CDC-update May 5th

[katstoy]

THIS is why I rebooked from April 2021 to November 2022!!  Hopefully by then this will all be a distant memory.

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

Wearing a mask on the pool deck while sun bathing is ridiculous.  We have a balcony cabin, but the crazy mask rules are making me really think about rescheduling for 2022 in the hopes that sanity will prevail.

 

You won't have to wear in your socially distanced lounge.

 

 

4 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

Also, people have to wear masks at sit down dinners.  Give me a break.

 

Wear to and from the socially distanced tables.

[Tapi]

23 minutes ago, joeyancho said:

 Grab and go?  Seriously?  What are we going to do with that?

“Grab and go” is what many hotels with buffet breakfasts have been doing instead during the pandemic. It actually works very well, and you still sit at the same tables. 
 

Yes, the selection tends to be more limited and portions controlled, but I actually like the fact that the food that I’m getting hasn’t been touched by multiple people with dubious hand washing skills. 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Tapi

[embarkation75]

14 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

Wearing a mask on the pool deck while sun bathing is ridiculous.  We have a balcony cabin, but the crazy mask rules are making me really think about rescheduling for 2022 in the hopes that sanity will prevail.

Also, people have to wear masks at sit down dinners.  Give me a break.

Better aim for late 2022 or 2023 as these rules aren't going away for at least a full year after resumption of cruises. Now maybe people understand why the cruiselines have said they won't return to normal until 2023!

[TNcruising02]

1 minute ago, embarkation75 said:

Better aim for late 2022 or 2023 as these rules aren't going away for at least a full year after resumption of cruises. Now maybe people understand why the cruiselines have said they won't return to normal until 2023!

Well, I am vaccinated so I think the mask rules are ridiculous.  Cruising is great, but it's not "wear a mask during dinner, wear a mask sun bathing, wear a mask on excursions" great.

[Tapi]

1 hour ago, joepeka said:

In addition to the above, this (from cruise industry news) today from the CDC regarding buffets and shore excursions:

There’s a note in that article concerning where ships can go and offer shore excursions which raised a red flag in my head. It says that cruise lines  “should” only visit level 1 ports of call, which at this time excludes the vast majority of ports in the Caribbean, including The Bahamas, and Mexico. 
 

Grand Cayman, St. Kitts, Grenada and the British Virgin Islands are some of the very few ports in the level 1 list.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/map-and-travel-notices.html#travel-4

Edited May 6, 2021 by Tapi

[BlerkOne]

5 minutes ago, Tapi said:

 

Grand Cayman, St. Kitts, Grenada and the British Virgin Islands are some of the very few ports in the level 1 list.

 

That sounds like a great cruise!

[bamaone]

7 minutes ago, embarkation75 said:

Better aim for late 2022 or 2023 as these rules aren't going away for at least a full year after resumption of cruises. Now maybe people understand why the cruiselines have said they won't return to normal until 2023!

We scheduled for September 2022. But I don’t see these stupid requirements lasting anywhere near that long. As a country,  we’re getting tired of all the bs. If the powers that be don’t wise up, they’ll soon be looking for new careers. Why did we bother taking a vaccine if nothing changes? 

[Tapi]

5 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

That sounds like a great cruise!

I agree! I’d be thrilled to go on such a cruise. But if those are the only places where cruises are allowed to go, that would throw a serious wrench into restart plans. 

[hurricane0226]

11 minutes ago, Tapi said:

I agree! I’d be thrilled to go on such a cruise. But if those are the only places where cruises are allowed to go, that would throw a serious wrench into restart plans. 

I would go to these places.

[ledges1]

26 minutes ago, bamaone said:

We scheduled for September 2022. But I don’t see these stupid requirements lasting anywhere near that long. As a country,  we’re getting tired of all the bs. If the powers that be don’t wise up, they’ll soon be looking for new careers. Why did we bother taking a vaccine if nothing changes? 

I agree, a lot of the country is ready to move on. I am in Key West right now. It is wide open for the tourist, no mask. Some restaurant workers and store workers are wearing mask. Hand sanitizers on the 1/2 price shelf at CVS. Talked to some locals about the cruise ships, they really do not want them back. Tanzanite International is closed on Duval.

[kwokpot]

2 minutes ago, ledges1 said:

Tanzanite International is closed on Duval

NOBODY but people on cruises go to those jewelry stores,lol.

[joeyancho]

1 hour ago, TNcruising02 said:

Wearing a mask on the pool deck while sun bathing is ridiculous.  We have a balcony cabin, but the crazy mask rules are making me really think about rescheduling for 2022 in the hopes that sanity will prevail.

Also, people have to wear masks at sit down dinners.  Give me a break.

 

[Tippyton]

1 hour ago, phoneman69 said:

How is the CDC to govern a ship in international waters ? Then again i am sure 50% of the people would squeal. If it's a requirement to sailing ill do it with a scowl on my face  

Comparison is the CDC dictating what airline passengers can do when they fly to another country.  You must wear a mask at the Parthenon even though you couldn't fly to Greece without a vaccine.  

 

This is a very slippery slope.

 

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

I think anyone with any common sense knew these were coming down the pipeline and none of these things will keep me from cruising. 

[bdever]

All of the guidelines released today by the CDC pertain to section 2B of the CSO, which btw, are not required for cruise ship operators planning on sailing with 98% of crew vaxxed and 95% of passengers vaxxed. And these guidelines only pertain to the simulated test sailings. Until Carnival announces if they are going to opt in/out of the simulated sailings, & if opting out, what the restrictions will be for vaxx cruises we can only speculate. 

 

What I find interesting is: "At least one simulation must be conducted for each ship for which the cruise ship operator's application for a COVID-19 Conditional Sailing Certificate under the CSO." - So, if Carnival does decide to go with the simulated test cruise route vs.. the vaxxed cruises route it sounds like it would take a long time to get the entire fleet up and running again.

[CoasterGuy]

Thank you bdever, replied to post just this. These are for the test cruises, if the lines will not be following the vaccine route.

[cruisingguy007]

5 hours ago, bucfan2 said:

Wow....for the near future, I think I’m a ‘former cruise addict’.  Until some sanity returns to cruising, I think I’ll check into getting my wisdom teeth pulled (again).

 

I'll happily sit it out until the second quarter of 2022 and watch from the sidelines. If conditions are the same I'll push that back too. I love cruising but this doesn't really sound like cruising, more like desperation sailing. Sounds like the fun ships won't be much fun at the outset. Hard pass.    

[cruisingguy007]

4 hours ago, embarkation75 said:

Better aim for late 2022 or 2023 as these rules aren't going away for at least a full year after resumption of cruises. Now maybe people understand why the cruiselines have said they won't return to normal until 2023!

 

My guess is 6 months or so. I don't think there will be enough people willing to put up with a half-arsed product like this for that long and things are changing rapidly. Heck, by the first quarter of 2022 I think America in general will have had enough. Midterms will put pressure on politicians as well. We may also have better therapeutics by then and possibly even vaccine pills.  

Edited May 6, 2021 by cruisingguy007

[BoozinCroozin]

6 hours ago, jedi bobs said:

Forget about cruiseing out of Flordia, Alabama, or NOLA anytime in the future becue of the bans on Vaccine passports the cruise lines can not ask for proof of vacination, therefore they can't get the test cruises done, the CDC has made that impossable, so good luck going out of Texas maybe unless that idiot govonor does the same thing.

 

May 12th may put an end to the CDC's Reign of Terror on the cruise lines. I believe there is far more at work here than the public knows. The CDC is on grounds that have legal and criminal implications. These people are "doctors" , not lawyers. One false move, one false use of facts and their castle of cards comes tumbling down. The Judge hearing the case is more in line with FL and Alaska than on the CDC.

 

It's not an end all, be all for this issue. But it is definitely something that could have massive repercussions for the CDC and/or the people that work there. We are not talking about an industry that lost $1M, $10M, $100M. We are talking about an industry that lost over $50B. If there is any sliver of evidence of misrepresentation of data, trading of securities in the hospitality industry, or anything else, it becomes criminal and any piece of credibility that they have left is gone. IMO the cruising data over the last 6+ months proves the point of the case. Infection rate on cruise ships is only 0.02%. That is some odd 1000x less likely than land based. 

[lobster1313]

5 hours ago, bdever said:

All of the guidelines released today by the CDC pertain to section 2B of the CSO, which btw, are not required for cruise ship operators planning on sailing with 98% of crew vaxxed and 95% of passengers vaxxed. And these guidelines only pertain to the simulated test sailings. Until Carnival announces if they are going to opt in/out of the simulated sailings, & if opting out, what the restrictions will be for vaxx cruises we can only speculate. 

 

What I find interesting is: "At least one simulation must be conducted for each ship for which the cruise ship operator's application for a COVID-19 Conditional Sailing Certificate under the CSO." - So, if Carnival does decide to go with the simulated test cruise route vs.. the vaxxed cruises route it sounds like it would take a long time to get the entire fleet up and running again.

The guidelines were issued for both the simulated cruises and the restricted cruises so the restrictions apply to even vaccinated cruises after restart.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/covid19-operations-manual-cso.html

 

 

 

[bamaone]

2 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

May 12th may put an end to the CDC's Reign of Terror on the cruise lines. I believe there is far more at work here than the public knows. The CDC is on grounds that have legal and criminal implications. These people are "doctors" , not lawyers. One false move, one false use of facts and their castle of cards comes tumbling down. The Judge hearing the case is more in line with FL and Alaska than on the CDC.

 

It's not an end all, be all for this issue. But it is definitely something that could have massive repercussions for the CDC and/or the people that work there. We are not talking about an industry that lost $1M, $10M, $100M. We are talking about an industry that lost over $50B. If there is any sliver of evidence of misrepresentation of data, trading of securities in the hospitality industry, or anything else, it becomes criminal and any piece of credibility that they have left is gone. IMO the cruising data over the last 6+ months proves the point of the case. Infection rate on cruise ships is only 0.02%. That is some odd 1000x less likely than land based. 

What case are you referring to? 

[BoozinCroozin]

27 minutes ago, bamaone said:

What case are you referring to? 

Case No. 8:21-cv-839

The case is being heard in Tampa on May 12th. One of two outcomes occur. Regardless, the cruise lines benefit either way. If FL/DeSantis wins, the CSO will have an injunction and cruise lines can reopen without the CDC interfering. If the CDC wins, then cruise lines can ask for vaccine information. In both outcomes, the cruise lines can sail in July.

[topaz123]

That's some mighty long arms of the CDC.......1,500 miles from US Waters, in International waters, and yet the  CDC rules apply?

[chengkp75]

13 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

So, it sounds like masks need to be worn at port and in US waters.  Does that mean once a ship is in International waters, the mask isn't needed?  Thx in advance for your thoughts on this😀

 

11 hours ago, phoneman69 said:

How is the CDC to govern a ship in international waters ? Then again i am sure 50% of the people would squeal. If it's a requirement to sailing ill do it with a scowl on my face  

The CDC requirement for mask wearing on transportation into and out of the US, as well as public transportation within the US, applies to all ships, not just cruise ships.  This requires that the Master make a signed declaration that the mask mandate has been followed either from the last foreign port, or for the last 14 days.  This makes the Master, personally, liable for criminal charges if it is found that the mandate was not enforced (falsifying a federal document).  Similarly, if it is shown that the company did not actively require the Master to enforce the mandate, then the company and its corporate officers could be liable for criminal charges.