The Future of Cruising - What will it look like?

[KevinFL]

Once we get back on the ships what changes can we expect? Because we have to pay for our cruises 6 months before they have sailed we are all currently faced with the decision of paying for an unknown experience or cancelling our trip.
Would love to hear feedback as well if anyone works in the industry and has further insight on what the future experience may look like.

A few thoughts:
-During embarkation temperature checks if your child suddenly has a 99 degree temp will they turn you
away at the port and you lose your cruise fare or will they perform a Covid-19 test on the child and let
them on if negative?
-Will embarkation day leave us with much less time on Day 1 due to staggered boarding times for social
distancing and perhaps even resulting in a later time that they set sail?
-Less passengers permitted on sailings?
-Shows cancelled or much lower occupancy in theater allowed?
-Pool deck lounge chair quantities drastically reduced for social distancing?
-Port cancellations?
-Lobby and deck character parties cancelled?
-Facemasks to be worn (perhaps indoors only when not dining)?
-Still faced with prospect of a 14-day Quarantine if a Covid-19 case arises? They can do all the screening in the world but if many people are asymptomatic then fever checks will do nothing and each port is a new chance to introduce the virus. And if the virus can re-occur in someone who has already had it then antibody tests and vaccines will be a moot point (time and further data will tell on this)
-What else?

 

[ScooterScott44]

The list looks like all very possible, and likely situations that could become common as cruises resume. There have been some discussions also about other lines restricting access to guest with long term heath risks so extra waivers or doctors notes could be required for certain people, but that brings up lots of legal questions too. it is likely that all staff will be mandated reporters of anyone that appears ill and stricter quarantine of people that might be infectious.

It is likely that things will relax over time but there will be some sort of increased screening and action plans that are activated if it appears someone is ill on board. Once a vaccine is in place, that may be a requirement. The good news is that a group at Oxford is pretty far into the process. If they can continue at the same pace their vaccine could out by September.

 

[Karin1984]

As fever is discovered more and more a symptom only a small group of patients has, i have my doubts they will use this as their main tool. And as a fever can be a symptom of many diseases it doesn't necessarily has to be a reason to send away a family. Definitely extra tests will be done.

And I expect in these special circumstances they won't say: too bad, you lose all the money if they really think you are unfit to sail.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

The list looks like all very possible, and likely situations that could become common as cruises resume. There have been some discussions also about other lines restricting access to guest with long term heath risks so extra waivers or doctors notes could be required for certain people, but that brings up lots of legal questions too. it is likely that all staff will be mandated reporters of anyone that appears ill and stricter quarantine of people that might be infectious.

It is likely that things will relax over time but there will be some sort of increased screening and action plans that are activated if it appears someone is ill on board. Once a vaccine is in place, that may be a requirement. The good news is that a group at Oxford is pretty far into the process. If they can continue at the same pace their vaccine could out by September.

Restricting access based on people's overall health status & histories is discriminatory, so no, this almost certainly won't happen with cruises involving American ports.

And no, there is no chance of a proven effective and safe vaccine being ready by September.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

And no, there is no chance of a proven effective and safe vaccine being ready by September.

Maybe
https://www.nydailynews.com/coronav...0200428-z7oke2mh2bcspoaltxyvznxssy-story.html

 

[BartmanLA]

Until they release a vaccine that would be as effective as can be, rushing to return to cruising is not logical or practical from a legal standpoint, DCL would no more risk being sued by masses of passengers from being exposed by 1 or 20 passengers on board that might be Covid-19 positive yet asymptomatic. They would not risk that liability exposure, so most likely I am going to guess that they'll err on the side of extreme caution and wait. With too many passengers traveling internationally and flying domestically through crowded airports and transportation. the risk of infection coming onto the ship is just too great, then you have to decide what will happen at ports of call, will there be testing on re-boarding or will they just forego the ports altogether, which I doubt passengers would stand for. Also there's the possibility of the foreign governments refusing to allow the cruise line to dock at a particular port. Maybe later this summer/fall. August/Sept, maybe. We all enjoy cruising but it's not a "essential" activity, so there probably won't be any rush to get back to it.

 

[Karin1984]

Until they release a vaccine that would be as effective as can be, rushing to return to cruising is not logical or practical from a legal standpoint, DCL would no more risk being sued by masses of passengers from being exposed by 1 or 20 passengers on board that might be Covid-19 positive yet asymptomatic. They would not risk that liability exposure, so most likely I am going to guess that they'll err on the side of extreme caution and wait. With too many passengers traveling internationally and flying domestically through crowded airports and transportation. the risk of infection coming onto the ship is just too great, then you have to decide what will happen at ports of call, will there be testing on re-boarding or will they just forego the ports altogether, which I doubt passengers would stand for. Also there's the possibility of the foreign governments refusing to allow the cruise line to dock at a particular port. Maybe later this summer/fall. August/Sept, maybe. We all enjoy cruising but it's not a "essential" activity, so there probably won't be any rush to get back to it.

Do you think that in the first months / year of cruising that cruiselines will have you sign a kind of waiver form, that passengers confirm they are aware of the risks of cruising in a time like this, and do not blame/sue the cruiseline if they do get sick? (or something along those lines?)

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Maybe
https://www.nydailynews.com/coronav...0200428-z7oke2mh2bcspoaltxyvznxssy-story.html

I had already read that article before posting. And more than one article has been written on the topic, some with better journalistic standards than the New York Daily News.

I said safe and effective. As has been discussed by medical experts, in the current atmosphere of social distancing, researchers are going to have a hard time proving the effectiveness of a vaccine for COVID. Also, safe vaccine production is measured in years, not months, so monitoring for long term side effects can be performed. That would be entirely swept aside for any vaccine that comes out less than a year after the virus becomes known.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Do you think that in the first months / year of cruising that cruiselines will have you sign a kind of waiver form, that passengers confirm they are aware of the risks of cruising in a time like this, and do not blame/sue the cruiseline if they do get sick? (or something along those lines?)

It's certainly possible. I don't know how protective such a waiver would actually be to the cruiseline, but it might help. The waiver would have to be electronically signed at the time of initial booking imo. If they wait until you're at the port with suitcases in hand, such a waiver would probably be deemed to be coercive and not valid.

Another possibility I could see would be the federal government stepping in nationwide and making it impossible for people to sue over getting COVID somewhere: not just on ships, but anywhere, such as at work, at stores, at Disney, etc. There has already been some consideration of this, as many businesses are reluctant to reopen solely for fear of being sued. And that could work towards keeping the economy paralyzed, even as stay-at-home orders end.

With the economy hanging in the balance, such a law would not be unreasonable. America already prohibits lawsuits over side effects from vaccines, with the justification that the prohibition is for the greater public good, so the same justification could be used in this case.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

-Shows cancelled or much lower occupancy in theater allowed?
-Pool deck lounge chair quantities drastically reduced for social distancing?

Here is where I expect them to run into trouble re-opening ships without a general "sign away your right to sue and lets hope no one gets sick". Cruise ships as it is have limited ability / room to entertain the number of people on board. As most people leave their cabins, they have to pack 10 decks of people onto 2 decks of open space. The math here is not on their side. Even if they remove deck chairs, the pools have and always will be a swirling mass of kids on top of each other. No parent is going to be able to control that, even if you cancel all deck parties. Likewise, opening without the kids clubs will be disastrous. Opening with the kids clubs will mean they mingle (again, you can't keep social distance with kids running around; it's just never gonna happen). And although you could limit seating in the theaters, that further reduces the ability of the ship to give people anything to do. So if you close the kids clubs, cover the pools, and limit the number of people on the decks, stores and theaters, you're going to have stir crazy passengers - you'd do better to not open.

About the only option would be to limit the number of passengers and run the ships at lower capacity. However, that has it's own challenges as the overhead to run the ship will make profits near impossible.

 

[gotomu212]

Restricting access based on people's overall health status & histories is discriminatory, so no, this almost certainly won't happen with cruises involving American ports.

And no, there is no chance of a proven effective and safe vaccine being ready by September.

It’s not exactly discriminatory. There are activities where a company can require a doctors note to signify that you are physically of medically capable of participating. Just like you can have age caps if there’s a valid medical/safety reason for it. The first step of the cruise lockdown in March was requiring people 70+ to provide doctors clearance for cruising.