MommaBear55

13 hours ago, MJSailors said:

@pcur Thank you for your kind and insightful response.

We have taken close to 20 cruises

beginning in 1987 on the Big Red Boat.

Our last cruise was June of 2024 on Celebrity Summit. We had stopped cruising during the years of Covid, but decided to take a chance and take a trip to Bermuda.

I contracted Covid on that cruise. I had intestinal symptoms that resolved in two days.Fatigue remained when we got home,so, I took  a Covid test and was positive.

It took me two weeks to fully recover.

We would like to take another cruise, but we are a bit leery about getting on another ship.

My DH is concerned about Covid given our ages and health conditions. I would be willing to take another cruise, but he has to have a positive outlook before we consider booking another one.

Today, he was looking for info regarding health situations on cruises and thought that mask mandates were back.

I did not have the same thought, hence the “discussion”.

MJ🙋🏻‍♀️

I certainly understand the concerns about getting sick. Our last cruise I got bronchitis and my husband got pneumonia, which he took almost 3 months to recover from. We, personally, choose to wear masks inside crowded areas as we are tired of others not covering up and making us sick. So far, we've gone 5 months without catching anything additional. That's a long time for us! Better for us to mask than give up traveling.  

My DH and I agree that the MDR has really decreased in quality over the last 10 years. We generally do an ultimate dining package unless we have multiple port days. We just went to our first all inclusive resort and the food was far superior to Royal Caribbean's.

At 70, I must still be a kid because I like the Effectors, I find the technology fascinating. I'd much rather go to that then anything resembling the Temptations or the Rat Pack

On 4/13/2024 at 12:44 AM, S.A.M.J.R. said:

The issue is flying from San Juan back to the US.  So, I went here: https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-980?language=en_US

 

The Department of State issues U.S. passports to traveling U.S. citizens. The passport allows you access to U.S. consular services and assistance while abroad. U.S. Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR's) who travel directly from U.S. territories to the United States, which include American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands without touching at a foreign port or place, are not required to present a valid U.S. Passport or U.S. Green Card. 

 

I read that as a passport isn't even required.  If the passport isn't required, then the six month "recommendation" doesn't matter.  This is assuming they're US citizens of course.  

Cruise ships don't travel directly when doing a repositioning.

It's a great port to stay on the ship. Our one Royal Caribbean sponsored tour was so bad we got 40% back and we certainly didn't feel safe at the "private beach club" this tour took us to. 

I usually like articles in the Atlantic. The hyperbole and disdain in this article make it better suited for the National Enquirer or twitter. And in no way is 51 old. 

11 minutes ago, El Cano said:

We bought a Cruise to Labadee for 4 nights. My older brother, wife and two daughters bought the same package because we told them how awesome our experience in our three previous cruises with Royal were. Now, because of the political situation in Haiti, Royal decided to send us instead to Nassau, Bahamas. Without asking us if we were ok with that. We wanted to go to Labadee because we had such a great time at Coco Cay and thought that this was going to be similar. When we called to try to change it, because we don't want to go to Bahamas, now they say that if we do that, we will lose 75% of our money. Not even the regular $100 they charge to change a cruise. The situation in Bahamas is also a little hot with crimes against the tourists and we chose some other type of cruise. We don't want to go there. All we wanted to do was to relax in a beach and spend the day. It is funny that they decided to change our cruise to their convenience just after we finish paying the whole amount. The least they could do was to give us a choice without losing our money. It is not our fault that Haiti is going through that situation, and we know that Royal Caribbean cannot control that, but the least we should have a chance to reschedule or just pick another cruise like one of the many Royal have that go to Coco Cay. That was the kind of tourism we had in mind.  Not going to Bahamas again.

Try reading the cruise contract you signed. You are not entitled to any recompense.

56 minutes ago, mscinmia said:

I would like to add to the above that if you plan on getting off in ports, make sure you have the required permits especially for the Bahamas/CoCo Cay.  

I remember several years ago someone outlining all the work and cost of making sure her service dog had all the appropriate vaccinations in the correct time frame as well as the paperwork for each island. I know there was one she chose to miss because of the onerous requirements.

6 hours ago, dmwnc1959 said:

People do this all the time. Quite literally, all the time. On tons of different itineraries all over the world. People have even died doing non-cruise sponsored excursions.
 

Maybe instead of abandoning his passengers, the captain and the cruise line could’ve fined the passengers, or removed them at the next board of call, or done something other than leaving them behind on an island to then be forced to transit 7 more mid-African countries to catch up with a ship.
 

There absolutely has to be circumstances where the cruise line has to put the safety of those passengers first, regardless. Oh, wait, they had the shareholders to think of. 

Sure, I've done independent excursions on some Caribbean islands, in Mexico, in New Zealand and in Europe. I wouldn't do it in an area that has limited transportation options or where I didn't speak the language. 

The Captain did not abandon his passengers, he took care of the thousands that returned on time. 

3 hours ago, www3traveler said:

The Dawn is NOT in Gambia, She is in Daktar, Senegal.

Odd then that the passengers said they were in Gambia waiting to get on the ship. Hope they are in the right place and just misspoke. 

18 hours ago, Baron Barracuda said:

At least these folks were stranded in the Caribbean.  Norwegian recently left 9 people behind in Angola.  Were on a late returning non-ships tour.   Tour operator said they notified ship but when they returned despite ship still being tied up at pier captain wouldn't allow them to board.  When Angolan Coast Guard later tried to ferry them to ship they were turned away.

 

https://www.wral.com/story/south-carolina-couple-stranded-in-africa-cruise-ship-left-without-them/21357016/

They are making the rounds of the major news networks this am. The Today show made it seem like it was all NCL's fault, and the two people interviewed took no personal responsibility. 

6 minutes ago, Oakman58 said:

Knowing how I am, if this happened to me, when I rejoined the ship, I would give the Captain some grief every time I saw him. "Thanks for leaving me behind without my medications Captain, I almost died." "Thank for leaving me in a 3rd World country Captain that didn't accept my credit cards."  Knowing my personality, I would probably push the issue until I ended up in the brig.

But would you have risked returning late by taking a non cruise sponsored excursion? 

Two of the passengers were just on Today Show and they basically said NCL abandoned them, they took no responsibility for missing the ship. They've flown through 7 countries over the last 48 hours to get to Gambia where the ship is, but now they aren't sure they'll board the ship today due to lack of trust. Sadly, the interviewers were playing into this and making NCL look like they were at fault.

8 hours ago, bluewater1298 said:

I'm not saying this will happen for you, but the last two cruises I booked with Royal, which were GTY rooms, they assigned my room number in just a few day after booking. One cruise was over 300 days out. As soon as you get your room assignment, you can call and change your room number to any available in that category. What I do is a mock booking to see what rooms are available in my category and then call and ask them to switch my room to the one I prefer. 

If you're LUCKY and get your rooms assigned quickly, you may be able to find a room that is available on both cruises and have them switched. But that's still a big IF. Hope it works out for you!

We've found since they've started the Royal Up program, we don't get our GTY cabin assigned until we've checked in. 

7 hours ago, Etta1213 said:

I agree, not fair. Should be based on a person's fitness.

Who could possibly evaluate someone's fitness? That would be a huge liability and could really open up a company to a law suit. 

We certainly aren't happy about the age restrictions, we had just biked across Austria but were denied an excursion to bike around a city. We are certified divers but couldn't take a snorkel trip. We work out at a high level and ski black diamond runs.  To look at us, no one would think we were in good shape. If you looked at our medication lists, you'd think we had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. We just find alternate activities rather than try to fight the age restrictions.

1 hour ago, fla33023 said:

We skipped Labadee and went to Grand Turk and didn't receive any port fees back. I would guess that's because something had to be paid to Carnival?

Not sure about carnival, but they had to pay Grand Turk 

9 hours ago, Biker19 said:

The future 2026-27 deployment thread will have that.

Will the Australia release next week have the transpacific in April 2026?

On 3/22/2024 at 4:53 AM, travelberlin said:

We do not use hot tubs. However we use the swimming pool to do our routine swimming. It is annoying to have in the pools groups of usually big people just standing there talking for hours. We heard one passenger calling the pools in ships “hippo pools”. Those of us who just want to swim are not able to do it. Some of those standing passengers just won’t move and look to swimmers as if they are invading their own pool. I guess the swimming pools are also not free of germs because of these practice of standing for hours on the pools, using them as if it were another hot tub. 

I always find it curious that people try to swim laps with so many other people in the pool, it seem like it would be a frustrating endeavor. I feel the same way about people who try to run laps when there are so many people out and about. I know I tend to do activity early in the am before many people are around. 

On 3/19/2024 at 6:47 PM, toxicfairy said:

I don't understand why non smokers have to be so mean when answering.  I don't smoke and I have asthma but that doesn't give me the right to be mean or judge what others enjoy. I don't drink but I don't complain about the drunk people. 

When I was young smoking was done in hospitals, restaurants and every where in between. Just be glad it's not like that anymore. 

To the OP just find the designated areas and stay away from grumpy people.

Other people's drinking habits will not cause me to have an asthma attack. Other people's smoking will.

On 3/19/2024 at 10:47 PM, sdear said:

So does the perfume and aftershave that people bathe themselves in daily.   Those fumes are just as detrimental to people with lung conditions as smoking is!   

 

Actually the damage of second hand perfume in no way resembles the dangers of second hand smoke. 

And try to get a cabin near the elevators.

Your TA can take care of that for you if there's is still availability. If there's no availability, go to the maitre D as soon as you board to see if the can make that change for you. 

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

WJ will have lots of free french fries. Not onion rings. 

 

I'm looking forward to mariner who has play makers onion ring tower. Not free. Those days seem gone. 

And when we had the onion ring tower on playmakers, the center was undercooked and the batter was still runny. Yes, we could have sent them back, but we were too full after the fries and burgers to want to bother.

You can make any changes you want up to 72 hours before sailing, with the caveat that one person from the original reservation must remain in that room and the number of people total in each room must remain constant. Having said that, once you get on board nobody cares who sleeps where so you can do whatever you want at that point. The real impact is on the room charges. I don't know of a way of contacting anybody to get the room dividers open before you actually board. You can just ask your cabin attendant the first day when you see them.

I love the lamb both in Chops and in Jamie's, I like the presentation slightly better in Jamie's.