rattanchair

On 5/19/2020 at 11:50 AM, Ironhorsejocky said:

 I’m considering booking a front facing forward suite

Don't do it. Besides the motion, especially on a transatlantic crossing, you mentioned 'suite'. There is no way you will enjoy the balcony, you will be blown away when the ship is in motion. Some ships even remove the glass and replace it with bulk head so no view of the ocean in a seated or reclining position. Complete waste of money for a balcony suite.

P.S. Also and this applies to cabins at the stern as well, you will have sunlight and no shade for the entire day. Though the stern on some ships provide a large overhang. Read cruise ship cabin reviews before booking.

On 5/22/2020 at 12:05 AM, Heidi13 said:

other jurisdictions en-route were notified, hence the reason the 8 Canadians on our ship were not permitted to land in the US. When we eventually disembarked we also stayed overnight in a closed LHR hotel that required Govt approval to book. So the UK Govt was aware of our situation.

Of course, the UK Gov't would be aware and notified. You all were on a chartered, non commercial, regulated, monitored CDC approved transfer. Now what happened to all that left that flight, did they all self quarantine for another 14 days or as is being reported go to airports and take commercial flights and connections? Were these connecting flights warned?  Were these jurisdictions apprised? How would the check-in airport personnel even know these passengers were CDC restricted, unless the crew member in passing opened up a 'can of worms' for themselves. And who would intentionally make life more difficult for themselves after  the months trying to get off a ship. They would naturally keep their mouths shut and hope to slip by 'unnoticed'.  Do you know of any passenger, not including Polyanna, who when asked at any  port of embarkation, "Are you sick?" that would answer in the affirmative.

   All these actions will probably contribute to the forthcoming 'second wave'.

2 hours ago, capriccio said:

Of course that is assuming you aren't traveling with every piece of clothing you own for what was, in our case, a 7 day cruise.

DW had to build a house to handle the clothes she has. I wish they would fit in 8 bags. My clothes are relegated to the guest house.

Just now, rkacruiser said:

 

Your comment about that lot entrance in from of the terminal is spot on.  I saw it just before I got to it (after finally getting into the right hand lane).  Had to make a quick decision as to what to do.  Police were insisting that traffic keep moving; stopped and tried to express to an officer what I wanted to do just before the entrance; was told in no uncertain terms:  KEEP MOVING!  

Of course!  There are no police stationed at the entrance. Only at the exit, drop off point. 500 feet before is the obscure, not advertised entrance to the terminal. You have to be astute and willing to make split second decisions. Fortunately, no one takes advantage and they wonder why they have such a hard time, in life. Here I am giving the secrets to the less endowed officious cavilers.

20 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

If my information is correct, this new terminal will be at the extreme East end of Dodge Island.  That might be a better location in order to avoid the congestion that takes place West along that street.  

 

 

This was my experience.  I "inched" my car from one lane to another to another (thanks to drivers in those lanes that allowed me to do so) in order to get to the right hand lane.  Made it just before the YC Tent, but there was no place to stop without blocking traffic behind me and the police directing traffic at that location wasn't allowing such.

The problem you all have with getting to the YC tent, is you all are afraid to pull into the lot in front of the terminal where the buses park, if they are there. But you do not know to turn into the lot entrance until you pass it, and then belatedly come upon the YC tent. I had to yell at my driver to turn right into the lot, it is only wide enough for a 'bus,' before he got to the tent. Once in the lot I told him to drive right up to the tent, park and unload DW 8 bags. (My tux  and clothes were packed in my nap sack on my back). YC has its advantages. And I take advantage of every one of them (and tip cash profusely to assuage any 'ruffled feathers'.

On 5/21/2020 at 8:48 AM, Beardface said:

 

organisation is an accepted spelling in the UK

You are still too nice !

On 5/20/2020 at 4:17 PM, Beardface said:

It was also nice having our bags ready before muster.  Allowed us plenty of time to get settled in before we left.

Another added feature I have only found on MSC. If you for any reason do not 'feel' up to attending muster station with the crowds for an hour, you can attend a second mandatory muster the following day around 10 am, much less hassle, and crowd.

On 5/20/2020 at 3:01 PM, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

For example, we agreed that the Pringles and the chocolate-covered peanuts did not need to be stored in the mini bar 😄 and they were kept on top of the counter instead.

More room?

On 5/20/2020 at 11:35 AM, Beardface said:

 

If you know you are going to go, book now, and then just push out your sail date to when they are actually back.

 

Personally, I'm waiting for 2 things before I book.

 

1 - Ships to actually sail, so I don't begin my countdown too early only to be disappointed

2 - Prices to fall once lines realize the demand has sharply fallen for tourism & travel coming out of this

Dear BF, You are just too nice !

On 5/20/2020 at 10:01 AM, Até said:

  So the booking agents can only select one Pax Type and it will only state "Military USA" but if you are a VC member it will be calculated as 5% off the base fare then an additional 5% or 10% off of that

Except the most coveted Royal Suite. Just 5%.

10 hours ago, DarrenM said:

 

So glove wearers are the most selfish.

I toss the gloves before reentering the car. I spray the bottoms of my shoes with alcohol and remove them before entering the house. I only wear a mask if in the vicinity of others. Should I come close to another the mask is discarded. "The best laid plans of mice and men, gain aft aglay, and leave us naught but grief and pain for promised joy" Robert Burns. We do what we can do.

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

The major "interested party" in crew repatriation is the IMO, not exactly an agency known to have unlimited funds to bribe the CDC and USCG. 

I am not referring to the widows and orphans funds.

https://crew-center.com/letter-crew-member-stranded-cruise-ship-we-dont-live-we-survive

What are your thoughts? Nobody cares, really. Just tell me what I am supposed to get in my drink package. Or could you "be a brick" and send me photos of the menus.

  How can we be so callous? What can we/I do to help ?

3 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

So why does the CDC allow crew from other vessels to fly commercial, even when they have not been in near total quarantine like the cruise ship crews, and may have been in foreign ports within the past 14 days?

This is exactly what I am asking as well. Why? If you have protocols, who bought off who? To whose attention should I direct the blatant disregard of established protocol? Again, deep pockets and corrupt officials.

9 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

When dealing with International Regulations, a Nation's Laws and guidelines supersede other jurisdictions, therefore any CDC requirements could be rendered null and void by a country where crew landed.

That could be true. But were these "other jurisdictions" notified that repatriated crew from the cruise line are headed their way?  Am I mistaken that when they got home they are to self quarantine for 14 more days as a precaution? The honor system just does not work, even when cruise line executives sign a proclamation that they will see to it that crew will abide. Heck, half the posters here are defying, demeaning,  and second guessing, with their "operatic stripes" and their more self-proclaimed expertise than the CDC with its protocols.They are just armchair observers coaxed on by cruise line shills.

14 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The cruise lines utilised non-commercial transportation to clear US jurisdiction.

 

Why should the US CDC have any jurisdiction once the crew have departed the United States. Once they land in another country they fall under that country's laws. 

Because it is common decency to try to protect the rest of the world, not just the citizens in US jurisdiction.

"Cruise line operators must further guarantee non-commercial transportation to their respective homes or new duty stations consistent with all applicable laws and guidance." CDC

It is being reported that a cruise line has already broken their agreement by flying repatriated crew out of US jurisdiction on non-commercial airlines, but once away from the US the crew are being flown the rest of the way on commercial flights. "Good lawyers and deep pockets", no consequences...all adds up. I am sure the people flying are unaware that there are repatriated cruise ship crew flying with them on their flights. A truly believable scenario of the  unsuspecting being duped by unscrupulous  corporate tycoons. Now had these 'big-wigs' been headquartered in Singapore with a PM Lee at the helm, they might be fined a million $ or so , but the second offense... Let us just say  "off with their wig".

"Whatever the mind can conceive of and believe in, can be achieved" Napoleon Hill

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

I think that some people perceive things the way the want them to be and that is not reality.

The truth about perception being reality for the person doing the perceiving has been shown to be the case. I remember the queer object lesson in college that made a lasting impression on us impressionable students. A meat packer who returned to work after some days absence in a  Russian province  (workers only get paid for work performed) decided to 'clock in' after the other workers retired for the evening. While unloading a railway car of sides of beef into the refrigerators he got locked into the refrigerator. When they found the worker the next morning he had , according to the medical examiner,  from all the typical indications, frozen to death. Unexplained, because it was summer time and the freezer had broken days before and the motor was not connected, and the temperature never approached freezing. The worker did have a light inside that did work and he proceeded to write in his notebook his account of slowly freezing to death. He perceived he was freezing  to death and so he did. Thus Perception is Reality. Placebo effect is the same thing.

P.S. The mind is a very powerful tool, in the right hands.

As soon as there is a vaccine or an antibody therapeutic that actually works,  it will be back to the usual griping and bouts of norovirus, as cruise lines dispense with costly protocols. Who is going to enforce CDC regulations, it is just a signed piece of paper with not much in the way of consequences. I just read of reports that a cruise line that is repatriating its crew via a chartered flight had the crew transfer to commercial flights once outside the US. Lip service with no consequences. The cruise lines have all sorts of ways to get around doing the 'right thing'.

Here is what I came online to enlighten a 'few' of you. We took a cruise on a new ship, its 3rd or 4th sailing. Nice, but not finished. Not enough waiters, so the cruise line took deck hands that were painting, dressed them in waiter uniforms and  had them serve the passengers meals. They did not speak nor understand English. Our waiter had a great smile, but nothing else going for him. (Maybe the smile was because he was told he was in for tips in this new position). Anyway he brought over the foot long pepper grinder and proceeded to grind pepper on table mate's plate. Funny thing was the grinder was upside down and the waiter could not understand that nothing was coming out. Table mate complained that there was no water pressure in his cabin and that the plumber he had, spent all day trying to fix the problem. He discovered this plumber dancing in the disco that night with his daughter, but still no water.

  Moral of the story, wait a few months before booking a new ship.

  P.S. We had water and I don't like pepper.

16 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

At my local airport, we have to take an escalator in order to get to an area to check our luggage.  So, people use it with all sizes of bags.

Most airports use to have curb side check in of luggage (for a tip). Or a porter at curb side to assist passengers (for a tip) up to the ticket counter (as I recall pre 9/11). But I am not referring to airport escalators or air passengers. Being a cruise board we are talking about passengers leaving a cruise ship with huge carry-on luggage getting on the down escalator and then losing their grip on their huge bag which tumbles down the escalator, with increasing momentum due to the downward pull of gravity, their bag hitting passengers in front of them on the same escalator going down, knocking the passenger over on the escalator who is unable to get up off the escalator as the bumbling passenger falls on top of them followed by every other passenger behind on the down escalator creating a pile-up and screams for help. Terminal employees race over from whatever important job they were doing slamming the emergency stop button. Perhaps the emergency stop button needs a special terminal electrician to re-set the escalator? Whatever the reason, obviously the other terminal employees felt "it was not their job" to turn the escalator back on after the pile-up was sorted out. And we "Rubes" are simply not worth the extra effort if we can't manage our luggage on a 'down' escalator.

26 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

60 million dollar fine

I am not an accountant either, but a gross revenue of 4.4 billion netting 3.7 billion for one cruise line in 2018 makes 60 million seem worth paying to continue whatever they did to warrant the fine. It must have been extremely important to their 'bottom line'. And who is to say they paid the fine? With their 'good' lawyers on their staff, they will undoubtedly fight it for years to come. As they all will fight than succumb to new regulations that benefit the passengers over their making a 'buck'. Has anyone asked these cruise line executives "How much is enough, and at what expense?"

  Ignorance has always been my bliss, when I am subjected to the horrors I have to witness everyday on the telly. Time to put the kettle on. Ta ta

The problem with the whole world is that there are no consequences. With 'good' lawyers and deep pockets, one can get away with murder.

2 minutes ago, clo said:

I wish CDC would make public what they're requiring but they seem to be hobbled these days.

I do not think they know either. I only hope they find a cruise czar among their "best and brightest" who has suffered the effects of dysentery while on a cruise, to look into formulating these requirements. (That person should not be so hard to find).