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Evacuating aka "kicking off" seriously ill or injured passengers and crew to shoreside hospitals from vessels for more comprehensive care has been routine industry practice.

This was unpopular with first responders placed at risk and overburdened shoreside hospitals in early in 2020 so the US CDC "encouraged" cruise lines to come up with onboard quarantine processes.  

I think the point of the post is you can own or lease an island but still have to follow government rules, unless you are your own country.  Or have a very creative lease agreement- a truly free port.  Which the cruise lines/shipping companies should find a way to have someplace- then they could go ashore and swap crews no matter what.  This would be challenging to set up under US law- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, etc.  

If I ran the Bahamas I would set this up- in return for a nice stream of revenue to the government, an island/port/area could "independent" in terms of ports and flights.  

I'm a little disappointed in RCCL - who is running ads (such as five minutes ago on this site) about the variety of onboard activities and shore excursions they have.   I think they can safely promise, this week, a nice boat ride and three meals a day.  A friend who teaches health statistics thinks we will have a sharp Omicron peak- which is happening, as predicted, exactly now.  RCCL did announce a close in booking freeze, but despite a lot of very unpopular coaching from the US CDC is still in full on cheerleading mode.  

What an excellent list.  I remember a time (not long ago) when you could not find an IPA on board a cruise ship.   

Sorry I have Orlando= Pt. Canaveral stuck in my head and this cannot be edited.  

On 10/15/2021 at 3:43 PM, gavvy said:

Also part of my floor was closed off for over an hour for a deep clean. 

Hygiene Theater: Deep Cleaning Isn’t a Victimless Crime - The Atlantic

This is on-topic.  Right now there is a serious sale on four day RCCL trips out of Orlando.  How hard is it these days to add on a three-day?  With the testing is it even possible?  

14 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

Miami has everything you need. Head into town between some cruises, buy whatever you need. (Clothing, toothpaste, handcuffs, etc…) 

If you politely sniff around the excursion or front desk the morning of a port call there is often a low priced crew or bus/train shuttle.  A hand made sign may appear.  In the case of some ports,  an actual city bus route may be nearby.   In Orlando there is regularly a crew shuttle van to the nearest mall.  

On 10/3/2021 at 4:05 PM, tlcm said:

  I also have a question about catching the Sunday train to London after disembarkation; perhaps I should ask it in a different post?

 

 

As I recall it was a short taxi ride to the train station.  I would book perhaps the 11:00 AM train or so- too early a reservation and various random delays could cause stress which is not good after a holiday.  The train goes to one of the London stations and changing trains with steamer trunks is not that easy.  

I think Cunard needs a Brand Ambassador (along the lines of Maureen Ryan) who lets us in on the secrets and inside scoop.  Simon does OK but he has a lot of rules to follow as a top leader/officer of a listed major company.   The magazine is lovely but a bit corporate.  

A guess is Cunard makes a lot of their gross margin on the higher end cabins i.e. Grills.  I have a dear friend who says he and his wife both work at high powered jobs at the age of 66 so they can afford to go on high end vacations, and are big Viking fans.  (As I type this there are four Viking ads on my screen).  So Simon and team and probably trying to figure out where the $5000 a week passengers wish to go and what they want to see and do.  Given all the schedule flux, they can still move ships around.  An example of this was the big Alaska push on QE a few years back.  I'm not sure how that went.  The plan might have been to capture Silicon Valley high end passengers.  

I have seen cases where the top executives already know what the customers want- see Radio Shack, Circuit City, Sears, etc. and in those cases you don't want survey data around which could be embarrassing to leadership.     

38 minutes ago, kohl1957 said:

Here's my "survey" question: "How do you feel about waiting more than a month for a refund of a deposit paid back in December 2019 for a Cunard cruise (QM2 in November) that was cancelled over a month ago?"

 

One hopes that "Dead Chuffed" isn't one of the possible responses. 

If my storied brand was getting trashed on the leading enthusiast blog site, I would want a report from whoever is still left in my IT Department on my desk every morning:  Where fare collected = yes, and cruise cancelled = yes.  And have whoever is left in Revenue Assurance preparing refunds.    

The survey may have been targeted - well heeled passengers we could steal from say Viking by organizing a trip to the hippest places to see and be seen- a few years back Iceland.  

21 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I can honestly say that unless you are planning on cramming into pubs and nightclub venues with the young people it is as safe as you could hope. 

Lovely advice here.  And avoid the "save money with nonrefundable fares" button.  

I just got a survey in my e-mail from Cunard.  I did not have my Builders yet so answered the income question honestly and it ended quickly.  There was apparently fine print on how to answer if you are retired.    My only comment to Simon is to not forget your steerage passengers.    

The sale I found features a great fare, and a modest, but non refundable deposit.  The Cunard web booking system refused, steadfastly, to accept either of our loyalty numbers.  The cheerful Cunard 800# desk added them and said they were not optimistic this booking could be altered much under this particular promotion.  I do have a guarantee cabin, so there is perhaps possible wiggle room.  A First World problem indeed.   

Let's say, hypothetically, there is a good deal on a voyage and I book (probably direct) an inside, and make final payment.  Say 60 days pre-departure, sheltered balconies appear on sale at the inside price.  Do I have any options?  In my experience, booking/paying super early tends to lock a person into higher prices, but is good if you have perks, a specific cabin you love, etc.  

On 9/15/2021 at 3:58 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

Are these emails coming directly from Fred. Olsen or from an agent that they are using in the United States?  

I'm getting them direct- prices in Pounds, etc.  

I have been getting nice promotional emails.  It is not clear these days if Americans (flying from the US) can go?  

12 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

My husband is concerned about the rate of false positives with antigen tests. 

How Accurate Are Rapid COVID Tests? What Research Shows (healthline.com)

9 hours ago, victory2020 said:

Airplanes are worse, 

Do you have a reference here?

Risk of COVID-19 During Air Travel | Patient Information | JAMA | JAMA Network

This sounds lovely.  Is the crew mostly QE or are there some QM2 crew on board?  Pol Aker?  Can someone remind me of the route of this trip I lost track 27 cancellations ago.  

A friend just got back from a Viking cruise around Iceland.  They have testing machines on board.  Everyone gets tested every day.  A few cases- they can isolate the positive cases and then do contract tracing via the badge/bracelets.  Too many cases- they return to port and issue a partial refund.  This takes all the guess work out of it.  

On 7/26/2021 at 9:06 AM, bluesea777 said:

Interesting ... we quite like Katakolon. The first time we went, we took a NCL excursion to Olympia and then to a restaurant afterwards - fantastic lunch and there was some greek dancing and we bought delicious olive oil to take home. The second time we just stayed in town - walked around, shopped and had al fresco lunch in one of the restaurants on waterfront - lovely. This was in April and weather was so pleasant.

 

What's the nearest international airport, though?????

 

Precisely our experience.  I can't wait to go back.  Greek Taverna food by the sea- magical.  There was/is a cute tourist train to Olympia from the port.  Up in Olympia I kept wishing I could go to lunch (again) - there was a nice place in town. 

Looking at the transport maps this is a puzzler.  We are like 3.5 hours out of Athens.  Maybe there is an idea to get some charter flights into a nearby, large, disused airport.  The area, while nice, is not on the larger Greek passenger railway system, but US cruise passengers don't love/trust trains much.      https://www.maritimes.gr/en/tourism/41435-norwegian-cruise-line-adds-katakolon-as-new-embarkation-port-in-greece

On 7/27/2021 at 9:34 AM, thesnoopster2 said:

 

Same reason why Hummers are more environmentally friendly than a Prius.  

https://www.cnet.com/news/dust-to-dust-is-dust-prius-uses-less-energy-than-hummer/

23 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

That is a great attitude to have. So many price watchers get upset if they don't hit the button at rock bottom. I'm not that way. Like you, I decide the price I'm willing to pay and book when prices hit that point. 

This is a good time for "chill" cruise buyers.  If you are an obsessive and detailed advance planner you may be disappointed.  I am poking at some deals on a transatlantic (i.e. cross the ocean but not fussy after that) next year.  I may put in a modest deposit.  Make a pencil calendar entry.  Then wait and see.  

As several have pointed out, we know a lot more about the public health situation then we did a year ago and have effective if wildly unpopular management steps.  I don't see a "return to 2019" in our future for some time yet.  

17 hours ago, yogimax said:

Seems to me an American ship tied up to the dock could become a sitting duck for an attack from the sea.

Does RCCL have any US flagged ships?  The US Navy has a very (!) limited role in foreign countries. 

In my experience sailing in the Bahamas and BVIs, the local patrol boats keep a watchful eye on major tourism ports.   (You can see this on the Nassau Webcam when cruise ships are docked).   But as a terrorist, disrupting tourism is a major "lever" and gets your "cause" massive global media attention.