RC Health Plan - Health and Safety Panel Report are now released

[d9704011]

9 minutes ago, Vacationdreamer<>< said:

 

I'm trying to find this.  Can you please direct me?  

 

Recommendations begin on page 9 of the report.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/healthy-sail-panel-full-recommendations.pdf

[Plum Happy]

Michael Bayley hopeful things have entered a 'new phase'

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/environmental-health/michael-bayley-hopeful-things-have-entered-new-phase

 

After approval is given, Royal Caribbean likely would start with one ship on a short cruise, then try a slightly longer trip to a private destination and carry employees and their families, to 'make sure the protocols work perfectly.'

 

Royal Caribbean CEO on a return to cruising: ‘We feel as if we’re close’

https://thepointsguy.com/news/royal-caribbean-cruise-comeback-plans/

 

“If everything lined up, then we would be feeling good about starting in November,” Bayley said when pressed for a rough timeline to a restart. “But we’ve all been through this enough to realize that you simply can’t make those statements. It’s a journey of patience.”

 

 

Royal Caribbean also soon will be submitting its own related plan for a cruising comeback.

 

“Our hope, of course, is that the panel’s recommendations will be reviewed and accepted by the CDC, and [Royal Caribbean’s] detailed protocols, which will be submitted in the coming days, will complement that and will be reviewed and accepted,” Bayley said.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Plum Happy

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

At least for US passengers that's not true.  At least GeoBlue and Atlas are now offering single trip coverage that covers Covid.  As someone who is covered by Medicare, I would not travel outside the US without some additional medical coverage.  The single trip coverage will be more expensive than the annual policies, but this will be part of the price of cruising for the foreseeable future.  You may want to check out the travel insurance board.

Yes Geoblue voyager plan will now covid related medical expenses.   We had geoblue trekker for this year as we had several international trips planned and were was notified that will only cover the cost of a covid case for travel.   But all our travel plans were cancelled.   Voyager plan was Not covering covid until recently.     Yes it is much more expensive per trip but will be coverage we will get when we know we are actually traveling or cruising again.

[molly361]

52 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

I'm now wondering about refunds for the people with cruises booked who do not have any intention on cruising if mask use is mandated. I'm one of them. I am not anti mask in any way and wear them daily without argument or hesitation,  I refuse to go on a vacation where I have to wear one though (I can wait).  So are the cruise lines going to give refunds for us or are they going to try to stiff us with an FCC? These mandates weren't in place when we booked after all. 

 

Or, what about people who don't want to get tested in order to cruise? I had to get tested via the nasal swab 2 months ago and I will not put my kids through that just in order for us to go on a leisure vacation. 

 

And one more note regarding testing......the one and only person I know who has had Covid and spent almost 60 days in the ICU with it and half of that on a ventilator tested negative his first 2 tests. He would have been cleared to cruise because his fever didn't show up until about a week after his cough developed. Cough could easily be hidden while boarding or explained that it's from years of smoking (which he doesn't do). 

Unless they cancel or you booked refundable and it's before final payment date you will get a FCC and/or pay whatever penalty is in effect at the time that you cancel.

[not-enough-cruising]

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

And will there be an 18% service charge for the test? Will you need to tip the testers?

If you don’t tip the tester you are a horrible person and you shouldn’t be cruising <sarcasm>

[not-enough-cruising]

9 hours ago, firefly333 said:

By immune I mean they caught it and recovered. Not just people in vaccine trials and a few getting vaccine.

 

How many americans have caught covid and recovered? Not enough sure, but the number is growing. We get over 200 positives a day just here in dallas. I keep hoping to see lower positives here. 

The immune response post infection is still very unclear and controversial. Detectable antibody residuals are all over the board amongst the recovered individual; and no reputable health care organization has been willing to declare one “immune” after an infection. 

[Ocean Boy]

5 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

The immune response post infection is still very unclear and controversial. Detectable antibody residuals are all over the board amongst the recovered individual; and no reputable health care organization has been willing to declare one “immune” after an infection. 

And that makes one wonder how "immune" one would be after administration of a vaccine.

[not-enough-cruising]

44 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

And that makes one wonder how "immune" one would be after administration of a vaccine.

Without a doubt!!

[Mapleleafforever]

1 hour ago, molly361 said:

Unless they cancel or you booked refundable and it's before final payment date you will get a FCC and/or pay whatever penalty is in effect at the time that you cancel.

Yeah, I'm well aware of how the rules have been regarding refunds and cancellations thus far. But if and when these new recommendations are implemented they're going to have to come up with some new refund policies though seeing as none of the future hypothetical precautions were in place at time of booking. The consumer has to be protected here. 

 

I say future hypothetical precautions because there is nothing set in stone as of yet and who knows if cruising will even be getting the green light anytime soon. In my home province we've been doing really good but of late our numbers have been climbing significantly and looks like we're headed back to phase 2 soon. 

 

 

[Mapleleafforever]

2 hours ago, Vacationdreamer<>< said:

 

All good questions.

I wonder how the insurance industry will reconfigure.

 

We booked a short 5 day for next May back in July.  I haven't bought insurance yet, bc I was just thinking that I have until February to decide.  Now I am wondering what insurance might look like.  

 

Each traveler can likely deal with some of the changes, but we have our own deal breakers.  I can handle the ship-only excursions if I have to (they'd better offer more), but wearing masks on deck would turn off my family big time.  And while we can handle a modified buffet, NO buffet would break them.

 

Time will tell.  

Exactly how we feel. 

[kruzinkel]

14 hours ago, WAMarathoner said:

 

I don't think you'll have to worry about that.  The more restrictions, the fewer people will be cruising that line.

 

My question is, we've already pre-paid for a cruise in the fall and are not going to go if we have to wear masks.  What's the best way to get a full refund rather than credit (since I doubt we'll be using RCCL any more.)

if you are trying to find a cruise line that will not require masks, you are going to be home for a while.  if CDC approves this- it will apply to all the lines.  I do not understand why people just can't follow the damm rules.  We would be working our way out of this mess if people would just do the right thing

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

And that makes one wonder how "immune" one would be after administration of a vaccine.

The boss, who rounds most everyday and has seen CV patients, in 3 hospitals here, says no to a vaccine for a bit. She wants to see how it goes first. I’ll get mine as soon as she figures it’s safe and effective. 
 

M8

[Milwaukee Eight]

39 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

But if and when these new recommendations are implemented they're going to have to come up with some new refund policies though seeing as none of the future hypothetical precautions were in place at time of booking. The consumer has to be protected here. 

These ships are not flagged in the US. What protections you think we have?

 

 M8 

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

The immune response post infection is still very unclear and controversial. Detectable antibody residuals are all over the board amongst the recovered individual; and no reputable health care organization has been willing to declare one “immune” after an infection. 

I never said you were immune after getting it. But hasn't there only been one documented case here in america of getting a 2nd strain. Chances are more against it.

 

I just heard someone say between anti vaccine folks etc this might take 4 or 5 years to totally be under control. I'm not waiting that long I hope, to cruise.

[D C]

18 hours ago, Motterman said:

I think we were okay with testing, masks, social distancing, and curbed buffets. 

 

Think not being able to debark to eat and shop at ports of call is a deal breaker for us though.

That part does suck.  It will definitely affect which ports we want to hit.

 

Our Cozumel is breakfast on the ship, a walk to shore along the main drag, a stop at Ernestos for lunch and a big margarita, and then back to the ship.    Most of our stops in Key West have been when my in-laws are wintering there.  Maybe they can be a certified excursion so we can have breakfast and bar-hop all day with them? 🙂

[firefly333]

43 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

Exactly how we feel. 

I'd like to get to diamond plus while prices are down, though they may be down a while. I'll wear a mask, though i was hoping to sit in a lounger and read in some corner without one. 

[D C]

20 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

As previously stated you can test positive and have no symptoms.  So you get to the pier and test +.  Do you get your money back if you can’t go?  The cruise lines have to come out with some assurance that you will be refunded.  Otherwise I’m not booking a thing.  That’s a huge risk to me.  

 

 

 

19 hours ago, nelblu said:

There's been a lot of false positives reporting.  Any secondary testing for confirm..

 

False positives are a HUGE issue that isn't adequately addressed by anyone right now.   The CDC and health departments assume that there is no such thing as a false positive, and there is no protocol that recommends a re-test upon a positive result.  I'm nervous to have another test simply because of the false positive issue and what a pain it is when a test comes back positive.

[Pratique]

1 minute ago, firefly333 said:

I'd like to get to diamond plus while prices are down, though they may be down a while. I'll wear a mask, though i was hoping to sit in a lounger and read in some corner without one. 

You should be able to. The masks are only when social distancing isn't possible.

 

I dropped my vehicle off at the dealership this morning for service. The dealership employees were all walking around with their masks around their necks. They only pulled them over their faces when they were getting close to the customers. I think this is they way it will play out in the future. Get too close, throw on a mask, otherwise, we're maskless.

[Mapleleafforever]

3 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I'd like to get to diamond plus while prices are down, though they may be down a while. I'll wear a mask, though i was hoping to sit in a lounger and read in some corner without one. 

I'm a D in my early 40's, I have plenty of time to cruise so I'll wait until this whole thing is over and then cruise again sans mask. That is depending on how they treat refunds for people who don't want to cruise with the precautions....we may never want to cruise again, who knows? Lots of vacation spots for me to spend my money on. 

[Mapleleafforever]

12 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

These ships are not flagged in the US. What protections you think we have?

 

 M8 

Even more reason to not let them cruise out of the US until things are safer. 

[D C]

21 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Now that I have sometime on my lunch break I am reading the full 50+ page report.      Re:   Testing.    yes they should definitely do a rapid test for every passenger before they board (just like MSC) but they are not committing to it, just yet. 

 

Interesting that is says *SHOULD* and not *SHALL* or *MUST*.    Should is an optional recommendation in a legal sense. 

[firefly333]

2 minutes ago, Pratique said:

You should be able to. The masks are only when social distancing isn't possible.

 

I dropped my vehicle off at the dealership this morning for service. The dealership employees were all walking around with their masks around their necks. They only pulled them over their faces when they were getting close to the customers. I think this is they way it will play out in the future. Get too close, throw on a mask, otherwise, we're maskless.

That's what I've been doing. We went to lowes for mulch and I pulled mine down while we were loading carts until a employee walked up to ask if we needed help with finding something. Didnt offer to help a couple of females load the mulch though. 

 

Masks are usually worn here, mandatory, but I've seen some with them below their nose lol

[firefly333]

The having to find a test beforehand is what bothers me the most. 

 

I still cant decide what to do about my b2b in feb. I'm back and forth. Travel agent went thru a lot to book it and one leg paid off with fcc, 2nd waiting. It would complicate things to lift and shift. 

[D C]

Testing and getting prompt results will be an issue for some people for sure if it's left to the individual.

 

I know of people who received their test results on day 16 after having had to quarantine for 14 days.  A lot of good that test result did.  

[Vacationdreamer<><]

27 minutes ago, D C said:

Our Cozumel is breakfast on the ship, a walk to shore along the main drag, a stop at Ernestos for lunch and a big margarita, and then back to the ship. 

 

These poor port businesses.  They have been far too long without revenue, and these safety plans don't do them much good, either.