I really agree with what you say about rules should work with human nature (and in this case I too am not sure what that would be … but I’m not a cruiser so it doesn’t really impact me, thus my feelings are not strong either way in this particular point).
I did want to say though that whether the rules are working not, you can’t know just from say half the people onboard getting sick. It totally depends on what the goal of the rules is and probably more data than we have. (Is it to keep cases to zero? To avoid or minimize emergency care for anyone, whether for their health or business interruptions to the cruise? To keep staff cases to a certain percentage? To avoid triggering case levels that might make a port turn you away, or might overwhelm the medical staff onboard?)
I don’t really know, and I’m not trying to actually debate those questions. Just pointing out that I don’t think anyone but China has policies aiming for zero Covid anymore, do they?
I don’t have a horse in this race since I don’t cruise, so I have no personal opinion on what the rules for cruisers should or shouldn’t be. But I do hope it all ends up where qwerty gets back on a boat (because I know she loves it) and lizzieann’s sister still likes her work environment (because it has always sounded like she values that?). The rest is just academic to me
Thanks. She loves it - but it’s rough lately. They have over 100 crew down right now - it’s to the point they have had to put a lot of them in a Miami-area hotel for their quarantine because there is not enough space on the ship for them to be isolated.
I threw this out the other day… what about offering a discount incentive to vaccinated and boostered guests, on the grounds that they are less likely to tie up ship resources with any COVID infection?
I saw an article on DFB today saying that Virgin Cruises is no longer requiring vaccines. They called it a “major cruise line” but I’m not sure if it’s reputable (I assume it’s not affiliated with Richard Branson’s Virgin, though I have no idea). @QwertySC would you consider cruising on Virgin?
So - without digging more deeply they are allowing up to 10% unvaccinated. Other lines have also been doing this, I read. But the other ones hold that 10% for those who have medical exemptions.
But I’ll take any news about the momentum picking up!!!
Virgin Voyages has two ships currently, which are almost as big as Disney’s Dream and Fantasy ships. Virgin Voyages has two more they plan to put into service in 2023. They are a part of the Virgin Group, which is Branson’s holding company that includes Virgin Airlines. They sure don’t have as many ships as most of what I think of as “major cruise lines.” Yet, DCL started with just two and is only now up to five, and is often considered a major cruise line.
A good site for cruise news is cruiseindustrynews.com . They list lots of cruise news in a timely manner, many of which don’t make the bigger media.
DH and I are doing a pair of back-to-back cruises on RCL in late October. I hope they drop the testing requirement before our trip.
I mean. You could have thought of me when you read the story about the bear that came back and killed the lady who had scared it away earlier in the night.
