Irish Blue

I am on the Eclipse now and on day 8 both my husband and I tested positive.  There are other cases on board and we heard about another couple yesterday. Our cabin Stewart was pulled off work and put in isolation after greeting us on day 1, so the staff in some areas are doubling up and are stretched and since this is their second voyage in this contract, they are also not yet in the swing of how things work.  We’ve been in lock down for a full day so far and they offered to move me from our suite to a regular cabin in the event that my husband tested negative (unfortunately he wasn’t). They have offered free phone calls, free movies and premium wi-fi upgrades to anyone in isolation.  However, I asked for some masks to wear around the cabin in case anyone came in and they said we didn’t need them!  Their staff have KN95’s, but don’t all wear them covering their noses when they think people don’t notice. The biggest disappointment for us is the food.  All 3 meals so far are all tepid not hot and when you aren’t feeling well you want a hot bowl of soup not slightly warm stuff. Food is taking up to 1.5 hours to be delivered, things like salt, sugar for (warm) tea missing, no spoons to stir etc.  We were both unpleasantly surprised at how out of touch the ship design is.  There are a whole 2 electric outlets in the room.  Each day (before we got locked in) the steward was told by his boss to unplug our phone chargers, in this day and age that is crazy.  Also a disappointment is my hot tea loving husband has no way to make it himself, it’s a struggle to get them to replenish the ice (before as well as during isolation).  The food in the specialty restaurants is ok, service is hit or miss and I really didn’t appreciate being told that cilantro dislike wasn’t an allergy and them immediately serving us the first dish with it on it.   Their prices are up for sure.  We never got to the casino as it didn’t open while in Hawaiian waters.  We booked this trip in 2019 and it was the one bright star over the last couple of years.  What a mess. 

We are on its second voyage at the moment.  The Barnacles can’t be removed easily and dry dock space is at a huge premium and heavily oversubscribed.   My guess is that the entire Alaska summer season will be impacted by this, so expect shortened times ashore.  The captain (Leo) is funny and very personable.  The crew is trying desperately to make us feel very welcome and valued.  Unfortunately when we got on board our cabin steward ended up being put into isolation so with around 1,800 guests instead of a full guest roster they cut back on staff too, so they are scrambling.  We all tested negative on or before the trip now we both plus at least one other couple that we heard about are positive (day 7 and 8 ). They apparently have a ‘red deck’ where people are being moved to and the CDC status of the ship was Orange a couple of days ago and that is one down from mandatory testing etc mid cruise.  Captain even made an announcement about it today warning people to mask up etc.  

For us, who are admittedly cynical at the best of times, the thought of the cruise lines stepping back from mandating their expensive shore excursions being the only option at ports is not going to be a palatable choice for them.  They finally have a lucrative way to claw back a fraction of their losses and will be reluctant to give that up easily.  We are frequent cruisers and the thought of not going into a local town and exploring and eating on our own is a deal breaker for us.  We currently have 2 replacement 2022 cruises booked for cancelled 2020 and 2021 cruises and will back away from them both if those restrictions are still in play.