Will Cunard want proof of vaccination to board and how would you show it?

[ace2542]

21 hours ago, BlueRiband said:

Perhaps smaller ships can to that.  But just imagine the horrendous ordeal at the cruise terminal if health reviews have to be done for 2600 passengers.  The signed doctor's form is a huge obstacle for all the earlier outlined reasons. If Cunard puts in such procedures I won't book.  Contactless dining?  No thanks.

And if the new procedures make them late for departure they get hit with more port taxes and fines and god knows what. And I doubt they would have enough medical staff? It would take DAYS to screen all the passengers like that. Look at how long you wait to go to your family doctor.  Now multiply that by 3000 people all waiting.

[resistk]

On 8/14/2020 at 8:40 AM, ace2542 said:

And if the new procedures make them late for departure they get hit with more port taxes and fines and god knows what. And I doubt they would have enough medical staff? It would take DAYS to screen all the passengers like that. Look at how long you wait to go to your family doctor.  Now multiply that by 3000 people all waiting.

 

Only hope is the disease just goes away or mutates ito something less virulent.  A vaccine might help but unless it will be 70-80% effective (flu shots are usually less than that), more and more big cruise ships will be going to the breakers.

[ace2542]

14 hours ago, resistk said:

 

Only hope is the disease just goes away or mutates ito something less virulent.  A vaccine might help but unless it will be 70-80% effective (flu shots are usually less than that), more and more big cruise ships will be going to the breakers.

There is some talk some the vaccines might be 80% plus effective perhaps or even higher than that. We shall have to see. I think the uptake among the cruising population will be very high indeed. I can't see people wanting to be locked in cabins for 2 weeks. And the requirement for vaccination will probably be written into the contracts for all staff members.

[Ray66]

MSC Grandiosa: First Mediterranean cruise launches after five-month pause.

 

MSC Cruises say all passengers and crew have been tested for coronavirus before boarding.

 

Will be interesting to see the outcome.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53802045

Edited August 16, 2020 by Ray66

[resistk]

4 hours ago, Ray66 said:

MSC Grandiosa: First Mediterranean cruise launches after five-month pause.

 

MSC Cruises say all passengers and crew have been tested for coronavirus before boarding.

 

Will be interesting to see the outcome.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53802045

 

"virus cases continue to rise around Italy, with more than 600 reported by authorities yesterday." 

 

New Zealand just locked down again because they had 30 new cases.

 

What could go wrong?  The Italians handled their initial surge of case so well.

 

[ace2542]

13 hours ago, Ray66 said:

MSC Grandiosa: First Mediterranean cruise launches after five-month pause.

 

MSC Cruises say all passengers and crew have been tested for coronavirus before boarding.

 

Will be interesting to see the outcome.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53802045

Question. What happens when the passengers get off at each port. It does not say whether they will be re-tested at each port?. And I assume they will switch out of the crew for the Aug 29th sailing?

[exlondoner]

2 hours ago, ace2542 said:

Question. What happens when the passengers get off at each port. It does not say whether they will be re-tested at each port?. And I assume they will switch out of the crew for the Aug 29th sailing?

 

The consensus seems to be that  wandering about in the outdoors is unlikely to cause a problem, and the ship is presumably relying on passengers observing reasonable social distancing.

What does switch of out mean? I have never heard the expression.

[bluemarble]

4 hours ago, ace2542 said:

Question. What happens when the passengers get off at each port. ...

 

Quoting from Cruise Critic's article Contact Tracing, Masks, Swab Tests in Terminal Part of MSC's Return to Cruise Plan:

 

"One of the most interesting aspects of MSC's new COVID-19 health and safety protocols is the requirement that passengers must take part in an MSC-designed shore excursion in order to disembark the ship.

 

Initially, no independent explorations ashore will be allowed. MSC has instead designed a collection of shore excursions in each port that will use guides wearing PPE and which conform to all local health and safety protocols on shore."

Edited August 17, 2020 by bluemarble

[exlondoner]

Now that does seem extreme. Why not just let them wander about, as other holiday makers do?

[Covepointcruiser]

If they wander unsupervised right now, there is a greater risk of infection.   If they are on a tour sponsored by the line they can be watched plus if someone on a given tour is infected contacts will be more easily traced.   A good idea for the first cruises but won’t be tolerated by passengers in the long run.   Anyway, baby steps till we get things safely running.

[exlondoner]

9 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

If they wander unsupervised right now, there is a greater risk of infection.   

 

But is this true? A tour that involved going inside fairly cramped buildings in groups seems fairly risky. I'm not sure whether you are in the U.K. If you are, you will be aware that Bournemouth is a major seaside resort, on which hundreds of thousands of visitors descend, whenever the sun shines, to enjoy the beaches. This caused some problems when facilities, such as loos and car parks, were closed. The one thing it has not caused, so far, mercifully, is a spike in COVID cases. So I'm not convinced unsupervised wandering is that risky.

[Victoria2]

I don't know the ins and outs of passing on of the virus, but I would have thought if the whereabouts of a group is known and can be traced, rather than the wanderings of random individuals, then port authorities might be more amenable to passengers disembarking.

[exlondoner]

10 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

I don't know the ins and outs of passing on of the virus, but I would have thought if the whereabouts of a group is known and can be traced, rather than the wanderings of random individuals, then port authorities might be more amenable to passengers disembarking.

 

There's that. But the passengers are all supposed to have been tested and passed as virus free. In which case the fear is presumably that they might acquire the virus and bring it on board.

[ace2542]

20 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Now that does seem extreme. Why not just let them wander about, as other holiday makers do?

I bet they are charging a bit for them excursions as well. 

[ace2542]

22 hours ago, exlondoner said:

 

The consensus seems to be that  wandering about in the outdoors is unlikely to cause a problem, and the ship is presumably relying on passengers observing reasonable social distancing.

What does switch of out mean? I have never heard the expression.

Switch out is an american phrase for change. Surely they will change the crew for the August 29th sailing? It is not so much the passengers they need to worry about as the crew. With this thing taking upto 2 weeks to incubate.  If a crew member gets infected on the first trip then there is a real chance of infection spreading around on the second cruise especially if testing shows false results

[Germancruiser]

On 8/17/2020 at 4:34 PM, exlondoner said:

Now that does seem extreme. Why not just let them wander about, as other holiday makers do?

'Because a lot of regular holiday makers these days come back to their country carrying the virus. I quite understand MSC and Kudos for them to act upon violations. Nothing is " normal " these days- neither shopping- crusing- flying - whatever you do is a bit different!

[carlmm]

On 8/18/2020 at 1:07 PM, ace2542 said:

I bet they are charging a bit for them excursions as well. 

 

Actually MSC offers in the current situation reasonable prices, IMHO.  A package of three excursions costs € 100.   

€ 33 1/3 for one seems rather fair to me.

[ace2542]

19 minutes ago, carlmm said:

 

Actually MSC offers in the current situation reasonable prices, IMHO.  A package of three excursions costs € 100.   

€ 33 1/3 for one seems rather fair to me.

As maybe but they are the only game in town so they will clean up. A nice little earner for them. They will probably make more than they usually do on the excursions in these ports.

[carlmm]

1 minute ago, ace2542 said:

As maybe but they are the only game in town so they will clean up. 

 

Sorry, I am not a native English speaker. What does this sentence mean?

[ace2542]

They are the only people doing something. There is no one else doing the same thing. So they can do what they want. MSC are the only ones doing the excursions. Passengers cannot go anywhere else. So MSC will make a lot of money on these excursions.

[exlondoner]

10 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

'Because a lot of regular holiday makers these days come back to their country carrying the virus. 

 

Is this actually the case? And if these are Italians on an Italian ship at an Italian port, it must be hard to differentiate. Might not maskts, staying outside, and social distancing be adequate, and perhaps preferable to being corralled in a group?  See my earlier post about holiday makers in Bournemouth.

[carlmm]

7 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

They are the only people doing something. There is no one else doing the same thing. So they can do what they want. MSC are the only ones doing the excursions. Passengers cannot go anywhere else. So MSC will make a lot of money on these excursions.

 

Thank you for the explanation!

 

So, we just differ in our perception of the reasons MSC sets the rules and their wish/ability to generate undue income.

[Ray66]

On 8/17/2020 at 3:05 PM, bluemarble said:

 

Quoting from Cruise Critic's article Contact Tracing, Masks, Swab Tests in Terminal Part of MSC's Return to Cruise Plan:

 

"One of the most interesting aspects of MSC's new COVID-19 health and safety protocols is the requirement that passengers must take part in an MSC-designed shore excursion in order to disembark the ship.

 

Initially, no independent explorations ashore will be allowed. MSC has instead designed a collection of shore excursions in each port that will use guides wearing PPE and which conform to all local health and safety protocols on shore."

 

And just to show how strict MSC are being, a family who left the ship on a shore excursion decided to leave the "social bubble" group and wandered off on their own to explore the town (Naples). Result? they have been denied reboarding and thrown off the ship (Grandiosa). Apparently all their belongings were collected from their cabin and handed to them. They will have to find their own way home.

[mcloaked]

I guess that despite the very clear message that wandering off risks being infected in the wider community, and then leads to the possibility of one of those infected then infecting many once they got back on board particularly when pre-symptomatic then the response you have detailed from MSC seems totally reasonable.  They clearly cannot afford to risk hundreds of people on the voyage being infected and a repeat of those awful virus infected voyages that happened at the start of the pandemic. The 'new normal' will have to be the way forward until and unless there is an effective vaccine - but many don't accept this reality.  I can't wait to get back on board - but I have to curb my eagerness until the new operational methods have been established, and am crossing every finger I have that a vaccine will in principle be shown to be functional before the end of the year even if widespread availability is not until some time next year.

[ABoatNerd]

On 8/21/2020 at 6:27 AM, Ray66 said:

 

And just to show how strict MSC are being, a family who left the ship on a shore excursion decided to leave the "social bubble" group and wandered off on their own to explore the town (Naples). Result? they have been denied reboarding and thrown off the ship (Grandiosa). Apparently all their belongings were collected from their cabin and handed to them. They will have to find their own way home.

 

Well, is there really a "family"?   

 

Have not heard anything from this so called "family", days later, not a peep.

 

Interesting. I suspect there is no "family" rather MSC trying to portray themselves as being hard on guidelines.

 

Humm, check out the wait staff in the MSC  restaurants using face shields instead of masks (Princess thread).

 

Likely lots more MSC related questionable info to come in the future.