NCL announced proposed changes for cruising after COVID

[belle032]

Very happy to see some actual, tangible steps for a return to cruising. Nothing seems unreasonable, it will just be different. We have NCL booked next September for Alaska so this makes me hopeful and more reassured. I hope more cruise lines follow their lead with this!

 

[EddieK76]

I'm assuming the steps they have outlined have already been approved by the CDC or at least the CDC has been informed of these steps and they feel confident of a pending approval. I certainly hope that DCL does not require masks it would be a no go for us for sure.

 

[MrsInsG]

I guess I'm going to be the first to say, "What?" Temperature checks before you enter any dining room or public venue? To what purpose? By the time you're febrile you've likely been shedding virus for days. If this is three, four, five days (etc.) into your cruise, how does this help? Adults with a fever are generally not feeling well enough to engage in social activities, so chances are they won't be out and about anyway. Also, you're creating a choke point in order to gather the temps so how is this going to be beneficial?

Don't get me wrong, it's their ship and they can do what they want as can any other business. This just looks more like security theater than actual preventative measures (of which there really aren't any that aren't already common sense.) Interesting.

 

[T & R]

Temperature checks before you enter any dining room or public venue?

Also, does your body temp always stay constant or does it rise and fall naturally? Reason I ask is that if I'm lugging my wife's bags to get on the ship through the Florida heat and humidity that I have not acclimated to yet, wouldn't I be warmer than someone who's sitting in D lounge with a cool drink playing bingo? Would be horrible to be denied boarding or quarantined to your cabin just because you were clocked as warm and not because you are sick.

 

[T & R]

"with all vessels thoroughly cleaned and disinfected prior to the start of every cruise."

For DCL that's prolly going to mean no more boarding times prior to noon. They're going to need extra time to sanitize the ship and rooms between cruises, so the port arrival times are now going to be out of whack.

 

[MillauFr]

I can see DCL starting up Caribbean cruises first and skipping the stop in Nassau. Most cruisers only want to go to Castaway Key anyway.

 

[jcbftw]

The thing I still need to hear is what happens if you do have a temp and are denied boarding or get a fever on ship? Travel Insurance will not cover anything covid related right now. Will there be refunds for you and your party if you arrive with a fever? If you show a fever and test positive on Day 1 of a 7 day is your party confined to quarters? Offloaded at first port?

A cruise becomes such a big gamble if there’s no insurance and no refunds and you may find yourself at a hospital in Mexico.

I have a friend who lives in Shanghai where they are as a city operating relatively normally but do require masks in some situations and temperature screenings happen at workplaces and at malls and other large gatherings. Basically, if your temperature is too high, they make you wait and they'll retest you in X amount of minutes. I assume this'll be the same thing on the cruise. I can't imagine it's a "one failed test and you're out" system; that would be a nightmare for the guests and the crew.

 

[MrsInsG]

Another thought... how does one socially distance during a muster drill? Right off the bat you have the entirety of the passengers and crew in very tight spaces. This just doesn't seem practical.

 

[Karin1984]

Another thought... how does one socially distance during a muster drill? Right off the bat you have the entirety of the passengers and crew in very tight spaces. This just doesn't seem practical.

They will have less people on board, and maybe they will add some muster stations to spread even more.
Other option: Do it via the tv, like on an airplane.

 

[MrsInsG]

They will have less people on board, and maybe they will add some muster stations to spread even more.
Other option: Do it via the tv, like on an airplane.

You may be right regarding the number of people on board, but it won't work on tv like it does on an airplane. On a plane you can see the exits from where you are and you are going to have to leave via one of those doors. A ship is an entirely different beast; you need to know where your life boat is and what the horn sounds like, etc. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just think this one is non-negotiable as the cruise line doesn't even make the decision, the Coast Guard does.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

Another thought... how does one socially distance during a muster drill? Right off the bat you have the entirety of the passengers and crew in very tight spaces. This just doesn't seem practical.

Wear a mask.

 

[MrsInsG]

Wear a mask.

Maybe. I thought that even then you weren't supposed to get that close to anyone else. I honestly don't know how this is going to be handled.

 

[tee11]

I like the part about the HEPA filters... that will help out anyways. It makes me wonder what kind of filters they have now (and which ones DCL has).
Also the dedicated Public Health Officer appears to be a good idea.

Some of the things mentioned DCL already kinda does; staggered embarkation times and online check in... While some other measures seem challenging (checking everyone before they join in an event?
I'm thinking of the deck parties with DCL. So I wonder how all that translates to reality.

The most interesting part is the reduced capacity. I wonder... are they thinking to cut passenger numbers in half? Physical distancing is really difficult on a ship.

Just saw this on the RCL blog and wanted to share...I didn’t see any mention of face masks:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/...ses-new-policies-keep-guests-safe-coronavirus

I saw this one floating around too, sums up the article and it's from NCL themselves.

View attachment 498473

 

[hmansure]

If you dive into the FAQs for NCL the question of masks is addressed with this response - "We plan on establishing procedures based on local and international health requirements. More information will made available as we finalize our plans and resume operations."

 

[EddieK76]

If you dive into the FAQs for NCL the question of masks is addressed with this response - "We plan on establishing procedures based on local and international health requirements. More information will made available as we finalize our plans and resume operations."

Yes, I did see that and I think it can be taken both ways. Since the CDC currently only encourages it's not a requirement. Will be interesting but I do believe it's in the best interest of all these companies to say yes or no on masks so upcoming cruise dates and their respective customers can reschedule if they don't want that restriction.

 

[belle032]

Yes, I did see that and I think it can be taken both ways. Since the CDC currently only encourages it's not a requirement. Will be interesting but I do believe it's in the best interest of all these companies to say yes or no on masks so upcoming cruise dates and their respective customers can reschedule if they don't want that restriction.

Agree. Mask-wearing will be (and already is!) a huge factor as vacations are becoming more of a reality. I would be fine wearing a mask during certain times, such as in the terminal during embarkation/debarkation or even during a theater show if we are unable to distance. If I had to wear a mask anytime I'm outside my stateroom, I'd respect that decision, but I would also choose to not cruise. I fully understand the need for masks, but I can't see myself fully enjoying my vacation wearing one. It's a big reason we cancelled our WDW trip for this year (and I'm still sad about it!)

 

[wombat_5606]

You may be right regarding the number of people on board, but it won't work on tv like it does on an airplane. On a plane you can see the exits from where you are and you are going to have to leave via one of those doors. A ship is an entirely different beast; you need to know where your life boat is and what the horn sounds like, etc. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just think this one is non-negotiable as the cruise line doesn't even make the decision, the Coast Guard does.

Holland America actually has, on some of their ships, their muster procedures shown on the TV and then you report to one of the inside locations for the remainder of the drill. I, personally, think it is a better situation than to have possibly thousands of people running around on deck in a panic.

I saw once where someone said that the muster station to abandon ship is 10:1.

This explanation is by a gentleman who is a Chief Engineer with over 40 years experience with merchant and cruise ships.

"Passengers will be sent to muster locations regardless of the type of emergency, when the Captain determines that it is beneficial to get all the passengers to known locations (the muster stations), accounted for, and under the supervision of the crew, to keep them safe from the emergency. It frees those crew who are actually responding to the emergency from diverting assets to locating possible passengers in the emergency area.

This is the main purpose of the passenger muster, to have all the passengers accounted for, and in known locations, with crew to direct them, not to get into lifeboats. Only if the Captain subsequently feels that it is better for the passengers to leave the ship than remain onboard, would he make the decision to board the lifeboats. Groups are then, orderly, sent from the muster stations to the boat stations to board the boats. Indoor stations also clear the outside decks around the boats for the crew to prepare the boats, which they do always, regardless of whether the Captain ever feels the need to abandon ship."

 

[gotomu212]

I have a friend who lives in Shanghai where they are as a city operating relatively normally but do require masks in some situations and temperature screenings happen at workplaces and at malls and other large gatherings. Basically, if your temperature is too high, they make you wait and they'll retest you in X amount of minutes. I assume this'll be the same thing on the cruise. I can't imagine it's a "one failed test and you're out" system; that would be a nightmare for the guests and the crew.

I’m not worried about a one test and out rule I want to know Disney‘s operating policy and refund policy for legitimate fevers. My toddler, who had chronic ear infections for 8 months, spiked a fever on our Transatlantic last year. She got antibiotics and was fine and was cleared as non contagious. I also cruised with someone who got a UTI and had a fever for a few days. In the past these were not denied boarding or cabin quarantine fevers, will that still be the case? We honestly have no idea.

And what is their refund policy if you are denied boarding due to a fever or even covid? In the past we had travel insurance and would have been made whole if we were legitimately denied boarding, but insurance doesn’t cover CoVid so does that mean we have no way to mitigate loss? That’s really huge.

Without the answers to these there is no way I’d be PIF’ing right now.

 

[monkeydawn]

Also, does your body temp always stay constant or does it rise and fall naturally? Reason I ask is that if I'm lugging my wife's bags to get on the ship through the Florida heat and humidity that I have not acclimated to yet, wouldn't I be warmer than someone who's sitting in D lounge with a cool drink playing bingo? Would be horrible to be denied boarding or quarantined to your cabin just because you were clocked as warm and not because you are sick.

The policy at my husband's job is as described above, if you fail the temp check you wait X minutes and recheck. If you fail a second time then you report to medical for a "real"temp check. If you fail that you are sent home.

You may be right regarding the number of people on board, but it won't work on tv like it does on an airplane. On a plane you can see the exits from where you are and you are going to have to leave via one of those doors. A ship is an entirely different beast; you need to know where your life boat is and what the horn sounds like, etc. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just think this one is non-negotiable as the cruise line doesn't even make the decision, the Coast Guard does.

Given that some of the musters are held in the theaters, I dont think you absolutely have to have drills at the life boats.

 

[jenmiller114]

Also, does your body temp always stay constant or does it rise and fall naturally? Reason I ask is that if I'm lugging my wife's bags to get on the ship through the Florida heat and humidity that I have not acclimated to yet, wouldn't I be warmer than someone who's sitting in D lounge with a cool drink playing bingo? Would be horrible to be denied boarding or quarantined to your cabin just because you were clocked as warm and not because you are sick.

We sailed on the Magic on the last voyage prior to cruises being cancelled. They were doing the temperature checks as we were boarding. I knew I was fine but it was still nerve wracking. Someone in line suggested my son take his cap off because that can make your head warmer. Just little things like that. Seems like they did have people step aside and wait if there was concern so they could retest and I am sure they have the protocols as PP noted. But it is certainly a valid question. I was worried and I knew I didn't have anything to worry about.