What is the on-board experience like right now?

[time4u2go]

2 hours ago, Tatka said:

 

Really? We cruised 7 times since the restart and never worried about this.

It is not like there was any mass tests. We were slightly worried on B2B during this winter when we needed to test.

Same here. It doesn't stress me out at all. 

[PhillyFan33579]

I have been on 3 cruises in the last two months. Two things were consistent on all 3 ships. One, the cruise was at or over capacity based on double occupancy. Two, all 3 ships were definitely short on staff, especially bartenders and waiters. In general, the wait time when ordering a drink at a bar or food at the MDR and speciality restaurants has been longer than it was pre-COVID from my experience. Probably the only restaurant with service that was similar to pre-COVID days was Izumi. 
 

Despite these issues, I have had a great time on the 11 cruises I have been since last July and I am looking forward to the 8 cruises I have booked this year. 

[Tatka]

1 minute ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Despite these issues, I have had a great time on the 11 cruises I have been since last July and I am looking forward to the 8 cruises I have booked this year. 

 

I agree! Such a minor inconveniences comparing to no cruising due to Covid. We even flew twice to A/I in Mexico which we have not done since 2002! And bought RV van to keep our minds off of missing cruises (sold it when cruises started 🙂 )

[Tatka]

Just now, Tatka said:

 

I agree! Such minor inconveniences comparing to no cruising due to Covid. We even flew twice to A/I in Mexico which we have not done since 2002! And bought RV van to keep our minds off of missing cruises (sold it when cruises started 🙂 )

 

[PhillyFan33579]

44 minutes ago, cynt said:

I've cruised 4 times since the re-start, September, Christmas, Easter and May. Everything is back to normal. No mask, no segregation of vaccinated and not vaccinated, no wristbands, self serve in the buffets (I must admit I miss the servers serving everyone), jam packed elevators (LOL!), no social distancing, all the tables available in the Windjammer, No scanning in and out of Windjammer, chair hogs are back and everyone seems more relaxed and respects those who want to social distance and wear mask.

The one thing that isn’t back to normal is people are still catching COVID every cruise. From talking to crew members, at least a few people test positive on every cruise. Additionally, after every cruise I have been on I read posts from people who said they tested positive for COVID after the cruise. On the bright side, no one seems to get symptoms any worse than the flu. 

[Ocean Boy]

2 hours ago, PaddleAddict said:

Too bad the buffets are self serve again. I really liked not having to touch the utensils. 

Grab a spare napkin to handle the utensils. It really is no big deal.

[Tatka]

13 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

The one thing that isn’t back to normal is people are still catching COVID every cruise. From talking to crew members, at least a few people test positive on every cruise. Additionally, after every cruise I have been on I read posts from people who said they tested positive for COVID after the cruise. On the bright side, no one seems to get symptoms any worse than the flu. 

 

 Covid is much more spreadable, but much less dangerous now. 0 Covid will not happen.

 

 I think there are many more than just several cases on cruises, just people are not paying attention anymore.

 

 Deep down I wish this was a reaction from the beginning. I am originally from another country and they were behaving like this... and nothing extraordinary happened.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Tatka

[PhillyFan33579]

10 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

 Covid is much more spreadable, but much less dangerous now. 0 Covid will not happen.

 

 I think there are many more than just several cases on cruises, just people are not paying attention anymore.

 

 Deep down I wish this was a reaction from the beginning. I am originally from another country and they were behaving like this... and nothing extraordinary happened.

I think a lot more people are catching COVID both on ships and on land, but a lot of these people never get tested because their symptoms are not bad. A few months ago I got off a 7 day cruise with what I thought was a minor cold. I didn’t think twice about it until literally a few dozen people from the cruise posted they tested positive when they got home. I decided to get tested, which was positive, although I would have never tested without what turned out to be the virus going around the ship. 

[Big_G]

15 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I think a lot more people are catching COVID both on ships and on land, but a lot of these people never get tested because their symptoms are not bad. A few months ago I got off a 7 day cruise with what I thought was a minor cold. I didn’t think twice about it until literally a few dozen people from the cruise posted they tested positive when they got home. I decided to get tested, which was positive, although I would have never tested without what turned out to be the virus going around the ship. 

 

It doesn't help that testing has been unreliable. I had it back in January. Had a scratchy throat but home test was negative. I need documentation for work so got tested again the same day at a center and it was positive. My wife had worse symptoms and it took 3 days and 4 tests to show up.

[BNBR]

On 6/21/2022 at 7:18 AM, smokeybandit said:

Onboard experience is almost back to normal other than the constant stress of being thrown in covid jail

 

It's pretty obvious COVID is rampant on the ships.  Everyone is hacking and coughing everywhere.  Nobody admits to it, so nobody ends up in covid jail.  Probably why the crew still mask. 

[Tatka]

9 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

It's pretty obvious COVID is rampant on the ships.  Everyone is hacking and coughing everywhere.  Nobody admits to it, so nobody ends up in covid jail.  Probably why the crew still mask. 

 

   Not really. Nothing is different from pre-Covid times (we sail 5 times throughout the year since 2016). This year there was more coughing in January (Anthem), but nothing really in March (Enchantment) or June (Oasis) .

 

   I do not think ships are much different than other places, it is just people do not test in regular time anymore. We had positive people after our latest cruise. Most of them only found out they were positive after they tested at home (no symptoms). Others had light symptoms.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Tatka

[smokeybandit]

20 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

It's pretty obvious COVID is rampant on the ships.  Everyone is hacking and coughing everywhere.  Nobody admits to it, so nobody ends up in covid jail.  Probably why the crew still mask. 

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there are other things in the world besides covid that cause people to cough.

And the crew masks because they have to, not because they want to.

[BNBR]

2 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there are other things in the world besides covid that cause people to cough.

And the crew masks because they have to, not because they want to.

 

Except when everyone you know tests positive for COVID on the ship, and it's the same hacking cough everyone else on the ship has...

 

As for crew masks, that's my point.  The cruise line knows the ship is full of covid carriers. So the crew use tight fitting, KN95 masks still - as they are required to test and they don't want all their crew comign down with it.  If the ships were covid free as they pretend to be, the crew wouldn't have any need for the masks...

[BNBR]

duplicate

Edited June 22, 2022 by BNBR

[F27TW]

2 hours ago, Tatka said:

   Actually I witnessed some weird scene. I was riding elevator on Oasis several weeks ago. Now people rarely adhere to Covid rules about 4-6 people in elevator (rules are not even posted I think). So there was one lady who did not like that someone who was #9 entered elevator. She started screaming at him demanding to leave... But that was only one nuisance out of 7 days cruise.

 

... and did he?   i hope he just laughed and pointed at her.

 

[Mum2Mercury]

2 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

The one thing that isn’t back to normal is people are still catching COVID every cruise. From talking to crew members, at least a few people test positive on every cruise. Additionally, after every cruise I have been on I read posts from people who said they tested positive for COVID after the cruise. On the bright side, no one seems to get symptoms any worse than the flu. 

With THOUSANDS of people on a ship, this is bound to happen.  

[Mum2Mercury]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Grab a spare napkin to handle the utensils. It really is no big deal.

That's a good idea.  I was also thinking of bringing small bottles of hand sanitizer /sanitizing at the table AFTER using the shared utensils.  

[PhillyFan33579]

3 hours ago, Tatka said:

   Actually I witnessed some weird scene. I was riding elevator on Oasis several weeks ago. Now people rarely adhere to Covid rules about 4-6 people in elevator (rules are not even posted I think). So there was one lady who did not like that someone who was #9 entered elevator. She started screaming at him demanding to leave... But that was only one nuisance out of 7 days cruise.

When I was on Harmony recently the elevators were packed. The rules were still posted but no one followed them. I don’t think anyone cared about not following them, although obviously I can’t speak for every passenger on the ship. 

[Tatka]

24 minutes ago, F27TW said:

 

... and did he?   i hope he just laughed and pointed at her.

 

 

 He left. People voiced displeasure, but it was late. Everyone was shocked at first.

[Tatka]

18 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

That's a good idea.  I was also thinking of bringing small bottles of hand sanitizer /sanitizing at the table AFTER using the shared utensils.  

 

They will give you a small bottle.

Also sanitizers are everywhere.

[Nick67]

We were on the Oasis the month of March and jumped on the Wonder for a week. We just got off the Oasis leaving from New Jersey. The ships are over capacity. Elevators are packed, absolutely no social distancing. Most of the days you couldn’t get in the pools because they were packed. Lifeguards don’t enforce capacity rules. I think they are more full than pre Covid. Love to cruise but I’ll wait awhile before I go again. 

[Ocean Boy]

18 minutes ago, Nick67 said:

We were on the Oasis the month of March and jumped on the Wonder for a week. We just got off the Oasis leaving from New Jersey. The ships are over capacity. Elevators are packed, absolutely no social distancing. Most of the days you couldn’t get in the pools because they were packed. Lifeguards don’t enforce capacity rules. I think they are more full than pre Covid. Love to cruise but I’ll wait awhile before I go again. 

That would seem to indicate that RCI is not as concerned about covid on the ships as some here would suggest.

[Nick67]

20 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

That would seem to indicate that RCI is not as concerned about covid on the ships as some here would suggest.

The problem is from what I read on cruise critic is the vast majority of people don’t want any restrictions. They are happy returning to cruising as if there is no problem. Royal Caribbean is playing to that hand. If cruisers want that, I respect that. I’m not forced to go but I think in the long run it will hurt their bottom line. They want to make as much as they can till the next variant. 

[Ocean Boy]

15 minutes ago, Nick67 said:

The problem is from what I read on cruise critic is the vast majority of people don’t want any restrictions. They are happy returning to cruising as if there is no problem. Royal Caribbean is playing to that hand. If cruisers want that, I respect that. I’m not forced to go but I think in the long run it will hurt their bottom line. They want to make as much as they can till the next variant. 

And what has the trend in varients been so far?

[Tatka]

17 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

That would seem to indicate that RCI is not as concerned about covid on the ships as some here would suggest.

 

 And they are right. I see absolutely the same situation in my state of MA. There are no signs of Covid. Usually pandemic/academic lasts about 2 years. 2 years are up. Current covid is in the same league as a flu. If someone is worried, get vaccinated. Otherwise live your life.