What level of cruise experience are you willing to pay the same for?

[cgolf]

Knowing that things will change and we will have less things that we will be able to do on some of the earlier cruises to sail post pandemic, how much are you willing to give up at the same cost.

Reading the NCL early plan seemed a no go for me but not my wife. Our next cruise is on a new ship in a special room that we are really excited about and honestly don't want to give up because of the ship and room.

We know social distancing will be a thing, possibly masks and limited interactions with staff and characters. Maybe no buffets, less entertainment etc.

The poll is by % of experience you are willing to give up to cruise at the same cost. You can comment on what you would temporarily be willing to give up just to get cruising again

 

[mevelandry]

Not sure what you are talking about. NCL is one of our next cruises and I haven't heard anything special yet? Do you know something I don't know?

Now... Let's see... I'm ready to give up:

-Buffet, self-serve ice cream and anything self-served.
-Entertainment that draws large crowds (meaning less shows/activities)... especially in small venues.

I'm perfectly fine with:

-Multiple temperature checks.
-Wearing a mask in crowded spaces like the theater.
-Washing my hands/hand sanitizer every time I get into a new room.
-Making reservations for shows... Even for the gym and the pool if I have to.
-Food and ice cream being served by someone.

 

[cgolf]

Not sure what you are talking about. NCL is one of our next cruises and I haven't heard anything special yet? Do you know something I don't know?

Now... Let's see... I'm ready to give up:

-Buffet, self-serve ice cream and anything self-served.
-Entertainment that draws large crowds (meaning less shows/activities)... especially in small venues.

I'm perfectly fine with:

-Multiple temperature checks.
-Wearing a mask in crowded spaces like the theater.
-Washing my hands/hand sanitizer every time I get into a new room.
-Making reservations for shows... Even for the gym and the pool if I have to.
-Food and ice cream being served by someone.

This article has it. I see other lines following it too.

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

 

[Chemist]

Honestly, I'm not sure.

I think for quite awhile, I'm going to go for "alternative vacations" that meet my needs better.

This summer's vacation: "glamping" at a resort on a lake. If we can't eat outside at nearby restaurants we can get carryout to eat at our table by the tent. We can swim in the lake, rent kayaks at the resort. Other activities include kayaking (with an outfitter), whale watching, hiking at nearby parks.

Key things: its all outdoors so we can do lots of fun stuff in a safe fashion. Generally the activities I have planned are less "crowded".

More importantly, its not obvious to my and my family what we could be missing. Example: I love Disney shows (and live theater). I don't know if I would enjoy them in a substantially altered way. But if we are doing a completely different vacation, I wouldn't miss live theater because we weren't going to do it in the first place.

 

[Karin1984]

I don't think you can put it into percentages. Also as the length of the cruise comes into play.
A 3 night cruise is, approx 66 hours long, the evening shows are 3 hours. Only making up 4-5% of the cruise time. Maybe I will spend about 10 hours meeting characters which is 15%. But I think I will be more disappointed with no shows than no character meets. I go to the parks more often than I cruise, so chances to meet characters in the parks in the future are more likely, plus I've met most characters. The shows are mostly unique to the cruiseline.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

My next cruise is in October. If it sails but masks are required outside your room I won't be on the ship. I'm ok with being served in the buffet but not if I can't make my own salad. I have a big salad for lunch every day and I am very particular about toppings and how much dressing is used. Would not be happy with multiple temperature checks every day either. This is my vacation to relax.

 

[cgolf]

I don't think you can put it into percentages. Also as the length of the cruise comes into play.
A 3 night cruise is, approx 66 hours long, the evening shows are 3 hours. Only making up 4-5% of the cruise time. Maybe I will spend about 10 hours meeting characters which is 15%. But I think I will be more disappointed with no shows than no character meets. I go to the parks more often than I cruise, so chances to meet characters in the parks in the future are more likely, plus I've met most characters. The shows are mostly unique to the cruiseline.

I am trying to generalize on overall experience. I see wearing a mask as a 5% hit, especially outside in the sun. Less shows going on another 5% hit. No live music around the ship 10% Less activities 2%, etc. It all comes down to how we each value different things on a cruise, I don't look at it as time. My value on live music is probably way higher than many would have, but that was our biggest highlight on the class of ship we will be sailing.

I took a flyer on it, and it is so unique to each family that any model for the poll wouldn't work for some. For some no interaction/pictures with characters could be the deal breaker, while our family only had pictures with the characters at the breakfast, or when they randomly stopped near us for a photo op, we never waited inline for a picture.

 

[DCLDVC1]

I'm not willing to give up much if the price remains the same.

I don't care if they eliminate self service food and I've seen all of the shows so they're not a big deal to me.

Having to wear a mask at any time and any changes to the kids clubs are deal breakers.

 

[braycon]

This is very difficult from a percentage standpoint, but I appreciate what you're trying to do. I went with 10%. I don't think we'd give up a lot, but we're fairly tolerant of additional inconveniences. So, we would be willing to wear masks in public areas inside, but less so outside or by the pool. We would be okay with temperature checks prior to the cruise and in close quarter activities, but we wouldn't be okay if there were no shows. We can handle somebody dishing out food at the buffet, but not so happy if they removed the buffets. (Why we enjoy our buffets on cruise ships, but not on land is one of the world's great mysteries.) We'll wash our hands every five minutes (hyperbole warning!), but take away the spa and my wife would almost certainly stage a personal cruise boycott.

Honestly, I thought the NCL Peace of Mind plan that has been published was very reasonable and we would be tolerant of it. So inconvenience us to some degree and we're good (hey, we tolerate the muster drill ), but take away too many of the activities we love and things start to get dicey.

 

[MomOTwins]

So hard to put a percentage on it; I went with 30% because I think if they still have our castaway cay day (i.e., one full day of our 3-day cruise), and they are still serving Konk Koolers, that would actually be the only things I'd need to be happy!!!
I don't care much if they cut the pools and meet and greets, we never did those things much anyway. I do love the shows and pirate party, but I would hope they'd do some sort of modified experience instead. And I assume the MDRs and Palo would be open (even if we have to rotate a night in Cabanas to allow for more spacing between tables on a given dinner shift), so I'd still get to have nice meals.

 

[cgolf]

This is very difficult from a percentage standpoint, but I appreciate what you're trying to do. I went with 10%. I don't think we'd give up a lot, but we're fairly tolerant of additional inconveniences. So, we would be willing to wear masks in public areas inside, but less so outside or by the pool. We would be okay with temperature checks prior to the cruise and in close quarter activities, but we wouldn't be okay if there were no shows. We can handle somebody dishing out food at the buffet, but not so happy if they removed the buffets. (Why we enjoy our buffets on cruise ships, but not on land is one of the world's great mysteries.) We'll wash our hands every five minutes (hyperbole warning!), but take away the spa and my wife would almost certainly stage a personal cruise boycott.

Honestly, I thought the NCL Peace of Mind plan that has been published was very reasonable and we would be tolerant of it. So inconvenience us to some degree and we're good (hey, we tolerate the muster drill ), but take away too many of the activities we love and things start to get dicey.

So hard to put a percentage on it; I went with 30% because I think if they still have our castaway cay day (i.e., one full day of our 3-day cruise), and they are still serving Konk Koolers, that would actually be the only things I'd need to be happy!!!
I don't care much if they cut the pools and meet and greets, we never did those things much anyway. I do love the shows and pirate party, but I would hope they'd do some sort of modified experience instead. And I assume the MDRs and Palo would be open (even if we have to rotate a night in Cabanas to allow for more spacing between tables on a given dinner shift), so I'd still get to have nice meals.

Your replies are good to. Reasons for not going are so personal, percentage was all I could think of. I am not sure a poll can truly be done on this because there are so many variations of things that would be tipping points for some but not others. One for me that many will go 'really that?' is buffets. Both my wife and I love trying small portions of new foods. This way we don't order a full size meal and waste a lot of food.

Being a very analytical mind it is difficult for me as well, but I ended up winging it too for my percentage which came in at 20%

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

I would be willing to give up very little so I went with 10%. Soft serve ice cream, self service buffets are about it. Start removing characters and shows and require masks and I’m out. I’m trying to relax by the pool with a cocktail, enjoy the shows and movies, meet characters etc. otherwise the value just isn’t there anymore for us. After 9 Disney cruises it would just seem too disappointing I’m afraid

 

[Karin1984]

I am trying to generalize on overall experience. I see wearing a mask as a 5% hit, especially outside in the sun. Less shows going on another 5% hit. No live music around the ship 10% Less activities 2%, etc. It all comes down to how we each value different things on a cruise, I don't look at it as time. My value on live music is probably way higher than many would have, but that was our biggest highlight on the class of ship we will be sailing.

I took a flyer on it, and it is so unique to each family that any model for the poll wouldn't work for some. For some no interaction/pictures with characters could be the deal breaker, while our family only had pictures with the characters at the breakfast, or when they randomly stopped near us for a photo op, we never waited inline for a picture.

Yes, now everyone's interpretation is going to be different. What you call 10% measures can be 50% for the next. The poll doesn't really tell you anything.
I wonder, is there an option for an open poll with multiple answers? That the question is "which measures would bother you", so you can see how many people are bothered by no-self-service-bufffets, or shows, or characters.

I think live music is going to be one of the easiest things to bring back. As a pianoplayer can be on his own, a singer and a guitarplayer can keep distance from each other. They only need a space where people can keep distance. What I remember from my only cruise is that people stop and listen to a musician for a second and then move on.
In the clubs it should be easier, as there is a stage already for the musicians to keep distance from the audience, and you can easily limit the amount of people inside.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

I agree with a previous poster, it depends on a lot of things.

I voted for 30% with my upcoming September cruise on the Dream in mind. First, it's only 4 nights, a long weekend on a ship we've been on before, and we're just going to relax, no big plans. Then, it's in a time frame that we'll just be happy IF they cruise so more willing to forgo certain things. It also helps that we booked it for a great deal.

Now, the second cruise I have booked is not with DCL and is a Thanksgiving break Southern cruise with a port every day. The cruise is in November and we booked this cruise for the ports. For this cruise, we aren't worried about onboard changes much, and for that I would even vote up to 50%. However, port cancellations are likely during this uncertain time (if they even cruise) and would they cancel too many ports than that would be an issue for us.

The last cruise we have booked is not until Sept 2021. It's a 7 night on the Fantasy, our grand slam. Since we've never been on that ship, and it's a whole week off work, I would have a problem if it's still 30% off onboard experiences. Then I would vote for 10%.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

I voted for 10%. A little change to comply with current directives is the trade-off - or price we must pay - to cruise again. Eliminating self-serve is not a deal-breaker for us. Each of us has over 20 years in the Army, therefore, changing the buffet into a mess hall isn't all bad. If the food is good I'll still eat it no matter which end on the spoon is controlled.

 

[apathetic]

Probably another scenario is having most of the activities available, but first-come-first-serve. So, they still have the dinner shows, but only 40% get in. Character meets are the same. Nightly shows (adult venues) very limited. Pools you have to wait hours to get your 6 ft bubble. Are you willing to do a cruise like WDW, where you stand in line hours early to get the experience you expect? Eventually they could reduce the number passengers, but for the rest of this year (at least) those cruises are going to be pretty close to normal capacity. There won't be enough space in venues to accommodate even half the people.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

I think it's really hard to quantify. I think it also depends on what kind of cruise you're talking about. I have 3 cruises booked over the next 1.5 years - two are 3 days, one is 7 day. I would be more likely to be flexible on the 3 day ones than the 7 day ones. But certain restrictions just won't work for our family - i.e. masks. My 3 year old will wear it for a little while but when she's done, she's done. Forcing her to wear it would entail a screaming meltdown. So if masks were required on the ships to the same extent they're required in the parks, we'd have to skip it or spend the entire time in our room. Another deal breaker is the kids club. If masks are required or if the kids can't go, I won't be willing to pay the same premium. The kids club is a huge draw for us. We like character greetings but I could see skipping them on the 3 day if we need to, but it seems like a big thing to give up on a 7 day.

I'm ok with no buffets in the sense that they could have someone serving the food. I'm not ok with no cabanas and having to eat at a sit down restaurant all the time. I'd probably be ok with someone serving the ice cream, as long as that's no closed.

But I am kinda concerned about the pools. My kids love going and watching the funnel vision and I like to often just let my older one run around and swim while I sit in a deck chair. If there are even less deck chairs that will frustrating, and hard to parent too. And then I'd have to be in the pool with him, which means more people not social distancing.

 

[cgolf]

But I am kinda concerned about the pools. My kids love going and watching the funnel vision and I like to often just let my older one run around and swim while I sit in a deck chair. If there are even less deck chairs that will frustrating, and hard to parent too. And then I'd have to be in the pool with him, which means more people not social distancing.

If they limit the deck chairs, can you imagine the chair hog threads

 

[DCLCrazy64622]

Not sure about percentages. I’m ok with everything changing to promote distancing. The absolute full stop for me would be having to wear masks around the ship. That’s not a vacation.

 

[Sharene0724]

I think it also depends on the experience for that cruise. We have a Marvel Day at Sea cruise booked specifically because we want to have the character meet and greets and interactions. If that is going to be reduced or even run the risk of not getting to interact with them I'd say its a no go for us. I mean that was the point of the cruise. Also, how will the kids club work for little's who don't quite get social distancing? If there is reduced capacity can they still get in? I'm not sure yet what we are going to do, I think we will wait and see how things are playing out and then decide if we want to push it out. I did get travel insurance with CAR prior to the pandemic (and the policy covers pandemics, crazy lucky on that one I guess) so could effectively cancel and get our money back if needed. But I just really wish things get back to normal and we can just go on the cruise