twangster

I believe testing in the terminal would occur in some cases during secondary screening, but not for all guests arriving at the pier. As stated in the report, the desire is to avoid people who are positive from traveling to the embarkation point (Terminal). If testing is done at the terminal then other guests are potentially exposed. If testing is done at home before leaving for the terminal then anyone with a positive test result can avoid going to the terminal which reduces opportunity for spread to other guests during the check in process.

Likely depends a great deal on what's happening in NJ and the surrounding communities including across the river in NY. Anthem's drive market includes several nearby states so if the larger area is experiencing issues related to the virus it's unlikely the Port Authority of NJ and NY will green light the Cape Liberty cruise port. I could see some winter challenges if they have to stop the practice of queueing guests in a waiting area inside the terminal. On a nice day it's easy enough to walk over to the Tear Drop Memorial so it's got that much going for it compared to some FL ports like Port Everglades that isn't very friendly for walking around near the terminal.

As I look back and relive early February I was on Ovation of the Seas to New Zealand. When I boarded on Feb. 2nd in Sydney the news was all about the wildfires in Australia. Sydney was in the midst of celebrating the Lunar Festival for the Chinese new year. I first learned about the virus and the outbreak on the Diamond Princess while I sailed around New Zealand. As the cruise progressed discussion of the virus started to be heard around the ship more and more. I enjoyed many conversations in the Concierge Lounge with the concierge. She is from China. She had one more cruise left in her contract and had been onboard for months. The ship started to take the temperature of the crew numerous times during the cruise. They were looking for signs and symptoms of the virus. Near the end of the cruise she told me her mother told her not to go home to China, it was too dangerous. She didn't know what she was going to do and she was trying to extend her contract. It was the mention that ship crew were having their temperature taken on a periodic basis and the timing of the cruise in early February that now comes back to me with greater meaning. What occurs to me now is how Royal Caribbean was taking steps in response to the virus long before this country even started to take notice. At least one cruise line did a better job in the early days of the virus than the U.S.A. did. It wasn't really until early March that the U.S. woke up to the reality of the virus. The response was to panic buy toilet paper. It's easy for the media to point the finger at cruise ships. They are a faceless object. The U.S.A isn't alone with having a slow response to the virus. Many countries around the world were slow to respond. So while the virus was spreading in places like churches and schools around the world somehow cruise ships were supposed to know what the rest of the world did not. For a journalist pointing a finger at churches is a résumé generating event, better not go there. Taking crew temperatures appears to be a minor step yet in hindsight it shows Royal Caribbean had taken notice of the virus and were doing something in response to the virus at least a month before many countries around the world did. The media will never report that.

Somewhere between Northeast PA and the Delaware River in NJ.

Here in a landlocked state a senior bridge tournament on February 29 killed 13 and infected dozens more. Contact tracing did not show any cruise ship history. Cruise ships made the world wide news, the seniors who died made the local news. The entire COVID-19 disaster in the NYC area occurred from spread on airplanes from Europe in February and March leading to the spring outbreak. Did the virus spread on cruise ships? Yes. Did the virus spread in churches, schools, airplanes, buses, trains, restaurants, bars and so on? Yes. That's what this virus does - it spreads anywhere that people gather. Yet the media continues to focus on cruise ships because it generates clicks and ad revenue.

Thinking a bit more about this... I wouldn't do a river cruise just because Royal started offering them. I like C&A points as much as everyone else but not that much. It might fit better under the Azamara brand. "Azamara River Cruises" even sounds better. They are better at small ships and it fits their model better unless some other brand is built or acquired for the concept. It doesn't seem to fit RCI so I doubt C&A points would be on the table.

That means no more shoveling snow!

The last horn. Another view of Imagination's arrival with an interesting perspective of what happens when ships scrape each other.

They could lower labor costs and flag overseas as long as they had a stop in Canada.

Cindy Friedman is the experienced epidemiologist who leads the CDC’s cruise ship task force. She believes during this pandemic cruise ships created a “huge strain” on the country. “Nobody should be going on cruise ships during this pandemic, full stop,” she says. Part of the problem, she says, is that cruises are often populated with people at greater-than-average risk for the disease. Crew members sleep in bunk beds and usually share bathrooms. “If these ships had stopped sailing, our large team could all be working on helping states and local public health authorities with their community outbreaks,” she says. The CDC doesn't care about the jobs or the economic impact of the cruise industry. The CDC doesn't want to be bothered by the cruise industry right now or for several years to come. They are solely focused on the pandemic and plan to be for the foreseeable future long after a vaccine is first available right up until the pandemic is completely over and we are past it. Only then will the CDC allow cruise ships to sail, unless someone else intervenes. Think about it. When can we look in the rear view mirror and say the pandemic has been defeated? Only once we are past it will we know we are past it. That won't happen when a vaccine is first released. That won't happen when the vaccine is generally available. We won't know the pandemic is over until it is over and that might not be for several years to come. That's not to say that life won't begin to return to normal before then, but we won't know with certainty it's over until it is over. Only then can we declare it's been eradicated. That is when the CDC wants to allow cruise ships to sail again and without intervention, not a day before.

I suspect they are looking at all ships and where they are right now compared to where the cruise season will be relative to a full restart. That has changed. What they knew a month ago is different than the view today. It makes little sense to send a ship across ocean(s) empty to fulfil a partial cruise season at reduced capacity. It would cost significant sums of money to send all ships to where they all need to be. The smarter move may be to redeploy more ships closer to where they are right now given a full restart won't be for some time after an initial restart. Some ships are already close to where they need to be. The list above may need to be revised to include more ships that fall into this scenario rather than the few listed above.

Many are this way but perhaps a new player like Royal could introduce another option. Time and again people express the desire to do their excursions. I don't want to pay for excursions that don't interest me. If they are included you do pay for them and have to choose from their menu of excursions. That may work for some but thinking beyond the pandemic I don't want to be forced to sit on a boring bus ride because it is the least undesirable excursion option available.

I suppose we can give these elected leaders credit for waiting and hoping the CDC would engage more actively on this issue. Now that they (and we) have seen that doesn't seem to be happening this may also be an attempt to get their attention. For me when I saw lead of the CDC cruise ship task force make statements about the situation I realized the CDC doesn't want cruising to restart. Perhaps that is when these two Senators realized there is no relief in sight for their constituents impacted by the shut down. Unfortunately the CDC is under attack from other directions as well so this bill may not rise to the level that they pay any attention to it.

Both are of interest to me. The cost of Mississippi cruising has so far been beyond my budget for the perceived value for the type of cabin I researched. I assumed that was due to an all-American workforce. I'd rather sail Star Class on the ocean or do a rail journey across Western Canada for that kind of money. I'd like to do the Mississippi but the price would need to come down before I consider it further. Europe river cruising is very interesting to me. Family have done many and love it. I think it's a great way to experience Europe to a much greater extent than you can on a Med. cruise. I've come to appreciate the value that ocean cruising on mass cruise lines has become compared to small ship river cruising although the service and on board experience is very different so that isn't a fair comparison.

The closure is through Canada's Thanksgiving (on Oct. 12) to October 21, 2020.

Border to be kept closed through the Canadian Thanksgiving, through to Oct. 21.

Since that time they seem to be more eager to retain customer deposits so that might open up xfers beyond conventional L&S. Never hurts to ask. Foy my CF they refused moving to anything other than Liberty and they ended up having to refund me. Perhaps they realized that wasn't the best outcome for them...

For the average cruise in a standard cabin it's easier to address this concern. For more unique and special cabins it most likely varies on a case by case basis. This isn't a done deal. This could have been something from weeks ago that someone neglected to remove from an autopost when the idea was nixed. Time will tell. What you can do is begin exploring alternatives just in case it does come to pass. This way you'll have a head start over other cruisers should this be announced soon.

Can't do any better than @tonyfsu21 drone shots! (not sure why they aren't showing up)

Are you talking about the one at the aft of the ship? If so there are vents in that stack that I've heard are for venting certain galleys.

If this is how people are learning they carry a viral infection it's probably a good thing they booked a cruise. Otherwise they would be in their community spreading the disease without ever knowing. Once they know they are infected they can stop putting other people at risk, address their health condition in isolation and hopefully recover. Otherwise it's sort of like saying we should just stop testing people because no one wants to find out they have it.

Umm. It's not like NCL just added a new sailing. That same article could be written about many cruise lines. Carnival and Royal Caribbean both have sailings in November they plan to operate as soon as the CDC order expires. They all have sailings they plan to operate in November except Disney who cancelled through early December.

I believe the two senators are U.S. Senators working in Washington. They are from Florida but currently work at the federal level. The bill if passed would apply at the federal level.

Most people sailing P&O in the Caribbean are fly in guests from the UK so it makes sense. With UK travel restrictions it's unlikely many Brits are planning to fly to America or the Caribbean to vacation this winter.

One the key takeaways for me is the idea that the CDC would no longer have exclusive control of the cruise industry. At the moment the CDC does have singular control with no check or balance from any other component of government. They are "king" of the cruise industry. Whatever the king says is the law of the land. Under the proposed bill the CDC would be one of many agencies providing input to the panel but the CDC wouldn't be the sole decision maker, the panel can make a balanced, informed decision, at least in theory. The CDC has stated that one concern and reason for the no sail order is that cruise ships requires resources of the CDC and other agencies at a time when these resources could otherwise be focused on American communities. The Vessel Sanitation Program or VSP normally involves large numbers of CDC resources that implement and manage the VSP program. With the cruise industry shut down these resources at the CDC have been redeployed in the field or retasked so they are focused on COVID-19. That sounds great but it amounts to shutting down an industry because the CDC doesn't have enough resources to fulfil its mandate. The danger with this reallocation of resources within the CDC is that it will keep the cruise industry shuttered indefinitely. It could take years after a vaccine is available before all American communities no longer need the resources of the CDC to the extent they do today. If the cruise industry remains shut down through 2023 or 2024 it will be dead. If the cruise industry was lost forever the CDC would be fine with that as they would be able to focus exclusively on the American people on a long term basis. At the moment the CDC has the power to kill an industry and with it all the jobs and economic impact associated with that industry. No one can stop them, this is within their power today. This bill would wrestle that power and control away from the CDC bringing balance to the process.