SargassoPirate

We've used a variety of cruise lines to get to or from Europe when a repo cruise fits with a planned land trip there. We've even spent time in Australia on land and then cruised home. It just takes a lot of research - and enough that even a good travel agent may not want to spend the time on unless they are booking the entire package.

I used to obsess over small details between two cruise lines or amongst three or more sometimes. She Who Must Be Obeyed and I have cruises enough now that our needs are simple and or wants are few. She needs a balcony and I need a full promenade. Food is subjective, but we've never gone hungry on a cruise. The list of our don't needs is probably longer. For example, we don't need a floating county fair populated by feral children. We don't need an over-amplified Caribbean band on the Melanoma Deck. We don't need over-amplified production shows, We don't need specialty restaurants. Everyone has different needs and wants. The key is to do your research. Watch video tours of the ship you are interested in. The ship and the itinerary to fit the bill is out there.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” ― Benjamin Franklin

SWMBO uses the balcony as her private sanctuary and a balcony is her deal breaker. I'm ok with an inside when I cruise solo and prefer the full promenade as my walking track and as a quiet place to read - so it's my deal breaker. Fortunately, there are many ships and cruises to choose from. I just don't choose ships with pretend promenades. I adopted She Who Must Be Obeyed from the Rumpole books by John Mortimer. SWMBO for short. Please feel free to adopt it also. Smooth sailing.

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I are booked on that sailing as well. We received a notice from Princess on 6/14 and then our big box travel agency on 6/15 that the cruise would now be on the Regal. I immediately checked the deck plans for the Regal and see that it doesn't have a full promenade - a deal breaker for me as we were also going to do the transatlantic to Fort Lauderdale after the British Isles cruise and really enjoy walking laps on the promenade and also reading while watching the sea slide by. It's one of the few quiet areas on the ship. We'll probably cancel.

Makes sense to me with today's vaccines and therapeutics. Wholesale testing of people of people who are not sick is starting to defy common sense and scientific logic. However, with the CDC's love of "an overabundance of caution" it'll be a wonder if they don't "recommend" testing for norovirus, the entire range of the coronavirus family (better known as the annual flu) and the common cold.

True. There's a cabin for everybody. Once you step outside your cabin, the ship is the same for everybody. When I sail solo, an inside fits my needs perfectly since even with a balcony I don't spend that much time in my cabin. Some people drive an econo box and some people drive a luxury car. Both get you where your need to go. It's a matter of what you want and what you can afford.

We are booked on the Emerald British Isles followed by a transatlantic to Fort Lauderdale. Received a "Voyage Redeployment" notice from Princess and I had to read the fine print to learn that the Emerald has been replaced by the Regal. Same itinerary, but without a full promenade on the Regal we will likely cancel once the dust settles. We've tried the partial so-called promenades and don't book cruises on ships with a full promenade anymore. At least there are more than one cruise line and more than one ship to cruise with.

Thanks. Sounds like the flu - which is what the early omicron cases were presenting with. Much better than the effects with no vaccine!

Were any of those folks sick and if so how much so?

Yes. Sorry. I meant to say 30-50K. Time for another cuppa wake up juice.

The website was wonky yesterday. I've been watching a B2B cruise on my big box travel site. Yesterday I checked on the Princess website and did a mock booking to check the price against big box. Long story short, I was able to book a solo cabin on both cruises without a single supplement. To double check what I was seeing, I went back and selected 2 passengers and went through the mock booking again. Same cruise price for one passenger or two - plus port fees for one or two of course. After thinking about it for a bit, I booked the B2Bs without a single supplement and got my confirmations. Several years ago I woke up one morning and checked cruise prices on a long cruise with Princess that I had saved in my favorites. The cruise had been waitlisted for several weeks. That morning the price was half of what it had been the day before and I was able to book it then without a single supplement. By that afternoon the price was back up and the cruise was waitlisted again. Glitch? Maybe. I didn't ask.

Has there been any scientific studies to determine if quarantines are necessary or just "theater"? The risk of breakthrough transmissions are very low, I believe around 0.008 percent the last time the CDC posted those figures. Your chances of being struck by lightning are greater.

I wonder what the positivity rate for the pre-cruise, during cruise, and post cruise covid test is? Locally, our positivity rate is running around 12 percent and there has been only 1 ICU case in the last five weeks. The vaccines and therapeutics are doing their job and the covid virus is mutating into a more easily spread and less serious form - much like the seasonal flu. 30-50 Americans die every year from the flu, but the medit doesn't sensationalize it because we have learned to live with it as we will with covid.

I usually place my dirty dishes and tray on the seat of any nearby scooter or wheelchair left parked in the corridor or elevator lobby. That rolls two fire evacuation hazards in the corridor into one.

I've been on four cruises out of Florida since cruising resumed. On my most recent cruise, I pulled up my covid test results to show the port personnel and was cleared to board. It was only later that I realized I had opened the file from the previous cruise and showed my test results that were a couple of months old. Draw your own conclusions, but on a cruise where everyone has to show a vaccination card, pre-cruise testing is simply "theater"......just like plastic gloves on food handlers, but that a discussion for another day.

Was anyone actually sick or were these "numbers" from wholesale testing of everyone? Covid is becoming less lethal and the vast majority of people testing positive aren't sick - according to my local health department. It is rapidly degenerating into just another member of the family of viruses that cause flu deaths every year - some 30-50K annually. Anyone who wants to really protect themselves should wear an N95 mask for covid now and the upcoming flu season.

It certainly looks like it's about control. The CDC's standard for the Green Light for cruise ships is zero cases. Can anyone point out any other segment of society with zero cases? It's time to start tracking actual illnesses, not "cases" from a positive test of people who are not sick.

My idea of a world cruise is to board the ship and disembark in the same port X number of days later after circumnavigating the globe. Anything else is a grand voyage. Don't buy a Volkswagen and call it a Porsche.

I found a nice summary of the covid color chart for cruise ships and some explanations. I was surprised to learn that the target for "green" is zero cases. With that goal, we are likely to never be free of testing. But, consider this. If the color chart were to be used nation-wide, is there any operation or organization that would be testing green? The CDC needs to shift away from using tests as the barometer and use actual illnesses. Cruise Ship COVID Status Tracker (June 2): Daily Update Chart & News | Cruzely.com

After a balcony cabin cruise on the Euroslam, we vowed never to cruise in a HAL balcony again. While trying to enjoy our balcony on sea days, people would step out onto their balcony and let their door slam behind them. It was a constant boom, boom, boom. If we happed to be inside our cabin and the people next door let their door slam, it would rattle the pictures on our wall. Never again.

Sending positive energy her way. We can all hope to see 98.

I hope she has only a mild case and recovers. A positive test like hers is a mystery, but the vaccine does not kill the virus, it just gives you immunity and a milder case. My grandkids have been vaxxed and boosted twice and yet have tested positive asymptomatically twice for school activities. They didn't even know they had it - so the vaccine is doing its job.

I hope she's okay. Tell me, was she vaxxed, boosted, and wearing an N95 mask to protect herself?

No. Why would you say that? BTW, I follow our local covid numbers closely and that's why I can share that our positivity rate is over 12 percent and that there hasn't been a case in the ICU for several weeks. Add to that a close relative who is an ICU nurse in another state She hasn't had a covid patient for several weeks. Those that are admitted to the hospital are reporting with flu-like symptoms and then are testing positive for covid. The majority of them are unvaxxed. So, d9704011, what's your world view?