hal2008

Has RCCL updated its definition of "vaccinated"? Heard (unconfirmed) that some other require last dose within 9 months (which may require booster for some) to be considered vaccinated.

What cruise line will do to help if tested positive while on board differs significantly on when you made the booking and sailing itinerary. Most on these boards have booked months in advance and hence should be fine.

Do you really think insurance is high because of 12 usd reimbursement that prevents you from infecting dozens of other people if you were actually infected? Most will put it down under extremely cheap cost saving measure. Think about cost to insurance companies (private or government) when people who do not believe in vaccines/mask end up getting hospitalized. But if your insurance explicitly says that it does not cover without exposure or symptoms then of course you should not submit claim. Fortunately, our employer strongly believes in preventive measures.

If you browse the threads for various cruise lines, on CC, you will find such cases do exist in spite of proportion of US travelers on Europe being significantly less than that on US based sailings. Some have mentioned that the real probability of getting stuck in a foreign country (after one disembarks) is the major hesitation in booking non-US sailings. (Many sailings have the last day as sea day and one is unable to do testing within 24 hours of the flight). Most flights to US depart in the morning and hence many people take flight back day or two after their cruise. Cruise-lines will naturally wash their hands off after giving you covid with their ultra lax policies. One cant blame them. They are profit oriented businesses and their current paying customers strongly believe in protocols (or lack of) that facilitate spread. Situation is exactly reverse of what was last fall. At that time folks who believed in social distancing and masking were on board and and "will not mask" crowd stayed home. And hence that time cruise lines catered to mindset of then paying crowd (govt regulations and self imposed "assurance" policies nudged them too) Situation is unlikely to change in near term. One has to weigh their own risk/rewards criteria.

Thank you for providing useful datapoint. Might be lost on the current crowd on these boards ("I want to do DUI - others give up their right to drive if scared") Each is entitled their own judgement on risk/reward but real life datapoint is very useful. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for a great summary. Great timing. Was about to book an upcoming cruise. Your pointing to that social media site was extremely helpful in making decision Thank you again for the timely heads up.

Can someone onboard (or those in know) please confirm that masks required policy has continued for this week sailing also? Wish they would make policy alternate each sailing to make both type of guests happy

You are so correct Never thought of getting latest variant of covid in comfort of your home a blessing. But it is compared to getting it on ship or worse after cruise when still in foreign country

Thank you for continued posting of facts and gently making is us all realize the current realities in spite of pressure not to do so. CC is naturally frequented by folks who love to cruise. And naturally their natural instincts are no different from a smoker when presented with lung cancer statistics. Thanks for referring to that social media page. Got lot of useful data points from there.

Glad to know about your personal feeling about this. Each has our own risk/reward criteria That person was actually willing to take risk by going to theater and dinning indoors. A lot of us cruise for many different points of enjoyment. For some an hour or two of indoor dinning was pain even before covid. Some felt same about those theater shows or bar scene or pools. So why cruise? Actually, all those things (theaters, casino, pool, bars, fine dinning) can also be done landside Standing on top deck or front deck or back deck with great expanse of water in utter peace - can't get that landside. Last Fall was amazingly wonderful time to enjoy traditional cruising. Much smaller occupancy, both staff and pax behaving responsibly, no kids running around, no rowdy bar patrons and with tight sensible protocols risk of getting covid far less than a landside resort. Guess that ship has now sailed....

All though coming from totally opposite spectrum, agree with you Personally, I am more concerned about having to quarrantine in non English speaking foreign country than fighting off actual covid.

That's not true. Certainly not everything "They" are only negative on what is overvalued in their opinion and quite enthusiastic about what they find undervalued. As has been case always - quite consistently.

OMG And here I was thinking that cruise ship is safer if you just use it as floating hotel with room service and do not expose to any crowd (elevators, theater, bars, dinning places, bus tours) with advantage of having medical center access in foreign country. Didnt think of medical center as a liability. Thank you for posting.

What you say makes perfect sense to me but I am afraid to even suggest that here. I am going to restrict myself to very cautiously worded questions only.

Thank you very much for additional source information and god bless to all of you who have shared honestly. Trying to assess risk on European cruises before booking one from three angles a) idea about the spread on the ships b) what happens when you do get sick on ship c) how to handle return to US test turns up positive (logistics surrounding getting corvid in foreign land is sometimes more daunting then actual disease) On this boards, I am even afraid to even ask questions. Thanks again for hekpful posts.