later

1 hour ago, cruise wizard said:

 

That would be fine IF RCCL let's us L&S from Allure to Odyssey. We have a B2B in August and the final payment is due on Monday. Go figure!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have B2Bs in August, September, and October on Allure.  We are in crown lofts so I hope that don’t swap ships.  
 

2 different class ships would make moving over guests a mess.

1 hour ago, Cigar King said:

My advice is to skip it.  Seriously, skip it.  It's a huge pain to pack, move to the new ship, and unpack again.  When I did it Royal did not help move me.  If you are going to do so, and the ships aren't right next to each other, I suggest you cab it to the new ship.

 

Seriously, don't do it.

 

BTW - I think I may have coined the side by side description.  At least I can't find an early use here than mine.  If true, that would be kind of cool, in a geeky sort of way.

The ships have to be at 2 different terminals at Port Canaveral.

2 minutes ago, gretchengao said:

It looks like the only part someone might need insurance is if one tested positive right before boarding the ship and need quarantine locally, or right before leaving the ship and need to quarantine locally.  According to Royal:

 

Onboard SARS-CoV-2 evaluation and testing that is performed as a recommendation of the onboard medical team is free of charge, as well as COVID-19-related medical treatment provided while onboard, should additional treatment be 

That is what the health visa is for.

You may want medical insurance and medical transportation (airlift) if you get injured after you arrive in the Bahamas.

So symphony cruises in July and August of 2021 are out?!

When will they notify guests on those cruises that they are canceled?

Portside and Playmakers changed to $25 limit.  Izumi’s is still $35.

15 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Wow, I did Global Entry years ago and it was fairly quick. I had to renew about 1-2 years ago, I forget, but it was easy peasy.....

 

 

I submitted the Global Entry app last week.  Got conditional approved in 2 days and was able to get an appointment for the interview May 26th.

4 minutes ago, ownedbypets said:

 

Same for south FL ports/

If they have vaccines available for the 12 to 15 year range which Canada has approved yesterday (US should be soon) then Royal will most likely move the vaccine requirement to 12 so this won’t be a problem except for those that won’t get the vaccines.

We were on the last rhapsody sailing and the ship was showing its age but OK.  We had a corner aft JS which I agree is the best.

we were suppose to be on a B2B but the second leg was canceled the last night of the first leg.

As with most smaller ships the crew is much more friendly but it will be a new crew so who knows.

As Carol said the itinerary is port intensive so unless you are not going to do things at the ports ship time will be greatly reduced.

3 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Good news but not correct I think. I was at Fishlips yesterday and only the Dream  was there. Magic is in UK, Wonder on its way from Mexico. Fantasy was in Miami. 
 

One out of three ain’t bad.🙄. 
 

A look at Marine traffic today shows no cruise ships heading to PC. Should move the vaccination site to CoCoCay—- there are about 15 ships off the coast there. 
 

mac_tlc

These are vaccines that are part of the 2 states involved so they couldn’t send them out of the state.

The governor had to make a change to include outside workers providing service within the state to be included in the state vaccination program.  If not they would not have been eligible.

57 minutes ago, jimd909 said:

If you buy the unlimited dining package are you able to order food and have it delivered to your stateroom on RCCL?

No

According to Bahamian officials they stated they would be processing up to 1500 guest through ship check-in at the British Colonial Hilton and they will have the guest take an antigen test before being allowed to board.
 

The procedures could still change.before June 12th or change after each cruise sails.  
 

after the test you are free to walk downtown until your check-in time which will be between 1 pm and 7 pm according to the article.
 

3 hours ago, George C said:

I always order the beef hot rock, really good.

Adventure Izumi’s does not have hot rock cooking or Habachi cooking.

On 4/9/2021 at 2:06 PM, taglovestocruise said:

Got to get it extra crispy, if not it shows up like fatty flabby greasy  bacon.  Wash it down with a wedge salad and finish with the large ribeye.  Asparagus and Mac & cheese ... It is heat attack heaven.. And try to save room for the mud pie...

Correct as it is essentially a slab of bacon which is high in fat content which gives it its flavor when cooked extra crispy.  Love bacon.

8 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Costs them plenty. 

 

Cuts into revenue stream for one 

5 or 6 included drinks may curtail casual drink pkg customers 

The available booze costs more

 

And hopefully will cut down on crowds in pre dinner bars. 

 

Some folks just don't get it 

 

And thanks for quoting me out of context😉

I agree with you John.  
 

with the 5/6 drinks and our free drinks in the casino Liz and I will no longer be buying the drink package.  In fact even if we only had the 5/6 free drinks we would still not buy the drink package.

There are different PCR tests.  As stated earlier the Bahamas requires a rt-pcr test.  It can be no older than 5 days and you must have the results before you apply for the health visa.

If you get a free test by saying you were exposed to COVID or have symptoms you most likely won’t get on the cruise no matter what the test results are.

The turn around time for the rt-pcr test is the most important factor for. picking a site for testing.  
 

rt-pcr tests are very accurate.

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Yes-.we will continue to sail.
 

And....I don’t believe many benefits removed will ever be reinstated. 
 

But....a couple of the removed benefits total well over $200 per cruise  for us. The 3 bottles of wine we selected are in the $50 range on the wine list. If we purchase them and pay the 18% service fee, plus purchase 2 beers (welcome beverage) and service fee, we are over $200. With our past cruising routine of 8-12 cruises per year, losing the gift and welcome amenity alone is a substantial reduction in benefits.   Yes I read that we will get 6 drinks a day-and that is generous- I’ll need to use some vouchers to simply replace the 6 bottles of water left as part of the welcome amenity.
 

Will I miss the welcome cookies?  -NO  

 

While we don’t cruise for the benefits, they are/were a nice incentive. 

m 

 

 

We are in the same situation as you and it is a big loss for us but we will continue to book with Royal.

15 minutes ago, teacherman said:

People have said they "will do anything just to get on a ship again".  Except, maybe, have to pay an extra $30 for a taxi.   The internet reports today that there is an "organized" boycott of RCCL over the vaccine mandate.  So, maybe there won't even be a cruise.😇

Who’s boycotting? Just those that don’t want to get a shot.  I really don’t think that is even close to a majority of cruisers.

On 3/24/2021 at 6:46 PM, dswallow said:

 

At the moment, that would be: Go for the test 5 days before your flight someplace that can provide you RT-PCR test results within 48 hours. Get the results within the next day or two and submit it in your application online at https://travel.gov.bs/. Perhaps there'll be some adjustments specific to people entering the country and going directly to the ship which they'll announce closer to sailing.

I hope they have some adjustments for the cruise if not we will be doing just as you wrote and hope both the lab and the Bahamas turn everything around in the max of 48 hours they each say they can do.

On 3/24/2021 at 5:35 PM, colesc15 said:

Yeah the royal agent gave me that website. Basically you have to register, then get the negative covid test a few days before entering the Bahamas. After the cruise, the Bahamas doesn't require one but to fly back to the US you need a negative test but I'm not sure how that'll happen. I've seen reports royal will do antigen testing at the end of the cruise but haven't seen that confirmed by anyone at royal or in their faqs 

The Bahamas website states you can’t submit the health visa application until you receive you negative test results.  If that is right the 5 day limit for the test prior to entry may be difficult to meet.

3 hours ago, dswallow said:

There is zero information in this thread. Royal Caribbean themselves has stated that they have not yet made final decisions about various onboard protocols and they will be provided to us prior to sailing.

All we have going on now are low-rent bloggers/reporters rehashing the same stuff that's been out there for 4 or 5 months as part of the initial response taken when the CDC created the conditional sailing order and RCCL/NCL responded with the Healthy Sail Panel and recommendations.

Those recommendations are now outdated, though they are the only thing put forward so far by the cruise line. So in the void of specific information, we have people writing articles just pulling little random snippets of this stuff together and passing it off as the way these cruises will be operated.

Until Royal Caribbean puts out their protocols specific to these sailings, the only thing you can say right now is that (a) You must provide full vaccination and have a negative PCR test to board, and (b) you will have to purchase a Bahamas Health Visa and comply with their protocols in order to enter the country.

How do you apply for a Bahamas Health Visa if a COVID RT-PCR test has to be less than 5 days prior to entering the country.

3 hours ago, dswallow said:

There is zero information in this thread. Royal Caribbean themselves has stated that they have not yet made final decisions about various onboard protocols and they will be provided to us prior to sailing.

All we have going on now are low-rent bloggers/reporters rehashing the same stuff that's been out there for 4 or 5 months as part of the initial response taken when the CDC created the conditional sailing order and RCCL/NCL responded with the Healthy Sail Panel and recommendations.

Those recommendations are now outdated, though they are the only thing put forward so far by the cruise line. So in the void of specific information, we have people writing articles just pulling little random snippets of this stuff together and passing it off as the way these cruises will be operated.

Until Royal Caribbean puts out their protocols specific to these sailings, the only thing you can say right now is that (a) You must provide full vaccination and have a negative PCR test to board, and (b) you will have to purchase a Bahamas Health Visa and comply with their protocols in order to enter the country.

How do you apply for a Bahamas Health Visa if a COVID OCR test has to be less than 5 days prior to entering the country.

Are they allowing my B2Bs

6 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

Does anyone know if Allure got her refurb in May last year while all this was going on?  I'm betting we DO get to cruise Sept. 12th, but just

 wondered.

My understanding is they just did repairs and the general maintenance.  No upgrades per say.

Only my agent gets the emails and then the agent contacts me.