What Royal Caribbean is doing to keep us safe

[dkjretired]

Interesting article on cruise critic about Royal Caribbean and I presume Celebrity on actions they are taking to keep us safe after sailing starts again.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=5806&cache=reset&et_cid=3392966&et_rid=16894942&et_referrer=NULL

[39august]

I won't be cruising under these circumstances. 

[ECCruise]

I am guessing that this will likely be the basic standards that all lines will implement, especially at the very beginning.

I don't see anything I couldn't live with.  Of course you will need pre-sailing testing.  I would hazard a guess that it might be pre-sailing vaccination depending when sailing begins.  Always have reservations for dining, so no change for us.  Eliminating self serve in buffet is just like a Noro affected cruise.  Wear masks going out all the time now, so no big deal. The only problem I can see with that is that when we (VERY rarely) see someone unmasked now, we do what we can to avoid them.

Do the same on a closed in ship out at sea, and ignoring will not be my preferred response in dealing with aforementioned idiots.

[Jeremiah1212]

32 minutes ago, 39august said:

I won't be cruising under these circumstances. 

 

To be frank, I don't think they would be too terribly upset at that. Having passengers voluntarily cancel or rebook avoids the mess of having to choose who to cancel to meet capacity restrictions when the time comes.

[D C]

At this point, I wouldn't be too sure about anything in that article. 

 

There is no indication that any cruise line is working towards the 'practice' cruises.  Best bet is that they think they can wait it out until a vaccine becomes widespread.  Less work for them, ships can be more full, easy peasy from their perspective, imho. 

[39august]

Jeremiah, I didn't think anyone would be upset at my reluctance to cruise under these conditions. I don't mind the buffet at all. But wearing a mask everywhere is a big turn off for us.  We just booked b2b for May 2022 and hope we will know more before then of what the experience will be like by that time. 

[WonderMan3]

Vaccination should be a mandatory requirement. That doesn't change any of the other precautions like mask wearing, at least until numbers are minimal worldwide since the vaccine is not 100%, but vaccination would be the most important.

[D C]

59 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Vaccination should be a mandatory requirement. That doesn't change any of the other precautions like mask wearing, at least until numbers are minimal worldwide since the vaccine is not 100%, but vaccination would be the most important.

I would expect mandatory vaccinations to completely negate any mask requirement.  Someone who was vaccinated would have to be contagious AND be close to someone for whom the vaccine didn't work.   It would seem overly cautious to protect against something that would happen with such a small possibility. 

 

 

[bouhunter]

19 hours ago, D C said:

At this point, I wouldn't be too sure about anything in that article. 

 

There is no indication that any cruise line is working towards the 'practice' cruises.  Best bet is that they think they can wait it out until a vaccine becomes widespread.  Less work for them, ships can be more full, easy peasy from their perspective, imho. 

"easy peasy"  cannot be used in the same sentence regarding cruise lines for at least a year or two......

[bouhunter]

20 hours ago, 39august said:

I won't be cruising under these circumstances. 

Yeah, I would be real excited about wearing a "tracing bracelet" on vacation.  And wearing a mask all day.   Sounds like a lot of fun.  There are desperado's who will do it, but we will happily contribute to reduced occupancy as long as these restrictions are in place.  Even if it's forever.

[D C]

1 hour ago, bouhunter said:

Yeah, I would be real excited about wearing a "tracing bracelet" on vacation.  And wearing a mask all day.   Sounds like a lot of fun.  There are desperado's who will do it, but we will happily contribute to reduced occupancy as long as these restrictions are in place.  Even if it's forever.

Ben there, done that at Disney World recently.  Really wasn't that bad.  Plus, there are a lot of people who wear masks all day at work these days.  Certainly wouldn't be the best in hot weather, and hopefully wouldn't apply outside anyhow.   Just more incentive to sit with a drink in hand and watch the sea go by 🙂

[4774Papa]

I have questions assuming we won't be cruising until October,

 

1) By October, I expect that a significant percentage of people that want vaccines will have received them by then, will the cruise lines drop the testing and in place require a vaccine certification?

2) Assuming that the cruise lines require the testing as well as the vaccine certification,  will the testing be available for those that fly to the port.   Example, we have a TA from Rome to Ft, Lauderdale, will X make it easy to get tested and not have to pay hundreds of dollars.

[paulh84]

17 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

I have questions assuming we won't be cruising until October,

 

1) By October, I expect that a significant percentage of people that want vaccines will have received them by then, will the cruise lines drop the testing and in place require a vaccine certification?

2) Assuming that the cruise lines require the testing as well as the vaccine certification,  will the testing be available for those that fly to the port.   Example, we have a TA from Rome to Ft, Lauderdale, will X make it easy to get tested and not have to pay hundreds of dollars.

 

No one has any idea. I don’t think cruise lines know what will happen in 2 months, let alone 10 months from now. 

[D C]

19 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

I have questions assuming we won't be cruising until October,

 

1) By October, I expect that a significant percentage of people that want vaccines will have received them by then, will the cruise lines drop the testing and in place require a vaccine certification?

2) Assuming that the cruise lines require the testing as well as the vaccine certification,  will the testing be available for those that fly to the port.   Example, we have a TA from Rome to Ft, Lauderdale, will X make it easy to get tested and not have to pay hundreds of dollars.

 

Just now, paulh84 said:

 

No one has any idea. I don’t think cruise lines know what will happen in 2 months, let alone 10 months from now. 

Right.

If I was betting, I would think that the entire conditional sail order would go into the shredder and  completely new document would come out referencing vaccination requirements.   

 

"No vaccine, no cruise" is a distinct possibility.  That could lead to no need for testing.  

 

Anybody's guess right now.

[bouhunter]

2 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

I have questions assuming we won't be cruising until October,

 

1) By October, I expect that a significant percentage of people that want vaccines will have received them by then, will the cruise lines drop the testing and in place require a vaccine certification?

2) Assuming that the cruise lines require the testing as well as the vaccine certification,  will the testing be available for those that fly to the port.   Example, we have a TA from Rome to Ft, Lauderdale, will X make it easy to get tested and not have to pay hundreds of dollars.

No one here has the answers.  Questions like this are just an invitation for unfounded speculation and discussion.

Edited January 15, 2021 by bouhunter

[PTC DAWG]

14 hours ago, D C said:

I would expect mandatory vaccinations to completely negate any mask requirement.  Someone who was vaccinated would have to be contagious AND be close to someone for whom the vaccine didn't work.   It would seem overly cautious to protect against something that would happen with such a small possibility. 

 

 

Agree, either the vaccine works, or it doesn’t.  

[Fouremco]

10 minutes ago, bouhunter said:

No one here has the answers.  Questions like this are just an invitation for unfounded speculation and discussion.

Like 99% of the other posts these days. 

[hcat]

Vaccine, testing, masks and social distancing are ok for us but electronic monitoring is derived from  a penal system tool to track offenders or  used for persons at risk of wandering. . Too intrusive for us.

 

If forced to wear that ugly looking item,  we would limit ourselves to the balcony and short trips to dining and the pool. And  we would consider it our final cruise only to use up our large FCC.

 

We  would gladly take a reduced cash refund instead  of the FCC but that's not going to happen.

[bouhunter]

16 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Like 99% of the other posts these days. 

Very true 🙂

 

[Fouremco]

34 minutes ago, hcat said:

Vaccine, testing, masks and social distancing are ok for us but electronic monitoring is derived from  a penal system tool to track offenders or  used for persons at risk of wandering. . Too intrusive for us.

 

If forced to wear that ugly looking item,  we would limit ourselves to the balcony and short trips to dining and the pool. And  we would consider it our final cruise only to use up our large FCC.

 

We  would gladly take a reduced cash refund instead  of the FCC but that's not going to happen.

The "penal system tool" uses GPS technology, and on some newer units, a mix of GPS and cellular technology that enables full tracking of the device at all times. On the other hand, the system used by Celebrity and other cruise lines is based on RFID, a very different technology. RFID readers are placed at numerous positions on a ship, but will only register your location when you pass by one. So, if they deploy readers at each entry point to a deck, the system will know when and where you entered that deck, but will not know where you are subsequently located on that deck.

 

If you are concerned about being tracked, the video system should give you more reason for concern, as it knows both where you are and what you are doing. If you are concerned about it being ugly, put it in your purse or pocket. 

[hcat]

Thanks for the tech explanation but does not change our basic view.

We also dislike stores and theme parks that do it  and internet tracking too.

What happens if you leave it in your stateroom?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Thanks for the tech explanation but does not change our basic view.

We also dislike stores and theme parks that do it  and internet tracking too.

What happens if you leave it in your stateroom?

Do you use a cellphone ? 😁

I don’t wear a watch , I sure don’t want to wear that thing 😆

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Thanks for the tech explanation but does not change our basic view.

We also dislike stores and theme parks that do it  and internet tracking too.

What happens if you leave it in your stateroom?

If Celebrity implements such a system in a manner similar to other lines, your device also opens your cabin door. There's no problem leaving it in your cabin, as long as you are sharing the cabin with someone who takes theirs with them. Of course, just as with your normal SeaPass, you won't be able to purchase anything, order a specialty coffee, buy a glass of wine, open your cabin, etc., without one. 

[LouChamp]

they just want the money 

[grandgeezer]

The same as all the other lines, not sailing.