Oh, not at all! I prefer the lovely contrived precision of your percentages! 
Of course you are! 
I just wish everyone was pulling together on all fronts so we could get this pandemic legitimately behind us so those percentages could skyrocket.
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Why aren’t we?
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Self interest > collective interests
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Oh.
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Yes I know. I’ve been very disappointed to see huge crowds in the touristy places around here and mostly no masks. But, to be fair, Maryland has a huge percentage of vaccinated people. That is part of why I planned 2 fairly local trips (my solo one in a hotel room alone and then the beach a few hrs away). I really wish I felt safe enough to do the official funeral for the person who passed away last Sept but it’s in a state with a very low vaccination rate and I don’t feel comfortable doing a large gathering there yet. It’s looking like 2022 for that, also due to people’s disinterest in traveling yet.
True, I hadn’t seen it.
For testing purposes I just downloaded the French official COVID app and scanned in my two vaccination QR codes. I got a screen full of confetti and a congratulations notice that I now had the official pass. Woot.
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Hooray!
That’s insane. Do you get your money refunded??? What the heck is that about???
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I’m so jealous! I’ve been trying to figure out for days a way to get my darn vaccine info in there. No dice. I have 3 different pieces of paper but no QR codes. Folks on chat are trying to tell me that Paris is nothing but a hive of pickpockets but the ONLY thing I’m worried about getting stolen is my vaccine card. I’m not even kidding.
No. But it’s compulsory to have travel insurance that covers COVID. You have to show proof of it before you board.
So they are allowed to downgrade your cabin if you test positive mid trip. That’s obnoxious.
Steerage and all that.
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I don’t know. I was merely speculating. I know they have cabins reserved for people who test positive mid-cruise. I don’t know if they have a full range.
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Ooooo. Ok.
Why wouldn’t they just keep you in your own cabin?
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Because you have the plague. And they don’t want plague people near good people.
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Oh. Right. I forgot staterooms were made out of cheesecloth. 
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So, mousematt, you now depart in 3 weeks? I thought of you when I saw that Don of Don’s Family Vacations (you tube) is finally able to go on a cruise again, his first post pandemic. I soooooo want to go on a cruise but mine isn’t until next June. (With an unvaccinated DD9 at home I couldn’t take the risk at the moment.)
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I have mixed feelings about my cruise and I’ve read mixed reviews of it.
What first attracted it to me was the awesome YouTube video I saw of its maiden voyage. The ship is no less impressive now than it was then, but back then it only had 1,000 passengers. Now it’s nudging 3,000 and could be 4,000 by the time I get on board. Obviously it’s designed to accommodate that many, but I worry about it being crowded. I worry about it being that crowded during COVID times. I worry about the crew being ready to handle that huge increase in numbers.
On that latter point, for example, I read today of three and a half hour waits at the terminal before people were finally able to board. I’m irritated that I’ve paid extra for priority boarding but “because of COVID” they’re not doing it. I was allocated 11am. Then it randomly changed to 3pm. So I’m down four hours and a meal before I even start.
All this being said, the reviews of people’s onboard experiences have been almost entirely very positive.
I randomly decided today to make my pre-bookings. There’s no rush to do so. The necessity is that it’s cheaper if you do it in advance. I’d already paid for the drinks package upgrade — I can now drink whatever I want, including ridiculously expensive champagnes and spirits.
To that I added meals in two of the speciality restaurants — one a steakhouse, the other some kind of fusion restaurant that gets great reviews.
I also booked two excursions. One a tour of Belfast — I’ve never been to Northern Ireland and I’m very interested to do so. The second to Salisbury and, in particular, its cathedral.
There were many excursion options. However “because of COVID” you have to stay within the bubble of the group and many of them seem to be entirely coach bound. Lovely views — from the coach. The excursions were also reasonably expensive (from about $50 to $80 for three to four hours).
I also booked the non-streaming internet package — $70 for strictly one device. And the “fun pack” which cost about $100 but gives you $200 onboard credit for things like the bowling alley, Formula 1 simulator and virtual reality games.
I’m probably the right amount of excited about the cruise, which is to say not very excited so that I can only really be pleasantly surprised.
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The excursions on my cruise are similar. I’m doing 3, DH can’t do any because the coaches aren’t wheelchair accessible. I have caught your pessimism and I’m really scared we will get to the port and the tests will show we have covid.
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I’d forgotten I was worried about that. I’m kinda pre-isolating in the run-up to the trip. I cancelled my hairdresser (yes, I have someone dress my hair: I don’t look this good without professional intervention) which was a few days before the trip. I plan to go nowhere near any other human beings. Which won’t be super hard for me as I pretty much never do anyway.
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