Future of cruising /elevators?/ buffets?/main diningroom?/shows?

[coffeebean]

On 5/22/2020 at 11:24 AM, jaredwynter said:

If a buffet wont work, how would literally ANY public area on a cruise ship work? All areas are roamed, touched and exposed to guests..

I would imagine by the time people are getting on cruise ships they have conditioned themselves to NOT TOUCH THEIR FACE if they have not freshly washed their hands.

[lenquixote66]

12 hours ago, mets123 said:

Absolutely. I've been a fan since day one in 1962.

I have been a fan since day one in 1962 also.I grew up in Brooklyn.

[DaniDanielle]

Us too.  Although they have caused us a lot of suffering😳

[luckyinpa]

On 5/22/2020 at 11:24 AM, jaredwynter said:

If a buffet wont work, how would literally ANY public area on a cruise ship work? All areas are roamed, touched and exposed to guests..

 

 

are you trying to quash spirited dialogue or something 🙂   there really is no point taking any SD precautions on a ship because unless you do a cruise to nowhere, as soon as a single person gets off in any port, you can infect a totally healthy ship. also every thread on how things will change is really pointless but no one is talking about anything else these days. you can become infected 10 feet out side embarkation port and my guess is a test inside the door wouldnt even show it. personally id book 100 cruises a year if they could truly keep everyone away from me in an elevator and keep the prices down all while doing i,. during dining, and ive never sat on a pool deck because the horrible crowds. you get rid of crowds, id travel so much more often  🙂 imagine sitting i your favorite suite restaurant and not being on top of your neighbor. pure delight. will i ever get my wish

 

never....

[luckyinpa]

12 hours ago, MikeC1610 said:

Here's an idea.

 

So from what I understand the problem with the buffet is mostly to do with multiple hands touching the same serving utensil be it tongs, serving spoons etc.

 

How about we keep the buffet as is but:

 

ensure that everyone, and that means everyone thoroughly washes/sanitises their hands on entry, then slip on a pair of thin sanitised rubber gloves

each individual then picks up their own sanitised silicon utensil handle cover that they slip over the utensil they are using to serve their own food.

When finished with the utensil handle cover they drop it in the containers stationed around the buffet where they are taken and re-sanitised to be re-used.

If an individual wants a second serving they take a fresh utensil cover from one of the many stations around the buffet.

 

Surely this approach would eliminate 99% of any possibility of contamination through people handling the same utensils.

Sure it would be an inconvenience but IMO would work and be a much more acceptable and way less inconvenient approach than converting the buffet to a MDR style eatery.

 

Tables could still be spread out to a safe distance if required.

 

 

will the back of every chair and the arms be wiped between every single guest. and even in the best times ive seen even land based restaurants using the same dirty rag out of a bucket to wash down every single table.

 

im not a scientist but even if every employee uses gloves. unless they change them every 5 seconds arent they just transferring one persons germs to the next person while protecting themselves? 

[Ginlyn]

On 5/22/2020 at 4:10 AM, mosiegirl said:

we are booked to sail in October.. keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't get cancelled.   But if the cruise is still a go, I have worries..  buffet lines.. do I really want to touch that spoon handle that the 40 people ahead of me just touched?    Diningroom.. do I really want to sit at that table for 6/8 ?   and same for the Shows.. do I really want to rub elbows with whomever is seated next to me?  I'm disabled and in a wheelchair, do I really want to get on that elevator with 8 other people?   yikes..   I'm going to assume all cruise lines are using these precious days ahead in their boardrooms solving these dilemas..  but I wonder how?  

Where in PEI do you live?  We live in Charlottetown - don’t see many people on Cruise Critic from PEI.  We had a cruise booked for November from Rome to Miami but we did the lift and shift for 2021.  Sure hope things are better by then!!!  If your cruise goes in October, fingers crossed all goes well!!!

[mugtech]

18 hours ago, mets123 said:

Absolutely. I've been a fan since day one in 1962.

Who was your team before 1962, Dodgers or Giants?

[mugtech]

5 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I have been a fan since day one in 1962 also.I grew up in Brooklyn.

So you were a Dodgers fan previously?

[harkinmr]

7 hours ago, Diver2014 said:

We just returned from eating brunch at a local restaurant.  Not ONE person wearing a mask.  Every other table removed and no condiments on the table were the only things I saw different from pre-virus.  Tourists are flocking in by the car and boat load.

Restrictions have been lifted in most of South Carolina except for bowling alleys, movie theaters and bars and non private swimming pools.  It's almost as if people are saying 'what virus?'.  Very few masks being worn in the stores as well.  While living on an island does eliminate a lot of the risk, I'm surprised that things have returned to pre-virus normal so quickly.  I elected to stay home the last month and a half due to my age (although we did take our camping trailer to a state park in Georgia two weeks ago - the only person wearing a mask was the park ranger). My point is,  I doubt that the cruise lines will be requiring any sort of mask or social distancing after cruising resumes this year.  People are quickly getting back to their normal routines.  Friends and relatives in Miami, Georgia and North Carolina are telling me the same sort of things are happening there.  I think the mob media is having a field day making people paranoid.  Not that we should let our guard down but the hysteria seems to be centered more in the urban cities of the northeast.  Even in Seattle where my mom lives in an assisted living facility, things are starting to relax.  These are just my observations.  I have no second thoughts at all about cruising in November, as long as we can get to the port (we have to fly) and the ports of call are opened to tourists.  Too early to tell.

Just because people are out and about acting like things are normal does NOT mean that they are, and that is certainly not a basis for claiming that there will be no mask or social distancing requirements on cruise ships when they start to sail.  There WILL BE such requirements.  People are being foolish and have mistakenly interpreted "reopening" with "whoopee, the virus is gone!!!".  I see it all over the place here in Florida.  The day after Phase 1 reopening off came the masks and everyone and their mother was invading my space.  You can't fix stupid!  

[danv3]

14 hours ago, MikeC1610 said:

Here's an idea.

 

So from what I understand the problem with the buffet is mostly to do with multiple hands touching the same serving utensil be it tongs, serving spoons etc.

 

How about we keep the buffet as is but:

 

ensure that everyone, and that means everyone thoroughly washes/sanitises their hands on entry, then slip on a pair of thin sanitised rubber gloves

each individual then picks up their own sanitised silicon utensil handle cover that they slip over the utensil they are using to serve their own food.

When finished with the utensil handle cover they drop it in the containers stationed around the buffet where they are taken and re-sanitised to be re-used.

If an individual wants a second serving they take a fresh utensil cover from one of the many stations around the buffet.

 

Surely this approach would eliminate 99% of any possibility of contamination through people handling the same utensils.

Sure it would be an inconvenience but IMO would work and be a much more acceptable and way less inconvenient approach than converting the buffet to a MDR style eatery.

 

Tables could still be spread out to a safe distance if required.

 

These are the problems if we’re worried about Norovirus. If we’re worried about coronavirus, the issue is crowding, not so much touch points. 

[mets123]

1 hour ago, mugtech said:

Who was your team before 1962, Dodgers or Giants?

I was 10 at the tIme .  Just getting interested in sports.

[mugtech]

47 minutes ago, mets123 said:

I was 10 at the tIme .  Just getting interested in sports.

It was better that way.  A lot of broken hearts in 1957.

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, mugtech said:

So you were a Dodgers fan previously?

Yes,I lived 5 blocks from Ebbets Field.

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, mets123 said:

I was 10 at the tIme .  Just getting interested in sports.

I was an adult.

 

Did you live in NYC ?

[lenquixote66]

32 minutes ago, mugtech said:

It was better that way.  A lot of broken hearts in 1957.

I used to go with friends to Philadelphia to watch the Mets play the Phillies in 1962.

[mets123]

I grew up in Bergen county in Lyndhurst (near the Meadowlands), and now live in Rockaway, NJ.

[Captain7]

On 5/22/2020 at 8:21 AM, bouhunter said:

Most likely "restrictions" in many venues.  Maybe masks.  In other words, making ships a place many won't choose to be except the most die hard of cruisers.  We are borderline die hard cruisers, but not enough to wear masks or put up with many restrictions.  We'll move on to other travel in that case.

Couldn’t have said it better we feel the same.  We like to cruise but will find other ways to travel.

On 5/23/2020 at 4:54 AM, fandash said:

Yes the experience of sailing on a ship and looking out to the sea is truly awesome experience and it will be great when it comes back with the whole cruise experience

However would it not be possible for these cruise lines, when they are in port to open up as floating hotel without sailing - yes you won't get to see the different places but it means the cruise lines would be able to get some revenue from it.

At the end of the day the cruise ships are a luxury hotel resort with all the entertainment and as long as entertainment is avaialble and the beer is cold then....

 

[Captain7]

Just now, Captain7 said:

Couldn’t have said it better we will find other options..

 

[Diver2014]

10 hours ago, harkinmr said:

Just because people are out and about acting like things are normal does NOT mean that they are, and that is certainly not a basis for claiming that there will be no mask or social distancing requirements on cruise ships when they start to sail.  There WILL BE such requirements.  

 

You don't know that as a fact.  It will be unenforceable. 

[CRUISEFAN0001]

37 minutes ago, Diver2014 said:

 

You don't know that as a fact.  It will be unenforceable. 

That's what they said about smoking bans in cabins...saw a couple escorted off a ship in the first port after committing that rule violation. It's enforceable when viewed and reported by a crew member.

[Diver2014]

1 minute ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

That's what they said about smoking bans in cabins...saw a couple escorted off a ship in the first port after committing that rule violation. It's enforceable when viewed and reported by a crew member.

 

Can't wait to see crew escorting thousands of people off a ship in the first port for not wearing a mask or social distancing....and I will be one of them.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

2 minutes ago, Diver2014 said:

 

Can't wait to see crew escorting thousands of people off a ship in the first port for not wearing a mask or social distancing....and I will be one of them.

There simply won't be that many ignorant people onboard who intentionally violate rules made clear to them before boarding.

[golfbum51]

We have cruised quite a bit (11 times with R.C?), and our first few were when the Windjammer was.....in fact.......the Windjammer i.e. up on the front of the ship. I am an early riser, so it was hit the gym, go to the Windjammer for coffee, and sit at the very front of the room watching the dolphins and the ocean until "she who must be obeyed" arrived for breakfast. Our first cruise on a ship with the Windjammer astern was disappointing. Not the whole cruise, just the morning coffee part. I'm fine if they go to some sort of modified format for breakfast. And we never eat lunch or dinner there. Our last cruise was this month, British Isles, etc., so obviously cancelled. But we still intend to cruise, with R.C. (our favorite) if health permits. Unfortunately, that is becoming an issue.

Edited May 25, 2020 by golfbum51

[Diver2014]

1 hour ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

There simply won't be that many ignorant people onboard who intentionally violate rules made clear to them before boarding.

 

I'm betting the cruise lines won't be making or enforcing rules like the ones you are advocating and there will be 'that many ignorant people onboard'  but we shall have to just wait and see because no one knows at this point.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

13 minutes ago, Diver2014 said:

 

I'm betting the cruise lines won't be making or enforcing rules like the ones you are advocating and there will be 'that many ignorant people onboard'  but we shall have to just wait and see because no one knows at this point.

We'll take that bet.  Not advocating anything...known plans for future cruising are still in the works...but masks seem to be pretty clear part of them (trademarking a mask name a good clue). Rest assured...to retain its licensing....Royal will have to adhere to and enforce policies tied to health and safety procedures. The vast majority of cruisers will be inconvenienced but likely comply.

Edited May 25, 2020 by CRUISEFAN0001