Morganno

On 2/26/2020 at 6:43 PM, PG Cruiser said:

  They'll argue that the open window on the 11th deck of the Freedom made the accident possible.

Better not tell them about the balconies on the 12th deck then 

Good they are testing to avoid having to stop sailing.

ok anyone have any idea when they will post the new sailings online?

If I were in charge I would make no announcements until the sailings were posted. 

I'm not searching every day it's ridiculous. Was about to book but will now wait and see. 

ok has their website been updated I was looking at harmony from Barcelona in May it still shows the same cruises? 

Adventure of the seas is showing no cruises from Barcelona at the moment.

On 9/2/2020 at 4:09 PM, JLMoran said:

Assuming it's ultimately the 5-minute rapid test that was announced recently, I imagine that the cost of the test will be bundled into the cruise fare of every passenger. I'm also hopeful that the cost of that test will be in line with that of a home pregnancy test or other OTC rapid-result test.

I wasn't talking about the test.

If I pay $4000 for a weeks cruise from Barcelona and turn up at port to be denied boarding and have to arrange a quick flight home or 2 week's hotel quarantine my insurance won't cover it.

If they start testing before boarding this is  a red flag for me as I cannot be stuck in a foreign country.

On 8/26/2020 at 4:22 PM, Mike.s said:

It's the way forward, test all the passengers before they board the ship, Costa are doing the same when they recommence sailing

No insurance will cover this.

On 8/10/2020 at 8:52 PM, Tanner said:

With respect to everyone having differing opinions on when and how cruising should resume, does anyone think the cruise industry generally figures they get one and only one shot at a return or do you think the industries believes they can make adjustments on the fly?  

It also seems hard to get a consensus on what people would consider "successful" in terms of the result of the first few cruises.  Is the industry being held hostage to unobtainable results?  

Would love to hear your feedback.  

TUI flights Zante (Greece) to Cardiff (Wales) had 7 with corona virus positive cases, mask wearing wasn't complied with and the staff were not enforcing their rules.

Massive media coverage all over the UK and in Europe about this. 

TUI are still operating flights nothing has changed.

If cruise lines get a few cases I shouldn't see why this would change a future cruise the next week. 

Like other (rare) norovirus cases I don't see that anything should change even with a few cases onboard (in isolation) 

@Jason12  Do you have to include the flights with the initial booking or can you phone them up to add flights later? 

Sorry for the questions and thanks for taking the time to answer. 

PS I love the photo with homer.  

5 minutes ago, Jason12 said:

We’ve used RC air to the Spain, Italy and the US many times mainly with jet2, Virgin and BA and live in the UK and others from other euro countries have done the same, no upfront payment etc All done over the phone since the online option was removed  

Thanks Jason that's great news did you phone the UK number or a US agent? 

Just look and RC's air travel is only for US and CA residents.

For my flight next year Brussels to Barcelona none of the airlines flying the route offer any cancellation refunds or vouchers unless you take business class or fully flexible.

Could book though and take a credit on my deposit if i couldn't find the flights?

Doesn't matter it's not for European customers.

What is the air2sea department?

There website doesn't offer included flights does it or is it only shown when you have booked the cruise?

I'm in the same position I want to book a good priced cruise for next year but I don't want to take expensive non-refundable flights in case the cruise doesn't sail. 

It's the first time I've heard of RC booking flights.

thanks,

John

check out this guy.

If you watch on PC you can choose for it to auto translate CC into English, which it does fairly well, abeit with some really funny mistakes but you can get the most of it.

Thanks to @Neaxan for posting it a few weeks ago. Seems like he's also doing river cruises. 

I follow several vloggers doing theme parks as well and not one of them has caught the disease despite being in Florida AND visiting themeparks daily. What does that mean for me?

Well it means when you have situations which are controlled and protocols in place the mitigation of this virus is possible. Cruise ships are the ultimate controlled environment.

Me too but I have a very risk averse family.

Good news. 

I wonder how many actually quarantine when visiting places. There have been several reports of people visiting Ireland and still doing tourist things despite supposedly being in quarantine sadly.

The general non cruising public still think of cruises as petri dishes.

Sure even before this pandemic most of my non-cruising friends have cited health issues when deciding not to cruise despite me explaining the fact that outbreaks affect less that 0.01% of annual cruises.

"I don't want to be stuck on a boat with everyone sick around me" is the usual quote.

When I mention cruising resuming the first answer is Diamond Princess where they cite 70% infection rate.

(While failing to even acknowledge that only 10 people had the virus when it docked. Or that it took 6 weeks to spread to the whole ship and that the crew weren't being quarantined properly.) 

I'd love to go on MSC next week but balcony cabins are 1700€ per person  and I can't get flights to Venice

I wasn't on either of these ships but to see them beach because of this virus is heartbreaking.

Just thinking there must be so much kit on them that can be recycled.

13 hours ago, Neaxan said:

It's Schiffstester Matthias Morr. He has also posted a VLOG of this cruise, that might be interesting to watch  even if you don't understand German.. And you're correct, most drinks are included with TUI - here's an example of a bar menu to give you an idea. Btw, gratuity is also included and I'd rate TUI's MDR higher than Royal's. Can't comment on speciality dining as I've never seen the need to try it on TUI  

Thanks I found him. I speak Dutch so can get the just of what he says with my high school German from decades ago. Supplemented by the funny auto translate from Youtube  

Thanks too for the bar menu that's quite an impressive list of free drinks. Interesting to see they are now offering 7 night cruises as well in August. 

Only areas of concern would be theater, from his vlog there didn't seem to be much (if any) social distancing in it and the jury is out on non-masked indoor live entertainment venues like bars, cinemas etc. 

11 hours ago, Neaxan said:

Finally, as promised, a recap of Schiffstester Matthias Morr's conclusion video:

- Boarding times were enforced (usually TUI Cruises doesn't assign boarding times). Masks had to be worn in the terminal and in the queue in front of the terminal. Health questionnaires & temperature check for check in. B2Bs are currently not allowed.

- Muster drill: when on board you went from your cabin to your muster station. Explanations were given in small groups.

- Ship sailed at around 40% capacity (= 1200 guests), max would've been 60% (=1400 guests), 800 crew. Possible difficulties in selling the cabins might've been short notice and comparably high pricing - there were no discounts and no interior or ocean view cabins, only balcony & suites.

- Crew was quarantined on ship 14 days prior to the first cruise. They were very happy to be back working. Crew have to wear masks or face shields while working in contact with passengers - irrespective of social distancing.

- Every passenger had to do a daily temperature check by infrared camera. Hand washing and use of disinfectant was enforced.

- Masks were only mandatory where you couldn't keep a distance of at least 1.5 metres (about 5 feet). Masks were provided in the cabin on arrival, people with medical exemptions had to use face shields (not provided).

- No seats at the bar - either service at a table or queuing with social distancing (TUI has waaaaay more waiters at bars compared to Royal, so not a problem). Buffet was available, but no self service. Also no full show ensemble, only solo performances. No party (sail away, pool party etc.). Sauna is currently closed but this might change soon. Whirlpools could only be used by members of the same travel group at a time.

- Audience: younger than TUI's normal average, apparently no first time cruisers, many regular customers of other cruise lines (mainly AIDA and MSC)

-  Staggered disembarkation times were enforced (usually no assigned times).

- Most important: no cases of COVID were reported!

 

"Fun" facts:

- A few German media companies contacted passengers to try and get pictures of passengers not obeying social distancing rules. That's the state of the German press for you... 

- Mein Schiff 2 met with Mein Schiff 4 and Mein Schiff 6 while at sea - a bit like the meeting of the 3 sisters (Oasis, Harmony and Allure). 

 

If you've got any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try to find an answer - might be easier for me as many sources are in German only and Google translate is a train wreck.

 

 

 

 

Many thanks for this. who is your youtuber that you watched. I live a 5 hour drive from Hamburg so was considering the cruise next month. Some of the 4 nighters are 600€ that's great value for money I think it includes drinks. 

My fear is the crew more than the passengers. The whole way cruise lines use their crews the long hours and few days off the constant need to be efficient makes me wonder if crew members would be afraid to report health issues due to lack of wages or tips. 

18 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

This was my point a few days ago. So many “rumours” going around these days. The real answer is that nobody truly will know until actual sailings resume. Royal said reduced capacities but there aren’t specifics as to what that might look like. Any posts where someone “heard it from Royal” should all be taken with a grain of salt. We’ll know if it’s actual fact if @Matt posts it in the blog. He works hard to maintain it so that it’s current and accurate. 

Glad to hear that your sailing has a full range of cabin options. 

Yeah no problem I know it's just guesswork for us all at the moment. My thinking is perhaps there might be 100% availability at the moment in the deck and section I was looking at, could be if I booked they would automatically rope off the cabins to the right and left of me. Also many like connecting cabins so maybe that's why there was availablity as the area I looked (Deck 9 forward port side) had quite a few connecting cabins as well. Let's just wait and see.  Hope you have some calm sailings next year if you book Joe

John

On 7/23/2020 at 9:01 PM, ted52 said:

I see 50% capacity. Every other room is booked for one sailing and then it switches for the next sailing. This would ensure that there's a full sailing time in between rooms being booked and that those rooms can be deep cleaned. 

I am looking at cruises next May and I have the full range of cabins available to me. They aren't holding any back. This was out of Barcelona May 9th on Harmony.  I had my full choice in the section so no spacing between cabins. Perhaps they may do whole sections at a time. However all it takes is a sick steward in your room twice a day and BAM ! Welcome to COVIDVILLE.

I think we will have to accept limited cabin cleaning during the cruise as well. 

For the Diamond Princess my understanding was that less than 10 people were positive when it docked and if they had let everyone disembark or invoked proper quarantine measures the infection rate would have been 90% lower. 

However the final stats for the Diamond princess were eye opening

26 February  705 positive cases which includes 392 asymptomatic cases So nearly 55% of the cases had no symptoms. 

On 7/21/2020 at 10:10 PM, sk8erguy1978 said:

I'm torn because I could see sailings not happening or very limited until the spring season begins (late March / April).

However, my random opinion, I wouldn't use themed cruises as a guide to what the industry will be doing. They want to fill the ship, they want it to be fun and safe for everyone and know even if ships are sailing first quarter it'll be limited capacity, lots of regulations, and only crazy cruise nuts like us will want to sail. A lot of variables, I think it was smart for them to do their own L&S, personally. 

I think themed cruises need a far higher capacity and maybe the cruise lines can't afford to third party the insurance. I wouldn't use this too as any barometer of where we will be in Q1 2021

57 minutes ago, JeffB said:

Let me clarify ....... the 10 crew members who tested + were not on TUI's Mein Schiff 2 but rather AIDAmar and AIDAblu (Another German Company affiliated with Carnival) with planned sailings out of Rostok Germany in August. In the case of AIDA's ship, they are assembling crews for the August sailing. The 10 crew who tested + were quarantined on another unnamed ship. The important point is that what we're probably seeing here is Carnival's (AIDA) and RCL's (Mein Schiff) COVID mitigation strategies. I'd expect if and when cruising resumes for RCL and it's brands from US ports, COVID mitigation measures aboard those ships will be similar if not identical to the two German brands.

But doesn't this mean the protocol is working well. They were tested twice and isolated. This is good news.

As a matter of course in Belgium we can now get a test certificate 48 hours before travelling. I am optimistic about future cruising, didn't the CEO of RCI post that on the bigger ships they could still turn a profit with 30% capacity?

hi all,

Decided against it because I cannot get cheap flights from my home town to Barcelona and the reason for booking (option to cancel) is not available to the flight selection so apart from my deposit of £800 I would also need to add €600 non refundable flights price will only go up as this is a school holiday break week so prices will rise. 

My insurance company is no longer paying out on covid cancellations on new bookings so I would be stuck with useless flights in case of a cancellation. 

What a pity.

If things improve I'll check again after new year to see what's still available.