Xkontour98

Any word on if H2O is going to reopen?

40 minutes ago, arthurmo said:

Just got upgrade for the 24/4 on Epic from an inside to a club balcony suite on the minimum bid. Very Happy.

What was the min bid?

I know this is an older post, but years ago we did a 1/2 day rain forest waterfall hike through a company called Rockaliza Adventure Tours. 5 stars would highly recommend.

Our last cruise was on Navigator - February 24th 2020. Who would have predicted what would happen next!  

14 hours ago, Tippyton said:

What is the science or logic behind masking up after vaccination?  Seriously?  [Feeling better is emotion, not fact BTW]

Here are reasons per Cleveland Clinic: 

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/already-vaccinated-heres-why-you-shouldnt-stop-wearing-your-face-mask-yet/ 

1 hour ago, D C said:

They're not controlled-exposure studies.  They don't take both groups and hose them down with covid to see what happens.  If they were, you would see something more akin to what we see in US right now:
~5000 identified breakthrough cases total in ~77 million vaccinated people across the country

Compare that with:

~50,000 identified covid cases last week in Michigan out of a population of ~10 million, about 1/3 of whom are either vaccinated or previously infected.

I missed that remark in my response. Thank you!

43 minutes ago, atgood said:

Here’s the thing about the Pfizer vaccine (for example) that I didn’t realize until recently.  Not much has been said about the control group who received the placebo during the trial.  
 

We’ve all heard about how great the Pfizer vaccine works and how very few (8 out of 17,411,=0.04%), who received the vaccine during the trial, ending up getting CV19.  
 

Well guess what?  Very few in the placebo control group ended getting CV19 (162 out of 17,511 participants,=0.9%).  That’s less than 1%.  See pg 29 in the link if you want see it for yourself. 
 

https://www.fda.gov/media/144413/download

 

It’s similar with other vaccines too.  

Thank you for posting your reference. Though, I disagree with your conclusion, 8 vs. 162 is rather significant in a clinical trial. The vaccine is not only to help prevent the spread of covid, but also to lessen the severity of the virus which the study also shows its proven: The study found 10 severe covid-19 cases after the first dose, nine of which were in the placebo group. After the second dose it showed one case in the vaccine group and four in the placebo group.    Page11: https://www.nejm.org/doi/suppl/10.1056/NEJMoa2034577/suppl_file/nejmoa2034577_appendix.pdf The reduced likeliness of hospitalization is a huge win.

It was noted that the timeframe was 7 days after second dose was administered and per the CDC website a person is not considered fully vaccinated until 2 full weeks after receiving the second dose. I don't have time at the moment to search for supporting documentation, but it would seem reasonable to conclude that better efficacy would be shown with the additional week of vaccination coverage. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html

1 hour ago, atgood said:

IMO we’re not getting out of CV19 through mask wearing by the general public.  I’m not replying back either even if you post 1000 articles that say why masks work.  Again, just my opinion. 
 

In reality, I think the whole mask wearing is used more as a gauge for the big G’s to feel out the compliance of their citizens in how much of their freedom they’re willing to give up for supposed security.  

Like giving up freedom of kissing your windshield through legally mandating the use of a seatbelt?

3 hours ago, atgood said:

...

People are forgetting our bodies have something called an immune system.  Rather than getting caught up in mask shaming, we should be taking steps to increase our immune response. 

Good point, and getting vaccinated is by far the most effective way to train our bodies to increase our immune response when presented with the virus. 

On 4/13/2021 at 8:49 AM, BeachyBrowns said:

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118

 

Dr. Fauci does not need to waste his time saying repeatedly, yes, the science says that masks work.

I think part of what the anti-mask crowd struggles with is the concept of viral load and how covid is transmitted. If the primary mode of transportation is droplets, why is it so hard to comprehend that anything covering your mouth/nose is going to reduce droplets, be it coming into your body or more importantly leaving from someone infected. The more virus you are exposed to the more likely it is to overwhelm the immune system resulting in disease transmission, and in the event that it transmits, the extent to which hospitalization is likely to occur.  If covid was transmitted like measles mask effectiveness would be greatly reduced and we would all be in major trouble. I hate how politicalized its become. 

We took the family to SeaWorld in FL and had no issues wearing our masks and did not feel policed and had a blast. No it wasn't the same as in non-covid times, but for us the results of reduced crowds was a benefit. 

I can see the cruise lines requiring masks even after vaccination and negative results for quite some time, due to liability reasons. Which is understandable, once they get the green light for the US, they won't be able to risk getting shut down again.  

13 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Freedom is probably my favorite ship

Why is that? Is there any significant difference between it and Navigator or Mariner? 

3 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

Nice! Where was it previously and where will Navigator be going? Simple swap?

I believe Freedom was out of San Juan a while back and then went in for reamplification last summer. Not sure what the future plans are. Will be interesting. 

Freedom.pdf

We just received notification that our January 2022 cruise on Navigator is being replaced with Freedom of the Seas. Excited to try a new ship!

Just received the notification for our Jan '22  cruise that it will be switching from Navigator to Freedom of the Seas out of Miami. Was happy to find that Freedom received the amplification last year so shouldn't be too much difference. 

On 1/17/2020 at 8:41 AM, BerlinLink said:

I am in the same boat for Nassau later this month and have researched free beaches and how to get to them.

 

Bus #10 or 12 goes north from port along the coastline and reviews say it's a good option. However, not on Sundays. If you are there on Sunday it won't work to take the bus. You catch #12 at the straw market and #10 at corner of George and Bay streets.

 

The two beaches I was considering based on research (I'm there on Sunday so have decided on a self guided walking tour instead) are:

 

1) Saunders beach - has nice sand, is quiet, has bathrooms, has security, has a playground, has a gas station across the street you can buy drinks/snacks at.

 

2) Love beach - has Nirvana Beach Bar with good reviews (cash only), decent snorkling, tends to be uncrowded/empty

Thanks for the tip on Love Beach! After reading reviews on Trip Advisor this sounds prefect for my family and loads cheaper than the Blue Lagoon excursion. 

Great Stirrup Cay had decent snorkeling if you don't have high expectations. They had an artificial reef like structure installed to protect the beach. I haven't been there in over a decade, but I think it will fit your bill. Pro tip, snag a couple boxes of Cheerios from the buffet and open them up under water - the fish will swarm 🙂

We will be in Nassau the end of next month with our 7 and 5 year old and am interested in hearing about snorkeling opportunities. 

We were at Atlantis in February. I don't think I would pay to bring my kids there. The water park isn't worth the charge - crowded and unorganized was our experience. 

16 hours ago, 90007012 said:

The apple pie sounds delish! Will have to try. Who is the cruise director? Thanks!

The apple pie is amazing if it's anything like what they serve on Symphony (flower shaped). Easily the most memorable food I had on our last cruise. My wife doesn't care for apple pie in general, but really liked this one. By the end I was ordering 2!

OP- thanks for the review. We are sailing on 2/24 with our kids for the first time that are 5 & 8.  Is there a minimum age/size for laser tag?

3 hours ago, luv2sailAgain said:

I am glad you asked this question.  We will be on Symphony returning to Miami on June 6.  We have sailed on Liberty and Harmony into Galveston and PC. We had no problem debarking and were on the road in a heartbeat. Both cruises were in the summer, so no January fog issues in Galveston.  But since we are flying to/from Miami, we were thinking of booking the 5 pm flight home to Texas "just in case".  Is this ridiculously late to be flying home?

You should be fine if you self disembark, we sailed Symphony last february and had no issues making an 1130 flight at MIA. 

I was not able to enter a specific bid, they had a slider that started at $300 PP for a Junior Suit upgrade. 

I was okay with Sprint in SJ and the US VI.

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