Cruising…

[Once.Upon.A.Time]

Hi,

How do you all feel about cruising now? It’s been years since I’ve been on a cruise and I am considering maybe doing a four day cruise this summer possibly through NCL. I’m not sure how comfortable I feel especially since Covid. Also, I need to be able to make calls on my cell phone and receive calls. I’ve been told I’ll be able to do this as long as I pay for wifi on board. Please weigh in with your experiences and opinions.

Thank you!

 

[Meriweather]

I've been on 3 so far and leave for one in a week. 3 more booked after that.
I will still wear masks around a lot of people.
We enjoy cruises and was glad to go back to it.

 

[Once.Upon.A.Time]

I've been on 3 so far and leave for one in a week. 3 more booked after that.
I will still wear masks around a lot of people.
We enjoy cruises and was glad to go back to it.

Thank you. Were you able to use your cell phone?

 

[Meriweather]

We didn't try.
We do have internet access on the upcoming cruise.
Some of the ports have hot spots.....or you can buy an internet package. Depending on where you are, it can be spotty service

 

[tvguy]

Cruise ships have phone plans if you really need your phone. They can be pricey.
I'm in the same situation as you regarding covid, that is why all our trips have been by car the last 3 years.
Our last trip by plane was Thursday March 12, 2020. We were in Phoenix for Spring Training and our last day there was the day MLB shutdown Spring Training due to covid. We were a bit concerned about whether they would also cancel our flight. This was before the mask mandate came about. What a difference 4 days make. We flew in on Monday, no big deal. Flew home Thursday, the flight attendants were handing out clorox wipes for everyone to wipe down their seat area.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Cell service usually requires roaming charges, so we use WiFi. We cruised NCL several years ago -- there are better cruise lines out there. Jus sayin.

 

[HopperFan]

When COVID hit we backed out of cruising with our extended family as we had done with them before. My issue at the time was these ships being docked and guests trapped on board. I wasn't willing to take that chance. Family kept cruising. Now I would be comfortable cruising but absolutely would continue our balcony bookings - fresh air, and in case. We haven't because I just haven't felt compelled. I probably won't be on the elevator with the traveling piano or placing myself in any closed in space with others. Right now we are discussing a Disney Cruise in 2024 to celebrate a big birthday.

I always buy internet but I'm always away from some in my immediate family. This allows me to message them ongoing. I have shared my internet with others so they can check their messages. Next year my immediate family will be with me so not sure what I'll do.

I've never tried phone calls, messaging was enough.

NOTE: DS#1 and I have not flown at all, and avoiding it as long as possible. All others in my family have flown. I would be driving to the cruise ship.

 

[kymom99]

My son is going on one next month. I wouldn’t hesitate.

I have Verizon travel plan. On Bahamas cruises you can get cell service at the ports for $10 a day. I’ve not tried the ship Wi-Fi but if you get it and have iPhones, you could call that way I think.

 

[Skippy918]

We went on one in august. It was nice and relaxing. I’d go on another one if the price was right.

 

[ronandannette]

We've cruised extensively pre-Covid; found it to be our favorite kind of holiday. It's maybe not for everyone but we completely enjoy the comfortable accommodations, no-brainer (if sometimes unexciting) dining options, thermal spa facilities and variety of activities and entertainment. What we like best is the opportunity to visit several different places in the span of a week. Because of the frequent port stops, we've never had the need to go to the expense of cell service on the ships; we use our roaming plan while on land to communicate with family and neither of us ever allow contact from our work while we're away.

We took two cruises last year, after they all re-launched. Our only disappointment was that the quantity and quality of services were limited by Covid protocols and staffing issues; these things undeniably diminished the experience and what we considered value for money. Perhaps things have normalized further since our last, which was May 2022.

Personally, we have no further qualms about Covid. We're vaccinated X4, and all had extremely mild cases at Christmastime; contracted who-knows-where after having done absolutely nothing out of the ordinary or being exposed to any known cases. We no longer hand-sanitize or mask, unless it's required, nor do we plan to resume those practices voluntarily. One thing we probably will also never do again is book travel that requires the expense and stress of pre-flight or pre-boarding Covid testing. Several of our trips last year (land and cruise) required that and it was quite miserable. As I understand it, most cruise lines have dropped it, including NCL.

 

[abdmom]

I went on one in January/February. I wore a mask if I was walking around other people on the ship. Maybe about 5% of the other passengers were doing the same. Quite a few of the buffet servers were wearing masks. I didn't hear of anyone getting sick.

I paid for wifi to keep in touch with everyone back home. It was much faster than my previous cruises, almost as fast as at home.

 

[Once.Upon.A.Time]

Cruise ships have phone plans if you really need your phone. They can be pricey.
I'm in the same situation as you regarding covid, that is why all our trips have been by car the last 3 years.
Our last trip by plane was Thursday March 12, 2020. We were in Phoenix for Spring Training and our last day there was the day MLB shutdown Spring Training due to covid. We were a bit concerned about whether they would also cancel our flight. This was before the mask mandate came about. What a difference 4 days make. We flew in on Monday, no big deal. Flew home Thursday, the flight attendants were handing out clorox wipes for everyone to wipe down their seat area.

I need to be able to make or get calls on my iPhone. That’s my main concern. Thank you. How pricy are we talking? Lol.

 

[Once.Upon.A.Time]

I went on one in January/February. I wore a mask if I was walking around other people on the ship. Maybe about 5% of the other passengers were doing the same. Quite a few of the buffet servers were wearing masks. I didn't hear of anyone getting sick.

I paid for wifi to keep in touch with everyone back home. It was much faster than my previous cruises, almost as fast as at home.

Were you able to make and receive phone calls with the paid wifi?

 

[kdonnel]

I need to be able to make or get calls on my iPhone. That’s my main concern. Thank you. How pricy are we talking? Lol.

$20 or so a day for the wifi.

To actually make and receive calls you will need to use cellular at sea. The cruise lines generally block wifi calling on their wifi. You might, might, might be able to use other apps voice features.

https://www.cellularatsea.com/

$2 to $6 a minute for calls.

If you have Verizon or at&t you might be able to get a plan to offer slightly cheaper rates.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We're about to go on our first one together (we've each been on one many years ago) in July. The covid protocols for our cruise company, Seabourn, are based on your itinerary and can and frequently do change at a moment's notice. That is something to keep in mind with cruising right now. Most though not all of the restrictions (like masks on board, testing, etc) seem to be more Australia and New Zealand routes but there have been a few other sprinkled in. Looking up ours Med cruise they don't have protocols right now although they highly suggest using VeriFLY as a general tool and have advised to check back closer to the cruise (which is 4 months away). Understand that at times these requirements such as masks or testing are not the cruise lines decisions but rather the countries or ports they are in.

For Seabourn wifi is included in the fare with the highest suites and specific levels getting the premium version which is really I believe a VPN and the ability to stream certain things. Most from what I hear the included version is adequate. However, like many cruise lines the service at times can be spotty. Notoriously wifi access is hard on a cruise ship due to the nature of it. Wifi-calling could be used I believe with the need for voice calls. Making calls while off the ship is a different story.

If you're nervous about cruising and covid you might want to select a smaller ship than one with thousands of people. From what I've heard about people getting covid on Seabourn ships is they are extremely well taken care of in terms of isolation, testing, masking and service to their rooms while they are in isolation but I can't speak to other cruise lines in this respect nor do I know how well or not well they are doing on identifying passengers.

 

[Travel60]

I went on 5 cruises last year...3 DCL, 1 Tauck river and 1 Holland America - total over 50 days. Cruises early in year still had COVID protocols which lessened as year progressed. Have a Ponant cruise around Sicily coming up in May. We still wear masks when in line, when in crowds, in theatre, etc. Frequently sanitize hands. Also, I'm fully vaxed, including the bivalent. Never had COVID. I think you just have to take personal responsibility.

Calls at sea are pricey. We have Google Fi and call from ports for same as in US.

 

[LuvOrlando]

If it was easy and reasonably priced I would do Disney again, but so far, the juice does not seem worth the colossal effort of the squeeze. Everytime I look to travel it becomes a chore and I back out of the whole thing, I keep at false starts. Maybe I will try again today....

 

[happybaker]

Everytime I look to travel it becomes a chore and I back out of the whole thing, I keep at false starts. Maybe I will try again today....

Ugh...I feel ya! Same thing keeps happening to me. I finally find dates that work for everyone and will find decently priced flights but find the lodging is stupid expensive. I adjust dates some and the I have the reverse issue, and then I get frustrated and give up. I try again a few days later with a different trip idea and end up with still nothing booked.

At this point, I may just give up on a spring/summer trip and focus on something for the fall. I don't want to wait that long, though.

 

[WDWJDS]

I cruised last June and had a blast. I was already a germaphobe so I was hesitant to start cruising again.

We got the internet package because hubby had some work to do and I like to peruse social media while chilling in a lounger.

What made me a little more comfortable with going was that we chose to embark from a port that we were able to drive to.

 

[ronandannette]

Ugh...I feel ya! Same thing keeps happening to me. I finally find dates that work for everyone and will find decently priced flights but find the lodging is stupid expensive. I adjust dates some and the I have the reverse issue, and then I get frustrated and give up. I try again a few days later with a different trip idea and end up with still nothing booked.

At this point, I may just give up on a spring/summer trip and focus on something for the fall. I don't want to wait that long, though.

I'm in exactly this spot...I can't even find plans I'm completely comfortable with for DH and me to have a desperately-needed weekend getaway. Prices are practically off-the-dial and I still shudder when I think about the chaos that air travel world-wide devolved into over Christmas. Like you, we're now kind of resigned to waiting out the summer and see what happens.