Why hasn't the Breakaway left on its cruise from NY yet?

[SwimmingDragon]

23 minutes ago, ttiot9999 said:

My buddy was on the cruise last night I'll be goin on Sunday. Last nigh tons of people did not submit info to Bermuda cause they thought NCL took care of everything you show up get a rapid and thats it. That is not the case you have to get your own lab test not rapid within 96 hrs of leaving I go wed. to get mine hopefully get results be for Sunday and upload to Bermuda site to get authorization number without it you dont get on the boat. heres what i got from NCL

 

Before You Travel/Prior to Leaving Home:
• All guests must fully complete online check-in and select a port arrival time, which will become available as soon as 21 days and up to 3 days before the cruise embarkation date.
• Due to limited capacity in the terminals at the cruise port of Manhattan, port arrival times selected during online check in will be strictly enforced.
• If arriving at the cruise port directly from the airport, please keep the following in mind when selecting a port arrival time:
o Driving distance from LaGuardia Airport is approximately 50 minutes.
o Driving distance from John F. Kennedy International Airport is approximately 90 minutes.
o Driving distance from Newark Liberty International Airport is approximately 90 minutes.
 Luggage tags must be attached to each piece of luggage when arriving at the port to expedite the baggage drop-off process.
• Bermuda requires that all guests take a COVID-19 PCR test within 96-hours prior to their sail date.
• All guests must register on the Bermuda Tourism website and upload their negative test result within 72-hours of embarkation. The registration form can be found here.
o A travel authorization number will be issued by Bermuda once approved.
• As a reminder, all guests are responsible for checking on travel restrictions and complying with all requirements. NCL recommends for all guests to follow, and where possible, sign up for notifications from their local government on international travel regulations that may prevent, restrict, or require additional documentation when traveling to another country for embarkation or during their cruise.
Upon Arrival

 

NCL sent emails, as you pointed out. I'm pretty sure most of the email went to people's junk mail folder. Or people just don't think to be proactive. Either way, I bet emIls are going out again. They have like 1 day to get the information out there for 10/3 and more time for all the other cruises after. 

 

I already sent in our application and are scheduled for PCR tests on Wednesday morning so we can get the results uploaded by Friday at the latest.  This sure is interesting.

[ChiefMateJRK]

6 hours ago, www3traveler said:

From what is being said people did not have the travel authorization from the Bermuda government, their passports or the photo uploaded.

I highly doubt that anybody was turned away because their photo upload wasn't acceptable.  The agents would just take their picture at check in just like always happened in the past.  

[milolii]

Well, shoot!  over on the Crystal boards, passengers are reporting that on the Crystal Symphony,  5 passengers  tested positive and were taken off ship to quarantine in Bermuda.   Additional passengers who tetsed negative but were in close contact(but did not know the 5, I think) were also taken off to quarantine.  There is a long time CC member among them.  Here is the link to the thread.  Relevant conversations  start on page 2,  post 45. 

 

 

[MsTabbyKats]

If I'm reading the roll call correctly, it seems that there were reps from Bermuda at the pier helping "the confused" people.

I wonder if they got the PCR test done and the TA application also done at embarkation?

Can anyone clarify?

[trueeden]

26 minutes ago, milolii said:

Well, shoot!  over on the Crystal boards, passengers are reporting that on the Crystal Symphony,  5 passengers  tested positive and were taken off ship to quarantine in Bermuda.   Additional passengers who tetsed negative but were in close contact(but did not know the 5, I think) were also taken off to quarantine.  There is a long time CC member among them.  Here is the link to the thread.  Relevant conversations  start on page 2,  post 45. 

 

 

Don't forget the non-working toilets. I care more about that right now. 

[milolii]

Yes, I just read that and I like your pics. 

[phillygwm]

1 hour ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I highly doubt that anybody was turned away because their photo upload wasn't acceptable.  The agents would just take their picture at check in just like always happened in the past.  

I was talking with my friend last week, he told me he uploaded his vax card.  We're not sailing until December so I couldn't figure out what he did.  Sure enough, he uploaded his vax card instead of his selfie 🙂

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

6 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

I was talking with my friend last week, he told me he uploaded his vax card.  We're not sailing until December so I couldn't figure out what he did.  Sure enough, he uploaded his vax card instead of his selfie 🙂

 

LOL.  We've had threads on the forum that "prove" that the photo upload process is too confusing for some cruisers.  If they turned away everybody who mucked that up, the ship might be a lonely place....  Have you reinforced with your friend that it is very important to take both original vax card and original passport book with him?  If a person gets nothing else right, they ought to do those right.  Of course, it's also really important to have at least two current credit cards and maybe some cash and meds.

[stevenq99]

23 hours ago, Shidah said:

As I watch the webcam waiting for the ship to move, I can’t help but to feel so jealous of all those on board.  Wish it was me.  We left NYC at night once when we were delayed and it got darker earlier because of the time of year, and yes it is so beautiful!  NYC is in my opinion the coolest place to cruise out of.

I love sailing out of NYC harbor but the terminal is awful especially for a ship that size. 

[yamiangie]

I wish I had been light I wanted to see how she backed out.

[Laszlo]

11 hours ago, stevenq99 said:

I love sailing out of NYC harbor but the terminal is awful especially for a ship that size. 

My wife and I have sailed out of NYC 5 times, never had any problems. Its great driving 90 minutes and being able to park at the pier. We arrive early and get on early. When we get back we get off early and are driving away between 8:am-8:15

[shof515]

12 hours ago, stevenq99 said:

I love sailing out of NYC harbor but the terminal is awful especially for a ship that size. 

I've been sailing out of NYC for over 10 years and while it has good and bad moments. i think the issue with terminal from what i noticed, they dont use ALL of the space in the terminal. from what i noticed, they mostly use the middle portion and front of the terminal. there is alot of space towards the back of the terminal that could be used 

[BermudaBound2014]

15 hours ago, milolii said:

Well, shoot!  over on the Crystal boards, passengers are reporting that on the Crystal Symphony,  5 passengers  tested positive and were taken off ship to quarantine in Bermuda.   Additional passengers who tetsed negative but were in close contact(but did not know the 5, I think) were also taken off to quarantine.  There is a long time CC member among them.  Here is the link to the thread.  Relevant conversations  start on page 2,  post 45. 

 

 

 

 

WOW!! I just read the entire thread. Anyone planning Bermuda should absolutely read the thread linked by @milolii. The entire ship was sent to quarantine to await additional testing. Approximately 10% of passengers were off loaded in Bermuda to quarantine.  Five because they tested positive, and the remaining because they were in close contact. Of course, 10% of a ship holding less than 200 people is a small number overall. It appears all are asymptomatic.

 

Crystal passengers had the same very strict testing protocols as Breakaway yet the virus found it's way onboard. More proof that there is no such thing as a Covid free cruise ship (or grocery store, or movie theatre).

 

I am not living in fear of the virus. I've gone on with normal life w/ increased hand washing. Based on how cautious some on this site are, I believe many would categorize me as reckless. But even  I would not board a ship to Bermuda at this time given Bermuda's rules for what happens if Covid is detected (not to mention the pre-travel protocols). 

 

Hard Nope from this girl.

 

 

 

 

[OldeGreyWolf]

We too love sailing out of NY. The drive in is not bad and parking is good though expensive. And getting out is easy as well. The terminal is old and could use some improvements but overall not that bad. 

Only time there was an issue was when we came back after hurricane Sandy. Terminal had no power so clearance was done on the ship and we got out at pier level and grabbed our luggage then had to walk up the stairs with it to the roof to get our car. But still .. we like it.

[luckyinpa]

1 hour ago, OldeGreyWolf said:

We too love sailing out of NY. The drive in is not bad and parking is good though expensive. And getting out is easy as well. The terminal is old and could use some improvements but overall not that bad. 

Only time there was an issue was when we came back after hurricane Sandy. Terminal had no power so clearance was done on the ship and we got out at pier level and grabbed our luggage then had to walk up the stairs with it to the roof to get our car. But still .. we like it.

 

they need to build a bridge or zipline from the ship to the parking, that way can avoid the terminal. ive never left out of anywhere but manhattan and brooklyn, is the NYC parking next to the ship a unique thing or common elsewhere.

 

also based on all this flying anxiety with tests etc, pretty sure ill never fly to a cruise. 

[Laszlo]

1 minute ago, luckyinpa said:

 

they need to build a bridge or zipline from the ship to the parking, that way can avoid the terminal. ive never left out of anywhere but manhattan and brooklyn, is the NYC parking next to the ship a unique thing or common elsewhere.

 

also based on all this flying anxiety with tests etc, pretty sure ill never fly to a cruise. 

Manhattan is the only place I've parked literally On top of the cruise terminal. In Tampa and Miami parking is very close to the terminal

 

One trick about NYC, you drive up a long ramp, pay for parking and they are directed to drive down to the pier. Your vehicle is then briefly searched by someone with a dog, at least that's how its always been when we parked. Right after the dog search and before you park pull over quickly and drop your bags off with a person in your party...... Then park. Your luggage at that point will be very close to the elevator going down to the ground floor

[OldeGreyWolf]

Not sure how parking is at all the terminals. I understand most have parking. Across the river in NJ RCL terminal has nice parking right beside the terminal and at half the price of NY.

 

[mking8288]

5 minutes ago, OldeGreyWolf said:

Not sure how parking is at all the terminals. I understand most have parking. Across the river in NJ RCL terminal has nice parking right beside the terminal and at half the price of NY.

 

Cape Liberty's parking has gone up (we've parked there twice ... was less than the previous rate of $20 daily) - the flat rate has gone up now to $25 daily vs. $40 daily at MCT (hasn't read or seen any increase, yet) - not as good as a deal as before, but still very reasonable if sailing out of NJ.  

 

As for BA - she's approaching Bermuda doing 12 knots (per CruiseMapper) with calm seas (wavelets ~ 1 meter) and very light wind ... some of the crew members out on the bow of the ship, taking a break under bright & sunny skies.  Checking the latest NHC's data on "Sam" - hurricane's effects can be felt by Thursday or Friday while hundreds of miles away - should be passing well east of Bermuda based on current forecasted track - mainly looking at high surf conditions - that might still prompt NCL to sail & depart from the island earlier than planned.  CC'er Bill has ongoing discussion here under Hurricane Zone for all to follow. 

 

 

[Sunshine3601]

Curious, anyone know how many passengers onboard this week?

[phillygwm]

On 9/27/2021 at 2:12 PM, njhorseman said:

Per emails from an NCL executive they are accepting the Bermuda-mandated 96 hours or less PCR test in lieu of the 72 hour or less test for purposes of covering quarantine costs in the event of your testing positive.

But here's my problem with this.  Someone is emailing the VP of Guest Services (or whomever) and getting a response which seems to be more generous than what's on the NCL website.  That email gets posted here.  It causes confusion because the information is contradictory.

 

For example, I'm flying to LA on a Saturday for a Sunday cruise.  If my test needs to be 72 hours from sailing, which is what the website says, I effectively have less than 48 hours and a standard PCR test would be cutting it close so I'll go with the rapid antigen (despite NCL's preference for PCR.)  If it's 72 hours from getting on the plane, which someone on here related, that's going to give me more time/greater peace of mind...but nowhere on the website does it state that.

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by phillygwm
For clarity

[kirtihk]

On 9/26/2021 at 5:39 PM, Nancy8250 said:

Yeah, I just returned to home (NY) last week from Aruba and the hassles and requirements were tedious to say the least at the airports.  The trip, however, was fantastic!

 

Could you please provide some details?  While we have been waiting for an actual ordinary standard cruising (our next cruise in July 2022 - Nice to Istanbul), we have scheduled our first international trip (since our Easter Island - Tahiti March 2020 cruise) to Aruba resort for this December (after cancelling and rebooking and canceling again and again 12 cruises and a bunch of resorts) and hoped that by then (after almost 2 years) matters will return to the normal.  However, I see now that there is no the normal anymore, just annoyance of unlimited number of regulations, restrictions, rules, requirements, "guidance", protocols (what is a protocol, anyway?), restraints, limitations,...  I'm from Russia (came to US in 1991); in Russia when you plan to go to a local trip (international trips were prohibited there like pretty much nowadays here), they used to say - "you only can say to someone 'I go to a trip' when you actually completed it and returned back home".

 

So, besides taking a test prior to flying to Aruba, what other constraints are offered to obedient citizens?

 

BTW: For some reason, censorship (not Russian, of course) deletes my quotes and stop threads upon that.  We shall see now...

[JustAPilot]

3 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

 

WOW!! I just read the entire thread. Anyone planning Bermuda should absolutely read the thread linked by @milolii. The entire ship was sent to quarantine to await additional testing. Approximately 10% of passengers were off loaded in Bermuda to quarantine.  Five because they tested positive, and the remaining because they were in close contact. Of course, 10% of a ship holding less than 200 people is a small number overall. It appears all are asymptomatic.

 

Crystal passengers had the same very strict testing protocols as Breakaway yet the virus found it's way onboard. More proof that there is no such thing as a Covid free cruise ship (or grocery store, or movie theatre).

 

I am not living in fear of the virus. I've gone on with normal life w/ increased hand washing. Based on how cautious some on this site are, I believe many would categorize me as reckless. But even  I would not board a ship to Bermuda at this time given Bermuda's rules for what happens if Covid is detected (not to mention the pre-travel protocols). 

 

Hard Nope from this girl.

 

 

 

 

Yeah and people on the NCL board were trying to decipher if NCL would pay for your quarantine expenses LOL yeah right. Crystal passengers were told they were on their own for paying their hotel and food at Grotto Bay and these people are paying $$$$ for this cruise not some $800 inside cabin on a mass cruise line.

[njhorseman]

9 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

But here's my problem with this.  Someone is emailing the VP of Guest Services (or whomever) and getting a response which seems to be more generous than what's on the NCL website.  That email gets posted here.  It causes confusion because the information is contradictory.

 

For example, I'm flying to LA on a Saturday for a Sunday cruise.  If my test needs to be 72 hours from sailing, which is what the website says, I effectively have less than 48 hours and a standard PCR test would be cutting it close so I'll go with the rapid antigen (despite NCL's preference for PCR.)  If it's 72 hours from getting on the plane, which someone on here related, that's going to give me more time/greater peace of mind...but nowhere on the website does it state that.

 

Please understand that the testing requirements for Bermuda are unique and the process and timing of the required testing would be unduly burdensome on Bermuda cruise passengers if they had to get a PCR test at 96 hours prior to embarkation to satisfy Bermuda followed by another PCR test or antigen test 72 hours out to satisfy NCL's policy on reimbursement of quarantine-related expenses. The result was that NCL made an exception, documented by a senior executive in an email for Bermuda passengers and only Bermuda passengers.

 

Absent any written evidence that NCL would accept a test result at 72 hours before getting on a flight rather than 72 hours before sailing  you can only assume that whoever posted information is incorrect.

 

 

 

 

[SwimmingDragon]

 

1 minute ago, njhorseman said:

Please understand that the testing requirements for Bermuda are unique and the process and timing of the required testing would be unduly burdensome on Bermuda cruise passengers if they had to get a PCR test at 96 hours prior to embarkation to satisfy Bermuda followed by another PCR test or antigen test 72 hours out to satisfy NCL's policy on reimbursement of quarantine-related expenses. The result was that NCL made an exception, documented by a senior executive in an email for Bermuda passengers and only Bermuda passengers.

 

Absent any written evidence that NCL would accept a test result at 72 hours before getting on a flight rather than 72 hours before sailing  you can only assume that whoever posted information is incorrect.

 

 

 

 

I was just answering this and then saw you had replied, and knew you answered this question. 😉 Thanks for making me type it all out and then delete it! 😛 LOL!

[gwesq]

19 hours ago, milolii said:

Well, shoot!  over on the Crystal boards, passengers are reporting that on the Crystal Symphony,  5 passengers  tested positive and were taken off ship to quarantine in Bermuda.   Additional passengers who tetsed negative but were in close contact(but did not know the 5, I think) were also taken off to quarantine.  There is a long time CC member among them.  Here is the link to the thread.  Relevant conversations  start on page 2,  post 45. 

 

 

FYI      The passengers who tested negative but made to leave the ship were tested again last night, and reboarded the ship today.  Haven’t heard about the 5 who tested positive.  We’ve been told they were not all traveling together.  We are told One family of 5 was denied boarding the cruise in nyc because they tested positive. 

 

Social distancing has been fair here, and we are all wearing tracking devices that indicate who we are near, when.  The “ contact” would be considered positive if 15 minutes cumulative contact over a 24 hr period with someone who rested positive.      “Distancing” seems the worst at trivia ( sometimes 6 around a small table talking to each other) and at casino if playing at table.  Restaurants are well spaced.  Many people ( like us) have been confining their close interactions to the people they are traveling with.  We’re doing a back to back so we’ll be tested like 8 or 9 times.