Live - Allure Simulation Cruise July 27, 2021🛳

[John&LaLa]

10 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

When you received this is that when you received your room assignment?

 

 

This came later tonight

[John&LaLa]

This trip isn't without hardship on my part. I had to give up my scheduled monthly massage to join the event. 

 

And if designated as unvaccinated,  I can't get one onboard.😱

[John&LaLa]

That's all for tonight, I'm beat. 

See y'all tomorrow, goodnight Alexa.

[Ocean Boy]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

This trip isn't without hardship on my part. I had to give up my scheduled monthly massage to join the event. 

 

And if designated as unvaccinated,  I can't get one onboard.😱

I hear RCI is going to make the unvaccinated as miserable as possible so they will come back and tell everyone to go out and get the shots.

[emeraldcity]

Lately I haven't been on this site much, but now I'll be logging in several times a day just to follow this thread. I'm on Allure in December, so I'm excited to see things moving along.

 

[John&LaLa]

6 hours ago, emeraldcity said:

Lately I haven't been on this site much, but now I'll be logging in several times a day just to follow this thread. I'm on Allure in December, so I'm excited to see things moving along.

 

 

Hi Dorothy, thanks for joining.

[John&LaLa]

Bella will only be joining us in spirit, but her doppelganger will be on my cabin door.

 

Need to test strength of magnets

[twangster]

To all the naysayers concerned about being the designated "quarantine" guests.  It doesn't say that in any of my communication.  

 

It says "play the role" of unvaccinated.  

 

Unvaccinated does not equal automatic quarantine.  Unvaccinated are not quarantined in their cabins.

 

The whole reason why Royal is spending millions to do test cruises is so that unvaccinated such as children can sail.  Other cruises lines are effectively banning most children under 12.  Royal doesn't have a secret agenda, if they were trying to promote or force people to vaccinate they would do what some other cruise lines did - take the easy road and require 95% vaccinated.

 

Royal chose the harder path of doing simulation cruises so that unvaccinated including children can sail.  In South Florida Royal has a large pool of localized HQ employees to draw from for simulation cruises.  Beyond South Florida it would be impractical and costly to fly or drive hundreds of South Florida employees to other ports.  That's where we come in.  

 

Someone has to be the test participants or this ship won't sail under the simulation cruise rules.

 

Even if I could be asked to quarantine in my cabin for two days (which they never said) I would still do this.  Playing the role of an unvaccinated does not equate to be quarantined the whole cruise.  Even if that was a requirement I would still do it!  If we don't do this Allure doesn't get the certificate to sail from the CDC.  

 

And don't assume the legal challenges are over.  The CDC could have another angle in play we haven't considered.  Royal can't assume they are done with the CDC only to have the CDC rear its ugly head in some other way three weeks from now and shut them down if they haven't obtained a certificate to sail from a simulation cruise.

[CSHS1979]

Following along

[barbeyg]

Thank goodness you guys are doing this thread. I didn’t know what I was going to read now that the Adventure live thread is wrapping up. 😂
 

We would have signed up if we could have arranged to be away from work last minute. So glad they are allowing C&A members to assist in getting them back up and running! 🙂

[John&LaLa]

How about a little background on how this all came about since we have some time to kill.

 

Oh, and correct me if I'm off on the actual details. This is just how I remember it. 😉

 

Some time after the CDC shut down the cruise industry in the US in response to Covid 19, they came up with the Conditional Sail Order. A plan to return to cruising, so to speak.  One of the conditions of the CSO was to hold simulation cruises with volunteer passengers to test mitigation protocols. Social Media lit up like a Christmas Tree speculating on who would be volunteers. Eventually a FB group was created called Volunteers of the Seas, and Royal started collecting names. Many assumed it was a marketing stunt, and truth be told it probably was. 

 

One caveat of submitting your request to volunteer was only one entry per person, not per family. So I signed both Laura and I up separately. That kinda makes sense since Royal requires for us to have individual email accounts......

[BecciBoo]

The other caveat was you can't have any condition that is considered high risk for Covid, so that left us diabetics out even though vaxd 😆
Thx for doing this one John, very anxious for our Sept 12th.  Can't wait to hear all your observations about Allure, been 7 year since our last one on her!

Edited July 24, 2021 by BecciBoo

[ReneeFLL]

Will you be able to bring on the usual wine or champagne?

[John&LaLa]

So, about a month ago, Royal finally reappears on the FB page and says they are ready to select volunteers. And then they do all their US test sailings with employees +1. 🤣 

 

Now about a week ago, Royal sent us an email saying we were selected to sail on either Allure 2 days or Ovation 5 days. Duh, I'm not flying to Seattle, so Allure in our backyard it is.  I click on the Allure link, and nothing happens. Oops, Glitch #1 appears.

 

Luckily they provided some contact email, so I let them know of their glitch.

 

Got an email the next day saying link is repaired. Again clicked on Allure, it worked, and I filed out my info.  Submit, get pop up saying thanks for choosing..........Ovation. Good Grief, Glitch #2 shows up. An this mess isn't just me, FB and CC light up discussing the issues.  

 

Now Laura did not get an official invite, so I just clicked on mine again and entered her C&A number and associated info. Submit and get pop up saying thanks for choosing Allure. Go figure. Crisis diverted.

 

I also sent another email to my new friend at Royal mentioning my problem with being assigned to Ovation.  Heard back next day that I am indeed on Allure and that link has been fixed.

Edited July 24, 2021 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

9 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

The other caveat was you can't have any condition that is considered high risk for Covid, so that left us diabetics out even though vaxd 😆
Thx for doing this one John, very anxious for our Sept 12th.  Can't wait to hear all your observations about Allure, been 7 year since our last one on her!

 

Sorry about that, I guess I really didn't read the health questionnaire. Big surprise, huh.

[John&LaLa]

12 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Will you be able to bring on the usual wine or champagne?

 Plan on it, no instructions not to. I do think we need to stick with our assigned boarding times, Not expecting the 1 hour cushion they are now giving Pins. Just a slight inconvenience since our traveling companions got the slot in front of us

[John&LaLa]

Finally get the real invite, another form to fill out and we're good.  

Now I debated going with 2 cabins since I had two invites now, but then decided there was a lot of risk with that and submitted Laura's invite with me as her guest. (she has more points than me, that might mean something)  Got the pop up welcoming us to.........Symphony on Aug 1. W T F, glitch #3. I gave up, immediately went to my invite and added Laura as my guest, then submitted. Got the pop up welcoming us to Allure. 😁

 

Sent another email to my new friend at Royal, Odamil Rosa. Heard back a few hours later that Laura's invite is indeed on Allure, they have fixed another link. Seriously, this is typical Royal IT, luckily most of us are used to the problems.

[ReneeFLL]

11 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 Plan on it, no instructions not to. I do think we need to stick with our assigned boarding times, Not expecting the 1 hour cushion they are now giving Pins. Just a slight inconvenience since our traveling companions got the slot in front of us

1 - 1:30? That sucks about the different times.

Edited July 24, 2021 by ReneeFLL

[John&LaLa]

I will add that Thursday and Friday we were on pins and needles trying to figure out what was up, is this real, changing appointments, arranging a sitter for Bella, etc.  Spent a ton of time on FB groups hearing tales of others in the same boat s to speak. Having the App wonky didn't help

 

Then yesterday the check in notices arrive. Both of them.  I got deck 9, Laura got deck 10 right above me. At this point I can still check in with her, but decide what the heck let's go separate. I hope that doesn't bite me in the butt. Full disclosure, when not sailing in a full suite, we typically sail solo. Apparently I snore like a freight train, so this makes it more accurate for us.😉

Yea, I am rationalizing in my favor. So be it

[twangster]

My first invite allowed me to choose Ovation or Allure.  Like John, Allure was the obvious choice since Ovation is geographically undesirable on one weeks notice.  

 

That invite went smoothly and questionnaire completed.  

 

The next day I get a new invitation for Allure except the link doesn't work.   As it turns out news was breaking about a widespread internet outage affecting many businesses.  Some airline passengers couldn't check in online and had to do airport check in for example.  I assumed the broken link from invite #2 was possibly caught up in this widespread outage. An hour later a friend texted me that the link was now working.  Signed up again and registered email received.

 

Next day I get an email with regular looking confirmation PDF attached.  About an hour after that it appeared online and in the app for my account.  Check in opened shortly after that.  

 

All in all it's gone pretty smoothly for me so far.    Check in "arrival time for wellness check"  is 12 - 12:30.  

 

1D ocean view balcony on deck 14 near the front elevator lobby.  One friend is on deck 8, another on deck 10, all ocean view balcony.  

[rtazz17]

11 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I hear RCI is going to make the unvaccinated as miserable as possible so they will come back and tell everyone to go out and get the shots.

You seem like a blast to be around! Enjoy life its short. No need to rain on everyone else

[Ocean Boy]

7 minutes ago, rtazz17 said:

You seem like a blast to be around! Enjoy life its short. No need to rain on everyone else

It was a joke in response to John not being able to get a message... chill out.😏... and feel free to put me on your ignore list.

[ReneeFLL]

@John&LaLa

@twangster

The suspense must have been killing y’all.

Edited July 24, 2021 by ReneeFLL

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, ReneeFLL said:

1 - 1:30? That sucks about the different times.

 

We got 12:30 - 1:00

Our Uber got 12:00 - 12:30

 

Seems workable

[Lady Hudson]

So no diabetics allowed?  Can someone tell me what other conditions would not be allowed?    No problems for me but wondering for DH.  This is just for simulation trips, right?