Symphony - terrible / no shows / Covid ?

[Iamcruzin]

6 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

Just say no to shutdowns! The lines can't survive another shutdown. Those that feel uncomfortable should stay home and let those who are willing to cruise, cruise. It irks me when people think they should decide for everyone else as king maker. Stick to controlling yourself and shutting yourself down from travel and let others decide for themselves. 

I don't see any reason for a shut down. It seems to be the luck of the draw with these cases. Maybe Symphony and Harmony need to cancel the next few upcoming cruises just to do a proper sanitizing and to allow time for the crew to recover.  I had family who spent 10 days during the Christmas holiday on a Princess cruise and they had no issues. They were communicating with us during the sailing and everything was on par no complaints.  I haven't seen anything reported on either the Princess or Celebrity website like what's been reported here.  

[Iamcruzin]

3 hours ago, Jj343434jj said:

Then the price should be lowered if we aren't receiving the full package. I'm fine with receiving the bare minimum if I'm not paying for everything else.  

I wouldn't sail under the conditions of what has been described for free. 

[Iamcruzin]

17 hours ago, Heidi pour another Beer said:

Why would anyone want to shut this down? The information is valuable for those who want to make an informed decision regarding cruise travel with the current circumstances surrounding us. Things are changing rapidly.

They were referring to shutting down cruising in general not this thread.

[Iamcruzin]

6 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

I think people say "if you're afraid stay home" because they tired of all the debbie downers and those screaming for the cruise lines to be shutdown again. It makes sense I guess. If you're a relatively healthy person who already had covid, it probably isn't a big risk vs say a elderly person with multiple health problems who wants to take a B2B. Big difference. 

 

 

The risk is not getting covid. Penty are getting it staying home.  The risk is the horrible experience that we are reading about now. If you can't board a cruise ship with the attitude that anything that can go wrong will go wrong then you should stay home.  Coming to a message board complaining about the bad decision you made paying for a cruise during the highest peak season of the year does nothing to enhance your trip.  Covid doesn't care how much you paid and that your on board experience is ruined. We started to see spikes with covid after Thanksgiving gatherings. The writing was on the wall for Christmas and New Year's gatherings. 

[mek]

5 hours ago, Jj343434jj said:

Then the price should be lowered if we aren't receiving the full package. I'm fine with receiving the bare minimum if I'm not paying for everything else.  

Prices are lower right now - just look at Jan and Feb sailings.  Anyone cruising over the next few months can get a really good deal if they are willing to gamble on exactly what type of cruise they will end up with.

 

If I lived in Florida or could drive to the port, I might be willing to hop on a ship, but we have to fly and there are just too many hoops to jump through  for us to do that.

 

[BennyBrun]

3 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I don't see any reason for a shut down. It seems to be the luck of the draw with these cases. Maybe Symphony and Harmony need to cancel the next few upcoming cruises just to do a proper sanitizing and to allow time for the crew to recover.  I had family who spent 10 days during the Christmas holiday on a Princess cruise and they had no issues. They were communicating with us during the sailing and everything was on par no complaints.  I haven't seen anything reported on either the Princess or Celebrity website like what's been reported here.  

I have to say that we were on Carnival Mardi Gras for the 8 night holiday cruise sailing at 80.16% and everything went on as planned.  Nothing was closed everything was open and every port stop made.  San Juan, St.Thomas, Amber Cove, Nassau.  I am quite shocked to see all the reports on Royal with the disruptions and canceled shows.  I thought with all the promises they listed they would have their act together and properly execute their plan to deal with the situation.

[Rosy Season]

24 minutes ago, BennyBrun said:

I have to say that we were on Carnival Mardi Gras for the 8 night holiday cruise sailing at 80.16% and everything went on as planned.  Nothing was closed everything was open and every port stop made.  San Juan, St.Thomas, Amber Cove, Nassau.  I am quite shocked to see all the reports on Royal with the disruptions and canceled shows.  I thought with all the promises they listed they would have their act together and properly execute their plan to deal with the situation.

I would say just be careful.  What the non-positive people saw on Royal is vastly different than what was going on.  They were very good about transporting us to rooms and keeping the mood happy for the upstairs passengers.  What we were experiencing was something different.

 

[livingonthebeach]

53 minutes ago, Rosy Season said:

I would say just be careful.  What the non-positive people saw on Royal is vastly different than what was going on.  They were very good about transporting us to rooms and keeping the mood happy for the upstairs passengers.  What we were experiencing was something different.

 

Especially if they are offloading positive crew and not testing passengers (even at the passenger’s request).

[goldfish65]

Maybe as we continue to live with all these challenges, people will think about how it is to be in someone else's shoes (but I doubt it.) And the reality of what are others are going through, they'll never know. In  the service industry of which I am a part, we are trying our hardest in circumstances we have never faced. Far  less staff/staff forced to do completely different jobs in order to keep things running at all. Much less running like they normally would. Bosses pressuring us to work when we are sick and then even more staff gets sick. We are in cold/flu season too. As soon as anyone feels sick, we scramble to find a covid testing site that's not fully booked, while we worry until the results come that we may have infected others. Add to that supply shortages. Then add many other challenges you never even thought of. Then dealing with a largely ungrateful, selfish, unpleasant, demanding public. We have no choice but to keep going because we have to eat and keep a roof over our heads. Anyone who is retired and living comfortably should not complain that their leisure activities are not what they are accustomed to right now. Have a mindset that any changes are caused by an act of nature and once you board a ship, get on a plane, check in to a hotel, you accept the conditions and there will be NO refunds. Otherwise, people should cancel their plans get their precious money back and not expect a reality that doesn't exist right now.

 

Thanks for listening. 

Edited January 3, 2022 by goldfish65

[crewsweeper]

5 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I don't see any reason for a shut down. It seems to be the luck of the draw with these cases. Maybe Symphony and Harmony need to cancel the next few upcoming cruises just to do a proper sanitizing and to allow time for the crew to recover.  I had family who spent 10 days during the Christmas holiday on a Princess cruise and they had no issues. They were communicating with us during the sailing and everything was on par no complaints.  I haven't seen anything reported on either the Princess or Celebrity website like what's been reported here.  

1) The majority of infected people o  board these ships has been the crew.  The crews on ships only got the J&J single shot and it's not as effective against Omicron as the other two double shots.  Crews need to get boosters, ASAP.

2) Maybe a clean on crews quarters could be necessary, but as far as I'm aware, in the past 2+ years of COVID there hasn't been a single case traced back to touching anything. Unless cleaning crews and housekeeping on board aren't doing their required sanitizing,  there's no need to extra sanitize ships.  Even with NORO ships get cleaned without delaying cruises except for a few hours on initial embarkation day.

[tcneal]

4 hours ago, mek said:

Prices are lower right now - just look at Jan and Feb sailings.  Anyone cruising over the next few months can get a really good deal if they are willing to gamble on exactly what type of cruise they will end up with.

 

If I lived in Florida or could drive to the port, I might be willing to hop on a ship, but we have to fly and there are just too many hoops to jump through  for us to do that.

 

As usual, they are a little to late to respond.   I agree prices are lower now for Jan and Feb and they have sent notifications warning of disruptions.  But, I think I paid as much for the Christmas cruise as any other year.  If they wanted, they could make it right but I'm not holding my breath.

[tcneal]

9 hours ago, Jasukkie said:

I have no idea if a shutdown will happen but I would love to see changes made. Test at the pier. 100% vaxxed, no exceptions. Enforced masking in inside public areas. Grab and go dining boxes and drop off stations so people can eat outside or in their rooms more easily. Actual social distancing in dining areas. Some of the people canceling now might not if they felt like the cruise line was actually going to help them stay safe. Royal gambled on expanding capacity and lost. From my first cruise in June it was clear no enforcement of masking was going to happen. It's easy to bob and weave and take the steps when there are only 900 onboard, much harder with 4000. 

 

 

I agree completely.   Biggest issue is capacity.   The mask situation is a no win situation for them.  There is no way for enforcement of this policy.  People who are against wearing them are going to take every opportunity to violate the policy.  I don't know how many times over the week I walked into an elevator and the person (mainly kids but some adults) was not wearing the mask.  Most of the time they put it on after we entered but sometimes not.

 

What I think the biggest change needed is 100% vaxxed.  I think the unvaxxed children were one the biggest problems on the ship.  It might be an unpopular opinion but if they are not vaccinated, they shouldn't be on.  That was the issue with the holiday cruises, there were so many kids running around and I would say most were unmasked.  We sat in venues where kids directly around us were coughing on everything, unmasked.  Windjammer was the same.  This policy needs to change.

[tcneal]

34 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

1) The majority of infected people o  board these ships has been the crew.  The crews on ships only got the J&J single shot and it's not as effective against Omicron as the other two double shots.  Crews need to get boosters, ASAP.

2) Maybe a clean on crews quarters could be necessary, but as far as I'm aware, in the past 2+ years of COVID there hasn't been a single case traced back to touching anything. Unless cleaning crews and housekeeping on board aren't doing their required sanitizing,  there's no need to extra sanitize ships.  Even with NORO ships get cleaned without delaying cruises except for a few hours on initial embarkation day.

I don't think we actually know the true number of infected people.  The crew are the only people being tested and since most people are asymptomatic, I would bet that just as many passengers are infected.  I posted earlier of the craps table of being opened for 1 night and the rumor was a couple of dealers on that table later tested positive.  I'm pretty sure others that were on that table were probably infected also but passengers were not tested.  The only real numbers we are getting is from the crew and passengers with symptoms.

[SheSailsFL]

10 hours ago, Jj343434jj said:

Then the price should be lowered if we aren't receiving the full package. I'm fine with receiving the bare minimum if I'm not paying for everything else.  

Or, maybe, don’t cruise right now if you aren’t flexible with the experience you will have. 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[LGW59]

16 minutes ago, tcneal said:

I agree completely.   Biggest issue is capacity.   The mask situation is a no win situation for them.  There is no way for enforcement of this policy.  People who are against wearing them are going to take every opportunity to violate the policy.  I don't know how many times over the week I walked into an elevator and the person (mainly kids but some adults) was not wearing the mask.  Most of the time they put it on after we entered but sometimes not.

 

What I think the biggest change needed is 100% vaxxed.  I think the unvaxxed children were one the biggest problems on the ship.  It might be an unpopular opinion but if they are not vaccinated, they shouldn't be on.  That was the issue with the holiday cruises, there were so many kids running around and I would say most were unmasked.  We sat in venues where kids directly around us were coughing on everything, unmasked.  Windjammer was the same.  This policy needs to change.

TOTALLY agree on 100% vaccinated!

[Pratique]

We are boarding Symphony on Saturday (if all goes well). Just received the pre-boarding email from the concierge with a vague warning that "some benefits and services have been adjusted." From the tone of the email, this applies to anything and everything. I think that I will be drinking more than usual on this cruise. 😄

[DevonfromAcme]

Celebrity has had a MESS of Covid cases on board, and they've been kicked from several ports over the last couple of weeks for being over the 1% positive limit.

 

Their CC board just doesn't seem to be screaming about it quite like this one is, however.

 

7 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

 I haven't seen anything reported on either the Princess or Celebrity website like what's been reported here.  

 

[Biker19]

Just now, DevonfromAcme said:

Their CC board just doesn't seem to be screaming about it quite like this one is, however.

How else are you supposed to get your 15 min of fame?

[DevonfromAcme]

Anyone who works in a school will tell you kids are Petri dishes at the BEST of times, and any parent who is being real will admit they caught EVERYTHING circulating around their kids' schools from their kids.

 

Kids, God love 'em, just tend to run around in snotty, gross packs all winter 😆😆😆, and Covid just isn't going to be any different.

 

47 minutes ago, tcneal said:

What I think the biggest change needed is 100% vaxxed.  I think the unvaxxed children were one the biggest problems on the ship.  It might be an unpopular opinion but if they are not vaccinated, they shouldn't be on.  That was the issue with the holiday cruises, there were so many kids running around and I would say most were unmasked.  We sat in venues where kids directly around us were coughing on everything, unmasked.  Windjammer was the same.  This policy needs to change.

 

[DevonfromAcme]

 

8 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

How else are you supposed to get your 15 min of fame?

 

The tone between all the boards IS interesting.  I am shortly to be on a sailing with a port-heavy Southern Caribbean itinerary, and so I have been actively tracking what ships have been kicked from what ports and (to the extent possible) what percentage of Covid positives are on board.  It has suddenly become a minor hobby! 😁😁😁

 

With all the screaming and hollering, you'd never know that any other ships had gotten kicked from ports or had Covid positives on board.  Celebrity and NCL have both had their larger and more recent sailings kicked, Princess has been kicked from a few ports, and even exclusive lines like Oceania have had a ship kicked.

 

The tone on this board regarding the Covid cases is like no other, however.  Take that as you will.

 

 

 

[tcneal]

6 minutes ago, DevonfromAcme said:

Celebrity has had a MESS of Covid cases on board, and they've been kicked from several ports over the last couple of weeks for being over the 1% positive limit.

 

Their CC board just doesn't seem to be screaming about it quite like this one is, however.

 

 

I know other lines have COVID cases.  That is unavoidable.  And they might get denied ports.  What I haven't heard is other lines canceling as many shows and venues as this cruise in particular and Royal in general.  I'm asking because I don't know.  Has Celebrity cancelled most of its Production shows?  Are Bars/Clubs closed?

[Rosy Season]

12 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

How else are you supposed to get your 15 min of fame?

Anonymously too.  🙄

[tcneal]

8 minutes ago, DevonfromAcme said:

 

 

The tone between all the boards IS interesting.  I am shortly to be on a sailing with a port-heavy Southern Caribbean itinerary, and so I have been actively tracking what ships have been kicked from what ports and (to the extent possible) what percentage of Covid positives are on board.  It has suddenly become a minor hobby! 😁😁😁

 

With all the screaming and hollering, you'd never know that any other ships had gotten kicked from ports or had Covid positives on board.  Celebrity and NCL have both had their larger and more recent sailings kicked, Princess has been kicked from a few ports, and even exclusive lines like Oceania have had a ship kicked.

 

The tone on this board regarding the Covid cases is like no other, however.  Take that as you will.

 

 

 

I don't think most complaints have been on the number of cases or being denied San Juan.  I personally didn't miss it that much.  I think the Entertainment (virtually non-existent) has been the biggest complaint, with no communication.  I don't know if that is happening on other Lines.  If it is and no one is complaining, maybe we are bunch of whiners.

Edited January 3, 2022 by tcneal

[Rosy Season]

1 minute ago, tcneal said:

I don't think most complaints have been on the number of cases or being denied San Juan.  I personally didn't miss it that much.  I think the Entertainment (virtually non-existent) has been the biggest complaint, with no communication.  I don't know if that is happening on other Lines.  If it is ans no one is complaining, maybe we are bunch of whiners.

For us on Harmony, most of us were vocal about the abysmal treatment after testing positive.  That and the lack of testing.

[DevonfromAcme]

Yes, Celebrity has had its dining venues and entertainment affected.  If you go to the Celebrity board on CC, you can get more details.

 

Remember, however, it is going to be an issue of clientele and scale.  The Celebrity ships are generally one third the size as the Symphony and her sisters, and they don't advertise themselves as amusement parks at sea.  RCI caters to families, with shows, entertainment, rides and slides, so when Covid hits, it's going to hit on a different scale with activities and venues shut down.

 

10 minutes ago, tcneal said:

I know other lines have COVID cases.  That is unavoidable.  And they might get denied ports.  What I haven't heard is other lines canceling as many shows and venues as this cruise in particular and Royal in general.  I'm asking because I don't know.  Has Celebrity cancelled most of its Production shows?  Are Bars/Clubs closed?