birdie16

We did two cruises this year before this one. This is our first cruise since lifting vaccine and testing requirements.

Yes, he is now showing symptoms.

You are correct, my husband was one of them. He was shocked he tested positive.

We both had the Moderna with boosters. No, it is not cold. We are in the Caribbean on a 14 night. There have been only a handful of people wearing masks. Make sure you buy travel insurance and at least have a balcony in case you go into isolation. Personally, I would wait. The medical person that took our test said now that people don’t have to test to get on the ship, they have seen more cases. I think the biggest problem is people are not telling medical they are sick because they don’t wish to ruin their vacation. My husband is positive and didn’t even have symptoms, just a little runny nose and occasional cough.

Now that the restrictions have been lifted to cruise, it doesn’t mean Covid is over. We are on a 14 night cruise. Last week I sat next to a man in the theater that was coughing so bad he had to leave. This week I am sick, my husband was fine. I did the right thing, called medical from my cabin and they immediately came to our cabin to test both of us. My husband was positive and I am negative. They will not re test him to see if he had a false positive, they did test me a second time to see if I had a false negative. We have been in isolation. Now that I tested negative, I have been released…although I am still very sick. My husband is still on lock down. How safe is that? I can kiss him good bye in our cabin and go out and dine, go to shows, even get off the ship…spreading his Covid germs as I go. Not that I want to do that. My advice, wait a little longer to cruise. People are boarding sick and not telling medical because they don’t want to ruin their vacation. The ship does not seem to be handling Covid well if they think it’s ok to send me out to spread germs. If you still decide to cruise, get insurance and make sure you have a balcony cabin, in case you are stuck in it for five days or more.

Thank you. I had my second test and it was negative. I have been released to enjoy my cruise…not! My husband is still in isolation. How safe is that? I can walk around the ship spreading my husbands Covid germs? We were given the choice, he could be moved out of our nice balcony cabin into an isolation cabin, or I can stay with him and be tested every two days. I’m not leaving my husband! Looking at our ports from our balcony is not our idea of a cruise. We are missing the pools, hot tubs, spa, dining rooms, entertainment..basically our vacation. I personally believe it’s too soon to cruise yet.

We are currently on the Nieuw Amsterdam. I am sick, called medical. They tested both my husband and myself. I am negative, my husband with no symptoms is positive. I have been released to walk around the ship. How is that safe? There are so many sick people on this ship! I’m sure they are walking around with Covid, rather than telling medical and getting put in isolation. We had a choice, send my husband to an isolation cabin. Or I stay in our nice balcony cabin with him and get tested every two days. Honestly, this is no vacation…thanks to those walking around sick, rather than notifying medical. On a side note, Holland America is reimbursing us for days in isolation. Now that I have been released to spread his Covid germs, I suppose I am not getting the FCC. If that turns out to be true, I will not be happy. This is not a vacation. Since they no longer require crew and passenger testing, I don’t feel safe. I rather doubt we will be cruising again anytime soon.

We are currently on the Niew Amsterdam and the doctor put us on a 5 day isolation. We even have to change our own sheets… all because we did the right thing! I’m sure we got Covid from someone on our first week of the cruise…I sat next to a guy in the theater that started coughing so bad he had to leave. How many people pretend they are well to avoid isolation? We are still waiting in our cabin for the letter they said they would deliver explaining how this works. We were also told we have to stay in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale Sunday. I have no idea if I’m supposed to get my own Uber and reserve the room. A little communication would go a long way. We cancelled our Alaska cruise this past summer because we were worried about Covid. I guess I should have transferred that worry to this cruise as well.

I have NEVER had a porthole, and I paid nothing like that. I also never booked a cruise that included airfare. Unless you actually cruised before the big mega ships, you really don't know what you are talking about.

Not really. I can remember as recently as five years ago paying under $500 for a balcony cabin on a 7 night cruise and being blown away by the food in the dining room.

I’m not going that far back.🤣

Actually, that is not true. We pay about double what we used to pay.

I totally agree! I have a few questions for RCCL. Have they tested how fast they can evacuate 10,000 people in the event of an emergency? Have they stopped building smaller ships for people like us that actually want to see the ocean, rather than a ship full of kids at an amusement park? I personally do NOT want to be in port when all these people descend on a port stop. I remember when the Ovation was first arriving in Honolulu. The news stations were cautioning the residents to allow more time to get to work because of the surge of people coming off the ship. Vancouver was concerned it couldn't get under the bridge. I see most of the people excited about this new ship are younger people. They are also the ones that don't care if the dining room has a dress code or tablecloths. They don't remember the days when you didn't have to pay to get an exceptional meal in the dining room. I guess I'm a fuddy duddy. I prefer a smaller ship that concentrates on the actual ocean.

We had Verifly last time we cruised and they didn't even look at it.

We didn’t notice any galley noise, but we found this ship doesn’t have as much soundproofing between cabins and the doors slam constantly from people on their balconies. We were very careful about not slamming, not everyone was.

Correcting…actually we were on the side with the port, but it was technically Starboard side.

Our cabin location was between the lifeboats, so we didn't have them blocking our immediate view.

Not at all. It is also the deck with the Family suites, so make sure you are far enough away from that if you don't want to be around kids. Our location was far enough it didn't bother us. We spent more time on our balcony on this cruise than we usually do.

I'm going to try a video...hopefully it will not be upside down. 😉 This video shows you how close to everything you are on the Cove Balcony level. We loved it. We had cabin 2349. 1514229296_CoveBalconycllip.mov

I don't know why my pictures posted upside down...Sorry...I tried everything to fix it.

Yes. Most of my pics are actually video...so I will post a couple of not so great pictures.

We loved our cove balcony on the Panorama. We enjoyed the protection from the wind and felt it was warmer on cool sea days. Also, being so close to the water was enjoyable.

I usually try to eat low calorie and healthy. Then...reality hits and I realize I'm on a cruise! So, my first meal is a boring salad in the Lido...my last diet food of the cruise.

I didn't even think of the covid factor. That makes good sense.

Thank you! We have two Holland America cruises booked for this year. I'm happy to hear not much has changed. Have a great cruise!