[COVID-19] DCL Sailings Canceled

[ChuckElias]

Better tell that to all the cruise lines planning to lean heavily on their private islands. I suspect if a cruise line says, “we will stop at the private island-only to work out our protocols for Nassau’s safety before returning there in a few months,” they’ll get approval. Everyone wants to be certain the ships can sail safely, and they need to have actual cruises to determine that. The other option is to start allowing cruises to no where again.

Pretty sure the cruise lines don't need me to tell them about Bahamian policies

Additionally, my understanding is that the initial sailings to "work out protocols" will not have any ports of call. They will use volunteers as passengers, probably company employees and/or family of the crew. Once they are cleared to carry actual paying passengers, then they'll have to deal with Bahamian politics. Nassau wants those shore excursion dollars. We'll see, I guess.

 

[John park hopper]

Maybe Disney can hire some of the 11,000 let go to be lab rats when they test out the new sailing protocols

 

[Sax Man]

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but it seems to me that everyone wants to ignore the fact that Coronavirus cases continue to climb again. 99,000 case were just reported in the U.S. yesterday. I love cruising, been on 13 Disney ones, have one booked for June 2021. But with cases continuing to rise again, and no sign of being able to stop it, I am still not going to be willing to risk being on a cruise with thousands of people. And for those who say they want to get back to their lives already, I get that but if you lost a close loved one to this stupid virus, you might think differently.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but it seems to me that everyone wants to ignore the fact that Coronavirus cases continue to climb again. 99,000 case were just reported in the U.S. yesterday. I love cruising, been on 13 Disney ones, have one booked for June 2021. But with cases continuing to rise again, and no sign of being able to stop it, I am still not going to be willing to risk being on a cruise with thousands of people. And for those who say they want to get back to their lives already, I get that but if you lost a close loved one to this stupid virus, you might think differently.

Oh, I agree. It will take many months to resume sailing anyway. This allows them to start the process if they wish, though I would expect DCL to wait longer than other lines.

 

[stevebwv]

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but it seems to me that everyone wants to ignore the fact that Coronavirus cases continue to climb again. 99,000 case were just reported in the U.S. yesterday. I love cruising, been on 13 Disney ones, have one booked for June 2021. But with cases continuing to rise again, and no sign of being able to stop it, I am still not going to be willing to risk being on a cruise with thousands of people. And for those who say they want to get back to their lives already, I get that but if you lost a close loved one to this stupid virus, you might think differently.

Positive tests are going up but deaths and hospitalization continue to decline. I suspect a large portion of the positive tests are college related as most campuses have forced testing weekly or biweekly for all students. Many of these are asymptotic or minor and would have never tested if left alone. Many test positive multiple times so the actually number of cases is lower then the positive tests.

We have flattened the curve, learned how to deal with the virus, determined who is most at risk and have educated the populace. With all this I can't wait to get back on board. The sooner the better.

 

[ChuckElias]

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but it seems to me that everyone wants to ignore the fact that Coronavirus cases continue to climb again.

I don't think you're being Debbie Downer. I think you are looking rationally at a very real and serious situation.

with cases continuing to rise again, and no sign of being able to stop it, I am still not going to be willing to risk being on a cruise with thousands of people.

But if you could get on a ship that is carrying only half of its capacity, and every single one of those people is confirmed not to be carrying the virus, would you consider yourself to be at greater risk than being at home and going to a crowded grocery store twice a week? I think I am ok with that.

This is what MSC and Costa are doing in Italy right now and they seem to be having success.

And for those who say they want to get back to their lives already, I get that but if you lost a close loved one to this stupid virus, you might think differently.

I absolutely would never want to minimize anyone's concern about becoming infected. And if you have lost a loved one to this disease, I am sincerely and deeply sorry for your loss.

 

[esskay]

Cant see many if any cruise lines being stupid enough to even attept to resume operations. It'd a disaster waiting to happen with the current figures.

Doesn't matter if you fill to full, half or a quarter capacity, it doesn't eliminate the issue and we all know it.

 

[UNCgolf]

But if you could get on a ship that is carrying only half of its capacity, and every single one of those people is confirmed not to be carrying the virus, would you consider yourself to be at greater risk than being at home and going to a crowded grocery store twice a week? I think I am ok with that.

This is what MSC and Costa are doing in Italy right now and they seem to be having success.

How are they confirming that?

Not being snarky -- I'm actually curious. Are they testing people and then requiring them to stay in full-time monitored quarantine while awaiting the results? I think that's the only way they could be sure that no one is bringing it on board.

 

[Surfin' Tuna]

Not to continue the Debbie Downer thing, but as I mentioned in another thread some DCL contracts were already canceled. They called people back and then canceled at least some of the contracts when the spikes started again. I do not know what the current plan is, but I know it has changed. I have not wanted to ask anyone, since it is such a sore subject with everyone right now.

 

[King Panda 77]

Cruise Lines Planned Reopenings: The Complete List

Cruise Lines around the world are targeted to be reopening through summer and fall of 2020. Here are the sailing dates and everything you need to know.

www.traveloffpath.com

By the looks of it some lines are already sailing. Haven't heard any news of outbreaks (yet). Am sure the media will be all over that if or when it happens.

 

[ChuckElias]

How are they confirming that?

My understanding is that MSC and Costa (both are sailing right now in Europe) are testing all guests before they board. Must be one of the quick tests, I guess.

 

[ChuckElias]

Cant see many if any cruise lines being stupid enough to even attept to resume operations. It'd a disaster waiting to happen with the current figures.

Just my guess, but I think you're going to be surprised. These companies have gone 7 months with no revenue. I think they're going to be very eager to re-launch as soon as they are given clearance. Again, just my guess.

 

[MaryJaneP]

You have clearance Clarence.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Just my guess, but I think you're going to be surprised. These companies have gone 7 months with no revenue. I think they're going to be very eager to re-launch as soon as they are given clearance. Again, just my guess.

We have to remind ourselves that the CDC guidelines would require months before guests are on board, so I bet some lines will get the ball rolling by year’s end so guests can be onboard by March or April.

 

[ChuckElias]

You have clearance Clarence.

Roger, Roger.

 

[ChuckElias]

We have to remind ourselves that the CDC guidelines would require months before guests are on board

What makes you say this? Is this a guess or assumption; or do you have some inside info?

This is directly from the CDC's "FRAMEWORK FOR CONDITIONAL SAILING ANDINITIAL PHASE COVID-19 TESTING REQUIREMENTSFOR PROTECTION OF CREW"

The initial phases will consist of testing and additional safeguards for crew members. CDC will ensure cruise ship operators have adequate health and safety protections for crew members while these cruise ship operators build the laboratory capacity needed to test future passengers. Subsequent phases will include simulated voyages to test cruise ship operators’ ability to mitigate COVID-19 risk, certification for ships that meet specific requirements, and a phased return to cruise ship passenger voyages in a manner that mitigates COVID-19 risk among passengers, crew members, and U.S. communities. These phases are subject to change based on public health considerations and cruise ship operators’ demonstrated ability to mitigate COVID-19 risk. CDC will issue additional orders as needed that will be published in the Federal Registerand technical instructions that will be subsequently posted on CDC’s website

Testing of the crew will take 2-3 weeks once they're back on the ship. (They'll be tested, obviously, and then probably have a quarantine period before being allowed back on duty.) I'd be willing to bet that the construction of lab capacity has already happened on a lot of ships. I'm guessing that the DCL ships have been in Brest for precisely this reason. Everybody knew this requirement was coming and CLIA had already agreed to testing passengers. Once that's done, the simulated sailings would not take months, I wouldn't think. I really think that a couple of companies are planning to resume in December.

This is a lot of guesswork on my part, but I don't see any obvious reason that it should take months for the cruise lines to get back to sailing. Again, lots of guesswork and (mostly) just my opinion.

 

[ChuckElias]

So flying to Orlando and going to the boat the next day you could get infected on the trip down, test clean, and start infecting others a few days later.

This is an interesting situation and one that we've talked about on my podcast; because non-cruise destinations (like flying into Jamaica) were requiring a negative test within 72 hours of arrival. It seems like even if you test negative on Wednesday, you could catch the virus at the grocery store on Thursday and then arrive in Jamaica on Saturday without ever showing as testing positive.

I'm not sure what the solution is for that, unless the tests become better at early detection.

 

[UNCgolf]

This is an interesting situation and one that we've talked about on my podcast; because non-cruise destinations (like flying into Jamaica) were requiring a negative test within 72 hours of arrival. It seems like even if you test negative on Wednesday, you could catch the virus at the grocery store on Thursday and then arrive in Jamaica on Saturday without ever showing as testing positive.

I'm not sure what the solution is for that, unless the tests become better at early detection.

This is what I was referencing above. Unless you monitor people to make sure they don't leave their house/associate with anyone else after testing, you really can't know if they have it.

 

[MaryJaneP]

Not sure what the answer is. Conceivably, a guest could test negative at breakfast and by lunch time, while asymptomatic, be a spreader. If only it were visibly obvious who might be a spreader. More questions than answers.

 

[DCBaker]

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/guest-services/advisory/