Poor COVID Protocols being Employed by NCL

[PaulMCO]

We were at the Port of St Maarten yesterday.  Next to our ship NCL Epic was berthed.

We were walking around the port and we saw many NCL crew members around the port and they were for most part all without masks.

 

Most cruise lines are requiring crew members to remain on the ship to remain in the Covid free bubble.

NCL apparently does not.  Furthermore masks on shore were a requirement and of course these crew are mixing with local vendors who's COVID history/status is unknown.

 

Just find this really bad policy.  We just came back from Argentina, where our Quark Expedition cruise was cancelled because 10 crew had contracted COVID by introducing new crew who were not in a COVID bubble.

 

So if you read the EPIC has COVID in the near future, St Maarten was its cause.

Edited December 11, 2021 by PaulMCO

[MsTabbyKats]

Give them a break....let them have some fresh air for a few minutes.

 

 

[PaulMCO]

My title is 100% correct.  Poor policy.   Next thread will be NCL crew gets COVID....

So Breakaway issues have no bearing....

Edited December 11, 2021 by PaulMCO

[lixogab]

From I heard from a crew member (Breakaway) crew doesn’t have shore leave. At all. So the only crew members you could see were the ones where working. 
It doesn’t make any sense to wear mask outside unless you are in a very crowded place ( think Times Square).

With that I think NCL policy is pretty good. May be they can tighten it little bit by setting expiration on last vaccination and doing more frequent tests.

 

 

[craig01020]

19 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

So Breakaway issues have no bearing

Correct. Breakaway issues are blown out of proportion. NO ONE GOT SICK.

 

The goal of the vaccine is to prevent severe disease, hospitalizations and deaths. It worked!

[bkrickles1]

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

We were at the Port of St Maarten yesterday.  Next to our ship NCL Epic was berthed.

We were walking around the port and we saw many NCL crew members around the port and they were for most part all without masks.

 

Most cruise lines are requiring crew members to remain on the ship to remain in the Covid free bubble.

NCL apparently does not.  Furthermore masks on shore were a requirement and of course these crew are mixing with local vendors who's COVID history/status is unknown.

 

Just find this really bad policy.  We just came back from Argentina, where our Quark Expedition cruise was cancelled because 10 crew had contracted COVID by introducing new crew who were not in a COVID bubble.

 

So if you read the EPIC has COVID in the near future, St Maarten was its cause.

Bad take. 

And totally unnecessary. 

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

My title is 100% correct.  Poor policy.   Next thread will be NCL crew gets COVID....

So Breakaway issues have no bearing....

You are making statements that are absolutely not true. This is like main stream media sensationalism taking a bunch of unrelated facts and stringing them together to draw an invalid conclusion. 

Edited December 11, 2021 by BirdTravels

[Lionkingrichard]

1 hour ago, craig01020 said:

Correct. Breakaway issues are blown out of proportion. NO ONE GOT SICK.

 

The goal of the vaccine is to prevent severe disease, hospitalizations and deaths. It worked!

Well they must have been sick or they would not have been tested?

 

I know if I over eat or have a hangover I'm not asking for a covid test!

[craig01020]

5 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Well they must have been sick or they would not have been tested?

Having minor symptoms and being sick are different things. Did you hear of any hospitalizations?

 

I didn't think so.

[oteixeira]

So you are saying fully vaccinated people were outside in fresh air without masks on?  Do tell.....

Seems St Maarten thinks it is OK as long as they can social distance from others (read through the requirements).

https://stmaartenehas.com/general-information/

[raitch]

24 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Well they must have been sick or they would not have been tested?

 

I know if I over eat or have a hangover I'm not asking for a covid test!

You’ve heard of routine testing, right?  You know, then they test you on a regular schedule even when you have no symptoms- like they do with the crew on NCL? 

[Turtles06]

I found the thread title rather ironic, because my wife and I are on the Celebrity Silhouette right now in the Caribbean, and have discussed how poor this ship’s covid protocols are compared with those of the Breakaway, which we sailed in October.  The crew on Celebrity are supposed to be masked, but here on the Silhouette, we see numerous crew members every day in public places, including serving food or talking to guests, with their masks below their noses or chins. On our entire time on the Breakaway, we never saw a single crew member wearing a mask improperly. That behavior clearly starts at the top, and was indicative to us of how seriously NCL takes their protocols. Here on the Silhouette (where other Celebrity covid protocols are also being ignored), not so much. 

[Lionkingrichard]

4 hours ago, craig01020 said:

Having minor symptoms and being sick are different things. Did you hear of any hospitalizations?

 

I didn't think so.

Minor symptoms does not mean you run down and get tested for covid!

 

4 hours ago, raitch said:

You’ve heard of routine testing, right?  You know, then they test you on a regular schedule even when you have no symptoms- like they do with the crew on NCL? 

I have NOT heard of routine tested for the passengers other then the Breakaway after this batch. can you link to where on our cruise we will be routine tested?

[rnfulk]

It's a tiny bit inflammatory to proclaim an entire cruise line has poor covid protocols because a couple of staff members from one ship, who are vaccinated and tested regularly, were unmasked outdoors. The CDC has approved any protocols in place to allow these ships to carry passengers,  so either the CDC considers the behavior you observed is safe or a few staff weren't following protocol, which has little to do with NCL's protocol and more about enforcement of said protocol. 

[Old & Retired]

7 hours ago, lixogab said:

From I heard from a crew member (Breakaway) crew doesn’t have shore leave. At all. So the only crew members you could see were the ones where working. 
It doesn’t make any sense to wear mask outside unless you are in a very crowded place ( think Times Square).

With that I think NCL policy is pretty good. May be they can tighten it little bit by setting expiration on last vaccination and doing more frequent tests.

 

 

I don't know about Breakaway, especially after the covid hysteria last week, but the Bliss crew get to go to Wal-Mart in Puerto Vallarta Mexico.

[The Traveling Man]

31 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Minor symptoms does not mean you run down and get tested for covid!

 

I have NOT heard of routine tested for the passengers other then the Breakaway after this batch. can you link to where on our cruise we will be routine tested?

We were on the Epic in October.  As a routine precaution, 100% of passengers were required to take a Covid test on board the ship a day or two prior to debarkation.  We were told that this was a requirement for passengers on all ships sailing in Europe, but I cannot verify that information.  I do know that the routine on the Epic was to test everyone on our cruise, on the cruise before ours, on the sailing after ours, and so on.

[craig01020]

38 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Minor symptoms does not mean you run down and get tested for covid!

It does these days!

[rnfulk]

Just as any passenger leaving the ship poses the same risk. I pointed out the vaccination fact to point out some of the things that NCL is doing to mitigate risk. 

[raitch]

2 hours ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Minor symptoms does not mean you run down and get tested for covid!

 

I have NOT heard of routine tested for the passengers other then the Breakaway after this batch. can you link to where on our cruise we will be routine tested?

I said “like they do with the crew”.  That’s how/why the first asymptomatic Breakaway case was identified, and why they eventually tested all passengers.

[david_sobe]

They work 6 days a week and 12 hour days with a mask. On their day off please let them enjoy fresh air and walk freely in open spaces.  They are fully vaccinated and probably have the strictest Covid protocols of any workers in the world.
let them be