Should Royal Caribbean suspend all cruises for 60days

[Ourusualbeach]

29 minutes ago, Floke said:

 

 

I'm using the public booking site. Go look for yourself before you claim what you can tell me to be a fact. When I looked an hour ago, there were 27 suites, 92 balcony's, 9 ocean view, and 39 interior cabins available to book for a total of 167. I know that doesn't fit the mass hysteria theme of this thread and what the media is pumping out but it's out there for anyone to see. This is also a spring break cruise and many going, like myself live very near the Cape so flights aren't necessary for us and it's easy to get there... it might be an outlier at this point, I'll concede that. 

The public booking site does not show nearly all the cabins.  The 160 cabins that I reported for just 2 balcony categories is far more accurate. I am using the travel agent site but there are other sites out there that come a lot closer to listing real numbers than Royals which is one that lists the least amount of cabins I don't have the time to bother going through every category to get total numbers i'm just pointing out that you are way over estimating how many people will be on Harmony this Sunday.

[Ourusualbeach]

23 minutes ago, Ptroxx said:

Can you share what site your using to check availability plz.   

It's the site that TA's use to book.  There are others.  Rccl.uk used to be great but they changed it I believe. 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Ourusualbeach

[ONECRUISER]

3 hours ago, mike123abc said:

They probably will not have a choice in the matter.  If a bunch of popular cruise destinations close, they may not have enough itineraries to keep a reasonable schedule going.  I do not think people would want to a bunch of cruises to nowhere...

In a month most Royal ships will be out Caribbean doin TA's but/so we'll see...

[time4u2go]

41 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

You do realize that there are not nearly enough test kits in the United States?

Very true.  And when (if?) there are a lot of them, I would think that accommodating cruises would not be high on the list of priorities as to whom should have access to them.

[Ourusualbeach]

12 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

I counted 747 available cabins on the Sunday 3/15 Harmony...... and I didn’t count the available interiors ( got tired of counting). That is from the travel agent website which will show everything. I will guess @Ourusualbeachused the same site.

 

mac_tlc

Yep, add in maybe another 100 for the insides and shes sailing at about 2/3 full.  same site

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, mike123abc said:

Viking also cancelled all cruises https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/12/coronavirus-viking-cruises-suspends-cruise-operations-until-may-1/5030006002/

 

What happened on Princess could have happened on any cruise line.  It is only a matter of time if they keep sailing that it will break out on a Royal ship somewhere.

Jewel OTS is having some troubles.   they have a couple passengers who they sent test kits or waiting the results of the tests and their cruise basically has gone nowhere.   they left dubai and were refused entry at 2 ports and returned to dubai.   I read on another forum the passengers have not been quarantined to their rooms they are moving around freely while waiting test results. 

I know there are US passengers on this trip    I wonder if they will be allowed to fly home (if test results are negative).

let's face it - it is going to happen to each and every ship since it takes on average 5 days before someone has fever, etc.   So this check temperatures at airports and cruise terminals isn't going to work for everyone.

[Kjr5155]

My question is about all the repositioning cruises. We are set to sail on a Transpacific on the Ovation from Sydney in 5 weeks and I know it ends up in Alaska for their summer cruises. You think they are going to let the ships sail empty?

 

My work has already told me if I chose to go, I will have to self-quarantine for 14 days after my return. I'm lucky enough that my husband and I both have the ability to work from home, so we are fine with keeping our plans and dealing with a self-quarantine after.

[gjkubel]

55 minutes ago, rolloman said:

Royal Caribbean made a smart move years ago by making their ships the destination. They have enhanced their private island stops. During this Time of hysteria ....here is my suggestion, park their older “non destination ships”  and limit their itineraries to their private locations, shorten the voyages, disembark all passengers and crew upon return. Swab every crew member with a virus test before allowing them to re-board.  At this time, test results do not come back in a timely manner, therefore until that is vetted out, they may have to have two sets of crew for each ship. Again,  before I am attacked, this is only an idea. This concept would be used as a stop gap versus a complete halting of their sailings.

    

People with the exact symptoms are being sent home from hospitals without testing because we don’t have the kits to do the test on a large scale. Sure, would be nice to test everyone before getting on ship at each port. But that’s beyond pie in the sky, not to mention incubation period anyway.

Edited March 12, 2020 by gjkubel

[Midwestgal]

For me I wish they would and give everyone a choice of refund or FCC like Princess did.

sick of trying to gauge  this whole thing! 
I don’t want to get on the ship and try to avoid sneezes , cough, sniffle, and feel I need to bring straws that the crew hadn’t touched .

Edited March 12, 2020 by Midwestgal

[ONECRUISER]

15 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

The public booking site does not show nearly all the cabins.  The 160 cabins that I reported for just 2 balcony categories is far more accurate. I am using the travel agent site but there are other sites out there that come a lot closer to listing real numbers than Royals which is one that lists the least amount of cabins I don't have the time to bother going through every category to get total numbers i'm just pointing out that you are way over estimating how many people will be on Harmony this Sunday.

Miss the days when you could walk up get on a ship day of sailing, or stay on for a B2B. Empty Ships/Planes, experienced that right after 9/11. Flew down Florida and plane was 75% empty, Explorer of Seas then Newest/Largest ship had over 15% Cabins empty, dont know exact as the 15% was the qurarter average I heard then. But most passengers either Solo or no kids. Did Disney with kids Oct2001, none or almost no wait on rides, but they started searching every bag and actually frisked and wand me going into Disney Park. 

Edited March 12, 2020 by ONECRUISER

[suzyluvs2cruise]

15 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Jewel OTS is having some troubles.   they have a couple passengers who they sent test kits or waiting the results of the tests and their cruise basically has gone nowhere.   they left dubai and were refused entry at 2 ports and returned to dubai.   I read on another forum the passengers have not been quarantined to their rooms they are moving around freely while waiting test results. 

I know there are US passengers on this trip    I wonder if they will be allowed to fly home (if test results are negative).

let's face it - it is going to happen to each and every ship since it takes on average 5 days before someone has fever, etc.   So this check temperatures at airports and cruise terminals isn't going to work for everyone.

 

Facts about Jewel of the Seas. "Our doctors onboard have examined and tested both individuals, and their assessment is that one is gastrointestinal issue and the other a throat infection." 

 

Jewel returned to Dubai due to closed ports.....not ill passengers. No one is quarantined on Jewel. 

 

Jewel of the Seas return to Dubai

Edited March 12, 2020 by suzyluvs2cruise

[elephant98]

In deciding whether to suspend operations for any length of time, Royal will definitely take into account whether it will have to issue refunds to the passengers of the cancelled sailings.  The last thing Royal wants to do at this point is issue refunds.  After all, Royal quickly changed its new "cruise with confidence" cancellation policy to eliminate the issuance of any applicable refunds (i.e., deposit, 75%, 50%, 25%) associated with its standard cancellation policy in favor of giving a 100% future cruise credit only.  And, Royal just took out an additional $550 million line of credit to bolster its liquidity.

 

Paragraph 6 of Royal's cruise contract governing “CANCELLATION, DEVIATION or SUBSTITUTION BY CARRIER” provides: “Carrier shall have the right to comply with any orders, recommendations, or directions whatsoever given by any governmental entity or by persons purporting to act with such authority and such compliance shall not be deemed a breach of this Agreement entitling the Passenger to assert any claim for liability, compensation or refund.” (Emphasis added).

 

If Royal suspends operation for 30 to 60 days and can claim, justifiably, that it did so based on a "recommendation" by the U.S. federal government, then Royal won't be in breach of the cruise contract.  So, no refunds.   That being said, from Royal's viewpoint, the easier way out would probably be for the federal government to "order" Royal to cease operations temporarily.

[Waycoolrob]

20 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

Bingo!!!!  And after reading what goes on in the cruise ship buffet and how people don't wash their hands after using the bathroom, I don't have enough faith that my fellow cruise mates will man up and go to the infirmary if they develop any symptoms. They will continue to enjoy "Their" vacation and to Hell with the rest of us. 

This is so true it hurts, do not forget the finger lickers and the uncovered sneeze's, seen it so many times, and if you say something they look at you like you are the bad guy. Yup sorry friends it needs to happen. 

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, Floke said:

Princess and Viking have vastly different sailing demos and that had a lot to do with their decisions. 

I agree. There is a great potential for them to kill off their main audience. The lawsuits alone would put them out of business. With that said Celebrity has a similar demographic.  I also think all cruise lines should suspend service for a period of time.  It would alleviate the concerns whether to fly to port which is a risk in it's self, only to be told your cruise is cancelled. I am hearing about more and more companies telling their employees that they have to self quarantine 14 unpaid after returning from travel so this is just becoming worse each day.

[coolptnr]

You do realize they will soon have plenty of kits?With money to be made producing these kits I am confident it won’t be too long before you can go to any CVS and pick one up.

 

You do realize that the self described "stable genius"  said the same thing just last week. And clearly he was wrong. The US does not have nearly enough kits to remotely get to a "test on demand" status at your local CVS or other pharmacy. And if you have data to back up what you mean by "before too long", I'd love to see it.

 

Heck, even his top health expert says the US is "failing" on testing. You don't fail if you have enough test kits...

Edited March 12, 2020 by coolptnr

[Hoopster95]

18 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

Bingo!!!!  And after reading what goes on in the cruise ship buffet and how people don't wash their hands after using the bathroom, I don't have enough faith that my fellow cruise mates will man up and go to the infirmary if they develop any symptoms. They will continue to enjoy "Their" vacation and to Hell with the rest of us. 

 

Someone got off a plane in Miami who was allowed to fly with the virus

https://www.miamiherald.com/living/travel/article241123136.html

 

 

4 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Jewel OTS is having some troubles....I wonder if they will be allowed to fly home (if test results are negative).....

let's face it - it is going to happen to each and every ship since it takes on average 5 days before someone has fever, etc.  So this check temperatures at airports and cruise terminals isn't going to work for everyone.

 

My colleague's son is a high level stem cell researcher. Last week he was concerned but confident this wasn't a really big issue. CFO of the company was away (work/lab issues) and returned 3 days ago to impose full shut down of the company after seeing what he saw overseas and seeing the data. If the company employees are not directly related to Corona/lab research, no one is allowed in the buildings and lab, and non-essential travel is banned to all their employees.

 

Me thinks things have changed from last week to this.

[Iamcruzin]

Just now, Waycoolrob said:

This is so true it hurts, do not forget the finger lickers and the uncovered sneeze's, seen it so many times, and if you say something they look at you like you are the bad guy. Yup sorry friends it needs to happen. 

I don't eat in the buffet on a good day. I just don't care for the selections except for fruit and salad but the visuals I keep reading about will keep me out for good.

[Kjr5155]

6 minutes ago, elephant98 said:

In deciding whether to suspend operations for any length of time, Royal will definitely take into account whether it will have to issue refunds to the passengers of the cancelled sailings.  The last thing Royal wants to do at this point is issue refunds.  After all, Royal quickly changed its new "cruise with confidence" cancellation policy to eliminate the issuance of any applicable refunds (i.e., deposit, 75%, 50%, 25%) associated with its standard cancellation policy in favor of giving a 100% future cruise credit only.  And, Royal just took out an additional $550 million line of credit to bolster its liquidity.

 

Paragraph 6 of Royal's cruise contract governing “CANCELLATION, DEVIATION or SUBSTITUTION BY CARRIER” provides: “Carrier shall have the right to comply with any orders, recommendations, or directions whatsoever given by any governmental entity or by persons purporting to act with such authority and such compliance shall not be deemed a breach of this Agreement entitling the Passenger to assert any claim for liability, compensation or refund.” (Emphasis added).

 

If Royal suspends operation for 30 to 60 days and can claim, justifiably, that it did so based on a "recommendation" by the U.S. federal government, then Royal won't be in breach of the cruise contract.  So, no refunds.   That being said, from Royal's viewpoint, the easier way out would probably be for the federal government to "order" Royal to cease operations temporarily.

If Royal fails to offer something, whether refund or FCC, their brand will end up being worse hit than Princess. Regardless of what their lawyers typed up, they will make it right. We were cancelled from a Cuba cruise due to governmental regulations and were offered a refund or transfer to the new itinerary. We were given a time limit in which to make our decision, but same thing.

[orville99]

41 minutes ago, Floke said:

 

Nice! It's just royalcaribbean.com then find a cruise. Search for the one leaving on 3/15 from Port Canaveral, look for 1 stateroom and then go by category by category. I just did each that showed available and added them up. Probably not the most accurate method as I'm sure travel agents have better info but it should be pretty darn close. 

One of the problems with RCL’s booking engine is that it will only show you the available cabins that match the number of passengers you select. Just booked a 2021 cruise while on harmony last month, and when i went to the booking engine it only showed one JS when i selected two passengers. When i raised the number to three, 20+ more showed up.

[elephant98]

5 minutes ago, Kjr5155 said:

If Royal fails to offer something, whether refund or FCC, their brand will end up being worse hit than Princess. Regardless of what their lawyers typed up, they will make it right. We were cancelled from a Cuba cruise due to governmental regulations and were offered a refund or transfer to the new itinerary. We were given a time limit in which to make our decision, but same thing.

 

I'm guessing Royal would offer the 100% FCC, like it is with the "cruise with confidence" policy.

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

You do realize that there are not nearly enough test kits in the United States?

That's the main issue. The President claimed last night that they are working with Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics to provide testing. I hope this will become true.  My son and his Fiance' are both home with fever. The primary care physician told them to go to urgent care. Urgent care was a waste of time. They couldn't do anything. Now they are both home in self quarantine.  The institution that my wife works for is telling people to stop coming to the emergency room. They are telling the patients to do an interactive online Dr visit and they will be advised what to do. A friend of mine went to a Dr appointment and the place was empty. When she asked what's going on as the place is usually packed. She was told that they are not seeing sick people. Have you ever heard of anything so crazy?  How people can still want to go on vacation is beyond me. 

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, rolloman said:

You do realize they will soon have plenty of kits?With money to be made producing these kits I am confident it won’t be too long before you can go to any CVS and pick one up.

Another thing for people to hoard and sell for an inflated price. 

[FLACRUISER99]

29 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

omeone got off a plane in Miami who was allowed to fly with the virus

https://www.miamiherald.com/living/travel/article241123136.html

I was in PBI not Miami.

[Biker19]

Virgin hasn't even started yet and are putting off their debut till the summer:

 

https://www.virginvoyages.com/ahoy/stories/inaugural-season-update

[Iamcruzin]

43 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

Someone got off a plane in Miami who was allowed to fly with the virus

https://www.miamiherald.com/living/travel/article241123136.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is why you can't trust a ship load of 6000 passenger to make a responsible decision to not board or to seek help for fear of being quarantined.