Coronavirus and DCL Megathread - Suspension of Departures for the fleet until early November. Booking only available from early December.

[Trera]

looks pretty legit.

 

[DisneyKrayzie2]

My wife was emailing our travel agent to cancel our June 6th cruise when I saw this. Told her to hold on to see if this is true then it would be canceled anyway and not have cancellation fees. Not really looking forward to the mess of gift cards to be credited. $15,000 trip payed completely with gift cards.

 

[T & R]

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/pdf/No-Sail-Order-Cruise-Ships_Extension_4-08-2020_encrypted-P.pdf

As of yesterday, the CDC extended the "No Sail Order" from 30-120 days. No cruises will sail until at least mid-June at this point.

The way I read it, no sailing until at least August. The document is dated 04/08/20 and says the order expires 120 days from date this doc is published in register. Assuming it's published within days of the signed doc of 04/08/20, the 120 days expiration puts it around 08/08/20 plus a day or so to allow publishing. So no cruising until at least August unless there is an overriding executive order.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The requirements to sail are absolutely brutal. I do not see any way a cruise ship can comply with those requirements.

 

[choirfarm]

All of the infections happening on the navy ships are probably not good news for future cruise ships. Watching how the navy handles this could be interesting.

 

[emilymad]

The requirements to sail are absolutely brutal. I do not see any way a cruise ship can comply with those requirements.

This is what I thought when I read the document. Even if after 120 days these requirements are reduced I am not sure they will be reduced down to how cruise ships are set up today.

 

[Brian Noble]

I saw the announcement too.

I read it as well. I wonder if CDC was given some "guidance" from above and that's why it's no longer there...

 

[jlas00]

Considering no news outlets are reporting this I would wait until continuing to speculate.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Some of what's in it is already in force, though. The USCG has said they aren't evacuating people from ships, and passengers and crew from ships are not being allowed to fly commercial.

Most of the additional requirements seem to flow from those things - basically, you have to have a plan for mitigation and prevention, and if the plan don't work, you need to have a plan to care for the impacted passengers, including medical equipment and staff, as well as how they get home.

 

[Trera]

Those first few cruises that go out once they are released to reopen for business are going to be scary to see what happens. Also, what if the boats are allowed to sail but the ports wont allow them to dock?

I cant even imagine how those ports that are cruise dependent for their economic well being are surviving

 

[T & R]

what if the boats are allowed to sail but the ports wont allow them to dock?

It's going to get to a point where the ports have no choice but to allow in tourists. Some of the islands have a tourism based economy that is 80% of their GDP or even higher. If they do not allow in tourism, their governments will collapse and the hardships on their people will be worse than the virus. To put it simply, their survival is based on re-opening.

 

[AquaDame]

It's going to get to a point where the ports have no choice but to allow in tourists. Some of the islands have a tourism based economy that is 80% of their GDP or even higher. If they do not allow in tourism, their governments will collapse and the hardships on their people will be worse than the virus. To put it simply, their survival is based on re-opening.

This is one of those times I am glad I don't have to make these kinds of decisions... endanger your citizens with a virus we have no cure for yet, or endanger everyone with economic strife. Both options are terrible... I also wonder if the first wave of willing cruisers will be more carefree as well - happy to go anywhere or miss ports and be OK with it because at least they get to go. I'm sure companies will expand upon the 'we can make changes as needed to the itinerary' clause.

 

[MomOTwins]

The CDC order also says that cruises can resume earlier than 120 days if the CDC rescinds the order, or the government declares Covid 19 has ceased to be a national emergency. In other words, DCL does not have to cancel anything yet. They can keep rolling out cancellations bit by bit to wait and see if the emergency is declared ended or CDC walks back this restriction before 120 days.

 

[tidefan]

So, based on all of this, here is how I think DCL could restart at least 1 ship. If they were to run 1 ship and only stop at Castaway (where they’d probably have to get a waiver from The Bahamas to only staff with DCL employees), you maybe could run with the following stipulations:

- Everyone boarding either has a) a proven antibody certificate, or b) a certificate showing a negative test within say 2 days of cruising (yes, this would require that Abbott quick test to be up and running in a widespread fashion)

- Everyone boarding must be able to provide their own transportation (I.e. they would probably have to drive to port).

- Everyone boarding would probably have to sign a release of liability...

Just a thought. That’s about all I could see happening in the Summer, if that...

 

[smmco]

So, based on all of this, here is how I think DCL could restart at least 1 ship. If they were to run 1 ship and only stop at Castaway (where they’d probably have to get a waiver from The Bahamas to only staff with DCL employees), you maybe could run with the following stipulations:

- Everyone boarding either has a) a proven antibody certificate, or b) a certificate showing a negative test within say 2 days of cruising (yes, this would require that Abbott quick test to be up and running in a widespread fashion)

- Everyone boarding must be able to provide their own transportation (I.e. they would probably have to drive to port).

- Everyone boarding would probably have to sign a release of liability...

Just a thought. That’s about all I could see happening in the Summer, if that...

Sounds pretty Orwellian.

 

[Astrogal]

My wife was emailing our travel agent to cancel our June 6th cruise when I saw this. Told her to hold on to see if this is true then it would be canceled anyway and not have cancellation fees. Not really looking forward to the mess of gift cards to be credited. $15,000 trip payed completely with gift cards.

So I cancelled my June 1st Alaska cruise back in mid March when this thing first started. I just got an email a couple hours ago from Disney that they will be refunding my cancellation fees (basically the deposit) I'm pretty happy with them about this. They could have just kept my cancellation money.

 

[smmco]

Can the CDC actually order cruise-lines not to sail.?They are not flagged in the US. I’m didn’t know the cdc had that kind of power.Anybody know the answer to that?

 

[FigmentSpark]

They might be able to order them not to sail from an American port.

 

[LAX]

So I cancelled my June 1st Alaska cruise back in mid March when this thing first started. I just got an email a couple hours ago from Disney that they will be refunding my cancellation fees (basically the deposit) I'm pretty happy with them about this. They could have just kept my cancellation money.

I am hoping this policy doesn't change down the road. I have been struggling with the very same issue you faced back in March. I am now pretty much resigned to losing my 10% deposit (I booked with a placeholder) if DCL insists on resuming operation by mid June. However, it would be nice if that sailing eventually gets cancelled, I would get the deposit back. I honestly won't gamble with losing over $10K of cruise fare to see if it would get cancelled or not.

LAX

 

[lanejudy]

Can the CDC actually order cruise-lines not to sail.?They are not flagged in the US. I’m didn’t know the cdc had that kind of power.Anybody know the answer to that?

I think what the CDC can do is set requirements for US ports. So by saying "no sailings out of US ports" that essentially becomes a "no cruise order" for any cruiseline with current itineraries embarking at US ports. Unless a cruiseline modifies an itinerary to remove the US ports -- including embark/debark -- they would have to cancel the cruise. The CDC's orders wouldn't pertain to cruises/cruiselines that don't involve US ports.