Will you stay or will you go?

[syesmar]

2 hours ago, Caribbean Chris said:

My masks make my glasses fog up but I’ll figure it out.

 

 

The little bottles of anti-fog spray are great. We got ours at Walmart. Good luck!

[paganwoman]

Both of our upcoming cruises mean we will be in the port city just long enough to not be able to get the test before leaving home. So it is a bother to find a testing area in the port city, like transportation to it and so on. And then waiting patiently to be sure you are negative since you are away from home. Yes quite a bother. Am I going on both cruises???? You bet. I will take my chances. I need to cruise 😁

[Caribbean Chris]

5 minutes ago, syesmar said:

The little bottles of anti-fog spray are great. We got ours at Walmart. Good luck!

Thanks, syesmar! Will give it a try. I was at Tampa Airport yesterday for my Global Entry interview and the darn eyeglasses-fogging drove me nuts.

[Caribbean Chris]

1 hour ago, wdw1972 said:

Edited August 5, 2021 by Caribbean Chris
Delete -copied wrong post

[BobbiSox]

13 minutes ago, paganwoman said:

Both of our upcoming cruises mean we will be in the port city just long enough to not be able to get the test before leaving home. So it is a bother to find a testing area in the port city, like transportation to it and so on. And then waiting patiently to be sure you are negative since you are away from home. Yes quite a bother. Am I going on both cruises???? You bet. I will take my chances. I need to cruise 😁

Exactly. Let's roll with the punches. 

 

[Daniel A]

[leerathje]

1 hour ago, Sir PMP said:

I hear that cruise might be canceled..

 

Where did you hear that?  Citation please.

 

L.

 

[Himself]

11 hours ago, julia said:

Just curious fellow cruisers ... 

 

Regarding today's announcement requiring a negative Covid or antigen test, along with revised onboard mask requirements, are you planning to:

A.  Proceed with your cruise

B.  Cancel your cruise

C.  Undecided at this point

 

Thank you for your input.  We are undecided, and frankly struggling with this.

I would be UNDECIDED

[idiebabe]

3 hours ago, dobiemom said:

A.  Proceed with your cruise
 

My problem is finding a rapid antigen test (PCR test takes too long for results) at the port city. 🤞

Check out Bartells in Seattle.  They have Drive-thru Testing and believe they do the Antigen Rapid Test. 

[Missheo]

11 hours ago, Boytjie said:

We are flying to Seattle on the 10th for the August 14th cruise. 

 

Still a go. Just need to figure out when and where to get tested. It seems you can't do it more than a day or two ahead of time.

We will be on the same cruise as you. I wonder if those that cancelled will they get full refund?

[Cruising-along]

Going!  No question!

[Boytjie]

1 hour ago, Charlie1422 said:

I'm not sure. Looks like the vaccine is not the miracle they were hoped to be. My problem is finding the rapid test. They are $200 if you can get an appointment. So $400 added to the cost of the cruise.  There goes $400 of my fun money. Just not sure it will be worth all the hassle.

 

Nobody ever claimed it will be a "miracle" cure.

[Boytjie]

14 minutes ago, Missheo said:

We will be on the same cruise as you. I wonder if those that cancelled will they get full refund?

 

I wonder if many cancel whether I could get a better cabin assignment? 😄

 

[Tampa Girl]

It would help if OP would post the site of this announcement.  I apologize if I overlooked it.  Thanks.

[Missheo]

11 minutes ago, Boytjie said:

 

I wonder if many cancel whether I could get a better cabin assignment? 😄

 

I wonder if we asked will they upgrade us. LOL

[foodsvcmgr]

Tentative booking on Rotterdam for mid-March.

Hoping for greatly eased restrictions by then.

Will not test pre-cruise or to return to US or wear mask shipboard.

Fully vaccinated and willing to get booster to travel internationally but that’s it.

[julia]

2 hours ago, Sir PMP said:

I hear that cruise might be canceled..

When posting a statement like this, please cite your "source"... 

[mcrcruiser]

6 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

I'm not bothered by the masks. It's only a two-oz device. I'm okay with the tests. Hoping that I don't get a false positive. 🙄

 

What is daunting is the speed at which covid19 is evolving. I'm prepared to cancel before FP if the situation looks 'complicated'.

 

 

We agree whole heartedly   .Although we are both vaccinated we are in our early 80s    .It is not wearing the mask in public area inside except while dining .  The questions we have are :

.  Will the ships sail full next year ? if so we cancel because social distancing will be impossible to maintain  ,also 6 feet is not sufficient id a person is infected & sneezes or coughs the droplets carry 28 or 29 feet  .Having ships with 1/3 capacity will be far better 

.

.Since we will not fly any longer ,we drive to the ports & take Mexican Riviera  or Hawaii cruises . Thus ,we can determine the  severity in advance   .The problem is not the vaccines but  these variants may not be stopped by the current  vaccines as evidenced by Vaccinated people getting sick  .Thus ,the question begs when will Big  Pharma  bring out the boosters like they do the yeatly flu shots ;which we take as well

 

 

[Daniel A]

43 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

It would help if OP would post the site of this announcement.  I apologize if I overlooked it.  Thanks.

Per the HAL web site:

 

"A Safer Way To Cruise And Travel — Updated August 4, 2021

At Holland America Line, our highest priorities are compliance, environmental protection and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, crew and the communities we visit.

All of our 2021 cruises are available for guests who have received their final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to the beginning of the cruise and have proof of vaccination and proof of a negative, medically observed viral COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen) taken within 72 hours of their embarkation. For guests embarking in Europe, we are conducting mandatory COVID-19 antigen testing at the pier pursuant to the EU Healthy Gateways Protocols. This test will be complimentary, and a negative result will satisfy our new testing requirements."

 

Health Protocols & FAQs | Holland America Line Cruises

 

I hope this helps.

[atexsix]

1 hour ago, Cruising-along said:

Going!  No question!

Do you know where you'll be getting the tests?

[atexsix]

If we sail we will not be booking a future cruise on board, too much risk that the cruise lines expect us to assume.  We'll wait and see how fall/winter goes.

[Roz]

1 hour ago, idiebabe said:

Check out Bartells in Seattle.  They have Drive-thru Testing and believe they do the Antigen Rapid Test. 

 

I never get a rental car in the port city.  I wonder if Uber or Lyft would be agreeable to taking someone for a test?

[AKJonesy]

Started looking to where to get a test, and it's very difficult now.  Places that were doing the tests are no longer doing them, and of course we worry about getting the results on time.  On top of that, the announcement about masks again.  I'm not very concerned about masks, but don't want to wear everywhere except in my stateroom.  I also previously reported on the SE AK communities and their new mandates.  Unfortunately, as I look at the DV and what happened in the UK, I think we are not at the peak of this yet.  So, I will give it another couple of weeks and see how this plays out. 

[Cruising-along]

13 minutes ago, atexsix said:

Do you know where you'll be getting the tests?

Our cruise isn't until Sept. 24, out of Athens, Greece.  So, as it stands now anyway, they will do the testing there at the pier. 

[agathasmum]

The announcement that a negative test will now be required is very frustrating. We are booked on the Aug 28th sailing and flying to Seattle from DC the evening of the 25th. Now it looks like we have to change our flights so we can take a rapid test before we leave. So $500 for testing, a loss of $200 for seat upgrades and incurring another $200 to rebook seat upgrades on the new flights. I am very wary of flying out the day before the cruise so we would have to test Thursday and fly out Thursday night perhaps before the results are back, so that would be very stressful too.

We have until tomorrow to cancel and get 25% of the cruise fare back. Deciding whether to just take a hit and cancel or whether it will be worth it to go through all the hassle and extra cost of rebooking flights etc.

 

This is not the relaxing cruise vacation I had hoped it would be. I'm very disappointed.