tsundet

We cruised from Venice a week in october once. Venice was grey and gloomy with pouring rain. Actually some areas in town were flooded. Kotor was cancelled due to strong winds, making tendering impossible. Once we got to Athens and Crete we enjoyed sunshine and warm weather.

Hope this helps? :)

1 hour ago, FionaMG said:

 

I don't think the fact of Harmony being moved across to Europe can be used as an indicator of her Med season going ahead because she has to come over to Europe this year anyway for her five-year dry dock. 

 

As far as passenger origin is concerned, the Oasis class ships always attract a large number of bookings from European cruisers so I think the European cohort on Harmony would be substantial enough to compensate for there not being many (or any) Americans on board, especially since ships are likely to be sailing at reduced capacity.

 

A better indicator for you would be to see whether or not actual cruises are happening in June and July, just prior to your final payment date. 

ah. Didn't know about the drydock. But feeling more optimistic regarding the european cohort. It'll surely be the largest cohort I've been part of since march last year! 🙂

Crossing fingers! A lot can happen before october.
 

we have a 7 night med cruise with Harmony OTS in october. As mentioned earlier in this thread, we'll get a pretty good idea whether it'll happen or not in May if they actually move the ship across to Europe.

The latest official info from Spain is that they intend to open up for tourism this summer. But as we know that can change... 

Now, Carnival has already cancelled their only (?) ship in the mediterranean for the entire '21 season. I believe I read somewhere it's because the majority of the passengers coming from the USA, and at this point there's simply too much uncertainty whether they'll be able to show up for their cruise in Europe.... 

3 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

 

Not completely accurate. 

You’re right. But it’s close to accurate. one can now travel between several european countries. Even quarantine free. But there are some exceptions.

3 minutes ago, MADflyer said:

What I am reading has a little more of a positive twist on the situation. 

 

They state all passengers had to register mobile numbers and that text went out to all passengers from the 17th and 24th of July sailings. 

 

Seems contact tracing has worked very well for Norway and 69 community health offices around country have been activated. 

Then you have the very latest news 🙂  i'm not going to argue with that 🙂 

I also read now that the FHI advice never reached the appropriate decision makers. Of course a lot of speculation and all I can do is to get my information from the newspapers. To me it seems that if the protocols and routine had worked as they were supposed to, this would have looked better.

Just now, livingonthebeach said:

 

I wonder if FHI had not advised them if they would have, on their own, been transparent about the situation. 

 

Were all the passengers Norwegian?  Some of these experimental cruises are limiting the nationalities of passengers. For those that have to quarantine outside of their countries, it presents another set of problems.  

who knows. It's a bit unclear to me, but seems they made their own assessments and deemed it unnecessary.

On their website, Hurtigruten has listed contact numbers in Norway, Germany, UK, US and France for affected customers (present and future cruises I guess) My guess that's got something to do with the passengers nationalities.

Other than that, Europe's been open for quarantine free travel for some weeks. In theory the passengers could be from all over... 

9 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

Has your version of our CDC made any statements?  Are future cruises cancelled for Hurtigruten?  We all had high hopes...so sad this has happened. 

FHI (in Norway) advised Hurtigruten to notify passengers who disembarked on the 24th after a passenger on this cruise tested positive. This was not done, for reasons unknown to me. Hurtigruten pretty much lies down flat now and works closely with the authorities tracing the infection. Still a few passengers they can't reach though... 

Next cruise not planned until September. Don't know if this was already scheduled, or a result of the latest events.... 

Ship let passengers off, due to a chain of bad judgement (my opinion); eg. failure to comply with advice from our 'cdc'. Nevertheless the general concent in Norway is of critisism towards how Hurtigruten has handled this. With proper protocols and commitment to follow these, the situation might have been under control.

In hindsight and all that..... 🙂

for what it's worth it's a good learning experience. Hope Royal takes notes.
Good thing it was a small ship, with app. one tenth of an Oasis class capacity.
That's a lot of quarantine hotel rooms.... 

Summer is officially from June-August. Having said that, there's absolutely unpredictability in the weather. Also this year the weather is more unpredictable than ever. Strong winds and cancelled ferry service to continental europe in the south as late as beginning of July. In general it's been grey and gloomy most of July all over the country. In June we were blessed with sun, and dry weather with temperatures up to 30 + (celcius) -  (with forest fires even some places).

If you want to experience the midnight sun, be sure to plan a trip to northern norway during summer.
 

passenger points to whatever he/she wants, and a staff member puts it on your plate.

Here in Norway normal buffets will be allowed from July 15th. Interesting to see if the Color Line cruise ferry will follow suit. Hurtigruten doesn't offer buffets as far as I know... 

3 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Please list out the companies names and ships and how many passengers each ships holds to back up your info?

I can help with Norway:

Color Line started their Oslo - Kiel cruises last month. Ships sail with reduced capacity (normally app. 3000 pax) - no buffets, floor markings, no ordering at the bar counter and so on. Passengers are for the time being not allowed ashore in Kiel.
Hurtigruten coastal voyage is also operating, to my guess under the same conditions as Color Line.

The cruise ferries between Norway and Germany started operating again just yesterday (June 17) with their two night return trip cruise. They're sailing with reduced capacity, no buffets, floor distancing stickers, no ordering at counters - only serving drinks and food at the table, and you're not allowed ashore while in Germany. 

capt. Johnny on Harmony signed off on March 14th according to his twitter. Due back May 24th.

19 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Yes

Deck 8 port hump 😍

34 minutes ago, Tee & Chilli said:

Seems young for kindergarten.

Yes. He started kindergarten two months after this cruise.

5 hours ago, JohnnyThinwallet said:

This is greatly appreciated!! We are in the process of planning our 1st cruise with our infant, and our little one will be about 15 months old at the time of the sailing.  This really helped us visualize what our experience is going to be like at the time of our trip.  Thanks so much for sharing!

 

Also, any tips for parents traveling with a child of that age on RCCL?  Did you bring your own pack & play, or did you use a crib provided by RCCL?  Also, did you use the nursery for babysitting at all?   What did you learn that you wish you knew in advance?  Any insight would be helpful!

We didn’t use the crib provided and rather had him between us in bed. Road of less restistance.... we also tried the babysitting, for a few hours, but it didn’t work very well as he’ not used to being babysat by others than his grandparents. Since our cruise he’s started kindergarden, thinking that should make a difference in that respect. We’ll try again on our next cruise :) Nursery staff was very friendly and professional tho. He just wasn’t prepared to be left with them. 

we took way too much clothes for him. Guess we prepared for any eventualities, but in the end he used only a fraction of what we brought.... 

Hi everyone,

I've put together a few videoclips of our 9 night cruise on Anthem with our then 15 m/o son,
if anyone's interested to see the open play area in adventure ocean, splash pool etc. to satisfy some curiosity 🙂
 

Been on Voyager, Freedom, Vision, Quantum and Anthem, and although they're 'all favourites', I do have a thing for Voyager; maybe because she was our first cruise in 2010, but I do appreciate the layout and the esthetics of the Voyager and Freedom classes. Spacious, open decks, wrap-around promenade, helipad access, the large hot-tub in the gym, (replaced by a boxing ring on Freedom; has anyone seen this in use?) free saunas, and the 'yacht-like' lines of the exterior (in my opinion being ruined by the latest add-ons; waterslides and more cabins on top of the gym). Always somewhere to go and just sit, if that's what you want; aquarium bar, boleros, champagne bar, viking crown.... old egyptian art, statues, columns, the consistent 'las vegas - feel' to your surroundings.

Quantum and Anthem are both spectacular ships, and I've enjoyed myself on both (and looking forward to another cruise on Anthem in 2019). But they feel more crowded. Perhaps due to the layout, or the dynamic/my time dining, where you lose the crowd management benefits of having half of the ship eat at the same time as with traditional dining? Having said that I've had a ball on Quantum and Anthem; Two70 is an attraction itself, and I could have made the solarium my home. Or Vintages. And Starwater might be the most impressive stageshow i've ever seen on a cruise ship (or maybe even on land!)

But I do miss good old Voyager :)

anyway - some musings there. :)

thx :)

We’re on next April, expecting the cruise of a lifetime!

May I ask how the US immigration procedures was handled at Hawaii? Did the officers enter the ship before arriving Honolulu?

Or were you processed as you disembarked? Reason I’m asking is because of excursion planning, and fear that a possible lengthy process could delay our private excursion.

Thank you :)

Merion_Mom: thank you for your reply!

carry-on it is, then :)

Hello fellow cruisers,

plan is: take a bottle of vodka on a transatlantic cruise from US to Europe.

My intention is to take the bottle home with me (it's a collectors item, available only for purchase in the US), and not drinking it on the ship.

The crew may keep the bottle away from me during the cruise, as long as I can have it back at the end.

Can this be done? When would be the right time to "tell them"? At the security screening at the terminal? Will they even let the bottle onboard?

Thank you for any and all information :)

I don't remember the exact time spent, but you should be well on your way before dinner. We attended the sail-away party, and climbed the rock wall before our 5.30 dinner :)

We were on FOS in November and had them (towel animals) two of the seven nights.

The Christmas tree went up during our sailing right outside our window.

 

Sent from my HTC One using Forums mobile app

did you help with putting the star on the top from your window? :)

thank you for replying, everyone!