Cruiseallday

You can tell them you are feeling sick and might have been exposed.  There's no polygraph test that comes with the COVID test.
Just saying.

Plane travel is far more risky than cruise ship travel.
On a ship there are activities that are more risky such as sitting at a bar (no different risk than on land).  If you don't participate in higher risk activities and maintain distancing then it doesn't matter if you are on a ship for days and days, you have greatly reduced the risk much like working in a grocery store every day week after week.  
One theory of COVID-19 transmission involves the length of time one is near or in contact with an infected subject.  Simply walking past an infected person is less likely to cause infection.  Standing next to an infected person at a party or sitting at a bar next to an infected person is more likely to cause an infection.  
The viral loading obtained by walking past someone in a grocery store for example is low even if that person is breathing heavy.  The theory is you don't get enough viral load in that brief exposure to allow your system to become infected.  It's not like one particle of virus will cause an infection, it takes many particles in your system before it takes hold and you become infected.  
This is how grocery store and other retail workers are not incurring mass infections.  They work every day week after week yet don't become infected.  With distancing and masks in retail stores we aren't experiencing mass infections compared to bars where people sit in place for periods of time.
Sitting at a bar for 15 minutes next to an infected person very well can lead to infection because you intake enough viral load in that time.  Walking past that same person and sitting on the other side of the room is less likely to see infection, or so the theory goes.
Even a short airplane ride is long enough to become infected if you are unlucky enough to sit near someone who is infected.  Distancing guidelines work but become less effective if the subjects are fixed and inside for long periods of time such as on an airplane or at a bar.  The time on board any plane trip involves boarding, taxiing, flight, taxiing and deplaning.  The shortest flights in the world still have around one hour of sitting time.  The plane boards 30 minutes before flight, taxi is 5 to 10 minutes average, flight time of 5 minutes followed by 5-10 minute taxi to the gate and 10 minutes to offload.  If you do the shortest flight in the world next to an infected person you are now most likely infected.
On a large ship you can go the entire cruise and not see the same person twice.   I'm not saying there is zero opportunity on a ship, just that it's much less risky compared to planes.
You are correct though in that cruising is non-essential beyond the economic impact of the cruise industry.  The CDC is getting away with a cruise ship ban because it's non-essential.  It's not clear if the CDC has the authority to regulate or ban domestic travel between states.  Interstate commerce and travel has some level of control by the U.S. Congress but perhaps not by individual federal agencies.  I suspect the CDC can't ban flights and are limited to making recommendations that can be ignored even if they are the right thing to do.  
Airline bailout money from the federal government required them to continue operations so there is that as well.  The bailout money stops in October which is why the airlines are warning of mass layoffs in the fall.   The airline bailout wasn't well thought out, it forced them to fly empty planes around or else they'd lose the bailout money.  Imagine if some agency then said you can't fly?  

The No Sail Order lists this as the rationale for banning cruising:
"If unrestricted cruise ship passenger operations were permitted to resume, infected and exposed persons disembarking cruise ships would place federal partners (e.g., Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard), healthcare workers, port personnel, and communities at substantial risk."
How is that logic not applied to airlines, especially international travel? They pose the exact same risk to those exact same groups.
Again, not saying I think its unfair to say that is a realistic risk for cruises. But I don't see how other aspects of travel are able to operate because any airplane that has a positive case onboard places the exact same risks as any cruise ship.

Good argument made, and I agree with all of your points. Ultimately if the virus were handled better, this wouldn't be an issue for the agency.
The issue I find with the CDC isn't that they are being unfair to the cruise lines, just that the cruise industry is treated with great scrutiny (which is fine) but so many other aspects of travel are not.  That double standard is what irks me, not that the CDC is going after cruises.

Hi Everyone,
 
Maybe its just me but does anyone else feel the CDC has singled out the cruise industry? Its been over 4 months and the CDC has yet to say or give any guidelines or protocols for the cruise industry to start sailing again. Now I understand we have a huge issue with cases right now in the U.S. But If you can pack 300 people on an airplane with no social distancing for hours at a time or open up amusement parks and hotels and restaurants you would figure with proper protocols in place we would be able to sail at reduce capacity. I'm just gonna say it but this virus is not going away. The European union and the Asian markets have worked closely with the cruise lines so they can began sailing. Of course the case count is much lower in Europe and Asia but the virus is still there and its not going away. Also why is the CDC asking the general public questions on how to best keep people safe on a cruise ship? isn't that the CDC's job? Why is the CDC asking for a public consultation on how to keep people safe on cruise ships but they wont do it for schools, or airplanes, or amusement parks or hotels? It seems pretty bias to me. 
 
This is just how I see it of course I know some people have different opinions and I welcome that. But at this rate we wont get back to cursing anytime soon. Also a point I like to make is that the virus didn't get here from a cruise ship. It got here from an airplane. But airplanes haven't stopped flying. I have cruised and traveled all my life and I can tell you that cruise ships are the cleanest way to travel. I sure all you would agree but I would like to here what others think. I don't see cursing resuming at least until after the 1st of the year. It just seems like the CDC is dragging its feet and no matter what the cruise lines do the CDC simply doesn't care right now and is in no rush to deal with any of the cruise lines. I hope I'm wrong. Thanks for reading my rant. I hope everyone is staying safe! 

I completely agree with you! The "floating petri dish" is such a false narrative that's been pushed by the media.  Of course it would only take one outbreak to shut down the industry again. 

Hi Everyone,
 
Maybe its just me but does anyone else feel the CDC has singled out the cruise industry? Its been over 4 months and the CDC has yet to say or give any guidelines or protocols for the cruise industry to start sailing again. Now I understand we have a huge issue with cases right now in the U.S. But If you can pack 300 people on an airplane with no social distancing for hours at a time or open up amusement parks and hotels and restaurants you would figure with proper protocols in place we would be able to sail at reduce capacity. I'm just gonna say it but this virus is not going away. The European union and the Asian markets have worked closely with the cruise lines so they can began sailing. Of course the case count is much lower in Europe and Asia but the virus is still there and its not going away. Also why is the CDC asking the general public questions on how to best keep people safe on a cruise ship? isn't that the CDC's job? Why is the CDC asking for a public consultation on how to keep people safe on cruise ships but they wont do it for schools, or airplanes, or amusement parks or hotels? It seems pretty bias to me. 
 
This is just how I see it of course I know some people have different opinions and I welcome that. But at this rate we wont get back to cursing anytime soon. Also a point I like to make is that the virus didn't get here from a cruise ship. It got here from an airplane. But airplanes haven't stopped flying. I have cruised and traveled all my life and I can tell you that cruise ships are the cleanest way to travel. I sure all you would agree but I would like to here what others think. I don't see cursing resuming at least until after the 1st of the year. It just seems like the CDC is dragging its feet and no matter what the cruise lines do the CDC simply doesn't care right now and is in no rush to deal with any of the cruise lines. I hope I'm wrong. Thanks for reading my rant. I hope everyone is staying safe! 

You can search these forums for previous threads about the CDC.  Their requirements were published.  They may not be on the top of every mainstream media's reporting but they are there.  For good or bad, the cruise industry is one of the only things where the CDC has direct authority to say "you may not operate".  There's a lot the CDC would ban if they could.  When you say "Everything else is allowed to open up and function but not cruise ships" you have to understand that the CDC is not necessarily allowing those industries to open up, it's FAR more likely that they just can't prevent it.

What are requirements the CDC came up with? Why wouldn't the CDC purplish them if that's the case?  Do you have some inside info that the rest of don't?  We can agree to disagree on this. These nothing wrong with that. Like is said if you can fly on an airplane with 300 other people elbow to elbow then they can find a way with the cruise ships. I guess since the CDC is waiting to hear from the public on what we think they should do, we and the cruise lines shouldn't expect hear anything anytime soon. 

I totally get what your saying and agree with we the people are the blame for the increase cases. All the points you made are fair. All I was saying is that the CDC has done Nothing to work with the cruise industry on a path forward and they don't seem interested in a productive dialog. Everything else is allowed to open up and function but not cruise ships. There just seems to be a double standard when it comes to them. I don't think we should be cruising at this point because the proper protocols are not in place. Like I said the CDC has said nothing in over 4 months. And to put out those ridiculous questions out asking the public of what we think would make cruising safer clearly shows they have no interest in working with the cruise lines and the clearly have no plan. 

I completely agree with you! The "floating petri dish" is such a false narrative that's been pushed by the media.  Of course it would only take one outbreak to shut down the industry again. 

Hi Everyone,
 
Maybe its just me but does anyone else feel the CDC has singled out the cruise industry? Its been over 4 months and the CDC has yet to say or give any guidelines or protocols for the cruise industry to start sailing again. Now I understand we have a huge issue with cases right now in the U.S. But If you can pack 300 people on an airplane with no social distancing for hours at a time or open up amusement parks and hotels and restaurants you would figure with proper protocols in place we would be able to sail at reduce capacity. I'm just gonna say it but this virus is not going away. The European union and the Asian markets have worked closely with the cruise lines so they can began sailing. Of course the case count is much lower in Europe and Asia but the virus is still there and its not going away. Also why is the CDC asking the general public questions on how to best keep people safe on a cruise ship? isn't that the CDC's job? Why is the CDC asking for a public consultation on how to keep people safe on cruise ships but they wont do it for schools, or airplanes, or amusement parks or hotels? It seems pretty bias to me. 
 
This is just how I see it of course I know some people have different opinions and I welcome that. But at this rate we wont get back to cursing anytime soon. Also a point I like to make is that the virus didn't get here from a cruise ship. It got here from an airplane. But airplanes haven't stopped flying. I have cruised and traveled all my life and I can tell you that cruise ships are the cleanest way to travel. I sure all you would agree but I would like to here what others think. I don't see cursing resuming at least until after the 1st of the year. It just seems like the CDC is dragging its feet and no matter what the cruise lines do the CDC simply doesn't care right now and is in no rush to deal with any of the cruise lines. I hope I'm wrong. Thanks for reading my rant. I hope everyone is staying safe! 

It all boils down to the “floating petri dish” description that was exploited by the media. I would guess even with CDC approval that RC, Carnival & NCL are hesitant to restart operations because nobody wants to be the guinea pig. I would guess that one major outbreak on a cruise ship (thanks largely in part to negative reporting by news media) would put the last nail in the coffin for the cruise industry. This is going to be a delicate dance and I hope we can all sail again soon. I certainly don’t rule out an implosion of the entire industry though. 

I'll echo some of the responses already posted here....the short answer is... typically no time limit, and getting a bottle of H2O is usually no issue. 
The long response and recommendation is to get to know your bartenders. Find a couple of your favorite spots and hang out with them there. They will take care of you, give great service, and look out for you. 
Case in point.... last year on Harmony for a guys cruise, we would frequent the Schooner Bar. After a couple days our lovely bar tender would see us coming, and have bottles of water ready and basically have the vodka bottle handy and ready to pour. But more importantly... there was 'one night'... where our group was having fun... but one person in particular was having a LOT of fun. And the sweet bar tender basically let us know to slow him down, and made him drink at least 2 bottles of water before she would serve him again. And she did it in such a great way as to not embarrass anyone... and still kept everyone having a great time. She let us know that if he got officially 'Cut-off'... he would be cut off for 24 hours and she didn't want him to ruin his next day. We made sure to thank her for that... and in fact did have a great time the rest of the week. We made sure to tip her out at the end of the week with a nice envelope of cash. 
Point being... have fun and enjoy your drink package. Don't go crazy... and if you have a night that you plan on getting plastered... do it at a bar where you have gotten to know your bartender well. 
Cheers.
~KCCO~
Keep Calm and Cruise on  
 

Take care of the bartenders and they take care of you.  Often a new drink magically appears before the last one is half gone.  

There is no set period of time between drink orders but usually you can't go back up with a full drink in your hand and order the 2nd one.  They'll want you to finish the first drink.  Once you get to be known by a bartender, they're usually more lax on it. 
I've never had an issue ordering a non-alcoholic drink with an alcoholic drink at the same time.  They have no issues with giving you a bottle of water with your alcoholic drink.

Awesome! Thank you!

No wait, and they'll give you a bottle of water or 3 with no questions asked