HAL Alaska Neuw Amsterdam questions for 2021 sailings, life on board, vaccine rules, etc

[kazu]

3 hours ago, SumoCitrus said:

Kazu, the flu usually kills 30,000 to 60,000 per season in the United States. It can and does kill. Cruise lines never saw it necessary to mandate flu vaccines even though the flu poses a risk to its passengers.

 

Sumo - I am quite aware that flu can kill but covid has killed over 550,000 in the United Staes alone.  That’s far above flu statistics and fyi, flu cases have been minimal since people started wearing masks.

You can’t compare covid to the flu.  It’s death toll is much higher and sadly there are many suffering from long haul effects.   Comparing it is belittling the threat.  

 

Covid is NOT the flu and IMO should not be compared to it until we are enough heard immunity that it’s numbers are like the flu.

[Mary229]

Here is the press release concerning safety protocols.   They say protocols in place at the time will be observed.  That would be CDC protocols for a fully vaccinated cruise which at this time are fairly lenient.  
 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/news/2021-press-releases1/news-05202021-RTSAlaska21.html

[kath00]

Please don't turn this thread into a vaccine debate too...  let's stick to HAL's plans for AK sailings this summer.

 

We are booked!  Me and Mom and sister and DH are all going on the FIRST SAILING!  Call us crazy but I figured with only 50% capacity, it should actually be really fun to be on the ship.  SO excited!  No shore excursions up yet for any of the ports as of today.  

 

Thanks to the person who linked the luggage port valet option!  We will def report back on how the first sailing "of the season" will go.  I am anticipating a bit of chaos but we are in a suite so maybe it will be easier for us to board.  Who knows....

 

 

Edited June 5, 2021 by kath00

[kath00]

Ok new info today... they are sailing at 100% capacity now for that first cruise and onward?  Has anyone else heard this?

 

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

47 minutes ago, kath00 said:

Ok new info today... they are sailing at 100% capacity now for that first cruise and onward?  Has anyone else heard this?

 

 

Where are you getting this information??? 

[AKJonesy]

46 minutes ago, kath00 said:

Ok new info today... they are sailing at 100% capacity now for that first cruise and onward?  Has anyone else heard this?

 

 

I listened to the FB live with with President of HAL and he said they are starting out at 50% but then will increase that number.  Also, now we have to hope that FL lawsuit is resolved so that we can cruise from FL and to AK.  Keeping fingers crossed.  

[LAFFNVEGAS]

From the time this opened for selling on May 21st, the categories of Ocean View and Interior were totally closed. The only passengers still booked in those categories were those that booked prior to the Alaska season originally being closed and were basically on a reservation hold like the rest of us that booked in 2019. They were able to remain with the reservations they had. By eliminating not selling new bookings of Ocean View and Interior and the available cabins which were plentiful on May 20th they were WELL under 50%. HAL opened up to sell Balcony and above. Shortly after opening for sale they closed off new reservations for the July 24th because they reach the 50% threshold. But as days have passed they did in fact receive plenty of cancellations and move over offers to next year for people that were unable to get vaccinated or those sailing with young children that could not be vaccinated. Keep in mind July is prime family time which tends to have more children on board. HAL did contact all the reservations with children under age 16 and made offers to move them to 2022. That in turn opened up a lot more staterooms that they could then sell to the 50% max capacity for the first sailing. The second sailing might go up to maybe 55% but not much more over 50%. Just because suddenly there are more cabins available DOES NOT mean they are taking this to 100%. Right now all that is currently available are balcony cabins and most are for staterooms that will occupy triple quad occupancy which tells me they moved a lot of reservation to next year or just canceled because they will not be able to be compliant with vaccination.  

[kath00]

My agent called HAL today and the HAL rep told the agent... so she told me.  So it came directly from the cruise line.  I suppose they could have given her the wrong info?  I hope.  I was going to call but the wait on phone calls is like an hour these days and we are already booked so I didn't waste an hour on hold on my Saturday off.

Edited June 6, 2021 by kath00

[Heartgrove]

For comparison, at the beginning of April we booked the fourth cruise of Viking Sky circumnavigating Iceland in July. The requirements for all of the Viking "Welcome Back to the World" cruises are 100% vaccinated, bubble excursions, masks except in stateroom and pool, social distancing, and no getting off the ship on our own. Testing will be continual during the cruise beginning when we embark and the last one upon disembarkation that can be used for re-entry into the US. Viking ships have only balcony staterooms and suites plus individual HVAC systems for each cabin so it would be very easy to quarantine if necessary. The initial sailings were for only US citizens 100%vaccinated. The sailings are reduced capacity with the first just below 50%. But our cruise (4th) we are allegedly at 97% capacity . When booking, nothing was known about what they intended to do concerning capacity.

 

Hopefully when we are back on a HAL ship in December, more is known and will be close to being back to normal. Due to the different configurations of staterooms on HAL ships, are they selling Interior cabins? The shared HVAC systems on HAL do concern me if there is a mix of vaccinated/non-vaccinated passengers.

 

 

[Vict0riann]

On 6/3/2021 at 10:26 AM, kazu said:

 

Well, if there is not a vaccine requirement for the European cruises in the Fall, I will be very disappointed.  A recipe for disaster IMO.  The variants are not under control and the more people that cruise that are not vaccinated, the higher the risk of mutation and variants.  At some stage there could be a variant that immunization cannot protect against 😔 

 We received a (separate) email from HAL regarding our Med cruise and TA this Fall - did you not get one? It says:

"Important Notification

This cruise is available for guests who have received their final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to the beginning of the cruise and have proof of vaccination. Evidence of acceptable vaccination and other requirements will be confirmed closer to the time of departure and failure to provide proof will result in denial of boarding.

All guests and crew will also be required to follow enhanced COVID-19 health measures that have been developed with guidance from our global medical and public health experts and government agencies. Please check our website at https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/news/coronavirus-travel-advisory/traveling -and-staying-healthy.html regularly as there will be updates as new procedures

are finalized and existing protocols may evolve."

[kazu]

4 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

 We received a (separate) email from HAL regarding our Med cruise and TA this Fall - did you not get one? It says:

"Important Notification

This cruise is available for guests who have received their final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to the beginning of the cruise and have proof of vaccination. Evidence of acceptable vaccination and other requirements will be confirmed closer to the time of departure and failure to provide proof will result in denial of boarding.

All guests and crew will also be required to follow enhanced COVID-19 health measures that have been developed with guidance from our global medical and public health experts and government agencies. Please check our website at https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/news/coronavirus-travel-advisory/traveling -and-staying-healthy.html regularly as there will be updates as new procedures

are finalized and existing protocols may evolve."

 

Thanks Ann,

 

No none of us on our cruise I have gotten that notice that I know of.  Makes me wonder if the Volendam will be going.  All HAL seems to talk about is the Eurodam and Westerdam.

 

I think with Europe entrance requirements everyone on European cruises will need to be vaccinated which is fine with me 😉