Sunshine3601

We first select cruise by itinerary then ship. Sure there are many activities we enjoy on various ships. An average sea day consists of some exercising, maybe some shuffleboard, lounging at pool / sun deck, conversing with others, reading, napping and of course food at various venues. Evenings we go to the casino, maybe see a movie or a comedian. We enjoy the mid size ships serenade and jewel but we also like Anthem. Not a fan of much bigger than anthem but if there is an itinerary that is only on oasis class ship then I'll book it. I'm on the ship to relax and enjoy the sights. I dont want to feel rushed and be stuck to strict schedules either. Seems people are a little more rushed on the large ships with too much they want to fit in.

Good luck in life with this attitude. I have worn a mask for hours at a time and never was it soaked with spit! Maybe doctors and nurses should stop wearing masks when they perform surgeries since they dont do anything anyway!! If a doctor or nurse contracts the virus who is to say where they caught the virus. Maybe on the train or bus ride to work. Maybe from someone they met up with that thinks masks are worthless! As you are an expert in infectious disease and know masks are worthless I guess you better advise the rest of the world. You best get busy you have alot of people to tell. While you do that the rest of us will try our best to do our part so we can get cruising in the foreseeable future.

Here is a link to a story about The World ship that is private residence for those with lots and lots of money. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2020/03/16/the-worlds-largest-luxury-yacht-suspends-operations-amid-coronavirus/amp/ They are all "homeless" I wonder if they get refunds of their maintainance dues? Dont you feel bad for them.......

Good luck! I have been holding out hope for my december 12 night sailing. Chances are slim but I really like this itinerary and not able to l&s to next year. I hope you make your sailing too!!

In addition to crew needed to maintain a ship while still at sea let's not forget Rcl has 2 ships. I think they are Magesty and Symphony that are being used as floating hotels for crew that opted to stay instead of going home.

I'm suppose to be on Jewel today till aug 23rd. B2b to baltic and norway. I would love for jewel to be doing this same itinerary in july or aug 2022. I love the jewel and serenade! I dont like that adventure leaves out of stockholm in 2021. I would prefer copenhagen.

Hey it's a start. We all have to start somewhere. Happy to sit back and watch how they do. Glad rcl isnt jumping in too soon. Noone wants bad press when an outbreak happens. Hopefully it wont happen.

The Tui sailing that happened out of germany one of the live cruises posted passengers were only allowed to be in balcony or suites. No ov or interior cabins were sold for that sailing and I believe I heard the same for the mein schiff 1 sailing for this week. Nothing has been officially by rcl since they dont have any sailings confirmed to go out yet. Part of the logic is this will help with social distancing as some passengers will relax on their balconies instead of crowding pool decks etc. Also was mentioned on the tui sailing that some passengers preferred room service on their balconies instead of going to go dining room and having to remove their mask to eat.

I get my vaccines on a regular basis. Flu shot every Oct/Nov, Hep A and pneumonia. The question will be when a covid 19 vaccine becomes available is whether or not everyone will be allowed to get it. i.e. my DH is an organ transplant recipient who takes daily anti-rejection meds and will do so for the rest of his life. He is a high risk person for many illnesses due to his daily meds. He is not able to take certain vaccine because they are "live" virus vaccines. I read an interview where Dr Fauci said the group of 30,000 volunteers for this phase of the moderna vaccine trial will include some high risk individuals that will be closely monitored for side effects, etc. I am truly hoping that he will be able to receive the vaccine if one will exist in the future. On a funny note, back when he first got his transplant the doctors actually had him and I attend a class on the proper way to wash your hands. I couldn't believe I was sitting in a class at the hospital for something like a half hour on how to wash my hands. We laugh every time we get on the cruise and hear that song.

My insurance covered it. I didnt pay anything with labcorp. Quest labs was offering but they wanted $125 out of pocket.

If you have lab Corp near you they offer antibody testing. I had one and tech told me only about 50% accuracy. I truly believe both of us had it in february. But my antibody test early june was negative. Dh didnt get test.

You cannot just walk into the royal caribbean headquarters in miami to solve a problem. Their customer reps are stationed across the world and work from home. You could get a rep from Phillips, Jamaica or Oregon when you call. I am not even sure if their Miami office physically has anyone sitting at their desks these days.

You Cannot smoke on your balcony with RCL or any cruise line that I know of. I have NEVER seen or smelled anyone smoking off the balcony on a RCL ship since smoking was banned except for designated smoking areas. There are very strict rules and fines in place with RCL. I have heard many stories of passengers doing this on carnival ships. Sorry if your experience with RCL has been any different.

As I have had 5 cruises cancelled so far and have 4 future cruises book I had no plans of booking any more cruises till I know they are sailing and sailing safely. But that changed when clubroyale sent out new offers this week for 2nd and 3rd quarter sailings for 2021. These sailings all start in April - makes you wonder if that is when they think they may realistically start sailing again. Made me wonder that when I saw the list. Especially since some of those April sailings were for 3 and 4 night sailings to cococay. best to start out with the short cruises. I coudn't resist booking a free cruise so I am booked on Oasis for a 7 night sailing on 5/23 with a OV with large balcony and only had to pay $326 for taxes/port fees. So if anyone else that is a prime or higher casino member, check your offers on clubroyaleoffers.com

Here is what happened to us. We were booked for b2b Baltic/Norway sailing for august. We had paid our initial $500 NRD for each cruise over a year ago. That's a total of $1000. Our balance due was just over $8500. Final payment was due in May. Europe sailings had not yet been cancelled but knew they would be because of all the travel restrictions. So we decided Not to pay rcl over $8500 and possibly wait 60 to 90 days to get refunded. That is what people were saying for their refunds at that time. So the day final payment was due I phoned and elected to receive our $1000 NRD as a fcc. I was emailed my FCC 2 or 3 weeks later and will hopefully use it europe next summer. But there was no way I was going to tie up $8500 not knowing when I would get it back. Fyi my brother and his wife that would have been sailing with us did the same as they also didnt want to give rcl a 2 or 3 month loan of their money for a sailing we knew wasnt going to happen. Pretty simple to understand. Not sure why some have trouble understanding the options. We have 4 booked cruises from dec to may and hope to sail on at least one of them.