Snowrose

1 hour ago, CaffinatedSwan said:

Well, my sig. other received that same email about 2 weeks ago, but I did not. Was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far, we ate still scheduled to cruise on the 16th. 

So....I dunno.

My husband and I book cruises together and may intermingled our credit card usage. Sometimes he gets informational emails and sometimes I do, but we almost never both get the email - but it still applies to both of us.

I suggest you take your SO's email seriously.

We cancelled our Jan 29th Gem cruise a few days ago, but because NCL dropped their commitment to on-ship PCR testing for folks who needed it to get back to their country of residence. Just after that, we learned that some Gem crew have COVID. That will keep them out of some ports for a while and may impact their services and entertainment, so then we felt better about cancelling.

2 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I agree  and like most everything you post on CC. I read in post #1 that the waiting vans were for staff. The drivers made the mistake of allowing passengers into the vans in the first place. The hotel was arranged for the staff, not a covid prepared hotel required by the CSO. Being Sunday, no management to answer calls from ship "Where are the  covid prepared vans ?" Agree, big management issue at NCL. I would love a 4 or 5 star hotel to isolate, but none would ever contract for housing covid cases, their business might suffer (their cleaning practices just suffice in normal times).

My understanding was that the crew isn't allowed off the ship during these times. I'm thinking unleess they are covid positive. So they would have had covid positive guests either way.

4 hours ago, GoldenGirl327 said:

Right - in countries where they have strict quarantine rules for inbound traveling, there are "quarantine hotels" specifically set up just for this situation. The whole hotel is just for quarantining passengers - it's paid for by the government.

Since the US does not test when someone comes into the country (only before they board in the originating country) the US is not set up to handle an influx of just recently tested positive cruise passengers. So I don't know why NCL gave them that paper that said they'll be met by someone and taken to a specific hotel. I think NCL should've just said upfront that if you test positive you're on your own to find a place to quarantine - even if it's at your own expense. Why should NCL reimburse you for testing positive and having to quarantine (unless the trip is cancelled or shortened by them or you have travel insurance through them )? 

Because NCL said they would. It's part of their policy, in order to entice and encourage people to travel with them during uncertain times. They want and need your money, so they offer assurances - and once they do that they are supposed to follow through. Truth in advertising.

ETA: Also someone made an excellent point that CDC would require that I'll passengers not just be abandoned at the dock. 

15 hours ago, szpal said:

@cruisingguy007I appreciate that. Thank you.
My struggle all week is wondering if Norwegian "dropped the ball" or if this is typical.  Clearly they were overwhelmed on our cruise. What about other cruises this week or next? 
I believe people need solid information to make good decisions--whether they find it here or in the media. I see a lot of articles right now but not a lot of shared experiences.
I agree that it's better to be in control of the experience. And lodging! I like your thinking on that. 😀

 

Can you give an approximate number of how many people total were released this way? You said approx 30 went to the vans. How many before you all split up?

$99 for an antigen test? Well, now we know where NCL is making their money...

33 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

 

Looks like that is the Crown Bay port that is mainly used by RCI. 
 

NCL dock at Havensight, the other port in St. Thomas. 
 

Thank you for that! Here is that schedule, though it says changes may not be listed.

january-2022-ship-schedule.pdf

22 minutes ago, FlashF15 said:

What is that file?  It's nothing about the Jan 5 cancellations.

It's the port listings for St Thomas. How many NCL ships do you see that are scheduled to go into Caribbean ports through Sept 2022? Only Norwegian Dawn is listed, for one trip on 2/2/22. There are no other NCL ships listed for the Caribbean. Or cat least not for the ports covered in that document.

30 minutes ago, TAMUPhD said:

could you please share the site where you saw this info?  I have looked at a few and still seeing NCL ships listed.

Actually, I still have the document in my files...

e0a2e7_2fbd264de6404f00b1ca98eb2f6024bf.pdf

4 hours ago, disneylover89 said:

Seems like all the older ships

I was looking at the cruise port schedule from St Thomas. The only NCL ship currently on the schedule is the Norwegian Dawn, for Feb 2nd. There were no other NCL ships listed, through September 2022.

4 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

Well, the good thing for people booked on these cruises is that they can get a refund and move on with making other plans or holding off for awhile.

Not if you paid this current cruise with FCC from multiple cancelled cruises previously cancelled due to covid.

Another thread also mentioned St Thomas. A crewmember had told the poster that St Thomas, Puerto Rico and 2 other islands were now closed to cruiseships.

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

You can search the Internet all you want for odd ball cases. BUT that is NOT the norm. 
 

Just because my doctor had to isolate because of close contact does not mean that EVERY doctor is in isolation. 

Just because the guy with the wife that tested positive posted on this thread does not mean that every passenger on every ship will test positive, and will be quarantined. 

 

Stats say that infections for the last 2 weeks are 31 times higher than the weeks before that.

I see that they're now saying the omicron wave should peak at the end of the month. That does not instill confidence for my 1/29 cruise.

On 1/1/2022 at 9:00 AM, BirdTravels said:

At the time I made final payment  (which was only a few weeks ago) I had no illusion that COVID would be gone or would have no impact on my cruise. I 110% expected a surge after thoughtless thanksgiving, Christmas and new year parties,,,, exactly like last year. The Medical Experts have long warned of the winter surge.
 

The delta variant was causing wide spread breakthrough cases at the time of final payment (just a few weeks ago). I fully expected all cruise lines to continue to tighten protocols. NCL, even fully vaccinated and tested, has had COVID on most of their ships (reference CDC website). And they had to do something. 

Some of us were paid in full when we booked as we had already had multiple cruises cancelled and had termination dates for our FCCs. We'll make our decision on our end of January cruise this week.

Lots of respect for you, Bird, but you're not considering all the angles.

Interesting. Someone on the same cruise just complained about crowding in the MDR. Although I guess the unvaccinated MDR would be quiet, as that's only supposed to be 5% of the guests.

Sodas, tonics, and juices are included in the ABP.

Two PCR tests would be $400 around here. Considering we only have 87 cases of COVID in our entire county, I don't think I'll be doing that.

The Joy is doing Bermuda and Bahamas in August.

From what I'm reading, the CDC is only making recommendations.

18 hours ago, melodyesch said:

For the view of the city of New Orleans you’d want the port side during the short time for sail away.  But there are no sea views because you’re on the river for several hours during the dark.  You’ll enter the gulf in the wee hours.   

OTOH, the views of the oil derrick platforms are beautiful, IMO. The chain of them are brightly lit.

11 hours ago, ClevelandCruisin said:

No masks, they tell you once aboard you can remove them.

 

But I did see people wearing them.

I'm glad to see that there are people okay with others wearing masks. Outdoors, no problem, but I think indoors in a crowded area I'm going to have a problem giving up masks - for now. Being vaccinated is a big step forward but it doesn't make us impervious to COVID.

If the ships are staying at or below 50% occupancy until the end of the year, chances are they'll be ramping occupancy up slowly. Booking restaurants once on board shouldn't be a problem for the first few months of 2022.

4 minutes ago, saltsandknit said:

I will find out about the craft beer bars. I do wish there was a district brew house on the smaller ships. I know the menus were posted in an encore thread for the main dining rooms they are the same menus on the Gem. 

Hi! I appreciate you checking on the bars. My DH also wishes there was a District Brew House. 😊

With the MDR menus, I've already seen the menus from that post but that cruise was only 7 days long. Our January cruise will be 10 days and there are 14 menus total, so I was hoping to see if they were using different menus from the ones that have already been posted.

We sail on Gem in January. Would really appreciate pics of the Main Dining Room menus. And if you could find out which bar specializes in craft beers my DH would be eternally grateful.

Have a wonderful trip!