We canceled

[SlightDraw]

2 hours ago, SlightDraw said:

We also, Allure February. Not so much the CDC warning but with ships missing ports. I can’t see this calming down in six weeks.

We got future cruise credit. Plus this booking was made by future cruise credits, so they rolled those over again.

[Iamcruzin]

4 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Time Square is only allowing 15,000 people this year compared to the usually 60,000 plus.

 

This year they will also be requiring masks, social distancing , plus this is an outside event, remains to be seen how they handle this and enforce those requirements though.

Also you can't start gathering until 3:00pm like that will make a difference. In the past they started gathering in the morning. I guess they wear adult diapers all day.  It's all tourists. No self respecting New Yorker attends this event so I would except the tourists will be bringing the virus home with them.

[Ptroxx]

3 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Isn't outside have a reduced distance like 3ft or something like that, but like you said still how is that going to happen?

I’m sure they will do the same as last year.  I’ve been to NYE many times and this would actually be an awesome time.   I’ve been nearly hit with flying bottles and other projectiles many years ago.  That’s why I don’t do NYE any more.  

[bouhunter]

3 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Isn't outside have a reduced distance like 3ft or something like that, but like you said still how is that going to happen?

3 feet, 6 feet, whatever.  Two years in most people have moved on from that nonsense.

[Jimbo]

5 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I've seen many predictions for around 3rd week in January to the infamous doctor and even he predicts by the end of January.  Its gotta get better with so many getting it, has to burn down. ..not burn out, but will get better. Fewer victims. 

 

I think it will peak late January, or February.. just a matter of if its 3rd week, end of January  ..whatever. that insinuates it will get worse before it gets better. I've been watching may prices and a lot of cabins are being booked up.

 

Even if we dont see a peak until feb .. at some pt so few that havent gotten it, has to burn itself out. Another month or so we will know.

How would you know cabins are getting booked up or just not being unavailable anymore because Royal made them unavailable? Only take a flip of a switch to make cabins unavailable in the system.

[Jimbo]

1 minute ago, bouhunter said:

3 feet, 6 feet, whatever.  Two years in most people have moved on from that nonsense.

I didn't set the number's. Is what it is. Doesn't bother me one way or another, everyone seems to do what they want anyway. Doesn't seem to bother me as much as it does you.

[bouhunter]

1 minute ago, Jimbo said:

I didn't set the number's. Is what it is. Doesn't bother me one way or another, everyone seems to do what they want anyway. Doesn't seem to bother me as much as it does you.

Doesn't bother me at all.  But apparently it bothers you that I quoted you 🙂

 

[Jimbo]

3 minutes ago, bouhunter said:

Doesn't bother me at all.  But apparently it bothers you that I quoted you 🙂

 

Only quoted you because you quoted me. 🙂🙂 In post#30

Edited December 31, 2021 by Jimbo

[Crazy planning mom]

2 hours ago, maria1122 said:

We were suppose to be leaving on the Anthem today.  Last night we were reading all  the CDC warnings and realized it was not worth taking the chance.  Guess today we will be unpacking.  Hopefully things will calm down for our January 20 cruise.

Your January 20th cruise should be less crowded and therefore safer.

[firefly333]

14 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

How would you know cabins are getting booked up or just not being unavailable anymore because Royal made them unavailable? Only take a flip of a switch to make cabins unavailable in the system.

I wrote down the cabins I'm looking at booking for May, for instance 4 on deck 7 near each other in the aft. Now deck 7 all gone on 2 dates of the 4. Just my belief and I've checked daily. 

 

Daily since a couple days ago there are a lot fewer choices to book. If people were cancelling I think as others posted for jan I'd see more cabins listed, not fewer. You can believe what you want. I'm checking at least twice a day what's available trying to decide as cabins disappear. 

 

I'm only watching 4 for May. Watching what's available.  Daily. I'm trying to find 4 the same would be my choice. But close is easier than different decks. Cabins are dissapearing daily for May that I'm watching.

Edited December 31, 2021 by firefly333

[Iamcruzin]

12 minutes ago, Ptroxx said:

I’m sure they will do the same as last year.  I’ve been to NYE many times and this would actually be an awesome time.   I’ve been nearly hit with flying bottles and other projectiles many years ago.  That’s why I don’t do NYE any more.  

Last year it was by invitation only to honor the essential workers who know how to behave.  This year will be a free for all.  I will be watching from home to see how this pans out. LL Cool J had to cancel his performance due to covid.  I guess the Symphony of the Seas isn't the only venue cancelling shows.

[Cruise a holic]

2 hours ago, maria1122 said:

We were suppose to be leaving on the Anthem today.  Last night we were reading all  the CDC warnings and realized it was not worth taking the chance.  Guess today we will be unpacking.  Hopefully things will calm down for our January 20 cruise.

We just canceled our Jan 2, Oasis b/2/b cruise.  We are both very sad- but feel it is the right decision at this time.   

Starting to unpack our luggage- how depressing !

Edited December 31, 2021 by Cruise a holic

[orville99]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Difference with South Africa and the US is far less people, so most likely it will be much longer for us then them to see cases declining.

Statement just out from CDC that peak looks like it will be the week of 1/9.

[RoyalC]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Statement just out from CDC that peak looks like it will be the week of 1/9.

Fauci said 4 weeks yesterday or day before. Of course they blow with the wind.

Kids will go back to school and people work. It may peak, but will persist. Government is

literally looking the other way. 

[TeeRick]

30 minutes ago, Crazy planning mom said:

Your January 20th cruise should be less crowded and therefore safer.

It is not really about safety for most people.  It is taking a chance on getting your cruise disrupted by a positive test, or getting caught up in contact tracing/isolation, or having many of your port stops cancelled.

[Iamcruzin]

2 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

It is not really about safety for most people.  It is taking a chance on getting your cruise disrupted by a positive test, or getting caught up in contact tracing/isolation, or having many of your port stops cancelled.

That's exactly it.  This new variant isn't making vaccinated people severely sick.  I have gone to work with worse symptoms from a cold.  I am sure there are those walking around the ship who are experiencing mild symptoms but not reporting them.  

[TeeRick]

4 minutes ago, RoyalC said:

Fauci said 4 weeks yesterday or day before. Of course they blow with the wind.

Kids will go back to school and people work. It may peak, but will persist. Government is

literally looking the other way. 

The "Government" can look both ways or up and down or in a 360 degree circle.  The virus will still be there.  The peaks and troughs will continue.  The sooner we all understand that, and get vaccinated/boosted, and recognize that this situation will be with us for years, the better our lives will be moving forward.  The game has changed.  Play the new rules and move on.

[rich_cathybrock]

59 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

IMO, It will take the US longer to peak and decline due to all the holiday travelers but it should calm down in a couple of weeks.

I'm surprised NYC is still doing times square celebration as well as many other cities.  

Yes, we have to live life and symptoms are mild, if any, for vaccinated but expect higher cases after NY eve celebrations.

NYC is down to 12K total visitors allowed in Times Square tonight.  I worked on B'way ad 46th for a decade, we had more folks than that walking in the area on an average workday.  It's a huge space and that's a rather low number and is supposed to allow for distancing.  I guess we will see how tonight goes.  Last NYE there was no one in Times Square, so the "spread" simply happened indoors instead, but it happened nonetheless, and likely will again for another few weeks before it wanes if this year is similar. 

 

That said, we, too, canceled our Anthem Southern Carib for Jan 31.  We are heartbroken.  We miss getting our cruise fix on, and haven't had a vacation in 2 years (last one was on Anthem March 7 '20 and it was amazing!).  We just couldn't risk all those port cancellations and almost two weeks on a sailing that felt more like a Trans-Atlantic with potential for onboard services to cancel too.

 

We have racked up $1400 in FCCs based on canceled sailings from last year to now.  Because they take so long to process, I was able to extend my deposit date for a 7-day Oasis Bahamas cruise. 

 

We only have until May to use them and must sail by the end of 2022.  Doing the math, I suspect Royal MAY have to lengthen the current grace period for FCCs, since there might not be enough capacity for the outstanding FCCs issued to be used given this latest wave of cancellations. 

 

We just have to see how this plays out. Strange and challenging times....

 

[RoyalC]

8 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

That's exactly it.  This new variant isn't making vaccinated people severely sick.  I have gone to work with worse symptoms from a cold.  I am sure there are those walking around the ship who are experiencing mild symptoms but not reporting them.  

True- they are walking around coughing and not reporting. Another problem is CDC said most cases were Omicron which they found out were not. No one cared about Omicron so they went about business as usual. Now if they caught Delta (esp. if unvaxxed), well, better have some luck now. 

[D4]

41 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I wrote down the cabins I'm looking at booking for May, for instance 4 on deck 7 near each other in the aft. Now deck 7 all gone on 2 dates of the 4. Just my belief and I've checked daily. 

 

Daily since a couple days ago there are a lot fewer choices to book. If people were cancelling I think as others posted for jan I'd see more cabins listed, not fewer. You can believe what you want. I'm checking at least twice a day what's available trying to decide as cabins disappear. 

 

I'm only watching 4 for May. Watching what's available.  Daily. I'm trying to find 4 the same would be my choice. But close is easier than different decks. Cabins are dissapearing daily for May that I'm watching.

Are you trying to find 4 cabins near each other?  If so, you should call Royal because they can see ALL the cabins that are available.  The website just shows a small portion of the available cabins and they randomly show different available cabins.  Just because a specific cabin no longer appears in your search result doesn’t mean that it is no longer available.

 

However, be aware that some people have been sent emails that they are being moved to a different cabin than the one they booked due to social distancing.  So one or more of your cabins could end up getting moved.

[mainelycruising]

Look at it this way: after this CDC bombshell, a cruise in early January will have lots of space, so social distancing will be a cinch.  Even better, without any need to go on land at ports that will be closed, there will be little chance of catching COVID there.   Embarking and disembarking will be less crowded, and reservations at the specialty restaurants will be plentiful.  You might even talk the ship's entertainment officer into an 'open mic night' to fill the gaps in the otherwise curtailed entertainment.

 

You have to weigh the good and the bad.  The good news is that the choice is up to the passenger.

Edited December 31, 2021 by mainelycruising

[TeeRick]

2 minutes ago, RoyalC said:

True- they are walking around coughing and not reporting. Another problem is CDC said most cases were Omicron which they found out were not. No one cared about Omicron so they went about business as usual. Now if they caught Delta (esp. if unvaxxed), well, better have some luck now. 

The CDC did not say "most" cases were not Omicron, but rather it revised early numbers down a bit.  But CDC now says Omicron to be the vast majority of cases now and moving forward. 

 

 I think the testing/screening pre-cruise will do a pretty good job of detecting people with Delta- at least so far that has been the cases on cruises since the summer.  Omicron is so much more infectious (and antigen tests less reliable).  Even if it is the case that Omicron will be less severe, any positive test will disrupt your cruise.  And ports might be closed to the ship. 

[firefly333]

3 minutes ago, D4 said:

Are you trying to find 4 cabins near each other?  If so, you should call Royal because they can see ALL the cabins that are available.  The website just shows a small portion of the available cabins and they randomly show different available cabins.  Just because a specific cabin no longer appears in your search result doesn’t mean that it is no longer available.

 

However, be aware that some people have been sent emails that they are being moved to a different cabin than the one they booked due to social distancing.  So one or more of your cabins could end up getting moved.

If there are only 2, I think I am seeing what is available. Anything less than 5.

 

I'd like to have the same cabin but not showing. I do have a excellent ta. 

[Morecruisesplz]

1 hour ago, Crazy planning mom said:

Your January 20th cruise should be less crowded and therefore safer.

It's the crew who are sick and spreading covid. Passengers get it from them. 

[orville99]

10 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I'd like to have the same cabin but not showing. I do have a excellent ta. 

Keep checking. We had the same problem on our July B2B and then one day the cabin we had booked on the first leg just popped up as available on the second leg.