LXA350

RCL group and also others are failing at the moment and did not want to prepare for anotherand hopefully last winter where COVID will dominant due to greediness and when reading the posts of Michael Bayley some weeks ago ignorance that fits to a lot of the clientele with th attitude "I am vaccinated I don't need to wear a mask or take any precaucions". 

Under the current circumstances it is not possible to sail at close to full capacity and not to obey social distancing rules which would also include all staff members to continue to have their own cabins and so on. When the cruiselines started sailing including X on the Apex or Millenium in Summer at low capacities and all the precaucions, even then they had a few COVID cases each week. Even under Delta and before Omikron came along the known factors that during winter time cases go up as people are more inside etc you will have rising cases nothing was done except in contrary to lift always more restrictions onboard and from what I read even if restrictions were on paper they were not implemented properly onboard. Bottom line, shame on RCL Group!

It's not a suprise at all and more ships might follow. Happened as well already to other cruiselines such as MSC and Aida. 

The reason those sailings were cancelled likely is a combination of various factors, high number of ccrew members infected with COVID which would make it imposible to continue to operate the vessel due to minimum staffing not met. Then again as it currently looks Omikron is highly contagious but less dangerous than previous variants. Hence, once all the crew members have recovered on the affected ships they can be kept as substitiute staff to be transfered to other ships to keep the damaged of further cancelled cruises to a minimum.

Bottom line, it was a absolute failiure by management of the RCL group and also other cruiselines caused through greediness that we see cancelled cruises. If they would have kept preventative measures throughout the winter months with capped capacity ensuring all crew members still to have individual cabins etc we wouldn't be in this situation now of having cruises cancelled. Not to forget the negative impression this leaves on the cruise industry which will have longer term effects. 

The problem will not be gone in january, Omikron will be with us for then ext couple of months so let's see.

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

There was a video of Voyager coming into a port a couple of weeks ago and it looks pretty sad . A lot of marine growth after 18 months anchored off Singapore .

 

I suppose Cadiz.

I think it was Athens

All these annoying tipping ego dramas on this forum. Seriously, if someone wants to tip their genie they should just do it at their own discretion. If you give them a 100 bill they will be more than happy, don't worry they will find a way to excahange the bill if needed.

20 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Agree.  If we go, this is us. We are happy they added the stricter mask protocls and will wear them all the time...even in the MDR until the food arrives. We plan on using our balcony more than usual (even with kids - will bring drinks and treats back to our room and have games on us) and will avoid crowds when we can.  We even discussed limiting activities that we would have otherwise joined in.  It's our compromise with our kids if we go.  Definitely wont be the normal cruise but we will do what we can on our side to try and stay well.

I am sure you will anyway have a great time and on top of it you will stay healthy 🙂

March 2020 will not repeat itself but in order to keep the amount of COVID cases as low as possible on a cruise everyone needs to do their part. It's not enough to post on the site they are worrid their cruise will be cancelled, will be faced with a large outbreak onboard but then not be willing to do anything from their part.

We are not living in Pre Covid times and each one of us needs to do their part when they board a cruise and at least weeks before they do so. This involved taking care of social distancing, disciplined about wearing masks indoors and not finding excuses on not wearing them; holding a drink all the time pretending to drink etc. Hence if we all do our part cruising will be safe and also enjoyable during those times. But then there is also the cruiseline that needs to do their part. Besides implementing the cleanin protocols, mask policies etc cacpacities in venues and on the ship still need to be limited at this stage to max 70% or even less.

8 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

terrific.  So back to wet masks which do so much to stop covid...  Ill be onboard next week on the grandeur.  Looks like Im running on the track like a hamster.

 

I think its ridiculous seeing we have to have the PCR test 3 days prior to enter Barbados, antigen at the port, and antigen on day before we disembark.  And now masks?  On a ship with all vaccinated over 12 and 3 tests.  The masks do absolutely nothing.  I could smell perfume and smoke using the RCCL mask that was given to me on the Adventure sailing last month.  It's a linus blanket.

On X they have been providing cotton mask and also the crew are using them, they are also not that effective. Surgical mask and FFP2 masks are the ones that really help but need to be replaced every few hours and yes when they get wet they become useless imediately. Hence, making sports with masks also doesn't make sense. 

It's unbelivable that so many people are making such a big fuss about the mask protcolls. It's  maybe a bit disturbing but by now we got used to it and if many more would follow those protocolls, especially the ones with "I am vaccinated" it would contribute a lot to reduce the spread of COVID. Anyone who has issued with it should just sit at home and not cruise, simple as that. It's your loss if because you have to wear a mask you decide to cancel a great vacation.

The more time goes on we learn to better live with COVID, hence I don't see a reason why the Europe cruise season should not happen as planned in 2022. Nevertheless depending in what kind of situation we are in restrictions will be needed such as still cruising at reduced capacity, mask protocolls etc. A lot will also depend on how countries are handling the situation, such as the rate of vaccinations / boosters and so on. Also, if we take the UK as an example, that they stopped all restrictions including mask protocolls was a big mistake which is now reflected in the COVID situation that is as bad as ever.

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

And yet they are still selling cabins. I suspect "full capacity" in the COVID era is NOT the actual full capacity of the ship, but some random number RCI chooses.

You need to have various cabins left empty that can be used for isolation purposes. Also not sure if crew members are still using guest cabins. Also with COVID situation not getting better, rather worse, even during christmas time I doubt we will see ships sailing at more than 80 to 90% capacity if at all during this time. Would more guess for around 70%, as last minute cancellations due to COVID positive cases etc are also bound to happen etc.

You seem to be confusing the perks, these are all Star Class Perks. At Sky Class you receive complimentary Surf and Stream Wifi but all those other perks have never been included. 

It depends what they are looking for, if it's just the two of them without kids I would even more so recomend looking into cruises on the Edge Class of Celebrity Cruises; Apex, Edge and Beyond if they are looking for a more stylish than action packed onboard experience. 

Otherwise for their first Cruise, Harmony, Symphony (Oasis Class) and Odyssey (Quantum Class). Explorer (Voyager Class) out of San Juan due to the routings but the ship has not been refurbished at it's last dry dock and not sure in what for condition it's in.  

Probably on a UK cruise you are more likely to see someone in a tux than on cruises departing from other European locations. 

On 11/5/2021 at 5:35 AM, goldengirl said:

Hello what are the new standards in effect for the rooms to be cleaned do roomstewards wear masks and gloves, do they was. The bed comforters after each sailing, what about mattress and pillow how are they cleaning

I am sorry for you to find so many useless and unapropriate comments following your question. It just shows how ignorant many people are and not willing to comply with basic health protocols that can make such a difference. On a recent cruise the only ones not walking around with masks were from the US and when confronting them the comment was "I am vaccinated" well doesn't change the fact that you can still spread the virus and catch it youself.

Getting back to your question. Even already Pre COVID the cruise industry and especially RCL group had one of the most strickt health protocols in place. You would have likely not found a room in the most luxourious hotels globally in a cleaner condition if not worse than your stateroom. Now, they took it a few steps further and I fully relly on the protocols in place. All touchable items are fully disinfected, not sure about the matress itself but pillows and bed comforters as far as I know yes. The Stateroom attendants are supposed to change glovs after visiting each stateroom including disinfecting of hands. Hence in case you do consider to travel again being on a cruise ship seems to be the safest option currently assuming a Vaccination requirement has bee implemented and recomendation not to travel during a time when too many kids are around as they are not yet vaccinated. Further, in all public places important to wear a mask. 

Voyager is not a ship from a other galaxy, it's the sister ship of Explorer 😄 

Legend had the title of being the most travelled ship in the fleet, having visited all continents but it never did a world cruise. 

It's a requirement by the Cypriot authorities that all passengers need to be tested on the final day of the cruise before the ship gets back to it's embarkation port. Same requirement was in place in Greece this season.

I assume eventually the cruise will also be able to be booked per segment?

On 9/23/2021 at 6:59 PM, dani negreanu said:

 

Bummer, I was hoping to have her on Beyond....

 

Though Beyond sails from Southampton, it's only the 1st sailing (Southampton to Barcelona), and then it will alternate between Barcelona and Rome.

 

If it's only the quarantine for pets in UK, may be she can join in Barcelona......

 

 

Likely Kate will join Beyond after the ship was reopositioned to the Med or by the latest when Edge will head towards Australia in autumn 2023.

12 minutes ago, Funkytown83 said:

It‘s not planned at the moment. You need to be patient for a couple years, or make a longer trip to get to your cruise (Spain, Florida or New York) 

It was planed and still is, but currently due to the COVID situation and as it seems also maybe political reasons in China delayed. 

RCL hasn't made any changes to it's JS priviliges at least since the last 5 years or so. When Quantum just was out I think CK was a full Privilege and you could make dinner reservations already pre cruise and also you could have breakfast there. Obviously this was very quickly enhanced away as CK could not handle this additional capacity hence fair enough. 

As things are still very dynamic you should only go for the cruise if you are ready to accept that certain things will be differnt to what they were before, at least for the time being. Hence, if you are happy to make compromises you will have a great time, if you go there expecting things to be like before it's better for you to wait before heading back at Sea. 

45 minutes ago, billaraneta said:

Excuse me please. When they will plan to have an Oasis Class Cruise Ship will sail in Asia? Thank You.

Originally Wonder was supposed to head to Asia an be permanently based there (Mainland China + Hong Kong). As the ship was designed for this market th ship will very likely still be based there eventually, but as it seems now not before late 2022. 

The design concepts of the ships have evolved over the years and since Quantum Class RCL has discontinued adding this design element to the ships. On the Oasis Class, at least on O, A and H that classical design element was still there but the space is allocated to the Suite Lounge and Coastal Kitchen. 

Over the years if you look at the new ship classes on other cruiselines the designs and concepts have also changed completely from orevious designs and only elements that remain are for instance the same smoke stacks at Carnival or the big Crown and Anchor Logo on top of each RCL ship.