No More Pre-Cruise Testing for Vaccinated guests on voyages less than 6 nights starting August 8th!

[karl_nj]

Just now, S.A.M.J.R. said:

As I said multiple times, I have no problem with wanting testing to go away.  I did/do too.   

 

My comment was more about people being upset because they eliminated the testing for the shorter cruises.  I guess it would be better if they keep testing for everyone? 

 

I think it's understandable for people to be disappointed.  I'm sure people on 3/4 night cruises boarding before August 8th are disappointed/annoyed too.  Personally, I'm still hoping for more announcements about my upcoming cruise out of Rome.  I'd rather spend my vacation enjoying Rome, instead of trying to fight with hotel Wi-Fi and get 5 supervised covid tests done sequentially and waste a whole morning.  Assuming there isn't some random Amazon AWS outage, and then trying to scramble to find a test locally.

 

But yes, I'm happy things seem to be moving in a better direction in regards to pre-cruise testing.

 

 

 

[binro01]

6 minutes ago, BND said:

There is absolutely nothing wrong with anyone wanting testing to go away for all cruises.  This is the next step in that direction.  It is kind of stupid when you can go on a b2b2b2b2b or more of 3 or 4 night cruises without testing, but you can't go on a 7 night one.  See the lack of logic in this?  That's what makes it "stupid, not fair, etc"  Because it is.

The thing is, most people do not do B2B. It's a very small minority.

 

The policy is not rooted in "science" or fairness.

 

It's just less exposure for Royal (Marketing/PR/Need for Quarantine areas on board). Shorter cruises will have less people test positive if exposed while traveling to port or onboard (The majority not doing B2B) when they are on the ship, because symptoms can take up to 5 days to present.

[Concretemanstan]

I'm wondering if it's a bit of a marketing gimmick.  I mean how many people have been threatening to cancel their RCL cruise because other lines have stopped testing?  Maybe this gives those with upcoming RCL cruises just enough hope to not cancel?

[The sea calls my name]

25 minutes ago, molly361 said:

I'm surprised that Royal was the first of the mainstream US lines to make this announcement.  Now I am curious if the others will be the same policy

This was also my thoughts.  I would imagine the "3" big boys have met together and discussed this.  As competitive as cruising is, I can't imagine one of them completely doing away with testing and the other two not. But... we wait and see. 

[topnole]

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Omicron hits you pretty quick.  You could legit test negative 2 days prior, be exposed that day and be symptomatic when you board the cruise.

I suspect the 5 night cutoff is much more bureaucratic and political than actually medically founded.

Agree.   It is probably just to keep it by ship I would imagine.  Ships that do 4 nighters do 5 nights.  Not the case normally 6 and longer. So as a starter they do it on their ships doing “shorter” cruises.  And I seriously doubt they have the data to base a cutoff on any analysis.  They have no idea when positive cases were contracted (onboard a ship or before at the airport).  They may have decent data on what day the reported cases hit maximum number on an average cruise.  But even that leaves many questions and few answers.   An arbitrary cut off is probably as good as anything at this point if they want to do this in stages.  

[CruiseWendy]

A step in the right direction? Maybe. Sorta 🤷‍♀️

[BobNoxious]

Waiting for Carnival to announce as all cruises 7 days or less... to try to gain market...   then Royal matching that.   Then all is well.   Meanwhile, can I wear shorts to dinner in the MDR?

[JessyCruises]

2 hours ago, molly361 said:

If you do a B2B 3/4 no tests still right?  Or a 4/5

 I was wondering what about B2Bs or S2Ss (or longer) that start with a shorter cruise then have 1 or more longer ones after

[BND]

17 minutes ago, binro01 said:

The thing is, most people do not do B2B. It's a very small minority.

 

The policy is not rooted in "science" or fairness.

 

It's just less exposure for Royal (Marketing/PR/Need for Quarantine areas on board). Shorter cruises will have less people test positive if exposed while traveling to port or onboard (The majority not doing B2B) when they are on the ship, because symptoms can take up to 5 days to present.

But, the point isn't that most people don't, it's that people can do it.

Edited July 28, 2022 by BND

[BND]

Just now, JessyCruises said:

 I was wondering what about B2Bs or S2Ss (or longer) that start with a shorter cruise then have 1 or more longer ones after

Those are two separate cruises so, the longer one would still require testing (for now).

[JessyCruises]

2 hours ago, Ret MP said:

I was born and raised in Canada.  But, as long as they continue to do what they do, I'll not be back as a tourist, any time soon.  On my last cruise, we made a port of call in Victoria, I didn't get off the ship even though I had to do the ArriveCan thing just to cruise to Alaska.  Other than my brother, ALL my relatives live in or around the Toronto area and they hate what is going on.  They refuse to travel because of so much uncertainty.  

 

I am sorry they feel that way.  I am from and still live in NB and we have cruised alot since Covid, including Alaska cruises leaving from both Vancouver and Seattle.  Our experience has been great with no border issues.

[MandyMooToo]

3 minutes ago, BobNoxious said:

Waiting for Carnival to announce as all cruises 7 days or less... to try to gain market...   then Royal matching that.   Then all is well.   Meanwhile, can I wear shorts to dinner in the MDR?

Only on B2B cruises can you wear shorts in the MDR, that's what my super amazing TA said at least (my mom is my TA) 🤣 I kid, I kid...

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Ret MP said:

I believe we are discussing pre-cruise testing.  All you have mentioned if discussed/debated will be removed from this site.  So, I'll stick to pre-cruise testing.   

 

I thought we were discussing MP's

[ONECRUISER]

2 hours ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

Yeah, but a Bermuda cruise is a thing and kind of needs to stop in Bermuda. I don’t imagine passengers will accept, “there’s Bermuda 20 miles away! Okay, back to New York!” 

Works for me, I like Sea Days!

[binro01]

11 minutes ago, BND said:

But, the point isn't that most people don't, it's that people can do it.

And royal does not care about edge cases and what people can do. They made a decision based on stats and most likely to happen from data. They fully know the edge cases. They just simply chose to ignore them as inconsequential.

[rudeney]

30 minutes ago, RedIguana said:

R naught and statistics. There is perfect logic in this. 

 

You keep saying that, but I don't think you are expressing the opinion that you intend.  For Omicron, it's as high as 18.  Even at 10, by day 5, it's 10,000 possible infections based on "close contact" rules.  Cruise ships with crowded terminals, elevators, dining rooms, bars and show certainly qualify as close contact.  Yet we aren't seeing huge numbers of infections on cruise ships.  That is likely due to a combination of natural immunity, immunity through vaccinations, and symptoms that are so mild, people don't notice them.

 

I am not a doctor or epidemiologist, but I understand more about it than some people might.  I have a degree in E&S and years ago I was contracted to write a custom analytical software tool for one of Dr. AF's research docs when he was trying to find a cure for AIDS (now known as HIV).  What I learned in working with these government health agencies and grant organizations is that there is much more politics and media fodder than science.  

[Mary229]

I guess this is modern science.  You must not be able to catch viruses for the first 6 days exposed but all heck breaks out on the 7th.  🤷‍♀️

[gliles]

3 hours ago, Ret MP said:

If true:

 

Better than nothing for who?  It doesn't change a thing for me.  I don't take cruises for anything less than 7 nights.  So, I get nothing!

 

I guess my boarding pass only has the COVID virus on it if it says 7 nights or longer.  In my opinion, it's a gimmick. Less people likely to show up positive, less people in the quarantine cabins, less public relations issues while on the cruise ship on a 6 or less night cruise.  

 

Oh well, it is less likely that I'll be looking for a cruise earlier than my January 2024 cruise that I've already got booked.  At least as long as the testing requirement is still there.  

If you don't have one booked until 2024 then you aren't likely the target they want to please. 

[smokeybandit]

6 minutes ago, rudeney said:

For Omicron, it's as high as 18.

Correction 25/7/22: this article originally estimated BA.2 had an R0 of about 13.3 and BA.4/5 had an R0 of 18.6, similar to measles, our most infectious viral disease. However these are likely to be overestimates, as the calculations didn’t take into account immune escape. These estimates and the reference to measles have now been removed.

[PA Dutchman]

23 minutes ago, MandyMooToo said:

Only on B2B cruises can you wear shorts in the MDR, that's what my super amazing TA said at least (my mom is my TA) 🤣 I kid, I kid...

I wear shorts every night to the MDR just skip the woop de do nights and some were else but still in shorts

[crewsweeper]

2 hours ago, mpdog42 said:

Well by then St Louis will be a Major Cruise Port for RCL!!😛

I was thinking more like Austin or Dodge City.😛

[MandyMooToo]

3 minutes ago, PA Dutchman said:

I wear shorts every night to the MDR just skip the woop de do nights and some were else but still in shorts

As does my husband, the comment was just meant to be an amusing response to the poster who brought up shorts in the MDR.

[rudeney]

6 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Correction 25/7/22: this article originally estimated BA.2 had an R0 of about 13.3 and BA.4/5 had an R0 of 18.6, similar to measles, our most infectious viral disease. However these are likely to be overestimates, as the calculations didn’t take into account immune escape. These estimates and the reference to measles have now been removed.

 

And that's why I used "10" (besides being easier to do the math in my head).

[ONECRUISER]

7 minutes ago, PA Dutchman said:

I wear shorts every night to the MDR just skip the woop de do nights and some were else but still in shorts

Lifestyle Cruises wear no pants 

[RedIguana]

22 minutes ago, rudeney said:

You keep saying that, but I don't think you are expressing the opinion that you intend.  For Omicron, it's as high as 18.  Even at 10, by day 5, it's 10,000 possible infections based on "close contact" rules.

An R naught of 18, with a 5 day incubation, would produce 18 cases per infected person at day 5-10. That is not the same as the permutations of how many exposures there could be in an unlimited set.

Edited July 28, 2022 by RedIguana