rabidstoat

I have Select status on Celebrity through reciprocity with Royal Caribbean, though this is my first Celebrity cruise in November.

One of the benefits listed is "one standard bag of laundry at discounted price."

I know a bag is up to 30 items, but what might the 'discounted price' be, anyone know? What is the normal price for a bag, for that matter? I thought I read elsewhere that the 'laundry special' is $50 for a bag, which seemed pricey to me.

Wait, so if you test positive on the cruise and have to quarantine a few days in the port city before flying home Royal will reimburse the hotel? Is that even if you don't have insurance through Royal?

Also if you report cold symptoms and get COVID tested on the ship do they charge for that? How much? Does it matter if you test positive or negative?

I very rarely drink alcohol, some sailings I might have one drink, others none. And I hate Pepsi. I therefore always decline the drink package too. 

Now if I could get them to stop putting that free bottle of wine in my cabin every sailing I'd be set! Is there a way to get them to stop that? It just takes up space as I never drink it. It would suck if you were a recovering alcoholic who doesn't drink and they kept putting it in your cabin.

I still think the testing requirement is weird, in that you do it a few days before your cruise and then you travel for the cruise and around people and pre-partying and whatnot, and that's lots of time to pick up the virus.

I mean, I guess it doesn't hurt and could catch a few cases. It just seems like doing it at the pier itself would be a better precaution, but then you have the logistics of lots of tests at the pier and the drama of people testing positive when they're already at the pier with their luggage being loaded on the ship.

I went cruising 3 months after bariatric surgery and it was fine. I ate some protein from an appetizer and some protein and a bit of vegetables from the main dish, and skipped bread. The waiters didn't even ask me anything! They did try to serve me bread every night and didn't seem to catch up on that I never ate it. And I did eat a lot slower than others at the table but I told the waiter he could serve them dessert while I was still working on dinner and that was fine.

I ended up eating some eggs and maybe bacon at breakfast, then two protein mini-meals between breakfast and dinner, then dinner, and then at night I'd have some protein hot chocolate or a protein bar if I needed more protein. I also had a few bites of sugar-free dessert or ice cream or whatever, and sometimes a bite or two of potatoes at dinner.

Once I got a little excited about frozen yogurt and had more than a few bites and that was bad at only 3 months out and made me sick, but I bounced back after a few hours.

Anyone know of a shuttle service that offers transfers from Cape Liberty cruise port to LaGuardia airport that includes a short tour of the city?

Royal Caribbean offers a transfer with a tour but I was wondering if there's a shuttle service that might have a smaller group size.

I asked a similar question about other cruise lines elsewhere. I heard back from several different people who did side-to-side cruises between Port Canaveral and Miami on the same day. It seems like they were all Floridians driving their own car. You might possibly be able to do a one way rental but that would add time. Anyway the consensus was it was doable but you need a car.

For testing, Carnival might help you out (albeit for a charge) if it's from one carnival ship to another. Lots of people suggested doing the emed test that is proctored online, it's a rapid test that you can do with someone watching over your phone and most cruise lines accept them. Double check that carnival does though, I'm going next week but my test is through CVS.

I'll be on the Freedom next week. Is the gym likely to be open on embarkation day? If so, when and would it be crowded? 

I'd love to get some strength training in before we set sail, like while waiting for cabins to open. Usually by day 2 my gym motivation is much lower!

I'm cruising on the Freedom next week. Anyone have a list of movies they've been showing at the dive-in movie nights recently?

35 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

This would have been a big deal several years ago.  Today not so much since NCL almost gives passengers 2 specialty dinners with a 7 night booking.  Specialty dining is so popular which means fewer eat at the MDR every night.  There are some that are excellent with their budget and stick to it and I can see some of them upset.  But for most of us, we probably would not even notice the change.

In January they changed the dining for Free At Sea. For a standard 7 day cruise you get 1 meal in an interior or ocean view or 2 in a balcony. You have to go to to 12+ nights then you get 2 free meals unless you're in a balcony and it's 3.

That's more specialty dining you have to purchase if you want those specialty dining options.

Pretty sure this quietly gets away with the beloved "steak and lobster" night too.

I did this cruise in November and it was indeed a great itinerary! Liked the ship too.

I think 'no masks' will be good in that there won't be (well, shouldn't be) tension over people whether they're wearing masks or not. There will be no one going in with the expectation that the mask mandate requirement will be enforced, and then get upset when it isn't and people are unmasked. It'll be a known state right from the start.

That said, I'm not sure if I'll wear a mask some crowded places inside (elevators and queueing to disembark are ones I can think of) or not. And it's not really just because of COVID. Usually when I cruise I come back with a bad cold about 80% of the time. But when I cruised in November, with masks, I didn't. Though I honestly don't know if masks help with colds or if it's all about hand-washing and not touching your face. 

1 minute ago, Mike45LC said:

A special pair of shoes for one evening???]

See, based on the incredulity of this question, one would know from it alone that you're not female. 😉 

22 hours ago, smellywax said:

I was required to wear my mask during my massage on the Panorama last week.

When I was on the Horizon in mid-November I didn't have to wear a mask during my massage, just in the areas getting to it.

But with Omicron who knows, masks might be a universal change for massages.

42 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

The CDC doesn't need to do anything, actually.  The cruise lines are handling it.

 

Getaway sailing 1/5: Cancelled

Pearl:  Turned around and headed back to FL

Star: Sailing away from SA rather than toward it.

QMII:  Cancelled return to NYC, heading to Southampton

 

More coming soon.

Someone elsewhere was postulating that this is possibly due to crew requirements, like needing to have a certain number of deck officers to safely operate. QM2 did hang out outside of port for a few days to take on more crew.

5 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

I'm just glad that we do NOT have any reservations soon.  To be flying out, having no idea if the ship will sail, but suspecting it won't... but you can't "not fly" in case the ship does sail...!?

 

You can book for late May 2022. That's when I'm sailing, and I dodged COVID waves in 2020 and 2021 so far so I have a good track record with this.

(I just know this is going to be a post I regret during my cruise when things go sideways and I'm stuck in an interior with no food because the entire crew is sick with COVID!)

3 hours ago, Susandt said:

My guess is no but it would be interesting 

I always wondered what happen if the US government required a COVID test before returning to the US, like it does with air flights. Obviously you can't leave a person on the cruise ship if they're positive but you could require them to go quarantine at a local hotel -- at their own expense.

16 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Missing Ports... We love sea days.

Being quarantined .. We booked a suite this cruise.

Cruise cancelled... More FCC's to pile up. 

Fail the rapid antigen test... Money in our pocket, we are a short drive to the port. 

 Lighten up NBT, have no worries and be happy. 

Best New Year wishes to you and yours.. 

Unfortunately, every cruise line I've heard of (and I only follow the lower and mid tier lines, not the luxury lines) moves people who must quarantine to new cabins. Often these seem to be interior or outside view cabins on a low floor near the medical center. I assume they want to keep all the quarantined people close together so it's easier to keep an eye on them, make sure they aren't breaking quarantine, deliver food, etc.

I don't think I would book one of those butlered suites a lot of mid-level lines having during the pandemic for fear of testing positive and getting quarantined in a dumpy interior. Though in all the cases I've heard, they return prorated money for the days you're being quarantined, so at least there's that.

Private islands are still subject to the rules in effect for that country.

The 'some' crew who were positive must've increased the percentage of covid to what exceeded to the allowed threshold for the Bahamas. I've heard "no more than 1% cases" being the threshold for some ports in turning ships away.

2 minutes ago, kapcruiser said:

Did you have set dining time or anytime?

i have 8:15 dining time, but afraid I’m going to be late for the shows 

I have early dining so I can hit the comedy shows, but I think they have main show times so that you can go before dinner if you have late dining 

I'm on Horizon now. Mask compliance isn't very rigidly enforced with guests but I did see one person asked at the casino to put theirs on. But they just picked up a drink instead.

I would say it's about 50% to 70% masked indoors, with mask usage going down at night. Even the elevators, people aren't wearing masks. If you are going to be concerned when people are not wearing masks it's probably not a good time to cruise.

Staff mask compliance is 100%.

Edit: Also, masks aren't required everywhere indoors. It's elevators, casinos, marked entertainment venues, entering restaurants, and events with children. So if you're just hanging out in the atrium or walking around the halls, it's recommended, not required.

I'm going solo on a cruise next week, and some other solo cruisers and I have discussed asking to be seated together in the main dining room for dinners so we aren't eating alone.

Is this possible in the age of COVID? I know, for example, that on some other cruise lines you can only eat at the same table if your reservations are linked. And on Carnival's site, there is a page where it says: "Here you'll see names of all the guests that are part of your travel group. Missing someone? Go ahead and send them an invite by entering their email address below and clicking "send invitation." You'll be able to enjoy onboard entertainment events and dine with members of your Cruise Companion group."

So do we have to be on the same reservation or in a "Cruise Companion group" to be seated together?

Boosters are coming soon in the US, I have some senior friends who are not cruising on fully vaccinated cruises until they get their booster. Which will be in like November.

I mean, this is why I don't currently have any cruises booked. I know that for me, the rapidly evolving covid situation and resulting rapidly evolving rules would just make me anxious. And I don't want to be anxious about a vacation, so I'm not booking cruises now. I think it's unrealistic to assume that the rules will be known in advance and won't change last-minute because that's just life with the rapidly evolving covid situation, if you want to cruise you need to realize things can change.