Changes in Onboard Behavior & Procedures after Cruises restart sailing again...

[NavyCruiser]

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5257/

 

New Genting Cruise Lines' Health Protocols Point To Future of Global Cruising

April 7, 2020

 

Dori Saltzman

Senior Editor

 

(1:45 p.m. EDT) -- A comprehensive set of new health protocols announced by Asian cruise company Genting Cruise Lines, which operates China-based Star Cruises and Dream Cruise Line, may offer a sneak peek into the future of health and safety practices of all cruise lines.

The new protocols cover everything from embarkation day boarding, onboard sanitation and crowd control to the elimination of self-service in the buffet and the requirement of a doctor's note for all cruisers over 70 years old.

Embarkation

Many of the preventative measures Genting will be rolling out were put in place by cruise lines around the world in the days leading up to the suspension of cruising. These include mandatory temperature screenings (including infrared screening at the entrance to the gangway) and pre-boarding health declarations, as well as the requirement for all passengers over the age of 70 to provide a doctor's certificate that they are fit to travel.

Globally, all CLIA-member cruise lines had already implemented temperature screenings and many were investing in a variety of touchless systems before the shutdown. However, only a few had implemented the requirement for a doctor's note, a somewhat controversial measure considering the numbers of cruisers who are over age 70 and the difficulty of obtaining such a note.

In order to cut down on large crowds, the company will also encourage guests to use the online check-in system, which assigns a designated boarding time, so that people arrive and board in a staggered fashion. New waiting areas will also be added in the terminals.

Sanitation

Genting cruise brands will increase the frequency and levels of sanitation and disinfecting: in the terminals and on the ship gangways, in public areas, as well as all food and beverage venues, and in passenger cabins. As with the pre-boarding health checks, this is something many cruise lines had already implemented and can be expected to continue when cruising resumes.

Elevators will be cleaned every two hours. High-touch features, such as handrails, doorknobs and tabletops, will be sterilized at least once an hour.

Areas such as the spa, theaters, kids club facilities, shops and recreational areas, will also see increased cleaning and sanitization, with the theaters sanitized before and after each show and kids' toys disinfected after every use.

Sanitizer dispensers will be positioned at the entrance to most public areas, with crewmembers stationed at key points to promote their usage.

All restaurants and bars, including the restaurant galleys, will be sanitized three times daily.

Specifically in cabins, crew will be mandated to do twice-daily wipe-downs; bathrooms will be cleaned with heavy-duty alkaline bathroom disinfectants, and a special solution will be used in drains to avoid clogged pipes to prevent bacterial growth.

Vacant cabins will be fogged each voyage, and cabin hallways will be fogged and wiped-down twice a day.

Should passengers become sick, their cabin(s) will undergo additional cleaning and sterilization.

 

Dining Changes

One of the most noticeable changes Genting will be making across its brands is the elimination of self-service in buffet restaurants. Instead, all food and drinks will be served by crewmembers wearing face masks and disposable gloves.

While some cruise lines have been without self-service buffets for some time, most of the big-ship lines have stuck with the practice, except during gastrointestinal outbreaks. While the global cruise industry could adopt this practice permanently, it is unclear how Western cruisers would react to servers wearing face masks, a practice that while common in Asia, is still not widely practiced in the Western world.

In all venues, passengers may also ask for disposable cutlery if they want extra security.

 

Capacity Control

Genting will also make changes onboard to help reduce crowding, including limiting the capacity in most venues to half of what it was previously.  

While such a change across the industry is possible, it is unclear where all the passengers would go if each lounge was reduced to partial capacity. Cruise lines would most likely need to put in more lounges or reduce the overall capacity to achieve these levels.

Tour buses used for Genting shore excursions will also be limited to half capacity.

 

Crew Rules

In order to keep both passengers and crew safe, new standards and practices will be required of all crewmembers including twice-daily temperature checks. All public-facing crew will be required to wear face masks and all housekeeping and F&B workers will be need to wear disposable gloves.

Additionally, the movement of crews between ships will be limited.

 

Ventilation Systems

Genting has also committed to providing air filtration systems that provide 100 percent fresh air filtered into cabins and public areas.

 

Isolation Areas

Additionally, Genting will ensure there are isolation wards in its medical centers, which can be used in case an infectious disease is found onboard.

Doctors and nurses required to work in the isolation area will be provided with personal protection equipment.

 

The ships in Genting's Star Cruises range from 64 to 1,500 passengers, while Dream Cruises ships are much larger, ranging from 1,867 to 3,376 passengers.

Genting also operates Crystal Cruises, but it is unclear if these protocols will apply to it. Cruise Critic has reached out to the company for clarification.

[George C]

3 hours ago, Mistinguett said:

I also hope my next cruise will sail at the end of October,my 8th with Silversea, where hygiene had been implemented at the time I did my first cruise with them in 2010! Always had the Hand Gel at the entrance to every dining room, also at the Gangway when arriving back on board! The passenger capacity varies from 295 to 600 max depending on the ship! Plenty of space to move around. The buffet, only at lunchtime, staffed by waiters who will serve you at your table, if wished! The last time I was on board,a year ago, they had installed a hand washing station at the entrance to the Buffet. This all long before any sign of Coronavirus! So I suppose, at the end of the day, it depends on the Company you sail with.

Our next cruise is msc seaside in there yacht club, yacht club has loads of space and is never crowded, did it last November and hopefully this november

[SRF]

2 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Aircraft in Delta’s fleet feature either a state-of-the-art air circulation system with HEPA filtration or a system that pulls fresh air in from the outside to replace cabin air. HEPA air filters extract more than 99.999% of even the tiniest viruses, including coronaviruses.

 

Funny, that is how older aircraft did it.  Especially in the age of smoking on board.  Air was single pass, outside, pressurized, tempered, into cabin out the outflow valve.  But energy efficiency made changes to recirculate so you are not using energy to compress and temper all the air.  Same with old buildings versus current ones.

 

A HEPA filter is 99.997% effective against particles down to 0.3 microns.  Corona virus particles are on average 0.12 microns.

[AF-1]

SRF,  I hear you and all the best to you 

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, clo said:

I wonder if there are small humidifiers that one could carry on if it's a particular problem.

There are small humidifiers that don't use heat, they use ultrasonics to evaporate the water.  Probably even better is simply using a saline nasal spray.

[Toofarfromthesea]

2 hours ago, clo said:

I wonder if there are small humidifiers that one could carry on if it's a particular problem.

 

🙂

Those little nasal spray bottles of saline work pretty well.

[lenquixote66]

7 hours ago, dundalkspur said:

I agree with you 100% .I would like to see crew that are sick or unwell not working-eg I have been in the bufftet where a waiter sneezed into his sleeve and wiped his nose on his jacket .I get very upset when people(passengers and crew) sneeze on the food or people in a que.

I would like people to keep a social distance away in all eating areas and the gym as there are some really bad mannered people about in all cruises.

I have never set foot in a hot tub or a pool.I do not eat in buffets.If I am in a cruise fitness center and I see a person not wiping down equipment after using it I will always tell them.

[gusbeall]

I' totally positive that anybody that travels anywhere, on any form of transportation BEFORE there is a Vaccine is totally stupid unless you wish to die or you know absolutely that you can not get this deadly virus. Think of traveling to some far remote place in the world and getting C19 and finding out that the hospital service is something like that available during the Black Death.  I will very much miss Holland America Line; (600+ days and a Gold Mariner) but without a vaccine & my age I might as well play Russian Roulette.

[d9704011]

11 minutes ago, gusbeall said:

I' totally positive that anybody that travels anywhere, on any form of transportation BEFORE there is a Vaccine is totally stupid unless you wish to die or you know absolutely that you can not get this deadly virus.

A little over-the-top don’t you think?  I was sort of planning on driving (using a car) fro my home in Ontario to Nova Scotia in August.  There won’t be a vaccine, I have no wish to die and I cannot be absolutely certain that I won’t catch the virus..... yet, I think I’ll chance it if the authorities permit the travel for a non-essential purpose.

[clo]

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

they use ultrasonics to evaporate the water. 

Wouldn't that be a DE-humidfier?

[navybankerteacher]

11 minutes ago, clo said:

Wouldn't that be a DE-humidfier?

Anything that evaporates the water puts the vapor into the air - which humidifies it.  A small refillable spray bottle would “mist” the air quite well.  In winter we always sleep with a mister running because the heating system expands the air so much that the humidity drops to next to nothing — sort of counter-intuitive because the air outside around here generally has higher humidity in winter than in summer.  I’d suspect that NV has low humidity year round.

Edited April 9, 2020 by navybankerteacher

[chengkp75]

10 minutes ago, clo said:

Wouldn't that be a DE-humidfier?

No, a dehumidifier takes water out of the air, an ultrasonic humidifier evaporates water into the air, to raise the humidity.

[mom says]

20 minutes ago, clo said:

Wouldn't that be a DE-humidfier?

It's the opposite. A vaporizer (humidifier) evaporates the water, then expels the water vapor out into the air, humidifying the immediate area.

Edited April 9, 2020 by mom says

[clo]

11 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

I’d suspect that NV has low humidity year round.

Sometimes dangerously low - from a wildfire standpoint. Single digits at times. Thanks for the education

[SRF]

5 hours ago, gusbeall said:

I' totally positive that anybody that travels anywhere, on any form of transportation BEFORE there is a Vaccine is totally stupid unless you wish to die or you know absolutely that you can not get this deadly virus. Think of traveling to some far remote place in the world and getting C19 and finding out that the hospital service is something like that available during the Black Death.  I will very much miss Holland America Line; (600+ days and a Gold Mariner) but without a vaccine & my age I might as well play Russian Roulette.

 

Really???
 

So, with a valid anti body test, which would show who has already had it, and recovered, those people are totally stupid for traveling?

[SRF]

4 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

In winter we always sleep with a mister running because the heating system expands the air so much that the humidity drops to next to nothing — sort of counter-intuitive because the air outside around here generally has higher humidity in winter than in summer.  I’d suspect that NV has low humidity year round.

 

Humidity can be expressed two ways.  The most common way is Relative Humidity.  Which is the amount of water vapor compared to the maximum capacity of the air to hold water.  So 50% RH means the air has a water vapor content that is 50% of the maximum.

 

The capacity of the air for water vapor changes with temperature.  Colder air can hold less water vapor that warm air.

 

So, we take air at 32 degrees and an RH of 50%.  As we warm that air, without changing the amount of water vapor, the RH goes down.  At 80 degrees, the RH would be down around 10%.  Without changing the amount of water vapor.

 

The same thing happens when air cools.  If you cool it enough, you reach 100% RH, which gives you fog.  If we take air at 86 degrees and 50% RH, and cool it to about 66 degrees, it will hit 100% RH and form fog.

 

The temperature where the air will cooled enough to hit 100% RH is called the dew point.  Dew is caused by the surface cooling to at or below the dew point, so the air next to the surface is cooled to the point where the moisture is deposited in the surface.

 

For comfort, most people like an RH between 40% and 60%.

[bob brown]

On 4/9/2020 at 3:23 AM, Shropshire Cruiser said:

Whilst I agree with most of the comments posted to date, I have a particular problem with the air conditioning, especially in my cabin because it has a detrimental effect on my health.  I have never lived or worked in an air-conditioned environment, so I am not used to it. Every time I go on a cruise, within days I have lost my voice because it affects my throat.  In my humble opinion (not medical at all) I think that the spread of the virus on the ships has been because of the air conditioning going into every stateroom thus spreading it.  There must be some way to shut it off in the staterooms.

 

There is one simple remedy for you...be sure you book a balcony cabin.   Then, prop your balcony door wide-open.  Most have a micro-switch, that will shut off your cabin's air-conditioner....

 

Some A/C control's in cabins do have a means to shut off the blower's.

Edited April 10, 2020 by bob brown

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, bob brown said:

There is one simple remedy for you...be sure you book a balcony cabin.   Then, prop your balcony door wide-open.  Most have a micro-switch, that will shut off your cabin's air-conditioner....

 

Some A/C control's in cabins do have a means to shut off the blower's.

Well, its actually invigorating to have a balcony door thread these days, but please don't do this.  While the switch on the door will turn off the AC that cools the air that is recirculated in your cabin, it will cause issues with other cabins in your area.  There is a second AC system that supplies cooled, outside, fresh air to an entire bank of cabins (typically all cabins on one or two decks between a set of fire doors, so 20-40 cabins).  This fresh air makeup is balanced by the bathroom exhaust fan, except that the fresh air supply is designed to provide slightly more air than the exhaust takes away.  This keeps all cabins at a slightly positive pressure with regards to the outside, and the passageway, and this is done to prevent smoke from migrating under the cabin door from the passageway (since the cabin is at higher pressure, air will flow out under the door).  If you open your balcony door, this relieves this positive pressure (which acts like back pressure on the air delivery) and more fresh air will flow to your cabin, and less to every other cabin on the system.  This can lead to these cabins getting warmer, as they lose positive pressure as well, and warmer air from the passageway flows back into those cabins.

[bob brown]

Thanks...never knew that....

So plan B...just sleep on your balcony (with the door closed)....:)

[chengkp75]

2 minutes ago, bob brown said:

Thanks...never knew that....

So plan B...just sleep on your balcony (with the door closed)....:)

Yes, any time I would get a warm cabin complaint, the first thing I'd do is walk down the passageway past the balcony cabins in that zone, and listen for the air whistling under the door.  Knock on that door, and I'd find a balcony door open.  Ask them to close it, and explain, and 90% of the time, the problem is solved.

[navybankerteacher]

On 3/29/2020 at 3:06 PM, clo said:

Bob says "half the people in the world are below average."

Which is simple math.  What I find disturbing is seeing how damn low that average is.

[clo]

1 minute ago, navybankerteacher said:

Which is simple math.  What I find disturbing is seeing how damn low that average is.

Is that what was called "new math"?

[navybankerteacher]

10 hours ago, clo said:

Is that what was called "new math"?

Aaaah, yes: “new math”.   For some reason, after centuries of development, which brought us from the Stone Age, through the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment , educators left each generation better equipped:  then,  recently, educationists (not educators) seemed to take over — new math, initial teaching alphabet, phonetics, etc.  took over....

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Yes, any time I would get a warm cabin complaint, the first thing I'd do is walk down the passageway past the balcony cabins in that zone, and listen for the air whistling under the door.  Knock on that door, and I'd find a balcony door open.  Ask them to close it, and explain, and 90% of the time, the problem is solved.

But, what about the other 10%? Do they not believe you, or they just don't care how they are affecting other passengers?

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Aaaah, yes: “new math”.   For some reason, after centuries of development, which brought us from the Stone Age, through the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment , educators left each generation better equipped:  then,  recently, educationists (not educators) seemed to take over — new math, initial teaching alphabet, phonetics, etc.  took over....

 

Yeah, and why is "phonics" is spelled that way.  😄