CDC Issues The New Guidance for Cruise Ships on the Mitigation and Management of COVID-19

[CruiserNic]

2 hours ago, LEMJMcC said:

No more testing!...no more testing!...no more testing!...no more testing!...no more testing!...no more testing!

 

Wish I could get a wave going!

[relaxatsea]

51 minutes ago, exm said:

 

I'm sailing on Odyssey out of Rome on 8/14 and I still see the testing requirements.

We are sailing on Odyssey out of Rome on 10/31/22, and I just looked at the RCCL site five minutes ago, it still says testing required two days prior boarding.

[kelbob]

1 hour ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

I’ve been checking daily for weeks. It only mentioned vaccines, then vaccines and tests, and last Thursday went away altogether. Others report the the same. 

Mine is the same. I’m sailing on Wonder on the 21st august. Mine disappeared last week

[pyrateslife4me84]

39 minutes ago, kelbob said:

Mine is the same. I’m sailing on Wonder on the 21st august. Mine disappeared last week

All of the Odyssey sailings go to Greece, which will require tests, so I’m not surprised that it was kept for Odyssey sailings. Everywhere Wonder goes has stopped demanding tests, so fingers crossed. We have the tests just in case. 

Edited July 25, 2022 by pyrateslife4me84

[Ravensfan1973]

4 hours ago, LEMJMcC said:

No more testing!...no more testing!...no more testing!...no more testing!...no more testing!...no more testing!

 

Wish I could get a wave going!

And no more vaccines

[Meem47]

I sail on Liberty out of Galveston on 8/14 and pre-cruise testing still shows up in the set sail pass pop up box.

[pyrateslife4me84]

3 minutes ago, Meem47 said:

I sail on Liberty out of Galveston on 8/14 and pre-cruise testing still shows up in the set sail pass pop up box.

It was specifically pulled for all Wonder of the Seas sailings. Unclear why. 

[exm]

1 hour ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

All of the Odyssey sailings go to Greece, which will require tests, so I’m not surprised that it was kept for Odyssey sailings. Everywhere Wonder goes has stopped demanding tests, so fingers crossed. We have the tests just in case. 

 

Greece says otherwise: https://travel.gov.gr/#/

 

"Furthermore, as of Sunday 01.05.2022, all travellers arriving in Greece, regardless of their country of origin, are no longer required to display a valid certificate of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19, or evidence of a negative test result from SARS-CoV-2 infection (PCR or Rapid Antigen test)."

[pyrateslife4me84]

11 minutes ago, exm said:

 

Greece says otherwise: https://travel.gov.gr/#/

 

"Furthermore, as of Sunday 01.05.2022, all travellers arriving in Greece, regardless of their country of origin, are no longer required to display a valid certificate of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19, or evidence of a negative test result from SARS-CoV-2 infection (PCR or Rapid Antigen test)."

Clearly, Greece feels differently toward cruise ships since NCL, the only major cruise line to remove the testing requirement in Europe, still requires them from Piraeus. 

[PSU_Redhead]

2 hours ago, Meem47 said:

I sail on Liberty out of Galveston on 8/14 and pre-cruise testing still shows up in the set sail pass pop up box.

I’ll be on that sailing, too, and have been obsessively checking the set sail pass, too! Lol

[mkdreams]

On 7/21/2022 at 6:56 AM, Jimbo said:

Yup still looks like testing is where this is heading.No change.

 

Cruise ships are a densely populated congregated different then most on land settings.

 

People on here don't want to believe that but it is true.

 

That continues to be the CDC view on cruising.

 

Seems if you don't like how the cruiselines have been handling recently you better get used to it. No change.

Well better get used to the fact that change is coming really soon, now that is a fact! Time to get back to living normal again!

[ak810]

8 hours ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

It was specifically pulled for all Wonder of the Seas sailings. Unclear why. 

Sailing on WOTS Aug 7th. Can confirm (just checked again), that the pop-up disappeared about a week ago when selecting "View Set Sail Pass" or "Edit Check In". But when you select "Health" from the main menu, testing is still there...

Edited July 26, 2022 by ak810

[ReneeFLL]

On 7/21/2022 at 8:44 AM, Ocean Boy said:

I did not know that.

They dropped the b2b testing around the 3rd week of my b4b on the Allure in April and first week of May. If they had tested me I might have tested positive and would have been booted. Since they didn’t I ended up with symptoms the night of the first day of that last cruise and we know how that went. 😃

[hal2008]

8 hours ago, mkdreams said:

Well better get used to the fact that change is coming really soon, now that is a fact! Time to get back to living normal again!

Hope virus listens to you about need to live "normal"  again.

 

 

[hazeleyes46]

4 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

Hope virus listens to you about need to live "normal"  again.

 

 

Most of us are living normal and knowing this is a virus that will never go away and needs to be treated like every other virus out there.

[exm]

9 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

Hope virus listens to you about need to live "normal"  again.

 

 

 

There's plenty of viruses out there including the flu, and no one cares about those. It's time to treat Covid like the flu.

[hal2008]

Just now, exm said:

 

There's plenty of viruses out there including the flu, and no one cares about those. It's time to treat Covid like the flu.

Totally agree.

Now only if covid cooperates and behaves like flu 

 

It is getting there ....

Hopefully soon ... 

[ramja96]

On 7/21/2022 at 8:26 AM, smokeybandit said:

Michael Bayley hinted last month that the end of testing was coming. I can't imagine they'd suddenly say "oh we better keep testing" because the CDC still recommends it.  It's not like anyone was surprised by the "new" guidance.

 

 

 

Yes, this is true, but he also said at the same time that pre-cruise testing will most likely continue for the "next couple of months".  That's a pretty vague window. 🤔

[exm]

5 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

Totally agree.

Now only if covid cooperates and behaves like flu 

 

It is getting there ....

Hopefully soon ... 

 

I think if you compare mortality and rates of BA.5 with the flu you'll be surprised. Unfortunately people keep on dragging Delta numbers into the comparison which is a totally different situation.

[hal2008]

8 minutes ago, hazeleyes46 said:

Most of us are living normal and knowing this is a virus that will never go away and needs to be treated like every other virus out there.

14 cruises on 4 continents after reopening, do give you different perspective (forced research, experiences, observations).

 

"Treated like every other virus" - not possible. Ever. Because there is a whole spectrum of viruses out there and we sensibly do treat them differently. 

 

No need to treat covid like ebola. But it hasn't reached flu/norovirus category yet.  Hopefully soon 

[hal2008]

3 minutes ago, exm said:

 

I think if you compare mortality and rates of BA.5 with the flu you'll be surprised. Unfortunately people keep on dragging Delta numbers into the comparison which is a totally different situation.

Totally correct.

 

No point in looking at alpha/Delta or even Omicron right now 

 

Until, new variant shows up, our group's current analysis is focussed in BA.5 only.

 

From last week's summary:

1. For most people BA.5 is actually less suffering than typical full fledged flu.

 

2. Mortality/Hospitalization is significantly down but still higher than Flu.

 

3. Transmissibility (how infectious it is) is troubling as it is drastically higher than flu.

 

These were summary conclusions, not opinions of talking heads on CableTV or CC posters.

 

But putting the above in perspective of current regulations on cruise lines? Not much directly correlated. 

 

In absence of any regulations, cruise lines will remove/impose restrictions as per feedback from their PR/legal/marketing teams 

 

 

 

[jerseygirl3]

6 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

They dropped the b2b testing around the 3rd week of my b4b on the Allure in April and first week of May. If they had tested me I might have tested positive and would have been booted. Since they didn’t I ended up with symptoms the night of the first day of that last cruise and we know how that went. 😃

When you were symptomatic, did you quarantine for 5 days?

[rudeney]

35 minutes ago, jerseygirl3 said:

When you were symptomatic, did you quarantine for 5 days?

 

I believe it was @ReneeFLL who gave us a "live" report of her time in quarantine aboard the ship.  

[knight2096]

15 hours ago, hazeleyes46 said:

Most of us are living normal and knowing this is a virus that will never go away and needs to be treated like every other virus out there.

Well said and so very true. Time for life to go back to normal.

Edited July 27, 2022 by knight2096

[Melcatfish]

Urgh, STILL no update from RCL? The prospect of an asymptomatic positive fills me with dread, can’t wait to get back to cruising but the lead up to this first cruise back since Covid is nowhere near as enjoyable as the lead up to our usual trips!