Royal Caribbean announces they're sailing to Alaska this July!

[ruadisneyfan2]

Alaska Cruises: Alaskan Wild Beauty | Royal Caribbean Cruises

With no foreign port stops.

 

[lorimay]

These are going to go fast.

Did you book?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

No. Currently, we are trying to pay down our mortgage as fast as possible. Also the week that I’m off work, we have a wedding to attend that we can’t miss. I am just thrilled to see ships sailing again from US ports and that the government CAN change/suspend the laws that say a foreign port stop is necessary.

 

[Snowwhyt]

Your not going understand why this makes me upset at first, but I really so very super happy about this.
I’ve said in the past that I’d love to have the opportunity for a port-less cruise. That the ship has an abundance of entertainment for me. Some People beat me down here saying NOBODY would ever be interested(I knew people would). One person frequently said the rules would never change, even after the pandemic came upon us and I mentioned I had hopes for a temp lift of the rule(I’ll put the name here once I remember it again)
Now I’m still hoping Disney would have one of these. I enjoyed their adult entertainment more over the Royal Caribbean sailing 2 years ago. Both the oldest and youngest members of our group were often offended at what they allowed as adult entertainment.
So, with the most optimistic heart I can muster during this pandemic, I hope we have a port-less(CC-maybe) 7 day Fantasy cruise on August 28th. It’s the only way I think we could still sail and not be canceled. And mayyybee we will sail, IF RC gets out I’m sure we will. Maybe. Possibly. Almost for sure, sort of…. I’ve had 4 canceled cruises my thoughts are all over the place. You get it right?

 

[bobbiwoz]

I am happy to see them planning to sail. We had moved this year’s Alaska sailing to next year. It’s on Princess and we are leaving it alone.

 

[sethschroeder]

One person frequently said the rules would never change, even after the pandemic came upon us and I mentioned I had hopes for a temp lift of the rule(I’ll put the name here once I remember it again)

I will say this is a terrible change by the US government unless they had other requirements on the cruiseship to obey and follow more labor laws pertaining to the US.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Your not going understand why this makes me upset at first, but I really so very super happy about this.
I’ve said in the past that I’d love to have the opportunity for a port-less cruise. That the ship has an abundance of entertainment for me. Some People beat me down here saying NOBODY would ever be interested(I knew people would). One person frequently said the rules would never change, even after the pandemic came upon us and I mentioned I had hopes for a temp lift of the rule(I’ll put the name here once I remember it again)
Now I’m still hoping Disney would have one of these. I enjoyed their adult entertainment more over the Royal Caribbean sailing 2 years ago. Both the oldest and youngest members of our group were often offended at what they allowed as adult entertainment.
So, with the most optimistic heart I can muster during this pandemic, I hope we have a port-less(CC-maybe) 7 day Fantasy cruise on August 28th. It’s the only way I think we could still sail and not be canceled. And mayyybee we will sail, IF RC gets out I’m sure we will. Maybe. Possibly. Almost for sure, sort of…. I’ve had 4 canceled cruises my thoughts are all over the place. You get it right?

I get it and I hope your cruise is finally able to sail. We had 3 of ours cancelled.
I just wanted to clarify that the RC Alaskan sailings are not portless; they do stop at several Alaskan ports but what has changed is the rule requiring at least one foreign stop. Now they can bypass Canada completely.

We sailed a 2-nt cruise to nowhere on the Magic out of NYC and it was still wonderful. I missed CC a little but it was a nice weekend spent with just ds 21, then 12.
I would completely love sailing from any US port with the only stop being CC. If the Bahamian locals would rather not provide services for excursions there (such as parasailing, jetskis, fishing, etc) I would still have a lovely day at CC without those things. Heck, several of our visits there have had all watersports cancelled due to strong wind so it’s no big deal to us.

 

[ldo]

Princess also.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I will say this is a terrible change by the US government unless they had other requirements on the cruiseship to obey and follow more labor laws pertaining to the US.

This will not happen without raising cruise fares to 10x their current cost so don’t hold your breath waiting.

 

[sethschroeder]

This will not happen without raising cruise fares to 10x their current cost so don’t hold your breath waiting.

That's fine I don't see that as an issue.

Plenty of things could be cheaper if businesses could just import labor and avoid requirements around minimum wage and labor laws.

Also a cruise that leaves Miami and spends only a couple hours in US waters is different than one making multiple stops in the US.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Alaska Cruises: Alaskan Wild Beauty | Royal Caribbean Cruises

With no foreign port stops.

Ummm.... Vancouver, as well as Victoria, are foreign ports. Has Canada opened up again for cruise ships?

 

[bcwife76]

Ummm.... Vancouver, as well as Victoria, are foreign ports. Has Canada opened up again for cruise ships?

Nope. I guess Royal hasn't gotten around to updating ALL of their website yet. I looked at the Bliss yesterday and it still lists Victoria as a stop in August Lots of tweaking is still needed for these cruises.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ummm.... Vancouver, as well as Victoria, are foreign ports. Has Canada opened up again for cruise ships?

No.
They won't be stopping at either of those ports. American ports only, from Seattle.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Royal Caribbean Group Announces Royal and Celebrity Cruise Ships Will Go To Alaska This Summer (cruisecritic.com)

 

[Snowwhyt]

I will say this is a terrible change by the US government unless they had other requirements on the cruiseship to obey and follow more labor laws pertaining to the US.

But it’s only until February of 2022. When our northern friends will re-examine our possible welcomed return to their country if we can show ourselves healthy enough to visit. I imagine, anyway.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

RCCL still has to meet the CDC standard though, so it seems premature outside the press release to assume these are happening absolutely.

Could they? Sure. Will they? We could start a betting pool easily enough.

 

[tidefan]

I am happy to see them planning to sail. We had moved this year’s Alaska sailing to next year. It’s on Princess and we are leaving it alone.

Which Princess ship are you on next year? We moved our 2021 Princess Alaska to 2022 as well!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

RCCL still has to meet the CDC standard though, so it seems premature outside the press release to assume these are happening absolutely.

Could they? Sure. Will they? We could start a betting pool easily enough.

It is more than just a press release. These cruises are available to book right now. If you click on the link I provided in my OP you will see.
Is it carved in stone and guaranteed to happen? Of course not. It is, however, a lot closer to reality than our DCL reservations that we keep pushing further out hoping that someday it will actually happen. It appears that RC is committed to do what needs to be done to be able to sail.
It's no different than DCL saying they're sailing the Magic out of Dover for UK residents. I'm inclined to believe that will happen too.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

It's no different than DCL saying they're sailing the Magic out of Dover for UK

I would argue that it is different because DCL has signoff from the British authorities, and RCCL does not have that from the CDC.

One interesting aside is that a lot of RCCL bookings have nonrefundable deposits. Which means you can move the deposit to a new cruise, but cannot get it back. So there is cash flow gain if these cruises book but don't float.

 

[randumb0]

The real question is the vaccine requirement. They will not have time to start in July if they want to go the test cruise route