Coronavirus : general discussion focussed on the impact on the cruise industry

[Thomas Hypher]

My Dad and his fiancé's cruise in mid November, which was to be QM2's first voyage back in service again, is one of those cancelled.

According to a letter Cunard sent to another passenger that they then posted on social media, QM2 will have to go into a quarantine of sorts on arrival into New York on her first transatlantic after the pause in December, meaning that passengers will get another two nights onboard but alongside at no extra cost before being allowed to disembark by the authorities after the authorities do whatever they need to do. If this was also in place for the cruise my Dad and his fiancé were on, a 26 night roundtrip Caribbean also calling at New York, it could've disrupted the rest of the cruise too much which seems to be why Cunard have cancelled it, in particular, outright.

[Chris Thompson]

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/09/03/royal-caribbean-gets-cdc-approval-oasis-of-the-seas-sail?fbclid=IwAR2S5pD4_XU8pEeKx33_RIgtm47aZ7iI0DtzfOJHbV_KfOVaWZ805GuCyiI

Here is an announcement from RCCL regarding cruises. Interesting that they are not insisting on facemasks given the number of breakthru infections......

[Pete Hamill]

Queen Elizabeth called at Greenock yesterday.
The weather for departure was rather dreich (gloomy).
Here she is heading down river.

[Rob Lightbody]

Queen Elizabeth called at Greenock yesterday.
The weather for departure was rather dreich (gloomy).
Here she is heading down river.

Were people able to get off/on at Greenock or was it just passing by?

[Pete Hamill]

As far as I know, organised tours are permitted to get off. I don't have exact details as our cruise is a 7 nights on board with no ports of call, so we haven't been issued with instructions for going ashore.
She was alongside at Greenock all day and not just passing.

[cunardqueen]

Orkney next year has their highest ever number of cruise ships visiting .
But then it is one of the top ports as voted by cruise passengers, and they do put on a good show.

[Thomas Hypher]

My Dad and his fiancée are going on Queen Elizabeth next month and when they call overnight in Amsterdam they can only go ashore as part of the Cunard organised tours. Unfortunately this means they can't meet up with my Uncle and Auntie and other friends as they had planned, despite the organised tours also having an allocation of free "do what you want" time built into them due to the tour, in this case, going to another part of Amsterdam that would be tricky for my relatives to get to. So close but so far!

[Bob van Leeuwen]

Is this still the same Thomas? Since COVID rules have been relaxed some since then (I believe). Apart from requiring a valid QR code when visiting a restaurant for example rules have been pretty relaxed here so far.

[Thomas Hypher]

Bob,

My Dad and his fiancée were able to meet up with my Uncle and Auntie and dine in an Indian restaurant in Amsterdam. They also met up with their other friends as planned. I think my Dad said the Indian restaurant was operating at reduced capacity still, and it's booking only.

On Queen Elizabeth she was operating at about 60% capacity overall for their cruise and they no longer give you the card in your cabin with the table you'll have for dinner if you're in the late sitting. Early sitting still arrive at their normal time and then about 45 minutes later everyone else, on the late sitting, can turn up when they feel like it and they are shown to a table of their preference if possible (like it used to be for breakfast and lunch for everyone before the pandemic in the main restaurants on Cunard ships). I think it's still open sitting for breakfast and lunch too despite the pandemic. Face masks are still required when in the interior public areas of the ship except when eating/drinking.

[Bob van Leeuwen]

Loads of restaurants have staffing problems at the moment, thats why some of them still are only opened at reduced capacity. The biggest reason for this is simply that working in a restaurant here is not as highly paid as you might think. And then the government paid a really good salary for the Covid vaccination locations positions, so when the restaurants where closed during lockdown most of them moved there. Where I live (about 30KM from Amterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Den Haag) all seems to be almost back to normal, but I have heard different stories from all the major cities. Also the QR checks put some people off from going to a restaurant due to them needing a check beforehand.

[Lynda Bradford]

The Steamship Historical Society of America featured an interesting review of the effects of Coronavirus on cruise lines with a link to the longer article that can be downloaded online.

http://www.sshsa.org/media/PowerShips/Articles/2020_Review_Extended.pdf

[Rob Lightbody]

Ok so omicron is the latest development.

Serious illness seems to be generally avoidable if you've been vaccinated three times, however even then you are quite able to catch it, and spread it unknowingly often with few or even no symptoms.

People could go aboard even with a fresh negative test and still develop and spread covid.  Everyone on board would have to test every day without fail.  Are they doing that??

[Rod]

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/cruise-ship-royal-caribbean-covid/index.html

[Rob Lightbody]

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/cruise-ship-royal-caribbean-covid/index.html

Thanks!

Testing crew weekly isn't good enough, if you're not testing passengers at all once they've boarded.

Cruise lines need to be better than that, if they don't want to be forced to shut down again.

[Rob Lightbody]

Queen Mary 2 cruise stranded in New York quarantine
UP TO 1,000 passengers on the Queen Mary 2 face Christmas in isolation after a Covid outbreak during their cruise from Southampton to New York.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1539148/queen-mary-two-cruise-britons-stranded-new-york

Vaccinated Guests on Luxury Cruise to Caribbean Test Positive, Must Isolate in NYC
Omicron is now the dominant COVID variant in the U.S., accounting for about three-quarters of new infections last week, health officials say

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/vaccinated-guests-on-luxury-cruise-to-caribbean-test-positive-must-isolate-in-nyc/3461955/