WBPC out of New Orleans - Cancelling or Going?

[TaiTai1]

I'm in the "wait and see" mode for the next couple of weeks, but this WBPC cruise out of New Orleans has me concerned. I'm fully vaccinated and boostered, and don't mind the extra tests and precautions. But what concerns me is Mardi Gras is on Tuesday, March 1st and we sail on Friday, March 4th .... which means anyone who picks up the Covid virus at Mardi Gras may not test positive for it prior to getting on the ship. Which means it will incubate and be spread ship wide while on the 14 night cruise. This same scenario happened two years ago on the 2020 WBPC, and that was the start of the Covid crisis. I know it is a different variant now, but that cruise two years ago had people very ill - and some even died. I personally know someone who caught the original Covid on that cruise and she was very ill. I'm not looking to repeat that scenario. What are your thoughts? Also, realistically, how many ports do you think the WBPC will actually stop at? Since most of the ports are in Mexico, I'm assuming we will dock most places - with limited ship excursions.

 

[Travel60]

We are on this cruise and, as of now, still going. May drive down. I share your concern about Mardi Gras and will probably mask and not socialize at all for the first several days of the cruise. This is pretty much how I live now anyway.
We will probably eat in the MDR but, if we don't like the set up, will revert to inroom. Will probably not do Cabanas at all. Have one night booked in Palo. We have no excursions planned for first two stops. Would like to get off in Cartegenia but we'll see.
My biggest fear is that we are named a contact of someone who tests positive and have to quarantine on deck 2. I'm fine if all I do is sit on my veranda. I've heard part of deck 5 "may be" used for quarantine and hope that's where they would put veranda people who have to quarantine.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I've heard part of deck 5 "may be" used for quarantine and hope that's where they would put veranda people who have to quarantine.

 

[pjsmith67]

I am also concerned, but we are going. We were also on the 2020 WBPC and both of us ended up getting sick a week later, but thankfully it was very mild. So mild that we didn't think we had it. My wife tested negative but yet when she started donating blood a few months later, she tested positive for the covid antibodies, so we're pretty sure we both had it.

I believe Omicron has a shorter incubation period so hopefully that will help catch people at the port.

My guess is that Grand Cayman will get cancelled. They are not open to cruise ships right now.

Do what you feel comfortable with doing. Would not blame you for cancelling. Just make sure you have your booster shot if you do go.

 

[wideeyedwonder]

Like you said, you are vaccinated and boosted. I'd go in a heartbeat.

 

[mousefan73]

I’d assume most people in that sailing aren’t partying it up for Mardi Gras ( demographics here lol) and I think many are so nervous of testing at port they are avoiding crowds. Me personally I’d avoid a big fest/ party before sailing. Mardi Gras or not.

 

[pjsmith67]

We plan on isolating ourselves as much as possible two weeks before sailing.

 

[RedHead0186]

Totally valid concerns, and I think sailing out of Mardi Gras there's a decent chance that someone could get it and bring it on the ship. Hopefully with the shorter incubation period of Omicron it'd get caught in a test, but who knows.

Two big questions to consider:

1. Would you be okay with potentially being quarantined in a non-verandah room for possibly a week or more (if you somehow caught it and had to be quarantined). That's a long cruise, so potential for a longer quarantine (without a verandah).
2. Would you be okay if the cruise got cut short? Not a very likely possibility, but I believe it happened recently on another line where they cancelled the cruise mid-sailing. Not sure on logistics. Related to that, would you be okay if some ports were skipped? That has also occurred.

Basically, if you're okay with either of those scenarios (as well as possibly getting COVID), then I think you're okay to go. Personally, a concern for me would be getting it (I'd likely be fine, I'm vaxxed/boosted and relatively young and healthy), but getting it and spreading it to someone who might not be fine if they got it. Not everyone shares that mentality, just something I'd consider. If any of those are a deal-breaker for you, then you have to consider that could happen and how willing are you to take that risk?

 

[CarolynU]

We’ve cancelled. My friend was very worried and nervous of the quarantine element onboard and I just think that with Mardi Gras pre cruise and hotels full it’s almost inevitable that someone might bring it onto the ship. However I’ve recently flown on a full flight to Antigua and back and also gone to a packed theatre so I’m pretty certain that I’ve encountered omicron there too and so far my jabs and boosters have held up, but quarantining indoors if necessary is one thing on a ship it’s another.
Finally last week my flights got cancelled so that was the deal breaker!

 

[DisneYE]

We're on this sailing too and are also on the 'wait and see' camp.
The thing that is making me lean towards canceling is the quarantine on deck 2. That's why I've been so vocal on here about it and emailed DCL, but resigned myself that the issue is complicated and there isn't a definitive answer.
At this point I'd rather the sailing gets canceled by DCL and save me from having to make a very difficult decision.

I'm also sad that it's the first cruise where I'm not feeling it at all about going on the ship.
Usually at 40-50 days out we'd be in full prep mode and jumping up and down in excitement.
Now we're all just like, meh.

 

[Intr3pid]

We are very much looking forward to this sailing. Just returned from a 9-night trip on the Magic and felt very safe all the way through. Actually felt safer on the ship than on land.

Here are some of my observations:

- The embarkation-day PCR testing makes a big difference in filtering out 99% of the late exposures. Cruise lines not using this filter (Carnival, RCL, etc.) are the ones turning up with a larger contingent of on-board cases.
- The on-board, day-5 testing is antigen, which is less sensitive.
- Mardi Gras isn't a factor any more than WDW is in Florida. There are currently larger crowds in the theme parks with very little social distancing.
- You can very easily stay in your bubble on board the ship. This - and the whole set of on-board health and safety procedures - were missing in March 2020. Can't quite compare the two cruises IMO.

That said, I understand why folks will want to cancel and avoid the risk. The CDC advisory is there for a reason. In a way, it helps the rest of us if this "sold-out" cruise can shed some of its passenger load before March. Fewer passengers was one of the reasons why we enjoyed our last cruise so much!

 

[DisneYE]

We are very much looking forward to this sailing. Just returned from a 9-night trip on the Magic and felt very safe all the way through. Actually felt safer on the ship than on land.

Here are some of my observations:

- The embarkation-day PCR testing makes a big difference in filtering out 99% of the late exposures. Cruise lines not using this filter (Carnival, RCL, etc.) are the ones turning up with a larger contingent of on-board cases.
- The on-board, day-5 testing is antigen, which is less sensitive.
- Mardi Gras isn't a factor any more than WDW is in Florida. There are currently larger crowds in the theme parks with very little social distancing.
- You can very easily stay in your bubble on board the ship. This - and the whole set of on-board health and safety procedures - were missing in March 2020. Can't quite compare the two cruises IMO.

That said, I understand why folks will want to cancel and avoid the risk. The CDC advisory is there for a reason. In a way, it helps the rest of us if this "sold-out" cruise can shed some of its passenger load before March. Fewer passengers was one of the reasons why we enjoyed our last cruise so much!

Good points, thanks for sharing them.
On your recent 9-night, did you happen to see the quarantine area?
Did you you hear about ppl getting sent there?
I'm curious to know how many were quarantined? If it's a real low number that'd be a really encouraging sign.

 

[lanejudy]

- The on-board, day-5 testing is antigen, which is less sensitive.

Do you mean the debarkation (last full day of cruise) testing of unvaccinated passengers on cruises of 5+ nights? Or is there actually an onboard test for all guests on day-5?

 

[diablodancer]

- The embarkation-day PCR testing makes a big difference in filtering out 99% of the late exposures. Cruise lines not using this filter (Carnival, RCL, etc.) are the ones turning up with a larger contingent of on-board cases.

Has the embarkation testing always been PCR? I had in my head that it was lateral rapid tests (I know you can get quick turnaround PCRs too) but have I got this wrong?

 

[MomOTwins]

Has the embarkation testing always been PCR? I had in my head that it was lateral rapid tests (I know you can get quick turnaround PCRs too) but have I got this wrong?

I’m not sure if it was always the case—or if it became require by the ports at some point and they switched (like how they originally did not require at port tests if vaccinated), but it does say it is PCR now. From the Disney website:

Embarkation COVID-19 Testing: All Guests, regardless of age and vaccination status, are required to take a COVID-19 test (paid for by Disney Cruise Line and administered by Inspire Diagnostics) at the terminal before boarding. This will be the second of two COVID-19 PCR tests required for unvaccinated Guests.

 

[Scalemaster34]

Has the embarkation testing always been PCR? I had in my head that it was lateral rapid tests (I know you can get quick turnaround PCRs too) but have I got this wrong?

CPR only takes time as it's a lab test.... DCL can have the lab come to them.

But the testing is what I'm more worried about, what if you travel all that way and someone in your party test positive?

 

[lanejudy]

Has the embarkation testing always been PCR? I had in my head that it was lateral rapid tests (I know you can get quick turnaround PCRs too) but have I got this wrong?

I believe the Magic Staycation cruises last summer were doing lateral flow tests. I think Port Canaveral has been PCR since the restart.

 

[diablodancer]

I believe the Magic Staycation cruises last summer were doing lateral flow tests. I think Port Canaveral has been PCR since the restart.

That’ll be why I thought that - thanks. Haven’t been back to the US since the pandemic started but great to hear that’s what they’re using.

 

[braysmommy]

CPR only takes time as it's a lab test.... DCL can have the lab come to them.

But the testing is what I'm more worried about, what if you travel all that way and someone in your party test positive?

You don't get to board and is why you should make sure you have trip insurance that would cover you if you need to isolate somewhere unless driving home from port is an option.

 

[iannovich]

- Mardi Gras isn't a factor any more than WDW is in Florida. There are currently larger crowds in the theme parks with very little social distancing.

This is a great point.

We had been planning on coming in two days early to get one full day of Tourist Action in, but had decided that with Mardi Gras being so close, it'd be a better idea to sneak in the night before and stay away from things. That made me feel a little better since we'd miss almost all of the max Mardi Gras crowds... Then someone pointed out that some WBPC guests might specifically come in early to collect themselves some beads and then stay to join the ship on Friday... Still wasn't enough to dissuade us from sailing (if it goes, we goes), but I had resigned myself to the idea that that would be increasing our likelihood of exposure. I had not considered that WDW is crowd-a-palooza and we've sailed from Port Canaveral without any more concern that usual. Might even be a touch more safe, since at Port Canaveral exposed people are going from a Parks day to Embarkation day within 24 hours. Here we have a small buffer period of a couple of days for a positive to potentially get caught at the Port.