Coronavirus and DCL Megathread - Suspension of Departures for the fleet until early November. Booking only available from early December.

[bcwife76]

"
Small cruise ship company UnCruise Adventures confirmed today a guest has tested positive for COVID-19. The passenger received a phone call with notification of a positive test while onboard the Wilderness Adventurer. The vessel is set to return early to Juneau tomorrow morning. All guests will quarantine at a local hotel and the crew will quarantine on the vessel in port at Juneau.

The boat departed Juneau on Saturday, August 1, with 36 guests and 30 crewmembers on board. Besides Juneau, the vessel has not docked in any other Alaskan communities. UnCruise has been communicating with the City and Borough of Juneau Emergency Operations Center, the State of Alaska Emergency Operations Center, Public Health officials, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

“UnCruise has been immediately responsive today and is working with state and local EOCs to make sure they’re protecting guests and the community,” CBJ EOC Incident Commander Mila Cosgrove said.
According to UnCruise, the COVID-19 positive guest took the 5-day testing option prior to their departure from home with a negative result as required to embark on UnCruise Adventures. A second test was taken upon arrival at the Juneau International Airport, which then resulted in a positive. The guest is showing no symptoms and no other guests or crew are showing outward symptoms of any kind. All guests were informed today and asked to restrict themselves to their cabins.
UnCruise Adventures continues to follow its State of Alaska approved contingency plan moving forward. As an additional precaution, UnCruise Adventures has canceled all future departures. This was its first sailing of the season."

 

[emilymad]

I am really starting to question if we will have any cruises even in 2021.

 

[monkeydawn]

I am really starting to question if we will have any cruises even in 2021.

Too many cruise lines jumping the gun, having positives on first or early cruises might wreck all confidence in the industry. I wish they would stop even trying for now.

 

[T & R]

Annnnd it's headed back to Juneau as a passenger has tested positive.

Say it ain't so. All these hotdoggin cruise lines trying to wild west it are going to ruin it for the rest of us. My estimate of when DCL is going to re-start just got pushed back now.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I don't know that Uncruise was doing anything that the people who think cruising can happen in 2020 haven't been insisting is enough.

Small ship, no port stops, negative result within 72 hours to embark.

Issue really is that while those are the requirements that can happen, they are not enough. Testing right now, even the instant tests, are moment-in-time. That negative can flip to positive within 3-7 days onboard with none the wiser. In this case, because it was only 36 passengers + 30 crew, all were tested at Juneau and they know. Hard to believe that would happen with a large ship, given test availability issues.

Shows the big issue right now, which is that people who are bold enough to travel to get on a cruise ship may also be people with greater exposures, and testing that cannot do enough to prevent spread from climbing the gangway.

 

[T & R]

People will always test positive for diseases. There is no way to prevent it. People were boarding ships with all types of diseases long before Covid and will be doing so long after Covid. If we are waiting for a cruising environment where nobody will test positive, there will never be cruising again. We need to switch from trying to make a Covid free environment (which can never happen on land or sea) to making an environment where if somebody does test positive, it's manageable. What I mean by manageable is that you have protocols it place during the cruise to prevent/limit spread and available unbooked rooms to isolate any who are positive or suspected of positive. Having an expectation of an environment free of illness is not reasonable, if it were, then there would be no gas pumps, sushi restaurants, schools, etc. I have never been sick more than when my kids started attending school and bringing home everything they picked up. We have to switch our frame of mind to dealing/living with the disease instead of having the expectation that there will be places of no disease. Nowhere on earth is there a place with no communicable diseases, if there was such a place, we would all move there. So why do we feel that cruise ships should be the first place on earth to have such a standard put on it? Not reasonable, so then there will never be cruising again under that standard.

 

[JM23457]

Too many cruise lines jumping the gun, having positives on first or early cruises might wreck all confidence in the industry.

People have confidence in the industry? Lol. I get that we diehards sort of might, but I don't think the general public has since the Grand Princess debacle.

The bottom line is that this virus spreads like wildfire. As long as it's around, people who are out and about are going to pick it up.

We're aware that cases are on the first cruises because they're testing for it constantly. But asymptomatic & low-symptomatic cases are also in grocery stores, doctor's offices, restaurants, parks, airports, schools, offices, AND people's own homes, without the carriers even knowing.

 

[jcbftw]

We need to switch from trying to make a Covid free environment (which can never happen on land or sea) to making an environment where if somebody does test positive, it's manageable.

I agree - there will always be communicable diseases. How many people get the flu, a cold, norovirus on ships all the time? Part of the management is how to contain the spread effectively (starts off the ship with vaccines, etc.) while also having effective therapeutics so it can be treated easily enough on a ship so the passenger doesn't need to leave and/or the whole ship doesn't need to quarantine for two weeks.

 

[pclvnmcky88]

Royal has extended their suspension through October 31st

 

[T & R]

Royal has extended their suspension through October 31st ☹

Oh no, DCL might cancel my Oct 2nd cruise on the Dream. (I'm kidding, I know my cruise has no chance of going out. Was just hoping if I put it out there enough DCL might do the honorable thing and cancel my cruise that they know is not going out).

 

[disneygeek401]

CLIA extends suspension thru 10/31

 

[pclvnmcky88]

Oh no, DCL might cancel my Oct 2nd cruise on the Dream. (I'm kidding, I know my cruise has no chance of going out. Was just hoping if I put it out there enough DCL might do the honorable thing and cancel my cruise that they know is not going out).

I would expect an announcement within the week hopefully!

 

[T & R]

I would expect an announcement within the week hopefully!

I've been thinking that for a while. All Dream cruises have been cancelled until November with the exception of this one little 3 night cruise. I do not know what it is about this little cruise they wanted to hang on to but they will not let it go for some reason.

 

[T & R]

Never mind, just saw that CLIA has suspended cruising until Nov.

 

[Jacq7414]

There will probably be no cruises in 2020 I’m thinking. Maybe not even early 2021.

 

[JM23457]

There will probably be no cruises in 2020 I’m thinking. Maybe not even early 2021.

Yup.

 

[Jacq7414]

Yup.

Now to cancel my April 2021 cruise now... or wait

 

[NokOnHarts]

Now to cancel my April 2021 cruise now... or wait

I'm struggling with this question, we had re-booked for May 2021 after ours was canceled. The problem is I don't even know what I'm purchasing anymore. What will the new protocols be? What will be allowed / open? I want to hold out due to the discount I have secured but paying in full in December for an unknown experience is nagging at me.

 

[JM23457]

Now to cancel my April 2021 cruise now... or wait

I ditched our perfect March '21 cruise about a month ago. It just wasn't worth it: the uncertainty, the inevitable restrictions & cutbacks, etc.

 

[Jacq7414]

I ditched our perfect March '21 cruise about a month ago. It just wasn't worth it: the uncertainty, the inevitable restrictions & cutbacks, etc.

I have a back up WDW trip booked that week - that we will go to if the numbers in FL are down and there’s no quarantine in place for NY. But I can cancel that a month out and get a full refund. So I’m ok with that. This I have to cancel in December so I don’t lose my deposit.