RCCL's new boarding policy

[floridatravelersforlife]

The RCCL boards are reporting every embarking pax, crew and others will be screened for fever before boarding all RCCL brands.     I hope Norwegian/Oceania follows suit.  This is a positive in many ways.  Maybe it will reduce flu, noro and other maladies, as well on the cruises.  Those paper self certifications are a joke.   We have witnessed many an embarking pax, with hacking, sweating, and sniffles, just signing the form.   

[njhorseman]

7 hours ago, floridatravelersforlife said:

The RCCL boards are reporting every embarking pax, crew and others will be screened for fever before boarding all RCCL brands.     I hope Norwegian/Oceania follows suit.  This is a positive in many ways.  Maybe it will reduce flu, noro and other maladies, as well on the cruises.  Those paper self certifications are a joke.   We have witnessed many an embarking pax, with hacking, sweating, and sniffles, just signing the form.   

NCL was screening for fever well before Royal Caribbean started doing it. Oceania also started doing it earlier this week, if not before.

 

So, it's Royal Caribbean that's late to the table in doing this, not NCL or Oceania.

[WESTEAST]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

NCL was screening for fever well before Royal Caribbean started doing it. Oceania also started doing it earlier this week, if not before.

 

So, it's Royal Caribbean that's late to the table in doing this, not NCL or Oceania.

Agree. We were onboard Regatta last month and temperatures were being taken starting Feb. 11th (approx.) each time we (passengers and crew) boarded ship after our days in ports of call in NZ; we were told it was a NCL mandatory protocol. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

9 hours ago, floridatravelersforlife said:

The RCCL boards are reporting every embarking pax, crew and others will be screened for fever before boarding all RCCL brands.     I hope Norwegian/Oceania follows suit. 

You must be kidding.

Oceania has been screening passengers for coronavirus related symptoms and behaviors on selected cruises since the beginning of February.

For example, on the just completed Nautica cruise (Cape Town to Singapore [replaced by Dubai]), any passenger or crew member who had been in China for the previous 14 days was denied boarding. Oceania even had embarkation personnel examining every passport for stamps demonstrating China entry and/or exit to verify verbal claims. Days later, they expanded that to include Hong Kong.

[Hawaiidan]

12 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

You must be kidding.

Oceania has been screening passengers for coronavirus related symptoms and behaviors on selected cruises since the beginning of February.

For example, on the just completed Nautica cruise (Cape Town to Singapore [replaced by Dubai]), any passenger or crew member who had been in China for the previous 14 days was denied boarding. Oceania even had embarkation personnel examining every passport for stamps demonstrating China entry and/or exit to verify verbal claims. Days later, they expanded that to include Hong Kong.

 

As an observation, it appears that  the problem is pretty much co-related to the size of the ship... The risk is seeming to rise according to the number of passengers present .   Too many rats in the box so to speak is not a recipe  for a good risk potential

[njhorseman]

4 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

 

As an observation, it appears that  the problem is pretty much co-related to the size of the ship... The risk is seeming to rise according to the number of passengers present .   Too many rats in the box so to speak is not a recipe  for a good risk potential

The smaller size of Oceania's ships hasn't prevented them from developing their share of problems with other viral infections such as noro. 

 

Even on a "small" ship you're in daily close contact with large numbers of people...closer contact than you most likely would be otherwise. If a passenger or passengers, or crew, bring a viral infection on board its still going has the opportunity to spread, even on a small ship. Crew always live in close quarters regardless of the ship's size.

 

I've probably been on about 75 cruises over the course of more than 30 years, on 9 or 10 different cruise lines, on ships of all sizes, and the only case I've encountered of a widespread noro outbreak was on the relatively small Oceania Marina.

 

The biggest risk factor is more likely to be passenger age rather than ship's size. As we get older our immune systems are less robust, and we're more likely to have other medical conditions that may worsen when under stress from a viral or bacterial infection.

[StanandJim]

12 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

 

As an observation, it appears that  the problem is pretty much co-related to the size of the ship... The risk is seeming to rise according to the number of passengers present .   Too many rats in the box so to speak is not a recipe  for a good risk potential

+1  

- I see it as as a socio-educational issue.

 

Once educated people are convinced that the threat is real, they seem to be better at avoiding it.