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Bahamas prohibits docking at private island

cruiseamm

By cruiseamm,
in MSC Cruises

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morrieb1

morrieb1

Posted
Posted
On 1/4/2022 at 8:30 AM, mscdivina2016 said:

People on board have posted they were at OC yesterday.

 

The issue is the 3 day covid tests for Bahamas, so as long as the ship goes there first, there is no testing done as its only a few hours away. Those that have OC at the end of a cruise may have an issue

No - that's not what the issue is.  If you look at the US Embassy in Bahamas page it notes that cruise passengers are permitted to debark if the cruiselines processes have received the approval of the Bahamian government.  (I'm paraphrasing because my memory is not all that, but I promise that if you check the link and choose Bahamas, you'll see what I mean about two thirds of the way down the visit requirements under Entry by Sea). https://bs.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

 

All ships need to report the number of covid cases onboard to the local port authority prior to getting permission to dock.  If the authorities feel that the number of cases onboard pose a risk to the island, then they will not allow the ship to debark passengers.   And its not just a static number of cases - I'm pretty sure the port authority takes into consideration the number of cases they already have on land when assessing risk. That's why its hit or miss whether or not a particular ship docks at any of the Bahamian islands, private or not.    

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mscdivina2016 "Live from...." Rare

mscdivina2016

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, morrieb1 said:

No - that's not what the issue is.  If you look at the US Embassy in Bahamas page it notes that cruise passengers are permitted to debark if the cruiselines processes have received the approval of the Bahamian government.  (I'm paraphrasing because my memory is not all that, but I promise that if you check the link and choose Bahamas, you'll see what I mean about two thirds of the way down the visit requirements under Entry by Sea). https://bs.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

 

All ships need to report the number of covid cases onboard to the local port authority prior to getting permission to dock.  If the authorities feel that the number of cases onboard pose a risk to the island, then they will not allow the ship to debark passengers.   And its not just a static number of cases - I'm pretty sure the port authority takes into consideration the number of cases they already have on land when assessing risk. That's why its hit or miss whether or not a particular ship docks at any of the Bahamian islands, private or not.    

In a way it is.

 If everyone who gets on board is negative and you go to OC first which is several hours, you report to the Bahamian government "0" because it has only been 12 hours max.

Thus going to OC first is basically fool proof.

 The ship is not leaving FL with covid. They will offload crew and deny passengers if FL if positive. THis is also the same place they will replace crew.

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tkwbear

tkwbear

Posted
Posted

I guess this site, or the reporting to it, is now suspect. I just heard from my friend on the Meraviglia and she said they had just completed an overnight stay at Ocean Cay. That's good news. As you can see it doesn't show up on the vesselfinder history.

 

https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/MSC-MERAVIGLIA-IMO-9760512-MMSI-249973000

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FrostyJoe

FrostyJoe

Posted
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45 minutes ago, tkwbear said:

I guess this site, or the reporting to it, is now suspect. I just heard from my friend on the Meraviglia and she said they had just completed an overnight stay at Ocean Cay. That's good news. As you can see it doesn't show up on the vesselfinder history.

 

https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/MSC-MERAVIGLIA-IMO-9760512-MMSI-249973000

Shhhhh MSC is secretly going to OC without the Bahamian government knowing 😇

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alohayall

alohayall

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, Lovestotravel81 said:

We have just disembarked from seaview we had pretty much all our ports canclled last week unless on an msc excursion due to an outbreak of covid. It was tough and go as to whether the Barbadian government were going to let us disembark yesterday.


Does this mean you actually docked at your scheduled ports (so not cancelled?). Requiring ship excursions is not the same as cancelling a call - although it might make you chose to stay onboard.

 

Trying to clarify to keep reporting factual, please.

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Markanddonna

Markanddonna

Posted
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1 hour ago, girli565 said:

Just off the Divina 1/6 sailing. We docked at OC on 1/8. It was glorious!

I think the reason you were allowed at OC is because they were able to prevent incoming passengers who had COVID and then didn't test on day 2. Is that accurate?  So, if they keep up that policy, there will be no reportable COVID.  So glad you got to enjoy the island, though. It really is very nice!

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girli565

girli565

Posted
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22 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

I think the reason you were allowed at OC is because they were able to prevent incoming passengers who had COVID and then didn't test on day 2. Is that accurate?  So, if they keep up that policy, there will be no reportable COVID.  So glad you got to enjoy the island, though. It really is very nice!

We were tested at the port of Miami on 1/6, embarkation day. I did see one man from our "pod" detained at the port while awaiting the rapid test results before boarding, he tested positive. The port security and a MSC rep removed him and his luggage and they were asking where the rest of his party was located. 

 

No we were not tested on Day 2, but that was most likely because we were on a short cruise and going back to disembark the next day. So no other stops. We were not tested at disembarkation. 

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mscdivina2016 "Live from...." Rare

mscdivina2016

Posted
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22 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

I think the reason you were allowed at OC is because they were able to prevent incoming passengers who had COVID and then didn't test on day 2. Is that accurate?  So, if they keep up that policy, there will be no reportable COVID.  So glad you got to enjoy the island, though. It really is very nice!

We docked at OC today. 

We left port Canaveral yesterday so no chance of Covid and nothing to report.

 

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karmamule

karmamule

Posted
Posted
On 1/9/2022 at 1:07 PM, FrostyJoe said:

Bummer. What app or website is that? Looks cool

Looks like the cruisemapper app. I was just using that to answer a question in another thread about which port the Seashore uses in Puerto Plata.

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Fogfog

Fogfog

Posted
Posted
On 1/9/2022 at 4:58 PM, gadaboutgal said:

We are on 1/8 Seashore and did not dock this a.m. due to very high winds.  Waters are choppy and wind is too strong to even sit poolside.   But, hey, it's sunny and no snow.😉

I had forgotten about the high winds etc

in late 2019/early 2020 there were multiple posts about not being able to get into the channel etc at OC due to high winds.

We did B2B in Feb and the first week the stop at OC--the weather was dreary COLD and WINDY! 

Second week was sunny, breezy and glorious. 

Such is life boating.

 

 

Appreciate  folks mentioning the no-go to OC is wind and not a bug--since it keeps things honest

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