SargassoPirate

For the most part, GI illnesses, like the green apple quickstep, are spread by the fecal-oral route. All one has to do to prevent them is to break the chain of transmission by washing your hands before you touch anything that's going in your mouth. And washing your hands as you leave your cabin or as you enter the MDR doesn't count. Think of how many common surfaces you touch before you pop that roll in your mouth - the underside of your chair as you pull yourself up to the table, the menu, the condiment containers. The buffet offers even more opportunities for cross contamination. I grew up during the pre-polio vaccine days and we were taught to wash our hands, wash our hands, and wash our hands.

The only thing I use the Medallion for is to open my cabin door and like the old key card to order a drink at the bar. The app is so wonky, you probably don't have time to mess with it pre-cruise. Just take your paperwork with you to the pier, and they'll give you a medallion there. At least that's what I do.

I hope you have only a mild case since you were vaccinated. The vaccines do not prevent you from catching covid, they just prevent a serious case. The virus is here to stay. It is also mutating into a more easily spread but less deadly version. When infections occur we now have therapeutics. How long do you want wholesale testing of people who are not sick to continue?

As is wiping down every surface within reach and crew members wearing rubber gloves - although that is likely to persist. The only thing those gloves do is keep the wearers hands clean. They wear gloves for an extended period and touch multiple surfaces, so what good do those gloves do?

To tell you the truth, the tests are pretty much worthless anyway. I did a cruise in the fall and got a test from CVS and they texted me the results. I used a screen shot of that report to board. A few months later I did another cruise, got tested, and CVS texted me the results. I did a screen shot as before. I get to the pier and to prove I was vaxxed I pulled up the screen shot and was cleared to board. It was only later while sitting in the lounge area waiting to board that I noticed I had shown the wrong screen shot. I was cleared to board with a test over 60 days old. About as useful as the health question form that you had to fill out while standing in line on boarding day.

I have a sound level meter app on my phone, and while not NIOSH certified, it will give me a good ballpark on the decibel levels. Most amplified production shows run around 125 dB or more. The Caribbean band on the Melanoma deck is about the same. It's interesting that the cruise industry is scared to death of the CDC when it comes to covid but ignore completely their hearing loss recommendations. What Noises Cause Hearing Loss? | NCEH | CDC

I'm not booked on the 2023 WC but can speak to cruising solo if I may. She Who Must Be Obeyed doesn't care to cruise as much as I do, so I more often than not I cruise solo. I find it very enjoyable because I'm not tethered to anyone else and when there is a choice of activities it doesn't require a committee decision. If I don't want to sit through another over-amplified production how, I don't. Same for the MDR in the evening. And on a port day, I can stay on the ship if I want to. I have adopted the philosophy that one can be alone without being lonely. I often meet others with similar interests, such as grabbing a cup of coffee and watching the sun rise. Soon I'll start to see regulars. If I spend my afternoon on the promenade deck reading, I start to see other readers or the regular walkers. All it takes it a smile and a greeting. (I'm always amazed at the number of people I see walking around the ship with a frown or GRF - grouchy resting face) Successful solo cruising requires the right attitude. I would suggest that if you haven't cruised solo before, try it on a shorter cruise first to see if it's a fit for you. Happy Cruising.

Thanks. At the risk of sounding conceited, we are the richest people we know. In our eighth decade, we have our health, have a fixed income (fixed it so that we have income,) and we are able to do whatever we feel like doing. Travel is a big part of what we feel like doing. There'll be time to take up the rockin' chair later on.

And as long as people sit there and take it, nothing will change.

Common sense that six months ago was getting my posts removed. Now it's going mainstream: Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Announces Revisions to SailSAFE Health and Safety Protocols :: Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH) (nclhltd.com)

Were you ever actually sick? I'm sticking to my assertion that it's time to move past wholesale testing of people who are not sick and to concentrate on those who are actually sick.

Common sense is not so common anymore.

I agree, but sharing some general financial philosophy never hurts. We taught our kids these basic lessons and they have passed them onto our grandkids: Live below your means. Start automatic savings before you get your first paycheck and you'll never miss it. We later updated that to include investing in a 401k with employer matching contributions. Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. Don't spend money you don't have to buy things you don't need to impress people you don't know. (Dr. Phil) Plan to retire on a fixed income - fix it so that you have income. And if you do all of the above, when you are eligible to retire from that point forward you are working for the difference between your work income and your retirement income. Retire and live! You can always make more money. but you can't make more time.

You do realize that if you are worried about catching covid, you should take steps to protect yourself? Don't expect anyone to do anything to protect others. The virus is here to stay and with vaccines and therapeutics, and with the variants mutating into more easily spread but less lethal forms, there is no reason not to get on with life. If you go through life expecting others to wear a mask, you will be continually disappointed.

Is there a lot of little covids floating around in the Panama Canal, or what? The only thing consistent with cruising and testing seems to be inconsistency. One has to be aware.

Thanks! I put those in my wish list for my next Amazon order.

Which way should I wear a ballcap? Bill forward or backwards? Actually, Mister67, that's about what we do. We gravitated to that style years ago when combining extended land travel with cruises. We use quick dry clothing and a mix and match wardrobe.

To tell you the truth, the tests are pretty much worthless anyway. I did a cruise in the fall and got a test from CVS and they texted me the results. I used a screen shot of that report to board. A few months later I did another cruise, got tested, and CVS texted me the results. I did a screen shot as before. I get to the pier and to prove I was vaxxed I pulled up the screen shot and was cleared to board. It was only later while sitting in the lounge area waiting to board that I noticed I had shown the wrong screen shot. I was cleared to board with a test over 60 days old. About as useful as the health question form that you had to fill out while standing in line on boarding day.

Then he had it fixed so that he had income when he retired. BTW, I enjoy writing in "unemployed" when asked on informational forms

It's like the 55 mph speed limit imposed by Nixon. It took years to get rid of and there were cries that the body count would skyrocket if the speed limit were raised. Can anyone name a government agency or regulation that has outlived it's intent or usefulness and has disappeared?

I complain about this during and after every cruise. I avoid the Melanoma deck and the production shows because of the over amplification. If enough of us would seek out one of the supervisory crew and complain, especially in a revenue generating venue, and tell them we were prepared to spend some time and dollars there but don't want to be subjected to the noise, it may have an impact. When the music is so loud that you cannot converse with someone sitting next to you without shouting, it's too loud.

Hank, I wonder if any of those folks you described as being quarantined and kicked off the ship were even sick? IMHO, it's time to quit focusing on testing for a virus that is here to stay and focus on personal responsibility for protecting yourself if you are vulnerable and focusing on those who are actually sick with the therapeutics available. I think the cruise lines are moving in that direction but are scared to death of the media. Michael Bayley has been quoted that RCI has carried milllions of passengers since the restart and two of those died from covid.

I have had a complimentary drink package occasionally and did add a frozen coffee drink to my consumption, ending up with one coffee drink and a wee dram or three of a good peaty top shelf scotch in the evening. I don't feel like I'm leaving a bunch of drinks on the table since I didn't pay for it to start with.

Just a tip from one who's been there. Before we leave home, I print the luggage tags. Then I fold and trim them to fit inside a clear plastic "convention" style ID case. When I leave the hotel to go to the ship, I pull out some small zip ties and attach the tags to the bags. Saves looking around for a stapler at the hotel.

Funny and True. My wee dram or three in the evening is a mere drop in the bucket of a drink package - which some folks start working on before noon. If I tried to wring full value from a drink package, they'd have to wring me out at a Betty Ford clinic after the cruise. "A man's got to know his limitations"