prmssk

Both Carnival and NCL still require tests today (at least for cruises 6 nights or longer). None of the changes go into effect for either of those cruise lines until early September. There is nothing stopping Celebrity and Royal from making the same type of announcement in the next few weeks. We still have time.

Thank you for the correction! I should have looked it up myself before posting. 🙂

All cruise lines still require testing for cruises out of Greece (even the ones that have dropped testing for other cruises) which makes me think there are different requirements for cruise ships than the land/air requirements posted on their tourism website. It may even have to do with the specific port agreements the cruise lines made with Greece. Often throughout this pandemic countries have established different rules for cruise lines than they did for land/air travel. They don't always publish the cruise line guidelines on their websites because they depend on the cruise lines to both relay the correct information to their passengers and then confirm their passengers followed the protocols.

I'm glad you got an e-mail clarifying. Someone else posted just today on this board that they are on a 4 night cruise on August 15 and the e-mail they received said they had to test. They contacted Royal who confirmed the e-mail was wrong and a test was not required for their itinerary. It seems so many of the e-mails from Royal about protocols are mass-generated and so they don't always match up to current protocols for that particular sailing.

I think there may still be some ports to deal with. As one example, my understanding is that St. Kitts may still requires a test. The only ships sailing to St. Kits in the next couple of months are Royal and Celebrity ships. And even though Carnival and NCL have already announced their change, they don't go into effect until September so they may themselves still be negotiating with a few last ports to get everything in place in time.

I think it is very likely there isn't another announcement coming today but they are going to confuse people when they tell them that guests booked after August 14 should wait for further guidance and then they don't provide any further guidance. The latest announcement regarding changes to vaccine protocols are for cruises starting in September - that's not exactly further guidance for those sailing between August 15 and September 4.

@JimmyVWine's comment was very specific to Greece. If you click on the FAQ for Europe itineraries, you will see the Greece exception to the supervised home tests.

Canada currently requires a test for all cruise ship passengers when a cruise starts, ends, or stops in Canada. So if your October 8 trip stops in Canada at any point, you will need a test. I do not anticipate Canada dropping these requirements before the end of their cruising season this year.

These changes are just a press release right now. The actual detailed protocols have not been published on the website and don't take effect until September. I'm sure before September it will all be written out in detail and posted on the website. But I agree the wording in the press release is pretty ambiguous.

Trans-ocean includes both transatlantic and transpacific

Don't most Seattle itineraries include Canada? Canada is the one with requirements there, not Royal. And a lot of Florida's cruises stop in Eastern Caribbean islands that still have requirements. Royal's website says they are working with those islands in hopes of expanding these protocols to Florida ports. Again, these are port requirements, not Royal's decision to not include Florida. Give it time.

Here is your best source of information: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/will-i-have-to-take-a-test-before-i-cruise These are all the current testing requirements. Bookmark this page so you can easily go back to it in case things change before your cruise. The first section deals with cruises out of the US that do not include Bermuda. The next section relates to US cruises that do stop in Bermuda or Canada. And then it goes on from there with other parts of the world.

Thank you! So the app just isn’t quite read for the Prima. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing out on something I should now be able to do. And your list of included and specialty restaurants matches with what I was expecting. The app just threw me off.

There are actually three piers in Cozumel. Carnival Corp ships usually use the Puerto Maya one which is the furthest from downtown. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity usually use the International Pier. NCL, MSC, and Disney I believe usually use the downtown pier. Sometimes though depending on what ships are in port you can end up at a different pier.

Has anyone who is sailing in the next couple months been able to reserve shows? I’m 125 days out in a Club Class Balcony and thought I would be able to start making reservations today but the app says “Reservations not offered” for things like the The Donna Summer Musical. Also, many of the restaurants I thought were specialty dining like Le Bistro, Los Lobos, etc. are showing complimentary in the app. Does anyone have a good list of which restaurants are included vs specialty dining? We haven’t been on NCL for a lot of years so not sure how this all normally works.

This doesn’t say they are removing all vaccination requirements. They are just now going to allow unvaccinated individuals to board (they don’t actually say how many or use the phrase “all”).

I’m not sure the vague wording on their website means they don’t still have a percentage in their policies.

The app has most standard cocktails, spirits, a small selection of wine, and beers (I don't recall how good of a selection). The app's food menu is a pretty standard room service menu (sandwiches, salads, a few appetizers, pizza for a fee, etc.). Regarding Good Spirits hours, when I was on the Emerald in February, they could make Good Spirits drinks whenever that bar was open. I enjoyed many afternoons sipping one of their cocktails. On the Caribbean in the drinks on the Good Spirits menu weren't available until 5pm or 6pm depending on the day. I don't sit in bars nearly as much in the evening on a cruise so this was a huge disappointment. I think I only had one or two Good Spirits drinks over 14 days on our last cruise.

You still have the exact same drink package you booked which includes all alcoholic drinks up to $12. The conditions and terms of the package itself has not changed. They just gave it a new name and named the new one the same name as the old one (not a smart move in my opinion). So there was no bait and switch. Drink prices could have gone up at any time even without the introduction of a new drink package.

Just an FYI - You cannot have ANY drink delivered to you anywhere on the ship. For delivery, you are limited to only those in the app which does not include any of the drinks on the Good Spirits menu. You also don't get to tell them which bar to make the drink at. When you want to order from the Good Spirits menu, you will have to talk to a server at the Good Spirits bar.

Our family (my parents, my husband and I, my sister, her husband, and their kids) do family cruises every four years or so. We have always all had each family unit have their own separate cabin (and as my sister's kids get older they are debating two cabins for their family) and sometimes we aren't located in the same area of the ship depending on what kind of rooms we each want. There are plenty of places all over a cruise ship to meet up and hang out. One thing to keep in mind is that if one of you has a suite and some of the others don't, generally the others can't join the suite passengers in their benefits (Coastal Kitchen, suite lounge, suite neighborhood on the Wonder, etc.), so the people in the suite room miss out on some of the perks they paid for (or don't spend as much time with the rest of the family).

Generally, no. I understand that many of the suites on deck 6 had received a refresh not very long before the pandemic so I have heard those cabins were already in pretty good shape. They did bring in some new furniture. The patio furniture in our accessible sky suite (8127) was brand new. I heard reports that they were putting in new mattresses in the weeks that followed our cruise (I was on the restart cruise last November). But our cabin was a little bit tired-looking. The public areas on the other hand looked fantastic.

At the same time Carnival backtracked on the Bahamas, they also backtracked on Grand Cayman. According to Carnival, no test is required if you are fully vaccinated sailing on a 5 night or less cruise to Grand Cayman. I have seen others post that Grand Cayman very recently dropped their testing requirements.

I haven't seen them go down often (like OP is experiencing). More often they seem to go up. By locking in port fees when you book you protect yourself against increases but might miss out on a decrease.

Call Royal's Access Department. They will be able to answer all your questions about wheelchair assistance at the pier and direct you to a company where you can rent a scooter or wheelchair. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/accessible-cruising/additional-assistance