CDC issues Cruise Warning - Long Term outcome?

[davencl]

6 minutes ago, AlexCherie said:

I certainly will, if lucky enough to get on board!

Floating around for 10 days ... just fine by me, so long as I have access to specialty dining. It's the Caribbean after all, not like I'm missing out on Quebec, Normandy or London. 

Re: April 4 ... if we don't sail in January, that money will immediately but put on the Western Med trip with you. If we do sail, it will be our first trip with O. I might, might find the kopeks hidden in the couch to make that second trip this year. It was actually my dream trip all along. 

For me, that itinerary was great simply because we envision ourselves getting off the boat and walking around old, old places. Oh, what an adventure.

As you can tell, the giddiness is growing. 

Yes we're on the next sailing with no intention of cancelling so we will appreciate your updates.  Will be our first trip on O also.

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 hours ago, Harters said:

We have to make our mind up soon about whether we go or not. We have limited years left for travel, yet don't want to jeopardise all the other good things about life just for a holiday.

And therein lies the conundrum: one of the good things about life for many of us geezers is travel.

TICK TICK TICK....

[ohmark]

46 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

And therein lies the conundrum: one of the good things about life for many of us geezers is travel.

TICK TICK TICK....

True. But, of course, nobody wants to prematurely get to BOOM.

[Flatbush Flyer]

58 minutes ago, ohmark said:

True. But, of course, nobody wants to prematurely get to BOOM.

Yes. Gotta see the humor in this “first world problem.” 
Nonetheless, it all boils down to a ”quality of life” decision.

[ak1004]

https://cruisereport.com/cruise-industry-news/response-to-cdc

 

Very good response.

"Royal Caribbean recently reported that since the restart of cruise operations in 2021, 1.1 million guests have returned only 1,784 positive test results. That is a 0.02% positivity rate. Compare that with Ft. Worth, Texas that just reported a 24% positivity rate! Royal Caribbean went on to report that of the 1784 positive cases, only 41 were hospitalized. And, there have been no hospitalizations with the Omicron variant.

We will not change our travel plans based on the CDC warnings for cruise travel. If you choose to do so, we believe that is your right. We base our travel decisions on sound science and common sense, not media hype or hyperbole."

[AlexCherie]

On 1/1/2022 at 10:47 AM, susiesan said:

Alex, please keep us up to date while you are on Riviera next week. I'll be interested to hear of your experience on a ship at only at 25% capacity. If you don't make any ports and just float around for 10 days, that could be really boring or ideal depending on why you cruise. 

 

Are you still planning to be on Riviera April 4? I sure don't want to fly all the way to Europe just to be on a cruise ship for 10 days with no port stops. I cruise for ports, not the ship.

I'm sure this will be reported elsewhere, but while we were stuck on the I95 (trying to drive to South Florida instead of flying from Buffalo!) yesterday, Oceania let us know of all the port changes.

The selection was ... pretty dreadful. Private Island and St. Thomas replaced a couple of ports, really a motley crue.

We have assigned to 11:30 AM embarkation, won't get there probably until later. We now have a car to park and store while we sail, very late arrivals into Miami, all that jam.

But it's all good. Be a potter. 

I'll post here and there as I have news. A bit cloudy today but the Cuban coffee is hot and strong, and the guava croissant excellent. Looking forward to Waves.

Cheers!

[susiesan]

44 minutes ago, AlexCherie said:

I'm sure this will be reported elsewhere, but while we were stuck on the I95 (trying to drive to South Florida instead of flying from Buffalo!) yesterday, Oceania let us know of all the port changes.

The selection was ... pretty dreadful. Private Island and St. Thomas replaced a couple of ports, really a motley crue.

 

So what are the scheduled ports now?

[LHT28]

what could be worse than St Thomas  ?? 😉

 

[jonthomas]

not much...

[jagoffee]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

what could be worse than St Thomas  ?? 😉

 

Many ports.  I have always felt  that the cruise in and out of St. Thomas is special.  Depending on where you dock the view in port it is also very nice.  This may be influenced by the fact that our very first cruise on our honeymoon included a stop in St. Thomas, therefore we have special memories.  
We sometimes take a snorkel excursion to St. John or do something on the water.

[nursinadream]

4 hours ago, ak1004 said:

https://cruisereport.com/cruise-industry-news/response-to-cdc

 

Very good response.

"Royal Caribbean recently reported that since the restart of cruise operations in 2021, 1.1 million guests have returned only 1,784 positive test results. That is a 0.02% positivity rate. Compare that with Ft. Worth, Texas that just reported a 24% positivity rate! Royal Caribbean went on to report that of the 1784 positive cases, only 41 were hospitalized. And, there have been no hospitalizations with the Omicron variant.

We will not change our travel plans based on the CDC warnings for cruise travel. If you choose to do so, we believe that is your right. We base our travel decisions on sound science and common sense, not media hype or hyperbole."

Very good article, thanks for posting.  Excellent results from RCI  I wonder if test results are remaining this way?

Deb

[Vineyard View]

The RCI article was well thought out. The only caveat is that these numbers do not reflect the recent issues in the past few weeks since the infection rates on their ships shot up. Not sure how much that would skew the overall numbers, but it is a consideration to keep in mind. 

For us, the issues are not the smaller cruise ships, including Oceania and a couple other competitors. I believe that they are in fact as or more safe than many public places on land. It is more the journey to the ships that concerns me. Case in point - Covid testing required before boarding along with possibly other tests prior. Everyone who is clear at that time is allowed on board. So the likelihood is that they contracted in their journeys to the ship or just prior. 
Even then percentage numbers of infection are low - but that in itself is canceling so many scheduled ports. Then there are the ports where you have to take a ship excursion - being on busses - which is presumably safer?  So in the end, we have a couple cruises booked, and have two more we are looking at - but we don’t want to be restricted to ship excursions nor a sailing to nowhere. I know it works for many to do that. It’s  not a matter or wrong or right. For us it is more a matter of how flexible we can be - and we are just not sure we can. Honestly,  I might be a bit envious of those who are able! 

Edited January 4, 2022 by Vineyard View