Problem on the breakaway in NO

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

 

NCL knows at this very moment what the covid status of passengers on the breakaway is. if they have somehow miraculously eradicated Covid from the ship in a ten hour turnaround, they should say so.  if there are no additional cases, they should say so. if there are an equal or larger number of cases than last week, they should say so.there is intense interest among those sailing on the next cruise as to what's going on on that ship.

i don't "got" all the info i need.

 

i would like to know how many (if any) crew members have become infected, i would like to know how many (if any) passengers have become infected, i would like to know if masks will be required on board, i would like to know if there will be multiple tests required once on board,  i would like to know if there will be a severe delay in boarding for hours on end as there was this past sunday, causing passengers to gather unsafely in close proximity. (that last one is a violation of their own sail safe protocol which promises '"socially responsible check-in" with "an enhanced, staggered embarkation process.")

 

these are all legitimate questions. and it's NCL's responsibility to reveal that information if they want to be taken seriously as a leader in safer cruising during a pandemic. if they want their guests to have "ultimate confidence" as their "sail safe" program states, then they really should be more forthcoming with information people need to make decisions about their safety, their health and their travel plans.

 

there are people at NCL who are discussing these issues right now. they may not have all the answers at this time, but what they could say is that they recognize the uncertainty of the situation and are proactively making the same offer now to passengers on the next cruise that they made to passengers who sailed last sunday: no penalty cancellation.

 

this game they play of not releasing information and having people arrive at the port first before they offer a no penalty cancellation is disingenuous at best and downright hypocritical. they claim they want us to sail safely with "ultimate freedom," but they won't tell us how many people may be infected on ship or even something as simple as whether masks will be required on board.

 

regardless of how irrational it may or may not be... the cruising public wants to know what they've done to mitigate the perceived risk... and they want to know whether those measures worked.

 

 

well, we don't know that yet because NCL hasn't said anything yet.

 

i agree that it is not fleet-wide at this point, but it may well be required on the 12/12 breakaway sailing out of NOLA. we just don't know. we'd have a better idea if NCL were transparent with the data they have collected about the current sailing so far, but they are not revealing anything. so any additional mitigation measures put in place for the 12/12 sailing will likely not be revealed until late on 12/11 or midday 12/12.

Then why Don’t you cancel your cruise 

[UKstages]

12 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Then why Don’t you cancel your cruise 

 

because there is a 100% cancellation penalty for doing so.

 

i don't want to cancel the cruise, but if NCL is not honest or forthcoming with the information they choose to disseminate, i may have to.

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, UKstages said:

what they could say is that they recognize the uncertainty of the situation and are proactively making the same offer now to passengers on the next cruise that they made to passengers who sailed last sunday: no penalty cancellation.

That would likely be a real bad business decision.

[RocketMan275]

12 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

People have all the information they need. There have been more than 1500 COVID cases cruise ships,,,,  nothing new here except that the media decided to sensationalize it. People know about COVID on cruise ships when they  booked. People knew that there is COVID on cruise ships at final payment. People know that now. That's all people need to know to make a decision. 

Actually, I would like to know if masks are required as that would be  deal killer for me.

[barbatkins]

On 12/8/2021 at 10:06 PM, UKstages said:

 

 

NCL knows at this very moment what the covid status of passengers on the breakaway is. if they have somehow miraculously eradicated Covid from the ship in a ten hour turnaround, they should say so.  if there are no additional cases, they should say so. if there are an equal or larger number of cases than last week, they should say so.there is intense interest among those sailing on the next cruise as to what's going on on that ship.

i don't "got" all the info i need.

 

i would like to know how many (if any) crew members have become infected, i would like to know how many (if any) passengers have become infected, i would like to know if masks will be required on board, i would like to know if there will be multiple tests required once on board,  i would like to know if there will be a severe delay in boarding for hours on end as there was this past sunday, causing passengers to gather unsafely in close proximity. (that last one is a violation of their own sail safe protocol which promises '"socially responsible check-in" with "an enhanced, staggered embarkation process.")

 

these are all legitimate questions. and it's NCL's responsibility to reveal that information if they want to be taken seriously as a leader in safer cruising during a pandemic. if they want their guests to have "ultimate confidence" as their "sail safe" program states, then they really should be more forthcoming with information people need to make decisions about their safety, their health and their travel plans.

 

there are people at NCL who are discussing these issues right now. they may not have all the answers at this time, but what they could say is that they recognize the uncertainty of the situation and are proactively making the same offer now to passengers on the next cruise that they made to passengers who sailed last sunday: no penalty cancellation.

 

this game they play of not releasing information and having people arrive at the port first before they offer a no penalty cancellation is disingenuous at best and downright hypocritical. they claim they want us to sail safely with "ultimate freedom," but they won't tell us how many people may be infected on ship or even something as simple as whether masks will be required on board.

 

regardless of how irrational it may or may not be... the cruising public wants to know what they've done to mitigate the perceived risk... and they want to know whether those measures worked.

 

 

well, we don't know that yet because NCL hasn't said anything yet.

 

i agree that it is not fleet-wide at this point, but it may well be required on the 12/12 breakaway sailing out of NOLA. we just don't know. we'd have a better idea if NCL were transparent with the data they have collected about the current sailing so far, but they are not revealing anything. so any additional mitigation measures put in place for the 12/12 sailing will likely not be revealed until late on 12/11 or midday 12/12.

You are not on the ship…..it’s really none of your business….

 

I am on the  ship…..ncl is giving the guests who ARE onboard all the info we need

[milolii]

 

6 hours ago, barbatkins said:

You are not on the ship…..it’s really none of your business….

 

I am on the  ship…..ncl is giving the guests who ARE onboard all the info we need

 

I believe @UKstagesis on the 12/12 cruise.  According to post 463

[MRDIAL]

Would someone who is onboard let me know if the Thermal spa is fully functioning, I.e. all the steam, sauna, salt rooms, etc. I’m on January 9 and bought a week’s pass. Thanks.

[Niffernay]

On 12/8/2021 at 3:46 PM, raitch said:

It’s no longer a brain swab.

This is a true description. It was awful. 😋

[NavArch64]

For guests on 12/12/21 ... as per CDC a few moments ago ... nothing new.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by NavArch64

[BermudaBound2014]

9 minutes ago, NavArch64 said:

For guests on 12/12/21 ... as per CDC a few moments ago ... nothing new.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Breakaway has been yellow since the Halloween Cruise. This site only goes back 10 weeks, but you can see the consistent pattern... as you said, "nothing new".

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by BermudaBound2014

[KAYKAY121]

We all booked cruises during a Pandemic. The struggling cruise industry cannot afford to refund every person that panics when other people get sick. Airlines are not required to report their cases or transmissions. It is an unrealistic expectation to not be exposed to any sickness while traveling. Especially right now.  I won't live in fear. 16 days to Mexico.  Praying I make it on the ship. 🙂

[danny6514]

17 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

The Breakaway has been yellow since the Halloween Cruise. This site only goes back 10 weeks, but you can see the consistent pattern... as you said, "nothing new".

 

 

 

 

Wow, would you mind sharing that site?

[lixogab]

7 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

so, i'm guessing that if i have tickets to see the 8 PM showing of "west side story" and there is a terrorist attack at the 5 PM showing, that's also none of my business?

 

 

who is panicking? a request for information is not generally a sign of "panic" or "fear." rather, it shows careful thought and planning focused on mutually beneficial problem resolution. accurate and timely information helps each member of the traveling public make the best decision for them individually.

 

a request for information is also not a request for a refund, although if the company you've chosen to do business with is not releasing the information its customers need to make educated decisions, a refund certainly could be justified... especially if NCL intends to offer a refund at the pier.

 

look, i get it. the forum contributors here are highly motivated and - by and large - experienced cruisers. i can certainly appreciate the passion and the desire to cruise. i share that passion. but i also believe in science and data and evaluating compliance and risk factors on an evolving basis. we know a lot more about the omicron variant today than we did a week ago. we know very little about the current conditions on the breakaway because NCL has not been transparent. that's just a simple fact.

 

COVID-19 exposure on board a ship is a lot like a war. most cruisers believe it's not relevant to them... until they personally have a friend or family member come home in a box,  that war is just static and noise on the evening news. i had refrigerated trucks with dead bodies in them two blocks from my home and a makeshift morgue in a tent a mile and a half or so away.  and i've lost family members and colleagues.

 

so i have more than a passing interest in how many additional crew members and passengers are infected on a ship that i am supposed to board in less than 48 hours.

 

also, for the record, airlines are indeed REQUIRED to report all known or suspected illnesses onboard their aircraft... specifically "ill travelers who have certain signs and symptoms during flight." that includes COVID-19... see [42 CFR 70.11 and 71.21] of u.s. federal regulations pertaining to onboard illness or death. 

 

additionally... the TSA, unlike NCL, believes in transparency and posts data about the number of its infected employees. to date there have been over 11,000 infected TSA employees, with over 300 current cases. a list, broken down by airport, can be found online at the TSA site for anybody who is interested.... in case you're traveling to your cruise by air.

NCL already reports all Covid cases to CDC. Would I like to get the detailed information? Definitely yes. Do I need this information beyond curiosity? Probably, no.

We all already know that Covid is extremely dangerous and people die from Covid. We know exactly what are the policies of every cruise line and many of us choose the cruise line based on that policies.

And we all know there is a risk of getting Covid on a cruise and are free to not go there. 

However comparing an outbreak of Covid on a previous cruise to a terrorist arrack is at least unfair. NCL has protocols to mitigate an outbreak by isolating the infected people and their contacts. Notice that Breakaway had a case of Omicron but nobody got infected so the mitigation protocols work. So an outbreak on Breakaway one or two weeks ago is hardly affecting the current passengers except a little bit tighter protocol (masks wearing) and a delay on departure ( NCL generously compensated with 200 OBC pp).

 

 

 

 

[BermudaBound2014]

2 hours ago, lixogab said:

. Notice that Breakaway had a case of Omicron but nobody got infected so the mitigation protocols work.

 

 

I think the issue that the Louisiana Health Dept. latched onto was that we don't know yet if Omicron was passed along. I'm not saying it was, but we can't yet say it wasn't. It's an unknown.  I tend to believe that Omnicron isn't all that dangerous, my point is simply we can't make the leap that "nobody got infected." I think it's important not to over sensationalize the one Omnicron case onboard, but it's equally important to wait for more information before making claims.

 

2 hours ago, lixogab said:

So an outbreak on Breakaway one or two weeks ago is hardly affecting the current passengers except a little bit tighter protocol (masks wearing) and a delay on departure ( NCL generously compensated with 200 OBC pp).

 

In addition to mask wearing and delayed embarkation, do you know how many passengers (if any) are currently being quarantined due to close contact? For obvious reasons, Cruise lines seem to keep this info very quiet. It has been reported by one site that three additional crew tested positive and 9 additional crew are currently close contact quarantined. Unless an active poster on social media is part of the quarantine, it seems close contact quarantines are ghosted from the public. 

 

I'm not at all fearful of catching covid, but am hesitant to cruise due to the risk of being close contact quarantined just because I sat next to the wrong person in the comedy show. I believe that close contact quarantines are more likely to happen on ships that are coded yellow. Of all the cruise ships sailing right now, only two other ships have remained coded yellow for the last 8 days (Celebrity Millennium and Anthem OTS). The breakaway has been coded yellow by the CDC since October.

 

I should also add that while we don't know the threshold needed to launch a CDC investigation, I don't for one minute believe that ships are being coded yellow because someone forgot to file the correct paperwork. The belief that staff onboard could be so irresponsible with their job  is more concerning to me than actual covid numbers.

 

Would I get onboard the Breakway next week? Absolutely. I believe odds are still totally in my favor. Would the Breakaway be my first choice in cruise ships at this time? No. If my insurance would allow me to cancel with full reimbursement, I would be looking at other options. I suspect that those who are actually fearful of catching covid might be feeling even more anxious than I.

 

[BermudaBound2014]

6 hours ago, danny6514 said:

 

Wow, would you mind sharing that site?

 

Here you go... https://www.cruzely.com/cruise-ship-covid-status-tracker-daily-update-chart-news-and-possible-cases/

 

[MsTabbyKats]

10 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

so, i'm guessing that if i have tickets to see the 8 PM showing of "west side story" and there is a terrorist attack at the 5 PM showing, that's also none of my business?

 

 

 

Off topic...but it was really really really great.  I'm 72...and the original was "my movie" since I was 12...saw it maybe 50 times.  This one is better....a deeper story and character development.

 

Sorry for the interruption...now back to the "Great Covid Debate"...........

[CPT Trips]

I don’t think you need to worry about further showings of West Side Story for several postponed showings later. 

[Back to school]

On 12/8/2021 at 7:24 PM, BirdTravels said:

People have all the information they need. There have been more than 1500 COVID cases cruise ships,,,,  nothing new here except that the media decided to sensationalize it. People know about COVID on cruise ships when they  booked. People knew that there is COVID on cruise ships at final payment. People know that now. That's all people need to know to make a decision. 

Agree.

[KAYKAY121]

18 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

so, i'm guessing that if i have tickets to see the 8 PM showing of "west side story" and there is a terrorist attack at the 5 PM showing, that's also none of my business?

 

 

who is panicking? a request for information is not generally a sign of "panic" or "fear." rather, it shows careful thought and planning focused on mutually beneficial problem resolution. accurate and timely information helps each member of the traveling public make the best decision for them individually.

 

a request for information is also not a request for a refund, although if the company you've chosen to do business with is not releasing the information its customers need to make educated decisions, a refund certainly could be justified... especially if NCL intends to offer a refund at the pier.

 

look, i get it. the forum contributors here are highly motivated and - by and large - experienced cruisers. i can certainly appreciate the passion and the desire to cruise. i share that passion. but i also believe in science and data and evaluating compliance and risk factors on an evolving basis. we know a lot more about the omicron variant today than we did a week ago. we know very little about the current conditions on the breakaway because NCL has not been transparent. that's just a simple fact.

 

COVID-19 exposure on board a ship is a lot like a war. most cruisers believe it's not relevant to them... until they personally have a friend or family member come home in a box,  that war is just static and noise on the evening news. i had refrigerated trucks with dead bodies in them two blocks from my home and a makeshift morgue in a tent a mile and a half or so away.  and i've lost family members and colleagues.

 

so i have more than a passing interest in how many additional crew members and passengers are infected on a ship that i am supposed to board in less than 48 hours.

 

also, for the record, airlines are indeed REQUIRED to report all known or suspected illnesses onboard their aircraft... specifically "ill travelers who have certain signs and symptoms during flight." that includes COVID-19... see [42 CFR 70.11 and 71.21] of u.s. federal regulations pertaining to onboard illness or death. 

 

additionally... the TSA, unlike NCL, believes in transparency and posts data about the number of its infected employees. to date there have been over 11,000 infected TSA employees, with over 300 current cases. a list, broken down by airport, can be found online at the TSA site for anybody who is interested.... in case you're traveling to your cruise by air.

They are not getting the publicity of the cruise industry. Your  questioning whether to cruise or not, in my opinion, is panic.

[BoundForSea]

This is why there are protocols in place to handle cases and infection. They will handle it appropriately. Covid like the Flu folks is here to stay, we will just need to learn and adapt to live with it. We have great medicine and safeguards in place that didn’t exist in March of 2020. Like the decision to vaccinate or not, you have the choice to cruise or not. If you’re comfortable like us, (we were the very first US citizens to sail in June 2021 on board X from St Maarten and done so 4 times since) then enjoy, if you’re not comfortable with it, then don’t.  Jets are full again like pre Covid load factors, so if you take any land based vacation, you’re more likely to sit in the terminal and get something to be honest, if that’s your concern. 

 

Those folks will be handled on BA per very proven and effective procedures and she will sail again. 

[UKstages]

3 hours ago, KAYKAY121 said:

Your questioning whether to cruise or not, in my opinion, is panic.

 

gosh, i don't remember asking that question at all.

 

what i actually requested from NCL was data.

 

what they provided was erroneous and outdated information.

[LGW59]

2 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

gosh, i don't remember asking that question at all.

 

what i actually requested from NCL was data.

 

what they provided was erroneous and outdated information.

The information is available, the time you spend on quoting everyone here, could be time spent doing your own research and making an informed decision.

[travelwide]

6 hours ago, LGW59 said:

The information is available, the time you spend on quoting everyone here, could be time spent doing your own research and making an informed decision.

Touche!

[Honolulu Blue]

It seems that this problem (or series of problems) seems to be in the process of resolving itself.  NCL hasn't said anything to us, the public, since last Sunday, and it seems they've said little to their current or future passengers.  I assume that means no change for any other ship in their fleet and the Breakaway goes back to the procedures and protocols that existed two weeks ago.  I further assume that there were no more positive cases yesterday after the three new crew cases on Tuesday.  If there are any passengers onboard/disembarking or embarking that would like to take the time to correct me, please do so (hint, hint).

[Juncti]

Just got off this morning. They didn't indicate any new positive tests. We got tested twice on board during the week, overall everything seemed to run smoothly after the chaos of last Sunday.