RobInMN

There's a similar set of rooms on Deck 9 of the Oasis class ships overlooking Central Park. Deck 9 is a window and not a balcony. We loved that room.

10 minutes ago, Tippyton said:

Boo Boo Minimum doenst like facts that are not made up in his head.

Ooo name calling. I guess you win.

I'm not making up any facts. Delta is the last airline (at least domestic US) that has blocked the middle seat and they announced that they are stopping that practice. There are no announced social distancing measures in place by any (major?) airline preventing full flights. The is exactly the way they operated pre-COVID. Prove any of that false.

On top of that, the only people that have spoken up with any anecdotal evidence have indicated airlines are, in fact, operating full airplanes.

It's irrelevant whether there are 1000 full flights a day or 1. They have been given approval to operate at the same per-plane capacity as they did pre-COIVD. As demand increases, and it is, the number of flight will continue to increase.

There was a perfect meme in the "To add some humor..." thread.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2741933-to-add-some-humour/?do=findComment&comment=60978022

7 hours ago, RobInMN said:

 The last airline is removing the center seat block and planes will be just as packed as pre-COVID. 

41 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Nope... the claim was that flying would return to normal.  Normal is the number of flyers, not the load factor driven by a severe reduction in flights.

Wrong. My claim was that planes will be just as packed as pre-COVID. I made no claim as to the total number of passengers.

And bouhunter also made reference to planes being full, and you again responded with total passenger counts.

TSA totals and total number of flights and total numbers of passengers has nothing to do with the fact that each plane is operating with the same capacity as pre-COVID.

11 minutes ago, yogimax said:

I doubt it.  Do you have any proof of your claim?

Delta is the last carrier to block the center seat. They are removing that block soon. There is no talk of any social distancing on aircraft. So yes, while their may be less flights, those flights that do exist can have every seat booked. Therefor just as packed as pre-COVID. The airlines will pack the planes full before adding additional flights.

22 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Kraft is comfort food. Nice and orange

http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/abfp/abarticles/macarticle.htm

Andy Ozment, 21, a computer student at Georgia Tech - was brave enough to submit the One and Only Mac and Cheese Recipe.

    Here it is: "Buy 1 box Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (It's the cheesiest!). Follow stovetop directions on the box. Add salt. The salt is the key."

    The judges agreed. They ranked Ozment's dish a respectable No. 8.

1 minute ago, Redtravel said:

CDC says no cruises in United States.  They are protecting Americans. Lobbying to sail on a cruise is open from other countries. However, if you check most of those countries are Level red warning. Do not visit.  CDC cannot protect those people who leave on their own accord. I will stay home.

Then stay home. 100,000's of people have signed up as volunteers for test cruises. It's not for everyone, but the CDC should not be preventing an entire industry from moving forward and proving that it can operate safely. There are so many other threads on this. They have allowed every other industry in the county to resume business, many at or near pre-COVID operations. The last airline is removing the center seat block and planes will be just as packed as pre-COVID. 

53 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I deleted it. If they had said contact cdc I would have joined. Contacting my senator or congressman wouldnt move the cdc imo. 

 

6 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

This is WRONG.  I will seek other vacation options.  

CLIA: "Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is the world's largest cruise industry trade association..."

One of their primary functions is Advocacy:

https://cruising.org/en/about-the-industry/policy-priorities/Advocacy

"...coordinate the collaborative work of CLIA Cruise Lines on key maritime policy and legislative matters that impact the cruise industry..."

Essentially "lobbying"

As such, this is their job.

Meteorological Versus Astronomical Seasons

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/meteorological-versus-astronomical-seasons

And yes, I suppose there is also the "School Summer" of last day of school to the first day of the next school year.

10 hours ago, Thewild_cruiser said:

I think Royal are playing a dangerous game not offering anything out of the UK this summer.

 

They still haven't cancelled the Summer Anthem cruises yet. My June 11 9 Night Norwegian Fjord Cruise is still listed as a go, and can still book the 6 June/July cruises. I already re-booked a replacement Arctic Circle cruise for 2022, so just waiting for this to get cancelled. We can't figure out why it hasn't been already. Especially since we are in the US and would be flying over.

10 minutes ago, daninwi said:

how does the deluxe beverage package and Voom work?  are you paying 18% on the total or not?  on some cruises it looks like the deluxe beverage package and voom is sold at $58 / day.  $8 for internet isnt bad, but if you have to add 18% on top of that, the bundle offers little to no value.

 

 

Looks like the package is full price beverage, and discounted VOOM, and the gratuity is charged on just the drink package amount.

I just added that to my cart on an 8 night cruise.

Price: $616

Gratuity: $96.77

Total: $712.77

18% on the Price would have been $110.88

96.77 is 18% of $537.61

$537.61 / 8 = $67.20

The Deluxe Beverage Package by itself is listed as $67 / day

So I would be paying just $78.39 for VOOM Surf + Stream or $9.80 / day, which is listed as $16.79, for a savings of $7 / day.

I was going to say that if you are only going to get 1 device for your family/group, that might make sense, but when it comes to VOOM, you can share. So don't but 4 people @ 1 device. buy 1 @ 4 device package. It used to be a significant savings. But I just looked at that for this cruise, and while there is still a savings, it's very small. 4 @ 1 device is $16.79 * 4 = $67.16, a single 4 device plan is $57.57. For 2 devices, it's only about $1.50. Much smaller than the drink + VOOM savings.

11 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

That is an anomaly.  That is the first that I have heard where it has been included.  

I thought it strange too. Didn't know if it was something new they were doing on certain ships or classes of ships. So far I've only been on Voyager & Oasis classes. Anthem would have been my first Quantum. I just double checked in the cruise planner order history details for both cruises.

For each person:

Jewel shows:

     Price $126

     *Gratuity $22.68

     Total $146.68

Anthem shows:

     Price $198, Credit $x, Subtotal ($198-x)

     *Gratuity $0.00

     Total $198

On Anthem, there was a $200 shipboard credit that they applied, which paid for 1, and left $2 credited on the other. But either way, the final total is the same as he initial price, with gratuity $0.

So, I don't know.

RC FAQ:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/beverage-package-gratuities-policy

I don't know if it's just not up to date, or if my Anthem cruise is not including gratuities. But like I said, based on price, if it's technically not, it's priced as though it is.

BTW, I either read somewhere, or it was in a RC blog video that when you use your drink package the server/bartender automatically gets 18% of what the drink's listed price is, as if you tipped them 18% directly. Hope that's true.

The 18% gratuity is included in the drink package.

It used to be that when you purchased it, they would tack it on to the final purchase price. So if it was $20/day for 5 days, they would charge you 20 * 5 * 1.18 = $118.

Now, or at least on some cruises, it's built into the per day price.

I currently have 2 cruises booked for June (that will be cancelled) with the non-alcoholic refreshment drink packages on both.

One is on Jewel, where the 45% off sale was listed as $18/day, * 7 days comes to $252, but I was billed $297.36 which adds the 18% gratuity of $45.36.

The other cruise is on Anthem, also 45% off sale , but that was listed as $22/day, * 9 days comes to $396, which is what I was billed. There was no additional 18% tacked on the final charge

$18 * 1.18 = $21.24, which seems to me that the on Anthem, the gratuity is already included in the per day price.

27 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I will say though, that I think the older V/F class ships are more appealing looking ships than the newer ships that have come after them. I really like the O class but they are no beauties. They are better seen from the inside.

12 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Agreed. The V/F still have a classic ocean liner look to them while Oasis & Quantum class look like apartment buildings dropped onto a hull.

 

I can see your points, but I like them. I would even argue that Oasis and Quantum classes still look closer to that classic shape than some other lines' new ships. Thinking the new Virgin ships, the Norwegian Epic looks like a baluga, and their Breakaway Plus class looks top-heavy. Also, pretty much every Carnival ship design has always looked slightly "off" with the stubby bow, and that oversized whale tale smoke stack that sits too far back, and a front that typically has a number of more decks than the back which kind of makes me think large sea-going ferry. These are just my opinions.

In my opinion, if you like cruising, you should do an Oasis class at least once. I also think, if you can afford it, you should do a Disney cruise once (even if you don't have kids with you).

As for size, sure there's something like 8800 people on board (including crew), but the ship is that much larger for people to spread out. I never had any problems finding a nice quite place out of the way when I wanted. Did a European river cruise with my parents (who can't even fathom the idea of a large cruise ship). I calculated that, including crew, there is more square footage per person of air conditioned space on an Oasis class ship (all from the ship facts sheet) than the river cruise ship. But there was no convincing my parents. 

We were originally booked on Brilliance for a 12 Night Norway & Iceland cruise for late summer/early fall 2020, but it really wasn't the best timing. So when the Summer 2021 itineraries came out (pre pandy), we changed to essentially the same 12 Night Norway & Iceland Cruise for June 9th this year on Jewel. Sometime last summer or Fall, as part of their COVID response, RCI Changed a number of cruises, and that one was dropped, so we rebooked on the 9 Night Ultimate Norwegian Fjords Cruise Anthem out of Southampton, June 11th. (no more Iceland). We also had a cancelled transatlantic that we changed to a 7 Night Scandinavia & Russia Cruise on Jewel a few days after the Norway one.  While it's not technically cancelled yet, there is no doubt that it will be, so we will also cancel the Scandinavia one.

In the mean time, last week we booked b2b 12 Night Arctic Circle Cruise on June 20th on Jewel, and then continuing on with the 12 Night Iceland & Ireland Cruise July 2nd that you are looking at. Even got the same Jr Suite.

Everything else equal, we would probably be on Anthem, or any other Quantum class ship, but we are very excited about being able to do both the Norwegian Fjords and Iceland, like we originally wanted. As a b2b, we will have a a number of additional Norway ports, and there will be more time in Iceland than on either of the original attempts. I realize that there are 2 or 3 Norway cruises on Anthem next year, but Anthem does not do the Arctic Circle part going all the way up to Honningsvag.

So I guess the way we are looking at it, for us, these 2 cruises are all about the destinations/ports of call, and the ship is the ship, and we are very excited either way. We love the Oasis ships, and have yet to do a Quantum class (have Odyssey booked for Feb). This will actually be our first Radiance class cruise.

One thing to look at is whether or not the 18% "Service Charge" is included in that or not.

We had(technically still have) 2 cruises booked for this June. One on Anthem, one on Jewel a few days apart (pseudo b2b). Non-alcohol Refreshment Package on Jewel from a 45% off sale was promoted at $18/day, but they then added an 18% service charge on top of that. On Anthem however, the same 45% off sale was promoted as $22/day, and did not have an additional 18% Service Charge. I assume they just include it in the base price.

So when I divide the final price charged by the number of cruise nights, I get $21.24 on Jewel, and the posted $22 for Anthem.

2 hours ago, Diver2014 said:

So, we have no idea at this point if our Sept sailing on the Anthem from Southampton to the Norwegian Fjords is still a go.  Will the UK be open to international travelers?  Will Norway be open?  Will the US scrap quarantine of returning US citizens by then?  We'd like to just cancel but we've already paid airfare thru Royal's Air2Sea program and there's a $225 per person cancellation fee.  I guess we just sit and wait.

We're on the June Fjord one, which was a rebook of the cancelled Norway & Iceland one. At this point we are convinced it will be cancelled (March 19th announcement?) and have already booked b2b Arctic Circle & Iceland cruises in 2022 on Jewel. I know Anthem has a Fjord one, but the convenience of b2b and going all the way to Honningsvag was too appealing). Final payment is due Saturday and trying to decide whether to cancel or pay in full and get the assumed 125% FCC that we will turn around and apply to the b2b.

In our case, we had not purchased any airfare yet.

2 hours ago, JillK said:

Following this thread as my husband, myself and two teenaged daughters are going on the Allure next July from Civi but are planning 6 days/5 nights in Rome. Would love to get your recommendations for the airbnb you used and any tours you felt would recommend. 

 

Many thanks! 

K

 Hmm. Apparently CruiseCritic doesn't allow direct messages.😡

Pre-pandy, I sent an email to a friend of a friend with our recommendations, thoughts and reviews. I have made a few adjustments to make it more general and just attached that to this message. And this way I am not posting direct links to specific companies & listings (links are in the attached file). Looks like Ourusualbeach stayed in the same neighborhood and loved the place they found also. 

Rome Recommendations.txt

14 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

This past February I took my daughter to Rome for a couple days after we spent a couple days in Paris.

 

We rented a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, kitchen and living room apartment in Ottaviano.  Our apartment was literally 10 steps from the metro and 3 blocks from the Vatican.  Lots of good restaurants within walking distance.   The subway was great, a quick ride to the termini, very easy to get around.  The best thing was it was less than $100 a night.  It was clean, modern and perfect for what we wanted.

Yes! Ottaviano! That was our Metro stop.

3 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Okay, I think I can see us doing 3 nights in Rome,  what area is best to get a hotel in, not the cheapest and not the most expensive one or should we go for an AirBnB?

 

Since just one day in Barcelona, what excursion or tour or private tour guide is best to reserve there? to see most of the important(most interesting) sights?

We had an Airb2b about 3 blocks from the Vatican. It was a little cheaper than most hotels I looked at that seemed "decent" by American standards, plus it had a washer & dryer (and A/C) since we were there a week. It was also about 2 blocks from 2 Metro stations. We felt like we could get anywhere in about 20-30 minutes using the Metro. It also seemed like we were in "normal" Rome, outside of the real touristy spots. A bit slower, and more quiet. I would totally stay there again, and I've recommended it to a friend of a friend who was going there. So while there could be safety or nightlife or other things to take into consideration, if you are just looking for a decent place to sleep after a day of sight seeing, convenient to metro would be one of my main considerations. The Airb2b company even arranged private transfer from the airport and to port for us. Super convenient. I don't know what the rules are about posting businesses, but I'd be happy share in a private msg. Same for tour companies, I would totally recommend the one that we booked for our Rome tours. 

For Barcelona, as I've previously mentioned, not nearly the fan others are, but for a single day highlight tour, we were good with the Gaudi one that RC does. At the very least, I'd say it's a good default or starter. 

We did the Western Mediterranean on Symphony on her inaugural season in 2018. For us, it came down to 1 question. Which city do I want to see more than one day, and for us there was no question that the answer was Rome. We spent 7 days in Rome prior to the cruise and we could have easily spent another 3-4 days, if not a week more. There are so many things that we have on a mental list to see “next time” (if there ever will be a “next time” with so many other places to vist). Once on the ship, we just felt sorry for anyone trying to see “Rome in a day!” Port is about 90 minutes from historic Rome, so that’s 3 hours, leaving something like 5-7 hours to see everything. For us, flights were more expensive to Rome than Barcelona, and we got a great Airbnb for a great price in a great location that included a washer/dryer. Did not price Barcelona. Can’t argue with the fact that the port in Barcelona was closer and easier, however, we had a terrible issue with traffic on our Barcelona tour (Gaudi). We were 60+ minutes late back to the port and were stuck in traffic, literally not moving for 10 minutes at a time approaching the round-a-bout which you have to go through to get to the port. They are so proud that they hosted the 1992 Olympics, and told us constantly, and I just kept thinking “how could you host the 1992 Olympics, when you can’t host 4 cruise ships?”. No offense to anyone that loves Barcelona, but we feel like we saw everything we wanted to except for the inside of La Sagrada Familia. Like K2G said, It's a personal preference and Rome is just more our thing (definitely mine). On the downside of embarking/disembarking Rome, the whole cruise calendar is off. Barcelona is the “home port”, and as such, everything is done on that schedule. So, you are doing days 5, 6, 7 of one cruise and days 1, 2, 3, 4 of the next cruise. Don’t know if they’ve fixed it yet, but I seem to recall that it made for some difficulties with the RC phone app. Can't speak for Barcelona tours, but Rome has tons. We loved the tour company we used. Booked 6 tours with them. 

Since it has standard outlets, I am not sure. The last time I had something like a powerstrip (which it was), it was flagged and they wanted to know what I was going to plug into it before they would let me have it, or my luggage, but that was over 10 years ago. In more recent years, I've never had any issue with a USB charger station similar to below. Once you consolidate all your device chargers into a single device on one outlet, I can't imagine that anyone would legitimately need additional outlets beyond what is supplied in the room, so I would say don't risk it and just get a USB only one. And mine, like this one, has a cord.

26 minutes ago, andreasfcb said:

I understand that they want to move around some ships. But why would they completely cancel the Jewel cruises (British Isles, Norway-Iceland)? Those itineraries are incredibly popular. Will there be another ship taking over?

The Norway & Iceland was perfect since we wanted to see both!

For Iceland, you only had the Norway & Iceland combo, or I think 1 repositioning cruise. This year, there was just 1 Norway & Iceland (obviously cancelled), none last year (that I could see), and just 2 next summer. I booked this almost as soon as the itineraries came out last fall. There were 4 of us (2 couples), we are so pissed. We were so looking forward to this. There's no equivalent on RC. We thought for sure this was far enough out it would be safe, but yet we are still getting screwed. I did a L&S to next fall on our cancelled Allure T-A, about ready to just cancel that too. So upset.

We had a party of 7. Due to limited spots, we booked 4 encounters and 3 swims (for the same time). I am not convinced that the Swim at Ocho Rios is worth the extra money. I have read about other encounters where you can get pulled along by the dolphins and other real interaction. The Swim at Ocho Rios is more of a glorified encounter where you are actually in the water with the dolphins. They had 5 or 6 dolphins doing the swims and 3 doing the encounters. Each swim dolphin had a group of about 10-12 people. You line up and the dolphin swims back & forth a couple times so you can feel their skin. You (as a group) give the dolphin hand commands to "dance" (spin). And you pose for a cheek kiss (not even a hug). Then all the swim dolphins do some jumps.

Dunns River Falls was a blast! I chickened out on giving the guide my new camera, it was locked in the locker. But luckily, there was a Royal Caribbean photographer about midway that got a picture of us.

I also agree that the straw market was obnoxiously agressive. They were even trying to shove stuff in our bags as we walked by.

-- Rob