stamphappy

Steam rooms & saunas were not open.  

They didn't tell us which corridors were being cleaned each night, but no, we never heard anything.  If they are like the cleaners where I teach (school), it's just a big machine on wheels that sprays out a fine mist.  

Main Dining Room was quite casual for dress code.  Even on the formal nights people were wearing flannel and fly fishing short sleeve shirts.  I don't remember seeing any shorts at the MDR during dinner.  

8 hours ago, Ashland said:

Was the WJ open for dinner at all ? Any problem just getting off ship and walking through the port towns?

There were no issues getting off the boat and into ports.  Actually, we were told masks would be required once we stepped into town, but no townsfolk were wearing masks outdoors.  Indoors all wore masks. 
 

Windjammer was not open for dinner, they closed at 3:30pm.  Park Cafe, though,  was open 3-6pm and again 8:30-11:30pm. 

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Welcome to CC.

Casino--you did not need to wear a mask while in the casino, but if you were traveling through it, people kept their masks on. 

Solarium--the bar was not open.  

The card room/library was not open.

Masks needed to be worn walking in hallways; on elevators; on top floor of the theater (it was the family/kid floor) but not the bottom floor.  No need for masks when outside.  

There was one 'big' show each night at 9:15pm. 

Taxi--we were at the Seattle Ferry Terminal.  Tried to get an uber to RCCL port to no avail.  A taxi saw us and quoted us the same price ($27) as the uber.  We assumed it was the going rate, so we paid it (and he never turned on his meter). BUT coming home--from the RCCL port to the Ferry-- the taxi had his meter on and it was only $13.  Our mistake totally!  

Ports of Call---yes, most all shops were open.  Here and there some shops were permanently closed.  It appeared to me (just from casual observation) that perhaps the 'ma & pa' type individually owned shops didn't make it and they were the ones not open.  The ports were beautifully kept, lots of flower pots, hanging flowers, etc...  We were the only 'big' ship in each port, so each port was very quiet.  So lively--not really, but certainly quite friendly.  

We did not do any excursions as we've been to Alaska several times so we just walked off the ship and meandered around the towns.  The tram was open in Juneau and we did that as the weather was perfect that day.

We did not do the "Alaska week before the cruise" flamingos.  Seattle itself was up and running, busy as ever, lots of cars, people, construction (hahaha).  

1 hour ago, cindivan said:

Not a make or break question - more out of curiousity.  Can you take off the purple bands when in your room?  I'm weird that I don't like to sleep with any jewelry or similar on.

Yes, you can take off the Tracelet and the purple bands when you are in your cabin.  Incidentally, our bands given to us by Royal were white, not purple.  And the Tracelets were turquoise blue.  This was on Serenade last week Aug. 2-8.

1 hour ago, discru said:

Thank you for sharing!!  I have a couple questions.... Bar stools at even the vaccinated bars were off limits?  Did you use the Port Valet service?  Was there some sort of crowd control for getting off the ship in ports?

The casino and Vintages Bar were the only bar stools that could be used.  All the other bars and the coffee shop bar stools were off limits.  During the day, Safari Club is used for Trivia games and whatnot so they had the 'every other table occupied' signs but late at night Safari Club opened up their seating as well.  We assume that was because there were no children allowed in the Safari Club later at night.

RE: Port Valet Service  -- Not sure what this is, so I assume we weren't privy to it.  We hired a taxi to take us to the Pier.  Porters immediately took our luggage and placed it onto the boat while we waited at the Pier for several hours for our specific time to be called (we were early).  They were not allowing anyone to go early--you went during your time and your time only.    

Leaving the theatre was done in sections to keep large clusters of people from happening.  

There wasn't crowd control per se leaving to go into town.  The ship only had 850ish guests, so there was no issue.  Everyone played by the rules and were cognizant of social distancing.  

We were given the tracelet 'watch' as well as a white stretchy band.  We had to wear both at all times unless we were in our cabin.  The band signified that we were vaccinated and the tracelet was used for contract tracing.  

Windjammer buffet--we could not serve ourselves, they had staff serving us every item.  

All areas had half the tables available.  The other half had signs that said "Reserved" so that no one could sit on them.  Bar stools were all off limits.  

There were about 850 passengers on board and no matter where we were visited on the ship, it was very quiet due to lack of guests.  

There was only one show each night rather than the typical early and late show.  Also, there was no Quest Game or other interactive events.  

Trivia and other games were done with paper/pencil, no sharing with others to correct papers and whatnot.  There were no special classes or wine tastings, etc...

There were no special nights, no BBQ on the lido deck, etc..  We did have 2 "formal" nights in the Main Dining Room. 

Our cabin was cleaned 2x per day.  

Every night between 2am-4am (or thereabouts) they did a machine-type disinfectant along all corridors.  

Please ask if you have any other questions.  

Covid testing is also now being required on cruises out of Seattle WA.  We just received today, Thursday, the RCCL email stating we must be tested prior to our Monday, Aug. 2nd sailing date. 

We JUST received the email from RCCL today, Thursday, at 1pm stating we need the test 3 days prior to sailing---we sail on MONDAY.  We've called 4 pharmacy companies so far in our area and none are doing rapid tests.  That leaves us with the PCR Test.  How can you do a PCR Test within 3 days of sailing AND produce the results when the results don't even get to sent to you until 3 to 5 days post test???!!!  I am NOT happy right now; am on the phone on hold with RCCL right now to try to get some alternatives.