WBPC out of New Orleans - Cancelling or Going?

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

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.

The fire doors were closed on Deck 2, so there was no peeking in there last weekend on Dream. No one was talking about anyone being quarantined, but who knows if it happened or not. I do know that the BatB show on the last night was cancelled due to 'Technical Difficulties'...hmmmm

 

[Intr3pid]

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.

Deck 2 is where they are keeping those in quarantine - but the doors are shut firm like the way into the Mines of Moria. Didn't hear about any passengers in quarantine. We didn't notice anyone 'disappear' around us in the 9 days either.

Most of the crew have had their boosters but still must do an antigen self-test every morning.

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?

Yes, referring to the debarkation testing for the unvaccinated. On Fantasy, this has been after day 5. Not so on Magic since Magic turns around on Day 4 or 5.

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?

The rapid antigen tests only take 15 minutes. It's the rapid PCR which requires the 45 minutes or so of wait at the port. You need a specialized lab for this - what Disney is doing at the US ports.

 

[Calantha]

Deck 2 and part of Deck 5 closed this week on the Dream… no sign of anyone.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are booked on this cruise and still hoping everything will work out. We were booked originally on the Feb 2021 sailing that was cancelled so we're really wanting this one to sail. The hardest part is needing to save so much vacation time. I have 3 days to spare before I would have to start cancelling days off (pre or post cruise days off). So at this point, I don't even want a mild, non-covid cold.

We were first planning to fly down early Wed morning and visit the WW2 museum and maybe do a few hours of a HOHO bus tour. Once the covid numbers started to go up again, we switched to a Thursday night flight and agreed to skip any sightseeing in NOLA. It will still be there some other time and we can always go back and visit without it being in conjunction with a cruise. That would be more enjoyable, less stressful, and we could spend more time there.

We plan to take a PCR on Jan 29 to see where we stand at that point. Then lay low all of February. We do have to have one family gathering for my dad's 80th birthday. We can't skip that of course, but we're keeping it small and doing it a week early (Feb 12) so it will be 3 weeks prior to cruising, just in case. We'll do another PCR a week after the dinner party. After that, I'll start packing on the weekends and plan to avoid people as much as possible.
I really don't want to miss this cruise; there are no other PC sailings to switch to!

 

[twopackages]

We are also on this cruise and I am TERRIFIED of one of us testing positive at the port. We are driving from Canada and have back up plans if it happens, but I REALLY want to go this sailing. We will arrive Thursday afternoon and keep to ourselves as much as possible. Mid February we will go into self imposed quarantine to try and keep ourselves healthy.

 

[DisneYE]

We are also on this cruise and I am TERRIFIED of one of us testing positive at the port. We are driving from Canada and have back up plans if it happens, but I REALLY want to go this sailing. We will arrive Thursday afternoon and keep to ourselves as much as possible. Mid February we will go into self imposed quarantine to try and keep ourselves healthy.

Wow that's quite a drive... Eastern or Western Canada?
Hope the ship sails - We're also going to be careful as much as possible but our DD16 will go to school up until the day we fly so we'll be playing Covid roulette.

 

[uncw89]

Ok, so we are booked on this cruise. DS is in college and found out that he wouldn't be able to go due to having in person only exams during the cruise that he can't change. I can cxl him off, but I'm going to lose $$, which I figured. I was hoping O would be able to move the $$ to another cruise or something. But I booked the return flight through Disney and it's nonrefundable!!! They say I can't even get a credit for the air!!! Or if I decide to just move the cruise for the three of us, I will lost the $$ for the air for all three of us!!! I'm not happy!! I'm not sure what to do!! I really want to go on this cruise, but I don't want to go if we are going to end up missing some of the ports!!

 

[twopackages]

Wow that's quite a drive... Eastern or Western Canada?
Hope the ship sails - We're also going to be careful as much as possible but our DD16 will go to school up until the day we fly so we'll be playing Covid roulette.

We are in the Toronto area. It is about a 19 hour drive. We often (once a year) drive to Florida which is about 22 hours. DS13 will be in school and DH and I are still working. We are going to be super careful and keep our fingers crossed.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ok, so we are booked on this cruise. DS is in college and found out that he wouldn't be able to go due to having in person only exams during the cruise that he can't change. I can cxl him off, but I'm going to lose $$, which I figured. I was hoping O would be able to move the $$ to another cruise or something. But I booked the return flight through Disney and it's nonrefundable!!! They say I can't even get a credit for the air!!! Or if I decide to just move the cruise for the three of us, I will lost the $$ for the air for all three of us!!! I'm not happy!! I'm not sure what to do!! I really want to go on this cruise, but I don't want to go if we are going to end up missing some of the ports!!

Aw, that stinks. I personally would take the cruise and accept the fact that ds can't cruise. (Our ds21 was originally scheduled to sail this cruise but with the job he got last year, we knew he wouldn't be able to take that much time off.) I think it's better to do the cruise than to lose $ for flights for all 3. Again, JMHO.
No cruise is guaranteed to visit any port. I will be happy to get to any of them but really we just want to sail through the PC.

 

[uncw89]

Aw, that stinks. I personally would take the cruise and accept the fact that ds can't cruise. (Our ds21 was originally scheduled to sail this cruise but with the job he got last year, we knew he wouldn't be able to take that much time off.) I think it's better to do the cruise than to lose $ for flights for all 3. Again, JMHO.
No cruise is guaranteed to visit any port. I will be happy to get to any of them but really we just want to sail through the PC.

I totally agree!! I still don't think it's right that I can't at least get a credit for the air. Fortunately I booked the outgoing air myself and I think (hope) I will be able to a credit for that. I guess we will definitely plan on going now so we won't lose all the $$ for the air. DH is also just getting over COVID.

 

[DisneYE]

We are in the Toronto area. It is about a 19 hour drive. We often (once a year) drive to Florida which is about 22 hours. DS13 will be in school and DH and I are still working. We are going to be super careful and keep our fingers crossed.

Have a safe journey and all the best to you and your family!

 

[lanejudy]

@uncw89 -- presumably you have travel insurance? I would use that to try and recoup some of the losses from cancelling your son.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I totally agree!! I still don't think it's right that I can't at least get a credit for the air. Fortunately I booked the outgoing air myself and I think (hope) I will be able to a credit for that. I guess we will definitely plan on going now so we won't lose all the $$ for the air. DH is also just getting over COVID.

It’s probably in their fine print somewhere. Just like if you buy trip insurance through them it’s not refundable if you change dates after PIF date.

 

[KVH]

The fire doors were closed on Deck 2, so there was no peeking in there last weekend on Dream. No one was talking about anyone being quarantined, but who knows if it happened or not. I do know that the BatB show on the last night was cancelled due to 'Technical Difficulties'...hmmmm

Rule number one about quarantine is no one talks about quarantine.

Rule number two . . .

 

[uncw89]

@uncw89 -- presumably you have travel insurance? I would use that to try and recoup some of the losses from cancelling your son.

Yes! I do! But I'm not sure this will qualify! I will try though!! It's not Disney insurance!

It’s probably in their fine print somewhere. Just like if you buy trip insurance through them it’s not refundable if you change dates after PIF date.

So true!! I was looking and didn't see anything about this. I only saw was this..."No changes permitted and ticket has no value if Guest has not cancelled the ticketed flight reservation prior to ticketed departure." and " Cancellation of your cruise booking for any reason will result in the cancellation of any associated with the cruise in which any applicable cancellation or other fees will be applied." This came from the app under flight details. It doesn't say anything about what happens if you cancel well before the departure. It appears in that case you just lose the $$. I wasn't expecting money back, but thought I would at least get an airline credit!! Especially since the airlines did away with no change fees.

 

[Intr3pid]

Choose your PAT, folks. It's time.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Choose your PAT, folks. It's time.

Thank you so much for the reminder. I was thinking it was tomorrow.

I got 11:45-12:00pm. Yay!

 

[DisneYE]

This one is getting closer... Less than 3 weeks, holy smokes!
Would love to hear some updates from those that are/were on this sailing... y'all still going?
We are.
Unless we test positive at the port or some major unforeseen planetary event happens (we've seen at least one of those in the last couple of years), we'll be on the ship.

 

[uncw89]

This one is getting closer... Less than 3 weeks, holy smokes!
Would love to hear some updates from those that are/were on this sailing... y'all still going?
We are.
Unless we test positive at the port or some major unforeseen planetary event happens (we've seen at least one of those in the last couple of years), we'll be on the ship.

Same here!! See ya there!!

 

[squirk]

- 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 spot-on. As a NOLA local, I can say first-hand that the crush of people during Mardi Gras is no worse than the crush of people at a park. Especially given what the crowd levels at the parks have looked like lately.

I don't know what the stats are on how many people sailing out of PC stop at a Disney park beforehand, but if the percentage is more than nominal, you should be no more or less worried about boarding a DCL ship in New Orleans than you would a DCL ship in PC.

That said, if you have the same level of concern sailing out of PC as you do for NOLA, then maybe you should hold off until you can sail without being in a perpetual state of heightened anxiety.