Cruise booked for January

[PhillyFan33579]

4 hours ago, leen50 said:

We always take a carry on if it's 10 days or less on the ship. Carnival is easy bec. we get free laundry.

Having clothes washed in hot water is not much of a perk in my book. Only worthwhile perks in my book are the 2 for 1 slot/blackjack entries and the Diamond special event. 

[xDisconnections]

2 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Having clothes washed in hot water is not much of a perk in my book. Only worthwhile perks in my book are the 2 for 1 slot/blackjack entries and the Diamond special event. 

I stopped using this benefit as well.

[Doggielover68]

19 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

It was tough for ME...going from that 30 inch suitcase and large backpack to the 21 inch suitcase and small backpack. I don't know how people do it with a carryon..or sharing a suitcase.

I can manage 2 weeks with a carryon. It's not that hard with all summer clothes. I also wear my shirts/shorts more than once (not sweaty ones) and use the free laundry perk. I even pack multiple bottles of sunscreen, hair conditioner, snorkel gear, shoes, otc meds, etc. Keep in mind that "carry on" can mean a small rolling luggage and a backpack. I just prefer to have my stuff with me 100% of the time.

[bafinegan]

For a 5 day I combine hubbs and my clothes in a 25 inch suitcase.  ! carry on for a change of clothes, medicines, toiletries etc.  For longer, will either do 2 carry ons with the 25 incher, or 21+25 incher and 1 carry on.  And I pack a sports coat for elegant for hubbs.  Plenty of space for souvenirs too! 

 

baf

[ninjacat123]

1 minute ago, bafinegan said:

For a 5 day I combine hubbs and my clothes in a 25 inch suitcase.  ! carry on for a change of clothes, medicines, toiletries etc.  For longer, will either do 2 carry ons with the 25 incher, or 21+25 incher and 1 carry on.  And I pack a sports coat for elegant for hubbs.  Plenty of space for souvenirs too! 

 

baf

Do you use packing cubes? That's awesome how you can get all that in a 25 incher!

[houseflipper48]

On 10/9/2020 at 6:10 PM, houseflipper48 said:

We are a party of 10 ppl and have a cruise booked for January.  We are having second thoughts,  anyone else? Do you think ships will sail at full capacity in the beginning? Require masks? Only allow ppl to use ship sponsored tours? Not many answers out there now unfortunately. 

We have unfortunately decided to postpone our Jan cruise to Jan 2022. For us, just too many uncertainties. We are not one to book ship guided tours, we like to venture out on our own and I'm not sure that's going to be allowed at this time. If things seem to go smoothly after cruises start back up, we may be inclined to book one prior to the Jan 2022 cruise.

[bafinegan]

24 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Do you use packing cubes? That's awesome how you can get all that in a 25 incher!

Na.  I am an old Army sarge and learned to pack.  Rolling clothes really saves space..

 

baf

[leen50]

42 minutes ago, houseflipper48 said:

We have unfortunately decided to postpone our Jan cruise to Jan 2022. For us, just too many uncertainties. We are not one to book ship guided tours, we like to venture out on our own and I'm not sure that's going to be allowed at this time. If things seem to go smoothly after cruises start back up, we may be inclined to book one prior to the Jan 2022 cruise.

Thanks for getting us back on topic. Some of us have "hijacked" the thread.

We all have to do what we think is best. I am concerned about our October 2021 sailings. I do have some time to change if needed.

[evandbob]

44 minutes ago, houseflipper48 said:

We have unfortunately decided to postpone our Jan cruise to Jan 2022. For us, just too many uncertainties. We are not one to book ship guided tours, we like to venture out on our own and I'm not sure that's going to be allowed at this time. If things seem to go smoothly after cruises start back up, we may be inclined to book one prior to the Jan 2022 cruise.

 

Probably a wise choice.  Despite our natural desire to resume cruising and other "normal" activities, all signs point to an increase in viral infections happening right now.   It's just not safe yet.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

To start with. I am not condemning anyone for taking huge suitcases on cruises less than 7 days. But I do not understand why. How much do you need for a cruise. One evening dress set. A few pair of shorts, a few shirts,

underwear for each day. Swimming suit, One pare of dress shoes, casual shoes if needed and one pare of flip flops. A small case for cosmetics that we put inside of one of the suitcases. On a 3 day cruise we take only one suitcase. Both of our clothes fit easily. The are small suitcases. with the handles that come out to pull and roll the suitcase. they are about 25" high. If you must. You can wash are press on a ship. We hate lugging anything with us. I have actually seen a couple have an aluminum beach chair strapped to their back when boarding the ship. People did take bicycles also but I think they no longer allow them. I am sure I am not the only one who has seen one couple with 4 suitcases. The ship was not making a transatlantic cruise. Even if we were to do a btb we would just have washed what we would need for the following week. I can also see an extra small suitcase for medical equipment that might be needed. Oh well. To each their own.

[Saint Greg]

4 hours ago, Doggielover68 said:

I can manage 2 weeks with a carryon. It's not that hard with all summer clothes. I also wear my shirts/shorts more than once (not sweaty ones) and use the free laundry perk. I even pack multiple bottles of sunscreen, hair conditioner, snorkel gear, shoes, otc meds, etc. Keep in mind that "carry on" can mean a small rolling luggage and a backpack. I just prefer to have my stuff with me 100% of the time.

 

See I wear jeans and a polo each night. A few of those will take up some space. Add in a pair of dockers and a long sleeve button down for formal nights and a large portion of my suitcase space is taken up before I even get to t-shirts and shorts.

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

See I wear jeans and a polo each night. A few of those will take up some space. Add in a pair of dockers and a long sleeve button down for formal nights and a large portion of my suitcase space is taken up before I even get to t-shirts and shorts.

I can relate Greg....it also all depends on which cruise line you're sailing on.  You can get away with a pair of dockers and 3 pairs of shorts on Carnival, Royal and NCL.  Need 4 pairs of slacks if you're sailing on a line that does not allow shorts in the MDR such as Celebrity or MSC.

For a 7 day cruise, it's 7 t shirts for daytime and 8 collared shirts for each evening and to wear home. Going to be interesting in January of 22 and 23 when we're doing two 5 day/7 day B2B.

[Saint Greg]

12 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

I can relate Greg....it also all depends on which cruise line you're sailing on.  You can get away with a pair of dockers and 3 pairs of shorts on Carnival, Royal and NCL.  Need 4 pairs of slacks if you're sailing on a line that does not allow shorts in the MDR such as Celebrity or MSC.

For a 7 day cruise, it's 7 t shirts for daytime and 8 collared shirts for each evening and to wear home. Going to be interesting in January of 22 and 23 when we're doing two 5 day/7 day B2B.

 

And see I end up needing two t-shirts on some port days. Unless it's a long port day and I'm getting ready for dinner right when I get back. If I get back and have a few hours to hang out on deck, I'm going to shower and change into something that isn't what I'm going to wear to dinner. And if I flew in and spent the night before the cruise...I have dirty clothes from the travel day taking up real estate in the suitcase as well.

[cruisinagain1960]

We are pretty comfortable with most of the restrictions on board.  I would like to see what kind of "walking" excursions the cruise lines are going to offer since we cruise with two scooters and generally go off on our own and explore, which wouldn't be allowed initially.  However, we are also fine with staying on board too.

 

I'm fine with wearing a mask in common areas and while waiting in line if I can't social distance, however if I'm on deck and there is no one around me any my cabin mate, I would like to be able to take my mask off.  We love to go to the top deck and just sit in the breeze.

 

All this being said, the one thing that does make me wary is what will happen if you get to the port and have a positive test.  I've heard they will give a 2nd test to rule out a false positive, but if we can't board, what happens to our cruise fare?  Are we going to get FCC or will the cruiseline refund?  And of course I know no cruiseline has publicly announced how that will be handled in the US.

 

My other pressing question is how are they going to "thin the herd" if a current cruise is fully booked.  We have a cruise scheduled in January (i'm fairly sure it's going to be cancelled) and I'd like to know how they are going to bump passengers.  Will it be voluntary at first, then by cabin class or date booked or VIFP level?  Or will they just cancel the entire cruise and then make us rebook?  That option, for me, would be very problematic - we book pretty far in advance because we have to have a handicapped accessible cabin, which means we get our cabins at a pretty good price.  Are they going to cancel my reservation and then make us rebook at a higher rate?

 

So many unanswered questions.....

 

 

[vswan]

As positive covid rates continue to soar in our area, I have another thought for reducing capacity. The positivity rate of the area/state/county you are coming from must be below a certain percentage - not sure what that would be, 5% or lower? I'm not sure I would want to get on a ship with a large group of people coming from a state with 25% or even higher positivity rates. You might need to arrive 2 weeks early if you want to sail - but if the port area is above the required percentage that could be troublesome.

[firefly333]

MSC grandioso had one positive test yesterday so wasnt allowed to get off the ship at malta., they were allowed to tie up and take on supplies so that's one example of something you could run into.

 

It was just a passing comment and I dont think will be true of ships with larger pools, but during some comments on social distancing the blogger mentioned no one allowed to swim in the pool. I would be hesitant to book a special area for the private pool on carnival early on.

 

I think there will be some surprises. No swimming allowed in attached pool he said.

[ninjacat123]

23 minutes ago, vswan said:

As positive covid rates continue to soar in our area, I have another thought for reducing capacity. The positivity rate of the area/state/county you are coming from must be below a certain percentage - not sure what that would be, 5% or lower? I'm not sure I would want to get on a ship with a large group of people coming from a state with 25% or even higher positivity rates. You might need to arrive 2 weeks early if you want to sail - but if the port area is above the required percentage that could be troublesome.

Do you mean 5% of the total population of the state for total cases per million people? 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

1 hour ago, vswan said:

As positive covid rates continue to soar in our area, I have another thought for reducing capacity. The positivity rate of the area/state/county you are coming from must be below a certain percentage - not sure what that would be, 5% or lower? I'm not sure I would want to get on a ship with a large group of people coming from a state with 25% or even higher positivity rates. You might need to arrive 2 weeks early if you want to sail - but if the port area is above the required percentage that could be troublesome.

Have you missed all the information the cruise lines have issued? Have you missed everything have have done and are doing and will do before they sail or take on any guests?

[vswan]

I was talking about the positivity rate of testing. Right now Wisconsin is 26% and MN is 5.3%.

 

The problem with all of the measures they are taking is that people are spreading the virus before they test positive. Doesn't matter if everyone tests negative as they board, they could still be positive 2 days later. I have two cruises booked for February 2021 and really want to get on those cruises. My husband and I are both in our 60s and in relatively good health - not high risk other than age.  I am very careful, wear mask, social distance, stay home a lot and do everything I'm supposed to. But you never know if others you come in contact with on your way to the port are doing those things.

[ninjacat123]

46 minutes ago, vswan said:

I was talking about the positivity rate of testing. Right now Wisconsin is 26% and MN is 5.3%.

Are you comparing the number of tests performed to the number of total cases? What site are you looking at?  Thanks!

Edited October 17, 2020 by ninjacat123

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

45 minutes ago, vswan said:

I was talking about the positivity rate of testing. Right now Wisconsin is 26% and MN is 5.3%.

 

The problem with all of the measures they are taking is that people are spreading the virus before they test positive. Doesn't matter if everyone tests negative as they board, they could still be positive 2 days later. I have two cruises booked for February 2021 and really want to get on those cruises. My husband and I are both in our 60s and in relatively good health - not high risk other than age.  I am very careful, wear mask, social distance, stay home a lot and do everything I'm supposed to. But you never know if others you come in contact with on your way to the port are doing those things.

That holds true weather you go cruising or to the grocery store. So to the port or to the store. No difference at all. Actually. The ship will be far safer.

[ninjacat123]

I look at the numbers on worldometer.info and I was trying to figure out how to get 25% of anything for Wisconsin.  If it's number of tests taken by number of total covid cases, then Wisconsin's percentage is 9.4%.  According to the numbers on worldometer site.  I usually look at total cases per million and total deaths per million to see how each state is progressing.

[vswan]

15 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Are you comparing the number of tests performed to the number of total cases? What site are you looking at?  Thanks!

I saw these numbers on Minneapolis/St. Paul news stations last night. They were the positivity rate for the total tests performed for the day.

[ninjacat123]

Just now, vswan said:

I saw these numbers on Minneapolis/St. Paul news stations last night. They were the positivity rate for the total tests performed for the day.

Got it.  Thanks vswan!

[vswan]

24 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

That holds true weather you go cruising or to the grocery store. So to the port or to the store. No difference at all. Actually. The ship will be far safer.

I agree. As of now I haven't canceled my cruises. May need to if they require testing several days prior to cruising since I will be on the first cruise when I would have to test for the second. Although, if it's safe to cruise and I have been in a bubble for a week, and cruise lines are comfortable with the precautions....

 

For me, it would probably be safer in Florida than in MN. Much of the focus for us is that we are entering a season when dining and visiting outdoors is just not overly practical. Yes, we can ski, snow shoe, walk, but visiting for any period of time in 30 below weather - which does happen - is not practical. They have had news stories asking if snowbirds should go south for the winter and they have said that it is probably safer because of the warmer weather. Of course that depends on people taking the precautions.