What We Found Travelling

It’s not the passengers that the cruise lines are really worried about...... it’s their crew members!

We prefer inside cabins for the complete darkness.  Also, we only ever use our cabin for sleeping & showering etc.  Way too many areas on the ship to be explored, experienced, discovered & enjoyed having a drink or mingling etc.  We are never in bed before 11PM.

We always get the deluxe drink package.

We always get the unlimited dining package.

We never use the overpriced spa services.

We budget to spend $100 a night in the casino.

We always do our own tours/excursions.  Last year we did the exact same tour & route as offered by Royal in Rome, but, we used Rick Steves audio guide.  We took the shuttle bus, train & did the same walking tour.  Our cost $20 each, Royal wanted $350 per person!  Whilst we were enjoying our lunch, we saw the frustration of all the tour groups walking behind the leaders holding their paddle numbers up - that’s not for me on holidays!  Sipping my beer watching them was a real pleasure though.
Our thoughts are once we get on the ship, we don’t want to think about money, we’re here to have a great time & create wonderful memories.
Finally, on the last cruise we did get the Key & made great use of all the inclusions, especially jumping the queue on the tender ports.

I’m not sure if I’m frugal, but, I do want value for money.  However, with COVID we’ll definitely not be cruising for the first 3-4 months once cruising is given the green light to sail, we’ll let the die hard cruisers be the guinea pigs.

34 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

Retired, but still cost analyzing after all these years.........................................

That makes sense.  You’ve got plenty of time for cost analysis & planning.  That’s how I do things also.  Only wish my adult children would do the same.
While l’m not retired just financially independent, the real way I make money is by meticulous analysis & planning.  Wifey always says to me “how much have you saved on this”.😂

2 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

Aren't those the same thing?

Not in Australia.

Retired: receiving tax free income/pension usually over 65 years old.

Financially independent: living off investments & still paying tax.

4 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

I did:  it's my 9th bullet statement. The daily rate even has our suspended cable TV for longer trips, and that savings is included in that a trip.

I gather you must be retired or financially independent.

No.

Don’t forget to take into account how much you’ll save on food, energy, water, fuel etc. whilst being on the ship rather than living your normal life. 😉

Qantas Australia has just cancelled all international flights until March 2021, except for New Zealand.

Everybody on these boards agrees with one thing..... flights will resume well ahead of cruising.

In Australia the Victorian Premier just announced a full 6 weeks lockdown as the second wave of the virus hits that state.  The state of Victoria is finding 100 plus new community transmissions each day.  When pressed on whether the BLM rally had any impact, he claimed only 4 cases have been linked to the rally.  He did say, the image of people roaming the streets without masks & social distancing sent the wrong message to the broader community & hence, we now have outbreaks all over.

Based on the governments reaction to a 100 new cases it seems certain cruising out of Australia won’t happen for a long long time.  The USA is in a 1000 times worse position!

Australia’s CMO just announced that it will be highly unlikely that international travellers will be allowed into the country until a vaccine becomes available (excluding New Zealand & Pacific Islands).  The governments priority is to protect the countries most vulnerable residents.  CMO is increasingly optimistic a vaccine will be available in the near future...... if not, the government will have to re-evaluate the situation.

The Prime Minister & Cabinet have today made it compulsory for returning travellers to have a Covid 19 test at the start of & on the 14th day of the hotel quarantine.

Interestingly, social distancing reduced to 1 person per 2 square metres for indoor venues.

4 minutes ago, Balsam12 said:

That could well be true, but it doesn't preclude domestic cruises...

I’m hoping for a circumnavigation of Australia cruise.  All we need is a company to send a ship down under!

Qantas Australia’s largest airline has just sacked 6,000 workers & announced significant international travel most likely not going to start until after July 2021.  

Unlikely to see international cruises starting before the airlines.

Sorry GM1999, but, your money has been used to pay for someone else’s refund.  Not mine as I’m still waiting for refunds & FCC’s about 50 days now & counting.

The sooner Royal gives me my refunds & FCC’s the quicker I can get off this RC CC board as it is very depressing.  Unfortunately, the FCC ties me into Royal, so I feel compelled to book one more cruise with them.

Under the circumstances it’s inevitable that ships will be scrapped.  How much?  I don’t know.  But, dumping an old ship for say 10 million plus the savings on outgoings etc. is much better than spending 10 million a month & not cruising with paying passengers. Royal has 28 ships, at the earliest it’ll be 2 years before all 28 are cruising with paying passengers.  Royal should get in first before the market is flooded with ships to be scrapped.

54 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Not sure this was only RCI's decision - local authorities and or other issues which we don't know about may have influenced this.

I did notice Rhapsody also got shifted from Barcelona to Tarragona.

Dumb decision by Royal.  This will cost them plenty of customers.  Venice is a key port.

6 hours ago, twangster said:

 

Yet this thread remains about the CDC.

 

In 2018 54.5% of all cruise ship passengers came from the Americas.  Without U.S. passengers and the CDC's blessing for them to cruise there is no cruise industry as we have known it.  If the CDC takes too long to allow U.S. guests to board ships the effect will be profound.   

 

Looking beyond the Americas for a moment, name one other equivalent health organization to the CDC that can single handedly all but wipe out the cruise industry.    

What you’ve forgotten is 99% of people who staff the ship come from 100 other countries from around the world.  I honestly don’t think too many would want to sign up a 9 month contract & hope the virus doesn’t surface on their ship.

Also, CC is biased in my opinion, at least half the people on here have a vested interest in cruise lines, work for them or are in the industry, & those people most likely represent less than 0.1% of the cruising market.  Hence, why they’d die to go cruising tomorrow.  It makes no sense to me.  

I’m sure that most of the families of the 123,000 Americans that have died from the virus to date, would’ve wanted to spend the last few days with their loved ones, not looking on from behind a window.  16,000 Americans are currently in a critical condition & most of them without their loved ones by their side.  This virus is novel & deadly!

The approach taken by the CDC is the only sensible way to go.  As for cruising........ it ain’t going to happen any time soon unless the silver bullet arrives.  However, the cruise lines still need die hard cruisers money from final payments at 90 days to finance their refunds.  Simply, if the cruise lines were serious about their customers they would make the final payment due 7 days before cruising.  Free loans from die hard cruisers will keep them afloat for another 6 months at best before Chapter 11.

Honestly, who really wants to be a guinea pig on the first dozen or so cruises?  Anxiety plus, don’t forget to pack the Xanax.

Who wants to wear a mask on a cruise? Die hard cruisers.

Who wants to social distance on a cruise? Die hard cruisers.

To me a cruise is a holiday either relaxing & or full of site seeing, & most of all enjoying peoples company & having a good time & participating in activities.  I can’t see that happening on a cruise ship for a long time.

13 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

I think Australia could be a victim of it’s own success.

The rest of the world may open their boarders and we could be living on Gilligans island.

I’d be quite happy right now to do a circumnavigation cruise around Australia with all aussie/kiwi staff/crew.

That data to date is quite conclusive.  Every outbreak of Covid 19 on a cruise ship has led to deaths.  The same situation as Nursing homes.

If Australia is closed until January 2021 using our current virus stats & data, it would be equivalent to the USA having less than 400 new cases per day & no new daily deaths.  The USA is a long way from those numbers!  

I doubt cruising out of the USA will happen anytime this year.  Remember..... the biggest issue facing the cruise lines is not the passengers..... it’s the staff.  How to get the staff back on to ships & guarantee absolutely no virus.  That will be a long process & one that won’t happen until the USA’s stats & data become similar to Australia, & their “active cases” graph has flattened out with less than 10% of all positive cases still active. Currently 2.2m positive & 1.2m active. Or the silver bullet arrives!

Currently in the USA in every group of 2,760 people 1 person is dying. 

Currently in Australia in every group of 250,000 people 1 person is dying. (25% of deaths in Australia came off cruise ships!)

The USA population is 13 times greater than Australia, hence, based on the stats & data the virus is running rampant in the USA.  The USA needs to be further locked down to stop the spread & not opened up.  

Would you really want to be hoping to go on a cruise out of the USA anytime soon?

You would think Royal would do whatever they could to keep their current customers happy.  Their financial position must be more dire than they’re making out, or the exact opposite.  I know what I think.

With over 1 million active cases in the USA & the real figure being somewhere between 5-10 times higher than that, I doubt if any country is going to allow people from the USA to walk in off a cruise ship.  The curve you have to flatten is the “active cases” curve & that ain’t happening in USA at the minute.

Fain knows while the USA has more than 100 new cases of the virus & deaths still occurring daily, the virus is not under control & cruising can not commence.

In Australia by mid July our country will be just about back to normal with the exception of cruising, international travel, concerts & nightclubs.  Australia currently has less than 10 new cases daily & all of those are residents returning from overseas.  We have not had any deaths for 3 weeks now.  A quarter of our total deaths came off the Ruby Princess & another quarter contact traced back to someone from a cruise ship. Most of the other deaths occurred to residents in nursing homes.  Our government has remained very tight lipped about cruising & international travel, only saying its not going to happen anytime soon.  Today gyms & foodcourts are opening up, & by July all local sports can resume, cinemas & outdoor sporting stadiums etc. will open up & allow up to 10,000 spectators.

Hopefully, the first cruises from Australia to New Zealand & the Pacific Islands are ready to go for our summer season starting in December as I want to use my FCC’s.  However, I will not be the guinea pig on the first half a dozen or so cruises, I’ll take Fains approach of wait & see.  It’s the staff on the cruise ship that worries me most about the virus not my fellow cruisers.

As every week goes by more & more data is painting the virus picture.  The biggest part of the picture currently, densely populated indoor activities where people movement occurs in an air conditioned environment over an extended period of time is the perfect scenario for a super spreader event. Unfortunately, that sounds a lot like cruising.  I’m not sure if reducing the ship capacity to only 50% will make much difference. 

24 minutes ago, soremekun said:

There are some RC shills posting in these forums for sure.

Yes indeed....... plenty of RC shills & most people who spend time on this board know who they are.

Fain advised nearly 2 months ago that RC has got a credit facility for 2.2 billion.  Well if that’s the case, why not pay out refunds within a fair & reasonable time of 30 days maximum?  I suspect RC’s financial situation is dire.  Bankruptcy looms. 

Once I get my refunds & FCC’s I’ll post exactly how long it took.

Shills, we’re all waiting for your response............

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Wearing a mask in the casino might help filter out some of the cigarette smoke.  

 

As I stated in another thread, perhaps they should only allow US citizens to board in a US home port, Australians in an Australian home port, Chinese from a China home port, etc.  This way overreacting politicians will be less likely to ban them from returning if 100% of guests are citizens.  

The major issue the cruise companies are facing is not the customers who are willing to pay to cruise, but, the safety of crew & staff on the ships.  How do they get 1000 crew from over 10 different countries back on their ships & guarantee none of them have the virus.  Don’t think we’ll ever see a cruise out of Florida with 100% crew & staff American citizens.