Harmony conformed to resume sailing from Barcelona

[CSHS1979]

2 hours ago, pstone1 said:

I still work full time so relaxing on the balcony and spending quality time with friends and family for a couple of weeks are at the top of my list!  
 

There’s also the casino, mini-golf and sports deck, afternoon movies and shows, playing cards, etc.  We find the time goes by much too quickly.  
 

Both of us absolutely love being out in the middle of the ocean!  Don’t knock it if you’ve never tried it.  😀

 

Our Serenaded TA was one of my favorites. Very different than the typical repositioning into Barcelona

 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

2 hours ago, Olga Largo said:

Hi to everyone,

I will cruise Harmony on 22nd August sailing.It is me vaccinated and my 6 year old son.I can understand all the policies except one which o.m.g it is money related.....All parents with kids MUST buy only Royal Caribbean EXCURSIONS in order to be able to disimbark!!!!...We are from Barcelona and I follow closely all the news related to sailings in USA and UK........The tried to do the same,to FORCE you to buy only Royal Caribbean excursions in USA and UK but at the very end vaccinated an unvaccinated kids could disimbark without to be forced to buy a Royal Caribbean excursion!!!

I wonder if it is LEGAL to force you to buy their services!!!

That is driving me maaad!!

Sorry for my English but I hope you understand what I mean!!

Hi. We are hopefully on the sailing after yours. I think the restrictions are mostly from the host country. I think the UK sailings the UK gov told the cruise companies what the rules would be for passengers getting on and off. I may be wrong but i understand and share your frustrations.

 

We are a party of 7, two adults 1 child, 1 adult with a child and two adults. All adults vaccinated. We will be travelling together but in different rooms. So the two adults can get off and walk around shore, yet the two rooms with children must go on a rcl excursion, yet we all will be eating and socialising together.......dosnt make sence.

[Ocean Boy]

25 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

......dosnt make sence.

Making sense is not part of the criteria for establishing a rule.

[Jimbo]

4 hours ago, pstone1 said:

I still work full time so relaxing on the balcony and spending quality time with friends and family for a couple of weeks are at the top of my list!  
 

There’s also the casino, mini-golf and sports deck, afternoon movies and shows, playing cards, etc.  We find the time goes by much too quickly.  
 

Both of us absolutely love being out in the middle of the ocean!  Don’t knock it if you’ve never tried it.  😀

Have tried it, 14 and 15 night cruises, Hawaii RT from San Diego and Panama Canal San Diego to Ft . Lauderdale. I assume TA's are pretty much just like those but worse because there are fewer ports.

 

Rather spend my time visting different ports then 6 or 7 straight seas days like  a TA.

 

Just my honest opinion how we feel about, you feel different, it's okay.

[pstone1]

Just now, Jimbo said:

Have tried it, 14 and 15 night cruises, Hawaii RT from San Diego and Panama Canal San Diego to Ft . Lauderdale. I assume TA's are pretty much just like those but worse because there are fewer ports.

 

Rather spend my time visting different ports then 6 or 7 straight seas days like  a TA.

 

Just my honest opinion how we feel about, you feel different, it's okay.

We like Port intensive cruises too (pretty much any cruise 😀), but sometimes it’s just nice to do nothing!   I think variety is what makes cruising so attractive to us!  It’s easy once everything’s planned and there are always so many good choices!

[A&L_Ont]

7 hours ago, Jimbo said:

I think I rather stay home and watch grass grow.............as far as the points go, if you end of spending that much money on cruises what is buying a extra drink or 2 a night to you.

The perks aren't that great to be a bean counter.

Yah, it’s not my thing but others love to earn them.
 

Bean counting, also not my thing. That is, unless the beans are for my coffee. 

[pstone1]

1 hour ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

Our Serenaded TA was one of my favorites. Very different than the typical repositioning into Barcelona

 

We sailed an eastbound Serenade TA a couple of years ago that had a wonderful itinerary and ended in Copenhagen!  Also stopped at Azores, Cork, LaHavre, Brugges, and Amsterdam!  It was a great ride!

[drarill]

5 hours ago, Olga Largo said:

Hi to everyone,

I will cruise Harmony on 22nd August sailing.It is me vaccinated and my 6 year old son.I can understand all the policies except one which o.m.g it is money related.....All parents with kids MUST buy only Royal Caribbean EXCURSIONS in order to be able to disimbark!!!!...We are from Barcelona and I follow closely all the news related to sailings in USA and UK........The tried to do the same,to FORCE you to buy only Royal Caribbean excursions in USA and UK but at the very end vaccinated an unvaccinated kids could disimbark without to be forced to buy a Royal Caribbean excursion!!!

I wonder if it is LEGAL to force you to buy their services!!!

That is driving me maaad!!

Sorry for my English but I hope you understand what I mean!!

Olga, you will only be allowed to use ship sponsored tours because you are traveling with an unvaccinated child. Please, check this thread on the Celebrity boards; an unvaccinated couple was kicked out from the Edge for wondering around on their own on a ship sponsored tour.  BTW, Celebrity and Royal are private companies and they make their own rules.  

 

[CSHS1979]

1 hour ago, pstone1 said:

We sailed an eastbound Serenade TA a couple of years ago that had a wonderful itinerary and ended in Copenhagen!  Also stopped at Azores, Cork, LaHavre, Brugges, and Amsterdam!  It was a great ride!

 

Bruges was my favorite on that trip. I had no idea it was so nice.

[steamboats]

13 hours ago, Olga Largo said:

Hi to everyone,

I will cruise Harmony on 22nd August sailing.It is me vaccinated and my 6 year old son.I can understand all the policies except one which o.m.g it is money related.....All parents with kids MUST buy only Royal Caribbean EXCURSIONS in order to be able to disimbark!!!!...We are from Barcelona and I follow closely all the news related to sailings in USA and UK........The tried to do the same,to FORCE you to buy only Royal Caribbean excursions in USA and UK but at the very end vaccinated an unvaccinated kids could disimbark without to be forced to buy a Royal Caribbean excursion!!!

I wonder if it is LEGAL to force you to buy their services!!!

That is driving me maaad!!

Sorry for my English but I hope you understand what I mean!!

 

All other cruise lines in the Med - MSC or Costa - allow only organized shore tours and don´t differ whether you are vaccinated or not. TUI Cruises and AIDA are doing the same. In Greece some cruise lines now allow individual shore tours for fully vaccinated guests.

 

It´s not the cruise lines choice but the regulations of the health authorities of the visitied countries!

 

steamboats

[sgmn]

44 minutes ago, steamboats said:

 

All other cruise lines in the Med - MSC or Costa - allow only organized shore tours and don´t differ whether you are vaccinated or not. TUI Cruises and AIDA are doing the same. In Greece some cruise lines now allow individual shore tours for fully vaccinated guests.

 

It´s not the cruise lines choice but the regulations of the health authorities of the visitied countries!

 

steamboats

I hope Royals pricing is reasonable and good value  if you have no choice but to go with their organised tours, especially if you have to pay for a family group 

[ericfromri]

10 hours ago, pstone1 said:

We sailed an eastbound Serenade TA a couple of years ago that had a wonderful itinerary and ended in Copenhagen!  Also stopped at Azores, Cork, LaHavre, Brugges, and Amsterdam!  It was a great ride!

was that in 2017??  , if so that was a wonderful trip   maybe you did it in 2018 as i now see  you went to le havre , on our trip, that port was closed due to one of the normal french strikes and we went to Dover instead and i took my friends to London for the day on the train, than a hop on off bus.

Edited July 11, 2021 by ericfromri

[FionaMG]

42 minutes ago, sgmn said:

I hope Royals pricing is reasonable and good value  if you have no choice but to go with their organised tours, especially if you have to pay for a family group 

 

It's not. Prices are at normal pre-pandemic rates and the excursions on offer are less than inspiring. I would hope, for the sake of those who can only get off the ship on an excursion, that they will revise this approach as I gather (from reading the reviews) that the European lines have done but I don't think I'll hold my breath. 

[ericfromri]

5 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

It's not. Prices are at normal pre-pandemic rates and the excursions on offer are less than inspiring. I would hope, for the sake of those who can only get off the ship on an excursion, that they will revise this approach as I gather (from reading the reviews) that the European lines have done but I don't think I'll hold my breath. 

hopefully the cruise lines will not make accomadations for those without vaccination. i cannot understand why anyone would go on a cruise without one. you are potentially endangering everyone else on the ship

[FamilyCruiserUK]

33 minutes ago, ericfromri said:

hopefully the cruise lines will not make accomadations for those without vaccination. i cannot understand why anyone would go on a cruise without one. you are potentially endangering everyone else on the ship

Its a very thin line stopping those who are unable to have the vaccine for medical reasons and children who are not eligible for the vaccine. Those who choose not to have the vaccine will of course have to live with the consequences of their decision. 

 

However if its out of their control they should not be punished, granted some will have to wait whilst they wait for their 2nd jab. 

[ericfromri]

10 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Its a very thin line stopping those who are unable to have the vaccine for medical reasons and children who are not eligible for the vaccine. Those who choose not to have the vaccine will of course have to live with the consequences of their decision. 

 

However if its out of their control they should not be punished, granted some will have to wait whilst they wait for their 2nd jab. 

that is the question though.  cruising is important to me so i had the vaccine. i would never even wonder about taking an unvaccinated child or anyone else on a cruise.  just wait till corona is over or till they  can get the vaccine.   you do not have the right to affect someone else's health in a negative way.    the funny thing is you say someone cannot get it for medical reasons but somehow coronavirus wont affect them when they are on the ship    lol   if you hvae that kind of medical condition, the last thing you should be doing is looking at cruising in the next year or two.

Edited July 11, 2021 by ericfromri

[FionaMG]

25 minutes ago, ericfromri said:

hopefully the cruise lines will not make accomadations for those without vaccination. i cannot understand why anyone would go on a cruise without one. you are potentially endangering everyone else on the ship

 

Well it doesn't affect me and my travel party since we are all vaccinated but I do understand the frustration of those travelling with kids since they are not yet eligible for vaccination in most of Europe and especially since many may have booked pre-pandemic (we did). The European lines are offering excursions at sensible prices whereas Royal has stuck to its guns and kept its prices at normal pre-pandemic rates. Whether it's right or wrong to allow non-vaccinated passengers on board is beside the point. The fact is that they are, and since they are only letting those passengers get off in port on a ship-sponsored excursion, my personal opinion is that they should be offering some reasonably priced options. Maybe there will be some offered on board that are not currently showing in the cruise planner. We'll see.

[ericfromri]

1 minute ago, FionaMG said:

 

Well it doesn't affect me and my travel party since we are all vaccinated but I do understand the frustration of those travelling with kids since they are not yet eligible for vaccination in most of Europe and especially since many may have booked pre-pandemic (we did). The European lines are offering excursions at sensible prices whereas Royal has stuck to its guns and kept its prices at normal pre-pandemic rates. Whether it's right or wrong to allow non-vaccinated passengers on board is beside the point. The fact is that they are, and since they are only letting those passengers get off in port on a ship-sponsored excursion, my personal opinion is that they should be offering some reasonably priced options. Maybe there will be some offered on board that are not currently showing in the cruise planner. We'll see.

cruise ship excursions have always been overpriced. i wanna visit the place, not buy it....

[sgmn]

12 minutes ago, ericfromri said:

that is the question though.  cruising is important to me so i had the vaccine. i would never even wonder about taking an unvaccinated child or anyone else on a cruise.  just wait till corona is over or till they  can get the vaccine.   you do not have the right to affect someone else's health in a negative way.    the funny thing is you say someone cannot get it for medical reasons but somehow coronavirus wont affect them when they are on the ship    lol   if you hvae that kind of medical condition, the last thing you should be doing is looking at cruising in the next year or two.

At the moment in UK the vaccine hasn't been approved for under 18s,  so kinda tough for families,  especially when our young ones have sacrificed so much for older people like me this last 18 months.  

Other European cruise carriers have successfully managed unvaccinated guests 

Recently our local large secondary school, age 11 to 18 all had a mass testing.  No-one had the virus and this is at a time when it's rising here. My DIL (to be) is a school teacher and no-one in her school has ever had the virus 

[ericfromri]

6 minutes ago, sgmn said:

At the moment in UK the vaccine hasn't been approved for under 18s,  so kinda tough for families,  especially when our young ones have sacrificed so much for older people like me this last 18 months.  

Other European cruise carriers have successfully managed unvaccinated guests 

Recently our local large secondary school, age 11 to 18 all had a mass testing.  No-one had the virus and this is at a time when it's rising here. My DIL (to be) is a school teacher and no-one in her school has ever had the virus 

don't get me wrong, i just care about everyone's health and safety.

[pstone1]

11 hours ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

Bruges was my favorite on that trip. I had no idea it was so nice.

2 hours ago, ericfromri said:

was that in 2017??  , if so that was a wonderful trip   maybe you did it in 2018 as i now see  you went to le havre , on our trip, that port was closed due to one of the normal french strikes and we went to Dover instead and i took my friends to London for the day on the train, than a hop on off bus.

 

It was in 2019 - seems like forever ago now!  That Serenade cruise was definitely one of our favorites!  
 

We also loved Bruges and were pleasantly surprised!  I hope we can find a similar TA itinerary again!

[FamilyCruiserUK]

1 hour ago, ericfromri said:

that is the question though.  cruising is important to me so i had the vaccine. i would never even wonder about taking an unvaccinated child or anyone else on a cruise.  just wait till corona is over or till they  can get the vaccine.   you do not have the right to affect someone else's health in a negative way.    the funny thing is you say someone cannot get it for medical reasons but somehow coronavirus wont affect them when they are on the ship    lol   if you hvae that kind of medical condition, the last thing you should be doing is looking at cruising in the next year or two.

So by your argument smoking should stop........

I never said un vac medical people or children will not catch covid. In fact vacc people still catch covid. The vaccine limits the chances of death and severe illness. 

 

If you are high risk of course you need to think about what you do and where you go. However covid will not be going away any time soon.

[Ocean Boy]

This discussion is starting to move down the path that has resulted in countless threads getting locked but continue on if you must.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Very true and i apologize to the true nature of the thread.

 

For my family and i we cant wait to go cruising and am looking forward to my barcelona cruise in Aug. However i wont hesitate to cancel if i feel the restrictions are too much.

 

Bur it is good that people can have something, admittedly different to look forward too

[ericfromri]

55 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

So by your argument smoking should stop........

I never said un vac medical people or children will not catch covid. In fact vacc people still catch covid. The vaccine limits the chances of death and severe illness. 

 

If you are high risk of course you need to think about what you do and where you go. However covid will not be going away any time soon.

i applaud smokers...