gospelle

19 hours ago, ScottishRobbie said:

I had an overnight on Ovation in Port Vila last November. The last tender from shore left at midnight and started up again at 0630.

6 hours ago, wdwkings said:

Can confirm that the Quantum did not offer 24 hr/overnight tender operations on our overnight in Lahaina this spring.  Service stopped at Midnight and started back up at 6 am.     

Thanks to both above. Exactly what I was looking for!

On 10/19/2023 at 11:47 AM, pcur said:

The overnight tendered ports, and non-tendered, usually have operations going until at least midnight.  I seem to remember it was not available during the wee hours, but started up again 6-7 am.

 

It may be different now.

 

P.S. Loved Vanuatu.

P.S.S See if you can get over to Mystery Island; it's a tiny jewel.

Thanks, We will be visiting Mystery Island and Noumea in addition to Port Vila on this sailing.  Happy to get port advice from any who've been. 

Dec 12 Quantum of the Seas does an overnight port of call to Vila, Vanuatu, arriving 7am on Dec 15 departing 7pm on Dec 16.

For those who have had experience with any port of call serviced by a tender that overnighted (ideally in Vila, Vanuatu) I'd love to know how they do the tenders at night. Are they 24hrs and if not, what was the schedule like? 

has anyone actually received their refund? If so, how long did it take to finally arrive?

21 minutes ago, Lorey2007 said:

When does the health questionnaire become available on the app? Did you get an email to complete it?  

Just after noon the day prior to boarding. I believe the app notifies you. 

41 minutes ago, dijo said:

On the health questionnaire does that mean 14 days from when you were in contact with a person o r 14 days from when they tested positive. If they tested positive 5 days after you had contact when does the 14 days begin?

14 days starts 14 days prior to answering the question. If you had contact with them in that time and they subsequently tested positve (OR developed covid like symptoms), then that's it, you don't sail unless you lie.

On 12/27/2021 at 1:17 PM, Mapleleafforever said:

That's a long way to go to not board a ship, good for you for doing the right thing. And yeah you're right, would suck to test positive while on board. Any problems coming back to Canada or are you still in Florida?

It was Los Angeles where the ship was, and we were denied boarding via the app, just after noon the day prior to boarding, which happened to be just a few hours prior to our flight, so we were able to cancel the flights and didn't have to cross any borders.  Had we flown, we'd be stuck in LA as a PCR test would have been required to come back. 

21 hours ago, Mapleleafforever said:

What happens if you admit to having symptoms or been in close contact? Can't really lie about a test I think/hope. 

You're denied boarding. That's what happened to me. I had negative tests, minor symptoms and a close contact who had tested positive. Easily I could have lied and boarded. But I told the truth and was instantly denied boarding.

I tested positive for covid the following day.

So for all you currently on the Navigator, you're welcome. 🙂

in the end, i'm glad I did. Happier to be sick at home than quarantined in cabin or worse, disembarked in Mexico. 

Royal said i'd be refunded, so i'll cruise again soon enough.

Looks like we're a go!

1 minute ago, Bronx12 said:

As usual, I guess it depends on what information has been given the reps, unfortunate really. The rep I spoke to said that new information had just come out that day that I had called. Hopefully noone gets turned away from misinformation.

That would be unfortunate for several hundred thousand Canadians who have no choice but to do mixed doses, including my wife who is Diamond C&A.

18 minutes ago, Bronx12 said:

I called Royal Caribbean Thursday night to get an answer to this question because of their wording "fully vaccinated", I wanted a clear definition.  I was in the process of re-scheduling my husband's second dose to an earlier appointment and wanted to make sure what the requirement by Royal Caribbean was.

It was explained to me that "fully vaccinated" meant 2 doses of the same vaccine, example: Pfizer/Pfizer, Moderna/Moderna, etc.

If you mixed and matched, example: Pfizer/Moderna, Royal Caribbean was not considering that as "fully vaccinated", they are seeing it as 1 dose of 2 different vaccines, not 2 doses of 1 vaccine.

15 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

As I mentioned earlier in tje thread I did hear from my rep at Royal and the mixing doses is currently fine for Canadians as long as you’ve had 2 dates and it’s 24 days after your second dose. 

Seems like 2 contradictory statements here from 2 different people at Royal. 

22 hours ago, sept10dsm said:

Springstein is in NYC.  They state must be a US approved vaccine.  We'll see how that goes.  

Apparently Springsteen is now changed rules to be "WHO approved". So AstraZeneca now ok. Not clear on mixed doses.

2 hours ago, mrlevin said:

The USA government spent BILLIONS of dollars to facilitate the quick development of multiple vaccines through Operation Warp Speed.  How much did Canada spend for the development.  Of course we get first right to the vaccines that we, the American taxpayer, funded.  Yes, the pharmaceutical companies are going to make back multiples of BILLIONS, but it is nice to have big Pharma when you need it.

 

I don't care about cruising in Canada this year, I am heading to Manitoba (hopefully) in October.

 

Marc

 

PS In the spirit of full disclosure, the Canadian taxpayers paid for the icebreaker that we needed for three days whilst on the Silver Explorer seven years ago.  I am thankful for the Canadians for having provided that wonderful ship.

Pfizer was not part of Operation Warp Speed, yet they still were prohibited from shipping doses from USA. 

My point though has nothing to do with the merits of vaccine embargoes, but rather, why you would expect another country to open its cruise industry when only 18% of population is fully vaccinated when your own country wouldn't do that? That's my point.

19 hours ago, mrlevin said:

So, Trudeau extended the border closing again!  How is that Canadians can fly to USA to get on a cruise going to USA ports only whilst I am looking at having my Canadian vacation cancelled for the second year in a row!!!

 

This has gotten ridiculous!!!!!

For most of the year, USA vaccine manufacturers were prevented (by US Govt.) from delivering the doses purchased by Canada. This has only changed in the last couple weeks. For the previous 5 months Canada has had to source vaccines from European manufacturers. This led to a much slower vaccination campaign in Canada. 

Only about 18% of Canadians are currently fully vaccinated.  USA wasn't allowing any cruising when only 18% of its population was fully vaccinated so it's not really fair to expect Canada to do that.

Searching the rules around Seattle departures and vaccinations indicates passengers must be fully vaccinated from "authorized vaccine". USA has only authorized 3 vaccines, while Canada has authorized 4 (astrazeneca being the Canada-only one). To complicate things further, in Canada it's authorized to mix the vaccines (for example having AstraZeneca for 1st dose and Pfizer for 2nd dose) and that is considered "fully vaccinated" in Canada. 

So, when RCCL says "fully vaccinated from authorized vaccine" are they recognizing the above scenarios for Canadian passengers? Their website isn't clear and it would be a shame to book only to be denied boarding.

Finally received my FCC (it only took 4 months and 7 phone calls to get). I have another cruise already booked for February out of Singapore and that cruise is fully refundable as I paid extra for that option. If I apply my FCC to that cruise, what happens if I cancel the cruise later? Will the entire amount, including the FCC amount, be refunded or will that amount be held back? And, if it's held back, will it still have the original expiry date (currently end of April) or will it come back with a new expiry date?

just an update. I woke up this morning to find I had been upgraded on my original bid. I'm happy about that. Had I been trying to cancel or lower my bid yesterday when I couldn't and woke up to this, I'd be choked. 

For me though, all is well. I guess the "reviewing" the sailing means they're about to do some upgrading.

2 hours ago, brillohead said:

I would try again tomorrow.... when it's "under review" I think they take rooms out of inventory and assign guaranty rooms, etc.  There's probably something in the system that locks the program when they're doing that.

 

I'm hoping that's the case. I've asked the RoyalUp team for clarification as well.

I'm still wanting an upgrade so I don't mind but if I was wanting to cancel and they wouldn't let me, and then I ended up getting charged, I'd be right upset. 

34 minutes ago, TwizzlersAddict said:

Can you do a mock booking of the cruise, choosing any cabin?

yes. I keep doing that to see how many cabins are left so I know how to bid. they also just added a balcony guarantee option that wasn't there previously so it looks like they're still actively trying to sell out. (there are 31 balcony cabins left). 

3 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

If Royal is saying the sailing is "under review", I'd be concerned that they were going to cancel or re-route it.

Well I sure am concerned now.

So I went to modify my Royal up bid today and the webpage showed my current bid (pending), but did not have any buttons or anything that allowed me to cancel or modify the bid. 

I phoned Royal and asked about this. The agent on the phone logged in to the bid site as me and confirmed that the buttons for modification were missing. He said there was nothing he could do and gave me the email for the RoyalUp team.

I emailed them and received this response:

****

It is my pleasure to assist you with your question on your RoyalUp bid.

At this time, the sailing is under reviewed, and changes to bids cannot be made.

Thank you again for contacting Royal Caribbean. We look forward to seeing you on the Adventure of the Seas.

The Royal Caribbean International® RoyalUp® Team

royalup@rccl.com

****

My cruise is over 40 days away. The RoyalUp program seems to state quite clearly that I can cancel or modify my bid up to 2 days prior to the sailing. But here you see that the website doesn't allow me to do that, the agents on the phone won't let me do that, and the RoyalUp team says I can't change my bid. 

Does that sound right to anyone here? What am I supposed to do?

56 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

October 2019, Adventure of the Seas Quebec City to Ft. Lauderdale.  Got it.

 

By all means, go ahead and take your pot on board.  Enjoy your cruise, regardless of how short it might wind up being.  😉

Clearly you haven't read the entire thread, that's okay I often don't either. But let me refresh...

1. Cannabis is not illegal here in Canada. I'm boarding in Canada and going to Canadian ports, not entering USA until day 7. Nobody is going to arrest me for having cannabis at the port of embarkation even if I chose to bring it. (If there were a US Customs pre-clearance at any port, it would be clearly noted to remind passengers that cannabis was not allowed, in which case I'd have opportunity to toss it long before I ended up anywhere where it was illegal).

2. I've made it clear I don't intend to bring anything unless it were allowed under RCCL policy and I've made it clear I wouldn't bring it to USA. I'm not about to jeopardize my cruising and I'm not an idiot.

3. I've read the guest conduct policy, it does not reference cannabis.

4. Many industries that serve Canada have clear policies now that cannabis is legal here. Airlines and airport security for example allow possession of cannabis now (if you're travelling between Canadian airports, but it is not allowed if you are flying to or from another country). I am simply curious to know if it would be the same for my cruise ship between Canadian ports.

5. I'm not surprised some folks chose to belittle my quest for information and harass, some of that is typical with online stuff, but usually one can wade through that and get to an answer here because Cruise Critic has proven time and again over the 19 years I've been a member to repeatedly be faster at getting information than calling into the cruise lines. (not this time)

6. To head off the reply I know is coming... In 2002 Cruise Critic had a database failure and lost all of the posts and info on everyone so that's why it says "member since 2002", not because I'm high and don't know how to count to 19.

7. This will be my last post on this topic. If someone does in fact find a RCCL policy with regards to cannabis while cruising in Canada, please message me directly.

Happy Cruising everyone.

3 minutes ago, shopaholic6 said:

 

‘clearly I don't frequent the store enough to remember’ ..  AKA ‘clearly I was too stoned to remember ..’ 😂😂

No, it's because I don't buy a lot. Not since just after it was legalized here almost a year ago. 

8 minutes ago, shopaholic6 said:

Let’s just hope they do everyone a favour and take it - then hopefully get locked up! 😂😂

As I've said (repeatedly) I wouldn't take any cannabis on board without knowing the policy.  Maybe I should try and find out what it is. Oh, wait...

3 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

 

Are you sure you don’t enter international waters at any time between Canadian stops? That may complicate things. 

No, I'm not sure. I've never sailed this itinerary before. Usually you know because the casinos will stay closed if you don't. Someone who has been on a Canada cruise could let us know. 

2 minutes ago, 123funcruiser said:

 

To be honest all of yours.😲

Well, I'm not. Just looking for the policy and trying to respond to all the posts that are everything but.