Is it possible would it help?

[nocl]

34 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Maybe you missed the fiasco in new orleans? The next pax didnt board until late that  night with no food or drink offered those who sat for 10 hours in the terminal. Ncl handledmit rather awful. 

Keep in mind that it was the local health authorities that determined that the number of cases required intervention, not NCL.  They are the ones that required all disembarking passengers to be tested, and controlled when the next set of passengers could board.

 

Of course the passengers in the terminal were not locked into the terminal, they could leave and walk a short distance to the Riverwalk food court or a number of other dining venues and then return to the terminal.

Edited December 27, 2021 by nocl

[bgoff60]

4 minutes ago, nocl said:

A google search of antigen tests whole sale prices yields a number of results as low as $3.95 per test. Certainly much closer to $2 than $20.

Should have been more clear.  the $20 is an 'all in cost' to the cruise line.  Includes staff time, processing time, space to do the tests, HVAC & electricity for facility and ancillary behind the curtains processing, cleaning and disinfecting after so many tests...(Insert overhead costs hear) 

[crewsweeper]

2 hours ago, zoepipes said:

I understand that Norwegian does that and you're not hearing the horror stories about those cruises. . .

 

I'm hearing Norwegian has now stopped that.  Maybe due to tests being in short supply.  There's been a big run on tests in South Florida.

 

I agree with OP that closer to cruising tests are better than earlier tests given the now shortened time Omicron can infect people.  And in RCCL's cases it does appear that several passengers had symptoms after testing and didn't report to RCCL. That's what people do to avoid losing vacation time and $$$.  But catching a positive test a couple of days after a cruise, especially if flying and in a crowded airport for a time, can't always be determined ahead of time or even on a cruise.  Delta takes about 4-5 days to show up.  Omicron 3-4 days.

[hellsop]

1 hour ago, DevonfromAcme said:

 

A close family member who works for a company that makes a test.  They are all very aware of where their price points are, and their competition's. 

 

For obvious reasons, I'm not going to get more specific than that on a public board.

I've been seeing figures for manufacturing costs at around $0.80, so $2 to the loading dock sound perfectly plausible.

[nocl]

Just now, bgoff60 said:

Should have been more clear.  the $20 is an 'all in cost' to the cruise line.  Includes staff time, processing time, space to do the tests, HVAC & electricity for facility and ancillary behind the curtains processing, cleaning and disinfecting after so many tests...(Insert overhead costs hear) 

Considering that the test are swab and wait, a relatively small staff can take quite a few tests.  Take test, print label, swab person, place in rack for 15 minute period, have person go to waiting area, repeat many times, figure labor time about 2 minutes per passenger. 

 

Figure for these kinds of tests a facility staffed to handle embarkation, lets say from 10 until 6 pm, allowing for set up and clean up would use maybe 4-6 people.  Test techs are not exactly high paid positions so maybe contacted at $25 per hour high end. 8X6X$25 = $1200.  

 

For facility costs if done in the terminal those space costs are already accounted for.  If a tent those costs are not very expensive either.

 

I would expect that your all in costs might, at most add another $3-4 at most for a normal cruise ship dealing with 1000 plus passengers.  Not anywhere close to your $20 all in costs.

[firefly333]

9 minutes ago, nocl said:

Keep in mind that it was the local health authorities that determined that the number of cases required intervention, not NCL.  They are the ones that required all disembarking passengers to be tested, and controlled when the next set of passengers could board.

 

Of course the passengers in the terminal were not locked into the terminal, they could leave and walk a short distance to the Riverwalk food court or a number of other dining venues and then return to the terminal.

Still the ship left about 11 pm. I'm sure new orleans gets their share of the blame .. but it sounded pretty miserable. I can see why someone who isnt in the loop and thinks they will be able to board soon didnt leave to walk to get food. It's a long walk for some of us. 

 

I'm just saying ncl has had their share of issues and ships that arent green. Carnival does too. They just arent going nuts about it on cc, just rcl posters. Too many do gooders over here on rcl who want to not only cancel themselves but the whole cruiseline and affect me. Please save me from do gooders. This variant will sweep thru usa no matter what rcl does or doesnt do. 

[ATG]

6 minutes ago, nocl said:

Considering that the test are swab and wait, a relatively small staff can take quite a few tests.  Take test, print label, swab person, place in rack for 15 minute period, have person go to waiting area, repeat many times, figure labor time about 2 minutes per passenger. 

 

Figure for these kinds of tests a facility staffed to handle embarkation, lets say from 10 until 6 pm, allowing for set up and clean up would use maybe 4-6 people.  Test techs are not exactly high paid positions so maybe contacted at $25 per hour high end. 8X6X$25 = $1200.  

 

For facility costs if done in the terminal those space costs are already accounted for.  If a tent those costs are not very expensive either.

 

I would expect that your all in costs might, at most add another $3-4 at most for a normal cruise ship dealing with 1000 plus passengers.  Not anywhere close to your $20 all in costs.

At 2 minutes per passenger that’s 30 passengers per hour.  With 6 staff that’s 180 per hour.  If there are 3600 passengers that works out to 20 hours.  

[blueslily]

8 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

Most of the cases are coming from RCI ships.  The ships requiring fully vaccinated passengers and testing at pier don't have as many cases. 

 

The other cruise lines, how are they reporting their numbers? Are they reporting exact numbers daily to passengers or to the public/media? 

 

Thx, good night. 

[neverbeenhere]

9 hours ago, zoepipes said:

I understand that Norwegian does that and you're not hearing the horror stories about those cruises. . .

 

Horror stories no place but you might checkout the Norwegian Breakaway Covid cases on a December cruise. 

[livingonthebeach]

2 hours ago, blueslily said:

 

The other cruise lines, how are they reporting their numbers? Are they reporting exact numbers daily to passengers or to the public/media? 

 

Thx, good night. 

 

At first, RCI was reporting numbers -- they stopped doing it when several ships were denied entry into ports.  The other major two never communicated numbers to passengers / media.  The three major lines have all gone radio silent.  A quick look at the CDC color chart shows most ships are yellow across the board. 

[Biker19]

9 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

At first, RCI was reporting numbers -

They were?

[deliver42]

According to YAHOO news, there are 68 ships under CDC investigation.

[livingonthebeach]

5 hours ago, Biker19 said:

They were?

 

Yes some passengers were reporting the number of cases were communicated by the Captain.  That very quickly stopped. 

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

Yes some passengers were reporting the number of cases were communicated by the Captain.  

The only report of that I seem to recall was on Symphony 2 weeks ago and they kinda had to when the ship was turned away from a port. I don't recall anyone reporting official Captain's announcement on any other ship before that.

[livingonthebeach]

Just now, Biker19 said:

The only report of that I seem to recall was on Symphony 2 weeks ago and they kinda had to when the ship was turned away from a port. I don't recall anyone reporting official Captain's announcement on any other ship before that.

 

I believe it was Symphony and another ship as well -- at the beginning of the port denials.  I don't recall which other ship specifically.  Maybe others who have cruised recently can chime in.

[Biker19]

5 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

I believe it was Symphony and another ship as well -- at the beginning of the port denials.  I don't recall which other ship specifically.  Maybe others who have cruised recently can chime in.

Right, so maybe two ships out of 20 (and as two weeks ago at least 14 of them had cases on board according to the CDC web site) made some sort official announcement.

 

As I mentioned to a very COVID paranoid customer in the MDR an Anthem when this story blew up, RCI will not tell you when there are a few cases, but you will likely hear about it when there are 50 (like on Symphony).

Edited December 28, 2021 by Biker19

[RocCruisers]

We were on the first sailing on Grandeur out of Barbados earlier this month.  On Day 7, every passenger had to have a test before departing or even if they stayed onboard.  There were three nurses, one doctor and a tech/admin for the tests of  800 guests and a few staff. Those five people were on a six month contract just to do testing on that ship.  The testing was done in a conference room attached to a lounge from 9 to 5, and everyone got a call and email with the results.  I believe those tests are still mandated by the government of Barbados.  So that's a lot of labor and ship resources  that may or not be needed.  

[Mdcwlaf]

37 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The only report of that I seem to recall was on Symphony 2 weeks ago and they kinda had to when the ship was turned away from a port. I don't recall anyone reporting official Captain's announcement on any other ship before that.

We were on Symphony in October. The Captain made an official announcement the last night or maybe the morning of debarkation. We were only at 30% capacity and the number was zero cases among crew and passengers. I think they need to go back to reduced capacity.

Edited December 28, 2021 by Mdcwlaf

[TheMastodon]

On 12/27/2021 at 11:33 AM, Laurie997 said:

Hey all!!!

I was just thinking I know Royal requires pre Covid tests 2 days prior and “weekly” testing for staff. Couldn’t they offer a same day rapid test to all? Just a question I’m not that up on Covid testing I have had both shots and have had my booster. I feel horrible the cruise lines just started up not to long ago and we sail on HOTS 1-23 and just got back 12-12. Absolutely love love love cruising 

Stop testing people who aren’t showing symptoms.  This is absolute madness 

[BensonFan711]

Scientifically?  Sure.  You'd weed out the most positive cases by testing just before embarkation.  Logistically? Not feasible.  A rapid test for a ship of, say, 4000 passengers means you'd need 4000 tests (and some extras in case there's a screw up....and there will be with that many tests being run) and a 15 minute wait time PER PASSENGER.  There's no way they could do that and keep to any sort of schedule, which is why you're responsible for your own pre-cruise test, and why they only test crew and unvaccinated people.  I'm not sure how they're handling crew, but it's possible they stagger them so that testing occurs 6 or 7 days per week, but each crew member individually gets tested once per week.  That's much more feasible logistically.

 

The thing is, with Covid protocols, you have to balance the effectiveness/safety aspect with what is actually physically feasible to do.  Sometimes, the ideal simply cannot be done.

[nocl]

On 12/27/2021 at 12:02 PM, ATG said:

At 2 minutes per passenger that’s 30 passengers per hour.  With 6 staff that’s 180 per hour.  If there are 3600 passengers that works out to 20 hours.  

 

On 12/27/2021 at 12:02 PM, ATG said:

At 2 minutes per passenger that’s 30 passengers per hour.  With 6 staff that’s 180 per hour.  If there are 3600 passengers that works out to 20 hours.  

I was doing the economics for 1000 passengers or about 5 1/2 hours (yielding labor costs of about $1.2 per test).  If you increase staffing at the same rate for more passengers. Guess what the cost per test turns out about the same.

 

After all the discussion was about fully loaded test costs to the cruise line.  

[nocl]

9 minutes ago, BensonFan711 said:

Scientifically?  Sure.  You'd weed out the most positive cases by testing just before embarkation.  Logistically? Not feasible.  A rapid test for a ship of, say, 4000 passengers means you'd need 4000 tests (and some extras in case there's a screw up....and there will be with that many tests being run) and a 15 minute wait time PER PASSENGER.  There's no way they could do that and keep to any sort of schedule, which is why you're responsible for your own pre-cruise test, and why they only test crew and unvaccinated people.  I'm not sure how they're handling crew, but it's possible they stagger them so that testing occurs 6 or 7 days per week, but each crew member individually gets tested once per week.  That's much more feasible logistically.

 

The thing is, with Covid protocols, you have to balance the effectiveness/safety aspect with what is actually physically feasible to do.  Sometimes, the ideal simply cannot be done.

Actually ships in Europe have been doing it since the restart.  NCL has certainly been doing it.  The passengers do not wait in line for the results.  They test, then go sit in a waiting area until notified about the results.  The tests take maybe one minute to take,  another minute to read, after the 15 minutes has passed.

[Painter4me]

On 12/27/2021 at 12:16 PM, zoepipes said:

I understand that Norwegian does that and you're not hearing the horror stories about those cruises. . .

 

 

[publicpersona]

On 12/27/2021 at 1:08 PM, bgoff60 said:

Source??  

 

 

If you are comparing to the Abbott monitored test kits from eMed that are around $33 each, do understand that almost all of that is for the monitoring. The same test kit without monitoring sells for about $7 each at Wally World (when in stock).  The similar iHealth COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test is also $7.

[dcgrumpy]

On 12/27/2021 at 12:16 PM, zoepipes said:

I understand that Norwegian does that and you're not hearing the horror stories about those cruises. . .

 

Virgin also tests everyone before boarding. Of course Scarlet Lady is much smaller with fewer passengers.