Am I crazy?

[_auroraborealis_]

A cruise is not "everything."

The cruise industry already has a host of issues, and this crisis is highlighting another way in which it is unsustainable in its current form. I think assuming a return to how it was, rapidly, is wishful thinking.

 

[WRLeGrand]

A cruise is not "everything."

The cruise industry already has a host of issues, and this crisis is highlighting another way in which it is unsustainable in its current form. I think assuming a return to how it was, rapidly, is wishful thinking.

You are right. Did not mean to imply that a cruise specifically is "everything". I was more meaning leisure and tourism in general...I guess we will all wait and see together. On a positive note, I guess we are all really fortunate that we even have the opportunity to discuss when a cruise will be available (or other things), versus situations others are facing!

 

[cruisehopeful]

My personal concern isn't about getting sick on a ship. Flu and norovirus happen on cruises and that's never stopped me from going on one. My concern is that the ports weren't letting people come back. People were quarantined to their rooms, sometimes for weeks. The delicious food was gone and they were served, as someone posted on another site, beef cubes and gravy almost every day. When I think about everything that I like to do on a ship, I can't think of any that involve me not having contact with people. Even when I am sitting alone or with my spouse outside of Cove Cafe, people are always walking by. Sometimes, those people are talking, coughing, etc. I'm sure to get everyone's saliva spray. Just no way around it.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

You are right. Did not mean to imply that a cruise specifically is "everything". I was more meaning leisure and tourism in general...I guess we will all wait and see together. On a positive note, I guess we are all really fortunate that we even have the opportunity to discuss when a cruise will be available (or other things), versus situations others are facing!

I suspect this to be the first phase of ongoing evolution of the travel industry. Pandemic is just a frontrunner. Climate change is another force that is likely to impact patterns, even before we start talking about political issues like visas, nationalism, and etc.

Sometimes, after a watershed event, what is normal after the event is different than what is normal before. My kids have never lived in a world without TSA theater, and to them it's normal.

 

[Karin1984]

I suspect this to be the first phase of ongoing evolution of the travel industry. Pandemic is just a frontrunner. Climate change is another force that is likely to impact patterns, even before we start talking about political issues like visas, nationalism, and etc.

Sometimes, after a watershed event, what is normal after the event is different than what is normal before. My kids have never lived in a world without TSA theater, and to them it's normal.

I work for the one national airline we have in my country, and we get support from the government. But the request in return for this, is to speed up the possibilities to become a more environmental friendly airline. Also the CEO suspects that certain changes in hygiene on board and the screening at the gate will remain permanent.

 

[spiders]

I've always found Disney ships to be much cleaner than the parks. Anything that has crowds is going to have challenges.

 

[travelmomof3]

I would definitely wait before booking anything. We normally travel frequently as a family and we have two trips scheduled for the summer. The one in July won't be happening, I'm being cautiously optimistic about the August trip. We also want to book something over the holidays as well. However, we are definitely waiting. While I believe land based trips are safer, any trip that gets people together in close quarters are harder to distance (cruise, theme parks, cities).

There are risks, of course, and while a lot is unknown about COVID-19, some things are known - it is very contagious, it's new to humans thus the herd immunity hasn't been reached yet, and there isn't a treatment.

I am just as eager as anyone to book trips with all the credits and miles I have banked. However, I personally won't be booking a cruise or theme park vaca for quite some time.

 

[monkeydawn]

I understand what you are saying. I guess I just feel there are risks in life, and sometimes the best you can do is minimize those. Not saying everyone should go jump on a cruise, just that I really feel it would be a much more controlled/closed environment than the parks to begin with, provided they have testing. Moreover, Coronavirus is going to be here for a year to many years, just don’t see how we stay away from everything forever...

Im not suggesting staying away from everything forever. But I do think staying away from riskier activities until there is a vaccine or cure is necessary for a healthy society. That means either finding ways to move cruising out of the risky category or waiting.

On a positive note, I guess we are all really fortunate that we even have the opportunity to discuss when a cruise will be available (or other things), versus situations others are facing!

Very true!

My personal concern isn't about getting sick on a ship. Flu and norovirus happen on cruises and that's never stopped me from going on one. My concern is that the ports weren't letting people come back. People were quarantined to their rooms, sometimes for weeks. The delicious food was gone and they were served, as someone posted on another site, beef cubes and gravy almost every day. When I think about everything that I like to do on a ship, I can't think of any that involve me not having contact with people. Even when I am sitting alone or with my spouse outside of Cove Cafe, people are always walking by. Sometimes, those people are talking, coughing, etc. I'm sure to get everyone's saliva spray. Just no way around it.

As a vegetarian I have to wonder how vegetarians were being fed. I know a lot, maybe even most, people want some sort of meals in most foods but as I was looking at what was getting served to the various people in quarantine I thought starvation would be just as likely for me as catching COVID. We tend to travel light so bringing my own food to last a month isnt really an option.

Ive been off of meat long enough that it isnt really an option to just pick the burger off the bun and eat the remainder sort of thing. Just that much meat grease would likely make me sick. But I also know getting fresh veggies was an issue for the ships.

 

[harriet2]

Im not suggesting staying away from everything forever. But I do think staying away from riskier activities until there is a vaccine or cure is necessary for a healthy society. That means either finding ways to move cruising out of the risky category or waiting.



Very true!


As a vegetarian I have to wonder how vegetarians were being fed. I know a lot, maybe even most, people want some sort of meals in most foods but as I was looking at what was getting served to the various people in quarantine I thought starvation would be just as likely for me as catching COVID. We tend to travel light so bringing my own food to last a month isnt really an option.

Ive been off of meat long enough that it isnt really an option to just pick the burger off the bun and eat the remainder sort of thing. Just that much meat grease would likely make me sick. But I also know getting fresh veggies was an issue for the ships.

Not sure where the reports of beef cubes and gravy came from, but I've seen pictures of the Diamond Princess which show a completely different story (not sure if I'm allowed to post here, it's from Instagram)

 

[monkeydawn]

Not sure where the reports of beef cubes and gravy came from, but I've seen pictures of the Diamond Princess which show a completely different story (not sure if I'm allowed to post here, it's from Instagram)

I also am unsure of where the beef cubes and gravy came from but I followed basically everyone that was quarantined that I could find (because we had an upcoming cruise planned and I wanted an idea of what to expect of we did the cruise) and very few meals were vegetarian as served or could be modified after serving so that a vegetarian would be able to eat a decent amount (aka the meat was somehow separated). One of the people I followed was a gluten free diabetic and I'd wager that most lines would take diabetes more seriously than vegetarianism but even he had a problem at first.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Not sure where the reports of beef cubes and gravy came from, but I've seen pictures of the Diamond Princess which show a completely different story (not sure if I'm allowed to post here, it's from Instagram)

It was posted by someone while in quarantine on a timeshare forum. I don't remember which ship she was on. She did post a few days later saying that a chef offered to help feed them and that the food got better.

 

[PghDznyGrl]

Finding this thread very interesting as it's the same conversation going on in our house. We are currently booked for the June 6th sailing on the Fantasy, which has not yet been cancelled, and also does not currently fall under the temporarily updated cancellation policy. So we wait.

Meanwhile, we were supposed to spend 5 nights before the cruise in a club level room at the Gran Destino. I'm waiting to hear from DCL, assuming this sailing will be cancelled. As of right now, the resorts are taking reservations for the day we are due to arrive (booked last July!) My final payment for the resort is due 5/2. I don't want to cancel resort plans until I know what's happening with the cruise, or at least what my cancellation options will be. But I also really don't want to shell out the final payment to Disney only to have to turn around and wait for all the refunds.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Finding this thread very interesting as it's the same conversation going on in our house. We are currently booked for the June 6th sailing on the Fantasy, which has not yet been cancelled, and also does not currently fall under the temporarily updated cancellation policy. So we wait.

Meanwhile, we were supposed to spend 5 nights before the cruise in a club level room at the Gran Destino. I'm waiting to hear from DCL, assuming this sailing will be cancelled. As of right now, the resorts are taking reservations for the day we are due to arrive (booked last July!) My final payment for the resort is due 5/2. I don't want to cancel resort plans until I know what's happening with the cruise, or at least what my cancellation options will be. But I also really don't want to shell out the final payment to Disney only to have to turn around and wait for all the refunds.

Your balance due date for Gran Destino is actually 7 days prior to check-in. They changed the policy, temporarily, in March, when they began closing the parks and resorts down:

"Effective March 15, 2020, until further notice, we’re making a temporary adjustment to our final payment policy for Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort packages booked through Walt Disney Travel Company. For existing bookings, final payment to WDTC will now be due 7 days prior to Guest arrival."

Just edited to add my two-cents to the original question - until the cruise lines comply with the recent CDC No Sail order or the order is rescinded, there will be no cruises in the near future. If the cruise lines do comply, it will make cruising safer, in general, IMHO. We have a cruise scheduled for Dec. 2020. Even if the cruise lines do comply by then or the order is rescinded (which, given many expert opinions regarding a second wave happening fall/winter, I'm not holding my breath that this order is going anywhere), I still would not feel comfortable sailing. I, personally, do not want to be transported to a "hospital" ship should I or my family get sick and wonder when in the world I will ever be allowed to return home. Both theme parks and cruises ships are Petri dishes, however, if I visit a Disney theme park in FL or CA, I am literally minutes from stellar health care facilities should I or my family need medical assistance. I absolutely do not want to be on a respirator floating around, aimlessly, at sea.

https://www.federalregister.gov/doc...otice-of-modification-and-extension-and-other

 

[_auroraborealis_]

would it not be more possible that the Cruise Line would be "safer", potentially before the parks?

FWIW, the CDC disagrees. Couple of major issues involve crew berthing and crew mess, among other things. It's reviewed in this article about Carnival: https://slate.com/business/2020/04/coronavirus-cruise-ships-carnival-diamond-princess.html

I can leave a subway, I can leave a supermarket, but I’m stuck on a ship. And the cruise populations are also much older, sometimes with underlying conditions. There are also crew members who, in addition to being low-paid, sleep in communal quarters. They have bunk beds. They share bathrooms. They often eat together at mess halls. So she was saying that this is a unique enclosed environment that is more risky, despite what Carnival executives are telling the public right now.

While this is about Carnival, the same applies to DCL, as these are factors of large ships, not of individual lines. While Carnival has had issues with ship inspection, the issues of coronavirus spread on ships is not related to those issues. It's related to the closed environment. This is also why the Roosevelt (CVN-71) had spread of significance. Sailors are bunked on top of each other, share bathrooms, common mess halls. But a Naval carrier is not unclean. When on a routine mission, sailors have a LOT of time to keep it clean, and a lot of incentive (yay inspections!). Roughly a quarter of the Roosevelt's crew tested positive.

 

[PghDznyGrl]

Your balance due date for Gran Destino is actually 7 days prior to check-in. They changed the policy, temporarily, in March, when they began closing the parks and resorts down:

"Effective March 15, 2020, until further notice, we’re making a temporary adjustment to our final payment policy for Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort packages booked through Walt Disney Travel Company. For existing bookings, final payment to WDTC will now be due 7 days prior to Guest arrival."

Thanks! I was unaware of this update. I've been keeping a closer eye on the cruise because there's more $ involved there, and also I'm much more familiar with the WDW policies. I'd been relying on my account and emails from WDW for dates.

**EDIT - I'm looking all over WDW website searching for this information and can't find it. My account still says due May 2nd. I'm looking at the updates for cancellations & modifications under resort and room packages on the Guest Services page and the only thing I see is that they are waving change and cancellation fees for trips through June 30th. Will keep looking and reach out to guest services. My reservation is one that doesn't allow changes or modifications online anyway.** Spoke with Guest Services who said they were aware of that change but were also unable to find the information in the latest revision to the policy update online. She had to call someone to ask to confirm that it applied to our dates.

At this point it would just be nice to have everything cancelled so I can get my refund and plan a future trip. It dawned on me last night that even getting there could be an issue. We drive to FL and who knows when the various states will lift their local restrictions for travel and quarantine. I tried to take my son back to his college apartment to grab a few things when this all started. It's no fun driving long distances when all the rest areas are closed.

 

[Miffy]

Yes, you are crazy, and not in a good way.

 

[WRLeGrand]

Yes, you are crazy, and not in a good way.

I’ve been called worse

 

[MomOTwins]

I’ve been called worse

Lol--I call myself crazy when it comes to DCL half the time. Definitely don't see it as a bad thing.