Covid policies on board MSC divina

[mscdivina2016]

27 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

 

Thank you so much (and to others who are or were onboard) for keeping us informed. This is the kind of information people need to know. 

 

Also, I fear MSC may try to get around the issue of refunds for isolating people in their cabins if they have been around others testing positive. They will likely say "isolation in your cabin" is not the same as being quarantined.  

Is it isolation in your cabin or on the covid deck?  Yacht club with my butler would be ok especially since I get to hammer my mini bar for free and have it restocked.

[Fredric22]

4 hours ago, girli565 said:

Just heard from a crew member there’s 1000 guests on board this sailing. Normally it’s upwards of 3000. 

1,000 still isn't bad considering the circumstances.  They are lucky to have that many!  How are things on the ship?  

[styles27]

Wow things have changed a lot on Divina since we were on 11/14/21. Granted we only had 490 passengers on our sailing but the Covid protocols were not anything like I’m hearing now. Glad we went when we did and also very glad we cancelled Seashore for this weekend. 
 

Currently in Florida for 10 days and we’re seeing a lot more mask wearing this trip compared to when we were down here in November. 

[Markanddonna]

24 minutes ago, styles27 said:

Wow things have changed a lot on Divina since we were on 11/14/21. Granted we only had 490 passengers on our sailing but the Covid protocols were not anything like I’m hearing now. Glad we went when we did and also very glad we cancelled Seashore for this weekend. 
 

Currently in Florida for 10 days and we’re seeing a lot more mask wearing this trip compared to when we were down here in November. 

That's a very astute observation. That Omicron virus changed the cruising situation so much. In November, you sort of knew what had changed, accepted it, and had a grand sailing. In the last week, it seems that many aspects of cruising changed daily. Thank you for being honest and helping peop!e make the decision best for them. The only way I would cruise is if I just recovered from Omicron.

[Postcards]

Thank you for the great current information. Had already decided not to go for our Feb 6 sailing. Tough call. No wish to sit in our cabin, although its YC for our cruise. I can drink at home. We sailed on the last Davina when all were shutting down at the beginning of the Covid. Half ship, fantastic cruise. The memory’s,,, seems so long ago. Sigh.. 

Cheers to those sailing, really hope your trip is super. Stay healthy 

 

[FrostyJoe]

One thing I’m really curious is why is the port folks testing anyone coming back?  The CDC order about testing prior to coming back only applies to air travel not cruise or land travel….

 

what will CBP do if one’s positive….Deport you back to….?

I don’t believe CBP has the authority to quanratine you involuntarily. Their options are to deny entry into the USA. So then what???

 

also , is this sailing out of port canaveral?

Edited January 7, 2022 by FrostyJoe

[FrostyJoe]

13 hours ago, CruiseSDwise said:

when you get back to USA customs anyone who was quarantined, have kids not vaccinated, or other random people( like me)  had to go thru another Covid test getting off ship for customs and I tested neg but some other people didn’t and they were ushered into another area of customs. Where they will be quarantined (was all I was told by customs agent)

 

If anyone could please confirm this who actually experienced a positive I would appreciate it. 
 

absolute last thing I would possibly want is being stuck on some quanratine hotel if god forbid we test positive at the end of the cruise.  We are traveling with our kiddo who’s too young to be vaxxed and the risk of quanratine hotel is unnerving especially since we’re driving distance from the port….

 

I mean I thought I did my homework by reading that pre usa arrival testing is only required for AIR travel and I don’t believe this has been changed for CDC. And this is exactly why we booked a cruise so we don’t get stuck outside the USA with a positive diagnosis and not be able to come home for a while. 

Edited January 7, 2022 by FrostyJoe

[dexddd]

14 hours ago, girli565 said:

Just heard from a crew member there’s 1000 guests on board this sailing. Normally it’s upwards of 3000. 

In the last two years, it seems only one or two sailings have been near 3000.  Most since restart have been in the 500-1000 range based on reports.

[dexddd]

7 hours ago, FrostyJoe said:

One thing I’m really curious is why is the port folks testing anyone coming back?  The CDC order about testing prior to coming back only applies to air travel not cruise or land travel….

 

what will CBP do if one’s positive….Deport you back to….?

I don’t believe CBP has the authority to quanratine you involuntarily. Their options are to deny entry into the USA. So then what???

 

also , is this sailing out of port canaveral?

Title says Divinia which is currently out of Miami.

[sidari]

15 hours ago, girli565 said:

While waiting in our “pod” someone tested positive and they had security escort him out. 

When you say your waiting in your "pod" Did you mean the area where a certain number of people are held while waiting for the test results and this person was with you all ?

[FrostyJoe]

46 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Title says Divinia which is currently out of Miami.

Thank you.  I didn't know it's out of MIami.  I knew at one point I think it's changing home ports to Canaveral---just didn't know if it happened alaready.

[CruiseSDwise]

47 minutes ago, sidari said:

When you say your waiting in your "pod" Did you mean the area where a certain number of people are held while waiting for the test results and this person was with you all ?

Yes that’s what she means. You wait with about 20 people

[CruiseSDwise]

11 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Is it isolation in your cabin or on the covid deck?  Yacht club with my butler would be ok especially since I get to hammer my mini bar for free and have it restocked.

Isolation is on Covid deck. No YC no butler, no even going back to your old room to even pack. 
your old room gets packed up by someone in a suit for the moon. The staff who had any contact with you ends up in Covid isolation as well. 

so if while on board, staff starts changing, it’s because of many of them in Covid area. 
we had many bar tenders, wait staff in dining room, even buffet staff changed.  When we asked about it they said they had contact with a Covid person and got moved to isolation. 

[CruiseSDwise]

My cousin and her husband just got off a cruise 3 days ago.  While they had a great time and didn’t have Covid onboard they are now sick with Covid at home. 

[FrostyJoe]

22 minutes ago, CruiseSDwise said:

My cousin and her husband just got off a cruise 3 days ago.  While they had a great time and didn’t have Covid onboard they are now sick with Covid at home. 

Oh no…..do they think they got it on the ship?  And how good were their personal protocols on the ship?  Like what type of masks and what type of social activities etc?

 

im just trying to gauge how much we can protect our self vs fully embracing the fact we will get Covid eventually….just don’t want to get it on the ship…

[CruiseSDwise]

1 minute ago, FrostyJoe said:

Oh no…..do they think they got it on the ship?  And how good were their personal protocols on the ship?  Like what type of masks and what type of social activities etc?

 

im just trying to gauge how much we can protect our self vs fully embracing the fact we will get Covid eventually….just don’t want to get it on the ship…

Yes they got it from ship. They tested positive 5 hours after getting off ship.
 

 They wear medical masks n95 and wash hands often, they stay away from large groups,  didn’t due the theater,  didn’t share elevators, didn’t swim in pool… etc 

julie is way more Covid conscious then I am for sure.  
 

[FrostyJoe]

21 minutes ago, CruiseSDwise said:

Yes they got it from ship. They tested positive 5 hours after getting off ship.
 

 They wear medical masks n95 and wash hands often, they stay away from large groups,  didn’t due the theater,  didn’t share elevators, didn’t swim in pool… etc 

julie is way more Covid conscious then I am for sure.  
 

Wow.........  So maybe MSC isn't using 100% outside air for HVAC like they claim they are??????

[styles27]

9 hours ago, FrostyJoe said:

One thing I’m really curious is why is the port folks testing anyone coming back?  The CDC order about testing prior to coming back only applies to air travel not cruise or land travel….

 

what will CBP do if one’s positive….Deport you back to….?

I don’t believe CBP has the authority to quanratine you involuntarily. Their options are to deny entry into the USA. So then what???

 

also , is this sailing out of port canaveral?

I’m surprised they haven’t done this before now to be honest.

 

 

Maybe now that cruise ships are under the cdc’s radar (yellow ship status and the media running away with the story even though we know it’s a very small percentage of those on board) the PO made the decision to test at the port post cruise to show the cdc that they’re doing everything they can to help stop the spread of Omicron/Covid. 
 

A lot of us cruisers get right on a plane to fly home after our cruise. Makes sense to me that we should be tested before our flight. 
 

The question is just how accurate are the rapid tests? 
 

There’s a very well known personality from the food network who posted her family’s experience on social media. 5 of 6 of them tested negative with a rapid test but had symptoms so took a PCR and turned out 5 of the 6 were positive. 
 

That was eye opening. 

[Fredric22]

Just now, FrostyJoe said:

Wow.........  So maybe MSC isn't using 100% outside air for HVAC like they claim they are??????

Just stop.... so many reasons why someone can test positive and who knows what their exposure circumstances was.  Someone in a family may have been positive before they boarded and squeaked by with a negative test.  They could have easily passed it along to other family members during the trip. This isn't ebola or HIV where you can easily pinpoint who gave you something.  Geesh.

[Fredric22]

1 minute ago, styles27 said:

I’m surprised they haven’t done this before now to be honest.

 

 

Maybe now that cruise ships are under the cdc’s radar (yellow ship status and the media running away with the story even though we know it’s a very small percentage of those on board) the PO made the decision to test at the port post cruise to show the cdc that they’re doing everything they can to help stop the spread of Omicron/Covid. 
 

A lot of us cruisers get right on a plane to fly home after our cruise. Makes sense to me that we should be tested before our flight. 
 

The question is just how accurate are the rapid tests? 
 

There’s a very well known personality from the food network who posted her family’s experience on social media. 5 of 6 of them tested negative with a rapid test but had symptoms so took a PCR and turned out 5 of the 6 were positive. 
 

That was eye opening. 

They are not testing people as they get off the ship unless there is a reason to (unvaxed kids, travel to foreign country, back-to-back cruise, etc.).  So let's not keep spreading this rumor, please.

[styles27]

5 minutes ago, Fredric22 said:

They are not testing people as they get off the ship unless there is a reason to (unvaxed kids, travel to foreign country, back-to-back cruise, etc.).  So let's not keep spreading this rumor, please.

OP reported they were tested…see “or other random people, like me” 🤷🏻‍♀️

How do you interpret that? 

[Markanddonna]

I heard they were randomly testing 25% of the people upon departure. 

[Fredric22]

Just now, Markanddonna said:

I heard they were randomly testing 25% of the people upon departure. 

Here we go again with the rumors.  "I heard"  "Someone said"  "Cruising is canceled" ... Does anyone actually have a real source for this?  This is starting to get out of hand now, honestly. 

[styles27]

@CruiseSDwise could you please embellish on the “random people, like me” part of your post to clear up the post cruise port authority Covid test you had? 
 

Were you told you were going to be tested beforehand or did they pull you out of line and tell you they’re testing random passengers?

 

Thanks!

[FrostyJoe]

I'm still confused why they are testing people when they're getting off.  I understand voluntary tests for those who have to fly abroad back to the country.

 

But nothing I've read with the legal mandates CDC do they have the authority to even test US arrivals for non air travel.  Again, question is so what if someone tests positive?  Routine for air travel would be to deny boarding..... but on a cruise ship....? what are they going to do?  Send you back to the ship?   They don't have any sort of legal authority to hold you in any quarantine type of hotel......

 

I'm the questioning the legality for non-voluntary test upon arrival.  Not that it doesn't make common sense.  In fact, we have like 8 tests at home; we will use 4 at home before leaving, 2 at walgreens, and minimum of 2 more once we get home.  So we're not against testing per se.  If you can point me to a CDC or any sort of federal guidance/regulations/order that allows them to do this for non-air travel, I would love to read it.