EU Guidelines

[TeeRick]

39 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

How anyone would consent to take a cruise under these conditions is beyond me.  Wearing facemasks is bad enough.  Being sectioned off into groups by age like I was back in grade school is bad enough (and no offense meant to the oldest of the group, but as a young healthy senior I like to socialize with people of all ages) .  But I  am most concerned about what happens if someone gets sick.  Sounds like you could be dumped at some port of call in a hastily constructed prison (aka quarantine ward) for who knows how long, with who knows what kind of medical care available.  This would be scary enough in Europe, where the ports would be first world countries.  But if the CDC follows this, I don't want to be on a Caribbean cruise and dumped off in someplace like Haiti or the Dominican Republic or similar for potentially weeks or even months until they saw fit to repatriate me.

 

What this article is really saying to me is that cruising in any way enjoyable (if at all) will not take place until there is a very effective and widely available vaccine.  And at that point, I would expect cruise lines to require it before boarding.   It also tells me that it is more and more unlikely that the cruise lines as we know them will survive this.  Bookings will fall throw the floor, and lines will go bankrupt.  They will come back eventually in some form or fashion, but many will not be the same.  These are of course only predictions on my part and not facts.  I sincerely, passionately in fact, hope I am wrong.  

I think you are pretty on target.  I would say that for Caribbean cruises perhaps the danger is a bit less than you state here to be quarantined in an ill-prepared port as you fear.  The cruise lines could choose which island to disembark presumably with pre-agreements and preparations and funding in place for a sick ship scenario.  Or most of the Caribbean is close enough to Miami and FLL that they could disembark you there if the CDC and State of FL agrees in advance to this type of scenario.  I think cruising is important enough to FL that I can see them agreeing to this.  So that is why I said in my post that I would need to see solid contingency plans for a COVID outbreak on a ship before I would cruise again.  This is the case even with a vaccine assuming it is not 100% effective.  We are in for a long haul here.

[phoenix_dream]

2 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

I think you are pretty on target.  I would say that for Caribbean cruises perhaps the danger is a bit less than you state here to be quarantined in an ill-prepared port as you fear.  The cruise lines could choose which island to disembark presumably with pre-agreements and preparations and funding in place for a sick ship scenario.  Or most of the Caribbean is close enough to Miami and FLL that they could disembark you there if the CDC and State of FL agrees in advance to this type of scenario.  I think cruising is important enough to FL that I can see them agreeing to this.  So that is why I said in my post that I would need to see solid contingency plans for a COVID outbreak on a ship before I would cruise again.  This is the case even with a vaccine assuming it is not 100% effective.  We are in for a long haul here.

I think you could be right for some of the cruises.  At the same time, it could be the case that the cruise lines would want you off the ship ASAP as it has been shown on the March sick ship cruises that quarantining in cabins is just not enough - the virus spread anyway.  If that were the case, I can't see them rushing back to Florida to disembark you, even if Florida was at that time willing to do so.  My preferred cruises are the deeper Caribbean.  It could be that they will set up quarantine areas in more capable ports like Barbados or St. Thomas, but I wouldn't want to be stuck there either!   All in all, it doesn't look good until there is a vaccine

[MarkWiltonM]

36 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

What this article is really saying to me is that cruising in any way enjoyable (if at all) will not take place until there is a very effective and widely available vaccine.  And at that point, I would expect cruise lines to require it before boarding.   It also tells me that it is more and more unlikely that the cruise lines as we know them will survive this.  Bookings will fall throw the floor, and lines will go bankrupt.  They will come back eventually in some form or fashion, but many will not be the same.  These are of course only predictions on my part and not facts.  I sincerely, passionately in fact, hope I am wrong.  

 

I am afraid I agree with you. As much as I love cruising, I'm not going to cruise again if the only way it can be safely done also takes the fun out of it. At home here in South Florida, I adhere vigilantly to social distancing and mask wearing. I only go to grocery stores very early and as seldom as possible. I havn't been in a restaurant in months (except to pick up takeout), etc. It's not fun but it's necessary. Although I feel I have no choice in my daily life except to adhere to guidelines to protect myself and my family, if I can't do the things I most enjoy about cruising (which is to escape the daily grind and be carefree for a couple of weeks at a time) I won't cruise until the pandemic passes. I hope the cruise lines are around then. I have cruises booked for April 2021, November 2021, and January 2022.  I think it's very  unlikely there will be an widely available effective vaccine in time for next April, and possibly not before the other two as well.

[Gracie115]

I think the type of cabin one chooses under these and other guidelines will become very important at least in the near future.  We general spend a lot of time in our stateroom and under these guidelines it would be even more so picking a stateroom that we have room to move around in would be important...which means suites and I suspect their already high cost will increase substantially.....

[Georgia_Peaches]

I'm not fond of the segregation of people by age demographic.  This will be impossible for those who travel with multi-generational families.  Sounds horrendous.

[TeeRick]

21 hours ago, MarkWiltonM said:

 

I am afraid I agree with you. As much as I love cruising, I'm not going to cruise again if the only way it can be safely done also takes the fun out of it. At home here in South Florida, I adhere vigilantly to social distancing and mask wearing. I only go to grocery stores very early and as seldom as possible. I havn't been in a restaurant in months (except to pick up takeout), etc. It's not fun but it's necessary. Although I feel I have no choice in my daily life except to adhere to guidelines to protect myself and my family, if I can't do the things I most enjoy about cruising (which is to escape the daily grind and be carefree for a couple of weeks at a time) I won't cruise until the pandemic passes. I hope the cruise lines are around then. I have cruises booked for April 2021, November 2021, and January 2022.  I think it's very  unlikely there will be an widely available effective vaccine in time for next April, and possibly not before the other two as well.

Not sure what happened but you actually quoted and agreed with phoenix_dream in post 50.  Not me.  Just wanted to give credit.

[Miaminice]

On 7/3/2020 at 3:14 PM, Wine-O said:

Precisely the reason the UK left the EU.   🍷

 

Yeah... to "take back control" and to better support the NHS 🙄.
UNFORTUNATELY the past months have shown how well that worked...

Edited July 7, 2020 by Miaminice