Cruise idea for the Caribbean

[miched]

With the policy of only letting those people get  off the ship that have tours schedule thru the cruise line why even bother or running any risk

 

They should just sail to their private island spend a day and night.   Sail for a day and go back to that island again but put a sign out welcoming you to a name of another island,  sail again and go back repeating the process.     All the islands are basically the same and passengers only want to be able to get off the ship, walk around, go to a beach and etc.  

 

They could also have a few busses at the dock for those that like to sit on a buss  going on tours or riding to a beach.  🙄🤗.   They can sit on the buss but only after standing in line for 30 minutes with the tour director that is holding a sign for the tour you signed up for.  😱

 

They could also tender to the island for one of the stops.   Don’t want to disappoint those that like the tender ports.  🤷‍♂️

 

Everyone will be safe and X will have control of no one getting the virus in any port.   
 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

 

[jelayne]

That was a suggestion by the Healthy Sail Panel.   With Royal,  Celebrity and Azamara looking to get ships sailing only stopping at Labadee  and Coco Cay would limit the number of ship that could sail.  Unless multiple ships could be accommodated at each island each day.  Multiple ships would possibly mingle the crews and passengers making social distancing and contact tracing very challenging.

[TeeRick]

Just brainstorming here based on your post.  But what about a zoned-off cruise-only tourist zone at some Caribbean island ports?  Until the pandemic is over?  Limits exposure to the rest of the island.  This is actually the way Labadee is set up in reality.  The government of the island could control access and test their citizens who are running shops, restaurants, etc.  I can see this working in a tender port like St Martin where they could even restrict the total number of passenger visits per hour and reduce the risk.  Any thoughts?  This opens up a bit more than just the private islands.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Just brainstorming here based on your post.  But what about a zoned-off cruise-only tourist zone at some Caribbean island ports?  Until the pandemic is over?  Limits exposure to the rest of the island.  This is actually the way Labadee is set up in reality.  The government of the island could control access and test their citizens who are running shops, restaurants, etc.  I can see this working in a tender port like St Martin where they could even restrict the total number of passenger visits per hour and reduce the risk.  Any thoughts?  This opens up a bit more than just the private islands.

 

I like the private island idea with one ship at a time.  I don't believe cruising will start up with a ton of ships.  They are going to experiment for a while to see what works.  I actually still have a November one still on the books.  Probably won't go, but who knows?

 

When did St. Maarten become a tender port?  Usually there are up to 6 ships docked there.  I was actually there once when we were the only ship in port--it was amazingly different.

[hcat]

Ha

I thought the OPs post was a bit of humor to lighten up the day...

But has led to good thoughts and ideas! 

[deliver42]

Tender to St. Maartin. Where did I go wrong? I always got off at the pier.

[miched]

1 minute ago, hcat said:

Ha

I thought the OPs post was a bit of humor to lighten up the day...

But has led to good thoughts and ideas! 

Actually a little bit of both but more of the lighter side.  
 

There are a lot of smart and creative people on this board and with enough discussion no matter has silly may give X some ideas.   If you can dream or think of something it can usually be made or happen.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

[hcat]

Well said!

[Keys Kathy]

Hubby says "no vaccine, no sail" I am sure the cruise lines are already looking down the road to operation after many/some are vaccinated. Will we have a colored wrist band? A chip implanted? Dots on our noses? 

 

I have read that some people are concerned about coming into Florida now that they have relaxed the rules. Know this, each town/county can enforce their own mask rules. 

 

Also, I would really like it if they would give us "real" numbers. Numbers that do not include 97 year old men in nursing homes for the last 10 years that have been on oxygen for the last 5 years. You know, those who actually died of Covid 19, not underlying causes. 

 

Personally, I will not sail wearing a mask. I enjoy meeting people to much. 

[Fouremco]

Assuming that the countries to whom these islands belong are willing to consider allowing ships filled with passengers arriving from the US to disembark, the only other issue is the locals who are used to staff the islands, many of whom commute daily from their homes. Maybe for the duration of the pandemic, the cruise lines could provide all requisite staff. 

Edited October 5, 2020 by Fouremco

[TeeRick]

2 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

I like the private island idea with one ship at a time.  I don't believe cruising will start up with a ton of ships.  They are going to experiment for a while to see what works.  I actually still have a November one still on the books.  Probably won't go, but who knows?

 

When did St. Maarten become a tender port?  Usually there are up to 6 ships docked there.  I was actually there once when we were the only ship in port--it was amazingly different.

Ha ha you are right!  I was thinking Grand Cayman but typed St. Martin.  I did tender a few years ago at St Martin shortly after a hurricane went through there.  Anyway not important.  I still think enclosed tourist zones might work on some of these islands.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

18 hours ago, Keys Kathy said:

Hubby says "no vaccine, no sail" I am sure the cruise lines are already looking down the road to operation after many/some are vaccinated. Will we have a colored wrist band? A chip implanted? Dots on our noses? 

 

I have read that some people are concerned about coming into Florida now that they have relaxed the rules. Know this, each town/county can enforce their own mask rules. 

 

Also, I would really like it if they would give us "real" numbers. Numbers that do not include 97 year old men in nursing homes for the last 10 years that have been on oxygen for the last 5 years. You know, those who actually died of Covid 19, not underlying causes. 

 

Personally, I will not sail wearing a mask. I enjoy meeting people to much. 

 

I agree on the numbers game.  But you can't keep the population fearful with real numbers.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

17 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Assuming that the countries to whom these islands belong are willing to consider allowing ships filled with passengers arriving from the US to disembark, the only other issue is the locals who are used to staff the islands, many of whom commute daily from their homes. Maybe for the duration of the pandemic, the cruise lines could provide all requisite staff. 

 

That can be done.  MSC's private island is mostly staffed by crew from the ship.  They do have very nice quarters for the workers who live on the island.

[Life Buoy]

Like the idea, but I think this would make it more attractive The lines could put all their private islands in pool and a cruise could be from one to another with a few sea days in between.

[miched]

5 hours ago, Life Buoy said:

Like the idea, but I think this would make it more attractive The lines could put all their private islands in pool and a cruise could be from one to another with a few sea days in between.

 That would be interesting.   It could turn into a competition on who has the best facilities, food, drinks and etc to lure away passengers for a future cruise.  
 

Although it would suck if they put on the dog and pony show and what  you see and get wouldn’t be reality for cruising with them. 

 

That happened to us at a Sandals.  What was shown in a brochure or what our TA told us wasn’t what it was.  While there they had a private party for the TAs on their private  island.  I wanted to go to that island and they said they were hosting a special event and I raised a fuss about not having access.   I was able to go.   They were serving drinks in pineapples, coconuts, variety of  bottled beer,  and other nicely presented drinks with the garnishments of umbrellas and etc.  all served by butlers.   A far cry from the drinks we got in plastic cups, a choice of two draft beer and no servers.  You wanted a drink you went to the bar and stood on line.   I told many TAs that what they were getting wasn’t what we were getting.  We spent more for that one week than what it now costs for a sky suite on Celebrity and that was over 10 years ago and also our last AI.   

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🌅🇺🇸

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by miched

[phoenix_dream]

5 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

I agree on the numbers game.  But you can't keep the population fearful with real numbers.

At the same time, what about the deaths that were never identified as COVID deaths, for whatever reason? I suspect there are a good number of those as well, especially early on. At the end of the day, they probably equal out, or close to it.  We will never know the true numbers, but does it really make a difference in approach if it is 150,000 rather than 200,000?  To those who find the US numbers suspect for whatever reason, take a minute to consider the worldwide toll this virus has already taken.  If anything it is likely many countries are under reporting their numbers.  The world wide death numbers are staggering IMHO.  And it is far from over yet.

[riredsox]

16 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

At the same time, what about the deaths that were never identified as COVID deaths, for whatever reason? I suspect there are a good number of those as well, especially early on. At the end of the day, they probably equal out, or close to it.  We will never know the true numbers, but does it really make a difference in approach if it is 150,000 rather than 200,000?  To those who find the US numbers suspect for whatever reason, take a minute to consider the worldwide toll this virus has already taken.  If anything it is likely many countries are under reporting their numbers.  The world wide death numbers are staggering IMHO.  And it is far from over yet.

Thank you.  Well said. 

[Life Buoy]

Can't we just lighten up! Covid-19 has been discussed ad nauseum. This could be a fun thread if we limit comments where Celebrity could visit in the Caribbean.

Edited October 6, 2020 by Life Buoy

[whitshel]

You know what would be even more cool is if all the cruise lines opened their Private Islands up to each other.  Then we could see if the grass is greener on the other side.  More importantly, others could see if RCCL's private islands are "greener" 🙂 

 

Miami

Day 1- Coco Cay

Day 2- Great Stirrup Cay (NCL)

Day 3- At sea

Day 4- Labadee

Day 5- At Sea

Day 6- Half moon Cay/ Ocean Cay

Miami

Edited October 8, 2020 by whitshel

[mom says]

49 minutes ago, whitshel said:

You know what would be even more cool is if all the cruise lines opened their Private Islands up to each other. 

But you still have the problem of limiting the number of ships at each island each day. Only now the problem would be compounded by a greater number of ships competing for docking.

[Life Buoy]

You could simply limit the number of ships to 5 or 6 and give each one a different itinerary so no more than 1 would be in a specific port at any time. I would have confidence that the lines involved can work it out.

Edited October 8, 2020 by Life Buoy

[Luvcrusn]

 

I hope that I can revisit this in November 2021. Scheduled for a cruise that goes back to Grenada. Hopefully we'll be able to visit on our own again. (Yes, I am wearing my rose colored glasses today!)

[Fouremco]

We were scheduled for a March 2021 cruise that would have taken us back to Grenada, but we L&S'd it to March 2022. I'm fairly  confident that by then we won't be faced with ship excursions only. Maybe then we too can revisit the falls.

 

 

[George C]

47 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

 

I hope that I can revisit this in November 2021. Scheduled for a cruise that goes back to Grenada. Hopefully we'll be able to visit on our own again. (Yes, I am wearing my rose colored glasses today!)

Great picture, I did Grenada for the first time a few weeks before we invaded it in early 1980’s .

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I was scheduled to go to Grenada again in May.  We all know how that turned out.  😬  I like to purchase spices while in Grenada.