POLL: Who is canceling their cruise due to new CDC advisory on cruise travel?

[DCLMP]

Yep.
We don't mind the test at port and getting denied boarding.
We don't mind protocols on masks, distancing, etc
Less of an experience doesn't bother us.
Only thing that is a major issue is getting quarantined on deck 2 if we are exposed or have symptoms.
The thought of being locked up without being able to breathe fresh air for 2 or 12 days is extremely disturbing.
We're leaning toward canceling.

Sailing at such low capacity you would think they could at least use verandah rooms to lock people up.

 

[Kwami]

Sailing at such low capacity you would think they could at least use verandah rooms to lock people up.

Deck 2 is out of the way, easy to isolate, and close to the medical facilities. It's the obvious choice for quarantine.

 

[Gigi22]

Still going. My cruises are not on DCL, for reasons of economy, I prefer longer cruises. But my cruises are scheduled in October 2022 and April 2023. A lot can change in the interim.

 

[MomOTwins]

Deck 2 is out of the way, easy to isolate, and close to the medical facilities. It's the obvious choice for quarantine.

I didn’t understand it either until someone on these boards pointed out to me the concept of negative air pressure. I vividly recall one time accidentally opening the hallway door in my verandah room when DH was out on the verandah with the verandah door open. The ship was in motion and a huge gust of air blew through the room and out into the hall—I was so astonished at the force of the air. Now imagine if my room was filled with Covid aerosols—they would be flung into the hallway if you opened the door for food delivery or a doctor check in. Not a problem for non-verandah rooms.

 

[uncw89]

Yep.
We don't mind the test at port and getting denied boarding.
We don't mind protocols on masks, distancing, etc
Less of an experience doesn't bother us.
Only thing that is a major issue is getting quarantined on deck 2 if we are exposed or have symptoms.
The thought of being locked up without being able to breathe fresh air for 2 or 12 days is extremely disturbing.
We're leaning toward canceling.

YES!! I totally agree!! This is our first WBPC and I would also like to be able to get off at the ports and see the sights. Who knows which ports will even be open. I've been to Grand Cayman (which I'm fairly sure it won't be open) and Cozumel, so missing those would be ok, it's the other ports I'm worried about.
Are you in the group page which can't be mentioned??

 

[Snowwhyt]

Just change my vote from “on the fence” to “I’m going”. I just got off the fantasy I felt safe 95% of the time. Waiting in line for venues to open to play games on the ship was where I felt least safe. We will definitely be going on our transatlantic in May.

 

[mullysisters]

We are not cancelling: sail date January 28.
There are a few reasons:
1. It's only a 4 day cruise with one port, which is unlikely to be cancelled (Cozumel).
2. I am taking my mom and sister. My mom has never been on a Disney cruise (2 cancelled during Covid) and I take her on 2 "bucket list" vacations a year since my dad died in 2016. At 85, She's doing pretty well, but I know things can turn on a dime. She also relocated to the midwest this past spring and winter is getting her down (used to live in CA). She will appreciate leaving the weather. My sister just finalized a rather ugly, long divorce (it was filed in March 2020, just as Covid begun and was finalized 2 weeks ago) and is super excited.
3. I test at work every week and my mom and sister will test next week as well as the Monday before we sail. We are all vaccinated and boosted.
4. The odds of us having to isolate on the ship are slim, with only 4 days.
5. My dh and I sailed on the exact same cruise in early December (which gave me the idea to take my mom and sister). I actually felt like we were safer on the ship, with the smaller numbers, there weren't a lot of kids and we tended to stay in the more adult areas (bars, the Cove, etc)

Keeping my fingers crossed.

We've cancelled my first ever cruise in April but I agree with you that your party needs to go. Your reasons are compelling. I'm keeping MY fingers crossed for you. Have a great time!

 

[mousefan73]

I didn’t understand it either until someone on these boards pointed out to me the concept of negative air pressure. I vividly recall one time accidentally opening the hallway door in my verandah room when DH was out on the verandah with the verandah door open. The ship was in motion and a huge gust of air blew through the room and out into the hall—I was so astonished at the force of the air. Now imagine if my room was filled with Covid aerosols—they would be flung into the hallway if you opened the door for food delivery or a doctor check in. Not a problem for non-verandah rooms.

what you experienced I believe was not negative air pressure but a major draft. For those staterooms to have negatvie pressure, they would need to somehow suck air away from the circulation and not blow air in.. So I would assume it would be miserable in those rooms if they do that. Measing if you turn the air on, does air blow in?? Does anyone know the real techincal thing here? Are cruiselines even set up to have such a systme. I know hospitals actually have to build such rooms.

I do know there was a study at some quarantine hotel ( Hong Kong?) where through DNA studay of the virus a person across the hall contracted covid from the person across the hallway. Security video only showed doors opening for food delivery and nobody snuck out.

 

[MomOTwins]

what you experienced I believe was not negative air pressure but a major draft. For those staterooms to have negatvie pressure, they would need to somehow suck air away from the circulation and not blow air in.. So I would assume it would be miserable in those rooms if they do that. Measing if you turn the air on, does air blow in?? Does anyone know the real techincal thing here? Are cruiselines even set up to have such a systme. I know hospitals actually have to build such rooms.

I do know there was a study at some quarantine hotel ( Hong Kong?) where through DNA studay of the virus a person across the hall contracted covid from the person across the hallway. Security video only showed doors opening for food delivery and nobody snuck out.

Sorry I mean the quarantine rooms have negative air pressure—when the hall doors open, air goes in rather than out. With a verandah room, there is no way to guarantee that because air can come theough the verandah and push out in the hall.

 

[Julia M]

We've cancelled my first ever cruise in April but I agree with you that your party needs to go. Your reasons are compelling. I'm keeping MY fingers crossed for you. Have a great time!

Thank you!

 

[MoonFaerie]

We're back to a probably. It's been a lot of back and forth over the past 2 weeks, but at 15 days out, I'm feeling optimistic again. We had a mild head cold last week, so we scheduled tests. My husband got his PCR tests this afternoon - negative. I should get my results tomorrow. Assuming I'm negative too, we'll stay locked down for 2 more weeks and head to FL. It looks like a lot of high population areas have peaked or are peaking, but we'll reevaluate again at the end of the week.

 

[insureman]

We're back to a probably. It's been a lot of back and forth over the past 2 weeks, but at 15 days out, I'm feeling optimistic again. We had a mild head cold last week, so we scheduled tests. My husband got his PCR tests this afternoon - negative. I should get my results tomorrow. Assuming I'm negative too, we'll stay locked down for 2 more weeks and head to FL. It looks like a lot of high population areas have peaked or are peaking, but we'll reevaluate again at the end of the week.

When you say you will lock down like in your house and not leave for 2 weeks?

 

[MoonFaerie]

When you say you will lock down like in your house and not leave for 2 weeks?

Basically, yes. My husband can work from home, but I do have to work in person. There are currently only 4 of us in the building though and just me in my department, and I wear KN95s all day. Groceries we can get curbside or delivery. For us, it's worth the sacrifice.

 

[AquaDame]

We're still flying to Quito for our (non DCL) cruise next Sunday, FWIW. Our RT-PCR tests to enter the country are Wednesday & Thursday (one for Quito and then they also make you test within 72 hours to fly to the Galapagos so we'll have to do it twice).

We've done as little as possible without a full lockdown here. I haven't seen my parents even who also live in Oregon since Christmas. We've gone into work the bare minimum (husband declines as many in person meetings as he can and has been closing the door to his office) and my office decided not to reopen after the holiday break, so I've only been in a handful of times for a few essential tasks I'm responsible for and can't do remotely. If we somehow still catch omicron by getting take out and groceries a couple times a week then it just wasn't meant to be I guess.

Edited to add, we would have had to have our positive test at least 30 days prior to entering Ecuador, not just a couple weeks.

 

[insureman]

Sorry I mean the quarantine rooms have negative air pressure—when the hall doors open, air goes in rather than out. With a verandah room, there is no way to guarantee that because air can come theough the verandah and push out in the hall.

Well the crew member who needs to enter can tell the guest they need to close their veranda slider before they can enter. Seems simple enough.

 

[mousefan73]

Just had the thought that the CDC places a warning and yet at the same time not extending their conditional sail kinda doesnt make sense does it??

One factor that popped up that MIGHT play a role in us cancelling, but too soon to judge as thing might change, is Canada's entry requirements. Mainly their process. I just learned that even if you are fully vaxxed and PCR tested prior to arriving, you might be pulled for random additional testing. From what I have read Border control decides this. IF you are chosen you have to test and wait for results and there is no clear timeline on this. I have read stories where people are required to quarantine for test results and this can take up to 5 days.. So does this mean I need to plan now 5 days BEFORE my cruise in vancouver??????

 

[n2mm]

While we voted still on the fence, we are now pretty sure to move forward and cancel if our eastern gets changed to a western. We always expect a port change and have missed castaway more than once, we don’t want a completely different itinerary than what we booked. so if we can’t do eastern our February 26th cruise is over. Then I get the task of dealing with trying to use my dvc points by March 31st and canceling air flights. Ugh. We booked this cruise 18 months ago. I’ve cruised twice in September successfully, but things are going the wrong direction

 

[Cheburashka]

Well the crew member who needs to enter can tell the guest they need to close their veranda slider before they can enter. Seems simple enough.

They want to keep the quarantine guests in one place so that quarantine operations won't be conspicuous to other guests onboard. They are naturally going to use their cheaper stateroom decks for that. If they put some quarantine guests & not others into the relatively small number of verandahs available between those two decks, they'd field a lot of complaints & requests to move from those that drew the short end of the stick.

 

[DisneYE]

They want to keep the quarantine guests in one place so that quarantine operations won't be conspicuous to other guests onboard. They are naturally going to use their cheaper stateroom decks for that. If they put some quarantine guests & not others into the relatively small number of verandahs available between those two decks, they'd field a lot of complaints & requests to move from those that drew the short end of the stick.

I was looking at the list of ppl going on our upcoming cruise listed on another website's group, and deck 5 is the least populated of all decks, with no SRs shown on the Fwd section at all.
Deck 2 is massively populated, with SRs occupied all over the place. It seems like the entire Fwd part of the ship was 'cordoned off' on deck 5. But also that list only shows about 40% of ppl actually booked, and lots of GTYs without rooms yet...So who knows.
I just emailed DCL about this issue and hopefully they'll reply.

 

[wideeyedwonder]

Not, "still going", but "went", just after CDC advisory came out. January 2-8 2022, one of our best cruises so far.

I hate wearing masks, but they were only required in public indoor spaces, and you could take them off while eating or drinking. Crowds were way down, probably only 1/2 to 1/3 capacity, which might be bad for "night life" at the pubs, but is great for Cabanas, elevators, and relaxing. Service was excellent. The cruise app "sucked", multiple problems with it's functioning and user interface design. The ship was clean clean clean, and people were required to disinfect hands all over the place, which I was OK with. We had a cancelled stop due to the port's COVID policies, but DCL wrangled up a new port "last minute", and it was one of the best excursions we've had. We have older kids now, so we tend not to seek out the characters as much, but access seemed easier due to less people, although distancing was required. Oh, and taking photos with masks is maddening, I will not be displaying portraits with masks years from now. (However, Shutters will do portraits outdoors without masks). Waiting for test results at the port was of course nerve wracking, almost like a lottery, when a family found out that they had passed the screening, their party would yell with excitement, etc.
Until the world returns to a more "normal" footing, the best bet is to be flexible, go with the flow, and make the best of all situations. This was actually one of our best cruises.