Still alot of uncertainly as to which cruises are a go? How soon with RCCL let us know?

[DJLDRUMS]

9 hours ago, cruise wizard said:

I would think that TA's would be contacting their customers and finding out (and possibly documenting) if they have gotten their Covid vaccinations yet or are planning on getting them prior to their scheduled sailings. This might help prepare the passengers and cruise lines for an easier start up.

That's a great point you brought up that makes a lot of sense. However, it does reinforce the topic of just how close we're getting to once again be able to walk up the gangway once again...... 

[cruise wizard]

3 minutes ago, DJLDRUMS said:

Looking realistically at everything, I'd say ...Truer words were never spoken ! Its impossible to go from 0 to 60 in this day and age.

 

Maybe Royal has an "Operation Warp Speed".................they will need it!!!! Not only complying to still some unknown requirements BUT the logistics of crewing up, vaccinating all staff, new training, provisioning, shoreside operations, fueling, vendors staffed for excursions, berthing logistics, entertainment hired, rehearsed and scheduled, and the list just goes on and on and on.

[cmsjab]

We are booked and now 2 months out from our July 1st - 9 night Enchantment out of Baltimore. This is our L&S from last year - Grandeur. We booked while on Rhapsody, Feb 2020 with RCCL. We have watched all the cancellations and orders and waiting for likely the mid-July start up and having to L&S again. 

[cruise wizard]

Just now, cmsjab said:

We are booked and now 2 months out from our July 1st - 9 night Enchantment out of Baltimore. This is our L&S from last year - Grandeur. We booked while on Rhapsody, Feb 2020 with RCCL. We have watched all the cancellations and orders and waiting for likely the mid-July start up and having to L&S again. 

 

For some folks it has been a viscous circle -!!!!😟

[cmsjab]

7 minutes ago, cruise wizard said:

 

For some folks it has been a viscous circle -!!!!😟

True. We only had to deal with 1 booking so it hasn’t been terrible for us. Just waiting. 

[cruise wizard]

14 minutes ago, cmsjab said:

True. We only had to deal with 1 booking so it hasn’t been terrible for us. Just waiting. 

 

One day this will all be behind us..............🤯🤯

[DJLDRUMS]

1 minute ago, cruise wizard said:

 

One day this will all be behind us..............🤯🤯

True-true-true !

[Eddie Wilson]

10 hours ago, Jimbo said:

So maybe a real start-up date is closer to the fall.

 

Just thinking on the topic, an opinion.  In all honesty, RCL has a long successful history, and in order to do that they have different levels of hierarchy.  I would bet a dollar to a donut that over the past year certain levels have developed plans for implementation of a restart.  Including repatriation off crew, training, supplies, repositioning etc.

 

Other levels have most likely been working on the ground work necessary to address new Covid protocols, including a contingency for confirmation of vaccination status.

 

SO..... I envision corporate giving these subordinate levels this week to tie bows upon plans to start just a few ships mid July.   I see the start as 2 medium size, Freedom or Quantum class ships (maybe 3) one from Miami, one from FFL, (and possibly one from Canaveral).  

 

I can then see them coming to a plan on just how quickly to add capacity.  I would say adding more ships to these ports on a weekly or bi-weekly basis in August and September until all the ships are a sail hopefully within 90 days of the restart.  Texas and other ports I would say may not be July, they might want to concentrate at first in Fla for a month then in a second round of openings sail from other ports.

 

So we may not be able to commingle two functions,  re-start and full sailing schedule, into one basket, as they may restart in July, but not be full sailing until later.  

 

RCL also knows Carnival, NCL and all other players are doing the same, and therefore I think they will announce their plans, at least the first month or two SOONER RATHER THAN LATER...

 

 

 

Eddie

 

 

[Jimbo]

1 hour ago, Eddie Wilson said:

 

Just thinking on the topic, an opinion.  In all honesty, RCL has a long successful history, and in order to do that they have different levels of hierarchy.  I would bet a dollar to a donut that over the past year certain levels have developed plans for implementation of a restart.  Including repatriation off crew, training, supplies, repositioning etc.

 

Other levels have most likely been working on the ground work necessary to address new Covid protocols, including a contingency for confirmation of vaccination status.

 

SO..... I envision corporate giving these subordinate levels this week to tie bows upon plans to start just a few ships mid July.   I see the start as 2 medium size, Freedom or Quantum class ships (maybe 3) one from Miami, one from FFL, (and possibly one from Canaveral).  

 

I can then see them coming to a plan on just how quickly to add capacity.  I would say adding more ships to these ports on a weekly or bi-weekly basis in August and September until all the ships are a sail hopefully within 90 days of the restart.  Texas and other ports I would say may not be July, they might want to concentrate at first in Fla for a month then in a second round of openings sail from other ports.

 

So we may not be able to commingle two functions,  re-start and full sailing schedule, into one basket, as they may restart in July, but not be full sailing until later.  

 

RCL also knows Carnival, NCL and all other players are doing the same, and therefore I think they will announce their plans, at least the first month or two SOONER RATHER THAN LATER...

 

 

 

Eddie

 

 

Wow, think you are giving Royal lot of credit for getting ready for this start-up.......Most think Royal  is pretty much doing nothing and was hoping they would just wake up 1 day and this would all just go away like it never happened.

Believe they are waiting for it to go away and just start-up, because it would cost them less money that way rather then prepare with all the protocols needed.

[DJLDRUMS]

Let me toss out this questions fellow cruisers for your input/ discussion. There's absolutely no question about it that RCI is going to begin their operations out of the State of Florida first with different class ships. So, now lets look at Port Liberty NJ where the Oasis was to begin their cruises in mid May. Currently the Ports of NY and NJ are telling us that they are not open to cruise ships at least through the month of May by cancelling ALL the cruise lines in and out of there. Even if the CDC gives the go-ahead to begin cruises sometime in July the NJ and NY Ports "could" remain shut down to the cruise Industry. This is going to cause another headache for passengers booked to leave from there. So what do you suppose would happen to the Oasis that's still off the coast of Nassau right now. Would you think that NJ and NY cruises could be cancelled and the ship sent to operate out of Florida on a new itinerary? As we can see there's a lot more grounds to cover here with very little answers at hand.

[dswallow]

7 minutes ago, DJLDRUMS said:

Let me toss out this questions fellow cruisers for your input/ discussion. There's absolutely no question about it that RCI is going to begin their operations out of the State of Florida first with different class ships. So, now lets look at Port Liberty NJ where the Oasis was to begin their cruises in mid May. Currently the Ports of NY and NJ are telling us that they are not open to cruise ships at least through the month of May by cancelling ALL the cruise lines in and out of there. Even if the CDC gives the go-ahead to begin cruises sometime in July the NJ and NY Ports "could" remain shut down to the cruise Industry. This is going to cause another headache for passengers booked to leave from there. So what do you suppose would happen to the Oasis that's still off the coast of Nassau right now. Would you think that NJ and NY cruises could be cancelled and the ship sent to operate out of Florida on a new itinerary? As we can see there's a lot more grounds to cover here with very little answers at hand.

 

If you're gonna play coulda shoulda woulda, don't forget the whole vaccination-required vs. Florida-says-damn-you-and-the-horse-you-ride-in-on-you-will-not-require-vaccinations.

The only answer to the question(s) posed in this thread now are the same as they have always been. Nobody knows. Nobody can know yet. But it's fun to hope, right? 🙂

[DJLDRUMS]

2 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

If you're gonna play coulda shoulda woulda, don't forget the whole vaccination-required vs. Florida-says-damn-you-and-the-horse-you-ride-in-on-you-will-not-require-vaccinations.

The only answer to the question(s) posed in this thread now are the same as they have always been. Nobody knows. Nobody can know yet. But it's fun to hope, right? 🙂

Perfect, dswallow, your profile says you're from New Jersey, can you add anything to what the general consensus is for people to be vaccinated to take a cruise ship from NJ? How strict is your State with regards to being vaccinated?

[Sunshine3601]

8 minutes ago, DJLDRUMS said:

Let me toss out this questions fellow cruisers for your input/ discussion. There's absolutely no question about it that RCI is going to begin their operations out of the State of Florida first with different class ships. So, now lets look at Port Liberty NJ where the Oasis was to begin their cruises in mid May. Currently the Ports of NY and NJ are telling us that they are not open to cruise ships at least through the month of May by cancelling ALL the cruise lines in and out of there. Even if the CDC gives the go-ahead to begin cruises sometime in July the NJ and NY Ports "could" remain shut down to the cruise Industry. This is going to cause another headache for passengers booked to leave from there. So what do you suppose would happen to the Oasis that's still off the coast of Nassau right now. Would you think that NJ and NY cruises could be cancelled and the ship sent to operate out of Florida on a new itinerary? As we can see there's a lot more grounds to cover here with very little answers at hand.

logistically it will be a nightmare for them to coordinate everything.    I don't think they will start up with the smaller ports such as Cape liberty in NJ or Baltimore, MD.   As Port Canaveral and Galveston are helping out cruise lines and currently vaccinating crew I believe these ports will be first to open along with FLL (port everglades) and Miami.      Not sure about Tampa, they may add Tampa sailings soon after.   

I believe a lot of the NJ and MD summer sailings go to Bermuda so they may not worry about that since Vision will be sailing out of Bermuda.     Then you have the fact that Canada closed waters/borders for cruise ships till 2022 so you lose a lot of the sailings that were scheduled to go to NE/Canada out of MD/NJ.     I can see those sailings being switched to a Bahama itinerary (that is why I took the refund for my NE/Canada sailing I had booked for Sept).     

[dswallow]

3 minutes ago, DJLDRUMS said:

Perfect, dswallow, your profile says you're from New Jersey, can you add anything to what the general consensus is for people to be vaccinated to take a cruise ship from NJ? How strict is your State with regards to being vaccinated?

 

I don't think there's anything to add. There simply hasn't really been talk about Port activities that I've seen anywhere. There definitely won't be any attempt at preventing a business from asking about vaccinations and requiring them if that's what they want to do. Nor is there any movement to provide any more formal/official/certified version of proof of vaccination.

[DJLDRUMS]

Please note that Oasis was scheduled to do 7 nights starting this month to Port Canaveral, Coco-Cay and Nassau throughout the summer. Yes also was scheduled to do a New England-Canada that doesn't look promising. As I said theres still a lot of variables in bringing this ship up to New Jersey with the Ports closed along with the uncertainty of mandatory vaccines to even board ships and return.

[DJLDRUMS]

7 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

I don't think there's anything to add. There simply hasn't really been talk about Port activities that I've seen anywhere. There definitely won't be any attempt at preventing a business from asking about vaccinations and requiring them if that's what they want to do. Nor is there any movement to provide any more formal/official/certified version of proof of vaccination.

I've been following this, maybe you have too? Worldshipny.com/ current-arrivals-and-departures

[dswallow]

18 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

logistically it will be a nightmare for them to coordinate everything.    I don't think they will start up with the smaller ports such as Cape liberty in NJ or Baltimore, MD.   As Port Canaveral and Galveston are helping out cruise lines and currently vaccinating crew I believe these ports will be first to open along with FLL (port everglades) and Miami.      Not sure about Tampa, they may add Tampa sailings soon after.   

I believe a lot of the NJ and MD summer sailings go to Bermuda so they may not worry about that since Vision will be sailing out of Bermuda.     Then you have the fact that Canada closed waters/borders for cruise ships till 2022 so you lose a lot of the sailings that were scheduled to go to NE/Canada out of MD/NJ.     I can see those sailings being switched to a Bahama itinerary (that is why I took the refund for my NE/Canada sailing I had booked for Sept).     

 

The Anthem and Oasis (which was announced but hasn't sailed from NJ yet) mostly always do Bahamas or Caribbean sailings, with Anthem having gotten a couple Bermuda sailings tossed in. In the spring/summer Adventure will do Canada/New England and Bermuda, and Freedom will do some Bermuda. Empress was going to be doing some more extensive Canada itineraries out of NJ but it's now gone.

 

Grandeur (replaced now by Enchantment) alternates Bahamas and Caribbean itineraries. and does Bermuda, too.

Voyager out of Boston will mostly do Canada/New England and Bermuda in 2022. I forget what ships sailed from Boston before... Jewel, I think. Serenade before that.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by dswallow

[BecciBoo]

14 hours ago, Jimbo said:

 

 

 

 

Anyone else feel the same way............makes it hard to get excited  about making plans for a cruise that may be for not.

Waiting hasn't dampened my spirits at all, I have learned a lot of patiencec in the last year.  However, I can't go soon enough!  Our flights have been booked for since January...first time in first class for us, can't wait to experience that.  As long as we get to go sometime soon and it doesn't cost us anymore I'm so there.

[BecciBoo]

4 hours ago, cruise wizard said:

 

For some folks it has been a viscous circle -!!!!😟

WE booked a Next Cruise whilst onboard Symphony Sept 2019 and went through 5 cruise changes in the last year and a half...vicious isn't the word....I'm an early birdie and I had to deal with Delta 3 cxs and credits. Hubby's was paid with flight points and mine with $$ because the original flights were to Hawaii for daughters wedding back on Jan. 1st, which we missed completely. 😪, which fell through because of Hawaii's restrictions, talk about hoops!  That was the biggest hassel I must say, but eventually it allowed us to book the ones we have now in first class.  Like I said, a first for us cheap seat folks.  All in all, I feel like I could man the phones at Delta and RCCL with all the changes made!!!!!!!!!!!  I will be more judicious about booking so far in advance, especially flights.

Edited May 2, 2021 by BecciBoo

[BecciBoo]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Wow, think you are giving Royal lot of credit for getting ready for this start-up......

I agree with him...they've had months of strategy meetings and they are a far in advance operations company anyway.  You really think they wouldn't have think tanked it from every angle?  If you keep up with Chris on Youtube, he's had orders for his new ship for months, just waiting for UK to open up and him to get his shots.  I always anticipated he'd get them one way or another just as is happening right now.  I follow him, because of those orders and I think he knows a lot more than most about what they are doing.  Anyway, I'm not worried at all.

Edited May 2, 2021 by BecciBoo

[Iamcruzin]

4 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

We are notified by email from the big box TA. In all our bookings thru them, I have had just two reps that might meet your description. The majority of these reps are knowledgeable and customer-oriented. Of course, it helps to be a savvy cruiser who is aware of cruise line pricing, cabin selection, etc. I would cite just one example of their customer service. I noticed for a Celebrity repositioning cruise that perks were being offered on their website, which was highly unusual for that type of itinerary. The random big box rep who took my call spent three hours working with the cruise line to get us what we saw, but she could only see using her personal device, It turned out to be an error by Celebrity, but thanks to her persistence her hours of diligence netted us $400 in OBC.

I only used a big box agent once. She booked my cruise and that was the last I heard from her even when I called her directly. I must have spoken to agents for the length of that booking for price adjustments, follow up on OBC from agency and other things that came up along the way. If it wasn't for the OBC they were offering at the time I would never use them.

[DJLDRUMS]

41 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

I agree with him...they've had months of strategy meetings and they are a far in advance operations company anyway.  You really think they wouldn't have think tanked it from every angle?  If you keep up with Chris on Youtube, he's had orders for his new ship for months, just waiting for UK to open up and him to get his shots.  I always anticipated he'd get them one way or another just as is happening right now.  I follow him, because of those orders and I think he knows a lot more than most about what they are doing.  Anyway, I'm not worried at all.

How about Don's Family Vacations on YouTube? do you follow him?

 

[SpainAlien]

19 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I haven’t seen any cruise line release a detailed start up plan so Royal is not alone.  It will take a while for them to work out the details and to still jump through all the hoops and obstacles that the CDC has in place. 

NCL have a list of cruises that are going ahead and then a date by date list of planned ship start dates.  I have given a link below but it may not work outside of EU, if it doesn't work you can see the NCL list by going on their homepage and scrolling down to "We're back!  Let's get cruising"

 

https://www.ncl.com/fr/en/return-to-service?intcmp=na_sl_rts

[molly361]

45 minutes ago, SpainAlien said:

NCL have a list of cruises that are going ahead and then a date by date list of planned ship start dates.  I have given a link below but it may not work outside of EU, if it doesn't work you can see the NCL list by going on their homepage and scrolling down to "We're back!  Let's get cruising"

 

https://www.ncl.com/fr/en/return-to-service?intcmp=na_sl_rts

I can see it. Nice 👍

[SNJCruisers]

21 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I haven’t seen any cruise line release a detailed start up plan so Royal is not alone.  It will take a while for them to work out the details and to still jump through all the hoops and obstacles that the CDC has in place. 

Ken....Regarding the new guidelines released by the CDC.  Is it possible for a particular line to have their initial set of ships do the 95% 5% route in order to start generating revenue and then have other ships in the fleet do the test cruise route?  The second group of ships would have to jump through more hoops, but then they would not be burdened with the 5% rule, allowing more kids on board and also more unvaccinated adults.   A 3,000 passenger ship would only be able to have 150 kids and unvaccinated adults on it with the 5% rule, but those restrictions would obviously be lifted under the test cruise route.