Bermuda new protection edict!

[SwimmingDragon]

My two mere cents... I know we don't know the "big" picture going on inside NCL headquarters. And looking at what they did with the PCR test being done at the boarding time to satisfy Bermuda's testing, was something that I don't think anyone on this board had posted as a possibility. I was pleasantly surprised by their choice to do it that way. Made complete sense. So, I'll be curious to see what they do with the touring. It may be that they have hired private tour busses and ferries just for the cruisers. I wouldn't be surprised. Supplying the transportation privately would help. Of course they may have something else up their sleeve, but I don't know. I will say their last move surprised me in a good way. So, I'm pretty certain they are not trying to make things more difficult than they already are. Okay, off the soap box. 😉 

 

[shof515]

19 minutes ago, SwimmingDragon said:

My two mere cents... I know we don't know the "big" picture going on inside NCL headquarters. And looking at what they did with the PCR test being done at the boarding time to satisfy Bermuda's testing, was something that I don't think anyone on this board had posted as a possibility. I was pleasantly surprised by their choice to do it that way. Made complete sense. So, I'll be curious to see what they do with the touring. It may be that they have hired private tour busses and ferries just for the cruisers. I wouldn't be surprised. Supplying the transportation privately would help. Of course they may have something else up their sleeve, but I don't know. I will say their last move surprised me in a good way. So, I'm pretty certain they are not trying to make things more difficult than they already are. Okay, off the soap box. 😉 

 

For years NCL had their own private ferry service from the dockyard to St George, so providing transportation should be no problem 

[JamieLogical]

13 minutes ago, shof515 said:

For years NCL had their own private ferry service from the dockyard to St George, so providing transportation should be no problem 

 

Right, but we are unsure whether that will be back up and running for the early sailings (any sailings this year?), since it's been shut down for 19 months.

[Mike C]

9 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Right, but we are unsure whether that will be back up and running for the early sailings (any sailings this year?), since it's been shut down for 19 months.

There’s a mention in one of the excursions of taking a tender to St George’s and returning the same way.  Perhaps that’s the NCL ferry.

[JamieLogical]

8 minutes ago, Mike C said:

There’s a mention in one of the excursions of taking a tender to St George’s and returning the same way.  Perhaps that’s the NCL ferry.

 

Oh man, I hope so. Taking an actual tender to St. George's would be really slow and uncomfortable!

[njhorseman]

50 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Hopefully the ferry (either NCL's or the public ferry) will be running to St. George's. I did take a ferry to Hamilton and then a bus from Hamilton to St. George's once. That bus trip wasn't bad... definitely was NOT crowded. Our bus driver even took us on a detour to see some of the fancier houses on the way, because we were the only ones onboard and he was treating it almost like a tour guide at that point! In any case, I hope ferries are running at the very least!

It won't be the public ferry. That ferry line is not operating in 2021.  I'm not sure where the NCL ferry is located currently. IIRC they used to run the boat back to the US in the off season for maintenance so it may not even be in Bermuda...in fact if marinetraffic.com is correct the ferry was last located off the coast of Bari, Italy.

[UKstages]

5 hours ago, cruzercruiser said:

 I think we are all connected in some way to a business or industry that has been profoundly disrupted by the pandemic. But what industry has been affected more than cruising? 

 

broadway, live theatre and performance venues (music and comedy).

 

and restaurants.

 

but they all got some government funding. the cruise industry did not. (but, of course, that's because they are not american companies... nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)

 

 

[shof515]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

in fact if marinetraffic.com is correct the ferry was last located off the coast of Bari, Italy.

how does the boat get there and where does the crew sleep on the boat. it gotta be miserable if the crew had to sleep on the floor

[Karaboudjan]

24 minutes ago, shof515 said:

how does the boat get there and where does the crew sleep on the boat. it gotta be miserable if the crew had to sleep on the floor

There are ships that transport yachts long distance.  The ferry could probably have used something like that.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

how does the boat get there and where does the crew sleep on the boat. it gotta be miserable if the crew had to sleep on the floor

 

54 minutes ago, Karaboudjan said:

There are ships that transport yachts long distance.  The ferry could probably have used something like that.

She should be able to sail between Bermuda and Florida on her own as long as weather permits. The boat has a top speed of 25 to 28 knots so about two days at sea should do the trick . I imagine they could rig up some type of cot arrangement for the crew to sleep on.

Edited September 21, 2021 by njhorseman

[bluesea777]

The NCL ferry, Pride of St. George, ex Bo Hengy II, is now AWOL at the moment! 
 

Yes, @njhorsemanis correct about its last location but that’s all we can find at the moment.

 

The public ferry Dockyard - St. George isn’t operating this year.

 

 

[billslowsky]

6 hours ago, shof515 said:

For years NCL had their own private ferry service from the dockyard to St George, so providing transportation should be no problem 

It was a problem a couple of years ago when it hit a reef.

[billslowsky]

6 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Hopefully the ferry (either NCL's or the public ferry) will be running to St. George's. I did take a ferry to Hamilton and then a bus from Hamilton to St. George's once. That bus trip wasn't bad... definitely was NOT crowded. Our bus driver even took us on a detour to see some of the fancier houses on the way, because we were the only ones onboard and he was treating it almost like a tour guide at that point! In any case, I hope ferries are running at the very least!

Big difference between that situation and when 100 people (it was more) get off the cruise ship and head for what was the only way other than a cab to get to the beach. That's what it was like before the vans took people directly to the beach itself.  Not supposed to board wearing a bathing suit though I don't recall anyone being turned away, most everyone had a coverup over top at the very least.

[JamieLogical]

I watched the press conference today with the Bermuda Minister of Transportation. They do not seem closer to reaching an agreement to get bus and ferry drivers back to work. The issue now is that the transportation workers want to be paid for the past five days they haven't worked and the government is refusing to do so.

 

So, no immediate end in sight for the transportation shut down.

[dolphin1313]

10 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

I watched the press conference today with the Bermuda Minister of Transportation. They do not seem closer to reaching an agreement to get bus and ferry drivers back to work. The issue now is that the transportation workers want to be paid for the past five days they haven't worked and the government is refusing to do so.

 

So, no immediate end in sight for the transportation shut down.

Thanks for the update!

[psac]

Very curious to find out the next few days when people start getting back their test results and submitting the Bermuda TA requests, how the process works for the steps of submitting the first part, then getting back the details of submitting the test results.  We’re on the week after, so any insight from this week is of course super helpful!!  Thanks!

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by psac

[billslowsky]

21 hours ago, Mike C said:

There’s a mention in one of the excursions of taking a tender to St George’s and returning the same way.  Perhaps that’s the NCL ferry.

The description says it's 45 minutes each way, which is the time the ferry takes.

[Hionlife]

I just got a call from a representative of Norwegian Cruise lines. He asked if I had done the registration for the TA for Bermuda and if we had any questions about the process. I asked if the cruise was definitely on to go to Bermuda; he said yes. I asked if the excursions we booked we’re still planning on being carried out. He said yes.

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, Hionlife said:

I just got a call from a representative of Norwegian Cruise lines. He asked if I had done the registration for the TA for Bermuda and if we had any questions about the process. I asked if the cruise was definitely on to go to Bermuda; he said yes. I asked if the excursions we booked we’re still planning on being carried out. He said yes.

 

Oh wow! That's great. As it was, anyone not on Cruise Critic or social media might be completely in the dark if they did not read/comprehend the ONE email they sent us about it.

[goldmom]

Good to hear that NCL is following up their letter with a phone call.  However if people not on these cruise boards are just now being reminded to apply for the TA, they are going to be scrambling to get it done timely.  But better they know now then finding out they needed it at the pier.  Hopefully all passengers read the initial letter carefully and are aware of what they need to do.  

As far as the other info, the Rep doesn't really know, he's just repeating what he's been told.  I'm hopeful, but still no guarantee that the ship is going to Bermuda.

It will be a very interesting boarding on Sunday.  Hope they have a lot of Security!  LOL!

[cruise4family]

I apologize if this was already explained.  Is there a website for Eurofins that I can access to register for the test NCL is giving at the pier?  We are on the 10/31 Breakaway cruise.

And just wanted to add that the information provided here has been very informative.  So thank you to everyone who has provided insight.

[goldmom]

15 minutes ago, cruise4family said:

I apologize if this was already explained.  Is there a website for Eurofins that I can access to register for the test NCL is giving at the pier?  We are on the 10/31 Breakaway cruise.

And just wanted to add that the information provided here has been very informative.  So thank you to everyone who has provided insight.

When you are at 21 days before your cruise you will be able to fill out the Health and Safety section of your online check-in.  There will be a link in that section for Eurofins, you just click the link and register.

[JamieLogical]

20 minutes ago, cruise4family said:

I apologize if this was already explained.  Is there a website for Eurofins that I can access to register for the test NCL is giving at the pier?  We are on the 10/31 Breakaway cruise.

And just wanted to add that the information provided here has been very informative.  So thank you to everyone who has provided insight.

 

Yes, you need to wait for the email for your specific sailing, because the "event code" is unique to your sailing.

[Russiamomm]

1 hour ago, goldmom said:

When you are at 21 days before your cruise you will be able to fill out the Health and Safety section of your online check-in.  There will be a link in that section for Eurofins, you just click the link and register.

This is how I did it.  I never got a separate email about registering with Eurofins.  But it’s easy to do from the checkin page on NCL.com.

[BermudaBound2014]

On 8/13/2021 at 6:12 PM, Marygracie C. said:

I just read and printed new "rules"to enter Bermuda.I understand it is a small island and they want to keep their citizens safe but oh my.

 

 

And even with these very strict protocols in place Covid has found it's way onboard the Crystal Symphony (which has only 180 passengers onboard).  

 

All passengers were put in quarantine for further testing. Five passengers tested positive onboard. An additional 13 were identified as close contacts. All have been off loaded and put in quarantine in Bermuda. I believe all are asymptomatic.

 

By most standards I'm pretty laxed when it comes to Covid caution, but given this new information there absolutely no way I'd get on a cruise to Bermuda at this time knowing what might happen.

 

This thread is a must read for anyone considering Bermuda.....