Healthy Sail Report - Serenade of the Seas Dec. 6-10 ‘21 Everybody has been asking me how is it to sail again? To answer that question, we boarded the Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas from Tampa, Florida on December 6, 2021 and sailed to Nassau Bahamas. Cruising has changed as we adapt to Covid-19 but I am happy to report that we are indeed sailing in a healthy fashion as we learn to adapt. I am also happy to announce that cruising has changed very little as a result of covid protocols, we are still an exciting getaway at sea that provides great value. Serenade is one of the ships that has run a covid simulation so they are sailing 95% vaccinated. The exemptions appear to be people who are unable to take a covid vaccine for medical reasons and also a few young children that we have onboard. We all are wearing blue armbands once we have verified our vaccination status with the cruise line. Only those with the armbands can enter the V=vaccinated venues. Masks are required inside in the common areas of the ship. Bill our cruise director has been describing it as anytime you are inside between a vaccinated venue you required to mask up. You are not required to mask in restaurants when you are actively eating or drinking but you need one to go up to the buffet in Windjammer. Port of Tampa required them inside the terminal building but masks are not required in outside areas. My sales rep. told me the other day that Royal has had only 41 active cases at this point and they have sailed almost half a million people including the European sailings this summer. We will be allowed to exit the ship in Nassau Bahamas and do our own thing since we are both vaccinated and tested to board the ship. If you are unvaccinated, you are required by the Bahamas government to take a cruise line sponsored shore excursion. Speaking of that, we had to show our shot cards as we have a single shot of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and we did a drive through covid test at Walgreens on Saturday which was two days prior to departure on the ship. The entire staff is masked up 100% to keep guests safe and the entire ship staff is also vaccinated 100%. Tables are socially distanced with signage and each one has a little Plexiglas block that says sanitized on one side and do not use on the other. The socially distanced tables are marked table unavailable with a permanent sign. The biggest change was the buffets which now operate more like an old-fashioned cafeteria. Some of the items are “grab and go” like salads but entrees are served by the staff so nobody handles the serving utensils. We wear a mask to enter the restaurant where they scan our shipboard id card upon entrance and exit. We suspect that will facilitate “contact tracing” if we get a case onboard. Other salads, the cheese board, pasta station and even the dessert station are served to you. Last night when we went to the Tropical Theater for show time we were required mask up on the way in and out plus we exited the theater in groups so we weren’t crowded in the hallway from the theater. The theater was only about half full for the welcome show/comedian but the night we went to see the production show, we exited the theater as it was too crowded for our taste, even though it was a fully vaccinated venue. In the evening when we go into Main Dining you mask up in the hallways on the way to the restaurant and while you are making your way to the seat. The main dining is separated into fully vaccinated on deck 4 and unvaccinated on deck 5. The Tropical Theater last night was fully vaccinated and many other venues are labeled V for vaccinated. Below is a list of all the vaccinated (V) and everyone (E) venues on Serenade of the Seas: Vaccinated only Everyone Main Dining (Deck 4) Main Dining (deck 5) Chef’s Table Restaurant Schooner Bar Casino Windjammer Marketplace Crown and Castle Pub Rita’s Bar R-Bar Sky Bar Safari Club Park Cafe Solarium Bar Chops Grille Vintages Wine Bar Giovanni’s Table Vortex Nightclub Izumi Sushi Bar Vitality Spa Read the Royal Caribbean/NCL Healthy Sail Report - Aug. 2020 The crew on Royal Caribbean is very motivated to stay safe while cruising and keep guests safe while at sea. First of all, the entire staff is good about keeping their masks on while working. I cannot remember a time that I saw anybody from the staff (including seaman) not wearing a mask in public areas where they come in contact with the guests. As one dining room captain told me, we are careful as we are still on this vessel when you guys disembark this week so we are super careful about keeping it off the boat. The Healthy Sail report which was written by Dr. Scott Gottlieb’s and Dr. Michael Osterholm’s team did a great job dissecting the cruise experience and working to establish protocols for keeping covid off the ship. Once you vaccinate 100% of the staff and 95% of the guests, you immediately reduce spread but also now we are Antigen (instant) testing within 2 days of departure so that further reduces cases onboard. We noticed regular cleaning that stems from past reduction of norovirus including hand railings, public bathrooms, table and deck chairs. Finally only 4 people (or your personal group) are allowed in an elevator and only 2 persons are allowed in a public bathroom at a time. As I have now traveled to Switzerland, France, Monaco, Sailed at Sea and visited Nassau Bahamas I would like to comment on traveling during a time of Covid. Most countries and especially tourism economies are pretty careful about covid mitigation. If you have read my past comments and info on covid, you will realize that I am a proponent of layers of mitigation including vaccination, boosters as needed, masking when you are inside and also in really crowded outside areas plus traveling with 70% alcohol in travel size bottles and wipes. We are careful about touching railings, tables and chairs so we frequently wash our hands when traveling. We travel with three levels of masks including a good white-listed kn95, cloth masks that can be washed and even a neck gaiter that can be used for sports activities and outside situations. I have already commented on this before but if masking up is the cost of me being able to travel the world while we eradicate covid then mask me up. Remember as you travel that outside is always safer than inside with covid spread so we tend to do as many outside venues as possible as we travel the world to lessen chance of inhaling droplets. I would like to add what we call a site inspection report on the end of this blog. Serenade of the Seas is a great sized ship with nice dining venues, a promenade deck for walking and very good food. The ship is smaller than Freedom, Quantum or Oasis class and usually holds 2490 passengers when fully loaded. We were only sailing with about 1040 passengers so the crew/passenger ratio was higher than usual and the service was very good. We particularly liked the outside area in Windjammer at the back of the ship, the Centrum Lounge was a nice place for evening entertainment as you could watch from deck 5 or 6 if deck 4 got too crowded. They set up decentralized entertainment points so they had individual performers like guitarists and piano players in various lounges. Our particular 4 night cruise included 2 sea days and a day in Nassau. I have come to learn to like sea days more and more as I cruise so this 4 night getaway was perfect with a couple of sea days and a stop in Nassau Bahamas which is unusual as most of the Tampa departures go to Cozumel. I have not been to Nassau, Bahamas in about ten years but the Bahamians have done a nice job with freshening up the tourism product on Bay Street and around the pier. We took the bus down to cable beach in the AM (the number 10 can be picked up on Frederick Street at the intersection of Bay street or at other stops along the way). If you tell the bus driver where you want to go, they will stop without an alert as they are aware that tourists do not know the lay of the land. It costs about 1.35B$ to take the bus but I always just throw three singles into the bucket as the Bahamian dollar is one to one with the US dollar so you are only paying about $1.50 US but keep in mind they do not offer any change. After stopping to see the new Bahamar Complex (SLS Hotel, Rosewood and Grand Hyatt). After walking around Baha Mar which is a beautiful 3 hotel complex and through the casino, we re-boarded a bus (pay again for each stop) and had the driver stop at Arawak Cay. Arawak Cay used to be little shacks doing fried fish, conch salad and occasionally if you were lucky you could find Caribbean lobster on a grill in season. Now they are formalized restaurants/bars serving full menus including a delicious lobster meal that we had at Goldies. It was good to see everyone evolve over the twenty years or so that we have been going there as they have even built overwater dining over conch shell islands built from years and years of conch salad. We had a sautéed Caribbean lobster for two with rice n peas, cole slaw and conch fritters with a few beers and it was only about $80. Lastly, as this is my second overseas trip since the pandemic started the last word I will say is tip your wait staff and cabin stewards! Even though you pay the basic gratuities, we travel with some extra ones and fives as nobody worked for almost two years, so everybody needs to send some remittances home to pay bills. You will be rewarded with great and enthusiastic service as it seems like a party out here since we are all traveling for the first time and everybody is happy to be back at work. As we are not fully booked you will get very attentive service and the service workers in the travel industry need your support as we get the travel industry back up and running. Get back out there, be safe and be careful as traveling is one of life’s rewards. To quote Louie Armstrong “what a wonderful world”.

Click the flyer thumbnail to get our latest Royal Caribbean price sheet.

Sauteed fresh Bahamas lobster & the view from Arawak Cay.

Healthy Sail Report Written somewhere in the Gulf Stream off of Florida Serenade of the Seas December 6-10, 2021 Everybody has been asking me how is it to sail again? To answer that question, we boarded the Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas from Tampa, Florida on December 6, 2021 and sailed to Nassau Bahamas. Cruising has changed as we adapt to Covid- 19 but I am happy to report that we are indeed sailing in a healthy fashion as we learn to adapt. I am also happy to announce that cruising has changed very little as a result of covid protocols, we are still an exciting getaway at sea that provides great value. Serenade is one of the ships that has run a covid simulation so they are sailing 95% vaccinated. The exemptions appear to be people who are unable to take a covid vaccine for medical reasons and also a few young children that we have onboard. We all are wearing blue armbands once we have verified our vaccination status with the cruise line. Only those with the armbands can enter the V=vaccinated venues. Masks are required inside in the common areas of the ship. Bill our cruise director has

been describing it as anytime you are inside between a vaccinated venue you required to mask up. You are not required to mask in restaurants when you are actively eating or drinking but you need one to go up to the buffet in Windjammer. Port of Tampa required them inside the terminal building but masks are not required in outside areas. My sales rep. told me the other day that Royal has had only 41 active cases at this point and they have sailed almost half a million people including the European sailings this summer. We will be allowed to exit the ship in Nassau Bahamas and do our own thing since we are both vaccinated and tested to board the ship. If you are unvaccinated, you are required by the Bahamas government to take a cruise line sponsored shore excursion. Speaking of that, we had to show our shot cards as we have a single shot of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and we did a drive through covid test at Walgreens on Saturday which was two days prior to departure on the ship. The entire staff is masked up 100% to keep guests safe and the entire ship staff is also vaccinated 100%. Tables are socially distanced with signage and each one has a little Plexiglas block that says sanitized on one side and do not use on the other. The socially distanced tables are marked table unavailable with a permanent sign. The biggest change was the buffets which now operate more like an old-fashioned cafeteria. Some of the items are “grab and go” like salads but entrees are served by the staff so nobody handles the serving utensils. We wear a mask to enter the restaurant where they scan our shipboard id card upon entrance and exit. We suspect that will facilitate “contact tracing” if we get a case onboard. Other salads, the cheese board, pasta station and even the dessert station are served to you. Last night when we went to the Tropical Theater for show time we were required mask up on the way in and out plus we exited the theater in groups so we weren’t crowded in the hallway from the theater. The theater was only about half full for the welcome show/comedian but the night we went to see the production show, we exited the theater as it was too crowded for our taste, even though it was a fully vaccinated venue. In the evening when we go into Main Dining you mask up in the hallways on the way to the restaurant and while you are making your way to the seat. The main dining is separated into fully vaccinated on deck 4 and unvaccinated on deck 5. The Tropical Theater last night was fully vaccinated and many other venues are labeled V for vaccinated. Below is a list of all the vaccinated (V) and everyone (E) venues on Serenade of the Seas: Vaccinated only Everyone Main Dining (Deck 4) Main Dining (deck 5) Chef’s Table Restaurant Schooner Bar Casino Windjammer Marketplace (outdoor tables are available) Crown and Castle Pub Rita’s Bar R-Bar Sky Bar Safari Club Park Cafe Solarium Bar Chops Grille Vintages Wine Bar Giovanni’s Table Vortex Nightclub Izumi Sushi Bar Vitality Spa The crew on Royal Caribbean is very motivated to stay safe while cruising and keep guests safe while at sea. First of all, the entire staff is good about keeping their masks on while working. I cannot remember a time that I saw anybody from the staff (including seaman) not wearing a mask in public areas where they come in contact with the guests. As one dining room captain told me, we are careful as we are still on this vessel when you guys disembark this week so we are super careful about keeping it off the boat. The Healthy Sail report which was written by Dr. Scott Gottlieb’s and Dr. Michael Osterholm’s team did a great job dissecting the cruise experience and working to establish protocols for keeping covid off the ship. Once you vaccinate 100% of the staff and 95% of the guests, you immediately reduce spread but also now we are Antigen (instant) testing within 2 days of departure so that further reduces cases onboard. We noticed regular cleaning that stems from past reduction of norovirus including hand railings, public bathrooms, table and deck chairs. Finally only 4 people (or your personal group) are allowed in an elevator and only 2 persons are allowed in a public bathroom at a time. As I have now traveled to Switzerland, France, Monaco, Sailed at Sea and visited Nassau Bahamas I would like to comment on traveling during a time of Covid. Most countries and especially tourism economies are pretty careful about covid mitigation. If you have read my past comments and info on covid, you will realize that I am a proponent of layers of mitigation including vaccination, boosters as needed, masking when you are inside and also in really crowded outside areas plus traveling with 70% alcohol in travel size bottles and wipes. We are careful about touching railings, tables and chairs so we frequently wash our hands when traveling. We travel with three levels of masks including a good white-listed kn95, cloth masks that can be washed and even a neck gaiter that can be used for sports activities and outside situations. I have already commented on this before but if masking up is the cost of me being able to travel the world while we eradicate covid then mask me up. Remember as you travel that outside is always safer than inside with covid spread so we tend to do as many outside venues as possible as we travel the world to lessen chance of inhaling droplets. I would like to add what we call a site inspection report on the end of this blog. Serenade of the Seas is a great sized ship with nice dining venues, a promenade deck for walking and very good food. The ship is smaller than Freedom, Quantum or Oasis class and usually holds 2490 passengers when fully loaded. We were only sailing with about 1040 passengers so the crew/passenger ratio was higher than usual and the service was very good. We particularly liked the outside area in Windjammer at the back of the ship, the Centrum Lounge was a nice place for evening entertainment as you could watch from deck 5 or 6 if deck 4 got too crowded. They set up decentralized entertainment points so they had individual performers like guitarists and piano players in various lounges. Our particular 4 night cruise included 2 sea days and a day in Nassau. I have come to learn to like sea days more and more as I cruise so this 4 night getaway was perfect with a couple of sea days and a stop in Nassau Bahamas which is unusual as most of the Tampa departures go to Cozumel. I have not been to Nassau, Bahamas in about ten years but the Bahamians have done a nice job with freshening up the tourism product on Bay Street and around the pier. We took the bus down to cable beach in the AM (the number 10 can be picked up on Frederick Street at the intersection of Bay street or at other stops along the way). If you tell the bus driver where you want to go, they will stop without an alert as they are aware that tourists do not know the lay of the land. It costs about 1.35B$ to take the bus but I always just throw three singles into the bucket as the Bahamian dollar is one to one with the US dollar so you are only paying about $1.50 US but keep in mind they do not offer any change. After stopping to see the new Bahamar Complex (SLS Hotel, Rosewood and Grand Hyatt). After walking around Baha Mar which is a beautiful 3 hotel complex and through the casino, we re-boarded a bus (pay again for each stop) and had the driver stop at Arawak Cay. Arawak Cay used to be little shacks doing fried fish, conch salad and occasionally if you were lucky you could find Caribbean lobster on a grill in season. Now they are formalized restaurants/bars serving full menus including a delicious lobster meal that we had at Goldies. It was good to see everyone evolve over the twenty years or so that we have been going there as they have even built overwater dining over conch shell islands built from years and years of conch salad. We had a sautéed Caribbean lobster for two with rice n peas, cole slaw and conch fritters with a few beers and it was only about $80. Lastly, as this is my second overseas trip since the pandemic started the last word I will say is tip your wait staff and cabin stewards! Even though you pay the basic gratuities, we travel with some extra ones and fives as nobody worked for almost two years, so everybody needs to send some remittances home to pay bills. You will be rewarded with great and enthusiastic service as it seems like a party out here since we are all traveling for the first time and everybody is happy to be back at work. As we are not fully booked you will get very attentive service and the service workers in the travel industry need your support as we get the travel industry back up and running. Get back out there, be safe and be careful as traveling is one of life’s rewards. To quote Louie Armstrong “what a wonderful world”.

Click the flyer thumbnail to get our latest Royal Caribbean price sheet.

Sauteed fresh Bahamas lobster & the view from Arawak Cay. Pandemic travel ecapes are important for mental health.

Read the Royal Caribbean/NCL Healthy Sail Report - Aug. 2020