chipmaster

19 minutes ago, bigrednole said:

I am starting to get that feeling. I had DSLRs for 10+ years. I was never a photographer, just a picture taker. I find that I don't even take it out of the bag much. I am trying to determine if it is even worth having a $1,500 camera in my bag that never gets used. Maybe I am getting older and don't care as much. I may sell my gear and be done with it. I don't use it often enough to justify keeping it. 

Trying to sell DSLR is a lose lose proposition.  They become near worthless once a new model comes out.    But if you have any camera from the last 5 years, combined quality lens they still produce wonderful images, but for general snapshots not worth the trouble as I discovered on my recent cruise, didn't find one time I felt lacking for my phone.   

10 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Had to smile at your comment about "some peoples hygiene."  As much as DW and I long enjoyed buffets and decent salad bars we were often horrified at what we saw some folks do at these venues.  Perhaps one positive thing that has come out of all the COVID panic is the change in buffets on ships (and elsewhere).  

 

On our December Enchanted Princess cruise we did watch some folks do everything possible to avoid hand washing when going into the Lido.  Princess had staff stationed at all the Lido entrances (where they have handwashing stations) who did their best to enforce a handwashing standard.  But some tried to sneak past and we actually saw a few folks argue and say NO.  To be honest, I had little to no concern about getting COVID from unwashed hands but DW and I have been very successful at avoiding Norovirus on more than 1200 days of cruises by simply practicing decent hygiene and routine handwashing.  Since the changes brought about by COVID I do not recall hearing about any Noro outbreaks on cruises.

 

Hank

P.S.  I seldom comment (anymore) about the CDC since I have difficulty thinking of anything positive to say.

Hank good to see you still active here and enjoying cruising.   It is sad where some who claim to be driven by science have gone.

I was also amazed at resistance to hand washing by some, go figure.  Like you since going to masks when outside an better all around disease prevention in the Far East, I haven't had a cold or illness till coming down with COVID on what else, my cruise, LOL, YOLO. 

I did enjoy my recent cruise after a long break, but will soon go back into my cave for a few more years for one last adventure, than hopefully come back out and get more cruising with hopefully grand kids 😄

8 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

It's a pandemic and testing stop a lot of it from getting onto ships.

Unless you adopt measures like Taiwan or other places, while some mitigation, not going to stop it.   

When I return to Taiwan I need to be PCR negative when I get on the plane,  tested again on arrival.  Go into 7 day quarantine with test mid and end of quarantine, all negative, followed by another 7 days of home self managed quarantine.    It is only if you do that can you prevent bleed in, an even than they have two incidents of escapes, very difficult.    

On 12/28/2021 at 2:04 AM, bigrednole said:

We were on our first cruise a month ago. One thing I noticed was that I was about the only person with an actual camera. Most people just had their phones. I am fairly certain the only DSLR or mirrorless cameras were by the cruise photographers. I know my camera is lighter than my old DSLR and takes incredible pictures. I am now questioning whether it is worth even lugging this one around while traveling anymore.

Computational photography is so good in phones these days that you can't beat the convenience and quality of these Smartphones with their advance chips and sensor inside.    They iterate them every year with volumes of > hundreds of millions to amortize their development.  The pace has been unrelenting and draws progress in any other industry.  

Camera manufactures rode the digital age too and every mom/pop had a pocket camera than DSLR, but since traditional cameras now have production runs of a few hundred thousand to millions and can't afford the RD or design to compete with smartphones.     

The only reason to carry a traditional camera / is lens prospective.    

I recently shot some sports 1st time in a two years, nothing can replace the reach of a traditional camera, but for wide angle and simple snapshots an even creative photography a phone is pretty good for 99% of the people.   I also brought the camera on the cruise, didn't take it out once, never once felt limited by the iPhone. YMMV depending on why and what you shoot.

8 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I think there is a fine line between "Covid Phobia"  (and even Covid Hysteria) and living one's life with COVID.  To us it has been keeping ourselves educated about the latest studies (not rhetoric) and using common sense and real science to reduce our personal risk while also living our lives the way we enjoy which still involves lots of travel and cruising.  Many of our friends still follow something similar to "shelter in place" and admit that they are miserable.  But not everyone has the necessary risk tolerance to deal with travel/cruises during this pandemic.

 

I do find some of the latest news interesting.  We have said for nearly 2 years that cloth masks are nearly useless and now we finally have some of our "experts" admitting that cloth masks do not work (various studies have shown they are about 10% effective...at best).  The CDC has also admitted (more then a year ago) that surface spread of COVID is very rare (we have never found a study that documented a single case of real surface spread) but yet society (including myself) has become almost obsessive about cleaning and handwashing.  While this might not really help with COVID it has certainly helped some of us avoid getting normal colds :).  We do accept the premise that most COVID (and other respiratory viruses) are spread through the air (especially from coughing and sneezing) and do our best to avoid being confined with crowds while indoors.  We have also spent as much time as possible outdoors (especially when traveling and cruising) where we have always felt relatively safe from COVID.  Speaking of common sense we still find it laughable that some places closed beaches and parks and thought it wise to drive folks indoors.

 

So we managed to take 3 cruises in 2021 (totally 48 days) without any COVID problems.  What did we do in terms of COVID avoidance while on the cruises?  We did continue our long time practice (going back many years) of avoiding crowded elevators to the extent it was reasonably possible.  Elevators are enclosed chambers where any cough or sneeze is not a good thing for anyone else in that same chamber.  We also practiced social distancing when reasonable although it was not a priority.  So when we did our two Seabourn cruises we continued to often dine at "shared/hosted tables" which are always lots of fun.  On our Princess cruise we decided to change our normal practice of sharing large tables (with strangers) and dine at 2-tops.  We wore masks when required but quickly took them off when it was not required.  I have long been amazed at how the very smart COVID virus seems to know how to avoid folks who are eating/drinking but infect those who are walking through empty public spaces!  And how that virus knows not to go around a  poor fitting mask is still a mystery to me.  But we do follow the protocols even when common sense tells us it is folly.  When we think a good mask makes lots of sense (such as when moving through airports, getting on/off planes, being part of crowd, etc. we wear properly fitted N95 or KN95 masks.  In other environments where mask wearing seems to defy common sense we wear more comfortable cloth masks (which do little to stop COVID but make authorities happy).

 

By the way, I did have a good laugh reading about using knuckles or elbows for elevator buttons.  Not sure how that protects one from somebody else coughing, sneezing, or even breathing but it sure cannot hurt :).  When it comes to elevators we do our best to simply avoid the things and use stairs.  We started this practice nearly 20 years ago when we realized that DW and I would often get Upper Respiratory Infections (URIs) on our many cruises.  Anecdotally we discovered that once we minimized elevator use (and always tried to avoid crowded elevators) our problems with URIs seemed to become very rare.  Bottom line is that if you are in an elevator with somebody who coughs or sneezes there is no way to escape maximum exposure to whatever!

 

Hank

Any one with a little common sense can understand mask better than none, and the escalating improvement between cloth, surgical to KN5/N5.       People can complain all they want about difficult of breathing and comfort, but protection goes inversely to comfort, LOL.

As to not touching the common touch surfaces, have you seen some peoples hygiene practices?  I too don't have germ or covid phobie and believe what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, YOLO.

The CDC as with so many things can't be trusted and sadly that has caused manipulation of too many by too many with less than honorable motives. 

On 1/21/2022 at 10:37 AM, lowroller said:

Wished they stopped with the testing and just keep everything else. But I'm still sailing....

 

Testing is a false containment, we were negative flying into Orlando, negative night before, negative at disembarkation, positive and sick after the cruise.    

It's endemic and if you cruise you need to accept that the probability of getting it currently is very high 

On 1/19/2022 at 12:10 PM, mellon1 said:

I am starting this only because I trust all of you more than I do the advice we have been getting.

 

So, what are you doing and what works for you, especially those doing B2B2Bs, etc. etc.

 

I will start.  We have booked 40 days in 2023 Jan/Feb.  OK, I am going to bring a BUG OUT BAG.  Yep, you heard it right!  Who who have ever thought, me at 58 years old would need a bug out bag on a cruise ship?  Well it is for my husband and all his meds, etc.  So this is something we are going to do.  I will take that on turnaround days in case we are not allowed back on to pack.  

 

We will be keeping to ourselves...think of it as a honeymoon...oh just us.

 

No we will not be dining or wanting to sit next to anyone or going to happy hour at the Concierge Lounge.

 

Yes, we will get a drink before we retire and sit on our balcony and watch the stars...by the way the best show EVER.  If you haven't done that before, I would say do it!

 

I could add a lot more, but I am interested in what all you cruisers, more seasoned than us are and will do.  We have to cruise again.  I am tired of being stuck and nothing to look forward to.  No making the bed, no doing the wash, no cooking or doing dishes...oh how lovely that sounds! 

 

What about you?  What's your story?

As this is endemic now in most of western world I think it is almost going to be impossible to avoid.

Best thing, mask up, and don't travel if you can't stand the risk.  

We decided YOLO, better enjoy it!  So we went cruising!

We were very disciplined in masking but while in Orlando for three days and on the ship for four days, doing our best with mask and such, we caught it.    We are vaccinated, boosted and surprising because of the masking haven't gotten sick/cold etc. for almost a year and half  ( normally get a bug of some sort once to twice a year ), but sadly nope with this new Omicron   Simply too much of it everywhere and since this is an airborne transmission by droplet, washing hands an disinfection of surfaces aren't going to do much, you need self contained bubble and filtered air, not happening on a cruise, flight, or anyplace with lots of people.  It was destined to happen, and it did.   We decided being fit, healthy and young of heart YOLO trumped being quarantined.   

I'll be flying back to Taiwan soon and it'll be 4 PCR test and 14 days of hard quarantine before I get out.   I personally think that is a disciplined approached, is it best is another question, but the sacrifice for their death rate, worth it.  

On 12/28/2021 at 11:25 AM, bthomas67wagon said:

Do you feel cruising right now is worth it?!

 

With ships returning home early or ports turning away ships (ie. Curacao, Aruba, and Bonaire ), do you think going on a cruise now or in the next 2 months is worth the chance of disappointment or stress of not being able to "enjoy" going out on a cruise.

 

 

Having just cruised with my family, I'd say yes and no.

The good:  Pricing and crowds couldn't be lower.  The Disney Dream sailed with probably 1300 passengers and there were no crowds anywhere, nor in port.     Service and seating for shows, pool, etc. couldn't have been better.

The Bad:   We caught COVID someplace between Orlando and on the Ship, likely just before we got on.   BTW we tested negative the night before, also negative on embarkation, but started feeling not so hot  ( cold like ) day of disembarkation, and tested positive after we landed on the west coast.

Given the crowds, poor mask discipline, and sometimes unavoidable situations like eating, pools, waiting in line for Aqua Duck sans mask,  and such, this was a natural expectation, you'll get it for sure if you expose yourself enough.    This isn't a pandemic anymore in most of the Western world and can be considered an endemic problem, a terrible flu situation and natural selection working it's way to the high risk, and in a few years they will all be natural selected out as with how all things in biology work.  

Worth it, yeah, we are health and fit, so we are already on the recovery after two days.  A light cold, and yes we are vaccinated and boosted ( boosted about 4 weeks ago), me Az double shot from Taiwan.  Of course statistically we could have been vaccinated, healthy, young and had a different result as well.   

On 1/15/2022 at 7:28 PM, iceman93 said:

That's HORRIBLE.  Disney should be ashamed for treating guests like that.

 

And I hate to say it, but I'm with your husband on this one--you guys should have just proceeded on board as you were directed to do by that cast member.

Being positive and going on board is really the wrong thing to do for the consideration of everyone else.  We just go off a Disney, we are positive on +2 days after cruise and now stuck in a hotel self quarantine with our next 5 days of valuable vacation never going to happen.   

Be safe and considerate, these are terrible times and need to bring out the best of people not the worst.

On 1/13/2022 at 2:27 AM, fla gang said:

Trying to decide when to book the Dream and looking for info on the most current cruises to see what has changed onboard. Shows and dining mostly!

Dream had Beauty Beast and Believe as the live shows, and a rotating lineup of movies  we watched West Side Story and the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and of course Pirates for Pirate night.  

A good time to go as Castway and pretty much the whole ship felt almost desolate, but nice with minimum crowds.  Almost wished for this to continue for the crowds an upgrades I got on the airplane.

The downside, I'm self quarantining now as are part got COVID sometime between arrival in Orlando and on the cruise 😞

I can confirm the Dream 1/17 cruising the dining room 1/3 full at best, a great time to sail!  

We had a blast after so many years not sailing Disney.

We came together from Taiwan, Seattle, Bay Area, and Michigan, all were negative testing prior to landing in Orlando.

Spent 3 days doing Disney World and ESPN for some UDA dance competition, we all were negative before embarkation, tested negative the day as well by Disney.

Day after we all left, not feeling so well, all positive, put a dent into my US whirlwind vacation with.  

FWIW all wearing N95/KN95 all boosted < thee months too.   

Be safe out there and healthy, we are fortunate we are all pretty healthy and fit types so seems the first night was the worst and getting better already.

I'd say get the self test and test often and quarantine before you go for 14 days, that is the only way to make sure you are negative, LOL.

We just sailed got back from sailing Disney Dream 4 night.   

We were on Orlando and Disney World for a few days with family coming in from Bay Area, Seattle, Taiwan, and Ann Arbor.    Everyone tested negative PCR or rapid before we got on the airplanes and traveling to Orlando. 

We had a few days exploring Disney World and attending a competition at ESPSN, let's just say coming from Taiwan was shocked at a few things.   

We did self testing evening before embarkation all good,  the party got tested again by Disney and were all negative before boarding. We had a great 4 days on the ship, afterward the big SURPRISE that wasn't a surprise, LOL.

We disembarked yesterday, today felt sick, did another self test, positive, nothing more to add.

I think the self tests are pretty good, it passed us to getting on the ship, and failed after we caught something after a few days on ship, but a dent in our plans currently.   

I can only guess, did I get it on the ship, or before in Disney World, or at ESPN, but with the counts in FL and US could even have been earlier, but I am guessing based on timing and my health and age, probably on the cruise. 

Everything has a cost....

test testing 😄

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

It is not hopeless ;however ,it is reality .  Because of this virus increasing in daily cases reported ,we decided to cancel 2 cruises & both were in 2022 . Min reason is with one $billion dollar burn rate of their cash reserves CCL ,RCL & NCL  may have to file for reorganizing under the bankruptcy laws  .Although they are not there yet ,the lines may  find that they can not cruise after Jan 1 ,2021   .This virus attacked 5 people on that Sea Dream cruise & now the  passengers are all quarantined to the ship  .The CDC will have a lot to say about this issue  

 

 Iimo the safety of cruising may not  be seen until well into 2022 or 2023  . Thus ,if that does occur the cruise lines will not  have the resources to survive 

Will there be cruising, yes, what it will look like and who will be there, that is the 20 billion dollar question the lenders are wondering and gambling about, LOL

To test protocols and their effectiveness I think they need to introduce a few elements

1) Of course the strict mask and social distancing and such

2) Anti vaccination folks and high risk volunteers standard "American" high risk

3) Some people with vaccination and some w/o just placebo

4) Some know active COVID cases

Then just like Princess Diamond we can test the effectiveness of 1) as we all know 2), 3) and 4)  will most certainly also be on board.

This would really be a boom to validate vaccination, protocols and demographics and health!

2 hours ago, slavens_09 said:

BlerkOne check this out.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5729/?source=99360&fbclid=IwAR1x7HismlzcEb6DfL3Z4IBt9u1-I7l7ZZN9sMTNw3vD3YjH4sWaZ7vUSWY
 

I can’t for the life of me figure out why they aren’t wanting to start off with ships that are “paid for” thereby more profitable.
 

Must have something to do with the efficiency of the that makes the newer ones more profitable.

The ships that aren't paid for are also depreciating asset, regardless of whether they sail you got to make payment and depreciate the asset. 

2 hours ago, skynight said:

"Cool, I'm lookin forward to doing some bookings on it.  I have some great memories on the Sapphire!"

Assuming regulations don't change, if you aren't a Taiwan resident not much of a chance you could sail on one of these voyages. Restrictions on entering Taiwan are shown here:

https://www.trip.com/travel-restrictions-covid-19/

I'll be in Taiwan shortly, 14 day quarantine then after that pretty much normal life. 

2 hours ago, broberts said:

 

The stock market is zero sum.

For everyone buying there is someone else who is sure it's topped out.    One think's he's in easy money and the other is thinking sucker, LOL

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/royal-caribbean-cdc-trial-cruises-covid/index.html

Interesting a little different than volunteering for vaccination trail, here you get the full meal deal; buffet, theater, bar, pool, elevator ride with strangers, lots of passing by in the spacious corridors.  Be sure to wear your mask, wash wash, and don't touch anything, LOL

6 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

On the face of it, not a bad "routine".....😁

Like all things in life a routine is good, one that is stable with family even better.  The kink to probably most of us is how other things we took for granted like mingling with friends, out to eat, vacations and travel, and of course cruising are now so far out in the future, hard to put prospective on the daily life..

I do know, actually already appreciate, that this situation with so much family time will be special at least to me, to my kids not so much 🙄

The efficacy is calculated by looking at the number of positive COVID for those that got the vaccines versus those that got the Placebo.  It isn't a statement that 90% of the ones are fully protected, that will take larger statistics and long time study.    

The ethics prevent a simple test.

They gave the blind vaccine or placebo to what 44,000 people, then out of that there were 94 people that got COVID, I can assume they came from mostly those that got placebo and a few from those with vaccine and with those very low numbers decided viola 90%.

Far easier if they just gave the vaccine to "X" number of people and then subjected them to various levels of live virus to see how well it work, opps that isn't very ethical.

While encouraging this is just the first step, call it 3 inning of the 1st game of a possible 7 game world series, LOL

Ground Hog day 241 🤢

Up 6:30am  unload dishwaster, grind the coffee beans and make 10 cups, read WSJ, NYT, check stock and decide on trading for the day

7:30:-8:30 kids wandering down for breakfast and morning conversation

8:30 retire to the study for work/WebEx/Teams, check stocks and make any possible adjustments.

10:30 Walk the dogg

11:45:  Decide if I exit market or hold.

12:00 Lunch with the kids

12:30-4:00 back to office for work/WebEx/Teams

4:00  To the Gym or my daily cardio

6:00 Dinner with the family

7:00-9:00 meeting with the Far East

9:00-11:00 Netflix, Disney+, AmazonPrime, AppleTV

11:30 retire to bet

Tomorrow repeat for day 242

On 11/10/2020 at 10:33 AM, sharpasice said:

So I read this morning that Carnival has canceled all cruises over 7 days through Oct 2021.  Do you think Royal will follow?  CDC says nothing over 7 days or anything port intensive. Mine is both. I have one now booked on Radiance (was changed by Royal from Explorer) for 9 nights in November 2021.  I really thought we'd be safe on the COVID front by that time.  Now I'm worried.  

October, nope, vaccine won't get rolled out till likely late Q1 then to get enough doses and to get enough of the population to herd immunity, easily Q3 or later.

what is more amazing how they decided a few thousand people for 5-7 days is okay but 10 days is too dangerous only raises the insanity of public health policy in the wester world.

Is it any wonder most of the wester world is going thru a massive new spike and lockdowns compared to other areas

2 minutes ago, atanac said:

You can lead a horse to water...

People who believe taking a cruise is still a good idea have only themselves to

blame if they climb onboard and then get quarantined. My mom used to say

you cannot have a rational conversation with an irrational person. People need

to find another option and forget about cruising no matter what the cruise lines

say they will do to protect you.

 

These ships should all have skull & crossbones stenciled on their hull as a warning.

The statistics for larger ship will be even more ominous for insuring everyone ship sailing will have someone with COVID and a week sucking each other's air, the outcome is all but assurd.