Rotterdam in Yellow right now why ?

[syesmar]

Some observations in the cruising world from this week:

—There were multiple ships with 48+ cases {12/11-18 Symphony had 48 (but from social media reports, quite a number have tested positive post-sailing), Odyssey had 55 cases (the captain announced yesterday the number is now 60, mostly crew discovered during weekly testing, )}. The ships did not test all passengers, only close contacts (see news stories about this), but all crew are regularly tested. 

—Multiple ships have been denied entry to ports this week. OBC has varied. For example, Carnival Freedom will have visited 1 port during an 8 day sailing (as of this writing, passengers given $100 OBC). https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2819961-did-freedom-skip-bonaire-today/ The Odyssey was also denied port stops in Curacao and Aruba this week and RCCL is refunding 2 days’ worth of cruise fare as OBC, plus 50% of total cruise cost toward a future cruise.

Carnival has sent an email to upcoming passengers for sailings through and including January 14 that there will be no compensation for missed ports, except for shore excursion refunds. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2820227-new-email-from-carnival-change-of-ports-masks-full-refunds/

—On or after January 5, RCCL will stop testing on board the day before a sailing ends for international re-entries. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2819730-international-re-entry-test-change/ 

—10 positive passengers (unsure about the number of close contacts) disembarked the Queen Mary 2 to quarantine in Brooklyn for 10 days while the ship proceeds to the Caribbean. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2819749-mergedoutbreak-on-qm2-as-it-pulls-into-new-york/

-There have been miscellaneous activities on board shut down on some ships. On the Odyssey, for example, several of their shows were canceled due to crew illness, plus several other amenities, in addition to the missed ports.

-For the first time (12/22), 4 HAL ships were color-coded Yellow at the same time by the CDC, then 5 on 12/23.

-Cunard and P&O are now requiring booster shots to sail on some upcoming voyages. https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6676/

 

With Omicron emerging, some issues are being magnified that were experienced in smaller doses earlier in the cruising season. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by syesmar