joeyancho

Harbor pilot.

We recently cruised the western Caribbean out of Galveston. We are vaccinated and double boosted. We received the 2nd booster about a week before the cruise. We flew in from Vegas, took the RC shuttle to the port. All without the mask (what a relief). Entire cruise and all ports were maskless. Took the same shuttle to the airport and flew back to Vegas. Once again without the mask. After 2 days at home my wife felt a bit punk. She self tested and was positive. I tested with same result. Thankfully it seems to be a mild case. No fever, just a lot of coughing and a stuffy nose. No loss of taste or smell. Presumably the shots contributed to our mild cases. Do we blame Royal? Of course not. I am surprised it took us this long to get it. Thankfully we did not test positive on board. Perhaps we should have used the mask in crowded situations. We have a cruise out of Miami in August. I imagine the natural antibodies from getting covid will give us greater protection. But really, who knows? But we don't live in fear. So we will be more cautious and carry on.

Oasis, because we were married on her. Great ship all the way around.

Deepest sympathy on the passing of your wife.

Some people participate in formal night and some don't. People tend to dress up a little more on Alaskan cruises as compared to a Caribbean cruise. You will see anyting from slacks and a polo shirt to tuxedos. You may even see some shorts and a tee shirt. Its the same for women. Personally I like to dress up. It's your choice. No one is going to say anything regardless of your attire.

FWIW, we sailed the Liberty last week. According to guest services the ship was about 80% full. Everything seemed to be running smoothly. No venues were closed. MDR service was as usual. Bar service was prompt. Room service was as usual. Rooms were attended to twice daily.

That was my experience last week, no mushroom soup. The Mac and cheese was equal to Kraft box m&c. I used to like the Chilean sea bass but sadly that has disappeared from the menu. We tried Giovanni 's for my wife's birthday and she did not care for it at all. The linguini with clam sauce contained zero clams. They used mussels instead. I chalked it up to supply chain issues. I thought the branzino was fantastic, albeit a small portion.

This was on the cabin door next to ours. Harold became quite a celebrity on board. On his actual bday the captain and officers came down to the MDR. There was a huge cake and lots of singing. Harold was even interviewed on the on board TV show. And for those wondering, Harold has not slipped a bit. Sharp as a tack.