Anyone else checking Royal Caribbean daily???

[motheroftwocats814]

1 hour ago, ONECRUISER said:

Check Daily for price reductions. Most to all Vax/Testing requirements will end soon 

Do you know this with certainty? Or is this just one of those you heard from your best friends, cousin's, dog walker who works for the Canadian Gov't, Bermuda Gov't, the CDC and Royal Caribbean.

[cured]

2 hours ago, rrraydon said:

Exactly, it is over the top with Bermuda, seriously. Additionally, they are holding up the process for the other islands in the Caribbean when it comes to RCI ships. 

Actually, the Bahamas play a big part. They still require cruise ship passengers 12 and up to be vaccinated.  As discussed in a previous thread, an illustrious poster had an excellent explanation why RCL is actually being more transparent by not eliminating the vaccine rule yet for Caribbean cruises.  Carnival and NCL are hedging their bets that the Bahamas will fold and eliminate their vaccine requirement. Royal is prudently waiting.

 

What if the Bahamas doesn't relax their vaccine policy?  What becomes of all all these people expecting to go to the private islands or Nassau?  They will have to have their cruises canceled.  At least Royal is not putting cruisers in that position and waiting it out.

 

Bermuda's announcement is very interesting. It gives the Bahamas a way to bend to the pressure of the cruise lines to ease vaccine requirements yet discourage unvaccinated passengers from visiting their country by declaring something like:

 

"Sure we will drop the vaccine requirement, but it is going to cost your unvaccinated cruisers big bucks to carry additional covid insurance."

 

Will insurance companies start raising the prices of covid insurance policies? 

 

It will be interesting to watch this play out around the Caribbean.

[easyqueasy]

9 minutes ago, cured said:

Actually, the Bahamas play a big part. They still require cruise ship passengers 12 and up to be vaccinated.  As discussed in a previous thread, an illustrious poster had an excellent explanation why RCL is actually being more transparent by not eliminating the vaccine rule yet for Caribbean cruises.  Carnival and NCL are hedging their bets that the Bahamas will fold and eliminate their vaccine requirement. Royal is prudently waiting.

 

What if the Bahamas doesn't relax their vaccine policy?  What becomes of all all these people expecting to go to the private islands or Nassau?  They will have to have their cruises canceled.  At least Royal is not putting cruisers in that position and waiting it out.

 

Bermuda's announcement is very interesting. It gives the Bahamas a way to bend to the pressure of the cruise lines to ease vaccine requirements yet discourage unvaccinated passengers from visiting their country by declaring something like:

 

"Sure we will drop the vaccine requirement, but it is going to cost your unvaccinated cruisers big bucks to carry additional covid insurance."

 

Will insurance companies start raising the prices of covid insurance policies? 

 

It will be interesting to watch this play out around the Caribbean.

According to the Bahamas chat agents, the policy was dropped and unvaccinated are allowed to sail. Their website states unvaccinated can travel and they need to update their website on the cruise passenger portion. But maybe their agents are like Royal’s agent?  But wouldn’t it seem odd to allow unvaccinated unless it’s by ship?

[PolicromaSol]

1 hour ago, motheroftwocats814 said:

Do you know this with certainty? Or is this just one of those you heard from your best friends, cousin's, dog walker who works for the Canadian Gov't, Bermuda Gov't, the CDC and Royal Caribbean.

 

Nobody is claiming gnostic info here. Most people just recognize the way the wind is blowing now. Even the CDC has finally bent the knee, and the Bermuda email people are passing around is pretty telling. 

 

Cruise ships have long been dragged through the mud by the media for 24-hour stomach bug outbreaks, when such things could just as easily happen in any resort if merely one idiot neglects to wash his hands after throwing up. Somehow the resort gets a free pass while the cruise company gets public humiliation. This is why they've been (I will argue) overly cautious. But the resorts and tourist destinations are open (went to Vegas with the family last spring and ran into no restrictions whatsoever), inflation is about to beat us over the head, and cruises lose out on money from people passing them over for competition that no longer cares and will gladly accept money with a smile. At this point, the cruises are just missing out on money that should be theirs.

 

Personally speaking, I went ahead and booked one of the Adventure out of Galveston. It's not until next spring, and I figure the remaining test requirements will most likely go away by then. (And if not, well, we can cross that red-tape bridge easily enough.) But even 3/4 of a year away, it was slim pickings. When people open their wallets, businesses tend to listen.

 

(And for anyone who wants a laugh, yes, I did catch a stomach bug in Vegas!)

Edited August 20, 2022 by PolicromaSol

[detroitautocruisers]

Grand cayman has dropped also.

Effective August 24, 2022, all travelers—vaccinated and unvaccinated—are permitted to enter the Cayman Islands without the need of any additional documents or health-related steps due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Travelers are NOT required to:

• Apply for a Travel Declaration or Travel Request via Travel Cayman
• Present a negative COVID-19 test
• Show proof of vaccination
• Wear masks

If you are traveling to the Cayman Islands before August 24th, please visit www.exploregov.ky/travel for exisiting protocols. 

[Finnsmom13]

37 minutes ago, detroitautocruisers said:

Grand cayman has dropped also.

Effective August 24, 2022, all travelers—vaccinated and unvaccinated—are permitted to enter the Cayman Islands without the need of any additional documents or health-related steps due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Travelers are NOT required to:

• Apply for a Travel Declaration or Travel Request via Travel Cayman
• Present a negative COVID-19 test
• Show proof of vaccination
• Wear masks

If you are traveling to the Cayman Islands before August 24th, please visit www.exploregov.ky/travel for exisiting protocols. 

Now if FL cruises can get updated we would be getting somewhere 

[PolicromaSol]

5 minutes ago, Finnsmom13 said:

Now if FL cruises can get updated we would be getting somewhere 

 

Yeah, I don't get it to be honest. I mean, I'm happy a port closer to me started opening up bookings first, but you'd think Florida would have a lot of customers itching for a cruise.

[happy cruzer]

Looking at final payment soon.  so wish they would announce no testing required....

[ONECRUISER]

3 hours ago, motheroftwocats814 said:

Do you know this with certainty? Or is this just one of those you heard from your best friends, cousin's, dog walker who works for the Canadian Gov't, Bermuda Gov't, the CDC and Royal Caribbean.

You do realize we are already half way there?

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, detroitautocruisers said:

Grand cayman has dropped also.

Effective August 24, 2022, all travelers—vaccinated and unvaccinated—are permitted to enter the Cayman Islands without the need of any additional documents or health-related steps due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Travelers are NOT required to:

• Apply for a Travel Declaration or Travel Request via Travel Cayman
• Present a negative COVID-19 test
• Show proof of vaccination
• Wear masks

If you are traveling to the Cayman Islands before August 24th, please visit www.exploregov.ky/travel for exisiting protocols. 

Thank you!  ...As I said, Another One Bites the Dust! All this is ending

Edited August 21, 2022 by ONECRUISER

[not-enough-cruising]

7 hours ago, rrraydon said:

My thought on this is if Carnival is not having a problem updating their policy for their East Coast departures then RCI shouldn’t have any problems doing the same. They can leave their Bermuda policies as they stand or drop them…whichever. Bermuda shouldn’t be holding up the process. 

Carnival’s change in Vax policy is just window dressing and is, potentially, putting their customers in a very precarious situation  

[rrraydon]

24 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Carnival’s change in Vax policy is just window dressing and is, potentially, putting their customers in a very precarious situation  

🙄

[not-enough-cruising]

2 minutes ago, rrraydon said:

🙄

Read the policy. It states right there, you are not guaranteed to be able to board the ship. 
 

If Royal sells you a fare, you know you will be able to embark. 

[Finnsmom13]

Royal will sell to anyone and let them follow as needed they aren't denying sales to anyone 

[Husky1987]

Has anyone volunteered yet to be the lucky CC poster with the honor of  starting tomorrow’s “Royal needs to change their vaccine/testing policies” thread?

[rrraydon]

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Read the policy. It states right there, you are not guaranteed to be able to board the ship. 
 

If Royal sells you a fare, you know you will be able to embark. 

I’m not one who lives my life as a “the sky is falling” person. 
There's fine print in every single thing you do in life. 
 

But hey, you do you.

[not-enough-cruising]

9 hours ago, rrraydon said:

I’m not one who lives my life as a “the sky is falling” person. 
There's fine print in every single thing you do in life. 
 

But hey, you do you.

Not living my life as “sky is falling”, you don’t know me, but I have lived my life right in the middle of this mess. 
 

That said, this is not a “fine print” issue; this is buying a fare with no guarantee of boarding; I just don’t think that’s good customer service, but hey, you do you. I hope you get on a cruise soon, I’d like to buy you a drink. 

[cured]

16 hours ago, easyqueasy said:

According to the Bahamas chat agents, the policy was dropped and unvaccinated are allowed to sail. Their website states unvaccinated can travel and they need to update their website on the cruise passenger portion. But maybe their agents are like Royal’s agent?  But wouldn’t it seem odd to allow unvaccinated unless it’s by ship?

If the Bahamas had already dropped their vaccine requirement, the political battle in Florida regarding their "no vaccine requirements allowed law" would be all over the media.  The media loves a good political covid battle.

[livingonthebeach]

Not sure if this has been mentioned previously but the British Virgin Islands as well as St. Kitts & Nevis have dropped all Covid19 restrictions. No vaccine, test, or masks, etc. required. 

[Tlbecker1]

14 hours ago, PolicromaSol said:

 

Yeah, I don't get it to be honest. I mean, I'm happy a port closer to me started opening up bookings first, but you'd think Florida would have a lot of customers itching for a cruise.

We have been enjoying cruising for over a year.  😀 No itching for us, we board again tomorrow.

[Finnsmom13]

Has anyone traveled to Bahamas lately?  Their travel page also states masks are still required 

I talked with 3 diff agents today all stated that cruise travel is no diff than any other just need a test 3 days prior 

[deliver42]

I wish Royal and it's sister companies would follow Carnival. What's the difference between less than 6 days or 16 days? You have all the Carnival companies and NCL ane their companies having a ball booking RCCL's passengers because they are tired of all the BS that Royal is putting out.

[bigque]

The only thing I be looking at daily is for price drops & drink package prices for my next cruise! 👀

Edited August 21, 2022 by bigque

[Tlbecker1]

1 hour ago, Finnsmom13 said:

Has anyone traveled to Bahamas lately?  Their travel page also states masks are still required 

I talked with 3 diff agents today all stated that cruise travel is no diff than any other just need a test 3 days prior 

We were there in March.  They mentioned that there were mask requirements, but we didn’t see anyone wearing them around town.

[blueslily]

I check periodically for price changes. Not for anything related to COVID. Testing isn't an issue for me so I'm not bothered by the current policy. I mean, why on earth would I give up going on a cruise just because I have to take a COVID test? That's not rational to me. It's really not a huge deal for me to take the test. There are much more complicated things in life compared to getting a COVID test. So, I'm sailing on. Bring on the test. Its really not an issue for me, and I definitely wont stop cruising with ROYAL because of it. I love cruising too much for that silliness.