BND

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I would be very surprised if Royal did not offer guests the option to cancel for a full refund. 

Nothing in the emails mentions refunds.  Carnival did't offer it.

31 minutes ago, Rewind said:

Also noticed our Apr 12 sailing is now only a 7 night sailing and not an 8 night.

Yep as we're on both we received both emails.

We are going to my Mom's in the Yorktown/NN area on Wed. We then plan to park at the Norfolk airport and catch a cab from there as there's limited port parking and we don't want to chance it.  There's a chance my BIL may take us too (DS and DBIL live in Yorktown) as it's not that far and we've taken and picked them up from the airport up here a couple of times.  

For the 12 April it'll now be 7 days and we'll receive OBC and skip Nassau (no big deal as we've been there many time and will be on the first leg)

Our set sail passes say Norfolk.  Kind of surprised.

Our set sail passes for4 April all say Norfolk now.  Several people have reported it.

1 minute ago, toad455 said:

 

I also don't ever remember Norfolk having more than one ship sailing from there. It's always been a limited summer home port for Carnival. Has Royal ever sailed from there?

I think they have for a few sailings, but not for a few years from what I remember.

17 minutes ago, LB_NJ said:

I read somewhere that the official cruise parking lot for Norfolk holds 1200 cars.  Would this be an issue if Vision were also to dock there?

Yes.  Legend has more passengers than Vision. I'm also pretty sure there are more than 1200 spots at Baltimore and the lots are routinely full or close to it.

4 minutes ago, Rewind said:

There is a news station reporting that Royal will also use Norfolk for Vision of the Seas:
https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/cruise-chaos-royal-caribbean-carnival-cruises-from-baltimore-will-now-port-in-norfolk-ginny-maurer-cruise-planners-talks-travel-insurance-for-cruisers/83-2f8cc024-f92c-4133-9205-bce513f63ef3

 

I wish Royal would release a statement to those who have cruises booked directly.

No idea how she would know when no one else does.  Also, that story is a day old and we have no info from Royal yet.  We're on the 4 and 12 Apr cruises.

8 hours ago, TPKeller said:

 

I don't think it was a crucial difference.  I believe all the vehicles that were in front of the police closure made it safely at least past the point of collapse.  I haven't seen any reports on whether there was still traffic on the parts that did not collapse, but no matter, they were fine.

 

Theron

There wasn't any other traffic on the bridge except for the workers vehicles.  Traffic was stopped in time.  If you watch the video you can see a break in traffic by the time the ship hit.

3 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

Tuesday = 2 found alive

Wednesday = 2 found underwater

Under Debris = 2

 

What about the other 2?

 

 

I missed that there were 8 as all I've heard the last two days is that there were 6.  So, 4 under debris, possibly.

They found 2 bodies today in a red pickup truck..  That leaves 2 more which they think are under the debris where they can't get without moving it.  This all will not be as quick as some hope. Hope and reality are two different things.  And, we're on the 4 and 12 Apr Vision cruises.  Still waiting for where we'll board.  We made a hotel reservation in Elizabeth, NJ today.  We don't need one on the off chance it's Norfolk as my sister and mother live in Newport News.

4 hours ago, StrikeEagle said:

With the allowed bottle of wine per person to bring on board on embarkation day, can I bring that bottle of wine onto one of these ports (Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel)? And if I don't finish that bottle of wine, can I bring it back to the ship?
Thank you.

Nope.  That's the rule.  Doesn't matter what port it is outside of embarkation.  If you do, they will confiscate it and you will get it at the end of the cruise. There will always be one or two who said they have done it, but most get caught.

1 hour ago, LB_NJ said:

What is the current route around Baltimore that DOES NOT have a tunnel?

 

You really don't want hazardous/explosive material in a tunnel.

It's also illegal, so there's that.  There are signs are you approach Baltimore about hazardous/explosive material carriers and what routes they should take.

10 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Under the bridge yes, but there at the collision site less than 40.

That's what I said.  

53 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Water isn't that deep there, so no surprise the bow is on the bottom.  I'd imagine they'd have to offload the containers before trying to move it anyway, so it shouldn't take much to refloat it back into the channel.

Yesterday on the news, they interviewed someone with knowledge of the depth (gov official) and he said it's 50 ft in the channel under the bridge.  

47 minutes ago, mil76 said:

I'm not a bridge-phobic person, but those Cheasapeake Bay bridges are pretty scary to cross, especially in the summer when everyone is going "downeyoshin" and they switch all the lanes around.  It would be nice if the silver lining of all of this is they bring both crossings up to modern standards.

I've ridden across and driven across those dozens of times. Grew up in MD and have been to Ocean City, MD a lot.  They never scared me.  I avoid the lane facing oncoming traffic when they have it that way.  It is only one bridge though that does that.  They used to offer drivers for free for people who were phobic.  You have to pay for the service now.  I'd much rather drive myself than have a stranger do it.

10 minutes ago, LB_NJ said:

I do not think most travel insurance would cover this.  Travel insurance tends to be "named peril" and changing departure ports usually isn't listed as covered in the policies I've seen.

Cancel for any reason covers it. There are a lot of things that are covered.  A lot cover change in port.  

2 minutes ago, pghflyer said:

Yup, it isn't RCL's fault and this is a tragedy, but that doesn't mean it becomes my problem to drive 3+ hours to a place I never agreed to leave/ return from.  I have a reservation to/from Baltimore and if this incident means RCL/ Carnival can't deliver that, then I should be offered an option to get a refund.  I guarantee you if my family had a tragedy and I had to move to another city, they wouldn't swing by and pick me up for free.

That's why you buy insurance.

2 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The cars parked there used to get a free unwanted paint job....

That hasn't been reported in several years.  Especially since they rebuilt the port and moved the parking areas and built the garage.

3 minutes ago, blondie from arizona said:

I don't know if I want to leave my car in New Jersey. Plus, we picked this cruise just for the convenience. It may no longer be convenient and then I am not on a preferred ship and have to drive further. I am not going to call RCL about it though. My cruise is a ways off. I will wait and see. It is all GOOD. I love RCL and I am sad for the people that lost loved ones and sad for America. It is a big deal that the bridge was destroyed. Not a big deal about my vacation. 

NJ port is just as secure as any other port.  I know lots of people who have parked there. The only issue we've seen/heard was when TS Sandy slammed NY/NJ.  We were on the next cruise after and a lot of cars had been flooded with salty water. A lot wouldn't start. We use Amtrak to Newark and stay in a hotel the night before and get a car service to the port.

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

I like riding trains. If I were to cruise out of NJ I'd probably take Amtrak from RI to Newark.

We always do.  We just did this past Oct/Nov for our Jewel cruise out of Bayonne. We also use the Auto Train for FL trips.  We have an Amtrak MasterCard that earns us points.  We haven't paid for a full train trip in a while.

12 minutes ago, OBX-Cruisers said:

Excellent point ignored by others it seems.  Norfolk has been underused for many years now and it is a logical choice if the Baltimore port is out of service for months vs weeks.

With only one ship in Bayonne right now (Anthem), parking is not an issue.  How is Norfolk logical?  There's even less parking there.

13 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

Royal has not made a decision on any port yet for the current Vision cruise or the two cruises in April, 2023, before dry dock.

 

The Norfolk discussion is for the Carnival cruise line which is included in a Royal discussion because they are both affected by the Baltimore Bridge Disaster.

Or April 2024 either lol.

8 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

I only heard about the original two. One is in hospital and the other “walked away”.  
 

I haven’t seen news on the two new recoveries myself but they had to have gotten out of the water quickly as hypothermia would have led to their demise some time ago. My fingers are crossed that more have been found alive. 

It is the original two.  The other poster must have misunderstood what he saw on the news.  I live in No VA and local news has been covering it, including multiple special reports all day.

7 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

 

So availability isn’t an issue although of course there may have to be some tweaks to Vision’s itineraries - the odd day added or taken away - to make the schedules align. 
 

 

That was my point.  Anthem is NOT in Bayonne on the days that Vision is scheduled to sail and return for the next two cruises prior to drydock.

Just now, Angelboy301 said:

Royal Caribbean sent the following statement to news outlets:

 

“We are deeply saddened by the tragedy and collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and extend our heartfelt prayers to all those impacted. We are closely monitoring the situation, and our port logistics team is currently working on alternatives for Vision of the Seas’ ongoing and upcoming sailings."

 

My best guess is that they re-deploy to Cape Liberty as they have (and control) the infrastructure there.

 

Carnival’s statement was much less reassuring:

"Our thoughts are with those affected by this tragic accident. It is premature for us to comment on possible impacts to upcoming sailings," 

 

They don’t have an easy solution.

 

Anthem is currently the only ship going in and out of Bayonne and the schedule shows availability on 4,12 and 20 April.  Anthem is not scheduled on those days.