Temperature checks at ports of call

[sundeckdad]

So I was chatting with NCL rep. and he mentioned there are to be temperature checks at embarkation as well as coming aboard after a shore excursion.  I asked would I be allowed to board after an excursion if I had a temperature.  His reply was "No. But that is why travel insurance is very important."  

[shof515]

This should be an not issue. most likely, they will put you to the side and then you temperature will be rechecked in about 15-30 minutes. Being outside in the hot humid weather can cause your temperature to rise unexpected

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, sundeckdad said:

So I was chatting with NCL rep. and he mentioned there are to be temperature checks at embarkation as well as coming aboard after a shore excursion.  I asked would I be allowed to board after an excursion if I had a temperature.  His reply was "No. But that is why travel insurance is very important."  

First, "NCL Reps" are minimum wage call center personnel with zero, none, nada knowledge of the specific health and safety protocols that may someday be implemented. They "talk big" because they keep their jobs by making you feel comfortable and confident that they are an expert,,, often giving out non-existent information in order to convince you to make a purchase from them.

 

That being said, temperature screening is only a first level check after which you would escalate to additional levels of review and testing. Temperature checks are very common. I temp check to get into my office building daily. We have temp checked every time we entered our hotel while on vacation. I have been on multiple flights where 100% of the passengers were temperature screened leaving the jet bridge and before being allowed to enter the terminal. It's all the new norm and will be around for a while. 

[kochleffel]

27 minutes ago, shof515 said:

Being outside in the hot humid weather can cause your temperature to rise

 The building in which I work is about to implement temperature checks, but in this climate, at this time of year, most people coming in from outdoors will likely read cold even if they actually have fever.

[sanger727]

I don't think that NCL rep has any idea. No on is going to disembark in the morning and then get a temperature check in the afternoon and be told, no you can't board, straight away. A temperature check is a screening, and would most likely lead to a medical examination with the ship doctor and potentially a rapid covid test. Now, if the examination results and/or the rapid covid test determine that you have covid; will you be disembarked straight away or given a cabin to quarantine in? I don't know. But I don't think that NCL rep knows either. 

[hallux]

I'm still not sure what purpose temp checks really serve in this situation other than to make people feel good about measures the cruise lines are taking.  They can just as easily implement temperature screenings entering dining venues to check people for developing symptoms.  If someone re-boarding after being in port has a legitimate fever, there is no way they have that fever as a result of being in contact with a COVID-contagious person on shore, it simply doesn't go that fast.  More likely explanations - they had COVID before boarding or they have something else going on.  If someone tests negative 3 days or fewer before embarkation and are in contact with a COVID-positive person between then and embarkation, symptoms aren't likely to show until the last couple days of a 7-day cruise.

[BirdTravels]

3 minutes ago, hallux said:

I'm still not sure what purpose temp checks really serve in this situation other than to make people feel good about measures the cruise lines are taking.  They can just as easily implement temperature screenings entering dining venues to check people for developing symptoms.  If someone re-boarding after being in port has a legitimate fever, there is no way they have that fever as a result of being in contact with a COVID-contagious person on shore, it simply doesn't go that fast.  More likely explanations - they had COVID before boarding or they have something else going on.  If someone tests negative 3 days or fewer before embarkation and are in contact with a COVID-positive person between then and embarkation, symptoms aren't likely to show until the last couple days of a 7-day cruise.

The point is that a fever means you may be sick. For whatever reason. And should not be allowed back on the ship to infect others. Right?
 

On a short cruise and with the virus having a 3-10 day incubation, there is a limited potential that you caught COVID on the cruise. There is a large probability that you were irresponsible before leaving for the cruise and brought it with you from home. And become symptomatic while on the cruise infecting others. Right?

 

And you can be infected with COVID and not test positive 3 days prior to departure, become symptomatic with raging COVID by the time you get onboard. A negative test does NOT mean that you do not have COVID. Go back to the 3-10 day incubation, a negative test just means that you are not actively shedding the virus growing in you at the time of the test. You can be infected, test negative, and be contagious an hour later. Right?

 

Continual screening does not have to be as specific as at dinner. Thermal scanners in public areas can continuously monitor passengers and crew.  And are commonly used in offices, hotels, and entertainment venues today. And, as I mentioned above, used by the military to screen 100% of passengers disembarking planes at some airports. 

[HuliHuli]

10 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

First, "NCL Reps" are minimum wage call center personnel with zero, none, nada knowledge of the specific health and safety protocols that may someday be implemented. They "talk big" because they keep their jobs by making you feel comfortable and confident that they are an expert,,, often giving out non-existent information in order to convince you to make a purchase from them.

Sounds just like some CC posters who likewise have "zero, none, nada knowledge of the specific health and safety protocols that may someday be implemented," but that doesn't stop them from pontificating on what they THINK they will be. 😅

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, HuliHuli said:

Sounds just like some CC posters who likewise have "zero, none, nada knowledge of the specific health and safety protocols that may someday be implemented," but that doesn't stop them from pontificating on what they THINK they will be. 😅

So true! 😂

[skeeter195]

Once ports start allowing ships back in there will be rules that the ships will need to follow.  I have no knowledge but I would be willing to bet that no port is going to allow a possible covid case to left in their country unless it is a US port.  A shipboard quarantine seems more likely.  

[Vyhanek]

On 1/4/2021 at 11:06 PM, shof515 said:

This should be an not issue. most likely, they will put you to the side and then you temperature will be rechecked in about 15-30 minutes. Being outside in the hot humid weather can cause your temperature to rise unexpected

Well......Im guessing you would be thinking it is a really big issue if you are the one denied boarding and left in port!     

[HuliHuli]

10 hours ago, Love my butler said:

A cold beer or soda on the forehead for a few seconds defeats every 'temperature check'.

Or even one of their own cold towels they sometimes offer while you are waiting to re-board.

[casofilia]

We passed through Singapore airport late in March and there were non-contact temperature monitoring stations in a large number of places.   I can imagine the same sort of thing at many ports as you debark or embark the ship, for the safety of the shore people in one direction and of the ship in the other.

[Trimone]

If everyone has had the vaccines available they’re shouldn’t be an issue, just a precaution.

[ollienbertsmum]

5 hours ago, Trimone said:

If everyone has had the vaccines available they’re shouldn’t be an issue, just a precaution.

 

I had my first shot today 🙂 (I am a health worker).  I did not even have to say ‘ouch’.  Fingers and toes crossed that it works.  

[roger001]

30 minutes ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

I had my first shot today 🙂 (I am a health worker).  I did not even have to say ‘ouch’.  Fingers and toes crossed that it works.  

I had my first this week.  No ouch at all.  In fact, I asked the nurse if she was sure she actually gave me an injection.  She held u the needle for me to see and it was empty.   Needles now are just not what I remembered back in grade school when we would get lined up for injections.  

[sid_9169]

We have to have our temperature checked just to get into the building where I work. Now that it's cold outside, my reading is usually in the 95-96 degree range, meaning if I did have a fever, it wouldn't even register... Of course, in the Caribbean you would experience the opposite effect... 

[GA Dave]

I actually read an article where they interviewed a doctor and he said many people in hot climates who actually have an internal fever would not register as having one on their skin due to sweating.  If you go out in the heat and sweat, the sweat actually cools your skin surface.  So, unless NCL is going to start using oral or "bend over" thermometers, they may be getting a lot of false readings, even in the hot climates.

[step78]

Please don't choose the "bend over"-edition  next in line will thank you so much, twice 

[dumbth]

21 hours ago, GA Dave said:

I actually read an article where they interviewed a doctor and he said many people in hot climates who actually have an internal fever would not register as having one on their skin due to sweating.  If you go out in the heat and sweat, the sweat actually cools your skin surface.  So, unless NCL is going to start using oral or "bend over" thermometers, they may be getting a lot of false readings, even in the hot climates.

 

I'm in a hot/humid climate with sweaty forehead and always seem to give a cold reading verging on clinically dead and buried. They take reading after reading just to find any warmth above background. I read about a correction factor they use, which I now forget, but when combined with my home forehead reader still showed me as cold as a ghost.

[ABoatNerd]

Hence why will not consider cruising as an option until all these measures are eliminated.

I am not spending $ to get hijacked by a faulty temperature machine, faulty virus testing - then ending up being confined to my room or kicked to the curb before boarding or during the cruise.

 

There are other travel options that provide joy, excitement, great food and service that do not have these risks and inconveniences.

 

Cruising not.

 

 

[pinklucky61]

On 1/4/2021 at 10:06 PM, shof515 said:

This should be an not issue. most likely, they will put you to the side and then you temperature will be rechecked in about 15-30 minutes. Being outside in the hot humid weather can cause your temperature to rise unexpected

living in Florida, just a 50 foot walk from car into medical building for appointments, they had to recheck me because I was overheated. humid as all heck in summertime.

[pe4all]

They have now found that fever is not always an symptom of covid infection, though many people have this.   Soooo - even having a temperature check as you re-board may not rule out the fact that you have covid percolating inside you.

[gizfish]

Checking temps to rule out Covid is like taking your shoes off at the airport.  It gives a false sense of security but proves little.  Not only do many never have a fever with Covid, but people are most infectious about two days before they have any symptoms at all.  A temp check is not going to find those people.