Agavegirl1

Thanks for this topic.  I can now rule out cruising.  I have had Covid twice about 14 months apart.  The original version pre-Jab  for a month and Omicron since it was so far mutated and was basically a 4 day head cold.  Buh Bye Royal.

Guess we saw the writing on the wall.  I've already received my refunds for April of 2021.  I was so looking forward to a smaller ship with unique ports.  I will need to be a little flexible.

I have previously said I would not cruise until it approached normal.  Masks and the inability to explore a port on our own will keep us away.  I am required to wear a mask at work and hate it so much that I dropped down to part time and will be retiring if the masks continue to be required.  We have been hanging out at our remote lake house most of the year.  Hubby was laid off and on disability and I took a leave of absence.  We masked, washed hands, distanced, cancelled holidays starting with Easter and still got Covid in October, when all the nasty viruses in cold climates move indoors to live among the people.  

I will not mask on vacation so maybe we won't vacation at sea or on islands.  We cancelled our April Western Caribbean.  We will road trip and camp, respect the wishes of private businesses and deal with it.

After reading a few pages here and calling Royal, I cancelled.  Of course hey tried to convince me to book a similar cruise a year later but there was nothing actually similar so......apparently my Credit Cart will be credited with all monies paid in 45 days.  Amazing how the debit took 45 seconds.

Booked on 4/25 but with the Key West election info, I will likely cancel.  Booked in a Junior Suite (balcony room on this ship).  Booked it last year with a refundable deposit.  No, I am not a psychic and had not idea about Covid.

6 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

What are they please?

If you go to the actual recommendations and scroll down a bit, there is a chart.  There are two columns on the far right.  There are Xs in one or the other columns.  The first column is for recommendations that can be modified or eliminated.  The second is for those recommendations that should be permanent.  They are primarily for crew and vendor protocols and do not impact passengers

LESS LIKELY.  Some of the recommendations are permanent but most of the disagreeable ones (to me) can be modified or eliminated, like masks, cruise sponsored shore excursions etc.  If those are ended or modified, I would go back.  Until then, no.

I do not need to cruise that badly that I would

become a medical experiment.  It will be a while but I will save a bunch of money.  I guess there is that.

I can’t believe I just saw this!  I am booked on Empress for April 2021 for the Western Caribbean.  I have had no communication from Royal.  I have a refundable deposit and drink package for two invested.  Suggestions?

I would cancel.  The vaccine is being rushed and it will be some time before safety and efficacy can be assessed.

Very new to cruising by board standards having only it done twice.  I find the information here very valuable.  We choose a mid level balcony room but always fly first class and stay a night before and after in a very nice hotel.  We might do a suite next (are actually booked in a junior suite for our next one if it goes).  Everyone has a right to decide what is important to them in a vacation.

I just don’t open a thread about the Diamond lounge or all that.  If I can’t eat at Coastal Kitchen, I know I can pay a bunch of money to do so and do not see the value.  My new to cruising brother?  He does the suite thing always.

I'll have to watch this.  We are booked on Empress April 25th with Key West being one of the reasons we booked this itinerary.

I wear a cocktail dress and Hubby wears a travel sports coat with dark pants and a short without a tie.  Well, he wore a tie once.

While I do wipe down a few things and carry packaged individual wipes in my purse with me, I find my focus is sanitizing my seating area on the plane.  Flight turnover is half an hour.  No way your area is sanitized.  We fly first class to have our own row as well.  On the ship, frequent hand washing and some targeted sanitizing works...remote, door handles,  switches etc.

While we seldom eat at the windjammer except when we have to for breakfast, it is convenient and readily available.  The hot dogs were better than the specialty hot dog place on Oasis.  The reason we did not eat there is because it was a buffet and all it entails.  As hard as the staff works on keeping it refilled and appealing, the volume of passengers using it doesn’t lend itself to a sanitary, appealing, fully stocked option.  The photo upthread of the “make your own caesar salad”. station kind of says it all.

It's $77 for our April Western Caribbean.  For a six day cruise, that would be $1090 with gratuity for two people on a 6 day trip.  Umm...No.

Not me but DH 

USMC 1988-1992.  Machine gunner and Mar-Det on the New Jersey, also serving on the Denver and Pelelieu.  Served in Desert Storm, Desert Saber, and Desert Shield.  

Got him to cruise by suggesting a ship can also be “fun”.  

What are these veteran get togethers of which you speak?

I am in rural NW WI in a county with a single case of the virus and no deaths.  Our governor has extended the stay at home order and joined a coalition of other Midwest states to establish re-opening guidelines.  He has had over 30 days to come up with something and did not.  The state is closed because of 3 southern counties.  My hubby had surgery scheduled for 4/15.  He cannot work until his arm and shoulder problems are repaired.  It was postponed indefinitely.  His Doctor just called in a refill for his pain medication because of the stay at home order until May 26.  It is scary he has to keep taking that stuff.

Each day I become more and more pessimistic.  Siblings have lost jobs, closed their businesses and are living off of savings, unemployment and whatever they can scrape together.  We live in areas almost completely unaffected by the virus.

I am booked for April 2021.  Not before then.

Oh great.  Now I have the song stuck in my head.

My first trip into the Belize interior, I took the Malaria pills and the side effects were not worth it.  Appropriate mosquito protection was better.  I also moved to Panama when I was 8 days old and had an accelerated vaccination schedule as well as an additional "Yellow Fever" shot.  None of the stuff I got is required now.  It wouldn't hurt to be current on your DPT  (diptheria, pertussis, tetinus) and a Flu vaccine.  The Flu vaccine is for the ship.  The rest, for un-vaccinated passengers and accidents.

I am also looking for a TransPacific between Australia/New Zealand to either US or Canada in the Pacific Northwest.  I looked at RCI and found an itinerary going from Sydney to Vancouver in two legs with maybe Hawaii in the middle.  I will look at the Oceania but am leaning RCI.

Smooth and richer tasting.  

I drank Kraken with Diet Coke and in coladas on Oasis on the deluxe beverage plan.  Sometimes I got Kraken when asking for dark rum and Diet Coke.  They would just reach for the Kraken.  This was about 9 months ago.

Best thing I ever had on a RCCL Cruise was the Grand Marnier Souffle with vanilla sauce that I am attempting to replicate (March 2019 on Oasis 2nd formal night).