TNcruising02

4 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Yes, it appears they use facial recognition software. If Person A becomes infected, they just follow his/her whereabouts to identify close contacts on the ship. If you do have to sit next to someone, try to make sure it's not more than 15 minutes if it can be helped.

This is good to know!

For people who are cruising in January or February, have you made a decision on going or cancelling?

Our cruise is on the 15th on the Escape and we decided to go for it.  If it gets cancelled, we will choose a refund instead of FCC.  We are meeting family members and have decided to make the best of it.  We do appreciate being given a choice of a full FCC.  

What are you doing?

10 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

The case that I keep referring to was a close contact from a comedy show. The couple was seated (by a host) next to someone who ended up positive. There was also a close contact from Bingo reported, so it's not just meals/transportation it's every part of the ship. Although, I do agree, if you stay away from everyone you should be ok! :).

I didn't realize they kept track of where every cruiser sat for shows!  We will definitely try to keep our distance.

It seems like if you don't share meals or transportation with other people, you are very unlikely to be forced to quarantine.  I guess people may have to think about group excursions. We plan on using Uber to get to the port.

Has anybody who hasn't been on a cruise to Bermuda been forced to quarantine because they had close contact with an infected person who was not in their cabin?  I think it may have been an agreement between the cruise line and Bermuda to do this for cruises to that port.  That's just a guess.   

9 hours ago, Steve and Sharon said:

Well if it's a tall tale, I didn't start it. It's too bad you can't get past your paranoia of tall tales, but there are others on here that have made valid contributions to this thread with their experiences and concerns. Claustrophobia is a valid concern to many of us. Even if I could go back and find the proof you so badly seem to need, too bad, I wouldn't for you. Get over yourself.

I think a solution would be that if a person in your cabin has a headache, sore throat, or a cough, just isolate in your balcony cabin and order room service unless the symptoms are severe.  I would not go to the medical center for a sore throat.  But I also would not go out and about with a sore throat either.  I understand how claustrophobia is an issue with inside cabins when a person can't even leave it for a break.  That is a real issue.

2 hours ago, bassmaster150 said:

Not sure when the new regulations are set to go into effect, but today…12/31/2021, my wife and I are on the Escape and we just docked at St Thomas as the ship has been cleared for guests to go ashore.  We are headed out in a few minutes and are not on a NCL tour.  We are planning to grab a bite at the Green House as that is a tradition for us.  We do have an early 1:30pm all onboard call today for sail away.  Sea day tomorrow and private island on Sunday.  Again not sure when new regs go into effect but we are docked today.

I think the new regulations go into effect on January 3rd.

3 minutes ago, CarolinaMamma said:

Last time this happened (March 2020) someone here on CC gave the GREAT advice to call NCL or your TA and remove all of the “optional” things (prepaid gratuities, extra specialty dining, etc.) because NCL will refund the original form of payment for those within a few days. That way, if you paid cash for your cruise, then cancel and get FCC, you won’t have as much money tied up in FCC. In the event you decide to cruise, you can always add these things back in. 

It is good advice.  I cancelled all of my excursions and will get my money back.  Maybe I will cruise.  Maybe I won't.  I do appreciate the ability to get a full FCC.  This makes me feel like I am not just stuck losing $1,000 (25%) should I decide to cancel.  We are going to see how it goes in the next two weeks.  Since we are traveling with relatives we rarely see, we have fun people to hang out with so we will never be bored.

39 minutes ago, BennyBrun said:

Also don’t forget that like all cruise lines they have a Casino list, so if they want to fill the ship up they can lower the criteria for a free cruise to get some takers.  From what I have seen, people cycle through more money in the casino than the actual cruise fare.  Excellent source of revenue for them.

Yes, I think this was what Carnival did at one time.  We got very cheap offers for some of their upcoming cruises awhile back.

I have a cruise booked on the Escape for January 15th.  I feel a lot better now that it seems like Norwegian is letting people cancel and receive a full FCC.  We have relatives who live across the country from us and are booked on this cruise. They are staying in the Haven.  They may go regardless of what is going on. 

We have airline tickets with SW, so no big deal about cancelling or changing those flights.  We have proctored home covid tests through a company that Norwegian partnered with scheduled for the 13th.  We have a pre-cruise hotel booked for one night in Port Canaveral.  

We are holding off on making a decision.   Maybe we will go and make the best of it and enjoy spending time with them.   We have no fear of getting covid.  We are vaccinated and had covid in early September. We are undecided.  I feel much better knowing I will not lose 25% of what I paid should I choose to cancel.  If Norwegian cancels, we will get all of our money back.  

1 minute ago, Outerdog said:

 

I fell like this has been pretty clearly answered.

 

Not really.  There are thousands of threads with different topics, so it makes no sense that the topic itself is not to be discussed.   The topic was relevant to cruising at this time.

I wonder why the mods don't just delete the offending posts instead of an entire thread. 

19 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

How about you click on this link every few hours and report to the forum when the policy changes

https://www.ncl.com/refund-and-cancellation-policy-covid-19

 

That's actually not a bad idea!

That's what I am trying to figure out for my Jan 15th cruise.  I was reading a thread and then it seemed to disappear.

There is no way I would make final payment.  Cruises can always be booked closer to the sail date.  Things might be better in a month or this could drag on for 6 months. I would not tie my money up, especially with how strict Norwegian is on their cancellation policy.

Just now, mpk218 said:

Nor mine on the 9th ...   Rats  

 

damn Cold and sniffles 

It's no surprise, but disappointing.  At this point, I feel like I have been beat into submission for this cruise.  LOL.  

I guess my cruise on Jan 15th won't be stopping at St Thomas.

I ordered some tests too and am thankful for the link.  My husband and I plan on testing the day before we fly to Florida.

23 minutes ago, roger001 said:

I realize it can't be helped.  But at the same time, it is time for full refunds for those guests that wish to cancel.  This is not the cruise they purchased.

Exactly!  It's ridiculous to not give people an option to get their money back when they clearly can't provide even close to good service.  It's not their fault, but also they have an obligation to people who booked cruises when everything was open.

Thanks for posting your experience.  I have cruised on Norwegian a couple of times, but never stayed in the Haven.  My brother and his wife will only stay in the Haven.  I can see some benefit if the ship is sailing at capacity.  Maybe.  But so many people love it.  Your perspective was interesting.

When the pandemic started, I thought that I would be happy going on a cruise to nowhere.  Cruising was my favorite way to vacation and the thought of going a year or more without cruising was depressing.  Then as the pandemic raged, masks were mandated, and things were locked down, we looked for other ways to vacation.

We have vacationed in Florida about five times since the pandemic started.  No masks.  We found fun things to do.  Anyway, I would take a Florida vacation now over a cruise requiring masks.  Unfortunately, I booked Norwegian when they advertised no masks and now that's changed.  I wish I could get my money back and go to Florida that week.

A cruise to nowhere without masks would be a different story.  I could do that.  I would also be happy to just stop at their private island.  That would be better than an excursion requiring masks.

8 minutes ago, Lou33 said:

If you asked me two months ago, I would choose NCL with 100% vaxed and no masks.  But NCL seems to have just a many COVID cases as RCI.  The big difference is the cancellation and refund policies.

Exactly.   The cancellation and refund policies for Norwegian are the worst of RCL, Carnival, and NCL.  

As far as cruising with unvaxed, that makes no difference to me.  Vaccinated people are getting covid and spreading it too.  The only meaningful thing is testing.  My husband and I got covid 6 months after our second vaccination dose.  My FIL has covid now and he is fully vaccinated and boosted.  Being vaccinated helps in the severity, but it means nothing as far as getting and spreading covid these days.  Testing is the only thing that matters.

The thing Norwegian has going for it is testing before boarding a ship.  That does help weed out positive cases.  But since they changed their policy and are requiring masks, those of us who booked the line specifically because of their mask policy are stuck.

I think you have good reasons to cancel.  If I could cancel and get my money back, I would do it in a heartbeat.  We cruise in mid January.  We had very good experiences with Carnival when the pandemic started and also when they updated their requirements.  We were given the choice of a refund, a full FCC,  or to move our money to a later cruise.  They had no penalties.

I would even be happy if NCL let us move our cruise to a later date without penalty.  Norwegian seems to have the worst plan for the cruisers to deal with the ever changing virus challenges.  This will be our last Norwegian cruise.

If I cancel, I will lose 25% and will only get a FCC.  No chance of getting any of my money back.  I envy the people who are able to cancel without losing money.

9 minutes ago, Shayhooper said:

For those looking for a proctored test, I bought mine here for both cruises I have taken.  Delivery was typically within a few days.

 

https://store.optum.com/shop/category/tests-devices/covid-19-home-tests/

 

Thanks.  Do you know if the proctored 2-pack can be used for two people?