AdoraBelle

4 hours ago, jtwind said:

Celebrity can't get those folks off the ship fast enough.  St. Martin wants them off their island, the sooner the better.

I thought they were already off the ship and flown home in a chartered plane? God only knows where I read it, there have been so many threads.

After much agonizing over the last two weeks or so, I finally canceled this sailing at the last minute (er, the last minute before I would incur a financial penalty). 

Things are changing so fast (the politics at the state and federal level, different cruise lines' stated policies, lots of allegiance-shifting among all of them depending on which way the wind is blowing that day) that it was causing me more stress than enjoyment to have it booked. I thought I knew what I was getting when I first booked, but that was even a different ship when this thread started. 🙂

I'm really hoping that in another month (or ideally sooner) things will be clearer, instead of the muddy mess they are. (I know most of the mess is happening with FL, and not currently NCL, or at least not NCL out of Seattle.) I would love to just be able to rebook the same cruise at that time. I miss cruising so much.

I didn't cancel out of fear of the virus (I'm vaccinated and pretty good at personal risk assessment), just the stress of not knowing which politician, government entity, or cruise line is going make some unexpected change after I'm already financially locked in. I waited until the last minute hoping there would be some clarity in FL vs CDC and so on, but it seems to still be dragging out. I also want to see what happens when there are more positive tests on upcoming cruises--I think Celebrity Mill. has proven that we're going to get positive tests no matter what, and I want to see how the cruise lines and different ports of call react. (No, I don't care about the media coverage and it is not an influence here. I actually don't even care that much about being confined to my room if I end up 'exposed'; I love my solitude. Although I guess Alaska is one cruise where you DON'T want to be quarantined in an inside, as I would be, even with a virtual porthole.)

I kept my flight in place for now--if nothing else I might do a land-based west coast thing. I've never seen that part of the country. 

For info's sake since I've never canceled a cruise before: It was a very fast phone call, NCL rep was absolutely pleasant, didn't ask why or try to talk me out of it (honestly I'm sure they're sick of hearing 'covid blah blah'), and I was told 7-10 business days on refund. (For some reason I thought it was like six weeks.) Right now my account only shows a weird cruisenext balance of $63 (this is probably an artifact from the move from Bliss to Encore ... when they finally got my booking straightened out after the ship change, I somehow had -$63 pending). I don't see my $500 worth of certs returned yet, but I'm not going to worry about it for a few days. 

In short, cancelling was painless. (Every time I've dealt with an NCL rep on the phone for this, from my first nervous booking, to straightening out my incorrect $700 balance, to cancelling, they have been absolutely lovely and pleasant.)

Hoping to revive this thread in the coming weeks if things look more stable, with a post saying "So anyway I'm rebooked now ..."

6 hours ago, sugcarol said:

Way too many false positive cases have shown up and passenger is 100% vaxed. They need to stop all this testing. Unless a passenger  becomes ill.

They weren’t false positives. Subsequent tests were positive.

Blaming the testing is not the solution. Also, “they” was the island of Sint Maarten, requiring a negative test for disembark.

15 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) has introduced three bills to repeal and reform the Passenger Vessel Services Act

Cool. I'm pretty stoked to cruise out of Utah. 

On the live thread for this sailing, someone is saying 95% vaccinated. But of course we’re all speculating at this point.

Apparently people onboard are now masking up.

1 minute ago, sept10dsm said:

These vaccines are meant to give a lesser case  if one gets it.  

I think you’re misusing the word “meant” here. 

31 minutes ago, logan25 said:

If that were the case, then the documentation they provided was fraudulent.  I believe it more likely breakthrough or false positives.  IMO

I meant some of the anecdotes in the thread, not the Millennium cases. 

55 minutes ago, rtazz17 said:

I dont buy that in the slightest. They were fully vaccinated meaning 2 weeks after 2nd shot? To know “several people “ you should play the lottery then.

I think some people are lying about being vaccinated.

26 minutes ago, Anton said:

Now comes word from the current Celebrity Millennium cruise that two guests from the same cabin tested positive, presumably on the tests being done to comply with the CDC requirement for international flights.  They have been moved to an isolation cabin.  This is reported on Twitter by a cruise media figure who is on that cruise, Stewart Chiron (aka The Cruise Guy).

Well, that’s disheartening. And we know how well isolation worked on Diamond Princess. 

The reps can now manually override (or get someone to help do it) the erroneous charges. If you’d rather not wait and hope it gets automatically  sorted before your PIF, you can give them a call. 

Code red a la Noro?

1 minute ago, Old & Retired said:

The dust up is with Florida law.

Please don’t pretend you don’t know that this is political theater courtesy of DeSantis. He reminds us of his stance almost every day.

There was a point where I only “owed” $88. It’s changed a couple of times.

10 minutes ago, lizygirl3 said:

Sailing on the Encore leaving August 14.  Are cruisers still getting wonky summaries that they still owe money,  I have paid in full and just got a revised booking summary that I still owe $1,588.00?

 

I got another invoice today with another outstanding ~$700 balance (it seems like the “prepaid daily service charge” glitch has been reintroduced, as that’s where it says I owe the bulk of the money). 
 

I didn’t have time to call them this morning, will try tomorrow. Not optimistic.

26 minutes ago, coastcat said:

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Alaska won’t approve port agreements for unvaccinated cruises this year. 

Thanks for the reply. I did read the whole post and appreciate the thoughts and feedback (and technical reasons my concerns are unlikely). 

Quoted this part only to mention that Alaska’s politicians, or at least their AG, filed papers last week to be able to (mangling my legal terms here) be involved in the CDC lawsuit … on Florida’s side. More complaints about the draconian CDC, etc. 

(I was originally going to cancel based on this alone, because I’m just not feeling like giving money to any states indulging in politically expedient anti-vax/“evil CDC” stuff this year, but my husband kind of talked me down a bit from that one—no reason to punish the individual port towns/businesses, etc. Then RC making the flip gave me very clear visions of ultimately ending up on an unvaccinated ship. So much can change in the next two+ months.)

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

I sincerely doubt that NCL will change their vaccination requirements, especially for Alaska. They have stated for a while now that the vaccine requirement runs through October 31. Also, not mandating vaccines is going to make for some seriously cumbersome and onerous logistics onboard to adhere to the CDC guidelines. Royal even explicitly said the no vaccine requirement only applies to sailings out of FL and TX.

I appreciate your perspective, but a few good-faith counterpoints:

I don’t actually believe any mass market cruise line will be able to enforce masking or distancing when they don’t even want to confront “chair hogs“.

And: NCL is currently having staffing (as you know) AND technical problems. As such, they seem even less likely to me than RCL to be able to roll out a vaccine verification method/procedure … much less enforce masking/distancing if it came down to that. 

I am beyond happy that the vaccines are working and the pandemic is receding. I just think cruise ships are the very last place where every single precaution should end up getting flattened in the stampede, because we know cruise ships are a unique … venue? … for this virus.

7 minutes ago, SherriZ366 said:

The most information on RCI not requiring vaccinations for cruises comes from a Miami Herald article that has been picked up by much of the media.  

I’m really not trying to be … overly aggressive here, but I’ve seen this statement a number of times, and I don’t understand how people don’t know how to “source” info anymore, but the Miami Herald is a respected newspaper that’s been around for about a thousand years, and all they did was print RC’s *own press release*.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article251909713.html

“Strongly recommend” is nowhere near “required”. I’m sure people are also strongly recommended not to get fake service dog papers, and we know how that goes. 

Hell, I’m trying* to cancel my NCL cruise after RC’s announcement. I no longer trust the mass market industry to enforce vaccinations. I expect the other big names to fold. And if that happens THIS SOON, while the pandemic is still raging in other parts of the world, I am done with the industry.

*”trying” because my booking on NCL is currently broken in such a way that it can’t be cancelled, after they did a ship swap. 8-9 days to go before I can’t get a refund. Exciting times.

My encore / formerly bliss cruise for August is still broken (the amount of money I “owe” has changed from $700, to $88, back to $700). I’m intending to cancel this cruise because I no longer believe the cruise industry is going to enforce vaccinations (see: RCCL. Not just being a crank). However, when I spoke to the rep on Friday, I wasn’t able to cancel because, haha, the broken bookings can’t be altered while they are in a “broken” state. So they can’t be canceled. 

I’m 9 days out from no-refund territory, or whatever the 60 day policy even is. (Yes, I gave them real money, and yes I regret it. Learn from my moment of over-exuberance at the thought of actually traveling again. Seriously, treat it as gambling money or buy meme stocks instead or whatever.)

I’m usually pretty detail-oriented and cautious, don’t tend to jump the gun on things, and so I usually don’t end up in these situations. Becoming one of those stories on CC where you just kind of feel bad for the person and how long they’re going to have to fight with NCL to get their money back? Not something I ever expected to be. It’s actually sort of funny, except the money part.

13 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

FWIW,  I don't think Royal has done an about face on vaccination.  I think the statement was just very poorly worded.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article251909713.html

"In a press release Friday announcing cruises for sale on eight of its ships from U.S. ports this summer, starting with Freedom of the Seas from PortMiami on July 2, the company said it will recommend passengers get the COVID-19 vaccine, but not require it. The announcement is a reversal from previous statements and vaccine protocols the company submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month that said it would require all passengers at least 18 years old and older to be vaccinated.

“Guests are strongly recommended to set sail fully vaccinated, if they are eligible,” the company said in a statement. “Those who are unvaccinated or unable to verify vaccination will be required to undergo testing and follow other protocols, which will be announced at a later date.”"

17 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Sorry if I'm being a dumb blonde (I can say that because I'm blonde, and kinda dumb) 🙂

 

Do you mean that if the lawsuit continues, Alaska sailings would just go on as scheduled until such as a time as there is a ruling?

It’s also worth noting that despite the Alaska tourism act, Alaska is still penciling itself into Team DeSantis as of this week.
 

https://cbs12.com/news/local/talks-at-impasse-in-cruise-industry-fight

“Alaska also has requested approval to intervene in the case on Florida’s side, saying in a document filed Wednesday it wants to “protect its interests in the CDC’s constantly-morphing orders, restrictions and guidance which will apply to all large Alaska cruises in 2021.”

So they’re positioning themselves to flip to the no-vaccine stance depending on which way the wind blows.

27 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

 

There is just a WHOLE LOT OF PRIDE AND POLITICS going on right now, no one wants to back down and just let the cruiselines do what the CDC wants. IMHO, there is a simple solution: Florida and Texas need to make a vaccine exemption for cruiselines, and if they won't do that, just wait it out for the test cruises to go through.  But there so much saving face that this will not happen. 

That's really what I believed would happen, because on that path lies the flowing of the almighty dollar. It might still happen, I guess, but I lost track of the fact that Alaska was taking the same stance as FL and TX, and jumped the gun on booking the AK cruise. 

My cruise was one of the Bliss > Encore ones, and my booking is still broken (with a small but erroneous outstanding balance). I just got off the phone with NCL, and the rep said they can't get into these cruises yet, so I can't cancel yet. I have ten days left before cancel penalties kick in. 🙂 So this will be a fun little countdown. (Another reason I can't just wait for the politics to work themselves out. I'm not going on an unvaccinated cruise, not this year. For some reason I fooled myself into thinking that a cruise out of WA would not be affected by Florida Man.)

(NCL rep was nice, I was nice to the rep, she didn't think it would be long before they will be able to access the broken bookings again.)

1 hour ago, crystlvylt1 said:

Hoping this is not another fly in the ointment, but this is not good: CDC says Florida lawsuit imperils summer cruises to Alaska | KOMO (komonews.com)

And from here, linked from that article. 

https://cbs12.com/news/local/talks-at-impasse-in-cruise-industry-fight
 

Alaska also has requested approval to intervene in the case on Florida’s side, saying in a document filed Wednesday it wants to “protect its interests in the CDC’s constantly-morphing orders, restrictions and guidance which will apply to all large Alaska cruises in 2021.”

And ... I'm out. It sounds like Alaska doesn't want my money any more than Florida does.

It was fun almost going on a cruise, for a week or two there. 

5 hours ago, hlfrps said:

I think Covid took my brain cells away.

I feel this.

I’ve always had a problem with packing light (blah blah I hate rewearing clothes blah), but I had gotten it somewhat figured out and had good lists. For the Caribbean or Bermuda.
 

But now my first post pandemic cruise will be Alaska … which I have never done. Plus pandemic brain, and not doing cruise packing in a couple of years. I don’t even own any of the specialized clothing items people recommend for Alaska. Like waterproof anything.