lakelorain

The estimate must be in EST even thought it says UTC or they would be here already.

Not sure if this was mentioned already. According to Vessel tracking the Exots is due in port at 2:40pm.

We already did and as far as I know no one came down with noro.

We use Allianz. They have family plans at a great price.

Thank you. My DH was a waiter on the SSUS when he was in college along with his brother and some of our friends.

What if you're Jewish? ;)

 

But really, I'm not worried. 20 million cases per year, 600 on EOS, so that's 0.003% of yearly cases.

Sorry about that. I sometimes type faster than I think. Obviously I meant gentle.

We used Barcelona Day tours. You tell them what you want and they arrange it with the tour company for you. We used them for 3 different tours and our guides were from 2 different local tour companies. Very easy to work with.

I am onboard the Explorer traveling with my husband and another couple. Three were sick -- very sick. The numbers of passengers affected by the virus reported at first did not take into account those who were sick but stayed in their cabins and did not report to the medical facility. Yesterday forms were distributed to gather the names of those passengers. The Captain and crew have been amazing. They have been working non-stop since early Wednesday morning. The compensation we will receive is adequate. We were able to visit two of the four ports and we've tried to make the best of an unpleasant situation. In addition, the amount passengers paid for various beverage packages was refunded in full. Mimosas and bloody mary's were served with breakfast. This may not sound like much for someone is sitting at home reading this, but for us here it was a very nice treat. RCCL is trying their best and it is appreciated. Will I sail again with RCCL - absolutely.

Thanks for the update. It's good to know that RC is doing the right thing. To me, the way I'm treated is more important than the money. Glad they are treating you right.

Safe travels home.

I cannot use the sanitiser on the ship's or anywhere else. Could you please

tell me the name of the foam alcohol-free kind, and where one can purchase it?

 

I have heard that they almost force everyone to use it in the entrances to

the food venues; one use, and my hands will be cracked open and welcoming germs to enter.

 

Thank you!

 

Cruzin Lady

Try Gold Bond Ultimate Hand Sanitizer. It is a cream in a tube. We use it all the time. Very gentile on your hands.

Noro is everywhere. I've had it twice. Wasn't on a cruise either time. Been on ships with noro and RC contained the spread of it very well.

There is a limit to what you can do to prevent noro, but we all need to do the best we can to keep our ship healthy.

There is more to deep cleaning than just dusting off a few things on the ship. Literally everything is sterilized. And while that seems obvious, folks who haven’t experienced it don’t understand the huge inconvenience to the passengers and crew. Passengers on the following cruise will likely not have many of the items in their room that isn’t attached to the floor or walls that they are accustomed to because they are taken away to be sterilized. In our experience, passengers will not be allowed serve themselves ANYTHING including all beverages as well as condiments at the table like sugar, salt and pepper. If you want any of those items for your meal, you will have to ask for it. And they will be served with tongs.

 

Sally and I were talking about this last night and we feel sorry for everyone on the next cruise out because they will be inconvenienced a lot. Just imagine standing in line for 15 minutes every morning to get a cup of coffee and orange juice. You learn to get your drink first so your eggs and oatmeal don’t get cold. Oh, you want salt and pepper for those eggs, where is that waiter anyways? New proceedures are not normal for the crew, so they aren’t very good at it at first.

 

And speaking of the poor crew. You can see it in their eyes because not only do they have to deal with the grumpy inconvenienced passengers, they pull double duty in the crew stations as well performing the same sterilizing procedures. We heard that the crew got a maximum of 4 hours sleep a day until the ship got back to normal. Not sure when normal comes, we still didn’t see normal even after our 12 day cruise. But we didn’t have a single passenger or crew member get the Noro. They did a pretty good job. Still, after that experience, I would cancel if I were on the new cruise out on the Explorer. Not because of the virus, but because of the sterilization procedures the ship will have to perform.

 

So you can see why a ship might try to quarantine one or two cases to prevent the other extreme. Once a ship has to go full sterilization, it a couple weeks pain in the rear for everyone including the next couple weeks of passengers.

 

Burt

I agree with this. If you have never been on a b2b to see the regular cleaning that is done between cruises, you would be surprised. We've also been on a b2b when there was noro on the first cruise. We were amazed at what was accomplished in a short period of time. Everything, and I mean everything, was decontaminated. This includes walls, ceilings etc.

Did a b2b on the Jewel in October and several other cruises on her previously. Our favorite ship. Well maintained. Outstanding crew. In our opinion the food in the Windjammer on the Jewel is better than the other ships we've been on. We took the b2b just to be on the Jewel.

CC boards seem to attract the complainers. Take everything you read with a grain of salt. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. My opinion is the Jewel is a great ship.

Regarding drapes etc. being cleaned. We were on a ship with noro when our traveling companions' room steward came down with noro. Their cabins were cleaned with hazmat suits. Drapes were replaced along with the sofa cushions and other items. It was a first leg of a b2b. Ship was thoroughly cleaned and no one had noro on the second leg. Amazing job by RC.

I tipped based on the quality of the tour guide. $5 minimum for one that could have been better. $20 for an exceptional one.

We just planned a mixed group cruise(some experienced and some first timers) for July. We went with a Voyager Class ship because it is large enough to appeal to everyone and small enough to be manageable for the new cruisers. The Vision Class may not have enough going on to appeal to everyone.

Looking forward to you "slowly" pulling away from the dock. Have a great trip!

Each ship has a personality. We prefer the Jewel over all others. Smaller, more intimate and views of the ocean everywhere. We have made many new friends on the smaller ships because you see the same people over and over. We recently did a b2b out of San Juan on the Jewel. Everything was outstanding. While there is no Flow rider or Ice Rink etc. we find it more friendly and relaxing.

If it's action you want, go with the larger ships. A good TA will be help you pick the ship that best suits your personalities.

We are in South Carolina for the winter. Read in the newspaper about 2 weeks ago that there is a new strain of noro going around that is very difficult to get rid of. It was in a North Carolina paper. The article said there is a lot of it going around the Carolina's.

A nightly Diamond Event was held in the VCL in October on the Jewel. Wine, champagne and soft drinks were free. Discount on other drinks. Hot and cold appetizers were available. We did a b2b and attendance at the nightly event was light. 40 diamonds on one trip and only about 12 -15 attended the event. About 100 on the other trip and about 25 -30 attended the event.

If you snorkel, a trip to snorkel at Buck Island National Park is a must. If not St. Croix is a good beach port. The island is very laid back and not as commercial as many of the others. There is some shopping but nothing compared to St. Thomas or St. Martin. There is a small fort on the island if you are into forts. Just a nice relaxing port but not a lot to do.

Bonine

Disposable rain poncho

Travel size lysol spray

Plastic sandwich bags to store cookies from WJ or other goodies you want to keep in your cabin.

We've had housekeeping supervisors inspect our room to see if it is being maintained properly several times.

Once the Hotel Director inspected our room. He said he did about 10 - 15 a day to be sure the rooms are in good order and that the guests are happy with the cabin and the room steward. He also asked if there was anything they could do better. He opened the closet doors but not the drawers or any other doors. The next day our room steward told us they would be doing some touch up painting in the bathroom and would be painting our balcony on the next port day.

Another time we had the Captain check our room. He said it was his ship and he wanted to be sure everything was in good shape. He didn't look in the drawers but gave the cabin and balcony a thorough going over. He spent about 10 minutes checking various things in the room and asked if we were satisfied.

I am pleased that RC employees care enough to check on the cabins.

We have received chocolate covered strawberries on every cruise since we became Diamond. Usually these arrived late afternoon of the first formal night. On two cruises, we also received chocolate covered cookies one night.

On our last 2 cruises, the sugar free key lime pie was replaced with a sugar free key lime flavored gelatin thing. It was terrible. What a disappointment.