When cruising begins again... What will be different?

[npcl]

6 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

Ultra-violet sanitizing stations at entrance to lounges and public venues. 

 

 

Along with coupons for discounts on seeing eye dogs.

 

UV-C can cause corneal problems, distorted vision and a painful condition called 'snow blindness'. UVC rays (100–280 nm) are potentially the most harmful to your eyes and skin but fortunately the atmosphere's ozone layer blocks virtually all UVC rays.

 

It is also the UV-C frequencies that are also those effective for and used by sterilization devices.

[Ronin23]

No love for cruise ship passengers at ports, you can bet they will be viewed with even more disdain once cruising starts again. Even expect people power in some ports to greatly reduce cruise ship visits. 

[Doubt It]

3 hours ago, Ronin23 said:

No love for cruise ship passengers at ports, you can bet they will be viewed with even more disdain once cruising starts again. Even expect people power in some ports to greatly reduce cruise ship visits. 

 

Ronin23, excellent point.  If one is a cruiser who cruises for the ports of call, then this will be a major reason to stop cruising. This is the reason I have cruised in the past. If you are right, this is yet another reason for our household, and friends, to avoid cruising in the future.

[hcat]

Economic impact on some  ports in the Carib  could be severe.  Some are just coming back after hurricanes, some are still struggling. In smaller ports,  many stores, restaurants,  tour and taxi companies  that depend on cruise ship visits will go out of business unless cruising comes back quickly.. sad!

[ECCruise]

4 hours ago, Ronin23 said:

No love for cruise ship passengers at ports, you can bet they will be viewed with even more disdain once cruising starts again. Even expect people power in some ports to greatly reduce cruise ship visits. 

I can guarantee that.  And I am not even talking government opposition to cruise ships.

When we visited Reunion Island (part of France) in the Indian Ocean in early March on Azamara Quest, long before things started really heating up virus wise, we had to literally fight our way out of the gates, which were blocked by local citizens.  They had physically blocked the gates, refusing to let us pass.  It was only when the number of passengers largely outnumbered the citizens that we were literally able to push our way out.

The next day the Sun Princess encountered violent protest, which required riot police and tear gas to subdue.

[twentyknots]

Cruises will resume as soon as they’re given the OK.  Likely that will not be until stage three in mid-June at the earliest.  Cruise lines will likely impose several safeguards and try to minimize the negative impact to passengers.  However, many of us aren’t desperate to cruise again until each passenger is required to provide proof of vaccination.  I hope that means early 2021. 

[ECCruise]

44 minutes ago, twentyknots said:

Cruises will resume as soon as they’re given the OK.  Likely that will not be until stage three in mid-June at the earliest.  Cruise lines will likely impose several safeguards and try to minimize the negative impact to passengers.  However, many of us aren’t desperate to cruise again until each passenger is required to provide proof of vaccination.  I hope that means early 2021. 

The problem with that is that the stages roll out by state.  Thus, if Florida is at state 3 but the state where you live is still at stage 1 or 2, that won't work.  Or, if you have to fly to Europe to sail and you are still in a state where non-essential travel is banned, that won't work.

[markeb]

51 minutes ago, twentyknots said:

Cruises will resume as soon as they’re given the OK.  Likely that will not be until stage three in mid-June at the earliest.  Cruise lines will likely impose several safeguards and try to minimize the negative impact to passengers.  However, many of us aren’t desperate to cruise again until each passenger is required to provide proof of vaccination.  I hope that means early 2021. 

 

I'll look later today, but I haven't seen any vaccine candidate get beyond a Phase I (initial safety) trial. No way there's a vaccine for public use in early 2021. For first responders and health care providers, maybe. High risk people like chemo patients, also possible. Potentially for trying to ring vaccinate contacts (if that works for this virus). But to allow you to resume recreational activities? I just can't see that.

[LMaxwell]

12 hours ago, npcl said:

Along with coupons for discounts on seeing eye dogs.

 

UV-C can cause corneal problems, distorted vision and a painful condition called 'snow blindness'. UVC rays (100–280 nm) are potentially the most harmful to your eyes and skin but fortunately the atmosphere's ozone layer blocks virtually all UVC rays.

 

It is also the UV-C frequencies that are also those effective for and used by sterilization devices.

 

Not for your eyes and to be used by trained staff. 

[yorky]

6 hours ago, Ronin23 said:

No love for cruise ship passengers at ports, you can bet they will be viewed with even more disdain once cruising starts again. Even expect people power in some ports to greatly reduce cruise ship visits. 

Maybe short term yes, longer term not a chance, cruises bring in a huge amount of tourist dollars and many businesses would go out of business without them. Local tourists spots such as coastal resorts in Britain have seen locals showing hostility to individuals travelling to them over the last two or so months. When things settle down that changes completely because without them there would be no coastal resorts with businesses left.

[TeeRick]

20 hours ago, Sam.Seattle said:

Here is my list of what I think will be different.  What say you?

 

1) Mandatory Temp Checks during boarding.

2) Life Boat drills form your cabin on the TV.

3) No self serve buffet.

4) Reduced Ship capacity.

5) Silent Disco headphones might get sanitized.

6) No refilling ANY bottles in buffet.  

 

Your Turn..... GO!

Sam- I think there are multiple phases to this question.  In my mind, most answers here apply to the question of what is different when cruising first begins again post-pandemic.  A different list of answers might be obtained if asking which of the initial restrictions should be slowly removed or lessened perhaps in a year or two later?  And which changes will be permanent positive changes after 2+ years post pandemic?  As an example, the popularity of the self-serve buffet has been a hallmark of cruise ships even though norovirus has constantly sickened many passengers and caused major disruptions to cruises.  But the practice has survived and thrived.  People are less afraid of a noro infection because in general it is not fatal.  But it can spread quickly through a ship population.  On the other hand SARS-CoV-2 is not spread per se on buffet food but rather by just close contact in the buffet or anywhere on the ship.  You are more at risk of getting COVID by just being near virus-positive people in the buffet regardless of who serves you the food.  So should the self-serve buffet be eliminated to avoid COVID long after it disappears?  Or should it be eliminated or modified to reduce the risk of norovirus?  If it was eliminated what % of passengers would be demanding its return?

[yorky]

1 minute ago, TeeRick said:

Sam- I think there are multiple phases to this question.  In my mind, most answers here apply to the question of what is different when cruising first begins again post-pandemic.  A different list of answers might be obtained if asking which of the initial restrictions should be slowly removed or lessened perhaps in a year or two later?  And which changes will be permanent positive changes after 2+ years post pandemic?  As an example, the popularity of the self-serve buffet has been a hallmark of cruise ships even though norovirus has constantly sickened many passengers and caused major disruptions to cruises.  But the practice has survived and thrived.  People are less afraid of a noro infection because in general it is not fatal.  But it can spread quickly through a ship population.  On the other hand SARS-CoV-2 is not spread per se on buffet food but rather by just close contact in the buffet or anywhere on the ship.  You are more at risk of getting COVID by just being near virus-positive people in the buffet regardless of who serves you the food.  So should the self-serve buffet be eliminated to avoid COVID long after it disappears?  Or should it be eliminated or modified to reduce the risk of norovirus?  If it was eliminated what % of passengers would be demanding its return?

And this is the real question, huge difference between all the things that will change short term, and what happens longer term. I can see many changes short term but long term I don’t actually see massive changes.

[excitedofharpenden]

My own view and of course I don’t have a crystal ball, but I think it will take years for the cruise industry to recover.  

 

Phil

[Banjo]

If they keep the doctors statement we will definitely see a different age demographic. I rather see a vaccination record. When I used to travel with my parents overseas in the late 59s & early 60s we had them.

 

Caribbean/Alaska is too heavily dependent economically on cruising, eventually no change. Europe/Latin America/Asia/Australia I don't know. They may not be so welcoming to allow cruise ships in.

[Oceangoer2]

17 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Sam- I think there are multiple phases to this question.  In my mind, most answers here apply to the question of what is different when cruising first begins again post-pandemic.  A different list of answers might be obtained if asking which of the initial restrictions should be slowly removed or lessened perhaps in a year or two later?  And which changes will be permanent positive changes after 2+ years post pandemic?  As an example, the popularity of the self-serve buffet has been a hallmark of cruise ships even though norovirus has constantly sickened many passengers and caused major disruptions to cruises.  But the practice has survived and thrived.  People are less afraid of a noro infection because in general it is not fatal.  But it can spread quickly through a ship population.  On the other hand SARS-CoV-2 is not spread per se on buffet food but rather by just close contact in the buffet or anywhere on the ship.  You are more at risk of getting COVID by just being near virus-positive people in the buffet regardless of who serves you the food.  So should the self-serve buffet be eliminated to avoid COVID long after it disappears?  Or should it be eliminated or modified to reduce the risk of norovirus?  If it was eliminated what % of passengers would be demanding its return?

The virus lasts hours on steel...so...the buffet case, the utensils, etc touched by a positive CV passenger COULD infect the next person at the station. IMO, no one but the server should touch the utensils;  preference would be table service, timing allocated in shifts, tables switched to 2 or 4 (family), and sanitized before next  seating.  Good topic, and before we make any decision to sail, many changes have to be officially stated by X....ones we can live with....literally.

[TeeRick]

2 minutes ago, oceangoer2 said:

The virus lasts hours on steel...so...the buffet case, the utensils, etc touched by a positive CV passenger COULD infect the next person at the station. IMO, no one but the server should touch the utensils;  preference would be table service, timing allocated in shifts, tables switched to 2 or 4 (family), and sanitized before next  seating.  Good topic, and before we make any decision to sail, many changes have to be officially stated by X....ones we can live with....literally.

 

Take a quick look at this recent NY Times article on the SARS-CoV-2 virus lasting on surfaces and in air droplets.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/well/live/coronavirus-contagion-spead-clothes-shoes-hair-newspaper-packages-mail-infectious.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_NN_p_20200420&instance_id=17786&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=121450033&section=topNews&segment_id=25550&te=1&user_id=8259b050a84d722b46d85f64ae857bb0

[Oceangoer2]

15 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

 

Take a quick look at this recent NY Times article on the SARS-CoV-2 virus lasting on surfaces and in air droplets.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/well/live/coronavirus-contagion-spead-clothes-shoes-hair-newspaper-packages-mail-infectious.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_NN_p_20200420&instance_id=17786&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=121450033&section=topNews&segment_id=25550&te=1&user_id=8259b050a84d722b46d85f64ae857bb0

what are the high spots;  can't read article unless I log in.

[cgolf1]

Honestly short term things like buffets may change, but long term it will be business as usual which isn't necessarily be a horrible thing. With time this will pass and we will learn from it. Possibly coming up with new and improved ways to sanitize the ships. A lot of the changes on ships will be similar to what takes place on land.

 

Perhaps flu shots will be more effective and vaccines will be brought out to combat this in the future. The question is do we live in fear of the next virus that could potentially happen? I won't, but many will. The world just needs to learn from this so the next response is better and faster.

[NutsAboutGolf]

There's fundamental social distancing issues on ships:

1)  Lines are everywhere, I've personally seen 30 passengers waiting in line at the Martini bar (reportedly on carnival, pool bar lines can have over 100 in line), I can't imagine there's even enough room to practice social distancing.  Will they put 6' indicators on the floor and/or put velvet ropes where-ever lines are?

2)  Elevators, they're notorious slow and overpacked especially during peak times.  The Wynn proposes no more than four in an elevators.  If X wants to enforce no crowds elevators, they're going to need to hire an elevator attendant wearing a mask for each and every elevator.

3) Overall layout, you have narrow hallways, they would need to hire a hallway monitor for every hallway.

4) Tenders, like elevators is a notorious slow process and cutting capacity would only make them slower.

5) The crew, they're often forced to work in close proximity.

 

What may end up happening, they enforce embarkment times, take your temperature, reduce capacity in tenders remove some seating in all venues.  They'll utilize social distancing where ever possible but if they have to spend more money including additional crew, social distancing be damned.  For example with elevators, you and your significant other are on the elevator by yourselves on the way for dinner, it stops at the floor and a group ten get on.  You ask them not to get on, they still get on anyways (perhaps they're one of the stay at home order protesters).  Personally, I'd really like to see what cost cutting measures they'll make, I'm particularly curious of the MDR menu selections.

[grandgeezer]

If and when cruising starts back up, in no way shape or form will it be like it was when halted. The cruise lines are hemorrhaging cash and still are at least seven weeks from starting up, and that will be at with less ships and less passengers. The economy is in the toilet, so discretionary spending will give way to some people using their money on needs, not vacations. 

They can do several things to increase their cash position, such as reduce costs, raise prices, attract more people, and sell assets.

None of these sounds promising. In a depressed market, the first two aren't feasible. 

Attract more people? A new ship might help there but according to their own report, they sailed at 108% capacity last year, do you want to  share your cabin with strangers?

Sell assets? To who? The whole industry is depressed.

They robbed Peter to pay Paul with the fccs issued because of all the cruises cancelled, and will be cancelled so not much extra cash coming in for awhile. Let's not forget the $2.2 billion loan they took out in march with a maturity date of March 2021. 

Will they survive? Nobody knows, but their chances get slimmer the longer this drags on.

 

[Spif Barwunkel]

There are so many possible answers to this question. Some, discussed here, are apposite but can they be implemented without  inconvenience and/or annoyance to the cruising public. Should that even be a consideration? After all, the Transportation Security Administration or TSA evolved quickly after 9/11 and since then, even with tremendous crowds and wait times, airline passengers cram themselves into airplanes bound for destinations around the world. We have come to accept the TSA as a necessary security and safety vexation.

 

Hopefully, the Cruise Lines International Association or CLIA will work in close coordination with its members to develop an across-the-board modus operandi that best addresses the overall systemic atmosphere of cruising. There will be trial and error, added expense and no guarantee that even the most pragmatic implementation will prove significantly effective. Realistically, can it be? Too many factors and too many variables, the most crucial of which is the human factor. And yet, any modification to the current process is better than nothing at all.

 

The most important part of any new procedural undertaking will be "we the people." How successful it becomes depends on  how committed we are to making it work. The hygienically challenged and cleanliness detractors have always walked among us. I do not see how that will change. Those of us who pride ourselves on being unsullied will take extra precaution to fortify our well-being, as well as that of our fellow travelers. 

 

Future cruising will be different, no doubt. How different remains to be seen. How many of us will comfortably adapt to the change? How many of us will sit on the dock of the bay watchin' the cruise ships sail away?

 

That could be different.

 

 

    

Edited April 20, 2020 by Spif Barwunkel

[DWhit]

I do not plan on cruising until I get vaccinated, but after an effective available vaccine exists, I do not see any reason at all why things on a cruise ship would not go back to normal.   With a vaccine, no Covid concerns. 

Edited April 20, 2020 by DWhit

[paulh84]

My biggest concern is once the environment returns to normal (or the 'new' normal') give it some time before the glut of regulatory changes start to surface. Between shipboard regulations, each port country introducing their own regulations, etc. I think the entire experience may be substantially altered enough where it's just not an enjoyable experience.  

[Bo1953]

Hopefully a very different passenger make up!!!

 

bon voyage

 

[lostchild]

I think you will see a lot more passengers wearing face covering when they are outside of their cabins.   I don't know if Celebrity will enforce face covering or not on passengers, but they will probably provide free ones for each cabin.   And I think all the crew will wear face covering.   It will be like a Pirate cruise.. everyone covering their faces with an X logo...