NthernLgts

Hi everyone. We are on the Sky 12/11 sailing to the Western Caribbean. Is Princess allowing excursions not booked through the ship? Are we going to be able to explore ports on our own? I know there was some discussion of restricting this months ago. Thanks in advance. Looking forward to get back into the swing of things!

Does anyone know which dining room(s) are for anytime dining on the Sky & which are for assigned? Thanks.

How so? I'm not really sure where youre going with that, but I'm less concerned about bridge personnel somehow checking in on us than I am having another couple 5 feet above our heads staring down at us on our balcony.

I remember having a cigar in Churchills on my last trip on the Caribbean Princess years ago. Out of the blue the Captain comes in to have a smoke & and a bump at the end of the day. He took about15 minutes just to shoot the breeze and unwind with me & the DW. A very cool experience indeed.

I should know the answer to this because Ive sailed on the CB twice already, but its been awhile and we are thinking about booking her for next November. What decks have the balconies where others can look down into your balcony from above? I think its the Caribe & Dolphin decks but not entirely sure. Other thoughts on those balconies are welcomed too. Thanks.

Yes. My (very) cynical side is thinking what part of "cannot sail or offer to sail" escaped them? The part that annoys me is them taking deposits on cruises they aren't even supposed to be offering yet, especially when so many of us were recently jacked around with making final payments on cruises that everyone with air in their lungs knew would never set sail.

The other thing about this is that the latest CDC order specifically states cruise lines cannot sail OR "offer" to sail on voyages longer than 7 days prior to November of next year. That seems pretty clear.

Well, yes they are selling cruises 2 years out, and we are getting ready to purchase one for next November ourselves. My reference was to 8 day or longer cruises prior to then. How is it overboard when what we know today is that there will be no 8 day or longer sailings until November 2021? I get that it can and may change depending on a vaccine (that has no approval yet). But for them to sell and take deposits on cruises that have a current no sail order against them seems to open quite a few ethical questions, even for cruise lines.

All of your reasons listed are legitimate, but have nothing to do with Covid. If that is your belief, and you are certainly entitled to it, why are you on a cruising board that is the epitome of what you're against?

I’ll pass for awhile. It’s not just about whether we get sick. It’s also about all the people we are in contact with afterwards.

I’m surprised they were still selling these cruises to begin with. It seemed contrary to the intent of the latest no-sail order to allow 8 day or longer cruises to stop at US ports, but not originate from them.

You are correct, but we still would have rolled the dice that next December would have been ok...... but then they cancelled the 9 day Explorer out of Miami to boot. We may look at the new ship, but will likely just move on with life and find something elsewhere. We're Ruby on Princess & may go back there.

Here’s how this all shook out. This week the Dec 2020 cruise was officially cancelled by RCI. We got official notification today. Had RCI not also cancelled our Dec 2021 cruise we would have taken the 125% FCC and used it to basically pay off the 2021 cruise. Now we will take the refund. Either way, I’m glad we waited RCI out. It just didn’t make sense that ships were going to sail this year.

Our TA just confirmed as well.

Making the assumption we actually get a vaccine approved & we begin to see rollouts in early spring. When do you think we might see cruises longer than 7 days begin? (I know its speculation & hypothetical, but play along).