Masks no longer required / No more testing at pier

[Pcardad]

2 minutes ago, 1982CruzStart said:

As you seem to be very knowledgable and in the know with Regent why not ask one of the people you know or the Client relations person (Jennefer) that posts here occasionally rather than ask a person who has nothing to do with that area and is pretty busy trying to put out a revised website. 

Nothing wrong with asking him - it only takes 10 seconds to say no. He seems to be a nice, polite gentleman and I am grateful for his kindness in replying.

 

And wouldn't you prefer to hear information from an authorized source instead of me? I am sure Regent would prefer this.

[1982CruzStart]

Just now, Pcardad said:

And wouldn't you prefer to hear information from an authorized source instead of me?

I didn't mean for the information to be from you per se but from 1 of your reliable Regent sources that could be quoted. I just figured you were more likely to know someone in that area of customer relations than the very generous Mike Moore. 

[Mike Moore]

2 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

Nothing wrong with asking him - it only takes 10 seconds to say no. He seems to be a nice, polite gentleman and I am grateful for his kindness in replying.

 

And wouldn't you prefer to hear information from an authorized source instead of me? I am sure Regent would prefer this.

Thank you (both) for the kind words. I imagine that whatever policy I would be able to find would be out dated by the time I could share it - much like the elusive complimentary wine list 😉 - so on this subject I'm afraid I"m not going to be able to help.

[poolechick]

2 hours ago, Pcardad said:

I am certain that there are many who will not sail, not because they are afraid of Covid, but because they are afraid of being put into a 10 - 12 day quarantine without knowing the rules. 

100% this!!!!

Thank you.

[Aloha 1]

Here's the latest on the CDC program per Cruise Critic. Apparently the CDC thinks it's still March 2020:

 

 

The CDC has unveiled details of its new voluntary cruise program that was intended to replace the defunct Conditional Sail Order that was in place for nearly two years -- but rather than clearing up the confusion, the CDC's new guidance has created more questions.

The program, which is voluntary, has so far only been committed to by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which includes cruise brands NCL, Regent Seven Seas and Oceania. (NCHL committed before the details of the voluntary program were released.)

It is worth noting that the CDC's new guidance is similar to the Conditional Sail Order that was previously adhered to by cruise lines. Only a few details have changed, but they could affect how cruisers are quarantined onboard or tested if they're suspected of having COVID-19.

What's in store for cruisers who sail on lines that have opted into the CDC's new cruise program? We break down the most notable recommendations and guidelines.

New Vaccination Categories

Cruises that have opted-in will be assigned one of three vaccination categories based on the percentage of vaccinated passengers and crew on board. 

Ships that receive the "Vaccination Standard of Excellence"– the highest category – will require at least 95% of passengers and crew to be up-to-date with all COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters.

"Highly Vaccinated" ships will denote ships sailing with at least 95% of passengers and crew fully vaccinated (but less than 95% total that have received all COVID-19 vaccines, e.g. boosters).

Finally, "Not Highly Vaccinated" ships will account for ships that have less than 95% of passengers and crew onboard that are fully vaccinated. 

Currently, over 100 vessels meet the criteria for "Highly Vaccinated."

Cruise Line's Response Plans for Handling COVID-19 Cases

Under the new program, the CDC requires that all participating ships have a COVID-19 response plan in place that includes protocols for training all crew in COVID-19; onboard surveillance of passengers and crew that test positive for COVID-19 or other illnesses similar to COVID-19; and testing plans that match CDC technical instructions.

Response protocols will also need to be in place for onboard isolation and quarantine, with consideration for capacity during an outbreak, and for onboard medical staff and hospital-grade equipment for treating positive cases.

Cruise ships will also need to have adequate and available PPE for medical staff, procedures for disembarkation of COVID-19 positive passengers, and a statement of intent that the cruise ship operate will observe all measures of its COVID-19 response plan, inclusive of any public health recommendation updates given by the CDC. 

Standardized terminology must also be used to better assess and understand the COVID-19 status of all participating ships. For example, "confirmed COVID-19," "fully vaccinated," "close contact," "quarantine" and "COVID-19-like illness". 

Daily Data Reporting

Cruise ships participating in the new program will be required to fill out and submit daily COVID-19 forms to the CDC, which the agency will have discretion to post publicly. This is likely to displease lines, which are already more scrutinized than any other form of travel in the United States.

These forms will identify and flag any COVID-19 or COVID-19-like illnesses on board and will be required for anyone on board who shows symptoms of severe respiratory illness or COVID-19-like symptoms such as fever, cough, trouble breathing, shortness of breath, new loss of taste or smell, or combined symptoms such as runny nose, fatigue, headache, rigors, congestion, vomiting or chills in the absence of a non-infectious diagnosis by the ship doctor (such as allergies). 

Enhanced Onboard and Shoreside COVID-19 Testing and Isolation

According to the guidelines, crew must be screened before embarking or disembarking in the United States. All crew members must undergo viral testing within a 48-hour period to detect possible positive cases of COVID-19.

Anyone who produces a positive NAAT result must be reported as positive and may not be retested. Considering the margin of error allowing for false positives, we can see this being particularly cumbersome for cruise lines and crew members.

Additionally, all positive cases are considered new cases unless the person is asymptomatic or has proof of recovery from COVID-19 within the last 90 days.

Likewise, any passengers who report COVID-19 or COVID-19-like symptoms will be immediately tested and isolated, regardless of vaccination status. Retesting will not be an option.

Here's where things get really messy. On ships with a Vaccinated Standard of Excellence, close contacts of passengers who test positive for COVID-19 must be tested immediately, quarantined for five full days after their last contact with the infected person, and then retested.

On Highly Vaccinated and Not Highly Vaccinated ships, close contacts must quarantine for 10 days and may only end quarantine if they are asymptomatic and test negative. There are no exceptions to this program -- and no clarity as to whether this 10-day quarantine must be completed onboard, ashore, or both.

The CDC's current guidance for U.S. citizens allows for those with COVID-19 to leave quarantine after five days -- no testing required.

The CDC's guidance on cruise ships in terms of testing and isolation protocols exceeds what is required by the organization even in prisons within the United States -- which are allowed to re-test inmates every three days. 

Quarantining Under the New CDC COVID-19 Program

The new CDC program has strict guidelines for quarantined cabins, including the requirement that quarantined individuals be isolated in single-occupancy cabins with their own bathroom

Quarantined guests may not have direct contact with anyone outside of the onboard medical staff, and their cabins may not be serviced by crew. Meals must be served in disposable containers with single-use cutlery and must have contactless delivery. 

The CDC also recommends that cruise lines implement surveillance of isolated passengers to make sure they are complying with their quarantine orders. 

On ships with a Vaccinated Standard of Excellence, symptomatic isolated passengers may rejoin their cruise after five days if they are asymptomatic or have been fever-free for 24 hours. Confirmed asymptomatic cases will be allowed to leave isolation after five days and with a negative antigen test taken on day five.

On ships with other vaccine classifications, the waiting period bumps up to 10 days -- all of which seemingly must be served onboard.

What Happens to Cruise Lines that Choose Not to Participate in the CDC's COVID-19 Program?

Cruise ships that choose not to participate in the CDC's COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships are requested to inform the CDC's Maritime Unit of their decision via email by February 18. Any ship that has opted-out of the will be designated as "gray ships" under the CDC's Cruise Ship Color Status. 

Passengers can expect CDC-designated gray ships that have opted-out of the program to follow their own COVID-19 rules, health and safety protocols. Crew testing, masking enforcement and vaccination status will solely be handled by the cruise ship without any consultation or oversight from the CDC. 

Ships that fail to notify the CDC by the deadline will automatically be considered as opted-out and given a gray color designation. The CDC can also apply new orders to those ships, or issue a No-Sail Order for that vessel until the outbreak is considered resolved. 

The order does not apply to U.S.-flagged ships, which will not face any pressure to join the program, nor be required to report to the CDC.

A Breakdown of the CDC's Cruise Ship Color Status

The CDC's Cruise Ship Color Status designations are nothing new and were created under the Conditional Sailing Order to help travelers make better informed decisions around travel and cruising. 

In a nutshell, a ship's color -- green, yellow, orange, red or gray -- indicates the numbers of active COVID cases reported on board. A ship's color status will also denote whether the ship has leveled-up on onboard public health protocols, if a ship needs to be investigated or is being monitored and, most recently, if a ship has opted out of the new voluntary COVID-19 program. 

Green ships have no reported COVID-19 cases on board; yellow ships have cases numbers below the threshold for CDC investigation; orange ships are at the threshold for onboard case numbers; red ships have positive case numbers above the threshold and are implementing additional health measures; gray ships have not been reviewed or monitored by the CDC and include ships that have voluntarily opted-out of the COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships. 

A single case of COVID-19, suspected or confirmed, is all it takes to shift a vessel's color status.

So, What Does it All Mean for Cruisers?

While the program's strict regulations will no doubt be a major pain point for cruise lines, we're hoping it might just be a good turn of events for cruisers. As a voluntary program, it allows cruisers to choose between either more relaxed or stricter cruise options, ultimately allowing more cruisers to get back out on sailings. 

For unvaccinated cruisers and cruisers who have been waiting for cruise ships to loosen COVID-19 restrictions, this might just be the boon they've needed to get back onboard ships. 

However, cruisers who might find a gray ships' lack of regulation or accountability disconcerting, probably will have the option to book a cruise on a cruise ship with tight, regulated and monitored COVID-19 precautions. 

Call it a cruising compromise. Whether it's the solution that sticks around remains to be seen.

Updated February 11, 2022

 

 

[Avidtravler]

I wonder if someone can explain to me why NCLH would commit to the new CDC  Voluntary Cruise Program rules before the details were released. Why have I not read about any other cruise line committing to the rules before the deadline. Seems to me that the regulations are a step back in time. I believe that Regent's Medical advisors could come up with a plan that would better reflect the current Covid status for passengers,  than the CDC which has not always been perfect in their recommendations.

[wcsdkqh]

53 minutes ago, Avidtravler said:

I wonder if someone can explain to me why NCLH would commit to the new CDC  Voluntary Cruise Program rules before the details were released. Why have I not read about any other cruise line committing to the rules before the deadline. Seems to me that the regulations are a step back in time. I believe that Regent's Medical advisors could come up with a plan that would better reflect the current Covid status for passengers,  than the CDC which has not always been perfect in their recommendations.

Indeed. Very perplexing.

[Sunprince]

3 hours ago, Aloha 1 said:

isolation protocols exceeds what is required by the organization even in prisons 

A very expensive prison☹️

3 hours ago, Aloha 1 said:

Meals must be served in disposable containers with single-use cutlery

That would not be popular! I thought this was a current requirement that perhaps Regent chose to ignore for the sake of their guests?

3 hours ago, Aloha 1 said:

Retesting will not be an option.

This makes no sense!

 

[Jimmcdaniel]

4 hours ago, Aloha 1 said:

Passengers can expect CDC-designated gray ships that have opted-out of the program to follow their own COVID-19 rules, health and safety protocols. Crew testing, masking enforcement and vaccination status will solely be handled by the cruise ship without any consultation or oversight from the CDC. 

 

2 hours ago, Avidtravler said:

I wonder if someone can explain to me why NCLH would commit to the new CDC  Voluntary Cruise Program rules before the details were released.

I am not sure the quote from CC above is totally correct. On the CDC website they indicated that "gray" ships would be regulated like any other public transport (i.e. planes and trains) where masks are mandatory at all times. Also, don't forget about the bit where the CDC reserves the right to issue further orders so to gray ships.  

[flossie009]

I see that all the major cruise lines operating in U.S. waters have now signed up to the modified CDC voluntary code.

 

Splendor is now reported as “green” 🙂 but Explorer & Mariner still  “orange”

(yellow & orange status have finally been switched to make the CDC colour coding  a little more logical 🙄)

 

CDC 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pudgesmom]

I cannot find the CDC page showing ships’ current status. Could someone provide a link?

[2012_Alaska_bound]

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/cruise-ship-color-status.html#status-dashboard

[Pudgesmom]

3 minutes ago, 2012_Alaska_bound said:

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/cruise-ship-color-status.html#status-dashboard

Thank you, I was there. I’m looking for the report of all individual ship statuses by name.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Pudgesmom

[Sunprince]

The details are in the dashboard section. Just scroll through it and look for Regent.

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by Sunprince

[Pudgesmom]

4 minutes ago, Sunprince said:

The detail are in the dashboard section. Just scroll through it and look for Regent.

 

It’s good that they are reporting the actual number of cases (look at the graph and click the ship name, and it will show a number). Splendor is “green” with 1 case but Mariner and Explorer are “orange” with only 1 case each.  It must be because those ships have fewer passengers vs Splendor and are caught by the CDCs low threshold for cases (0.3%)

Could you please provide a link to that exact page where they are showing the ships? I must be crazy, because all I can find are the rules, along with the lol explanation that someone there finally read the color chart. 

[Sunprince]

The link is above. Just look at the Dashboard.  I was incorrect in my previous response, when you click on the ship name it is showing the number of ships ( which is obviously 1 for each ship), and not the # of cases per ship as I thought.

[2012_Alaska_bound]

Just now, Pudgesmom said:

Could you please provide a link to that exact page where they are showing the ships? I must be crazy, because all I can find are the rules, along with the lol explanation that someone there finally read the color chart.

 

 

That is the exact link. As someone above said, you need to scroll down about half way. Here is a screen shot.

[flossie009]

 

30 minutes ago, Pudgesmom said:

Thank you, I was there. I’m looking for the report of all individual ship statuses by name.

It is on that page under the heading "Cruise Ship Status Dashboard".

it is no longer a long list but rather a list that you either scroll through or filter

 

12 minutes ago, Sunprince said:

It’s good that they are reporting the actual number of cases

I am not so sure that they are. The numbers that come up seem meaningless (always 1)

Sorry, I see you have amended your post

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by flossie009

[Sunprince]

I had thought it was showing the number of cases per ship (which would be very helpful), but it is the total number of ships (which makes no sense because a single ship can never be more than 1)

[mrlevin]

1 minute ago, flossie009 said:

 

It is on that page under the heading "Cruise Ship Status Dashboard".

it is no longer a long list but rather a list that you either scroll through or filter

 

I am not so sure that they are. The numbers that come up seem meaningless (always 1)

When you click on ship name it provides just that row of table; thus the "1" indicating that you have selected one ship.  Try selecting Regent and you will get a different number.

[Pudgesmom]

Thanks everyone, its  my aging eyes... I switched from my phone to my desktop and now I can see the scrollbar. Thanks for the help and patience.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Pudgesmom

[GeorgiaPeach51]

I just reread this entire thread.  And can’t figure out how much testing we can expect onboard. Can anyone enlighten me?  I saw all the info on quarantine for 5 days vs 10 days but nothing about the frequency of testing once on board.  We did a 2 week cruise on another line in October and if I remember correctly we were tested three times while on board.  
 

Joanie

[Aloha 1]

I'm sorry, but my response to this is "who cares?" It's all Kabuki theatre. I'm thinking the only reason the cruise lines signed on is to have some influence on ending this CDC farce as soon as possible.

 

For the record, triple jabbed.

[2012_Alaska_bound]

46 minutes ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

And can’t figure out how much testing we can expect onboard.

 

From the other threads of current cruisers on Regent, there has been no subsequent testing of passengers once onboard. Crew is still being tested once a week.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

1 hour ago, 2012_Alaska_bound said:

 

From the other threads of current cruisers on Regent, there has been no subsequent testing of passengers once onboard. Crew is still being tested once a week.

Thanks.  I guess I’m puzzled as to why there is so much discussion about quarantine.  If you have Covid and are without symptoms there is no way to know you would need to isolate.  It will be nice to not have testing hanging over our heads every few days.  Makes me feel we really are moving past this nightmare.