Cruising on Norwegian Bliss and Testing Positive-- One Family's Experience

[Snowrose]

4 hours ago, GoldenGirl327 said:

Right - in countries where they have strict quarantine rules for inbound traveling, there are "quarantine hotels" specifically set up just for this situation. The whole hotel is just for quarantining passengers - it's paid for by the government.

Since the US does not test when someone comes into the country (only before they board in the originating country) the US is not set up to handle an influx of just recently tested positive cruise passengers. So I don't know why NCL gave them that paper that said they'll be met by someone and taken to a specific hotel. I think NCL should've just said upfront that if you test positive you're on your own to find a place to quarantine - even if it's at your own expense. Why should NCL reimburse you for testing positive and having to quarantine (unless the trip is cancelled or shortened by them or you have travel insurance through them )? 

 

Because NCL said they would. It's part of their policy, in order to entice and encourage people to travel with them during uncertain times. They want and need your money, so they offer assurances - and once they do that they are supposed to follow through. Truth in advertising.

 

ETA: Also someone made an excellent point that CDC would require that I'll passengers not just be abandoned at the dock. 

Edited January 7, 2022 by Snowrose

[morpheusofthesea]

16 hours ago, nocl said:

  They were taken off of the ship, taken to a place.  Told that transportation would be provided

I agree  and like most everything you post on CC. I read in post #1 that the waiting vans were for staff. The drivers made the mistake of allowing passengers into the vans in the first place. The hotel was arranged for the staff, not a covid prepared hotel required by the CSO. Being Sunday, no management to answer calls from ship "Where are the  covid prepared vans ?" Agree, big management issue at NCL. I would love a 4 or 5 star hotel to isolate, but none would ever contract for housing covid cases, their business might suffer (their cleaning practices just suffice in normal times). Celebrity had many big suv's standing by for the Equinox to take positive cases to the parking garage or the prearranged covid hotel.

Edited January 7, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[Snowrose]

2 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I agree  and like most everything you post on CC. I read in post #1 that the waiting vans were for staff. The drivers made the mistake of allowing passengers into the vans in the first place. The hotel was arranged for the staff, not a covid prepared hotel required by the CSO. Being Sunday, no management to answer calls from ship "Where are the  covid prepared vans ?" Agree, big management issue at NCL. I would love a 4 or 5 star hotel to isolate, but none would ever contract for housing covid cases, their business might suffer (their cleaning practices just suffice in normal times).

My understanding was that the crew isn't allowed off the ship during these times. I'm thinking unleess they are covid positive. So they would have had covid positive guests either way.

[morpheusofthesea]

48 minutes ago, Snowrose said:

My understanding was that the crew isn't allowed off the ship during these times. I'm thinking unleess they are covid positive. So they would have had covid positive guests either way.

Yes, you are correct. They took the vans waiting for a group of post cruise passengers (most likely). These covid-free guests must have been shocked when they  got on the late busses that must have arrived to pick up the covid cruisers and were dropped off at the covid hotel. At Port Everglades on New Years cruise we had Black suv's parked right at the curb waiting.

Edited January 7, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[szpal]

2 hours ago, CarolinaMamma said:

Thank you, OP, for sharing this helpful information. 
 

This solidifies my thinking that if we go on our cruise next week, we will drive to the port instead of flying. 
 

Let me ask you this. (NOT intending to start a debate, so I’d only like to hear from the OP on this one) Knowing what you know now,  would you cruise again if you could drive to the port? It sounds like you had a great time the first six days. 

Crazy as it sounds…possibly? I’m disappointed in Norweigian (especially Guest Services), but maybe I was naive to expect anything else. I would go in with clearer expectations and a solid game plan.
If you’re flexible, are vaxxed and boosted, understand clearly what happens if you test positive, and have the ability to drive to the port… it’s possible there will never be a better time to cruise than now. 

 

[Yesimapirate]

NCL and their contractors definitely dropped the ball but that hotel manager really stands out as being overly self important,  ignorant and a stain on the hospitality industry. 

 

I would have gone live on my phone and streamed my polite request to use the bathroom as you were/would have been/are in the process of being a guest of the hotel.   I'd tell him he's more than welcome to clear the area so the lobby and restroom were socially distanced but treating people like they're inhuman is not acceptable.   I'd term film as the group walked in.

 

It's NY.  The police are understaffed and overworked.   They're not going to respond to people using a bathroom.   Hell, I'd even offer to dial 911 for the manager.   Stand up to the bully!

 

If all else fails, pee on his leg.  The NY DA isn't prosecuting nuisance crime and the the viral video would embarrass the hotel.

[julie3fan]

2 minutes ago, Yesimapirate said:

It's NY.  The police are understaffed and overworked.   They're not going to respond to people using a bathroom.   Hell, I'd even offer to dial 911 for the manager.   Stand up to the bully!

 

If all else fails, pee on his leg.  The NY DA isn't prosecuting nuisance crime and the the viral video would embarrass the hotel.

 

Actually, Los Angeles.

[CarolinaMamma]

34 minutes ago, szpal said:

Crazy as it sounds…possibly? I’m disappointed in Norweigian (especially Guest Services), but maybe I was naive to expect anything else. I would go in with clearer expectations and a solid game plan.
If you’re flexible, are vaxxed and boosted, understand clearly what happens if you test positive, and have the ability to drive to the port… it’s possible there will never be a better time to cruise than now. 

 

FWIW I have never had a good experience with guest services on NCL, though I haven’t had to deal with them much. I think they are used to people constantly fighting charges on their bills, often perfectly legitimate charges, so they seem to start from a defensive “customer is a dumb-ass” stance, and not really listen to what you are asking for. All of the other crew on every NCL ship have been lovely. I avoid guest services at all costs, but I guess you had no choice. 

[UKstages]

54 minutes ago, Yesimapirate said:

The NY DA isn't prosecuting nuisance crime...

 

as pointed out, it was LA. 

 

but, also, the DA for NYC has been in office seven days.

[bigrednole]

With the new 1% rule at ports, I see testing significantly dropping on cruise ships. The less they know the better off they are. You would think that testing would be more important, but the new rules, lack of tests available means cruise lines will do less testing.

[Minoushka]

After readingyour ordeal I am thankful I cancelled my cruise .I couldnot have coped with all this had i been on that cruise esp since i do travel alone.at times .

shame onwhoever wholiterally abandoned you .

they better get their act together i.m sure many cruisers willl refrain from cruising if companies are not clear what will their resp entail if they get sick on board 

i think its time to rethink travelling by ship to my utter disappointment 

[mjkacmom]

13 hours ago, julie3fan said:

 

Actually, Los Angeles.

And regardless of what city it was, hotel bathrooms aren’t open to the public, one needs a room key to access them.

[gafnewyork]

On 1/6/2022 at 8:22 PM, ElizaSTN said:

Thank you for sharing - it’s important to know what is actually happening.  This is appalling and unconscionable, given the fact that this was and is a completely foreseeable (if not inevitable) situation. You did exactly what you were supposed to, and were treated horribly.  
 

Given this story and others, we will be bringing home tests.  If anyone in our party feels sick we will test ourselves, and if positive, self-quarantine in our cabin.  We have several Aft cabins on the same deck.  We will have cars at the port and we have hotels booked for a post-cruise stay (already planned.)

 

It is now clear that if a guest tests positive, they are essentially on their own.  Do not count on NCL for anything.  Make contingency plans for your contingency plans.  And if you can’t afford to front all of the money to deal with a post-cruise quarantine and get yourself home, then you should cancel.

It’s not that simple. 

 

You will be forced to get tested by the ship if you had spent 15 minutes or more with anyone who is confirmed positive.  This applies to anyone and everyone on board.  
 

They have surveillance cameras and face recognition and a robust contact tracing protocol through security team.  

 

 

 

[ElizaSTN]

41 minutes ago, gafnewyork said:

It’s not that simple. 

 

You will be forced to get tested by the ship if you had spent 15 minutes or more with anyone who is confirmed positive.  This applies to anyone and everyone on board.  
 

They have surveillance cameras and face recognition and a robust contact tracing protocol through security team.  

 

 

 

I know that was being reported weeks ago but are we sure it’s still the case? More recent reports are that they aren’t testing close contacts when those contacts are *directly reported* by sick passengers.  If they aren’t doing that, are they really scouring hours of eye-in-the-sky video?  I think at first they were legitimately trying to limit spread, but at this point trying to keep their numbers down, which means as little asymptotic testing as possible.
 

[szpal]

1 hour ago, gafnewyork said:

It’s not that simple. 

 

You will be forced to get tested by the ship if you had spent 15 minutes or more with anyone who is confirmed positive.  This applies to anyone and everyone on board.  
 

They have surveillance cameras and face recognition and a robust contact tracing protocol through security team.  

 

 

 

This didn't happen in our situation. We had 3 cabins linked on our reservation and had been all over the ship together (as well as ports). An argument could be made it was because it was the last day but-- based on the number of people together at the end--I'd say they weren't contact tracing much (or at all). How could they even do it really? With a variant as highly transmissible as this is reported to be, you'd have to contract trace pretty much everyone.

 

[gafnewyork]

28 minutes ago, ElizaSTN said:

I know that was being reported weeks ago but are we sure it’s still the case? More recent reports are that they aren’t testing close contacts when those contacts are *directly reported* by sick passengers.  If they aren’t doing that, are they really scouring hours of eye-in-the-sky video?  I think at first they were legitimately trying to limit spread, but at this point trying to keep their numbers down, which means as little asymptotic testing as possible.
 

Facts -

I just got off a 10 day cruise this past Thursday. 

I got infected while onboard and spent 2 days in quarantine.  I’m a porthole stateroom I’m Deck 2.  

Through a contact tracing call I HAD to have with the head of security, and his ability to see everyone I interacted with via video and face recognition, everyone I was in contact with for more than 15 minutes within the prior 72 hours of me testing positive, was tested.  
He even called me back when he saw video of me and a few other passengers that I forgot to mention.  It DOES NOT take them hours to do this given the technology they have onboard.  

I’m still in contact with those people who were identified and had to get tested.  
So I have first hand knowledge.  

 

 

[BEACHBARB]

This may have already been asked - but have you written to NCL Guest Relations?  I realize you may feel you would never cruise them again so why contact them.  Just a suggestion.  

[TNcruising02]

11 minutes ago, gafnewyork said:

Facts -

I just got off a 10 day cruise this past Thursday. 

I got infected while onboard and spent 2 days in quarantine.  I’m a porthole stateroom I’m Deck 2.  

Through a contact tracing call I HAD to have with the head of security, and his ability to see everyone I interacted with via video and face recognition, everyone I was in contact with for more than 15 minutes within the prior 72 hours of me testing positive, was tested.  
He even called me back when he saw video of me and a few other passengers that I forgot to mention.  It DOES NOT take them hours to do this given the technology they have onboard.  

I’m still in contact with those people who were identified and had to get tested.  
So I have first hand knowledge.  

 

 

This sounds like a good reason for people to keep to themselves during a cruise.  I wouldn't even want to talk to people if I knew that it could lead to possible future testing as a close contact.

[ElizaSTN]

18 minutes ago, gafnewyork said:

Facts -

I just got off a 10 day cruise this past Thursday. 

I got infected while onboard and spent 2 days in quarantine.  I’m a porthole stateroom I’m Deck 2.  

Through a contact tracing call I HAD to have with the head of security, and his ability to see everyone I interacted with via video and face recognition, everyone I was in contact with for more than 15 minutes within the prior 72 hours of me testing positive, was tested.  
He even called me back when he saw video of me and a few other passengers that I forgot to mention.  It DOES NOT take them hours to do this given the technology they have onboard.  

I’m still in contact with those people who were identified and had to get tested.  
So I have first hand knowledge.  

 

 

Good to know, thank you for sharing.  So those close contacts were tested, but only quarantined if positive?  

[gafnewyork]

7 minutes ago, ElizaSTN said:

Good to know, thank you for sharing.  So those close contacts were tested, but only quarantined if positive?  

They all got tested and were quarantined in their staterooms for the first 24 hours even though their initial test was negative.  Mandatory. They were then tested again after 24 hours. They all tested negative again.  So, they were able to rejoin the normal cruise experience.  

[Oxo]

18 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

This sounds like a good reason for people to keep to themselves during a cruise.  I wouldn't even want to talk to people if I knew that it could lead to possible future testing as a close contact.

Almost impossible when you think of 

Terminal boarding. Atrium shows, buffets , other entertainment, getting off at ports, etc.

Wish you luck. 

Stay Safe and Happy Cruising!

[ronheg]

Which cruiseline?

[BermudaBound2014]

40 minutes ago, gafnewyork said:

Facts -

I just got off a 10 day cruise this past Thursday. 

I got infected while onboard and spent 2 days in quarantine.  I’m a porthole stateroom I’m Deck 2.  

Through a contact tracing call I HAD to have with the head of security, and his ability to see everyone I interacted with via video and face recognition, everyone I was in contact with for more than 15 minutes within the prior 72 hours of me testing positive, was tested.  
He even called me back when he saw video of me and a few other passengers that I forgot to mention.  It DOES NOT take them hours to do this given the technology they have onboard.  

I’m still in contact with those people who were identified and had to get tested.  
So I have first hand knowledge.  

 

 

 

Sounds Robust. Thank you for sharing. What ship? 

[firstimer2009]

I'm so sorry this happened to all of you.  I know the cruise lines nor any of us expected omicron to hit at Thanksgiving but now we know how contagious it is.  It is beyond me why NCL doesn't have a Covid Team or whatever it needs to be called at every port to assist people.   If not them the port authority or the local public health department should help out too.  

 

We were going to take the Hawaii cruise at the end of February for our 25th anniversary but I decided on a land trip to Hawaii instead.  The POA Hawaii cruise I would have been on was just cancelled anyway.  Now we will see if our flight makes it or what Hawaii restrictions might be in place by then.  I know for sure I am not planning any other long distance trips until 2023.

[ElizaSTN]

16 minutes ago, ronheg said:

Which cruiseline?

The Celebrity Millenium, according to previous posts on another board. 🙄

 

Hardly germane to this discussion.