Harmony of the seas 15th Aug updates

[Jimbo]

5 hours ago, Skimble1973 said:

I guess RCCL is not that unhappy with the new rules.

I've never booked those overprized excursions through the ships and I won't do it on my September cruise on Harmony.

I'd never thought I would ever say that, but I wish I hadn't booked the cruise 2 weeks ago!

Can't you still cancel under the CWC clause? for a FCC

[steamboats]

7 hours ago, Skimble1973 said:

I've never booked those overprized excursions through the ships and I won't do it on my September cruise on Harmony.

 

It´s been written on here that some new less pricy excursions showed up in the cruise planner for Italy.

 

I wouldn´t mind... I´d stay onboard. Been to those ports multiple times so I won´t miss anything anyway.

 

steamboats

[danilija]

I am still struggeling should we book a cruise for sep/oct with Harmony. We are from Finland.

[Jimbo]

25 minutes ago, danilija said:

I am still struggeling should we book a cruise for sep/oct with Harmony. We are from Finland.

Why not just wait it out for the first 3 or 4 sailings go and wait to see how they goes first.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Jimbo

[Mr Sea Gull]

On 8/6/2021 at 10:19 AM, FamilyCruiserUK said:

I feel for all those from the uk who just checked in and paid for flights, now have to get money back. Poor decisions by rcl on this one

Wednesday evening we purchased our flights for the 29th sailing after holding off as not sure it would be a go, we asked Royal and they confirmed it was. Thursday night around midnight we checked in and started to get really excited.  Then..... Friday morning we received the email and right at the bottom almost like an afterthought there it was UK guests can't go, Itinerary change and shore excursions obviously more important.

After a very stressed Friday I  have to say that my fantastic TA and Royal have helped us move onto the Anthem on the same date @FamilyCruiserUKI know you will be on the same sailing so come and see us for a beer, I think after all this we need one!

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Host Kat
Per author's request.

[Preziosa]

Why Can MSC Cruises Go to Mersailles in France. Royal Can t.....

[Jimbo]

1 hour ago, Preziosa said:

Why Can MSC Cruises Go to Mersailles in France. Royal Can t.....

Everytime you pass GO they collect $200 and Royal doesn't want to pay it..............😉

Edited August 7, 2021 by Jimbo

[FamilyCruiserUK]

2 hours ago, Mr Sea Gull said:

Wednesday evening we purchased our flights for the 29th sailing after holding off as not sure it would be a go, we asked Royal and they confirmed it was. Thursday night around midnight we checked in and started to get really excited.  Then..... Friday morning we received the email and right at the bottom almost like an afterthought there it was UK guests can't go, Itinerary change and shore excursions obviously more important.

After a very stressed Friday I  have to say that my fantastic TA and Royal have helped us move onto the Anthem on the same date @FamilyCruiserUKI know you will be on the same sailing so come and see us for a beer, I think after all this we need one!

 

I know what you mean..such a rollercoaster ride tbh. A beer does sound  good right now right. Will miss the sunshine but heres hoping we have some calm seas and good weather. Only positive note is royal did help to move the cruise for us and did well sorting it all out.

Now just got to wait for a refund from vueling for the flights!!!!!

[steamboats]

10 hours ago, Preziosa said:

Why Can MSC Cruises Go to Mersailles in France. Royal Can t.....

 

I don´t have a clue... It´s not just MSC calling Marseilles but also Costa. Without checking ... I´d say TUI Cruises or AIDA is calling a French port too (either Marseilles or Cannes).

 

BTW MSC Cruises just announced for the MSC Orchestra: individual shore tours are allowed for vaccinated guests in Greece and Croatia (Dubrovnik). So if Italy allows individual shore tours (for vaccinated passengers) MSC is the first one to do so.

 

steamboats

[steamboats]

So maybe by next week Americans might be banned from traveling to Europe... then the Harmony will be really empty if this happens...

 

steamboats

[FionaMG]

12 hours ago, Preziosa said:

Why Can MSC Cruises Go to Mersailles in France. Royal Can t.....

 

It's a subjective decision by Royal to remove Marseille from the itinerary. The email they sent out says: "After reviewing France's protocols for guests travelling via cruise ship, we've decided to remove our stop in Provence (Marseille), France...".

 

I read that to mean that Royal can stop in Marseille but have chosen not to.

 

I did try to find the protocols they mention to see what might be in there to provoke such a decision but I have not been able to. 

[Kbonner]

2 hours ago, steamboats said:

So maybe by next week Americans might be banned from traveling to Europe... then the Harmony will be really empty if this happens...

 

steamboats

Although it affects me directly with 3 Harmony bookings, including the TA, this decision would be understandable. The EU unilateral grants US citizen access to EU but the USA does not reciprocally allow EU citizen to travel to the USA. If that comes true, my best guess is that the Harmony and other TA's will be cancelled. Very sad that the US government did not understand the EU`s signals.

[German Mermaid]

@steamboats @Kbonner Sorry for my late answer, I just noticed your messages. 

 

 

On 8/1/2021 at 7:55 AM, steamboats said:

@German Mermaid he has a yearly plan and this company does not offer a Covid-19 add on. Other companies like ADAC, HanseMerkur or Allianz do offer it. But you can´t just purchase the add on with another company without the basic contract. So he needs to quit with his old company and change to another one. There´s unfortuantely no way to insure this just as an add on. The other option would be to purchase a single trip insurance but it might be too late for this either.

 

And actually what he needs is an add on for the Reiserücktrittsversicherung/abbruchversicherung. The Reisekrankenversicherung in most cases covers the costs of the treatment without an add on. But the costs of quarantine, a single transport back home or quarantine in a local hotel as a negative contact person are only covered by an add on to the Reiserücktrittsversicherung/abbruchversicherung.

 

steamboats

 

Got it. Since travel insurance (and health insurance in general) are not expensive here in Germany, I would rather buy a new insurance than to cancel my cruise, but that´s just my opinion. I know it´s too late now, I just wanted to help.

 

On 8/1/2021 at 10:40 AM, Kbonner said:

 

My requirement was to have an insurance all-in-one, Rücktritt,Abbruch, Kranken, Gepäck. When comparing i.e. at check24, unfortunately no ADAC or one of the other mentioned companies comes up. 

So Harmony from Spain is not insured for us. None of the mentioned insurances here cover all 4 risks.

 

 

Well, I´m not an isurance agent nor an expert, but I think the Allianz travel insurance does cover all risks. It´s called "Komplettschutz mit Reisekrankenversicherung". Maybe something to look at in the future. 

[steamboats]

4 hours ago, FionaMG said:

 

It's a subjective decision by Royal to remove Marseille from the itinerary. The email they sent out says: "After reviewing France's protocols for guests travelling via cruise ship, we've decided to remove our stop in Provence (Marseille), France...".

 

But actually I haven´t heard of any special protocols for France from the other cruise lines which are calling French ports.

 

steamboats

[German Mermaid]

27 minutes ago, steamboats said:

 

But actually I haven´t heard of any special protocols for France from the other cruise lines which are calling French ports.

 

steamboats

 

Not yet, but I guess it might happen in the next few days. Some countries like Germany just added southern France to the high-risk travel list. Germany also added a travel alert for some areas in France, including Provence/Cote d'Azur.

[steamboats]

1 hour ago, German Mermaid said:

 

Not yet, but I guess it might happen in the next few days. Some countries like Germany just added southern France to the high-risk travel list. Germany also added a travel alert for some areas in France, including Provence/Cote d'Azur.

 

We´re talking about special French protocols for cruise ships which want to visit French ports. And I´ve never heard of any as many other cruise lines do call French ports.

 

BTW the numbers of Spain are worse than those of France and even so the Harmony is supposed to start there. As for us Germans Spain is a high risk country for weeks, Southern France (and especially the region Marseilles is located) was just added today to the list of high risk countries. The Brits have put France on Amber+ some weeks ago (when the numbers still were low).

 

steamboats

[FionaMG]

I found this on the Re-open EU website https://reopen.europa.eu/en/map/FRA/7001, relating to the arrival of unvaccinated passengers or passengers whose vaccination certificates do not meet the French government's requirements:

 

"a pre-departure negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours (for PCR test) or 48 hours (for antigenic test) prior to arrival. For travellers from Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Greece the test should be taken less than 24 hours before departure." (Note that the bold is exactly the way this information is displayed on the website but the yellow highlight is mine.)

 

Although there is no specific mention of cruise ships, I can see how this would pose a problem as that would mean tests would have to be provided on board during the port call in Palma on day 2 for anyone who is not vaccinated or whose vaccination certificates are not acceptable. In practice, there would not be many and under-12s are exempt and Royal requires anyone aged 18 or over to be vaccinated, so essentially it would apply only to 12-17 year-olds, but perhaps this is why the decision has been taken to drop Marseille.

[Jimbo]

This also might become a real issue for Americans trying to join up with Harmony.........If the Americans can't go on these early sailings will the cruises still go with a real reduced passenger load at this late time for those early sailings.

 

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Jimbo

[dorts]

Got an email from TA saying all UK bookings cancelled for first three sailings...I do hope Italy changes the rules later this month as due on Harmony 5/9. Seems like it may be a very quiet few sailings...

[dorts]

Got an email from TA saying all UK bookings cancelled for first three sailings...I do hope Italy changes the rules later this month as due on Harmony 5/9. Seems like it may be a very quiet few sailings...

[German Mermaid]

6 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

We´re talking about special French protocols for cruise ships which want to visit French ports. And I´ve never heard of any as many other cruise lines do call French ports.

 

 

I guess you know I´m not a native english speaker so maybe my message was a bit misleading. I understand that Royal was talking about France's protocols for cruise ships, but I meant that there might be new protocols of the cruise lines because of new covid rules in the ports, high risk areas etc. I guess you already heard about the "TousAntiCovid-Pass" in France which is a requirement for restaurants, different activities and also for cruise ships. Maybe this is one of the reasons why Royal is going to skip France.

 

6 hours ago, steamboats said:

BTW the numbers of Spain are worse than those of France and even so the Harmony is supposed to start there. As for us Germans Spain is a high risk country for weeks, Southern France (and especially the region Marseilles is located) was just added today to the list of high risk countries. The Brits have put France on Amber+ some weeks ago (when the numbers still were low).

 

steamboats

 

You are right, it makes no sense to skip a high-risk area while starting in another. However, I guess they will continue to do so as long as Spain allows cruise ships. The only way for  Royal to avoid that would be to cancel the cruise. 

 

MSC just replaced Kotor, Montenegro with Split, Croatia for the upcoming trips with Splendida. They didn't tell the reason why, my guess is due to the fast rising covid numbers. And I think we will see more port replacements or even cancellations soon. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by German Mermaid

[wulber]

Hi my sister is going on the Harmony 15th Aug.We are confused about the quarantine fot UK cruisers.

She is going to Barcelona today.Can she do her 5 day quarantine there before the cruise.Royal didn't seem to know much about it.

I told her about it last night after reading about it here and she phoned last night to be told they knew nothing about it and then on checking said she had to get intouch with Rci uk.

She read the first part of the email about the cancellation of the Marsaille stop and didn't read to the end were she would have found out  about no Uk cruisers  going on Friday.

I would have thought that this very important info should have been the first message in the email.

I wonder how many other UK cruisers haven't read the email properly.

Edited August 9, 2021 by wulber

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, wulber said:

Hi my sister is going on the Harmony 15th Aug.We are confused about the quarantine fot UK cruisers.

She is going to Barcelona today.Can she do her 5 day quarantine there before the cruise.Royal didn't seem to know much about it.

I told her about it last night after reading about it here and she phoned last night to be told they knew nothing about it and then on checking said she had to get intouch with Rci uk.

She read the first part of the email about the cancellation of the Marsaille stop and didn't read to the end were she would have found out  about no Uk cruisers  going on Friday.

I would have thought that this very important info should have been the first message in the email.

I wonder how many other UK cruisers haven't read the email properly.

 

@wulber I would be very concerned about this. It's not just a case of the 5 days, there's testing before and after as well as informing the relevant health authorities:

 

From https://infocovid.viaggiaresicuri.it/returningtoitaly.html

 

Travellers coming from the UK or who have visited/transited the UK in the previous fourteen (14) days, must: 

• Fill out a digital Passenger Locator Form and present it to the carrier or any other authorised person, either printed or on one's mobile device. 
• Present to the carrier, or any other authorized person, a document proving the negative result of a molecular or antigenic test, carried out by means of a swab, in the 48 hours before you arrive. 
• Irrespective of the result of the test mentioned above, self-isolate for a period of five (5) days, informing your local Health Authority in order to activate health surveillance procedures.
• take a second test at the end of the 5-day self-isolation. 

I am actually surprised that Royal did not cancel your sister's booking and she definitely needs to escalate this very quickly, because I think there is a very real risk that she could be denied boarding at Barcelona. 😞 

[dorts]

Yeah no UK cruisers allowed onboard in August. Poorly handled I feel to alert something this important so close to sail date for many. Strange that they won't let UK cruisers onboard, offer some incentive, and just not let them off in Italy. Many would probably opt for this option I think. I have added headache that I live in NI but will have over 14 days in Ireland/Spain before cruise and also have Irish passport and ID. RCCL and my TA are not sure how it works for me and if I can still go if rules are not relaxed between Italy and UK end of August. Good luck everyone

[wulber]

Thank you for your replies FionaMG and dorts.

My sister phoned and just took the fcc.The agent said they could quarantine in Spain and may be allowed to board but was not sure.

They have just gone to Barcelona as they had flights booked and hotel for 6 days.

She said they might stay on there or get flights to somewhere else in Spain.

Such a shame after waiting over a year and going through all the extra hassle  of all the forms they had to fill out and anxiety to leave it so late.

Hope all you people booked have better luck and are able to enjoy your cruise.