danv3

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

The easiest way to fix all this?

Give everyone paper vouchers. No guesswork involved there.

Absolutely.  

Hmm…Pretty wonky to look at from the front with the dome. 

56 minutes ago, memebag said:

So you would roll the dice and maybe infect other people just so you could go on vacation? You wouldn’t feel horribly guilty if you found out later that you may have been the vector?

To question #1, yes, just as I "roll the dice" every day when I go to work, Target, etc.  

To #2, no, if I was not feeling sick, boarded the cruise, and then later found out that I was infectious, I would not feel guilty.  

9 hours ago, AspiringCruisePlanner said:

Yes, why the confusion?

I'm legitimately confused/amazed that nearly 30% of people claim that they would voluntarily test themselves for an infection, at cost to themselves and risking their entire vacation, when not required to do so and not experiencing symptoms.  

Is the third question for real?

5 hours ago, Jill said:

But will Viking continue testing passengers everyday onboard? That’d be a deal breaker for me 

No, that ended as well.  They went from most restrictive testing regime to least restrictive overnight.  

I saw that Viking dropped all pre-cruise testing yesterday (except where required like US and Canada). If they can do it, RCI and other lines can too (at least overseas).  
 

As others have said, pre-cruise testing really sucks a lot of the joy out of the pre-cruise period since you have no idea if you’re going on the trip until two days before. 

On 5/23/2022 at 8:03 PM, smokeybandit said:

I'm hanging my hat on this

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/when-will-the-us-drop-covid-test-requirements-disney-and-travel-firms-demand-end-to-testing-restrictions/ar-AAX6YGY

Every day that goes by makes it less likely.  Delta and other airlines made removal of the requirement seem imminent in April.  Now it's June.  

On 5/5/2022 at 12:21 PM, smokeybandit said:

Michael Bayley, re: USA re-entry testing requirements. I hope he's in the loop on something and not just guessing.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/05/05/royal-caribbean-talks-higher-demand-covid-higher-capacity-and-more

 

"And I think we're all hopeful that that's going to change fairly soon in returning to the United States."

 

 

From his lips to God's ears.

Celebrity briefly changed its Italy pre-cruise test requirement to two days before for up to date pax.  Unfortunately it switched back to one day before today.  Very difficult for those traveling from the US, especially if your cruise departs on a Monday.  

(Not sure if Royal pulled a similar switcheroo, but figured I'd pass it along.)

5 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

C'mon, USA, get rid of the re-entry test like so many other countries are.

Needs to happen immediately.  What a pointless waste of time and resources at this point.  

2 hours ago, putinbay said:

We were on the Wonder of the Seas last month (3/11/22 sailing date). We had a 2:00 PM check-in time (we booked our cruise 3 weeks before sail date, so early check-in times were long gone). We got to the pier at 11:15 AM, and were on the ship by 11:45 AM, with beer in-hand by 11:47 AM. They did not check our boarding time.

Hope this helps!

Similar experience at Port Canaveral two weeks ago (Harmony).  No enforcement whatsoever of boarding times.  Maybe other ports enforce it, and maybe my cruise was an outlier, but you could have arrived at any time after ~10:30, gotten in line, and boarded the ship.  No one was checking.  

I have never tipped anything beyond the mandatory gratuities.  

On 4/6/2022 at 2:01 PM, BesaidCruiser said:

Embarkation. What happens if, you are 10 Minutes to late on your chack in Time? Do you really need to get back in Line until each and every person has checked in?

This may vary from port to port, but I can tell you that at Port Canaveral few weeks ago, no one was enforcing the check in time in any way.  Late, early, no one would ever know, because no one was asking or checking.  YMMV.

One day before boarding is what X is doing for Italy too.  Pretty challenging for people traveling from the US.  Guess they really want to sell you those proctored tests!

In other protocol news, the Windjammer is fully self service on Harmony. I was under the impression crew was still serving guests, but that’s apparently no longer the case. 

If this applies to cruise lines, cruising from the UK will simply cease to exist.  

Was just wondering this as I have a Celebrity cruise in July (final payment due next week).  Did they ever extend their their deadlines for this summer?

Quote

The company Havana Docks is seeking about $9.2 million. The company’s president, Mickael Behn, is the grandson of William C. Behn, an American who owned three docks that were confiscated in 1960. Mickael Behn is a television executive who lives between Miami and London.

I think it's safe to say the docks in Havana looked like something confiscated in 1960 (and not touched since).  

9 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Outlined in the Operations Manual for passengers: https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/covid19-operations-manual-cso.html

Leave it to the government to need two separate sets of rules!

(And even the second one is unclear...first it says cruise lines must screen pax (not test), then it goes on to describe testing requirements.)

Oh well.

10 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

I don't think the pre-cruise test will go away before summer and if I'm really to be honest I don't see it going away before 2023. The CDC isn't ready to give up control and believe it or not cruise lines in the US are still walking a very tight rope with the CDC hovering over their shoulder, so it might take a few more months before that test goes away.

I think there is a far better chance of the CDC and Biden Administration dropping the pre-arrival test for vaccinated international arriving passengers coming to the US first before they even consider dropping the pre-departure test for cruises.

Does the CDC actually require pre-cruise testing of all passengers? Admittedly, their program is about as clear as you'd expect from a government agency, but as far as I can tell, the new CDC voluntary program only requires embarkation tests for crew, with pax only required to test in the case of close contact or when experiencing symptoms.

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/management/technical-instructions-for-cruise-ships.html

So when are they getting rid of the pre-cruise testing?  That's a much bigger issue to me than masking, tbh.  Not knowing if you're actually going on the cruise until two days before you leave greatly increases anxiety and doesn't let you enjoy the countdown the way you could before.

If more ports turn away ships they may have no choice but to shut down again. 

1 hour ago, MichelleB1234 said:

 I could see masking being dropped but not testing.  Wouldn't Royal want to keep someone who already has covid off ships?

Sure, but for how long will they continue testing?  If forever, why not also test for flu and noro?  

I generally think we're testing too much to begin with.  There's really little need to be testing non-symptomatic vaccinated people in a fully-vaccinated setting.  

Honestly I prefer them issuing the rules month to month.  Gives them more flexibility to dial back restrictions as things get better.  Though I suppose they can always change these rules.  

Would really like to see testing (and to some extent masks) go away before too much longer.