So what is your dealbreaker that will keep you away from cruising?

[dswallow]

I don't have an issue flying. But then, I started always doing Business Class or domestic First Class. It's still a bit of a hassle to lug luggage around through all the steps. At least this way I generally don't have to care what I pack. It is soooo much simpler and pleasant to drive up to the port, drop off the luggage, then go park and wander in to the check-in area with just carry-ons and to then be done.

[WxNerd]

7 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

 

 

RCCL is a family line.  There will always be children on bard.   At this points -those under 18 are not required to be vaccinated.  Probably  a good move for now since there is no vacine approved  for those under 16.  I believe those under 18 must show a negative Corvid test prior to boarding.  I don't know the specifics.

 

M 

 

.  

Correct, I was just saying that would be the only deal breaker for us. Since that is not an issue, we are booked for the July 3rd sailing on the Adventure. My husband and I are vaccinated, and my boys both know they have to have a negative PCR test before we can board. We will be quarantining the 2 weeks before we leave to ensure we are good to go. 

[patattack]

The deal breaker for me is mask wearing.  I am vaccinated, but absolutely will not cruise with a mask.   We have a mask mandate at my work and do not see it being lifted any time soon.  If I was 3 years older, I would have retired rather than wear a mask all day.  I have tried multiple kinds of masks and all make me feel like I am smothering.  

 

I love to cruise, and currently have 4 booked, three in 2022.  If the mask mandate is still in force when the final payments are due, I will cancel.

[neverbeenhere]

No deal breaker.  The ship floats? 

(Though we wouldn’t pay $1,000 a day each for an inside Caribbean cruise.)

[Travelling2Some]

The deal breaker for us would be ship sponsored excursions.  We are not Caribbean/beach people.  We cruise for the ports (Europe, Asia, etc.) and wouldn't bother to travel all the way to distant ports without being able to make our own plans since it would (generally) be a huge waste of time and money.

[LuCruise]

10 hours ago, Tapi said:

 

 

For those of you saying that you won’t fly: Respectfully, I’m genuinely curious what your reasoning is. Are you against flying specifically to cruise, or are you against flying at all? Is the added cost of flying a prohibitive expense? Fear factor? Health? Too much of a hassle? Etc.

 

We're thinking of driving if our next cruise is out of New Jersey as opposed to out of Florida.  It's a long drive (10hrs or so with lots of stops) but do-able.  Our reasoning is since in the past, we booked flights very early....10 or 11 months out...esp as we cruise during peak times.  But with things so up in the air if a cruise will go or not, we are not booking flights.  When we know we are going, then we will look at flight prices, but most likely we will drive do to the cost if out of NJ. The big risk we have is it would be Dec or March....so need to be flexible with leaving early due to weather.

[dritan]

Deal breaker for us has been the cost.  Although I can pay the extra they are charging for uk only cruises, I can't justify it.  MSC prices today went live and they were charging £3350 for 2 adults and 2 children for a one week UK cruise (balcony) .  For an experience that is less than normal I don't want to pay double.  I suspect RCI costs when they become clear next week will be even higher - they usually are.

 

I'll wait longer and hope that my cheaper mSC and Costs cruises booked for Oct take place. 

[Joseph2017China]

I take two vacations a year, including one or two on a ship, and most likely internationally.  Every year, you live can't be repeated.  It's over when Jan 1 comes around.  So, each year, you must decide what you want out of that year.  Do you want to sit home because you might be inconvenienced with a covid test, a mask, some social distance, the Diamond lounge closed, the lack of ports, the flight etc?  If so, than do so.  There is no deal breakers for me, just adaptations.  I have my two vacations planned for the year with one less than 2 months away, and the second one, not booked, but looking strongly to book it.  September and looking at all options.  Both trips will require testing, some sort of masking, flying, social distances and adapting but I will never have this year back if I don't work around the hassles of this year.  My one and only deal breaker for any trip, is if it fits into my budget.......has nothing to do with Covid......just my wallet. 

[mek]

11 hours ago, Tapi said:

 

 

For those of you saying that you won’t fly: Respectfully, I’m genuinely curious what your reasoning is. Are you against flying specifically to cruise, or are you against flying at all? Is the added cost of flying a prohibitive expense? Fear factor? Health? Too much of a hassle? Etc.

I do get not wanting to fly when someone conveniently lives close to a port of embarkation (I know since I used to live in Ft Lauderdale, between Port Miami and Port Everglades). But for me, after a while, cruising from the same ports became too repetitive, even if it was convenient and cheaper. Allowing myself to fly to go on a cruise opened up a whole new world worth the added hassle and expense. 

I alway have to fly to Florida - it's just too far to drive and we always stay at least one night pre cruise.  Flying to any of the islands just to take a Caribbean cruise just isn't appealing to me.  Pre cruise hotels are much more expensive as is the food.  The only time I go to the Caribbean is generally Oct - March - not interested in the warmer months - I did it a few times and thought it was terrible in the ports.

Unless it's something like the east coast of South America, I can't think of any itinerary I haven't been on more times than I can count, so I will pass until cruising resumes from US ports if all I'm looking for is a winter get away.

[spiritkat090909]

19 hours ago, badvector said:

I normally turn it around for formal nights. Plus, I color coordinate with my flip flops so it's all good.

😉 Clean? Smell nice? Hands washed, hair combed, & teeth brushed? You do YOU and I will MYOB.

[island lady]

22 minutes ago, mek said:

I alway have to fly to Florida - it's just too far to drive and we always stay at least one night pre cruise.  Flying to any of the islands just to take a Caribbean cruise just isn't appealing to me.  Pre cruise hotels are much more expensive as is the food.  The only time I go to the Caribbean is generally Oct - March - not interested in the warmer months - I did it a few times and thought it was terrible in the ports.

Unless it's something like the east coast of South America, I can't think of any itinerary I haven't been on more times than I can count, so I will pass until cruising resumes from US ports if all I'm looking for is a winter get away.

 

Funny thing is...though I am from Florida and indeed enjoy taking the cruises that I can drive to..... many of my booked cruises are flight involved.  

 

Australia, Puerto Rico, Barcelona, Europe embarkations...they take up more than half of my booked cruises.  

[mek]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

Funny thing is...though I am from Florida and indeed enjoy taking the cruises that I can drive to..... many of my booked cruises are flight involved.  

 

Australia, Puerto Rico, Barcelona, Europe embarkations...they take up more than half of my booked cruises.  

Absolutely - that was my point, if I have to fly with expensive hotels and meals then I want it to be something more interesting than the Caribbean.

[MacMarauder]

21 hours ago, davekathy said:

I haven't heard this one before (?). Where did you hear that?  

 

If you read the live thread from Ethanol95 where he went on one of the recent Singapore sailings, this is how he described it:

 

Exploring the ship is made much harder with staff sitting at entrance's and exits of each place in the ship. Guests have to scan their set sail cards once before proceeding, at some stations, my temperature has to be taken, at others staff check for the 'TraceTogether' app. Not sure why there is a discrepancy. I wanted to go explore the seaplex but the staff said, "sorry, we are only allowing guests with bumper car reservations into the seaplex at this time".

 

Of course I have no idea if they will implement this or something like it for US sailing but it is a possibility IMO.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, mek said:

Absolutely - that was my point, if I have to fly with expensive hotels and meals then I want it to be something more interesting than the Caribbean.

 

Agree...and indeed...anything I fly to, except PR...is pretty much not the Carib.  😉 

[dswallow]

4 hours ago, LuCruise said:

We're thinking of driving if our next cruise is out of New Jersey as opposed to out of Florida.  It's a long drive (10hrs or so with lots of stops) but do-able.  Our reasoning is since in the past, we booked flights very early....10 or 11 months out...esp as we cruise during peak times.  But with things so up in the air if a cruise will go or not, we are not booking flights.  When we know we are going, then we will look at flight prices, but most likely we will drive do to the cost if out of NJ. The big risk we have is it would be Dec or March....so need to be flexible with leaving early due to weather.

 

Make sure you look at booking air through Air2Sea instead of direct. They're often cheaper than booking direct and regularly have fares that are also refundable. They wouldn't generally even collect payment until the cruise final payment date, and if it gets canceled, they'd refund that, too. Generally a whole lot better than how the airlines want to treat you.

[koolZip]

On 3/30/2021 at 8:06 PM, RoyalC said:

For example:

 

Vaccine's are required

 

Vaccine's are not required

 

Masks are required

 

Social Distancing required

 

C & A benefits suspended

 

Mandatory ship sponsored excursions

 

and many more... so what is your dealbreaker?

 

 

 

[kastke]

My dealbreaker = taking a Covid test before boarding and at debarkation. We are vaccinated. I’m not taking the chance on a false positive test forcing me to miss my vacation or quarantine somewhere for two weeks before going home. 
 

There are plenty of destinations in the US to explore and vacation at until the Covid test requirement goes away. We did it last year safely with driving trips, and have more planned this year, both flying and driving. 

[dswallow]

10 minutes ago, kastke said:

My dealbreaker = taking a Covid test before boarding and at debarkation. We are vaccinated. I’m not taking the chance on a false positive test forcing me to miss my vacation or quarantine somewhere for two weeks before going home. 
 

There are plenty of destinations in the US to explore and vacation at until the Covid test requirement goes away. We did it last year safely with driving trips, and have more planned this year, both flying and driving. 

 

You know you can reword that a bit and it takes on a whole different meaning...

 

"Instead I can go on a US vacation someplace that doesn't require getting tested, then I can spread the infection around during my entire trip without interrupting my vacation."

 

RT-PCR tests are really very accurate with positives. They can produce false negatives. And in the case of a negative, you could test a second time and possibly be OK, and even if not, Royal Caribbean provides a full refund if you test positive for COVID-19 in the approximately 2 week period prior to the sailing date.

 

 

[NightOne]

I would have said my dealbreaker would be that I could only sail on Royal Caribbean but apparently that was not true. 🤣🤣🤣

 

So none

[kastke]

8 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

You know you can reword that a bit and it takes on a whole different meaning...

 

"Instead I can go on a US vacation someplace that doesn't require getting tested, then I can spread the infection around during my entire trip without interrupting my vacation."

 

RT-PCR tests are really very accurate with positives. They can produce false negatives. And in the case of a negative, you could test a second time and possibly be OK, and even if not, Royal Caribbean provides a full refund if you test positive for COVID-19 in the approximately 2 week period prior to the sailing date.

 

 

Perhaps you didn’t read that I said we were fully vaccinated.

Are you aware how much vast open land, national and state parks, there are in the United States that can be explored and visited with barely even seeing another person, and you can still mask and social distance safely if you do encounter other people. Less risk of spreading infection than even being on an airplane.
 

I haven’t seen anyone else in this thread flamed for stating their dealbreaker to cruising. I’ll thank you to accept my dealbreaker as it is. I’m not getting Covid tested to leave the country or to get on a ship. 
 

[HBE4]

Price/value.  Between pent up demand and reduced capacity,  if the price is to high, I won't go. But that was true pre-pandemic too so....  

 

Mask and social distance.  I have to see how those potential policies play out. Having to put a mask on everytime I go to the Pool bar, which can be quite often some days, or not being able to get into Schooner bar because of capacity restrictions would be a deal breaker.  

[dswallow]

1 hour ago, kastke said:

Perhaps you didn’t read that I said we were fully vaccinated.

 

I read it. Just saying, one vacation vs another and the difference is because you don't want to take a test, well... I simply turned the words around and said the same thing.

[grapau27]

On 3/31/2021 at 2:06 AM, RoyalC said:

For example:

 

Vaccine's are required

 

Vaccine's are not required

 

Masks are required

 

Social Distancing required

 

C & A benefits suspended

 

Mandatory ship sponsored excursions

 

and many more... so what is your dealbreaker?

 

 

Personally the only deal breaker for us is if all the cruiselines went bust.

[kastke]

1 hour ago, dswallow said:

 

I read it. Just saying, one vacation vs another and the difference is because you don't want to take a test, well... I simply turned the words around and said the same thing.

No, you did not say the same thing at all. I am not risking spreading infection while hiking and exploring canyons and mountains with no one but my spouse.  Quit being a jerk and go flame someone else. 

[dswallow]

5 hours ago, kastke said:

No, you did not say the same thing at all. I am not risking spreading infection while hiking and exploring canyons and mountains with no one but my spouse.  Quit being a jerk and go flame someone else. 

 

I'm not flaming you. I'm not being a jerk. And I'm not calling people names. I'm simply suggesting that being vaccinated doesn't mean you can't spread an infection to others who are not. I suppose it's worth repeating that Royal Caribbean isn't requiring the testing unless you're under 18. Being vaccinated is protecting you and lessening the chance you may pass an infection to others, especially those who are unvaccinated, but not in any way eliminating that possibility. There actually are some people who cannot get vaccinated yet (even if they want to), and others who may never be able (I'm ignoring those who could and choose not to). Anyway, the tests are required by both The Bahamas for entry to the country, and by the US upon return to the country. Hawaii requires tests, too.