Required ship's tours in future?

[comcox]

Do folks think Oceania will require that all passengers take the ship's tours when in port in the future as a part of the Covid safety measures? 

 

I know that MSC, which recently started cruising, requires any passenger who wants to get off in any port be on an official ship's tour and they are not allowed to deviate from that group.  One family that did leave a tour while on shore were denied reboarding.

 

Some of Oceania's most recent mailings mention that they are working with local tour operators to ensure cleanliness and other other safety measures, which make me wonder if they are going to require us to use those operators.

[RJB]

4 hours ago, comcox said:

Do folks think Oceania will require that all passengers take the ship's tours when in port in the future as a part of the Covid safety measures? 

 

I know that MSC, which recently started cruising, requires any passenger who wants to get off in any port be on an official ship's tour and they are not allowed to deviate from that group.  One family that did leave a tour while on shore were denied reboarding.

 

Some of Oceania's most recent mailings mention that they are working with local tour operators to ensure cleanliness and other other safety measures, which make me wonder if they are going to require us to use those operators.

Sure would be a deal breaker for us.  

[Paulchili]

I doubt it.

It may be necessary today like on MSC but with tan effective vaccine I do not see that being the case.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Paulchili

[susiesan]

No way would Oceania cruisers tolerate these "bubble" tours. Many of us choose Oceania for the reason they sail to a lot of small ports the bigger ships can't get into and we explore on our own. I am one who has never taken an O shore excursion in the 6 O cruises I have been on. I never will and would not sail on Oceania or any other cruise again if I could not go off the ship and be on my own. I use cruise ships as a floating hotel and transportation to see a lot of different places in a short amount of time without packing, unpacking, and flying between locales.

[jagoffee]

Oceania may decide to stay shut down until there are no COVID related on shore protocols necessary.  Otherwise I would think Oceania would need to protect the passengers and meet any individual port restrictions. A tight control of passengers on shore would be a way to expedite the start of cruising. It might be a ship’s excursion or at least a COVID approved type excursion.  No independent exploring the port without tight restrictions.  (Temporary)

 

If they allow the passengers to explore the port without restrictions, even the passengers will be at risk with those people return to the ship.

 

Cruisers can decide whether they wish to cruise  with the requirements.  I am sure it will be a smaller group of eligible cruisers, but I will be in that group.  
 

 

Edited August 29, 2020 by jagoffee

[LHT28]

I doubt there will any cruises from the USA anytime soon  so a ship with Americans only  is a pipe dream at the moment

 If they were sailing from Europe with only Nationals from that Country maybe the ship's tour bubble  would  be feasible

JMO

[ORV]

Unless we have a vaccine or this thing magically goes away(like someone said it would) then I see a lot of people that will no longer be cruisers. Even if we have a vaccine it is only supposed to be about 40% effective, which will still make it risky to go on a cruise. Unfortunately considering how cruise lines like to maximize their customers onboard spending I'm afraid they might use this as a reason/excuse to require this. I'm pretty sure there will be enough people willing to cruise under those constraints they could stay in business. 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2020 by ORV

[Nashna]

We do not typically take the cruise line's shore excursions.  If that is the only way to sail, then I'll take them rather than spend the entire itinerary at sea. 

[pinotlover]

To some cruisers, part of the appeal of Oceania is its ala carte pricing. Like the insurance commercial “ You only pay for what you want”. If paying for cruise line shore tours becomes mandatory, then the differentials between O & Regent, along with other lines, start to disappear. Like Viking, shore tours become part of the standard pricing and part of the package. One only decides if they want that package. 
 

For Oceania to survive such new protocols, it would be forced to significantly up its game on tours. For example, on a currently booked cruise, in some ports Oceania only offers 3-4 hour shore tours even though the ship is in port from 7 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (10 hours). We have no problem finding 8 hour private tours in those ports that interest us. Oceania will either have to up its game and start offering those other options or lose us. While many of their past cruisers wish to be back on ship for lunch everyday, worn out by noon, we aren’t yet in that group.
 

Suggestions of this approach are really a simpleton overview. How can they feign being upset about shore tours when many of us show up to the ship after being in country, or in region,  for a week prior to sailing? Must they then dictate only using Oceania flights scheduled as Oceania sees fit and only using Oceania transfers?

Edited August 29, 2020 by pinotlover

[comcox]

2 hours ago, susiesan said:

No way would Oceania cruisers tolerate these "bubble" tours. Many of us choose Oceania for the reason they sail to a lot of small ports the bigger ships can't get into and we explore on our own. I am one who has never taken an O shore excursion in the 6 O cruises I have been on. I never will and would not sail on Oceania or any other cruise again if I could not go off the ship and be on my own. I use cruise ships as a floating hotel and transportation to see a lot of different places in a short amount of time without packing, unpacking, and flying between locales.

I totally agree; I cruise for the very same reason.

 

[Nashna]

Mandatory shore excursions might not be a cruise line only issue.  The destinations themselves might wish to restrict their citizens exposure to the virus.   

[susiesan]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

Unless we have a vaccine or this thing magically goes away(like someone said it would) then I see a lot of people that will no longer be cruisers. Even if we have a vaccine it is only supposed to be about 40% effective, which will still make it risky to go on a cruise. 

 

 

ORV: by this standard it would be risky to travel anywhere not just on a cruise. The people who are afraid of corona will likely never travel by plane again, which eliminates all international travel except driving to Canada at some point in the future. Me, vaccine or not I would go on a cruise tomorrow if there was one available operated like they were in the past. I will not go on a cruise if masks have to be worn o the ship. If my future travel is only land trips so be it.

[susiesan]

1 minute ago, Nashna said:

Mandatory shore excursions might not be a cruise line only issue.  The destinations themselves might wish to restrict their citizens exposure to the virus.   

Those destinations would also not be letting anyone fly there then. it doesn't matter how a country's citizens might be exposed to the virus, whether visitors arrive by plane , car, or ship. Everyone country in the world has been exposed. These MSC cruises sailing now are limited to all ports in the same country, Italy, plus Malta. Due to the Jones act, there cannot be any US based cruises that stay with America. 

[Jancruz]

On 8/29/2020 at 9:56 AM, susiesan said:

ORV: by this standard it would be risky to travel anywhere not just on a cruise. The people who are afraid of corona will likely never travel by plane again, which eliminates all international travel except driving to Canada at some point in the future. Me, vaccine or not I would go on a cruise tomorrow if there was one available operated like they were in the past. I will not go on a cruise if masks have to be worn o the ship. If my future travel is only land trips so be it.

PG is sailing..

Jancruz1

 

[ORV]

On 8/29/2020 at 11:56 AM, susiesan said:

The people who are afraid of corona will likely never travel by plane again,

You seemed to have confused fear with common sense. 

[susiesan]

17 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

PG is sailing..

Jancruz1

 

I know that. Their cruise is entirely within one country/region that is one of the few international places you can fly to now, Papeete. Wind Spirit was going to resume sailing Oct. 8. I just don't understand why Windstar cancelled all their Tahiti cruises through 2020 after the Wind Spirit had already arrived in FP and must have had permission/clearance from FP government to be there. Wind Spirit 7 day Dreams of Tahiti cruise is all within one country, French Polynesia. Anyone sailing on her has already met the covid testing requirements for FP and should be good to go on the ship. There must be something going on behind the scenes that the public doesn't know about that had Windstar cancel the only cruise they had for 2020 that was well booked.

[Nashna]

I can totally understand why Windstar  cancelled.  They would still need to have passengers fly into Papeete from countries still dealing with the virus. French  Polynesia  refused to allow Viking to dock last March when they were desperately looking for a port.  

[the more ports the better]

On 8/29/2020 at 11:09 AM, ORV said:

Even if we have a vaccine it is only supposed to be about 40% effective, which will still make it risky to go on a cruise

 

This is very inaccurate information.  I volunteered for the Pfizer study and have received the vaccine.  Our study group received an RNA vaccine which is 100% effective in phase 1 and phase 2, we are 40,000 people in phase 3, still testing at 100% efficacy.

I receive my booster (2nd vaccine) on Sept 10 to boost my immunity from a few years to life long immunity.  My antibodies will be tested at that visit and reported to the FDA.  Aside from a few people having reactions in phase 1 while they were figuring out dosages (nothing life threatening or fatal) the worst reaction is a sore arm similar to a tetanus shot.

 

The hope from CDC and FDA is to have the vaccine out in the next few weeks before flu season.  I’m sure Pfizer hopes to have it out ASAP as they invested a lot of money and the sooner they get it out, the more profitable it will be.  Every day costs them millions.

 

Normal sailing should resume by the end of the year if everyone complies and gets vaccinated.

[Tranquility Base]

Oceania + Regent.

 

Just pondering.

 

As the shutdown continues, it may be a long time before meaningful  extensive cruising over multiple countries restarts.

At what  stage could consideration be given to merging Oceania & Regent into one brand.

Combining some elements of Regent & and some elements of Oceania.

Perhaps parking up a couple  ships long term.

 

If countries / ports require ship only tours for a significant time to come, the Regent model of included tours would fit that requirement.

[ORV]

1 hour ago, the more ports the better said:

This is very inaccurate information.  I volunteered for the Pfizer study and have received the vaccine.  Our study group received an RNA vaccine which is 100% effective in phase 1 and phase 2, we are 40,000 people in phase 3, still testing at 100% efficacy.

I receive my booster (2nd vaccine) on Sept 10 to boost my immunity from a few years to life long immunity.  My antibodies will be tested at that visit and reported to the FDA.  Aside from a few people having reactions in phase 1 while they were figuring out dosages (nothing life threatening or fatal) the worst reaction is a sore arm similar to a tetanus shot.

 

The hope from CDC and FDA is to have the vaccine out in the next few weeks before flu season.  I’m sure Pfizer hopes to have it out ASAP as they invested a lot of money and the sooner they get it out, the more profitable it will be.  Every day costs them millions.

 

Normal sailing should resume by the end of the year if everyone complies and gets vaccinated.

Hopefully you're right, but that sounds rather optimistic. I was speaking from what I saw one of the TV Dr's saying the other day. I can't find the info right now, but I did find this, about 3 years old. 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/07/coronavirus-vaccine-dr-fauci-says-chances-of-it-being-highly-effective-is-not-great.html

[ORV]

36 minutes ago, ORV said:

Hopefully you're right, but that sounds rather optimistic. I was speaking from what I saw one of the TV Dr's saying the other day. I can't find the info right now, but I did find this, about 3 years old. 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/07/coronavirus-vaccine-dr-fauci-says-chances-of-it-being-highly-effective-is-not-great.html

While I don't doubt you do you have a source for your projections? I can't seem to find anything along those lines. 

[ORV]

17 hours ago, ORV said:

Hopefully you're right, but that sounds rather optimistic. I was speaking from what I saw one of the TV Dr's saying the other day. I can't find the info right now, but I did find this, about 3 years old. 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/07/coronavirus-vaccine-dr-fauci-says-chances-of-it-being-highly-effective-is-not-great.html

I meant about 3 weeks ago. 

[RJB]

20 hours ago, the more ports the better said:

This is very inaccurate information.  I volunteered for the Pfizer study and have received the vaccine.  Our study group received an RNA vaccine which is 100% effective in phase 1 and phase 2, we are 40,000 people in phase 3, still testing at 100% efficacy.

I receive my booster (2nd vaccine) on Sept 10 to boost my immunity from a few years to life long immunity.  My antibodies will be tested at that visit and reported to the FDA.  Aside from a few people having reactions in phase 1 while they were figuring out dosages (nothing life threatening or fatal) the worst reaction is a sore arm similar to a tetanus shot.

 

The hope from CDC and FDA is to have the vaccine out in the next few weeks before flu season.  I’m sure Pfizer hopes to have it out ASAP as they invested a lot of money and the sooner they get it out, the more profitable it will be.  Every day costs them millions.

 

Normal sailing should resume by the end of the year if everyone complies and gets vaccinated.

Sure do hope you are right.  Would love to see a start up in the first quarter. 

[KirkNC]

On 8/30/2020 at 7:36 PM, the more ports the better said:

This is very inaccurate information.  I volunteered for the Pfizer study and have received the vaccine.  Our study group received an RNA vaccine which is 100% effective in phase 1 and phase 2, we are 40,000 people in phase 3, still testing at 100% efficacy.

I receive my booster (2nd vaccine) on Sept 10 to boost my immunity from a few years to life long immunity.  My antibodies will be tested at that visit and reported to the FDA.  Aside from a few people having reactions in phase 1 while they were figuring out dosages (nothing life threatening or fatal) the worst reaction is a sore arm similar to a tetanus shot.

 

The hope from CDC and FDA is to have the vaccine out in the next few weeks before flu season.  I’m sure Pfizer hopes to have it out ASAP as they invested a lot of money and the sooner they get it out, the more profitable it will be.  Every day costs them millions.

 

Normal sailing should resume by the end of the year if everyone complies and gets vaccinated.

Hate to tell you but there has never been a vaccine that’s 100% effective.  Most are around 50-60%.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm
 

 

 

[KirkNC]

On 8/29/2020 at 8:57 AM, RJB said:

Sure would be a deal breaker for us.  

Us as well, I am very concerned about what the cruise experience will be like when it does restart.