Currently Onboard Zuiderdam. Requiring Negative Covid Test to Be Taken Onboard Today In Order to Transit Panama Canal

[Hlitner]

I do not question the policy, the reasoning, etc.  But I do question the absolute absence of transparency.  Passengers are the folks paying to be on these ships and they deserve to be kept up to date on the current protocols, reasoning, and policy.  This attitude that it is OK to keep the "paying customers"" in the dark is just wrong!

 

On Seabourn (operated as part of the HAL Group) when we needed to be tested we were told to report to a specific lounge where we were greeted with glasses of French Champagne and canapes.  Once we received our test we were free to go to breakfast, enjoy the ship, etc   Sending folks back to their cabin to await a phone call does not make a lot of sense.   Some cruise lines are now following a procedure which seems to include telling passengers as little as possible and only when it is absolutely necessary.  I guess some "suits" think it is best to treat the paying customers like they are young children who have no need to know anything.

 

Hank

[kazu]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

On Seabourn (operated as part of the HAL Group)

 

HAL group?  HAL & Seabourn are operated under the CCL umbrella.

 

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

 

when we needed to be tested we were told to report to a specific lounge where we were greeted with glasses of French Champagne and canapes.  Once we received our test we were free to go to breakfast, enjoy the ship, etc   Sending folks back to their cabin to await a phone call does not make a lot of sense.   

 

Champagne & canapes - I would expect that on a luxury line (which Seabourn is).  To compare your experience on Seabourn to HAL is like comparing apples to oranges.

Not sure I agree that sending folks back to their cabins makes no sense.  Makes sense to me.  It someone did test positive, it would be prudent to keep them isolated IMO.

[dfish]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

Not sure I agree that sending folks back to their cabins makes no sense.  Makes sense to me.  It someone did test positive, it would be prudent to keep them isolated IMO.

It would also make it much easier to locate the person who has tested positive.   If you just send people on their merry way it could be hours later before you find them and can isolate them.

[Essiesmom]

10 hours ago, SailorMarg said:

We are scheduled to transit in 7 days on January 12!  I thought today’s testing seemed incredibly early for that.  I’m half thinking we may have another round of testing before the 12th?  We shall see and I will update here should that happen.  

The Canal is going to be very busy that day.  Your ship - Zuiderdam - will be the only eastbound full transit, but there are two ships doing partial transits at Gatun Locks:  Carnival Pride and Eurodam.  Plus Silver Whisper doing full transit westbound.  So, somewhere in the canal, you and Silversea will meet/pass.  Doubt you will see Pride, but depending on how long Eurodam lingers in Gatun Lake after sending tour guests ashore, you might see her, or she might be in the Gatun Locks ahead of you heading out.  If you have the Marine Traffic app on you phone/tablet you can follow...  EM

[Essiesmom]

14 hours ago, Boatdrill said:

In March 2020 during the pause in cruise operations,  HAL asked for and was granted special permission for the Zaandam and Rotterdam to transit the canal to return passengers (both healthy and ill) to Ft Lauderdale.  At the time, Panama's Ministry of Health  didn't allow any ship with COVID-19 positive passengers to transit the canal. It was certainly a maritime humanitarian issue - four people had died on the Zaandam during the voyage northward from the tip of South America.  Ultimately the Ministry of Health gave the go ahead, and the ships were allowed through, at night. Canal employees boarded the ships in hazmat suits. 

 

Panama was one of the very few countries to help these ships get home. 

The two ships were granted passage and had to take the new locks, as they require many fewer contact personnel.  They also went through at night in near blackout conditions, noone allowed on deck or balconies.  I was following them on AIS and on the canal cams, and you could barely see them.  Also, they were in a hurry to get them through, as they went through at near cruising speed, double the usual speed allowed.  EM

 

Zaandam 3/29/20

 

 

Passing Pedro Miguel

 

 

Rotterdam at Cocoli Locks

 

 

Passing Pedro Miguel

 

 

Zaandam in Agua Clara Locks

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Essiesmom

[IPB4IGO]

13 hours ago, tuolumne couple said:

hi there, so glad you are on your cruise, and hope you are having fun. This is off topic, but can you tell me how Happy Hour is going on the Zuiderdam? Are they still doing one drink reg. price the 2nd drink a dollar? I forget, it has been a few years since we cruised, but we are heading out to sea next month on this same vessel. If you could let me know, I would love it 🙂

 

No happy hour this cruise.

[mame42]

19 minutes ago, IPB4IGO said:

No happy hour this cruise.

Ouch!!!!

[Sam.Seattle]

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

They also went through at night in near blackout conditions, no one allowed on deck or balconies.  I was following them on AIS and on the canal cams, and you could barely see them.  Also, they were in a hurry to get them through, as they went through at near cruising speed, double the usual speed allowed.  EM

Essiesmom,

I don't understand what this means?  Why would you not be allowed on your balcony and the ship traveling at double speed.  

Edited January 6, 2022 by Sam.Seattle

[Essiesmom]

24 minutes ago, Sam.Seattle said:

Essiesmom,

I don't understand what this means?  Why would you not be allowed on your balcony and the ship traveling at double speed.  

Treated like a plague ship.  Got them through as fast as they could.  Perhaps @Copper10-8 would have a better explanation.  They were doing 17-18 knots, while ships seldom get up to 9.  EM

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, kazu said:

 

HAL group?  HAL & Seabourn are operated under the CCL umbrella.

 

 

Champagne & canapes - I would expect that on a luxury line (which Seabourn is).  To compare your experience on Seabourn to HAL is like comparing apples to oranges.

Not sure I agree that sending folks back to their cabins makes no sense.  Makes sense to me.  It someone did test positive, it would be prudent to keep them isolated IMO.

Yes, "HAL Group."  I am sure you are aware that in Dec 2020, Jan Swartz (who came from the Princess side of CCL) was appointed President of the "HAL Group."  This group, consists of Princess, HAL, Seabourn, and P&O Australia.   The group has a lot of autonomous authority (under CCL) and we have seen a very close relationship between the various lines within the group.  Consider that on our recent Seabourn Odyssey voyage, both the Captain and Staff Captain came from HAL (as did several other senior officers).  Apparently there has also been expanded Group purchasing, training, etc.   This is being done as part of a plan to improve efficiency within the Group.  I expect we will soon be seeing more movement between the lines depending on operational efficiencies and the preferences of some members of the crew.  We routinely cruise on HAL, Princess and SB and enjoy them all....but there are quite a few differences between how the crews interact with passengers.  Operating as a tight knit group also increases the opportunities for the crew (from Captains to the laundry workers).  There are also some interesting dynamics at work within the Group family.  So, for example, a young couple may well begin their cruising life on Princess.  As they grow older and have more time and economic means they may well find their personal taste favoring something akin to the HAL experience.  And they continue to develop their own preferences they might eventually find that they desire the smaller ship more upscale cruising experience offered by Seabourn.  This kind of vertical movement is something that has long been championed over at RCI where many of the Celebrity cruisers got their start with RCI (used to be RCCL) and found themselves looking for something a bit more upscale.

 

Hank

 

 

[Copper10-8]

6 hours ago, kazu said:

 

HAL group?  HAL & Seabourn are operated under the CCL umbrella.

 

 

 

 

So sorry but Mr. Hank is 100% correct. The Holland America Group, yes, part of the Carnival Corporation - different than CCL, they are a part of it -  consists of HAL, Seabourn, Princess and P&O Australia, and is headed by none other than HAL's former CEO Stein Kruse 

[IPB4IGO]

15 hours ago, tuolumne couple said:

hi there, so glad you are on your cruise, and hope you are having fun. This is off topic, but can you tell me how Happy Hour is going on the Zuiderdam? Are they still doing one drink reg. price the 2nd drink a dollar? I forget, it has been a few years since we cruised, but we are heading out to sea next month on this same vessel. If you could let me know, I would love it 🙂

 

Correcting my earlier response, I see that in today's When and Where it says that at 3:00 "30% Off Happy Hour" in the Ocean Bar. I checked yesterday's, and there was a 20% off at 3:00.

[PROCRUISE]

Anxiously awaiting to see what happens if there are positive test results onboard! We're scheduled to do the west bound transit on the Zuiderdam leaving 2/13/2022. Fingers crossed!

[Sam.Seattle]

For what is it worth...I got off the Zuiderdam Jan 2, 2022 and tested positive after getting back home on the 2nd. The suite next to us also tested positive midway thru the voyage and they were put in isolation.  

 

Mild symptoms and able to work from home.                     

[Copper10-8]

During a Panama Canal transit, up to 35, usually, Panamanian nationals, come onboard the transiting ship, the vast majority of these are canal workers/linesmen led by two bosuns/supervisors (up to 25, depending on the size of the ship) half of which will motate (under ship escort) to the forward mooring deck and the other half to the aft mooring deck where they will connect and disconnect the lines that move the ship though the different locks. There will be ship's deck officers monitoring that operation on those same mooring decks. In order to reach the mooring decks, the happy party has to transit areas open to the public (think lower/promenade deck fwd) and they have, of course, contact/are in close proximity to the ship's crew, from security staff, to sailors, to escorts.

 

In addition, there are three pilots (both harbor and lock) that come onboard and are escorted to the bridge. There is a "canal commentator" that provides play-by-play of the transit on the P/A system. There are up to three canal inspectors that will come onboard to liaise with the ship's crew officer/port paper officer (PPO) and look at paperwork, all kinds of paperwork. There is a fumigator and a health inspector who are also escorted to do their thing (the health inspector will go to medical, thus transiting an area open to the public). All these folks are escorted by crew.

 

The ship's agent (at times more than one) will come onboard and is usually accompanied by a multitude of packing boxes containing Panama Canal T-shirts that will go to the shops/Lido Pool Deck and will subsequently be placed on sale by the "shoppies" for passengers to purchase (a popular event). I could be missing one or two positions but the bottom line is that a whole slew of Panamanians come onboard during a transit, some of which will have access to areas commonly used by pax and crew.

 

Hence, under the current conditions, the apparent requirement by the Panamanian government/Panama Canal Commission discussed here to have pax and crew undergo Covid tests   

[St Pete Cruiser]

50 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

During a Panama Canal transit, up to 35, usually, Panamanian nationals, come onboard the transiting ship, the vast majority of these are canal workers/linesmen led by two bosuns/supervisors (up to 25, depending on the size of the ship) half of which will motate (under ship escort) to the forward mooring deck and the other half to the aft mooring deck where they will connect and disconnect the lines that move the ship though the different locks. There will be ship's deck officers monitoring that operation on those same mooring decks. In order to reach the mooring decks, the happy party has to transit areas open to the public (think lower/promenade deck fwd) and they have, of course, contact/are in close proximity to the ship's crew, from security staff, to sailors, to escorts.

 

In addition, there are three pilots (both harbor and lock) that come onboard and are escorted to the bridge. There is a "canal commentator" that provides play-by-play of the transit on the P/A system. There are up to three canal inspectors that will come onboard to liaise with the ship's crew officer/port paper officer (PPO) and look at paperwork, all kinds of paperwork. There is a fumigator and a health inspector who are also escorted to do their thing (the health inspector will go to medical, thus transiting an area open to the public). All these folks are escorted by crew.

 

The ship's agent (at times more than one) will come onboard and is usually accompanied by a multitude of packing boxes containing Panama Canal T-shirts that will go to the shops/Lido Pool Deck and will subsequently be placed on sale by the "shoppies" for passengers to purchase (a popular event). I could be missing one or two positions but the bottom line is that a whole slew of Panamanians come onboard during a transit, some of which will have access to areas commonly used by pax and crew.

 

Hence, under the current conditions, the apparent requirement by the Panamanian government/Panama Canal Commission discussed here to have pax and crew undergo Covid tests   

Copper John,

Nice to see your name on a post.  I have missed your helpful comments and additions.

[cat22]

I also disembarked from the Zuiderdam on Jan 2nd.  My cabin mate tested positive the day we got off the ship also.  I still seem to be fine so far.  

[Copper10-8]

7 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

So sorry but Mr. Hank is 100% correct. The Holland America Group, yes, part of the Carnival Corporation - different than CCL, they are a part of it -  consists of HAL, Seabourn, Princess and P&O Australia, and is headed by none other than HAL's former CEO Stein Kruse 

 

Minor correction; Stein Kruse, effective Dec 1, 2020, was promoted to senior advisor to the chairman of Carnival Corporation, Micky Arison, as well as the CEO of Carnival Corporation, Arnold Donald. Jan Schwartz replaced him as CEO of the HAL Group and Carnival UK 

[rkacruiser]

15 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

Minor correction; Stein Kruse, effective Dec 1, 2020, was promoted to senior advisor to the chairman of Carnival Corporation, Micky Arison, as well as the CEO of Carnival Corporation, Arnold Donald.

 

Yes, that is what I recall took place.  I have wondered what the job description might be for such a "senior advisor".  Really pleased that Mr. Kruse is still involved with HAL and CCL corporate.  There is institutional knowledge that he possesses that cannot be replaced by the newly hired "Senior Executive Vice-Presidents" for whatever function.  

[0106]

Hello Sailor Marg-  

Are you enjoying the cruise?  Has Covid testing and port changes negatively impacted your experience?  Scheduled for 2/13 Panama Canal and considering my options.  Thanks for any insights you can provide.

[Btimmer]

One small correction to Copper's explanation of the transit:  when we transited the canal in October on the Nieuw Amsterdam, Christine, the Cruise & Travel Director, did the commentary using a script that our current Zuiderdam C&T Director, Ian, provided. Additionally, Ian told me he would be doing the commentary during our transit on 1/12/22.  There will be no local commentator like we have experienced in the past.

[Jersey42]

To add another perspective. We are currently on the Eurodam partial transit cruise (RT Ft. Lauderdale). We have not been through the Gatun locks yet, but we have heard nothing yet about any testing requirement gor the canal.

 

Our Monday Cartegena stop was canceled yesterday due to new testing requirements. It was only supposed to be a morning stop anyway. Instead we get two full days in Curaçao.

 

Ship only has 660 passengers. Walk in anywhere, any time with no wait. Prime pool chairs are mostly empty. Service is fantastic with more crew than passengers. We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam in November with 1,350 passengers and thought that was great.  After this, it will be tough cruising again with a full ship.

[br111]

Hi @jersey42 - thanks for the info. We're on that same itinerary at the end of January (Eurodam partial canal transit) and are very interested in how things are going on your trip - could you let us know if there ends up being any testing for the canal? Although I assume it would have happened by now if they were  going to do it. According to the FAQs on Princess' site, on-board testing is only required for FULL canal transits (even though that is from Princess, I'm assuming Panama's policies would apply to everyone).

 

Sorry that you missed Cartagena, it seems like all the lines are having the same issues with the testing. I read one post that they were requiring not only 72-hour PCR testing but also some amount of testing as guest disembarked which would obviously be logistically complicated. 

[Jersey42]

39 minutes ago, br111 said:

I read one post that they were requiring not only 72-hour PCR testing but also some amount of testing as guest disembarked which would obviously be logistically complicated. 

I believe that is correct. The captain did not mention that in his announcement, but the letter we received indicated the testing requirements would significantly slow down disembarkation. So a scheduled 5.5 hour stop would be shorter. It sounds like the delay would have forced them to cancel many of the tours as well.

 

They did mention there were enough COVID tests on-board, and it was the delays on a short port stop that made them decide to cancel. 

[SailorMarg]

7 hours ago, 0106 said:

Hello Sailor Marg-  

Are you enjoying the cruise?  Has Covid testing and port changes negatively impacted your experience?  Scheduled for 2/13 Panama Canal and considering my options.  Thanks for any insights you can provide.

We are thoroughly enjoying the cruise!  We booked this cruise originally as an onboard experience.  We don't find the short visits in port, or the excursions, to hold much value for us.  We travel to locations we want to experience for longer visits. So port changes matter little to us.  We use cruising as a wonderful way to spend quality time together, moving through our days together, something that rarely happens at home on our ranch.  This particular cruise is about that, and of course the very exciting full transit of the Panama Canal.

 

We rented a Retreat Cabana when we originally booked this cruise over a year ago.  It is there that we spend our late mornings and early afternoons.  The service could not be any better. If you find it in your budget, I highly recommend this for a great outside space with a lot of distance between yourself and other cruisers.

 

Our main dining room experience has been exemplary.  Lots of empty tables around us to provide a sense of distance from other diners.  That’s nice.  And the service has been outstanding.

 

The entertainment venues have carried on as anticipated.  No apparent changes in schedule in any of the music venues, theatre, or bars that I’ve noticed.  We do very little of that, but on occasion will listen to a music set after dinner.

 

We have maintained the same steward, dining crew, and cabana crew so at least these crew members have remained healthy.  All crew wear N95s…great for them!

 

We have probably only shared an elevator once or twice the entire cruise.  There’s just not that many people.  Elevators are empty when they arrive with nobody waiting with us.

 

SO to answer your question, I don't feel our particular experience has been negatively impacted for the reasons above.  Hope this helps.