sixbirches

Sorry to hear this. I agree about Nassau. I refuse to get off the ship there and I hear it’s worse now.  And we loved Costa Maya. We went to Maya Chan there and had one of the best excursions ever.

This is one of the most ridiculous posts/complaints I’ve seen recently…

We have sailed in Junior suites and Full suites and both are nice rooms to enjoy on a vacation. The amenities included with these cabins are very clear. If you want full suite amenities, then book one.
Don’t whine about  something you didn’t pay for. No one owes you something.

4 hours ago, HRReader said:

We're booked on Ovation 9/24 Seattle-Alaska.  I understand we have to have negative test 2 days before.   My daughter is worried about testing positive while on board.  Are they doing any on-board tests in Alaska? 

 

Does anyone know (or have heard of) how many people are testing positive on board in recent cruises?

 

How does the contract tracing work?  For example,  if you're at a dining table near someone who tests positive do you have to get tested then?  And do you have quarantine at all?

 

Thanks for your help!

We sailed on Ovation on aug. 20.  While on board, we asked the suite concierge if there had been Covid cases on the prior sailing and she said no.  We wore tracelets the entire cruise and turned them in as we debarked. We never heard of any Covid cases and since we were very active with ship activities and excursions, I assume would have been notified if some we had been near had tested positive. I’m assuming there were no cases.
And we all know it would have been blasted all over the internet if there had been cases identified.

We felt our health and safety were a priority on our cruise. 
Enjoy yourself and Alaska!

5 hours ago, brillohead said:

EXACTLY!  If it were more in the $50 range, I could totally see it.  But $180?  Not a chance in Hades for me. 

Every other resort beach break on every other island is in the $100 range or less AND includes booze.  If they included drinks at the CCBC I could maybe understand why they want to charge so much.  

But if people want to pay those higher prices, more power to them.  Everyone has a right to spend their money how they see fit.  My butt will be just as happy in the cheap seats!

Definitely!  We paid $69 pp in March, 2020 and even then I thought it was a pricey excursion. The food was good, but  certainly not for the ridiculous price they are charging now. We may stay on the ship or go over to Chill Island for awhile, depending on the weather.

10 hours ago, brillohead said:

I'm going back in November, and I cannot wait!  Guac and salsa and chips and tacos and margaritas..... oh yeah!

Now I’m jealous !   And by the way, we’ve done the beach club at a cheaper price, and I’d still pick Maya Chan 👏👏👏

I understand your hesitation about cruising now with Covid worries. But with current limits on capacity, the testing requirements, constant cleaning onboard, changes in Windjammer, and the use of masks, etc… I feel cruising is a pretty safe vacation. The really great thing is there aren’t obviously sick people onboard like we always seemed to see on past cruises. I’ve come home with a cold on many past cruises in spite of hand washing, unfortunately…  
My husband and I have an October cruise (Lift and shift) that we are excited about. And.. we very impulsively dropped everything and went to Alaska last month, knowing that we would never see low capacity like this again. Even better, we booked Ovation of the Seas because it’s a sister ship of Anthem, which we love. I’m so glad we took a chance and went!

We also drive to NJ to sail and enjoy the simplicity of not flying and the convenience overall. Anthem is a wonderful, comfortable ship and has so much to offer.  I agree about the Bahamas itinerary but we always enjoy sailing on Anthem.
I say Go!!!

5 minutes ago, PCHENG said:

If the vaxxed adults are not wearing any identifying bracelet, what is to stop an unvaxxed 11 year old from pretending to be vaxxed by simply taking off the unvaxxed bracelet?

😉 Exactly 

1 hour ago, nelblu said:

I’m just glad I’m able to cruise😀

Me too. We wore bracelets and also tracelets on Ovation a few weeks ago. No big deal and no one was complaining either.

On 8/25/2021 at 12:12 AM, brillohead said:

Maya Chan is $59, includes booze, and freshly grilled lunch (although not lobster).  No rubber chicken there!

 

I remember the food at Maya Chan! Probably the best we ever had on an excursion. Loved that place!

20 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Probably a carryover from the original CL that served a light lunch and offered beer and wine. 

 

Also the CK venue is connected to the SL. Very different than the layout of Quantum Class

So, it sounds like it’s really an Oasis Class benefit, not a true Suite benefit.

We were in a suite on our Ovation cruise a few weeks ago in Seattle . We got to the port about an hour early for our Noon boarding time. Everyone was happily  waiting in a very big line all together outside. 
My husband nicely and very quietly mentioned to the Boarding personnel that we were in a suite. They immediately took us out of line, checked everything and we were then the third group to board the ship. If we hadn’t mentioned anything, I’m not sure what would have happened since there was little communication going on. It’s seemed like a disorganized boarding process compared to what we’ve experienced in Bayonne in the past. Maybe because cruises had just resumed in Seattle?

But if this was truly a suite benefit, why would it only be offered on Oasis class? 
I have never experienced this, since we sail mostly on Anthem, and was recently on an Alaska cruise on Ovation. 
So, I’m not feeling a loss at this time. 

Since this “hidden” benefit is only on Oasis class ships, I don’t see why people are so annoyed. Seems like it should be consistent on all ships for suite passengers and I’ve never expected it while on Anthem or recently on Ovation. 
If I want wine at lunch, I use a drink coupon.  Between my drink coupons and Suite HH, it’s plenty of liquor for me. 

5 minutes ago, Jkaczanowski said:

they went under the bridge about 5:30. I took note because we’re on the 9/26

Thank you!

We got a rapid test locally before we left on our trip on Ovation last month and we used our Urgent Care. They printed us a hard copy and we breezed through check in.

Also, our insurance was accepted, so I don’t know why people say it’s not covered. We had no probation all and pain nothing.

Good luck.

I have a weird question. Do you remember around what time you sailed under the Verrazano? We don’t want to miss it, since this is Oasis!!!  But also trying to plan around dinner.
I should know this since we’ve done this sail away many times, but I’ve  never paid attention to how long it takes since sail away has always been earlier than 5:00.  I’m thinking it’s about an hour to sail to the bridge…. But, maybe a little less?

Thanks!

39 minutes ago, Broons77 said:

 

As I mentioned we're going back on NCL for a second trip, and I'm sure there will be another trip planned soon after.  My wife has mobility issues and gets worn out quickly.  So we use the cruise ship as a movable beach resort where I roll her on board and spend the next X number of days wheeling her from bar to restaurant to pool to bar to pool bar to restaurant to bar...  Don't be judgy....  😄

 

So with that in mind, it really doesn't matter where we go as we don't spend a lot of time off ship.  But going to Bermuda even allows her to spend some time off the boat.

 

As for porting in St. George, I've looked at a couple of luxury lines that port there.  Some day that will happen for us!  

You would probably prefer being in port at the West End or the Royal Dockyard. There are lots of shops, restaurants and bars to visit. Hamilton is great, but the streets were a little challenging for wheelchairs. There are beaches and beautiful views nearby as well, if you venture out a bit further.
Enjoy!

9 minutes ago, wingatesl said:

Confirmed. No tracelets

Interesting difference — nice not to need them since they were bigger than the V bands. We had them on Ovation on the Aug 20 cruise, along with the vaccination bands, so we had to wear both. Maybe the new protocols are working well and they don’t feel the need for the tracelets now?

27 minutes ago, Broons77 said:

We took Anthem to Bermuda out of Bayonne for 5 days a couple years ago and can't recommend it enough.  Mostly because you're able to stay in one spot and explore it, rather than dropping in for just enough time for a single excursion and maybe a quick beach stop.  You can go to several beaches, go to different restaurants and see multiple sites.  There is enough to keep you busy for a couple days, especially if you golf.  Finally, the fact that you're not jumping from port to port to port kind of carried over to an even more relaxed vibe on the cruise. 

 

As for sailing out of Bayonne, the convenience of living in the NE and not having to fly to a cruise can't be beat.

 

If you've seen the other islands, my vote would be that you went for the change of pace and did the Bermuda stop.  We enjoyed that first experience so much, we're doing a 7 day Bermuda trip out of Boston next May on NCL (first time with them.)  We live an hour from the Black Falcon Terminal, so we'll be home and unpacked before most people have boarded their return flights on any other cruise!

We have done 5 and 7 day Bermuda cruises on Royal, Norwegian and also on HAL back when they used to sail from NYC, along with cruises that only stop for one day on Bermuda. We had the extremely cool experience of sailing a small NCL ship through the “cut” and porting in St. George. All the big ships now can’t offer that experience.   
Bermuda  has always been our favorite island and I would love to go back soon! So many beautiful  beaches — never gets old ❤️

17 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

Port Valet is just a luggage service, it has nothing to do we transportation to the airport.

We booked that with Seattle Express before our cruise. Good price and service.

17 minutes ago, Machta said:

We are booked on the October 8 sailing of the Ovation.  This will be our first RCL cruise, but we have been to Alaska on HAL several times.  I called RCL yesterday and was surprised when the agent said they are not offering airport-to-port transfers on this cruise.  She didn't say they were sold out, she said they weren't offering them at all.  This seems very odd to me.  Is this how RCL normally operates in Seattle?  I'm not being critical, just wondering.  Uber is fine with us, but this is . . . a surprise.

 

 

We were offered the Port Valet service on our August 20 Ovation sailing. We used it and it could not have been better! 

I’m looking forward to hearing more about the current Oasis cruise 👍….

We did our test through a local urgent care and had no problems with the check in for our Ovation cruise on  Aug 20 in Seattle. At the port, they checked our name and highlighted the words Negative. no problems at all.

On Ovation last week, people were wearing cloth masks and disposables. No gaiters. 
I would recommend the disposable masks since you can bring extras and have a fresh, clean one. They also provided 2 masks in our room.

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

It's not all rainbows and lollipops 

Well, for us it’s been fabulous on Anthem and on also Ovation. Lobster and all….