Anthem News Flash

[JaneStarr]

14 minutes ago, toad455 said:

Are they giving the option to cancel with a refund at this point? 

Per the 6pm update,

”...All guests who are denied boarding due to these restrictions will receive full refunds....” From here: 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/anthem-of-the-seas-updates

[ThursdaysChild]

9 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

They are refunding two days.

Merion Mom, are you doing a back to back? Or trying to?

 

 

[PortFees45]

Just now, JaneStarr said:

Per the 6pm update,

”...All guests who are denied boarding due to these restrictions will receive full refunds....” From here: 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/anthem-of-the-seas-updates

I don't understand this. Say you've had respiratory symptoms and have a note from a doctor advising you not to sail. Would you have to show up with it to the cruise terminal to get that refund, or could you get a refund from RCL without having to actually go to the terminal. 

[JaneStarr]

Just now, PortFees45 said:

I don't understand this. Say you've had respiratory symptoms and have a note from a doctor advising you not to sail. Would you have to show up with it to the cruise terminal to get that refund, or could you get a refund from RCL without having to actually go to the terminal. 

You need to click on the link and read the restrictions referred to in the excerpt I quoted.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/anthem-of-the-seas-updates

[Merion_Mom]

Would you like to hear a story?

 

A funny/not funny story?

 

Ok, so I started this thread to get away from the labyrinth of the other one, since this one is about the here and now.

 

I boarded the Anthem on January 5, and took three 11 night cruises.  So when I got off today, I had been on board for a little longer than a month.

 

Because my cruise was so long, I did what I usually do:  I called Dave's Best Limo, a Philadelphia-based shuttle service, to take me to Cape Liberty on January 5 and pick me up today.

 

While we "waste" a lot of (my) time driving around picking up or dropping off other people, I am certainly not going to pay 33 x $25 to drive myself and park in the garage.  (Don't even do the math; you'll puke).  And I have to wait until they get there to pick me up, and that time can vary A LOT.  They come up with a load of new passengers, drop them off and pull up to Zone 9 to pick up us, the departing passengers.    When I called at 7:30, I was told that the van would be there at 9:30.  I was standing outside at 9:15 in a cold drizzle, with nowhere to sit and only a small canopy to huddle under.  The driver actually pulled up at 10:20.

 

I learned about the new passengers being sent away by our shuttle driver.  He said, "I just dropped six people off with their luggage, and the porters told them they couldn't take their bags; they were being sent away."  (we didn't really care about them, but he said that Dave's would send another driver to pick them up if they wanted to go home; they probably got an Uber to a hotel once that was announced)

 

So that's how and when I knew about the delay.

 

The driver told us that we had a person already in the van, and we had to take him to JFK!  And we were picking up someone there!

 

Now, if you know your geography, you know that JFK is far away and in the opposite direction from Philadelphia.  But it's a shared van service, and this is the risk you take, although it has NEVER happened to me before, and I use them a lot.

 

So..............indeed, it added about two hours to our transit time.  I didn't get home until almost 2:30.

 

But that's not the funny/not funny story.

 

So, here we are, just disembarked from a ship with a potential case of novel coronavirus, and the news media are freaking out, and every one on Cruise Critic is freaking out, and everyone on Facebook is freaking out.  My son-in-law the TV news reporter texts me and asks if I know anything, and if I want to be interviewed on TV!  (HA! NO!)

 

We drive to JFK, drop the guy off at one terminal, drive around, and pick up a woman at a different terminal.  I veg out in the back of the van, starting this thread and generally checking out social media, texting with my son, etc.

 

At one point, the other couple in the van who had also been on the January 27 cruise, asked the woman where she was returning from.

 

Her answer?

 

"Oh, I was in China for three weeks."

 

And there you have it.

 

 

 

 

[PortFees45]

3 minutes ago, JaneStarr said:

You need to click on the link and read the restrictions referred to in the excerpt I quoted.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/anthem-of-the-seas-updates

I did, thanks. 

 

This is the restriction my question was in reference to:

 

"b. Guests who report feeling unwell or demonstrate any flu-like symptoms."

 

So you show up at the terminal, say you feel like you've go the flu, and boom full refund? 

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

Her answer?

 

"Oh, I was in China for three weeks."

 

And there you have it.

China is pretty big and unless they were in Wuhan they'd probably be safe.

 

Biker, who wonders if they planned to self quarantine. 

[Ocean Boy]

22 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

I think that if you took a poll, far more people would choose CocoCay over Nassau than vice versa.

I guess I've never been a go along with the crowd type of person.

[Merion_Mom]

3 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

China is pretty big and unless they were in Wuhan they'd probably be safe.

 

Biker, who wonders if they planned to self quarantine. 

 

Well, RC (and other lines) are refusing anyone who has been in China, or been with anyone from China, or been through Hong Kong, etc etc etc.

[JaneStarr]

11 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

At one point, the other couple in the van who had also been on the January 27 cruise, asked the woman where she was returning from.

 

Her answer?

 

"Oh, I was in China for three weeks."

 

And there you have it.

 

Yikes, Carol!  Hope you don’t have any cruises booked within the next 15 days.

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by JaneStarr

[TNcruising02]

Merion_Mom, wow!  You just can't seem to escape it.

[Another_Critic]

10 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

I did, thanks. 

 

This is the restriction my question was in reference to:

 

"b. Guests who report feeling unwell or demonstrate any flu-like symptoms."

 

So you show up at the terminal, say you feel like you've go the flu, and boom full refund? 

 

I have a feeling there's going to be a large amount of people not feeling well tomorrow.

[voyager70]

Not scaring me off.  I'm on AD in couple weeks no worries.

 

 

[Another_Critic]

4 minutes ago, JaneStarr said:

Yikes, Carol!  Hope you don’t have any cruises booked within the next 15 days.

 

Yes, she does (assuming she hasn't canceled).  And I'm on the same cruise.  😲

[PortFees45]

1 minute ago, Another_Critic said:

 

I have a feeling there's going to be a large amount of people not feeling well tomorrow.

But for people that genuinely are feeling ill, wouldn't Royal NOT want them showing up to the terminal? So long as they have medical documentation, I'd think they would rather refund you without your having to go to the terminal, possibly sicken more passengers, and make this snowballing situation worse. 

[sndral]

10 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

Would you like to hear a story?

 

A funny/not funny story?

 

Ok, so I started this thread to get away from the labyrinth of the other one, since this one is about the here and now.

 

I boarded the Anthem on January 5, and took three 11 night cruises.  So when I got off today, I had been on board for a little longer than a month.

 

Because my cruise was so long, I did what I usually do:  I called Dave's Best Limo, a Philadelphia-based shuttle service, to take me to Cape Liberty on January 5 and pick me up today.

 

While we "waste" a lot of (my) time driving around picking up or dropping off other people, I am certainly not going to pay 33 x $25 to drive myself and park in the garage.  (Don't even do the math; you'll puke).  And I have to wait until they get there to pick me up, and that time can vary A LOT.  They come up with a load of new passengers, drop them off and pull up to Zone 9 to pick up us, the departing passengers.    When I called at 7:30, I was told that the van would be there at 9:30.  I was standing outside at 9:15 in a cold drizzle, with nowhere to sit and only a small canopy to huddle under.  The driver actually pulled up at 10:20.

 

I learned about the new passengers being sent away by our shuttle driver.  He said, "I just dropped six people off with their luggage, and the porters told them they couldn't take their bags; they were being sent away."  (we didn't really care about them, but he said that Dave's would send another driver to pick them up if they wanted to go home; they probably got an Uber to a hotel once that was announced)

 

So that's how and when I knew about the delay.

 

The driver told us that we had a person already in the van, and we had to take him to JFK!  And we were picking up someone there!

 

Now, if you know your geography, you know that JFK is far away and in the opposite direction from Philadelphia.  But it's a shared van service, and this is the risk you take, although it has NEVER happened to me before, and I use them a lot.

 

So..............indeed, it added about two hours to our transit time.  I didn't get home until almost 2:30.

 

But that's not the funny/not funny story.

 

So, here we are, just disembarked from a ship with a potential case of novel coronavirus, and the news media are freaking out, and every one on Cruise Critic is freaking out, and everyone on Facebook is freaking out.  My son-in-law the TV news reporter texts me and asks if I know anything, and if I want to be interviewed on TV!  (HA! NO!)

 

We drive to JFK, drop the guy off at one terminal, drive around, and pick up a woman at a different terminal.  I veg out in the back of the van, starting this thread and generally checking out social media, texting with my son, etc.

 

At one point, the other couple in the van who had also been on the January 27 cruise, asked the woman where she was returning from.

 

Her answer?

 

"Oh, I was in China for three weeks."

 

And there you have it.

 

 

 

 

Hope you don’t have any cruises planned for the next 15 days since you now are in the banned from cruising category of having been in ‘close’ contact w/ a person who’s been to China, Hong Kong, or Macau ...unless it was a very large van?

[JaneStarr]

2 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

But for people that genuinely are feeling ill, wouldn't Royal NOT want them showing up to the terminal? So long as they have medical documentation, I'd think they would rather refund you without your having to go to the terminal, possibly sicken more passengers, and make this snowballing situation worse. 

That would seem logical to me, but who knows how this will be implemented

[livylotte]

Wow Merion_Mom glad you got off the ship - that taxi sounds a bit worrying. But despite the risk I think the best place to hibernate away from the rest of the world is at home - and not locked in your cabin on a cruise ship.  

[Another_Critic]

2 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

But for people that genuinely are feeling ill, wouldn't Royal NOT want them showing up to the terminal? So long as they have medical documentation, I'd think they would rather refund you without your having to go to the terminal, possibly sicken more passengers, and make this snowballing situation worse. 

 

You would think so, for the truly sick.  But is that going to prevent the "I changed my mind" people from showing up and not feeling well?

[PortFees45]

Just now, Another_Critic said:

 

You would think so, for the truly sick.  But is that going to prevent the "I changed my mind" people from showing up and not feeling well?

So if someone says "I had a fever of 103 last night and I feel like hell" - is someone at the Terminal really going to say, "Shut up, faker. Get on the ship and go hit the buffet!" 

 

They should just cancel the dang cruise. The revenue from one dinky little Bahamas sailing is a drop in the bucket for this company. 

[JaneStarr]

4 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

 

Yes, she does (assuming she hasn't canceled).  And I'm on the same cruise.  😲

We *almost* got to meet on her first Royal Caribbean Cruise, but it was ill-fated. There was some sort of airline employee (baggage handlers??) strike out of Philadelphia, so Carol’s family missed that cruise. Believe it was a PVSA issue that precluded them boarding at our first port: Key West (if I recall correctly).

[kathy49]

4 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

So if someone says "I had a fever of 103 last night and I feel like hell" - is someone at the Terminal really going to say, "Shut up, faker. Get on the ship and go hit the buffet!" 

 

They should just cancel the dang cruise. The revenue from one dinky little Bahamas sailing is a drop in the bucket for this company. 

At this point I agree just cancel.  I mean 2 days shot of a 7 night cruise and who knows what tomorrow brings. Enough I would tell them I don't feel good. Not coming.

[bjlaac]

51 minutes ago, yogimax said:

I don't think they're giving us the full story here.  Is it delayed until 5PM because they need more time for cleaning or because they are waiting for the last results of testing?

 

Not that I will miss Nassau, but isn't it interesting they didn't cancel Coco Cay, their biggest profit driver?

We would choose Nassau over coco cay any day of the week.  Totally pissed.  Wish they would give the option of not going at all and we would cancel.  This is not just a change in destinations but a fundamental change in cruise.  This is turning into a 5 1/2 day cruise out of the cold NY area which no one in their right mind would book if it were offered.

Edited February 8, 2020 by bjlaac

[Another_Critic]

8 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

So if someone says "I had a fever of 103 last night and I feel like hell" - is someone at the Terminal really going to say, "Shut up, faker. Get on the ship and go hit the buffet!" 

 

They should just cancel the dang cruise. The revenue from one dinky little Bahamas sailing is a drop in the bucket for this company. 

 

I was more questioning how many people will say they're not feeling well because they decided they don't want to go on the shortened cruise.

 

They should either cancel the cruise or give EVERYONE the option to cancel and receive a FCC.  The people that are denied boarding by RCI should receive FULL REFUND.

Edited February 8, 2020 by Another_Critic

[toxicfairy]

7 hours ago, suesnake2002 said:

Sorry sour grapes here. I feel RCCL is very slow to give out any information. Before I am blasted let me give examples. Hurricane to hit galveston area, and day before hurricane RCCL says yes we are still sailing. Come or loose your money. Then cruise is cancelled. I was on grandeur Nov cruise affected by weather. Someone getting married on cruise knew itinary and change days before everyone else thru rccl wedding planner. We did not recieve anything til morning of boarding. These are just 2 examples of slow communication. Royal does not give us enough time to make alternate plans. 

They knew they had sick passenger's way before they docked. They should have had an aggressive plan in place before docking. I believe the $ comes before the passengers and the inconviences they cause. 

Unfortunately we were there for the Harvey fiasco. Stranded for 5 days in a hotel trying to find money to keep paying for hotel and meals we had no way of knowing we would need. 

However that seems like nothing compared to this