carolyn22

31 minutes ago, SOLIVITA LADY said:

Yes I live there 

Lucky you!  I’d really like to live there but I can’t convince my 92 year old mother to move there with me, so I have to stay in Virginia for the foreseeable future. 
 

Sorry for hi-jacking your thread. 

32 minutes ago, SOLIVITA LADY said:

If I get an FCC under Cruise with Confidence will my port fees and taxes as well as the tips and insurance I paid through my TA be included in the FCC or be reimbursed to my credit card as FCC can only be applied to cruise fare and not port fees and taxes. Or, am I understanding this wrong?
 

thanks

Solivita Lady

Totally off-topic, but do you live in the Solivita development in Florida?

For the crew members who don’t want to work this cruise, does the cruise line pay for them to live off the ship for a week or do they just stay on the crew deck levels for the duration of the cruise?  Do they go without any compensation for the week? I wasn’t sure if they worked for tips only. 

I feel bad for the crew, but I’m guessing some of them have had to work on such cruises before. And from my understanding, most of these clothing optional people aren’t necessarily the type you might want to see nekkid.  
 

If a ship has to be sanitized for Covid between cruises, I can only imagine the amount of cleaning that will be required after this cruise!

16 minutes ago, Skip111 said:

We are sailing on Celebrity Constellation out of Tampa on November 22, 2021 has anyone heard and talk about this cruise ? 

You might have better luck asking this question on the Celebrity board. 

1 hour ago, mek said:

Absolutely how it needs to be handled.  If Royal would step up to the plate and just say they would be providing tests at the port, all of my concerns would vanish.

 

99.9% of me agrees with you. Then I think about what would happen if I fly down there, only to get a positive test right before I’m supposed to get on the boat. I’m not going to be able to fly home having just received a positive test. Ugh, I hate these decisions!

On 7/26/2021 at 9:40 AM, RGEDad said:

I have found that the issue with CPAP - is having a long enough power cord. Once upon a time - they would provide a long extension power cord.  Learned my lesson one time where they "ran out" of long cords (cannot remember which cruise line). Now I bring my own. Long enough to wrap across or around the room and get to the corner of the far wall. I also bring a velcro floor cord cover to eliminate the cord trip hazard (covers the cord, and sticks to the carpet). I also bring a AC muti-outlet that is NOT surge protected - so no issues with that (but usage was under...discussion...at one port). I never bring my humidifier - ocean air is humid enough for me (and less to carry).

I also take a power cord with me for the same reason. It was taken from me when I was on a Celebrity ship going to Bermuda out of NJ. I was able to get it back at the end of the cruise. That’s the only time I’ve ever had it taken from me. 

5 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

Who the heck would do that??????

According to what I’m reading on the Holland America board, this has happened to some Canadians.

Going around the Outer Banks can definitely be an issue. The roughest seas I’ve ever experienced was two of those Maasdam cruises. On one of them it actually felt like the stern was coming out of the water on a downward wave with the propellers rotating in the air, thus vibrating the entire ship.  Now, I doubt that’s what was really happening, but that’s certainly what it felt like!

I know RCL sails out of Baltimore. Do they report the same problems coming by the Outer Banks?

I miss sailing out of Norfolk. I did three cruises on the Maasdam out of there.  Also a Celebrity cruise to Bermuda. I seem to remember that Norfolk spent a lot of money on a new/updated terminal and most cruise ships pulled out of there not long after it opened. 

9 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

6 x 7.

Wow!  Off to look at cruises……

So I’m trying to figure out this point situation. If I cruise solo in a JS for a seven night cruise, how many points would I get in this double points promotion?

Such disappointing news for so many folks. I have to wonder if the 2022 world cruise will be able to go. 

32 minutes ago, ljason913 said:

if you want to wear ten mask or a space suit on ur cruise you have the freedom to choose to do that.i should have the freedom to not have to wear them.this is my vacation i dont want to wear a mask and get tested all day on my VACATION

Sounds like cruising should not be your vacation of choice right now if it makes you this upset. 

Same arguments, same people - on both sides - as the other multiple closed threads on this topic. 

Hopefully this thread will self destruct in 3…2…1…

I can just envision the fights breaking out over this mask wearing onboard, who gets to sit where when, etc. If what we’ve been seeing on airplanes is bad, I’m afraid it’s going to be even worse on a ship.  Hope they’ve beefed up their security teams and that they plan to kick off anyone who doesn’t comply with these rules. 

52 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

Just curious what ship?  We prefer whenever possible to sail on the larger, newer ships because of the added entertainment (BB King, Rock/Roll Room).  We usually go on port-intensive cruises and like to use sea days as rest/catch-up days.  But I do like entertainment at night.

I believe it was the Eurodam. BB King was where I ended up most nights, but I do like a little more variety rather than hitting the same venue most every night.  Lincoln Stage was just OK t me, although I know a lot of people like it. So many people were standing around for that because of limited seating and the fact that there wasn’t much else to do in the evening unless you went to BB King or the casino. I used to cruise on the Maasdam a lot on the 10/11 night cruises out of Norfolk about 15 years ago, and I never got bored during the day or evening. 

I got bored on my last HAL cruise (2017), and I can’t believe that I am saying that. I had been on numerous HAL cruises before then and had always found plenty to fill my days and evenings. In 2017 there were few activities I was interested in on sea days.  It didn’t use to be that way.  Even the evening entertainment was severely lacking. I thought perhaps it was because I had been sailing some of the Royal Caribbean ships, which are chockablock full of things to do. Then I did a Celebrity cruise in 2018 and was never bored for a second. 
 

Everyone has different things that are important to them on a cruise. For some people it’s all about the food. For others it’s the service. For me I guess it’s the activities and evening entertainment. Unless HAL gets back to what they used to be in that area, I will probably look at other cruise lines. Which is sad, because HAL used to be my go to cruise line. 

6 minutes ago, ChutChut said:

Great question. Thought of that myself. Don't have a clue how that will be handled. Different countries have different Covid requirements right now (negative PCR test within 72 of entering country with or without vaccine, etc.) it would be hard to "navigate." Will have to wait and see.

It will definitely be interesting to see how of this all shakes out. 

22 minutes ago, ChutChut said:

HIPAA could apply to cruise companies  (Carnival, etc. employs people in the states) IF they have a self-insured health plan or if they act as an intermediary b/t the employee and the health provider, etc.  Also, you're comparing apples and oranges in terms of required vaccines for other countries. When entering another country, one must abide by its health rules, etc. That has no bearing on whether our states, etc. will allow companies that operate within its borders to mandate vaccine certs.

So what happens if  other countries where the ship is going to port requires passengers to have the Covid vaccine?  

3 hours ago, rjrice1 said:

Wondering this could be a HIPPA violation to ask for "medical " information

they do not ask if you had any other immunization or other illness   

A cruise line is not a covered entity under HIPAA, so this would not apply. And other countries require proof of vaccine for things like yellow fever, so there is no reason why a similar requirement couldn’t be made for the Covid vaccine. 

Maybe the long-awaited menu changes?  😉

Sigh.  Yet another year where I’m not interested in the itinerary. Way too much Africa for me, which I have no desire to see. I was supposed to go on the 2019 WC, which had a dream itinerary for me. Then my mom got sick a few weeks before we were supposed to depart, and we had to cancel. I still tear up when I think about missing it. I’ve not seen an itinerary close to that again. Maybe in a few more years they’ll offer something similar.  
 

I don’t know why HAL keeps doing Grand Africa and Grand South America in the same years when the WC covers many of the same ports. Quite a few years ago they had a Grand that went to Hawaii, French Polynesian, NZ, and Australia, then back to the US. I would love to do that one. Or even a Grand European one, which I also haven’t seen offered in the last few years. 
 

C’mon HAL!  Mix up your Grands a little more!

Out of curiosity, how do you put someone on ignore?

For me, there is a big difference between “when will cruising restart” and “when will I start cruising.”  Once cruising resumes I will probably wait at least a year or two before I book a cruise. I want to see what cruising will be like (the “new normal”) and what happens when someone on the ship inevitably comes down with Covid. If cruising changes too much, I may just start doing land vacations. The big caveat in all of this for me will be whether or not an effective vaccine is developed. That could be a game changer in my future cruising decisions.