danv3

2 hours ago, irzero said:

There are 5 minute tests for infection and immunity being made now. 17.5 million ordered for UK. Once immune then you are fine to do what you want. No reason this cant be done before a cruise. Cert of immunity or immunity wrist band.

 

Problem is though if you are not immune you would need to be tested often. This would be no different though for staying in a hotel or going on a plane. You might find over the next few years being swabbed or pin ***** tested becomes common and tedious for the people who didnt get corona.

 

How long does post-infection immunity last?  AFAIK, we have no idea.

5 minutes ago, srdancer said:

I would wait until there's an effective vaccine. However, not everyone gets flu shots so maybe some would not get this vaccine either. My fear would be someone who didn't get the shot gets sick. While I might not catch it, would not like to be on a quarantined ship floating around the ocean indefinitely with no chance/place to disembark. 

Who knows if there will ever be an effective vaccine.  We don't have one for HIV and we've been working on that for 40 years.  Even with the flu vaccine it's about 50% effective and has to be re-done every year.  Hopefully they'll be more successful here, but there are no guarantees...

(posted at almost the exact same time as the one above me.  Great minds!)

6 hours ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

Surely you cannot be serious. Almost 10 million people applied for unemployment in the last two weeks. So what if they made good money last year, they are making NONE now.

I don't think anyone doubts that people who have lost their jobs need help.  The question is whether someone who made $99,999 last year and still has their job today needs $1,200 right now.

But the reason the government said yes, that person does need $1,200, is because the government wants them to spend that money ASAP to support businesses that might otherwise have to furlough or layoff even more workers.  

Not sure any cruise line stock is a wise investment right now. If they go through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, you could be left with nothing. I wouldn’t buy unless you’re OK taking that risk. 

Love the song and I've been washing my hands like 50 times a day for a few weeks now.  

It's easier when you only have two.

New ships?  😆

Maybe Overly Optimistic Message Board Posters of the Seas!

10 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

 

Seriously!?!?!?

 

which ship???

 

😲

Yep!  Explorer. 
 

The guest returned a few minutes later in slacks and was admitted. 

12 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

I do not think that there is “widely varying enforcement “.  

 

I think that there there is no enforcement. 

I thought so too until I saw someone excluded from the MDR for wearing shorts on formal night two weeks ago. 

If RCI would just pick a rule and go with it (instead of using confusing terminology with widely varying enforcement), the OP and many others wouldn’t have so much anxiety over dress expectations. 
 

Of course, the number of threads on this forum would drop by 50% too. 

Internet was egregiously bad.  Slow and constant lost connections.  Got one day's worth of cost back by raising the issue at guest services. 

On 1/20/2020 at 10:06 AM, gdy0354 said:

There is another post currently on wearing shorts in MDR.

Just coming off ship, what did you notice with shorts being worn?

I was on this Explorer sailing as well and personally witnessed a guest who was excluded from the MDR on formal night because he was wearing shorts.  He later returned in slacks.

Shorts were permitted in the MDR on all non-formal nights, including "smart casual" nights, of which there were two.

Read today (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51254523) that China believes that the virus spreads before symptoms are present and has an incubation period of up to 14 days.  If that information is correct, it's reasonable to expect to see some much more aggressive countermeasures in the region, as the virus is going to be more difficult to contain than first thought.

I wonder how much they save by not having half and half easily available?

On Explorer last week, the only place I saw half and half was Cafe Promenade.  None in the MDR or WJ.

19 minutes ago, soremekun said:

Another way to show your appreciation is to keep your tips in place and tell the room steward you don't need your room cleaned for a day or two or more.  Imagine if even 10% of the staterooms under his/her responsibility didn't need to be attended to at some point during the cruise.  Same pay for less work will mathematically increase the amount received per stateroom.

I imagine they'd be both shocked and terrified if you did that, kind of like how MDR waiters freak out if you don't finish (or worse yet, don't order) a course.

On 1/15/2020 at 5:16 PM, island visitor said:

I know this question has been discussed before a number of times and I apologize for bringing it up again, but here goes.  Cruising on the Oasis this month and we haven't cruised on RCI for a few years so was wondering if very many men wear nice shorts in the MDR for dinner?

I haven’t read the whole thread, but thought I’d note that this really varies from

ship to ship and perhaps even who’s at the MDR door when you get there.  I’m on 

Your mileage may vary from ship to ship. On Explorer right now and it’s still called “formal night” and I personally witnessed a guest in shorts being denied entrance to the MDR on the first formal night. He later returned in slacks. As for tops it was anything goes: t-shirts to tuxedos.

Also on Explorer currently. It was 1:30pm on January 10. 

On 12/5/2019 at 3:16 PM, XuGator said:

Does anyone have any experience with Apply Pay in the Baltic areas? We primarily use Chase and Amex cards and have never had to use a pin anywhere in Europe (so far). After calling chase and amex they both confirmed that we can hit enter to proceed without a pin on chip and pin termianls. Now - it sounds like this might be changing or not entirely the case in some of the Baltic areas. If that is the case - is the easiest thing to just load our cards into the apple wallet and use Apply Pay at these merchants?  I just wanted to see if anyone had any first hand experience with this.  Will Apple Pay be a viable

substitute for chip and pin locations? Thanks

Apple Pay worked very well for us in the Baltics last summer and was widely accepted.  We have chip and signature cards like 99% of US-based cards and had no problems anywhere.  

Even when I did have to swipe a card, I was not asked for a PIN on any occasion.  

1 minute ago, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

They’re not available for booking yet. The dates they’ll be released are listed on that link.

Well, the link sort of tells you when they'll be released.  For example, it says "Guests can begin to book sailings on Oasis today" (but apparently not really) and it doesn't say when summer 2021 sailings open for Freedom.  Just would like to see what the itineraries look like.  

7 hours ago, FIRELT5 said:

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/press-release/1420/royal-caribbean-reveals-caribbean-adventures-for-its-2021-2022-season/

Am I missing something?  I don't see these sailings on the Royal Caribbean website (for example, Oasis and Freedom from Cape Liberty).

On 11/11/2019 at 8:17 PM, cb at sea said:

If you wish to dress formally, those are the nights to do it.  Nowadays, with luggage restrictions on airlines, few bring their formal-wear.  You will not be out of place if you choose to dress up.

Certainly people should feel free to dress formally if they wish, but I would disagree with your last sentence.  If you choose to really dress up (tux/formal gown) you will be out of place in the MDR.  On many cruises, you'll be one of maybe ten people dressed that way.  You will definitely stand out.  That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, but no one should expect that a quarter, or even a tenth, of the diners in the MDR will be dressed in that way.  

13 hours ago, danv3 said:

How long does it generally take for a cruise you booked to show up in the app?  

In response to my own question, the cruise I booked yesterday (for July 2020) showed up in my app about 6 hours after making the deposit. I can’t see anything about the sailing yet, but it’s listed. 

How long does it generally take for a cruise you booked to show up in the app?  

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

You will hear "k" almost without exception, but locals have told us "key".

An RCI podcast whose name we can’t mention here related from RCI marketing that RCI was changing the name to “key” to align with the locals’ preferences. That message hasn’t reached most of the crew if our recent Mariner sailing is any indication. 

Missed opportunity for RCI IMO.  I buy the soda package when Freestyle machines are present, and make do with water when they're not.  Though I suppose RCI is a lot more focused on selling the crazy-expensive alcohol packages and no so worried about me.  😂