NCL just released their safety procedures.  I see no mention of masks... yet.

I do not believe that Regent or any other US based cruise line will adopt these strict protocols.  If there are no advances in treatment by early Fall (personally, I believe there will be), then our best shot for a more "normal" cruise experience will be an accurate, rapid test that will be given before boarding. I have no doubts the cruise lines are working with some top medical technology companies to deliver this product as soon as possible.  Once this is in place, you should theoretically be able to relax some of the more strict social distancing measures (mask wearing, for example) on board.  Who would want to pay to go on a ship where you had to wear a mask, couldn't go to a spa or the casino, couldn't use a restroom, etc.  

4 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Disney whatever it called makes you sign a waiver to go in, florida. I'd expect over 1000 a night. You have to sign you wouldnt hold them responsible...,

Disney does NOT make you sign any kind of a waver.  There is a notice at the entrance of Disney Springs, but there is no requirement to sign anything. 

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

With not the slightest indications of anything opening up in the country entertaining the   likes of  2000-5500 people in one place for 7 days , some people are still  40% picking August 2020, just 70 days from now.............Amazing!

People seem to forget that just 60 days ago, our lockdowns were JUST beginning. Look how much has changed in just 60 days!  Things may feel like they are crawling, but when you look back we are actually moving quite fast.  Lots will change between now and August. 

Public perception of COVID-19 is rapidly changing and that will ignite demand for travel within the next month to 2 months.  Southwest Airlines came out today and said for the first time since the beginning of the Pandemic, new bookings are surpassing cancellations.   While I do believe cruise lines will be the last part of the travel industry to recover, I do not think it is as far away as it may seem now.  "The new normal" will transition to the "old normal" as we go through the summer and Fall.  

3 minutes ago, SeaHunt said:

 

Today's headlines on my noon news (Orlando)

LIVE UPDATES: State reports 72 more COVID-19 deaths after reopening; 6 in Central Florida

Florida health officials reported 542 new cases of COVID-19 and 72 additional deaths in the state since Monday

 

https://www.wftv.com/news/live-updates-state-reports-72-more-covid-19-deaths-after-reopening-6-central-florida/2A6YMUFYHNEJLJU4TAFIDRGIMQ/

 

Hopefully this trend will stop quickly. 😢

As mentioned in the article, Tuesdays are usually a data dump from previous deaths occurring over the weekend.  While the media would love to tie this to Florida's re-opening, we all obviously know that opening the state yesterday had nothing to do with deaths from over the weekend.   This is why 3 day daily averages are much more reliable figures than only looking at daily death toll numbers. 

3 minutes ago, CrankyOldGuy said:

 

OK, your obscure site with no references to where they are getting their data trumps a major newspaper....

You win!!!   

How come reading is getting so hard for people these days?  I said the deaths on MAY 3rd (that is not today, that is not yesterday, that is the day before) were 20.  The article you are quoting has the deaths from TODAY.  As you may know, today and May 3rd are two different days.  As far as obscure site, worldometers.info is not obscure and is one of the main tracking sites for all Coronavirus data.  Florida currently is doing about 22,700 tests per 1 million people which beats CA, TX, PA, OH and many others. 

1 hour ago, tallnthensome said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.news4jax.com/news/florida/2020/04/03/is-florida-americas-next-coronavirus-hotspot/%3FoutputType%3Damp

 

 way more cases than reported 

You posted an article from over a month ago that says by May 3, 174 Floridians would be dying daily of COVID-19.   On May 3, 20 people died.  Sorry to let you know, but Florida is not a "hot spot" and as much as the media has predicted it would be, it hasn't become one.  

30 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

Florida and Texas are still hotspots ..... even if they do go it won’t be enough to sustain them and all their expenses .......

Florida is a hot spot?  In which country?  

Masks for guests on cruise ships are not practical, in my opinion.  I do think when cruises start up again, some people will choose to wear them at certain times and I think that is completely fine.  I think it is far more likely that some crew (depending on their job) or perhaps even all crew will be mandated to wear masks.  I am not against this idea, but I do think it would serve as a constant reminder to guests about the virus.  Since people usually go on vacation to relax and not worry about things like that, it might make it a bit unnerving to see all crew members wearing masks all day.  Can you imagine the captain strolling the ship and greeting guests wearing a surgical mask?  I, for one, would rather just see COVID-19 testing/screening at embarkation in exchange for a more "normal" cruising experience. 

35 minutes ago, npcl said:

From the Visit Florida web site. 

 

All persons traveling to Florida from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or Louisiana are required upon entry to Florida to self-isolate or self-quarantine for 14 days, or for the duration of their presence in the state, whichever is shorter. Roadside checkpoints are set up on interstates to check for potential COVID-19 cases coming into Florida from areas with substantial community spread of the virus. The checkpoints do not apply to commercial drivers or health workers. Click here and here for more information.

Not quite sure where it says anything about being tested there.  Also, those quarantines are not enforced so they might as well be useless.  Once again, there is no logic to the CDC requirements.  The CDC needs a major overhaul and they need to follow science and not their own biases.  When air travel has to follow the same CDC guidelines as cruise ship travel then maybe I will have some faith in their policies.   I see no reason why we cant just these crew members a test before they disembark.  If they are negative, allow them to go home.  Why is this so complicated?

Meanwhile someone from NYC (the hottest of hot zones in the world right now) can hop on a flight and travel to Florida, with no test needed.  Give me a break, CDC.  Once again, they are showing their ignorance and bias. 

11 minutes ago, amurray88 said:

 

Being from NYC itself, when do you expect international tourists to be allowed to return to New York?

International travel is a tough one... first we need to get domestic travel to resume.  I would say international travel (from certain countries) may start picking up by the end of the summer (Aug or Sept.).. but that is just my guess. 

28 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

 

Can you provide a link to that study?

 

We should not ignore the results from mass RNA testing. In this Italian village, mass testing in late Feb  found just 3% infected. Followed by another round of testing in March. Much larger sample size than 400.

 

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/how-an-experiment-helped-one-italian-town-find-submerged-infections-cut-new-covid-19-cases-to-zero

 

I often cite the success of South Korea. Acting early, the Koreans were able to conduct 60 tests for every positive result. That's pretty thorough. In addition, they were able to confine the disease largely to Daegu city. 2/3 of the infected come from just Daegu city. So, they were able to pour medical resources into a mid size city.

 

My guesstimate is that the Koreans were able to test up to 10% of the City's population. That's a pretty big sample.

 

https://www.cdc.go.kr/board/board.es?mid=a30402000000&bid=0030

 

The advantage of RNA mass testing is that you get intelligence on a real time basis. Whereas, anti-body testing reveals history (maybe).

 

IMO, the anti-body tests used to compute the fatality rate is a red herring. We're getting indications that there are serious morbidity issues even for the young...

 

"‘I underestimated this virus’: Vancouver nurse on recovering from COVID-19"

 

https://globalnews.ca/news/6865008/vancouver-nurse-covid-19-recovery/

 

Even if COVID19 is as benign as the seasonal flu (it is not), the mass infection of so many people would result in the collapse of the medical system. You would end up applying early 20th Century medical technology. Perhaps with the same results as the Spanish Flu...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your response.  You can easily google recent serology testing information in New York State, Santa Clara, CA, Los Angeles, CA, and Boston, MA.  There is plenty of information about how each of these tests were conducted along with the margins of error involved.  Governor Cuomo released data on Saturday that suggests about 20% of people living in NYC have had COVID-19.  As far as "we are getting indications that there are serious morbidity issues, even for the young", that is simply not what the data says.  While there have been deaths in every age group, the vast majority of deaths are those with underlying health conditions and those who are over the age of 60.  If you take a look at the morbidity data from any country, including Italy, the US, China, etc. you will find the same results.  This virus is not changing who it kills.  Viruses just don't decide one day that they are going to act differently.  With that said, it is true that everyone can be affected from this virus, including the young.  This is why everyone should continue to take necessary precautions. 

7 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

 

 

Have to be careful about the antibody tests. Current tests are not reliable. Not able to differentiate between COVID19 and the other multitude of coronavirus. The best measure remains mass testing of a large part of the population.

 

 

Many tests are not reliable, but the FDA approved ones are reliable.  All current studies have included a margin of error based on independent review of testing.  Basically, they test a whole bunch of blood samples from before the COVID-19 outbreak and then see how many false positives there are.  In the recent CA study, out of about 400 samples, there were 2 false positives.  They they use that as their margin of error rate.  Testing a population only gives you the number of current cases.  That isn't really that useful since you have no idea how many people have had it in the past.  Knowing how many people have had it is good for 2 reasons: you know how much of your population may have antibodies and you also get a better idea of the fatality rate.  

All of these reports of tourism not returning for 12 to 18 months are getting ridiculous.  As always, we humans will adapt to the new circumstances we find ourselves in.  COVID-19 isn't going anywhere for a while (probably for years).  Even if there is a vaccine, not everyone on the planet will take it.  As time goes on, we will learn  how to better treat people with severe cases and the case mortality rate for this will drop.   We may need to keep older/high-risk populations protected until they can be given a vaccine.  As better serology testing data is released, we will also understand just how many people around the world have already had it (many people not even knowing they had it in the past).  Initial indications point to many more cases (at least 10 and up to 50 times more) than have been reported.  The point is, things will change and science and technology will offer us solutions in the coming months.  

8 hours ago, Joe817 said:

This thread was started last Saturday, April 18. Since then, we've seen the total collapse of the crude oil market...which is weakly rebounding. We've also seen some outlandish statements by our government officials, and new revelations on how the wonder drugs POTUS praised, and the other one....come back without the promising results we were praying for....In just the past 7 days. I grow weary of nothing but negative news. Someday...someday, this will turn around, back to better times. 

 

As far as booking cruises right now there are 2 schools of thought:

1.) We Might as well book now. No telling what will happen in the next 30, 60, 90 days will bring...  The eternal optimists.

2.) Nothing is coming on the horizon, medically speaking, in the next 8-12 months...Nothing. CDC has extended the restrictions to middle of July, with the possibility of extending the restriction/ban. 

3.)ALL of the cruise lines have chartered their own vessels to transport their own crew members back to their own home countries. So they can be with their families and loved ones during this deepening crisis. Since they are sailing, and not flying, that adds several weeks for them to return home.   If not months. 

 

The depletion of the cruise staff's of all the cruising fleet's vessel's sailing back to their home countries, leaves me no choice but to believe the senior management of all of the major cruise lines do not contemplate a returning to normal cruising until well into the 4th calendar quarter. Or even into the first or second calendar quarter of 2021. 

 

I deeply apologize in advance if I have offended any CC member. I'm merely stating how I see things, myopic as it might be. I'm an eternal optimist, however the current events do not leave me much latitude to express my optimism. 

Nothing on the horizon, medically speaking, in the next 8 to 12 months?  This is perhaps the most ill-advised opinion I have seen on here recently.  There are over 70 clinical trials currently going on with many new therapies being developed.  Every day, science comes closer to learning how to successfully treat this virus.  By the summer, we will have results from many clinical studies from researchers around the planet.  This will become treatable in the near future.  Even by late Fall, vaccines may start to be available for health care workers. 

4 minutes ago, ray98 said:

 

That part baffles me.  A cruise ship is no dirtier than the airport, grocery store or your local restaurant.  However, it is a unique environment since it has a captive audience which allows you to see the results.  Those same people infected with something at the airport or grocery story go their separate ways and never see the big picture.

You can say it 1000 times and people still will never get it...  There really are few differences between a cruise ship and an all-inclusive resort but you hardly ever hear about these things happening at resorts because there is no tracking going on and people are coming and going every day. 

56 minutes ago, skridge said:

If you aren't going to admit that being on a cruise ship is not just a floating petri dish for this virus then I have nothing else to say.  I love and miss cruising, but I am a realist and I will not be back on a ship in the near future.  Look at it as a positive.  Brings demand down along with the price.

Please don't take this the wrong way... but if you think a cruise ship is a "floating petri dish" and you won't be on a ship in the near future, what is the point of reading and contributing to a forum like this about cruising?  

For all of those who think a cruise ship is a "petri dish", you really need to educate yourselves about all of the places in the world that are FAR more dirty, including some places even in your own home.  If you think a cruise ship is bad, I would recommend you never visit some of the kitchens of your local, neighborhood restaurants. 

2 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

At some point we need to return to normalcy, it is not a black or white switch for everywhere tho, some will be different in terms of timing and approach.  The point is that we all need to determine the inning for and how we (collectively and separately) decide to do that.  One person’s way of waiting till they see zero cases and want to only cruise they feel 100% safe is certainly different than expel who are wiling to take a more dynamic and fluid approach and will not let this alter their lives forever.  Makes neither right or wrong.  

Very well said.  There is not a 1 size fits all approach.  People need to assess their own risk and act appropriately.  

1 minute ago, sanger727 said:

 

What we are doing right now. Social distancing. Treating everyone like they are potentially carriers. Not just saying "the sick should stay home" and going about your life as normal.

All high-risk individuals should probably stay home until there are some good treatments available.  

7 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

 

Nope. That's how I feel and that's how most of the people I talk to feel. Cruising is dangerous and needs to be tightly regulated if you want to bring back passengers. As I posted earlier in this thread, where are the quarantined airplanes?

Cruising is dangerous?  What about trains, subways, buses, all-inclusive resorts, casinos, stadiums, buffet restaurants, spas, etc. etc. etc.  The only thing that makes cruises more "dangerous" than any other of the examples I gave is that cruises are actually tracked.  If you feel that you need to wear a mask on a cruise, but not to a concert or on a crowded plane, then I don't think you understand just how the virus is transmitted.  

1 hour ago, ninjacat123 said:

Are there vaccinations for SARS or MERS?  How do we protect against these corona viruses? They are potentially lethal and very transmittable. 

I'm not quite sure I understand your point.  SARS and MERS do not currently have any spread among humans (let's hope it stays that way).  Since COVID-19 is the one that is currently causing the issue, that would be the one that gets tested for.  Of course it would only last for a period of time until we have good treatments in place, a vaccine in place, or the virus somehow fizzles out on its own. 

2 hours ago, reeinaz said:

I don't believe that testing virus free at embarkation will do much. I mean it is a comforting idea, but I haven't been able to locate information on how long it takes between becoming infected and testing positive. Isn't there generally a lag time? What if I got infected in the cruise terminal waiting to be tested? Would I test positive when it was my turn?

Rapid Covid-19 testing at embarkation in my opinion, is the only way forward for the immediate future.  All passengers would be screened at the terminal.  This is already being done in the UAE for passengers boarding Emerates flights to international destinations.  Crew would also be subject to a test once per week (perhaps in the ship's medical center and staggered so that not all crew have to get tested the same day).  To the point of the poster, this will not guarantee 100% that someone who tests negative becomes positive 5 days later.  But, you would significantly bring down the risk to a manageable amount.  By testing the crew on a rolling basis, you will be able to identify an outbreak quickly, and then isolate that crew member(s) before they spread to others.  By doing this, you can leave the on-board experience much as it is today.  You would still increase sanitation measures and do a full-service buffet.  But social distancing on a cruise ship just won't work.  If rules become so restrictive, the vacation becomes more like a trip to a hospital and that won't attract many people. 

I have also heard the idea that crew members would be given some inside cabins so that they wouldn't be sharing rooms.  I think that isn't a bad idea for the immediate future.  This accomplishes 2 things at once: lowering the occupancy of the ship as well as social distancing crew members. 

For those who think we won't have solutions until 2022, I do not understand your pessimism.  Our society will not accept that.  We will find ways to deal with this problem, and use our science and technology to get on with things.  The entire world is working on a medical solution and there have already been great progress in just under 3 months.  Imagine with the next  3 to 6 months will bring?  This is not 1918.. and even then the Spanish Flu lasted about a year with absolutely no treatments.   Now, do I think cruises are ready for the end of June?  Not really.  In my opinion, there is a lot of new practices that need to be put in place and that will take time and investment.  I think shooting for late summer or early Fall would be a better bet.  

There are also antibody treatments (synthesized antibodies) that may be available by the Fall.  These treatments target the virus in those that have it and help fight it off.  In those who do not have it, it give you immunity from the virus for about 2 months.  These antibody injections may be a place-holder until a vaccine comes out next year.  Of course, other treatments may show efficacy by the summer or Fall as well.  There is lots to be hopeful about.  The entire world's medical industry is working on the problem.  

5 hours ago, colonialinnkeeper said:

This would be a good beginning, but once you stop at the first port, you could then bring on board Covid19 from mingling and interactions from shore, no?

That is true, but it is doubtful that cruise lines will stop at any countries/islands that have significant community spread of COVID-19.  It may be plausible that cruises later this summer or Fall will get some new itineraries and only stop at private island destinations where there is more of a certainty of no COVID-19 spread.  Of course, that will only work for some Caribbean cruises and will not be applicable to any other region.  My guess is Carnival and Royal would rather have 3 or 4 ships sailing to their various private island destinations than no ships sailing at all.  That might be a way for the industry to gently phase back in.  Lastly, there will never be 100% certainty that COVID-19 cases will not get brought on the ship.  Even with a vaccine, it will be impossible to prevent it 100%.  But, the testing should reduce the risk of an outbreak on board by a significant percentage.  And in the event there is an outbreak on board, weekly testing of crew would ensure that it is quickly found, isolated, and traced.