Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How are things where YOU are?

[CCHelp]

Greetings, Royal Caribbean Cruisers ~ If an effort to give our members a place where we can discuss how things are where YOU are related to the Coronavirus, hosts are starting these threads so we can chat during the crisis. Let's talk about creative ways our families and neighbors are coping and helping one another out; share ideas for parents who are at home 24/7 with their school age children; you get the idea.....  Our only request is that we AVOID turning this into a political or health debate thread.  This is a stressful time for everyone.  Let's practice some kindness and make Cruise Critic a place members want to visit in this difficult time.

[Mallefiscent]

I don't know if we are allowed to put links on this discussion board or not, but mystery science has free science lessons online for K-5th grade. 

[Mallefiscent]

Hopefully links are allowed, because there's way too much information on this sheet to type out. 

 

http://www.amazingeducationalresources.com/

[emeraldcity]

Here in Ohio, we are under a stay-at-home order. I'm ahead of the curve since I returned from Spain 9 days ago after the Allure TA and I've been self quarantined.

 

I created a schedule for myself to give my day structure. It includes some household tasks, an exercise routine and some creative time (generally sewing or embroidery). Interspersed with that I play some silly computer games or work suduko puzzles. Since my goal is to give myself a sense of accomplishment, I am working through a list of "someday I'm going to get around to doing that" tasks.

 

I chat with family and friends every day either by text or old-fashioned phone call as my social interaction. 

 

I focus on being grateful that I continue to be healthy, and I have my home with clean running water, electricity and heat, suitable groceries and 4 more rolls of toilet paper. 🙂

 

Stay safe and healthy everyone.

 

[Speedbird01]

19 hours ago, Mallefiscent said:

Hopefully links are allowed, because there's way too much information on this sheet to type out. 

 

http://www.amazingeducationalresources.com/

What a great link, thank you, i started to go through the list and so far have not got past the first one with the museum links 😀 it could take me a while to get through...

How am I?, currently under Lockdown Lite in the UK but feeling much better now that RC have reconsidered their April sailings which we were due to be on so i don't have to make any decisions and we'll now get the 125% FFC.

The sun is shinning here so all is good.

Keep smiling, be safe and remember it will soon enough be in the past.

[lanedog]

Symphony seas March 7 2020 sailing got letter from royal Caribbean saying someone on our sailing has coronavirus anyone have any further info in this?

[DesertRose711]

We were on Symphony of the Seas March 7th and received the same letter. Not very helpful since we are back almost two weeks. We have been sheltering in place for the last week, but my husband and I were in the office a few days last week.

[Mallefiscent]

22 hours ago, emeraldcity said:

Here in Ohio, we are under a stay-at-home order. I'm ahead of the curve since I returned from Spain 9 days ago after the Allure TA and I've been self quarantined.

 

I created a schedule for myself to give my day structure. It includes some household tasks, an exercise routine and some creative time (generally sewing or embroidery). Interspersed with that I play some silly computer games or work suduko puzzles. Since my goal is to give myself a sense of accomplishment, I am working through a list of "someday I'm going to get around to doing that" tasks.

 

I chat with family and friends every day either by text or old-fashioned phone call as my social interaction. 

 

I focus on being grateful that I continue to be healthy, and I have my home with clean running water, electricity and heat, suitable groceries and 4 more rolls of toilet paper. 🙂

 

Stay safe and healthy everyone.

 

 

If you need things to sew, there is a pattern for face masks for healthcare providers going around that includes a pocket to put filter material in.  I am sure the healthcare staff in your area would appreciate some if you feel so inclined.  If you have a Joann's fabric store near you, they are giving away free kits with fabric in them to make the masks.  

 

I wish I had learned the fine art of sewing.  

[erros]

On 3/25/2020 at 2:38 AM, emeraldcity said:

Here in Ohio, we are under a stay-at-home order. I'm ahead of the curve since I returned from Spain 9 days ago after the Allure TA and I've been self quarantined.

 

I created a schedule for myself to give my day structure. It includes some household tasks, an exercise routine and some creative time (generally sewing or embroidery). Interspersed with that I play some silly computer games or work suduko puzzles. Since my goal is to give myself a sense of accomplishment, I am working through a list of "someday I'm going to get around to doing that" tasks.

 

I chat with family and friends every day either by text or old-fashioned phone call as my social interaction. 

 

I focus on being grateful that I continue to be healthy, and I have my home with clean running water, electricity and heat, suitable groceries and 4 more rolls of toilet paper. 🙂

 

Stay safe and healthy everyone.

 

WE were one the same TA.  We left Balcelona on the 13th to Lisbon then on to Miami on the 14th then home to North Fort Myers FL where we are self quarantined until Sunday.  No signs of anything.  We were going to stay 3 day in Madrid and then 3 in Lisbon but decided to go home early.  The phone call from the ship to the airlines was $75.00 but well worth it.

[emeraldcity]

13 hours ago, Mallefiscent said:

 

If you need things to sew, there is a pattern for face masks for healthcare providers going around that includes a pocket to put filter material in.  I am sure the healthcare staff in your area would appreciate some if you feel so inclined.  If you have a Joann's fabric store near you, they are giving away free kits with fabric in them to make the masks.  

 

I wish I had learned the fine art of sewing.  

I'm advised they can't accept anything from me during my self quarantine.

 

[Mallefiscent]

3 hours ago, emeraldcity said:

I'm advised they can't accept anything from me during my self quarantine.

 

 

That makes sense. 

[Mallefiscent]

Does anyone have any go to recipes they are using while we can only buy limited items at the grocery store?

[wolfcathorse]

Here in Northern Michigan we just got our first confirmed case in my county. The county next to us where we go to shop or work has 3. Michigan is under lock down. MIL passed away last week and we had to have a secret funeral for just family (20 of us). It was weird being in an empty church. Both DH and myself have underlying medical conditions so I'm staying home but DH is still running around taking care of his mothers estate stuff. Our 39 yr old DS lives with us and has asperbers syndrome so he has always spent his life in his room watching TV or DVD's. What a blessing this Covid-19 has been. He's been out interacting with us as we have game nights and he has started eating dinner with us. Perhaps we'll be able to coax him outside to help rake lawn, I'm not pushing it though. Hearing him laugh and joke is worth intentionally losing so he can win!

[OnTheJourney]

Our county here in PA is under lockdown as well as the usual restrictions on "non-essential" businesses, which are closed - as are all schools. We currently have 65 confirmed cases. 

[John&LaLa]

Staring at the ocean and all the ships anchored off our east coast, chatting on CC and FB, and cleaning out clutter. Actually fairly busy.

Like Dorothy, we were Allure refugees, and we just finished our Quarantine tonight.

But I'm not going out anyway.

 

Take care

[Coralc]

We're good here. We are going in to week 3 of our shelter in place order here in the SF Bay Area. "Stay at Home" in other places. We will probably have a week 4 because the numbers are still going up. And for the most part people are obeying, they are estimating about 85% compliance. Everyone here is social distancing. It is however, difficult at the grocery store. Delivery services are overwhelmed and there is still no TP or paper towels. We found some online yesterday, it will arrive next week. 

 

I lucked out. After being on a February Noro cruise a couple of years ago, I purchased my own Noro kit for cruising with multiple bottles of Purell Advanced hand sanitizer (70% alcohol) and wipes and Clorox commercial hand sanitizer spray. It is coming in handy now. 

 

This is interesting. It is from a local newspaper about the 1918 Flu Pandemic. It is amazing how similar it sounds to what is going on today. I am surprised that "slacker" was a word in 1918. The link to the article is here: https://news.yahoo.com/must-wash-properly-newspaper-ads-153547699.html

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by Coralc

[lmwyatt]

On 3/26/2020 at 2:24 PM, emeraldcity said:

I'm advised they can't accept anything from me during my self quarantine.

 

I'm in Ohio also; my friend is a therapist at a large hospital. They do not have enough masks but were told they will be written up if they wear a homemade mask because it will induce panic. That's crazy. We need them to stay healthy. 

[lmwyatt]

On 3/26/2020 at 5:30 PM, Mallefiscent said:

Does anyone have any go to recipes they are using while we can only buy limited items at the grocery store?

If you go to AllRecipes.com they have a place that you can put in the ingredients that you have and it will give you recipes. its pretty neat!

[emeraldcity]

2 hours ago, lmwyatt said:

I'm in Ohio also; my friend is a therapist at a large hospital. They do not have enough masks but were told they will be written up if they wear a homemade mask because it will induce panic. That's crazy. We need them to stay healthy. 

The University Hospital System in Cleveland has launched an initiative for local sewers to create masks. The following is taken from their website. You may wish to advise you friend that the current crisis means that even the CDC is backing homemade masks in certain situation that do not involve direct contact with virus patients, and they can point to this as reference.

 

"UH is looking for talented individuals who can sew homemade masks for our caregivers. Under normal circumstances, a fabric mask is not recommended for clinical use. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, we are adjusting in accordance with CDC guidelines and expert counsel. At this time, these fabric masks will not be used by health care team members caring for COVID-19 positive patients.

The masks will be made available to: (1) Visitors to our facilities; (2) Caregivers who are not involved with direct patient care and are at low risk of catching COVID-19 from patients or transmitting to others; (3) COVID-19 patients, as an alternative to surgical masks to better protect them and others around them; and (4) Cover N95 masks for extra protection for caregivers on the front lines.

Experienced makers are asked to email UHClevelandVolunteer@UHHospitals.org to help with our mask-making efforts. Face mask kits with 100 percent cotton fabric are available and you will be directed to a location near you to pick yours up. Locations are listed below. All masks will be laundered by UH."

[RKHOOKER]

In Sydney Australia we are in lockdown from midnight 30th March.  We have approximately 4,200 positive cases from 133,000 tested, 18 deaths.  Over 90% of our positive cases came from cruise & airline passengers returning to Australia.  All future Australian citizens returning to Australia are escorted by army personnel from the airport to a nearby 5 Star Hotel & quarantined for 14 days & then tested for the virus before being allowed home.

Our government has advised us that this lockdown may last at least 6 months with 1.5m social distancing. No more than 2 people to gather outside unless you are from the same household.  People over 70 years old are not to go outside.  Huge fines & even jail time for those caught breaking the new laws.  

No toilet paper, tissues, pasta, flour, hand sanitiser & gym equipment in any shops!  You can only leave home to go to work, the doctor, supermarket, chemist or exercising.  Everything else closed including beaches, parks, golf courses etc. except fast food takeaway joints & other essential services.

No foreigners will be permitted to enter Australia for at least 6 months as we are heading into our flu season which starts in mid May & goes through to mid September.  
Australia’s economy will be crippled & the government is now paying businesses $1,500 a fortnight per employee to keep them employed.  Plus an estimated 2 million job losses!  It’s an economic nightmare, like domino toppling.  It will take our county 25 years to recover!

I just hope our government is not using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut?!

[Biker19]

28 minutes ago, RKHOOKER said:

 It will take our county 25 years to recover!

I'd be a bit more optimistic than that.

[OnTheJourney]

On 3/29/2020 at 2:51 AM, Coralc said:

We're good here. We are going in to week 3 of our shelter in place order here in the SF Bay Area. "Stay at Home" in other places. We will probably have a week 4 because the numbers are still going up. And for the most part people are obeying, they are estimating about 85% compliance. Everyone here is social distancing. It is however, difficult at the grocery store. Delivery services are overwhelmed and there is still no TP or paper towels. We found some online yesterday, it will arrive next week. 

 

I lucked out. After being on a February Noro cruise a couple of years ago, I purchased my own Noro kit for cruising with multiple bottles of Purell Advanced hand sanitizer (70% alcohol) and wipes and Clorox commercial hand sanitizer spray. It is coming in handy now. 

 

This is interesting. It is from a local newspaper about the 1918 Flu Pandemic. It is amazing how similar it sounds to what is going on today. I am surprised that "slacker" was a word in 1918. The link to the article is here: https://news.yahoo.com/must-wash-properly-newspaper-ads-153547699.html

 

 

 

Wow! Thanks for posting this. Most interesting. 

[OnTheJourney]

3 hours ago, RKHOOKER said:

In Sydney Australia we are in lockdown from midnight 30th March.  We have approximately 4,200 positive cases from 133,000 tested, 18 deaths.  Over 90% of our positive cases came from cruise & airline passengers returning to Australia.  All future Australian citizens returning to Australia are escorted by army personnel from the airport to a nearby 5 Star Hotel & quarantined for 14 days & then tested for the virus before being allowed home.

Our government has advised us that this lockdown may last at least 6 months with 1.5m social distancing. No more than 2 people to gather outside unless you are from the same household.  People over 70 years old are not to go outside.  Huge fines & even jail time for those caught breaking the new laws.  

No toilet paper, tissues, pasta, flour, hand sanitiser & gym equipment in any shops!  You can only leave home to go to work, the doctor, supermarket, chemist or exercising.  Everything else closed including beaches, parks, golf courses etc. except fast food takeaway joints & other essential services.

No foreigners will be permitted to enter Australia for at least 6 months as we are heading into our flu season which starts in mid May & goes through to mid September.  
Australia’s economy will be crippled & the government is now paying businesses $1,500 a fortnight per employee to keep them employed.  Plus an estimated 2 million job losses!  It’s an economic nightmare, like domino toppling.  It will take our county 25 years to recover!

I just hope our government is not using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut?!

 

So sorry to hear all this. Please take care and thinking of you down there. Australia (and NZ) are both so high on my "bucket list". Still hope to get there sometime. I hear you about the job losses. We're facing this in the US. Unemployment applications have never been so high since the depression of the 30s. 

[WeLuvVacation]

Right here on Long Island NY in the center of the pandemic. Just about everything is shut down tight.Grocery stores have a lot of empty shelves in many sections. Gasoline so far is easy to come by and under $2.00 a gallon for regular. A cousin of mine died last week from the virus and his wife has it as well but she is still hanging on, hoping for a good end for her. I'm retired so I'm home all the time, my wife is working from home as much as she can but she still needs to go to the office on some days, however on Friday the company sent out a e-mail saying that two people in the office contracted the virus and now I would prefer if she worked from home all the time.But she is a supervisor and has to be there the days her boss is home to keep an eye of the people under her. Tough times for all but at least we all are healthy and virus free. Our next cruise is scheduled for 5/17/19 on Oasis out of Bayonne, doubt it will go off, but will not look to cancel until Royal cancels it so hopefully we can get a cash refund.Stay well everybody and God Bless.

[OnTheJourney]

So sorry to hear about your cousin and his wife. My condolences. Praying that your wife stays safe and healthy.  On a happier note...I take it you're a Chicago fan?  I go back to the 70s with them (yeah, back when all the High Schools were using "Colour my World" for proms  LOL). I played guitar in a band that did a good bit of that style of music and arranged lots of their tunes for the wind portion of our instrumentation - alto sax, trumpet, and trombone parts. Just looked them up and was amazed to see that they're still going?!  

 

Take care...

 

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by OnTheJourney