kayguz

2 hours ago, DennysDad said:

That's true. Old we assume is not active. Well...he is 13yrs old. Time for a phone anyway. LOL.

We've been avoiding the phone- he's in a small private school so it actually hasn't been an issue yet and he hasn't even asked about it.  He has difficulty with electronics (meaning more than 20 mins a day on a game equals very challenging behavior the rest of the day) - so trying to drag our feet as long as possible! Again, his maturity level is much younger.  He is kid #6 and he's giving us a run for our money for sure!

5 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

 

Note that the Royal Caribbean app (required for the chat feature) requires iOS 15 or higher.

 

iPhone 6s is the oldest that supports iOS 15.

Thanks.  We've not had good luck with RC messaging app- so we weren't considering that option at all.  

2 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

If the phone does not have an active SIM card (as it seems to indicate in the OP) , WiFi calling will not work

Ok- I need to figure out about the SIM card.  We were planning on getting the wifi package and setting that up for him- but had hoped the i-message and wifi calling would work.  

We are traveling with our just turned 13 yr old (who really has the social and emotional maturity of 10yr old)- and I see that SOS has 13 in the teen club.  I’ve also been told that because he will be 13 that he couldn’t age down to the 9-11 because it’s over a year past the age limit (that would be ours and his first choice.)We are trying to figure out a way to keep in touch- wondering if an old iPhone with the WiFi package would work- anyone done this before? I’m not overprotective- but this kid really struggles socially and I want him to be able to contact any new friends he may make in the teen area. I also need it because his sense of direction is poor and I don’t know that he can find us if he leaves the area. He’s so sad that he’s aging out because he LOVES adventure ocean so much and all the activities- doesn’t like the slides or anything else except the miniature golf.  

Does anyone know if they do any sort of substitutions for those that don't drink alcohol?

I think it's great to have a choice of once or twice a day.  I have my towels refreshed once a day, but i like having my bed made and things wiped down in the morning and I like the evening turndown service.  It's nice to me to return to lights dimmed, curtains closed, and we love the towel animals.  Those are all some of the things that make a cruise different than my land based vacations.  

19 hours ago, Angie2045 said:

Does anyone have an update on this? Wondering if the reservation system has changed and if they allow for more time slots? For the first come first serve rule, how early did parents need to stand in line to book their slots? Or is it done via app? 

We sailed the Independence  over Thanksgiving.  There were no reservations needed.  The only difference was that they only allowed one family at a time in the little waiting area to check in or out their kids.  The first evening there was a bit of a line because people that didn't register in the afternoon had to do it before drop off.

I searched forever and never found an answer (and no luck from RCL either) in regards to the additional port covid testing required for those not up to date with vaccine.  Greece long ago dropped all testing and vax requirements, yet if you were cruising you had to take additional tests onboard prior to disembarking in Greece.  We boarded the Odyssey on 6/19 and asked a very nice officer-- she called a "hotline" and asked the question, and as of the previous day, ALL additional port testing would be dropped (not sure about kids, but this did apply to adults fully vaxed but not boosted).  She saw us later, and said she called and asked again and got the same info.  We have not had to undergo any additional testing except what was needed to board the cruise.  Not sure if they have updated the website, but thought I would put it out there for others who were in a similar situation.  I'll also mention, that crew are all wearing k95 but very few passengers.  So far, not much coughing or other "covid-y" symptoms have been very prevalent with other passengers.  

We are on that same cruise right now.  We lucked out as the Odyssey was the only ship in port.  That being said, it was still crazy busy!  We were at guest services very early and managed to get tender tickets group 15, friends who went an hour later were group 40.  We were cleared earlier than planned as well.  We gave it some time to let the cable car line thin out and went about 1:15 mins after they started the process-- at that point they were calling groups 0-22- meaning, if you have a ticket in any of those groups you can go.  We made it to the line that was just past the point where you can buy the donkey ride up-- it was about 45mins from that point up to the top- we debarked at 2 and met our guide at 3:40 which was ten minutes late.  We got in the line at 9:00 to return to the ship as the last tender was 10:15-- we barely made it on the last tender (left within 2 mins of boarding).  I took 1:15 to get the cable car-- the line went down the little street and wrapped around a little square sort of thing.  I cannot imagine how bad it would have been if we waited longer-- although I feel like we were towards the back of the line.  

Also-- nice groups of people (not with a guide) kept feeding up the left side of the line  and working their way to the front-- we finally spread our group out across the steps so nobody could slide by.  They would just start talking to people and casually work their way up- sort of impressive.  

We are vaxed, not boosted (had covid in December so we want to wait)-- on our Odyssey sailing in a couple of weeks we will be required to test before our Greece ports (a day in between the two).  My question (that I've searched high and low for any experiences) is, if we test positive on the ship, does RCL turn us over to Italian authorities to go to gov't quarantine or report us to authorities and tell us to find our own quarantine lodging or leave it up to passenger to do the reporting (it is mandatory in Italy) and lodging on their own? Just trying to determine what sort of backup plan to sketch out.  Also, any guesses why Greece is having non-boosted cruisers take a test when we could fly in without a booster, a vaccine, or a test?? 

There are a few FB groups that address this exact issues-- Travel in Italy and Covid search should turn it up.  There are admin pins at the top of their page that spell out the Italian quarantine rules.  The moderator Untold Italy refers to it regularly to not allow speculation or to encourage anything to get around "the rules."  My understanding is that a positive means 7 days mandatory quarantine if vaxed and up to date (meaning boosted if original vax series is beyond 270 days) and 10 days if not.  Must be symptom free for a few days in order to test on day 7 or 10.  You are not allowed out of quarantine until you test negative-- at 21 days you are allowed out even if you are testing postive.  You are required to report your positive to a government entity-- not sure if the cruiseline does this or if its on the honor system.  That group has lots of discussion about hotels and airbnb's in this situation.  My take away is this: do not test at the FCO airport, try not to test at a pharmacy (they take passport info and report directly)-- take your own tests and if positive, then figure out where you will quarantine so you don't have to go to the dreaded FCO airport Sheraton quarantine hotel (put in the oldest building that's pretty run down and the food is another story.)  Also the timing for number of days after covid postive to fly varies by airline.  We are vaxed but not boosted (had covid in December)  my daughter had it in 6/2020 and ws then vaxed (not boosted.)  This means we have to take additional tests for Greece ports (makes no sense as we can fly or ferry in with no additional testing) at our expense.  It's all nerve wracking to say the least....

19 minutes ago, exm said:

We're on an August cruise out of Rome, and I'm so confused by all the testing. First of all, all countries we're visiting: Italy, Greece and Turkey have pretty much dropped all Covid testing requirements. Why hasn't Royal followed suit for those who aren't boosted?

 

Second, does Royal still provide the "day 5" testing for flying back into the US or do we need to do this at our own expenses when leaving the ship?

Same concerns here!  I just checked and Italy has dropped off the list of ports that require testing before going ashore for those not "up to date" with vaccines (also the preboard testing seems to have changed to two days prior for the non-boosted which is the same for the boosted-- but I could just be "seeing things" at this point).  I also noticed that no test is required to disembark now either for the non boosted.  However, Greece--- which dropped ALL requirements many weeks ago, is STILL on the list!  It's an extra $500 of testing that I would rather spend elsewhere- and the anxiety of taking extra tests.  I have yet to find anyone on CC that has been on that trip, not boosted, who could share their experience of when they tested and how long the test was good for.... meaning if we test the morning before Santorini is that test good for Mykonos two days later??

13 hours ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

I think this is basically up to royal. You dont need a test to enter Italy but need to test to get on board the ship.

Now is this royal being cautious and trying to identify some % of covid passengers to save them having to  deal with them, physically and financially or is it the requirements for Italy and other EU countries to impose testing for cruise ships?

 

I got a feeling once the US drop the testing to enter the US then royal will follow for cruises, as long as the EU keep their current requirement of no testing.

 

I've sort of wondered this as well.  I'm so close to saying dump the cruise, but I know the girls will be so upset.  If we were going to almost any other EU country we wouldn't even have to test before going (which I would anyway because I don't want to start off with an issue!)  Covid sucks all the fun out of planning and anticipating for me--- aarrrggghhh

I've read the new updated protocols.  We are vaxed but not boosted.  I understand paying for the extra testing.  What I don't understand is that Greece has dropped basically all covid requirements, yet RCL is still making the non-boosted people test before the Greek ports in addition to Italian-- Turkey was not on the list for additional testing for non-boosted people.  Anyone have any guesses?? I am also wondering if we test for Naples on our last day is that also good for disembarkation? The agent that I spoke to wasn't very helpful and I'm not sure I want to wait in the cue again....  (I also know that CC is not concrete info, but I am really curious what others think or interpret.)

We are on this same trip June 19th and I love reading your updates!  I have a couple questions--- not trying to start a vax/boost debate at all-- we are vaxed but not boosted (got covid the day of the appt. in December).  I have combed through all the requirements given to this point for this cruise.  We will be treated as unvaxed and will have to test additional times.  Have you been aware of how they are handling the additional testing-- day before the port, morning of the port, does the test last for just one day? Also, do you have to test again at disembarkation back in Civitaveccia?  I did see Greece dropped all vax and testing requirements for right now ( but RCL hasn't modified Greece)and I'm praying Italy will also do the same.  There will be 4 of us traveling and every test is rolling the dice.....We were on a Princess cruise where there was a bad batch of tests-- and 50% showed positive, but when they retested they were all negative.  Nail biter for sure.  

Just a heads up as this happened 3 times in the last 3 weeks--- cab to hotel, airport to port, and port to airport.  The taxi drivers have all requested cash payment (even with the meter running)and made it very uncomfortable if you didn't want to comply with their request.  Thinking about it later, I should have agreed and then refused when we arrived at the destination.  Then the guy that did the airport to hotel run was refusing to give me change (I wasn't including a "tip" since he was basically keeping the whole amount by not running it through the meter).  The Ubers were both fine.  However, for one of the ubers we were not told we would have the surge pricing in advance (even though it's supposed to always tell you) and we had a $50 airport to terminal 21 charge.  

On 7/28/2021 at 11:23 PM, ETHTrader said:

 

My understanding is that if you test positive, you will be quarantined in a hotel with Greek government picking up the tab. The problem is that these hotels are full and families end up having to wait around at a random place until they find a hotel room

 

https://greekcitytimes.com/2021/07/22/travel-greek-govt-seeks-to-increase-quarantine-hotels-on-islands/

 

https://greekreporter.com/2021/07/18/covid-19-positive-traveler-homeless-mykonos-island-hotel/

We were also told that you could quarantine in a 4/5 star hotel (had to have room service) if it met the Greeks authorization- not sure if that's on your dime though.

On 7/28/2021 at 9:52 PM, Lane412000 said:

Question for the group but more so for the US citizens:

 

We are on the August 14th APEX sailing and received our call from Celebrity today asking if we were vaccinated, which caused our wheels to begin turning.

 

Scenario: You fly all the way to ATH and discover you are positive when checked at the port or develop symptoms during the cruise and are tested positive or before disembarkation you discover that you are positive. 

 

What do you do?  Did you think of these situations before leaving for the cruise?  We took a cruise on the edge July 10th and did not really consider it because we could always drive home from FLL.

 

Just wondering if you had thought about it and had a plan in mind? I am not sure that we are prepared to spend 10-14 days in quarantine in Greece trying to get home.

 

Thoughts?

I'm a little late replying, but maybe it will help for others.  I had us all take covid tests prior to departure- for my peace of mind.  I also had trip insurance specifically for the instance of a covid quarantine prior to the cruise.  Until the end of October (?), if you test positive during the cruise or at the end of the cruise (testing on the last day), then Celebrity covers housing/transportation home and whatever that means- for the quarantine.  It's a roll of the dice as long as this Administration requires everyone, including vaccinated, to have a covid test before returning to the US.  

Side note, we had two positives on the last day.  One an unvaxed minor and a vax parent.  I am not sure about their traveling companions/friends- they retested and were negative, so not sure of quarantine requirements especially with exposed unvaxed kids- however, we were 2 hours late disembarking because of dealing with those two cases and the Greek authorities.  

We were on the Apex 7/17 cruise.  Greek authorities still have a mask mandate for inside spaces and they consider ALL of a cruise ship interior space- so masks required inside and out.  Compliance by crew was 100%- never saw a crew member without a proper face covering.  Compliance by passengers- meh.  It became worse as the week went on and by the end more seemed to be not wearing them.  I did not see a crew member ask a passenger to replace their face mask at any point.  

Basically, if we were transiting from one location to another (inside or outside) we wore our masks.  Once seated we removed them- except in the theater.    It really was not an issue at all for us personally.  There was so much space all over the ship and in every venue, that social distancing was not a problem at all.  I think we passed other passengers on our cabin hallway maybe 5 times in the course of the week.  

We just sailed the Apex with our 10 year old.  He has only done RCL and DCL cruises prior to this one.  He LOVED the kids camp and we could hardly keep him out of it.  I was very pleasantly surprised.

Just got off the Apex today. We traveled with a vaccinated teen and an unvaccinated child.  It was a wonderful trip and we are thankful we finally were able to cruise again.  This week there were a few changes regarding the unvaccinated kids which were disappointing but it is what it is at the moment and it was something we expected.  
the kids camp was fantastic- this is the first celebrity cruise that we brought any younger kids with us.  Friday we noted that none of the regular counselors were there  and then we heard about the positive cases.  Vaxxed parent and unvaxxed child were asymptomatic positive.  They were isolated and then the counselors were negative but they also had to isolate for a week per protocol. They closed camp down at 10 (late night) as there was only 1 staff person and they had the kids watching a movie.  I was told they did all the contact tracing and notified those affected and that it was a 10-12 yr old.  My son was in the 6-9 group and there were times when the groups were together for a few activities.  There were 43 kids in the under 12 group on the ship (I was told.).  It never seemed very crowded but the kids had fun.  I asked about how they Contact traced and was told security reviewed all the footage (in camp- but elsewhere??)— got this from two sources.  Not sure what is a close contact (15 min rule doesn’t seem to apply to the Delta variant).  In any case, we weren’t notified of additional testing (others did have to go thru an additional test I think).   We will watch for symptoms and likely have him tested again at a week to be sure.  
On a side note- my husband had a scare when he returned from Santorini with my son.  He was told to go directly to his cabin to hear from medical 😒.  He got there and within 5 mins his negative test result showed up on the app.  Then after 15 mins he called guest relations and they said they hadn’t any idea why and he was free to go about his business 🤷‍♀️
 

I did express my concern with shore excursions that if kids are required to go on celebrity curated tours, then they need to offer some options that are kid friendly and not 5 hr guided walking tours or beach trips that include access to a nude beach.  I was very kind and acknowledged its a fluid situation and changes by the day it seems.  Patrick worked with us and found an arranged some options that were perfect for our needs.  Some people were frustrated and rather ugly about things— it’s not Celebrity’s fault it is the Greek authorities changing the requirements. I also mentioned that $168 for a beach excursion in Mykonos is outrageous for a family to do as the only option that was appealing.  I found out after the fact they added a $60 one late that evening (after I booked something to get us off the ship.)

I would totally do it all again- just be prepared to roll with it.  Masks were a non issue for us- it was a tad frustrating to watch the mask usage decline through the week and wasn’t being enforced that I noticed.  Concerning to me just because of my unvaccinated child — but we kept him masked up so hopefully that helped him🤞  Feel free to ask any questions- loved the ship and crew and the entertainment was exceptional.  

3 hours ago, drarill said:

Everyone must leave the ship before 9:00 am. and the drive from the port to the airport is over 45 min.  If you are planning to get your VAT refund,  plan for an extra hour.  Bring everything printed on paper and if you are flying American or British Airways download the Verifly app.  Hope this helps 

Thank you for the info!!!

I'm hoping someone can give me some direction--- we are flying out of Athens following the cruise.  How early is the recommended time to arrive at the Athens airport for international flight?  Any ideas of the disembarkation times?  Trying to give the driver a pick up time.  

Also, when we arrive into Athens, how long after our arrival should we have the driver scheduled for the pick up?

Thanks for the help!

We are avid cruises but have mostly stayed with RCL, Celebrity, Princess, and Disney-but would like to try Oceania.  We are considering a cruise on the Nautica next fall-- and I'm trying to figure out what to expect.  I tend to get seasick unless I take Bonine nightly- then I can be susceptible, but that tends to hold me.  I am concerned about a smaller ship and the movement- can anyone give me any feedback or comparisons of the Nautica vs a much larger ship? (I think the smallest I have sailed is about 70,000 tons).  Also, what are the evenings and days at sea like in regards to entertainment options?  Thank you for your help!

Forgive me if I missed this (I have done a relatively quick search), but were there any naturalists/rangers on board for any lectures? Did they have any discussions on what you were seeing/looking for while sailing through Tracy Arm or the other areas? We did Princess several years ago and they had one the whole time-- I didn't think to check this one before I booked. Although we did chose RCCL for the kid activities/amenities-- I do want them to learn a little something ; ) Trying to figure out if I need to get a couple travel books and have some family lessons before our departure!