What was Royal thinking?

[bigdaddyyo]

I think this deserves a much broader audience.

 

Recently Royal announced protocol/itinerary changes for upcoming 8/8/21 Allure of the Seas sailings.  The email from Royal mentioned that due to a new policy from St. Kitts they are switching ports to St. Maarten.  In the announcement Royal says that St. Kitts will only allow 700 guests per ship to visit their island.  That is simply not true.  At no time did St. Kitts ever issue a policy for this.  

 

Travel Weekly reached out to the St. Kitts tourism board and were told that they did not issue any such policy.  Travel Weekly then followed up with Royal and Royal now states they removed St. Kitts from the itinerary "due to additional health protocols that will limit our ability to visit the island." 

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/USVI-bans-cruise-ships-unvaccinated-passengers

 

So this begs the question, Why Blatantly Lie??  Why not just make the itinerary change? Why lie about the whole thing and blame St. Kitts for the switch?

 

The other part of the email from Royal was in regards to USVI changing their policy and only allowing vaccinated guests onto their island.  The email states that Royal was informed by USVI that for the ship to be allowed entry into the USVI port that everyone must have proof of vaccination.  Visiting USVI's Tourism website: https://usviupdate.com/ you will see that it was last updated 7/28/21.  So you can see that they are regularly updating their website/protocols.  The problem is that there isn't anywhere on the page or in their health protocols that mention a vaccination is required to gain entry to the island either by land or by sea.  It only states that a Negative COVID test is required.  It states that even if you are vaccinated, you must provide a negative COVID test.  The last update was 7/28/21 and the Allure sailing is on 8/8.  That is only 11 day advanced warning.  Don't you think that this policy would affect more people traveling by air than by sea?  Wouldn't they want to get this updated info onto their website as soon as possible?  That information can completely change someone's vacation plans, so either USVI is dragging their feet on updating or Royal is not being upfront with the passengers.

 

This isn't the topic to discuss your feeling about the vaccine or whether it should be required or not.  This is the topic to demand to know why is Royal not being honest with the customers.  We are the ones paying to be on the boat.  We are the ones paying to keep these boats sailing.  The least they can do is be honest and communicate effectively.  We waited 16 months for cruises to restart and we were patient, we definitely don't need to be lied to now as the cruising community struggles to regain their confidence in these cruise lines.

Edited August 5, 2021 by bigdaddyyo

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, bigdaddyyo said:

I think this deserves a much broader audience

I think CC posters vented about this in another thread.

[Oceansaway17]

28 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

I think CC posters vented about this in another thread.

soooo.   

[Sam Ting]

2 hours ago, bigdaddyyo said:

I think this deserves a much broader audience.

 

Recently Royal announced protocol/itinerary changes for upcoming 8/8/21 Allure of the Seas sailings.  The email from Royal mentioned that due to a new policy from St. Kitts they are switching ports to St. Maarten.  In the announcement Royal says that St. Kitts will only allow 700 guests per ship to visit their island.  That is simply not true.  At no time did St. Kitts ever issue a policy for this.  

 

Travel Weekly reached out to the St. Kitts tourism board and were told that they did not issue any such policy.  Travel Weekly then followed up with Royal and Royal now states they removed St. Kitts from the itinerary "due to additional health protocols that will limit our ability to visit the island." 

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/USVI-bans-cruise-ships-unvaccinated-passengers

 

So this begs the question, Why Blatantly Lie??  Why not just make the itinerary change? Why lie about the whole thing and blame St. Kitts for the switch?

 

The other part of the email from Royal was in regards to USVI changing their policy and only allowing vaccinated guests onto their island.  The email states that Royal was informed by USVI that for the ship to be allowed entry into the USVI port that everyone must have proof of vaccination.  Visiting USVI's Tourism website: https://usviupdate.com/ you will see that it was last updated 7/28/21.  So you can see that they are regularly updating their website/protocols.  The problem is that there isn't anywhere on the page or in their health protocols that mention a vaccination is required to gain entry to the island either by land or by sea.  It only states that a Negative COVID test is required.  It states that even if you are vaccinated, you must provide a negative COVID test.  The last update was 7/28/21 and the Allure sailing is on 8/8.  That is only 11 day advanced warning.  Don't you think that this policy would affect more people traveling by air than by sea?  Wouldn't they want to get this updated info onto their website as soon as possible?  That information can completely change someone's vacation plans, so either USVI is dragging their feet on updating or Royal is not being upfront with the passengers.

 

This isn't the topic to discuss your feeling about the vaccine or whether it should be required or not.  This is the topic to demand to know why is Royal not being honest with the customers.  We are the ones paying to be on the boat.  We are the ones paying to keep these boats sailing.  The least they can do is be honest and communicate effectively.  We waited 16 months for cruises to restart and we were patient, we definitely don't need to be lied to now as the cruising community struggles to regain their confidence in these cruise lines.

Lying was the new normal until 5 or 6 months ago.  Maybe they didn’t get the memo. 

[Midwestgal]

The way I’m seeing all of this is if you book a cruise don’t expect it to be what you think. Booking a cruise is a crap shoot as things keep changing so if you do book you need to realize things will more than likely change and if your not flexible don’t book one.

[bajathree]

We are also in Hurricane season....sometimes you aren't even warned of an itinerary change till you board. Don't ever get to comfy with your scheduled itinerary as they can be somewhat fluid in nature.

[gadaboutgal]

If you reread what Royal is saying:  That :
"U.S.V. I. "has plans" to require full vaccinations.  U.S.V.I. has not enacted the requirement yet; so it is possible that Royal is trying to get ahead of the execution of the plan.

So many have complained about Royal making last minute requirements; perhaps, we could give them the benefit of the doubt that they are being pro-active?

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, bigdaddyyo said:

I think this deserves a much broader audience.

 

Recently Royal announced protocol/itinerary changes for upcoming 8/8/21 Allure of the Seas sailings.  The email from Royal mentioned that due to a new policy from St. Kitts they are switching ports to St. Maarten.  In the announcement Royal says that St. Kitts will only allow 700 guests per ship to visit their island.  That is simply not true.  At no time did St. Kitts ever issue a policy for this.  

 

Travel Weekly reached out to the St. Kitts tourism board and were told that they did not issue any such policy.  Travel Weekly then followed up with Royal and Royal now states they removed St. Kitts from the itinerary "due to additional health protocols that will limit our ability to visit the island." 

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/USVI-bans-cruise-ships-unvaccinated-passengers

 

So this begs the question, Why Blatantly Lie??  Why not just make the itinerary change? Why lie about the whole thing and blame St. Kitts for the switch?

 

The other part of the email from Royal was in regards to USVI changing their policy and only allowing vaccinated guests onto their island.  The email states that Royal was informed by USVI that for the ship to be allowed entry into the USVI port that everyone must have proof of vaccination.  Visiting USVI's Tourism website: https://usviupdate.com/ you will see that it was last updated 7/28/21.  So you can see that they are regularly updating their website/protocols.  The problem is that there isn't anywhere on the page or in their health protocols that mention a vaccination is required to gain entry to the island either by land or by sea.  It only states that a Negative COVID test is required.  It states that even if you are vaccinated, you must provide a negative COVID test.  The last update was 7/28/21 and the Allure sailing is on 8/8.  That is only 11 day advanced warning.  Don't you think that this policy would affect more people traveling by air than by sea?  Wouldn't they want to get this updated info onto their website as soon as possible?  That information can completely change someone's vacation plans, so either USVI is dragging their feet on updating or Royal is not being upfront with the passengers.

 

 

I do not see any mention on the USVI website about cruise ship passengers.     Most islands have different rules for cruise ships than passengers flying in from various countries. 

 

I know this is true for Bermuda.     When you go to their travel entry rules you see requirements for those flying into Bermuda - pre-test, etc. etc. but they set a whole different set of rules/protocols for passengers flying in and boarding cruise ships.     They are only allowing a max. amount of fully vaccinated passengers per ship (I think it was 425 passengers max per cruise), must test pre-flight, upon arrival and every couple of days, etc etc.    That is why Royal pulled Vision out of sailing out of Bermuda to Bahamas.  

 

I see no reason for Royal to lie about this.     So unless you speak directly with St Kitts Ministry of Health I wouldn't take the word of someone working at a tourism dept or a magazine.   They may not have been privy to the conservations that Royal has had with their government officials that allow a ship to dock on their island.

 

 

[bigdaddyyo]

4 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I see no reason for Royal to lie about this.     So unless you speak directly with St Kitts Ministry of Health I wouldn't take the word of someone working at a tourism dept or a magazine.   They may not have been privy to the conservations that Royal has had with their government officials that allow a ship to dock on their island.

 

 

 

If you read the article you would see that Travel Weekly, which is a pretty reputable source of travel information not only spoke with St. Kitts but also spoke with Royal.  St. Kitts denied ever saying that and Royal is now saying they are switching for health protocols.. Basically lied to the passengers for the reason for switching. 

 

What is funny is that they switched from St. Kitts to St. Maarten.  St. Kitts is not on the 08/02 list of CDC travel advisories for foreign destinations that have a high transmission of COVID, but Saint Martin is on the list which happens to be on the same island as St. Maarten.  I will let you try to figure that one out.