How are the April/May cruisers feeling at this point?

[mrsgthatsme]

Just curious as to how everyone who has cruises booked for late spring are feeling about things. We have a 5 day cruise on the Magic planned for the end of April, so this week is our final payment due date. We are traveling with my kids (12 and 15), my adult brother, and my parents (in their 70's but very healthy). We were booked originally for April of 2020 so this trip has been a long time coming. I had really hoped things would be in a different place in regards to COVID by now, and that we could travel in a mainly "normal" way without a lot of stress and uncertainty. Seeing as that will not likely be the case for a while, we are having a very tough time deciding if we should cancel or make the final payment. While I realize that this is a personal decision for everyone based on individual situations, I would love to hear how some on the board who are booked in the same time frame are feeling. We will be traveling by plane, so I am a little concerned about getting to the port and testing positive as well as having ports and activities cancelled. My 15 year old daughter is concerned that there will not be enough for her to do onboard if the options of activities are pared down. It is a double dip to CC, so thinking the odds of those stops getting cancelled are lower than for other ports not owned by Disney?

The tough thing for us is that we do not want to end up needing to cancel after final payment and before the 14 day point if things would COVID would get worse again, as for a number of reasons, we would not be able to cruise next year and use the credit. I SO wish we had an extra month to make the call though! I have considered cancelling and rebooking close to the cruise when we had a better idea of how things would be by that point, as things seem to be changing so rapidly and *could* be in a much better place by spring, but I know that would be risky if there were not rooms available last minute and obviously we would lose the rooms we carefully selected.

Long story short...I am feeling really conflicted and would love to hear how other spring cruisers are feeling! Thank you!

 

[dreynolds1982]

My wife and I are cruising on the Dream the last week of March for my 40th bday. The only real stressor I have is the whole at-the-port testing, and I don't see that going away any time soon (though I would love it if DCL provided a test-at-home option like a lot of other cruise lines). That being said, my wife recently recovered from COVID so she'll get the 90-day testing exemption. For myself I plan on testing a few different times leading up to the cruise, including embarkation morning (with a rapid test at the hotel). None of that will guarantee I won't be positive at the port, but it will help to give me some peace of mind, and if I were to test positive on one of those other tests, at least I know in advance.

I do think that Omicron has peaked in most states. Case numbers are already down something like 45% nationwide since this time last week, and 7-day-avg numbers are trending down in 49 of the 50 states (Alabama being the outlier right now). I honestly think that by the spring, numbers will be down DRAMATICALLY. I don't see Disney getting rid of any of the safety protocols they currently have in place, but I do think the port/excursion disruptions will go away by then.

Of course there is no way to know for sure that there won't be some new variant by then or something else, though the general thinking is things will start to chill real soon.

All of that being said, it's a much easier decision for us to move forward with our trip. It's just the two of us, one of whom will be exempt, so odds of testing positive at the port are very slim. We're driving down (and only 6 hrs away) so no travel concerns. And I'm really just looking to chill and relax. Not doing elaborate excursions, etc. Prob won't even leave the boat for Nassau (been there, done that). We're not as concerned about a ton of entertainment options, etc. So it's all much lower risk for me.

As you said though, everybody has to analyze the pros and cons and make the best decision based on their own circumstances.

 

[randumb0]

Sure. My cruise is at the end of April as well. So far my family of 4 has stayed covid free and my biggest concern is testing positive a week before up to testing day at the port. My hope is that by April we will be at a point where there are low cases and positivity rates based off of what happened the past 2 years. If there is an increase then we will reschedule. If there is a large uptick in cases then I would hope that Disney would chose to extend their cancellation policy.

I think there will be enough to do. I've watched a number of vlogs of recent DCL cruises so perhaps you should find some to show to your daughter.

 

[kpavlovic87]

We rescheduled our March cruise out until August now. It was when Omicron first started I worried and changed it. I work in a lab running covid testing and I will say cases are down dramatically (and I'm actually in Alabama, Birmingham!) so that's saying something. The doctor who oversees our lab really thinks that by August we may be past covid being a pandemic and it will be more like the yearly flu sort of thing. I'm really hoping so.

 

[randumb0]

We rescheduled our March cruise out until August now. It was when Omicron first started I worried and changed it. I work in a lab running covid testing and I will say cases are down dramatically (and I'm actually in Alabama, Birmingham!) so that's saying something. The doctor who oversees our lab really thinks that by August we may be past covid being a pandemic and it will be more like the yearly flu sort of thing. I'm really hoping so.

Can you ask him how he feels about the end of April?

 

[TinkLoverSam]

We are scheduled for the first Alaska sailing mid-may. We are Canadian so that cuts out a test for us (no testing just to get to Vancouver!) and we are all still on board for the cruise. It’s 3 generations (my parents, my sister and her hubby, my hubby and I and our 2 kids)

 

[SoCalGoofy]

My family has a Spring Break cruise on the Wonder... we are paid in full and are planning to go as of now. I can live with most of the restrictions but I really love taking a beer / wine / popcorn into the theaters, so hopefully that little stuff will be back in the next two months.
If someone tests positive at the port, I won't be too upset as we are driving anyway. I wouldn't mind taking the refund tbh

 

[Akck]

Well, I just paid the balance off for our cruise in May, if that’s any indication of how we feel. For reference, we just spent 8 nights in January at WDW and we tested negative when we got home. We’ve also traveled extensively over the last year with no infection. This tells me that you can go out and be safe as long as you take precautions.

We also have to fly long distances to travel from where we live, a minimum of 2 flights each way. Other than the pain of wearing a mask for hours, the flights haven’t been a problem. You can take a mask break to eat and drink. The filtration systems on a plane make your chance of infection really low.

We took out first Disney Cruise in December to take advantage of lower crowds. There is some stress after doing the swab and waiting for the test results, but that ends when you get the okay to board message. As for not enough things to do onboard, we didn’t do even half of what we would’ve liked to do. There just wasn’t enough time. Granted we’re adults, but many activities are family oriented, plus there are the kid/teen clubs for your children.

 

[Joel0917]

my cruise is March 26 on fantasy. I did a cruise Dec 26. The port testing...is THE WORST in stress. not looking forward to that.

 

[emilymad]

We are on the Dream at the end of March. We don't look forward to the testing at the port but clearly that will still be in place. Our biggest concern is that the capacity on board will be much higher than it has been in recent reports. I am sure DCL sold the spring cruises at a much higher percentage of capacity. Will DCL make enough on board adjustments to accommodate the extra people so everyone can get into the theater, activities, etc?

 

[slindamood]

We have the March 14 Magic double dip booked and paid for. We intend to cruise. There are 7 of us and are worried that someone will be asymptomatic but test positive at the port. We are willing to chance that and also take the chance that one or more of us will have to quarantine while on the cruise.

We also have the May 6 Wonder from Hawaii to Van Couver booked and paid for (rebooked from 2020), so waiting a long time for this cruise. 10 nights, long expensive flight to Hawaii, 4 year old testing day before boarding cruise, all of us testing at port, then having to test again to get back into U.S. . I am thinking there are too many points at which things can go bad.

 

[braysmommy]

We have a B2B 3 night followed by Transatlantic booked for May and for now we are keeping it. Doing a 3 night on the Dream next week as a little trial run to see what we think. We will all test before flying and hope for the best.

 

[mom4fun]

We cancelled Hawaii. We are done cruising until things are normal.

 

[mmouse37]

We just got back 2 weeks ago from our Magic cruise and I felt great....no worries about Covid. The only stressor was the port testing but I knew we had been careful before the cruise but still you just never know. My husband applied for the Covid recovered and had no problems at the port at all. He was cool as a cucumber at the port while the other 3 of us had our fingers crossed.

My daughter just told me they want to cruise in April so I am looking into that now. I would not hesitate to cruise again this Spring. My one worry coming up is our May 6 Hawaii cruise....we debark in Canada and they still have not said what requirements will be getting into Canada for cruise ship pax and if DCL will have testing (out of pocket) at the Vancouver port. I guess DCL is also waiting for the Canadian requirements before making a decision. I know they are setting up post cruise testing in some ports but I think that is just for domestic cruises so far.

MJ

 

[Anthony Vito]

We're sailing 4/16 for a 7-night on the Fantasy (first Disney cruise and first cruise with the kids - family of 4, kids are 7 & 9), and I'm definitely nervous for a variety of reasons: catching it on board and being stuck in a room for the trip, will it be worth the cost (not any cheaper than normal), port changes, etc., but obviously the big one is the port testing. We're driving down from Delaware so we'd have the car in case of a positive test, but that's going to be nerve-wracking, as others have said. We've also been fortunate enough to avoid Covid, despite some close contacts. We're also going to start testing regularly to make sure we don't have an asymptomatic situation that would cause us to fail the PCR test later. It really does not help that I just saw that our state's mask mandate for schools expires on March 31st, and there's no indication one way or another on whether it will be extended again. So it may be a free-for-all at the school just 2 weeks before we leave!! That's not going to be good for the nerves!

That being said, we're also looking forward to it since it's our first time on DCL and we had two cruises canceled since the start of the pandemic. It's definitely tough.

 

[juxtapose]

We're going in May on a 4 nighter. We're hoping they get rid of port testing and go to some other kind of testing beforehand. Like the virtual options. My kids are 9 and 6 and VERY excited for their first cruise, we'd have some major crying at the port if we tested positive and couldn't get on, I'd rather deal with that at home.

 

[anjuan]

We're scheduled for a 7 day on the Fantasy at the end of March and are still planning on going. We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise over Christmas and my daughter ended up coming down with COVID symptoms on board, testing positive, and having to quarantine onboard. The upside to this is that she's had COVID recently so the odds of us having it again at the port or onboard are slim. In addition, even though it is nerve racking testing at the port, I feel more comfortable with DCL's approach because I believe DCL is more likely to catch people who have COVID through their testing than RCL's approach of allowing you to test 2 days before the cruise.

 

[PocahontasRN]

We are on the April 9th, 7 day Fantasy. First cruise, myself, husband, 3 kids ( 12,8,and 4). Most nervous for testing. My plan is to PCR 11-12 days before, and if someone is positive we can apply for COVID recovered in time.
We will do some at home tests before we fly from Philly.

 

[jujubiee4]

Still Keeping our April Wonder cruise because it is at our home port San Diego. If anyone tests
positive we will just drive home. I'm very close to booking a Fantasy though in May but the
port testing after flying cross country is discouraging.

Although we just went 3 straight weeks of going to NFL playoff games with 50 thousand of our
closest friends and even though being tested countless times afterwards including PCR for jobs all Negative.

Have not had booster yet.

 

[ChicosWife]

The only real stressor I have is the whole at-the-port testing

This is us too. Our only stress is if someone tests positive or false positive and our family of four is going to have to make immediate travel reservations back to the West Coast, from Orlando.