CDC Voluntary Cruise Ship Program Ends

[Reigert2008]

8 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Please let Royal be next! lol

At least for short sailings....

I get the desire for the testing to end, and I keep going back and forth on it.  I understand it adds cost to the trip and in some cases can be significant.  While nothing is foolproof, it does give us a little more confidence when we cruise as opposed to the land based locations.  We will probably continue to test anyway on our own since our fear is being sick in a foreign land and possibly passing things to others.  We also "self quarantine" for about about a week before most cruises since we tend to cruise during cold/flu season and don't want to be sick while on vacation.  

Of course, we are in the camp of still wearing masks (KN95) in nearly all indoor situations and not fraternizing with too many strangers   When we cruise our favorite activity is sitting on the deck staring at the ocean, so we're outside and not with people, so it works for us.

We also just feel safer on a cruise since we don't worry about the other craziness in the world, like the mall shooting in Indiana.  We were recently at the Mall of America over the July 4th holiday and it did cross our mind that someone could do something.  

[smokeybandit]

Somewhat surprising that an RC group cruise line fired first

 

Edit: I forgot RCG sold them recently

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Bowen said:

I have always been Loyal to Royal, but I'm going with the first line to drop the vaccine and testing mandates, no second thoughts. I'll come back to Royal when they do, but I'd rather cruise on any line that just lets me cruise without the stress. That said I do think they all end at the same time, all the lines.

I tried that last August when Royal had a mask requirement and another line didn't.  Just before I sailed them they adopted the same mask requirements that Royal had.  

[twangster]

If I'm not mistaken Azamara is saying "unless the local governments require..." which is basically what NCL said last week.  

[nate91]

I have a feeling that every line will very quickly match the least restrictive line. Azamara has already put out no testing, Princess has accepted unvax cruisers, so I am hopeful that cruise lines will be moving towards the least restrictive environment possible!

[LovetoCruise87]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

If I'm not mistaken Azamara is saying "unless the local governments require..." which is basically what NCL said last week.  

True

[Ampurp85]

They will all do the same thing; it might take a day or week to catch up, but they will match up. 

I can see no line getting rid of vax requirements. They may change the threshold, but the requirement will be there for the majority and at least until next year. I think most will want to see what a winter/holiday cruising season looks like with this virus still in play.

I believe testing will go away, maybe a month, at the most, before the current protocols end on Sept 30th. They actually want to do away with testing. I can see them offering incentives to keep people testing but mostly testing will go away sooner. I agree that people aren't at all honest, expecting people to self-test for the heck of it, wouldn't work. But since the government gave out so many free tests, people would have the means to. 

[karl_nj]

31 minutes ago, LovetoCruise87 said:

True

And they are still requiring in the US:

 

Miami, Florida

Yes

 

https://www.azamara.com/booked-guests/before-you-board/explore-well-at-sea

 

So they just matched what Viking and NCL did weeks ago.

[starbrat]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Please let Royal be next! lol

At least for short sailings....

Girl I am over here in my office throwing things at anyone who comes in or sneezes near me. All I have left to throw are a stapler, a dead succulent, and an open can of green monster. I just need to pass our test on Saturday. I am legit loosing it. lol!

[Lovetocruise2002]

17 minutes ago, starbrat said:

Girl I am over here in my office throwing things at anyone who comes in or sneezes near me. All I have left to throw are a stapler, a dead succulent, and an open can of green monster. I just need to pass our test on Saturday. I am legit loosing it. lol!

That is why I want the pre-cruise testing to end so badly. 4 cruises since the re-start and the “Will I test positive and need to cancel?” is so stressful.

[fireclan]

3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

At least 2

Plus 2 more...

[twangster]

14 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That is why I want the pre-cruise testing to end so badly. 4 cruises since the re-start and the “Will I test positive and need to cancel?” is so stressful.

Twenty four cruises since the restart.  It isn't that bad.  If you can handle a classroom full of kids I'm sure Covid testing is nothing compared to that.   

[Lovetocruise2002]

10 minutes ago, twangster said:

Twenty four cruises since the restart.  It isn't that bad.  If you can handle a classroom full of kids I'm sure Covid testing is nothing compared to that.   

It’s not bad if I was driving to the port. But link in air+hotel, I find it stressful having to cancel all that at the last minute.

I should clarify that it’s not the testing itself that I find stressful, it is the possibility of testing positive two days before. 

[starbrat]

15 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That is why I want the pre-cruise testing to end so badly. 4 cruises since the re-start and the “Will I test positive and need to cancel?” is so stressful.

It is soo stressful. In April I went on my first star class cruise and I paid for our entire party of 10 people. We all had to test negative on that Friday. I was leading a national training and to this day I remember when I got one of the text messages of results. Of course they didn't say negative or positive in the text  they just sent me a picture of the test. I remember stopping the training to check my phone for an "emergency".  That was the absolute most stressful day of my life! Granted this is a shorter 4 day cruise with just my husband and daughter but its still dang stressful!!  I'm eating multivitamins like they are tic tacs!  

[memebag]

14 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

It’s not bad if I was driving to the port. But link in air+hotel, I find it stressful having to cancel all that at the last minute.

I should clarify that it’s not the testing itself that I find stressful, it is the possibility of testing positive two days before. 

This is the bit I don't understand.

Regardless of the cruise line policy, wouldn't you cancel if you were contagious? And wouldn't you want to know if you were contagious?

[LovetoCruise87]

18 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

It’s not bad if I was driving to the port. But link in air+hotel, I find it stressful having to cancel all that at the last minute.

I should clarify that it’s not the testing itself that I find stressful, it is the possibility of testing positive two days before. 

I completely agree with the possibility of testing positive that close to departure...makes me want to pull my hair out and I really don't have it to spare. 

[Snotarni]

I would like to see both restrictions gone...  The Vax  shot is reportedly good for minimizing the consequences of getting the virus, but don't think it prevents the shot-ee from getting it (obviously, based on people getting it on cruises)....  I know from a business perspective, having shot-ed passengers keeps Cruise Lines out of the news (in case of unfortunate post-cruise tragedies)...   but really, I'm not sure it's not just Optics at this point with the shots.  (full disclosure, I'm 4x shotted).

[starbrat]

9 minutes ago, memebag said:

This is the bit I don't understand.

Regardless of the cruise line policy, wouldn't you cancel if you were contagious? And wouldn't you want to know if you were contagious?

Do you test yourself before you fly or before you go the Disney World or before you walk into a concert or your stay t your hotel. No! Wouldn't you want to know if you were contagious? The reality is No no one tests these days for it. Only cruising is being harassed and its absurd! We should not have to test to get on a boat!  if you don't have to test to get in a tiny airplane and sit like sardines for a few hours with recirculated air. We should not have to test to go on a cruise. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

14 minutes ago, memebag said:

This is the bit I don't understand.

Regardless of the cruise line policy, wouldn't you cancel if you were contagious? And wouldn't you want to know if you were contagious?

Do you mean would I test myself regardless of the cruise line policy?
 

Pre-covid I never got a complete health test before I went on vacation, I don’t test myself before I leave my house each day, so would I test before a cruise if the policy no longer requires it? I guess time will tell. I really don’t know at this point. 

[jticarruthers]

13 minutes ago, memebag said:

This is the bit I don't understand.

Regardless of the cruise line policy, wouldn't you cancel if you were contagious? And wouldn't you want to know if you were contagious?

If I am feeling healthy, not really.

I never used to test myself for any other diseases/illnesses just to see if I had them, not sure why I would want to with this one going forward.

[memebag]

14 minutes ago, starbrat said:

Do you test yourself before you fly or before you go the Disney World or before you walk into a concert or your stay t your hotel. No! Wouldn't you want to know if you were contagious? The reality is No no one tests these days for it. Only cruising is being harassed and its absurd! We should not have to test to get on a boat!  if you don't have to test to get in a tiny airplane and sit like sardines for a few hours with recirculated air. We should not have to test to go on a cruise. 

That depends. If we're in the middle of a big outbreak, like we are with omicrom BA.5 right now, and I'm going to be indoors, close to a lot of people, then yes, I will test myself. I don't know if I'm contagious without a test, since Covid-19 can be asymptomatic.

I don't want to harm other people.

9 minutes ago, jticarruthers said:

If I am feeling healthy, not really.

I never used to test myself for any other diseases/illnesses just to see if I had them, not sure why I would want to with this one going forward.

Because it's a pandemic on a scale not seen since 1918 and has killed over 6 million people.

[ChessE4]

4 hours ago, Toby said:

You have more faith in people self reporting than I do.

I don't think I have more faith, it's just that we already require self-reporting, as we did pre-Covid.  At some point we need to treat travelers like adults.  Conducting a home test gives the traveler some comfort that he/she won't infect others.

[Bowen]

19 minutes ago, Snotarni said:

I would like to see both restrictions gone...  The Vax  shot is reportedly good for minimizing the consequences of getting the virus, but don't think it prevents the shot-ee from getting it (obviously, based on people getting it on cruises)....  I know from a business perspective, having shot-ed passengers keeps Cruise Lines out of the news (in case of unfortunate post-cruise tragedies)...   but really, I'm not sure it's not just Optics at this point with the shots.  (full disclosure, I'm 4x shotted).

And if you look at the uptake of boosters, that aren’t required in the US, the number of cruisers who are “vaccinated” is even lower. Let’s say 1000 people on a cruise a year ago we’re vaccinated, less than 300 got booster number one nationwide, booster number two declined even further from there. The number of people on cruises right now in the US that have any therapeutic effect at all might be 40% in the most optimum circumstance. In reality it’s quite likely much lower depending on departure state.  There’s just no point to it being a metric anymore.

[ChessE4]

4 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

The problem with "up to date" is that it means different things for different people based on age. That's a huge burden to put on the check-in staff.

I think it can be defined in the selection letter.  As new vaccines are developed, the definition would likely change.  The idea is to avoid becoming a "petri dish" and infecting others.  Many Americans do this as a matter of course, but clearly not everyone.

[Lovetocruise2002]

As @Matthas stated many times, this is not the forum to discuss the efficacy of masking and vaccines. Please keep the discussion on topic.