Cruising89143

Covers the RCG group. https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/27944-royal-caribbean-to-drop-pre-embarkation-covid-19-testing-for-short-cruises.html

It’s what I expected to start. Walk before they run. If this first phase goes well then I think they will relax the rules for longer cruises.

By the way, you can watch her sail away today. She should be leaving at any time. No sound and not the best cam but it does give a nice view of the ship.

It can be tough. We decided back in March to cruise again (locally) and not worry about the virus. I don’t like testing but we do it. We use the home proctored tests but I will be glad to see it end. We canceled a cruise/land trip to Italy in May as we did not want to deal with all of the testing required to cruise and fly back to the U.S. Luckily for us United and Celebrity were great to deal with. In the end we did not lose a penny for canceling.

We use Amex for everything and we do not spend just to chase points. We pay our charges in full each month. We used to use the Delta Amex but when we retired and moved west from the southeast we changed airlines and now use United more now due to United being stronger with more flight options out west. We added a new Amex that gives points for all types of travel. Works great. I also have a United card by Chase but seldom use it. Amex usually has deals with both RCI and Celebrity.

Agree. Much easier for the smaller lines with fewer ships to move faster. 😉 I’m sure that some of the lines that have ships placed all over the world and still need to figure out which ports/countries still require testing. I think that we will start to hear more next week.

Yes. March was our first time back on RCI in nine years. A total of four cruises on the NV since then. They finally placed a ship out here on the left coast that we can easily drive to so we decided to try them again. We had cruised on this ship right after she entered service out of Miami and really liked it. RCI did a nice job with the refurb a few years ago. Staterooms/suites are showing their age in some areas but overall a great ship with a hard working friendly crew. We still prefer Celebrity but we’re still keeping it in the family. 🙂 I think that you will enjoy the experience.

That sounds bad. Very bad. I can’t imagine.

You may or may not need to make show reservations. In March we had to reserve the ice show. The last three cruises there was no reservations required. This was including a cruise about four weeks ago. It was all first come…..first served.

LOL…Did you read where I posted a “one” ship cruise line? I’m not stupid. Just reporting that “another” cruise line has removed the testing requirement. Duh me!!!

Another (one ship) cruise line removes testing for “vaccinated” guests. https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/27901-margaritaville-at-sea-stops-pre-embarkation-covid-19-testing.html

I love a good good dirty martini with olives stuffed with a good “fresh blue cheese” but will pass on this.

Now that’s a plan. That Bloody Mary sounds good to me.

There is no rhyme or reason how they work. We have a B2B booked on RCI next month. I received a notification a month ago for the second leg that our bid was accepted. Actually I received a text from Amex showing a charge before the email arrived. Still waiting on week #1. A lot of the cruise lines use the same third party company to handle their upgrade program. https://www.plusgrade.com/partners/

You will definitely enjoy it. 🙂

I’m amazed at the attitude of the OP but no matter what anyone posts here, they have made up their mind that rules do not apply to them nor does consideration for their fellow guests who do follow the arrival requests. If every person on that sailing had this persons attitude then there would be 5000+ guests standing there at 10:00 AM creating one heck of a mess. SMH…….🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

From my three check-in experiences thus far with RCI over the last few months, they are strict with arrival times. Stick to your assigned times to be fair to everyone please. Edit to add that on each cruise we have received notice on the morning of the cruise to “stick” to the assigned times for check-in.

I’m fully aware of that but it’s a start regardless. The ‘big three” can’t ignore what the small lines are doing. Time will tell but I’m on the side that testing is about to go away and quickly.

Agree. Since VV only has a couple of other ships in service it was probably easier to move quickly but I’m hoping that RCG has been working on a plan in case this day finally came and clearly it has.

Oh you can bet that he and every other cruise line exec knows it.🙂 They’re all watching to see who will blink first. Hopefully this announcement by Virgin gets the ball rolling for the rest. This will help bookings and the cruise lines know it. It was easy for VV to make this decision as they only have a couple of ships in service. For the larger cruise lines I’m sure there is more to figure out but hopefully they were working on a plan to execute before the latest CDC announcements.

Virgin Voyages removes pre cruise testing requirements. Looks like it has begun. Vaccination requirements basically still in effect. https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/27889-virgin-voyages-eliminates-pre-embarkation-covid-19-testing-for-cruises.html

Virgin moves quickly…..Testing for U.S cruises ends July 27th. https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/27889-virgin-voyages-eliminates-pre-embarkation-covid-19-testing-for-cruises.html

We normally stay at the Marriott but as you stated, it’s under a major refurbishment through the end of the year. I called the Intercontinental before booking and was told that both the bay and ocean view overlook the port but the bay view is for the fourteenth floor and lower. Ocean view is floors fifteen and higher thus the higher price.

We just booked through Larry’s. We fly into FLL but staying in Miami. Price wasn’t too bad plus it’s great to have someone that has your flight info so in case it’s late or early then they can adjust. Easy to book.

Just saw this posted elsewhere. https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/environmental-health/and-just-cdcs-covid-19-program-cruise-ships-has-ended