spooky981

Just have to hope this is temporary. I would expect plenty of precautions but treating unvaccinated kids as if they're radioactive is a bit overbearing. Everyone is tested prior to getting on, at that point masks should be adequate in the kids center.

Daycares across the country operate this way every day and they don't even have testing unless you show symptoms.

Well that experience sounds miserable. I can only hope that things are different in March when I go.

I believe you are limited to five hours per day by appointment, with drop ins allowed when there is space. I can't speak to the distancing required when inside.

On 9/10/2021 at 12:52 PM, katmmoore said:

Update time! Just got off of the Ovation of the Seas with our 6 year old daughter! 
 

Initial testing at the pier — nice and easy. They hardly go up their little noses and then you wait. They said 30 minutes but it was an hour so just be prepared for some waits! They tested again on day 6 and also nice and easy. For those results they email and bring a copy to your room. Thankfully negative both times!! 

 

Adventure Ocean — as others have mentioned you are given a block of hours at the start specifically 4 3 hour blocks. We booked those days 1 for the evening session that night and then all 3 the next day. At the check in for the 7PM-10PM session on night 2 we simply asked to book the sessions for the next day. Zero problems at all! On sea days she was there for all sessions and stayed onboard in Juneau when we got off (she wasn’t feeling any shore excursions! The crew was amazing as always, late night for adventure ocean ran till midnight. The kiddos did all wear masks inside but for our daughter she has to wear one at school so it wasn’t a big deal to her! 
 

For getting off of the ship she was required to have a shore excursion booked and it was checked before getting off that she was on the list of approved under 12 year olds to get off with an excursion. We did the musher camp in Skagway and the taste of Sitka in Sitka (totems, salmon running, raptor center, bears). She had a blast everywhere. We were allowed to go to the stores at the specific place the excursion went, there was no wandering around town with unvaccinated minors! 
 

On the ship itself there were places she couldn’t go but it wasn’t a huge deal. We mostly did trivia in Schooner as it was for everyone so she could come too, vaccinated only was at amber and oaks. The buffet closing early was a bit tough for dinner as the main dining room isn’t our style so we mostly did pizza and room service for dinner with her! We did the dining room a few times and although they’re great at bringing out the kids food first it just means the kids have to sit there longer while the adults finish. Food was excellent though! 
 

Ovation also has the kids splashbay, it was Caribbean she would have lived in it but being it was alaska she only did it once before we left Seattle but it was a blast for her! 
 

We felt incredibly Safe the entire time. The ship definitely tried to take every precaution and it felt safer than going to target! 

Did she enjoy herself in the kids club? I'm on the threshold of taking a three year old and a five year old in November. I want to ensure two things:

1) They have a good time. I want Adventure Ocean to be enjoyable for them so that they don't fight us going there.

2) My wife and I get plenty of alone time. I'm worried about signing up for "sessions" such that we may only get three hours of time together per day. I was hoping for much more than that.

Just resurrecting this thread in case anyone has fresh experiences with the kids club. I know things change rapidly, and back in June the kids club was flying by the seat of their pants. What is the situation like in the kids club right now?

9 hours ago, poocher said:

Very nice, but how responsive will that TA be if you have issues?  If you are shopping around for random TAs, you have no relationship with them.  Given the myriad of problems that can and are popping up currently, I want a TA I know has my back.  You got a great deal and I hope everything goes smoothly for you.  Me? I’ll stick with a known quantity who has proved their worth over time.

Some TA's are incredible and others are merely average. There are precious few bad TA's thankfully. In my case I am knowingly downgrading the customer service I have access to in exchange for $1800. I'll pay that.

Always book directly with RCL, then shop around for TA's that give you the greatest rebate or OBC. Transfer to the one you like best. The key is to already have the reservation made because then the TA's know there's not much work to be done. They tend to be more generous.

In August I booked a suite for $16,000.00. I shopped around to about a dozen travel agents and the best offer was a $1,700.00 rebate plus $350 onboard credit. All I did was give her my reservation number and it was transferred within an hour.

Just be mindful that you only have like 30 or 60 days or something like that after booking to transfer to a TA.

Any of you have kids? I want to know what the experience is like for them, and how the experience changes by having them. I don't set sail until November but I don't anticipate things will get better by then.

I'm reading people that say masks are required between sips and bites. Is that the case?

I feel like my kids are safer on a boat that is 95% vaccinated with pre-boarding COVID tests than they are in a school that is 0% vaccinated. However I can't blame anyone for not wanting to deal with the hassle of travelling with unvaccinated children right now.

Can somebody describe the experience at Adventure Ocean right now? In November I'm supposed to take a 3 year old and a 5 year old on our first family trip. But I want to make sure the daycare still provides a good experience.

I'm with you. I'll mask up indoors, that's fine. But if they start requiring masks in-between sips and bites that's my limit.

9 minutes ago, Scoobydobe7 said:

I was told no by a C&A rep...I was told if you are traveling with unvaxed children..you are considered unvaxed...even with the vaccine ...because of this information we have  cancelled our cruuse in October.. 

I've never heard anything like that and I've been paying very close attention to the last 6 months. I recommend you call back and get a different representative and see if you get the exact same answer.

I decided long ago that the risks of my children attending public school are far greater than spending a week on a cruise ship.

There are some cruise lines that could get away with this. Viking and Ama come to mind, probably Seabourn. Those boats are loaded with old rich people who don't tend to bring children.

Not Royal Caribbean though. The majority of revenue generating itineraries would no longer be profitable if families were blocked from booking.

It's the X number of hours per trip limitation that has me reconsidering.

Oh man that could be a dealbreaker for me. I have a week-long cruise out of Florida in late November and it was going to be our first family vacation with the kids. At ages 3 and 5 they would be in Aquanauts together.

But with activities being pared down, the kids not really being allowed to interact, and being limited to a couple hours of daycare per day, this no longer sounds like a good idea.

I'm sailing in late November too. Four months ago I was standing in line at a MassVax site for three hours in the rain hoping to get my first shot. Things change fast. Just imagine where we'll be four months from now?

All it takes is the CDC to reduce the 95% requirement to 85% and suddenly I suspect most cruise lines will satisfy that number on every voyage. With the CSO expiring on November 1st that's a very realistic expectation.

The room is big enough but we think with the help of Aquanauts we can probably handle the kids ourselves.

I sail in late November.

That's interesting. I thought that they could help with childcare, and it sounds like they almost push excess on you. I didn't quite get many ideas on unique things to request but I sure have a better idea of what to expect now.

I got a two bedroom spacious aquatheater suite on Symphony. I'll be bringing my wife and two kids (3 and 5). People always talk about how incredible these genies are and how you're only limited by your imagination - but since I'm not an avid cruiser I have no imagination!

The only thing that comes to mind is asking for a favorite beer on ice, or a dessert in room after we return from dinner. It feels like that would be a waste of an extraordinary resource though!

What kinds of things can a Genie do that I probably wouldn't think about?

Is there anything they can do to make childcare easier?

Things just change so fast. 90 days ago the first version of the rules had all masks all the time, to include between sips and bites. Even on the pool deck! I bet 90 days from now there are no restrictions or mask requirements for vaccinated passengers at all.

With 6000 passengers there's going to be COVID on every ship. But now that I'm vaccinated I am far more concerned about incidences of Flu or Norovirus on these ships. Those will **** you up.

It's been documented that vaccinated individuals can still carry COVID. So when getting on a boat of 6000+ passengers I'm absolutely certain the virus is on the ship. But now that I'm vaccinated it's not even among my top-five cruising health concerns anymore.

Incidents of the common cold, norovirus, or the flu will be far more common on cruise ships than a serious case of COVID. We just need to get over the mental hump of COVID where we instantly associate it with death. If you're vaccinated that's extraordinarily unlikely.