get in whatever vehicle we are taking to the airport or cruise terminal.

One day, I asked the question and my SIL gave me the look of death like "LEAVE ME ALONE" and explained how she was an adult, etc.  When we were in line to check in at the airport, she flips out and says "OMG, I can't find my drivers license."  We were panicked for what seemed to be an eternity, then she found it in a completely different place in her wallet.

That was the most satisfying apology I have ever gotten.

Good luck!