When Will the CDC Drop Testing Requirement for Cruises?

[dgoz]

23 minutes ago, p18750 said:

I think it is hit or miss. Some cruises seem relatively full and others are half empty. I am not sure of the reason but I would guess Celebrity can see the correlation. For example my cruise on Edge next month is less than half full if you can believe the available cabins displayed on the Celebrity site. If the ships fill back up again there will be no reason for Celebrity to drop the testing requirement. If not, then there will be a major business reason to drop it. 

`If other lines besides Viking drop pre-cruise testing maybe celebrity will follow. I know tons of folks (myself included) that hate the extra stress of the test 2 days before the cruise--takes away a measure of the joy of anticipation and replaces it with some anxiety. I understand why they do it of course.

[Purplsmurf]

1 hour ago, Virginia100 said:

I go economy ($619 RT to Rome in late August!) but I really hate masks but will wear the required N95 over (Italy regulations ) and some mask back . Will even wear on my US connection though not required. The 2 day test prior to my Rome cruise is clearly stated by Celebrity as an Italy requirement. As Italy still requires N95 masks on public transportation this will remain for quite some time. But at least 2 days so I can test here at home before leaving the US. Will be getting my 2nd booster 4 weeks prior to leaving  and testing. With that return test gone had to schedule a get away in late August. I’m not young enough to keep delaying.

We were told the same when we flew to Rome last month. Everyone HAD to have a mask on when we got off of the plane. We laughed as we walked through the airport.   Very few people had a mask on and very few had them on on any public transportation. We thought Italy was going to be very strict with mask wearing …….we were wrong

[p18750]

Now that Viking has eliminated the pre-cruise Covid testing (except where required) I think other cruise lines will follow. I don't see how they cannot. 

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, Purplsmurf said:

We were told the same when we flew to Rome last month. Everyone HAD to have a mask on when we got off of the plane. We laughed as we walked through the airport.   Very few people had a mask on and very few had them on on any public transportation. We thought Italy was going to be very strict with mask wearing …….we were wrong

Same thing for us 2 weeks ago while we were in St Thomas for a week. Signs all over the airport when we arrived about masks being required in the airport, public transportation and inside any buildings including non open air restaurants. The only place that enforced the masking for the week we were there, was in a Walgreens. Even the public ferry from St Thomas to St Johns had no enforcement. All week maybe 10% of the people complied with wearing masks. The last day on June 5th of our trip the USVI announced they were dropping all mask mandates. 

[terrydtx]

35 minutes ago, p18750 said:

Now that Viking has eliminated the pre-cruise Covid testing (except where required) I think other cruise lines will follow. I don't see how they cannot. 

My sister was on a Viking cruise to Iceland last August and they had to be covid tested every day by 10am. Even this year they required daily testing, so I was shocked when they were the first cruise line to now drop all testing.

[prmssk]

3 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

My sister was on a Viking cruise to Iceland last August and they had to be covid tested every day by 10am. Even this year they required daily testing, so I was shocked when they were the first cruise line to now drop all testing.

As was I.  Before their announcement, I was not very optimistic that testing would go away anytime soon but now that one of the most cautious cruise lines is dropping testing....maybe it will come sooner than we think to the rest of the lines.

[terrydtx]

7 minutes ago, prmssk said:

As was I.  Before their announcement, I was not very optimistic that testing would go away anytime soon but now that one of the most cautious cruise lines is dropping testing....maybe it will come sooner than we think to the rest of the lines.

Now Viking did state they will continue to have pre board testing in countries that require them for embarkation ports and/or cruise stopping ports. I think Italy and Spain still have this requirement.

Edited June 12, 2022 by terrydtx

[prmssk]

27 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Now Viking did state they will continue to have pre board testing in countries that require them for embarkation ports and/or cruise stopping ports. I think Italy and Spain still have this requirement.

Absolutely, any cruise line will have to follow country requirements, although those requirements seem to be disappearing fast.  But what I think it says is that Viking doesn't feel these tests are necessary any longer for their purposes.  They don't see the value in these tests or at least the cost (in time, money, lost sales, etc.) is greater than any potential value.

Edited June 12, 2022 by prmssk

[Mark_T]

Well if anyone has the data to determine the utility of the testing it is Viking, so I guess we have to pay attention when they drop the testing regime so comprehensively...

[mnocket]

11 hours ago, Fly and Sail said:

That would depend on Celebrity's rationale for the testing regime. Are they doing it to satisfy the authorities or to minimize Covid cases on the vessel?

Given this latest news, I'd say it's the former......

 

Cruise Lines Call for CDC to Drop Covid Testing

[AbbyCruiser45]

48 minutes ago, mnocket said:

Given this latest news, I'd say it's the former......

 

Cruise Lines Call for CDC to Drop Covid Testing

Agree also considering that most lines did not require a test last summer. That only started when the far more threatening Delta variant was circulating. 

[p18750]

5 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Now Viking did state they will continue to have pre board testing in countries that require them for embarkation ports and/or cruise stopping ports. I think Italy and Spain still have this requirement.

Why do you think this? I could not find anything on the Italian NHS site or the Spanish Ministry of Health site indicating a pre-boarding test was required My understanding was the testing was purely voluntary for European countries. 

[Guppy99]

On 6/11/2022 at 10:03 AM, Ipeeinthepools said:

An interesting question would be for the cruise lines to publish the number of passengers that cancel within the last two days due to Covid.  If they can document that number is very small, they can begin to make the case for dropping the testing requirement.  

I don't think its as simple as that. Every one of those people, who would then be free to board the ship NS would then expose potentially hundreds.

[Ipeeinthepools]

5 hours ago, Guppy99 said:

I don't think its as simple as that. Every one of those people, who would then be free to board the ship NS would then expose potentially hundreds.

 

As long as the community believe contracting Covid has significant risk it will be about risk vs benefit.  At some point the additional testing won't find enough people to justify the effort and expense.  We're not there yet. 

[Guppy99]

14 hours ago, mnocket said:

Given this latest news, I'd say it's the former......

 

Cruise Lines Call for CDC to Drop Covid Testing

The former reason is due to  the latter reason.  also, it doesn't matter what the motives re, only the result.

[Guppy99]

16 hours ago, p18750 said:

Now that Viking has eliminated the pre-cruise Covid testing (except where required) I think other cruise lines will follow. I don't see how they cannot. 

I don't see why one has anything at all to do with the other. Apples and oranges. The only thing in common is that they are vessels traveling on water.

[wrk2cruise]

31 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

The former reason is due to  the latter reason.  also, it doesn't matter what the motives re, only the result.

 

For motive you only have to read the last paragraph of the "news" article

 

"If money can be the reason why testing and vaccination requirements don't exist in hotels, airplanes, theme parks, concerts, and sporting events, then money should be a viable reason to consider dropping the testing requirement before taking a cruise."

 

[Guppy99]

54 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

For motive you only have to read the last paragraph of the "news" article

 

"If money can be the reason why testing and vaccination requirements don't exist in hotels, airplanes, theme parks, concerts, and sporting events, then money should be a viable reason to consider dropping the testing requirement before taking a cruise."

 

lol I feel free to ignore whatever ignorant simpleton writes and publishes online.   With the possible of exception of hotels, the rest of the list are all transient exposures with the customer.  Cruise lines, to the contrary, have a long term exposure, in a confined space, with their customer base.  Therefore, what they must deal with changes the equation so much as to make any comparisons irrelevant.  

[terrydtx]

21 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

lol I feel free to ignore whatever ignorant simpleton writes and publishes online.   With the possible of exception of hotels, the rest of the list are all transient exposures with the customer.  Cruise lines, to the contrary, have a long term exposure, in a confined space, with their customer base.  Therefore, what they must deal with changes the equation so much as to make any comparisons irrelevant.  

Good point, just look at past Norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships that spreads rampant through whole ship that can result is huge numbers of passengers being sick and confined to their cabins. We were on a Norovirus from hell cruise about 10 years ago and it was not very pleasant. On that cruise it wasn't 1 or 2% who got sick, it was in the hundreds or more like 20%.

Edited June 13, 2022 by terrydtx

[RichYak]

17 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

Cruise lines, to the contrary, have a long term exposure, in a confined space, with their customer base.  Therefore, what they must deal with changes the equation so much as to make any comparisons irrelevant.  

I agree and would add limited medical facilities to your list. In my mind, that is the biggest thing that sets cruise ships apart from all other travel. Testing will remain required until there is more surety that covid no longer results in the need for medical attention.

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, RichYak said:

I agree and would add limited medical facilities to your list. In my mind, that is the biggest thing that sets cruise ships apart from all other travel. Testing will remain required until there is more surety that covid no longer results in the need for medical attention.

I also agree and most passengers would probably agree, it is not nearly as stressful to test before boarding as having to test before flying home.

[upwarduk]

13 hours ago, p18750 said:

Spanish Ministry of Health site indicating a pre-boarding test was required My understanding was the testing was purely voluntary for European countries. 

My son was recently in Seville on Buisness. 
He told that he did NOT require a test to get into Spain.

Edited June 13, 2022 by upwarduk

[RichYak]

8 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

My son was recently in Seville on Buisness. 
He told that he did NOT require a test to get into Spain.

What cruise ship did he board?

[terrydtx]

13 hours ago, p18750 said:

Why do you think this? I could not find anything on the Italian NHS site or the Spanish Ministry of Health site indicating a pre-boarding test was required My understanding was the testing was purely voluntary for European countries. 

The first early season Europe cruises in April did testing because Spain required cruise ships that disembarked or stopped in any Spanish ports had to test passengers before they boarded the ship. There was a time that Italy had a similar requirement, this may have changed since then. This was reported in several Live from Threads on the early Silhouette cruises from the UK and TA.

Edited June 13, 2022 by terrydtx

[TeeRick]

36 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

lol I feel free to ignore whatever ignorant simpleton writes and publishes online.   With the possible of exception of hotels, the rest of the list are all transient exposures with the customer.  Cruise lines, to the contrary, have a long term exposure, in a confined space, with their customer base.  Therefore, what they must deal with changes the equation so much as to make any comparisons irrelevant.  

I agree that cruise customers do have an exposure risk on ships for sure.  And they are under intense scrutiny and have put solid operational principles in place.  Almost all customers are vaccinated and many are boosted or doubly boosted.  So risk of serious illness is lower and perhaps less than on land since vaccination status is known for everybody and pre-cruise testing has occurred.  Not the case in a hotel resort or theme park.  So how/what do we consider a long exposure in a confined space on a ship?  Maybe in your cabin with another infected person?  How is this very different than a hotel room?  If one takes a typical 7-day cruise with precautions (masking in the theatre or elevators for example) then the risk of becoming COVID+ is pretty low.  You can identify confined spaces and longer exposure times and avoid them.  Avoid crowded tour buses.  Avoid crowded casinos.  Go to outdoor bars.  Even with little precautions and no masks (these days), perhaps 1-3% are infected by all accounts from the data released from ships.  And rare reports of serious symptoms.  So still excellent opportunity to cruise COVID free.