A Cruising Update

As a blogger I sometimes write posts and post them right away. Other times I write them and save them to post later when I'm ready. And sometimes I write them and schedule them to be posted on a certain day and time.

Guess I should have been more aware of when yesterday's Ways to Keep Healthy on a Cruise was posting. Bad timing on my part. While I do believe those ways to keep healthy are valid no matter which germs are floating around, the current strain of Coronavirus is a wild card. So much is unknown, and the information out there is changing so fast it's hard to know what to do. Which leads me to an update on how COVID-19 is impacting cruises. Mine included. 

First, we have a dear crew member friend who is on the Grand Princess right now. (He was the one we were supposed to meet up with in Ensenada last month but their ship had to skip the port.) Since we didn't get to see him in Ensenada we were planning on a cruise to see him in May, but that won't be happening now. While the future cruises on the Grand (other than this week's) haven't been cancelled by the cruise line, I wouldn't be surprised if the ship is taken out of circulation for a while. Even if it wasn't, our buddy believes all crew contracts will be cut short and they'll be heading home. After a quarantine, period of course. I've been talking with him every day and I can hear fear in his voice. It's certainly a stressful times for all.

Then today we heard from two other crew members, one on the Royal Princess (the ship we just left) and the Regal Princess. Both ships have crew members who had transferred over from the Grand Princess. (Before anyone knew about COVID-19 on the Grand.) And now both ships are in a holding pattern. The Royal cancelled yesterday's cruise and the Regal cancelled today's. The Royal is empty of passengers and sitting at the dock in San Pedro but the Regal is offshore in Florida with a ship full of passengers needing to disembark. Without knowing what is happening next, it's more stressful times for all.

With everything happening, what did our crew members on those ships and other ships tell us? Again and again, they told us the same thing. Stay away from ships for a while. I gotta say, I trust crew members we've know for years over what I hear on TV or read on the Internet so we're following their advice. 

We're skipping our two cruises on the Star Princess, our two cruises on the Grand Princess, and the one cruise on the Coral Princess. There will be no March-April-May cruises for us this year. Many months ago we had already decided to skip Alaska this season so no June-July-August cruises, either. We're not giving up completely, though. We've gone ahead and booked several cruises for October and November this year. But if when the time comes we have crew members telling us not to go, we won't. 

It's a crazy time in the cruising world right now and things are changing day by day and sometimes hour by hour. We all need to do what we can to reduce risks of exposure, whether we are on a cruise ship or not. Be safe out there, and stay healthy!

Thank you to everyone who has been checking with us to see if we’re okay. We are home now, having left the Royal Princess not too long ago. We’re healthy and happy to be back home for a while.
~D

5 Ways to Keep Healthy on a Cruise Ship

As a frequent cruiser (88 cruises and counting!) I've picked up my share of germs on ships. Most cruises I come away A-OK. Other times it might be a sniffle or a cough or a good ol' cold. And then there are those times I wind up flu sick. Oh so very sick.

If you cruise enough, it's almost inevitable you'll pick up something at one time or another. You're exposed to new people coming from new places who may or may not use the same preventative measures that you do. You will find fellow passengers licking their fingers just before grabbing the tongs in the buffet. In the elevator you might find another choosing not to cover their cough. Any chance of seeing someone walking out of the bathroom without washing hands and then using the handrail as they go down the stairs? Yep.

While the cruise lines do what they can to encourage healthy practices and sanitize ship surfaces, it's really up to us as passengers to protect ourselves. Here are a few practices you may find helpful for keeping healthy on a cruise ship.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and am not dispensing medical advice. Instead I am sharing those practices I've found to be helpful in reducing my exposure to germs while cruising. This article was written before COVID really took hold, but whether we're talking pre-COVID times or post-COVID, these guidelines still hold true.

1. Wash your hands.

It should go without saying, but you'd be surprised by the number of people who don't wash them. Don't be one of them. Wash those hands thoroughly with soap and water any chance you get and definitely before eating and after using the restroom. And it certainly wouldn't hurt to wash them before using the restroom, either. Just happen to be walking by a sink on your way to somewhere else? Wash those hands!

2. Use hand sanitizer. A lot.

See one, use one!

Cruise ships have hand sanitizer stations all around the ship. Along with handwashing use these sanitizers after holding the handrails, after touching other surfaces, and before and after eating. Even with the abundance of hand sanitizer stations on the ship we still carry our own. We also take our pocket sized sanitizer in port as handwashing facilities may not be available.

3. Keep your distance.
From other people, that is. Heard of social distancing? Leave space between you and the next person whether you are in the theater,

You'll never find a theater this empty so be particular about where you sit.

in any of the dining locations,

 or even when you're in a line getting on or off the ship.

Walk slower or faster if you need to, but leave some space
between you and the next person.

4. Seek out fresh air.

Choose outside spaces over inside spaces whenever possible. Fresh air is always a good thing and is preferable over enclosed spaces.

5. Assume every surface isn't clean.
You know how they place paper towels by the restroom door so you can use the towel to open the handle instead of opening it with your bare hands? Think about other ways you can protect yourself from surfaces that might not be clean. You most likely won't be able to carry paper towels with you everywhere, but you can be mindful of what you're touching. Hand railings and restaurant menus. Door handles, chair backs, and table tops. Even think about your cabin. The steward cleans the surfaces but sometimes the stewards themselves are coming down with something so think about those light switches, telephone receiver, and the TV remote. By assuming everything is not clean, you will find yourself washing your hands, grabbing the hand sanitizer, and spraying your cabin with some disinfectant spray before ever touching your nose, mouth, or eyes.

While these five ways can't guarantee you won't get sick, I have found them to help me in staying well onboard.

Make Easter Egg Coasters from Fabric Scraps - Tutorial Tuesday

If you're looking for a homemade drink coaster idea for your Easter or spring decor, check out this how-to tutorial. These Easter Egg drink coasters are made from fabric scraps and sew up pretty quick. It's an easy Easter sewing project!

For this project you will need:

• Piece of backing fabric
• Piece of cotton batting
• Contrasting cotton fabric for stripes
• Cotton fabric for top and bottom
• Cotton fabric for middle
• Package of rick rack
• Egg template downloaded from here
• Iron
• Rotary cutter or scissors, optional pinking shears
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Glue stick

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

Now available in my Etsy store as a digital download with the written directions, step-by-step photos, printable template, and link to the tutorial video. Click to find out more!

Looking for something else? 

Check out some of my other Easter sewing and crafting projects!

Otherwise you can watch the tutorial video for the fabric scrap Easter Egg drink coasters sewing project right here:

Royal Princess February 2020 Wrap-Up

Sometimes I struggle with doing these cruise wrap-ups. I'll usually go back and see what I said on my previous wrap-ups and either try and write something different or new or exciting. Unfortunately, I happened to read my 2018 wrap-up before I started this one. Not the smartest idea.

Back then, on December 1, 2018 I wrote:
We had a great week on the Royal Princess and always love this itinerary. There were so many good things I don’t know where to start so I’ll just jump right in.

My, how times have changed. The itinerary is different (Caribbean then and Mexican Riviera now) and so is the experience on the ship. I guess that's what happens when you spend 72 days on the same ship within nine months time. The novelty wears off and the warts start to show.

Heck, we're not even done with this cruise yet and I'm ready to put it behind me. But as several of you have been asking how the new Medallion wrist band is working out, I need to you give an honest answer. First, I love the wrist band. It's flexible, it's stylish looking, lightweight, and much more comfortable than the sports band. Big plus there.

As for how well it's working? I still don't know what the deal is, but it took several tries to get it to scan as I was going on and off the ship today. And getting into the cabin? Well, after multiple trips to the Passenger Services Desk (I'm calling it what it is - a huge waste of my vacation time) and a Medallion reprint and hearing more than once there is nothing wrong with it, I still can't get into my cabin without waving my arms around the sensor. When I'm at the door I'm starting to look like a big ole' goose flapping some big ole' wings on takeoff.

Do you ever have one of those conversations where you feel like the person really isn't listening to what you are saying? I've had several of those conversations over these last three cruises, and obviously I'm not getting through to anyone because the most recent response from them was this:

Seriously, a cruise card? I don’t want a stinkin' cruise card. After 14 Medallion cruises and you're telling me I have to put my pretty new wristband away and stick a cruise card in my pocket instead? What the heck? Do you not know how much I really want the Medallion to work? How much time I've invested in making videos for other passengers, showing them how great it is? How I really believed it had great potential? (For everyone but me it seems. Mr. E, the anti-tech guy gets to breeze into the cabin just fine. No flapping wings required.)

It's not the Medallion update I wanted to give, but I guess it is what it is. I have three more days on the ship and while I'm crossing my fingers for a miraculous Medallion recovery, I'm not holding out much hope. 

Update: Finally after many more trips down to Guest Services over the past several days and begging and pleading and more begging and pleading they finally sent someone to the cabin last night. More Medallion reprints, the sensor panel taken apart, batteries checked in the door itself, and multiple system resets (I think it is what he called them) I can finally get into the cabin this morning. 

Except I no longer exist. Beggars can't be choosers, I guess. (And believe me, I was a beggar!)

Update to an update...

Now that I have a few days off the ship, my frustration and disappointed from the cruise is beginning to wane. (Sort of.) So let me share some of the better things we found happening around the ship.

Since one of the cruises occurred over Valentine's Day, our door panel was prettied up as was our TV screen.

 
You can now watch some of the on demand movies under the OceanView section of the MedallionClass app. I could only find a few and only on the app on my iPhone, not on my iPad app.

There is now a "deals" section in the OceanNow portion of the app. We found both drink and retail specials. The special drinks changed daily and were only $7 when ordered through the app. As the app gave me fits most of the cruise I hardly ever opened it so I didn't discover these until late in the cruise.

Other good stuff? We still had a good time, I pretty much finished the presentation for my upcoming Cruising with Confidence class, and we got ourselves a bit of a tan in the warmer-than-Idaho weather. And most importantly, we stayed healthy. 

We do have some other cruises coming up next month. (Not on the Royal Princess.) Not sure if I'll be blogging or not. If I do, I promise I'll work on keeping a positive attitude!

An Exciting New Ocean Medallion™ Accessory

I said if anything positive came up, I'd be back to share it. Well, something has.

If you remember when I was in Port Kelang, Malaysia back in December, there was a weird smoke smell in the air. With the number of factories nearby it wasn't too surprising.

Once we got home I started researching the area and found Port Kelang had a significant number of illegal plastic recycling factories - factories that many times just burned the plastic instead of recycling it. As I continued to find out more about the difficulties in recycling plastics, E and I made a decision to start working our way towards a zero waste household. We have oh-so-far to go, but we have made some changes in the right direction.

So when a special little package from Princess Cruises made its way to me on the Royal Princess today, I was quite excited.

You know I like my Ocean Medallion™ accessories. I've used the metal clip and the plastic clip. I've used the sports band. And now I'm using a brand-spankin' new band for my Medallion.

Made from ocean recycled plastics.

Yep, you heard me right. Princess has created the first wearable accessory in the world made from 100% ocean plastics.

100% recycled from all kinds of plastics collected from the coastlines and oceans. The plastic casing holding the Medallion is made from hard plastics like shampoo bottles and plastic containers.

And the wrist band? Two water bottles removed from the ocean are combined into fabrics to make one wrist band.

Can't tell it's from recycled water bottles, can you?

The bands are even numbered in increments of two to represent their impact. With a number of 0084 it looks like I'm an early adopter.

Thanks to Princess, I'm the first guest on a ship outside of Australia to get to try it out. There's so much more to tell you about it, but here's the shortened version:

I'll be using it for this seven day cruise and will let you know how it works out. I'll also work on finding out more details of when we can find these showing up for purchase on the MedallionClass™ ships in the US.

Such an exciting development for Ocean Medallion accessories!

If you have any questions about it, let me know and I’ll work on finding the answers. (I’m still learning about this new product myself!)