When do you realistically expect to cruise again?

[mamaofami]

Realistically, due to the fact of my age and not seeing the possibility of cruising again for a few years, I’m afraid my cruising days are over. I’m allergic  to the filler in the flu shot and can’t take it, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to take the vaccine for Covid either. If that’s the case, I’m pretty much staying at home. 

[geocruiser]

We fell that our cruising days are over.  Too much risk at our age.

[RocketMan275]

12 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

 

Really?

 

Didn't Governor Ivey mandate a mask requirement in AL? 

 

For myself, I'm fine with masks and distancing as long as the cruise itinerary is for cities where covid is under control. Can't hide forever!

Nor can we hide behind masks forever.

The Al mandate requires wearing a mask inside most facilities.  If those facilities are so dangerous that a mask is required then I will avoid those facilities if at all possible.  

[RocketMan275]

15 hours ago, vino100 said:

this is my thought as well. I’m not interested in cruising with a mask on or staying 6 feet from other cruisers. I have an August 2021 Norway cruised book so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a vaccine. 

Not only that but I'm not interested in patronizing any restaurant or bar where masks/distancing is required.  

[RevNeal]

I have recently looking at a late April 2021 cruise from San Diego to Vancouver followed by an Alaska Cruise out of Vancouver, but I'm not confident that such will be possible even by then. So, now I'm starting to look at Fall of 2021 and January of 2022.

 

Please, everybody, keep safe, don't take any undue risks, and know that you're not alone in any of it.

[neuronbob]

I have a Thanksgiving week cruise from FLL on Nieuw Amsterdam.  As I watch people not wearing their masks, and see the worsening of the pandemic here in the US, I am increasingly unlikely to go. The full payment is due in only a few weeks.  It's going to be a game time decision as to whether I pay it, or just reschedule for 2022.  The latter is looking likelier.  Keeping fingers crossed for some kind of improvement in the next few weeks.

[RevNeal]

9 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Nor can we hide behind masks forever.

The Al mandate requires wearing a mask inside most facilities.  If those facilities are so dangerous that a mask is required then I will avoid those facilities if at all possible.  

 

It's not that the facility is somehow "dangerous" -- the problem is that unaware carriers are. This virus is a very sneaky bug: because people can be infectious for several days prior to the manifestation of any symptoms, they can unknowingly spread it to many other people before they even suspect that they're ill. This means that wearing a mask can protect other people from getting it if you happen to be the one who is sick and doesn't know it. A non-medical grade mask may also provide at least some protection for a healthy person catching the virus by further reducing the saturation-level of virus laden moisture droplets in the air that one breaths, but that is a secondary consideration. If everybody wears a mask when in public, the chances of this virus being spread will be significantly reduced; indeed, it would be largely eradicated as spread-vectors are significantly reduced.  This is what has happened in places like Japan, where the prophylactic wearing of masks has long been an accepted practice.

[RocketMan275]

3 minutes ago, RevNeal said:

If everybody wears a mask when in public, the chances of this virus being spread will be significantly reduced; indeed, it would be largely eradicated as spread-vectors are significantly reduced.  This is what has happened in places like Japan, where the prophylactic wearing of masks has long been an accepted practice.

The improper wear of masks made from t-shirts will not accomplish those objectives.    If  you want to mandate classes in proper wear of masks, institute a masking police to pursue violators, and require the surgical masks shown to be reasonably effective, then you would have a point.

[RevNeal]

1 minute ago, RocketMan275 said:

The improper wear of masks made from t-shirts will not accomplish those objectives.    If  you want to mandate classes in proper wear of masks, institute a masking police to pursue violators, and require the surgical masks shown to be reasonably effective, then you would have a point.

I agree.  However, the wearing of non-medical grade masks is not so much about protecting YOU from getting the virus as it is protecting OTHERS from getting it FROM you (if you happen to have it and don't yet know it). Medical grade masks, and their proper use, are preferred in situations where the objective is to protect someone from getting it themselves. When I was taking my mother on a daily basis to get radiation and chemo, I made sure she had a medical grade mask and I taught her how to wear it properly. However, the wearing of even a simple cloth mask will significantly reduce droplet spread and, accordingly, reduce the number of people that a sick person can infect.

[clueless2]

Fall of 2022.  That's 2 years to perfect treatments and vaccines.  Plus we'll see how cruise lines handle any additional outbreaks on board.

[RocketMan275]

24 minutes ago, RevNeal said:

I agree.  However, the wearing of non-medical grade masks is not so much about protecting YOU from getting the virus as it is protecting OTHERS from getting it FROM you (if you happen to have it and don't yet know it). Medical grade masks, and their proper use, are preferred in situations where the objective is to protect someone from getting it themselves. When I was taking my mother on a daily basis to get radiation and chemo, I made sure she had a medical grade mask and I taught her how to wear it properly. However, the wearing of even a simple cloth mask will significantly reduce droplet spread and, accordingly, reduce the number of people that a sick person can infect.

You are to be commended for teaching your mother how to wear a mask.  Based upon my observations, I don't believe the vast majority have had that kind of instruction.  

 

That's not what my surgeon said when he visited me the day after my surgery in January.  He wore a surgical mask which he said was to protect me from something he might have.  

 

Since I have no confidence in the types of masks that will be worn and even less confidence in how those masks will be worn, I will not partake in any cruise that promotes the illusion of safety by requiring masks/distancing.  As it stands now, a person could wear a poorly fitted t-shirt mask for the entire cruise without washing it.  That tells me that a cruise under those protocols would be too dangerous to contemplate and should be avoided.   

 

I'm not against masks, per se, I am against the belief that masking/distancing as we are practicing now is a significant defense against the virus.  When the cruise lines adopt policies on the types of mask that must be worn, when those masks must be worn/cleaned/exchanged/discarded, how they must be fitted, then I might reconsider.  Of course, we would need a class someone like the lifeboat drill where these things are discussed.  We would also need crew members deputized as masking police to enforce the rules.  

[drsel]

Probably in late October 2020, as soon as cruises restart with all precautions and following all guidelines recommended by CDC

 

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, KirkNC said:

I think these German cruises (AIDA as well) will be very closely watched.  I hope you can pull it off safely.  If not, the industry may really crash and burn.

Other than some cash flow, I do not see anything positive coming from this. As you said, it's really a problem if they cannot pull it off. But even if they can do it successfully, is a short cruise with no ports and only passengers from the home country a model that can be put forward as the future of cruising?

[KirkNC]

46 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Other than some cash flow, I do not see anything positive coming from this. As you said, it's really a problem if they cannot pull it off. But even if they can do it successfully, is a short cruise with no ports and only passengers from the home country a model that can be put forward as the future of cruising?

Baby steps, it will prove that a cruise can be done safely.  I expect the first US cruise to be similar, short with only one port to comply with Jones Act.

[Horizon chaser 1957]

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

The improper wear of masks made from t-shirts will not accomplish those objectives.    

The improper wearing of pants made from paper towels is also ineffective. 
A cheap, disposable, real mask, is all that’s needed. If we can get them for 50 cents each at big box stores, I’m sure the cruise lines can get them even cheaper. They could leave a new one on the bed each night with the chocolate and What’s Happening pamphlet.

[rkacruiser]

37 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

Baby steps, it will prove that a cruise can be done safely.  I expect the first US cruise to be similar, short with only one port to comply with Jones Act.

 

With what foreign port that will accept American visitors?  Maybe Mexico?  I don't know what their current rules are.

[SteelMagnolia9]

3 hours ago, neuronbob said:

I have a Thanksgiving week cruise from FLL on Nieuw Amsterdam.  As I watch people not wearing their masks, and see the worsening of the pandemic here in the US, I am increasingly unlikely to go. The full payment is due in only a few weeks.  It's going to be a game time decision as to whether I pay it, or just reschedule for 2022.  The latter is looking likelier.  Keeping fingers crossed for some kind of improvement in the next few weeks.

I am booked on a 11 night cruise to the S. Caribbean on the Nieuw Statendam departing Nov. 11th. I’m cancelling and having my refundable deposit returned. There is no indication HAL will be sailing by then. Unless there is a compelling reason you have to rebook, I would not give any cruiseline any monies towards a future trip until they are operational.

 

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

. But even if they can do it successfully, is a short cruise with no ports and only passengers from the home country a model that can be put forward as the future of cruising?

 

As KirkNC said in his post, baby steps.  As a long term business model for cruising's future, no.  

 

Too early for anyone to know, but the cruising industry may have to "re-invent" itself.  While the concept of cruising has been around since the 1920's, if not somewhat earlier, the modern concept really only began in the late 1950's and 1960's.  And, really, only began to "take off" with the creation of Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and Norwegian Caribbean Cruise Line.  

 

Time for a new business model?  

[Mandalay1903]

12 minutes ago, SteelMagnolia9 said:

I am booked on a 11 night cruise to the S. Caribbean on the Nieuw Statendam departing Nov. 11th. I’m cancelling and having my refundable deposit returned. There is no indication HAL will be sailing by then. Unless there is a compelling reason you have to rebook, I would not give any cruiseline any monies towards a future trip until they are operational.

I agree. I would not give a cruise line (HAL) any "incremental" monies including final payment toward a future trip until the line is satisfactorily operational. But I have deployed my existing FCDs and nonrefundable bonus FCCs toward future cruises and will continue to do so.

[DFD1]

31 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

As KirkNC said in his post, baby steps.  As a long term business model for cruising's future, no.  

 

Too early for anyone to know, but the cruising industry may have to "re-invent" itself.  While the concept of cruising has been around since the 1920's, if not somewhat earlier, the modern concept really only began in the late 1950's and 1960's.  And, really, only began to "take off" with the creation of Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and Norwegian Caribbean Cruise Line.  

 

Time for a new business model?  

 

I was there.  In 1965, I was young, wide-eyed and thrilled when that old car ferry converted into a basic passenger carrier cast off in Miami and sailed for Nassau. The whole experience was exotic and intoxicating.  It opened a whole new world and I've never gotten over it.

 

The growth of the cruise industry from those early days is one of the great business success stories. To see it torn apart by events it could not control is tragic.

Edited July 21, 2020 by DFD1

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

The improper wearing of pants made from paper towels is also ineffective. 
A cheap, disposable, real mask, is all that’s needed. If we can get them for 50 cents each at big box stores, I’m sure the cruise lines can get them even cheaper. They could leave a new one on the bed each night with the chocolate and What’s Happening pamphlet.

Probably need more than one per day.   Masks should be replaced when torn or damp.  How many are familiar with the correct procedures for donning and removing a mask?  Or, even wearing a mask.  Just returned from Walmart.  Probably 50% were improperly worn.  The most popular style seemed to be just under the nose.  Now exactly how much protection does that afford?

[RevNeal]

25 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Probably need more than one per day.   Masks should be replaced when torn or damp.  How many are familiar with the correct procedures for donning and removing a mask?  Or, even wearing a mask.  Just returned from Walmart.  Probably 50% were improperly worn.  The most popular style seemed to be just under the nose.  Now exactly how much protection does that afford?

Just under the nose affords NO protection at all to the wearer.  It is, however, partially protective if the mask's purpose is to protect OTHERS.

 

Your surgeon was correct when he said that he worse a mask mostly to protect the patient from the surgeon; the same is mostly the case with masks in the general public. Most of the masks that are in the public are effective at protecting OTHERS, not the wearer. Since much of the virus is expelled by breathing/talking/singing/shouting/coughing, a mask over just the mouth would help to mitigate the wearer spreading the virus from the mouth; its would be worthless for any virus spread that might come out the nose. While better than nothing, it's not how the mask should be properly worn in order to mitigate the majority of virus-vectoring. Better-grade filter masks -- of varying qualities -- would do a better job of protecting others from the wearer, while also providing at least some screening defense from others. 

 

My mother wore N95s on our daily trips to her radiation treatments; I didn't want her in a hospital setting in just a surgical mask. Oh, certainly, a surgical mask has some filtering capacity when it coms to the kinds of droplets we have to be worried about with this virus, but for someone with an already highly compromised immune system, I wasn't about to let her risk even that level of exposure.  I wear medical grade (not N95) masks (or masks with medical grade filters) that seal to my face, and I always follow the safety precautions that the CDC has outlined.  Given what I do for a living, it's important for me to "do no harm" and still meet the needs of my people to the best of my ability.

[AlanF65]

I threw $300 on the crap table of the future and made a reservation for March 5, 2022 Panama Canal.

 

Next year I may fly to Juneau and do a small ship cruise in Alaska ( about 60 passengers). I like the one that spends 3 days in Glacier Bay.

 

So I had to have a place to spend my FCC in 2022.

 

[KirkNC]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

With what foreign port that will accept American visitors?  Maybe Mexico?  I don't know what their current rules are.

Could be a port that cruisers are not even allowed to get off, just a stop to comply with Jones Act.

[rkacruiser]

24 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

Could be a port that cruisers are not even allowed to get off, just a stop to comply with Jones Act.

 

 

It is surely time for the Jones Act to be rescinded if any of our lawmakers have any interest in preserving the livelihood of those who work in the cruise industry in any capacity in the United States during this period of time.  

 

While I would expect that the Fain's, Arison's, the Del Rio's, the Donald's, etc. will survive if the cruise industry "crashes and burns" as you said in a previous post.  What about the Jones and Smith families whose livelihood has been linked to their breadwinner's job in support of the cruise industry?