It's been way too long! The cruise industry in America was shut down for at least 14 months due to Covid-19. Nobody saw that coming. To restart cruising, the CDC has put forth guidelines to be followed in order to get the ships in the water with guests on board. Many of these guidelines have forced changes behind the scenes and you will never notice them. Others are more obvious. The different cruise lines have responded to the guidelines in mostly the same way. Your travel agent can help find the best fit for you based on these differences. I am currently on my first cruise since the restart this summer. I am on the Carnival Glory out of New Orleans. I chose this cruise line and cruise mostly based on convenience at this time. Therefore, my review is based on my experience on a Carnival cruise.
Let's start with what you will need to know before you cruise at this time. With the CDC guidelines currently in place, 95% of the guests and crew must be fully vaccinated. Some cruise lines have decided on 100% vaccinated. Carnival is allowing the 5% non-vaccinated. When you book your cruise (through your travel agent of course), you will have to answer vaccination attestation questions. If you are not vaccinated and don't plan to be, you will fill out a Vaccination Exemption form and provide the required documentation to support it. To be honest, I am hearing that most exemptions are going to children under the age of 12 with a very small number going to guests with a medical condition preventing vaccination. If you do not receive the exemption, you are given a refund according to the current policy. In addition, everyone must take a covid-19 test within 72 hours of departure and present a negative result when you check in at the cruise port. They provide a list of acceptable tests. We chose to do the home test with a live proctor to monitor the procedure and verify the results. From start to finish, we took the test and had the results within 30 minutes. We gathered up our passports, negative test results, vaccination card, and boarding passes and were on our way!
Check in at the Port of New Orleans was quick. I chose the last boarding time. There were no crowds or lines to check in at that time. In the port, you must wear a face mask the entire time you are under the port authority. It must be a mask with ear loops, no gaiters, in the port. We quickly made it through all check points and boarded the ship. Our stateroom was ready soon after we boarded. We dropped off our carry on bags and headed to lunch. While on the ship, mask wearing is required is certain areas and venues and it is encouraged at all other times when you are indoors and not socially distanced. I know mask wearing is an issue for some people. I am one that has a hard time wearing a mask for long periods of time. I didn't find that to be an issue on the cruise. There were a few areas where the crew made certain that you had a mask on such as in the food line at the buffet, entering the dining room, in elevators, and in the casino. I got busted a couple of times because I simply forgot to pull it up on my face when I got out of my seat. A crew member will give you a gentle reminder. Most people did wear them when walking in areas where people are gathered. I didn't see it enforced once you were seated in a venue or even in the lobby or while dancing and definitely not outdoors. The ship's crew is required to wear a mask all the times. The performers can take it off after they get on stage and must re-mask when they exit the stage. Also, each city or country that we visited had it's own mask requirements that you must abide by. Enough about masks! Let's move on to that dreaded Muster Drill. You know the one where you stand shoulder to shoulder, maybe in the hot sun, and watch and listen to crew members go over safety procedures. If you don't attend, you get called out. Well, no more doing that! The Muster drill is still required by all passengers but now you simply watch a video in the app and then go down to your Muster Station and let a crew member check you in. Done!
Other obvious changes or differences from 'before covid' to now have to do with communication and food service. The Fun Times news letter that is usually delivered to your room every day is no longer printed. You also don't get a printed menu in the dining rooms and restaurants. Your smart phone is now your handy tool for these things. The Carnival Hub app is where you will find the daily schedules, menus, your account information, shore excursions, and lots more. The dining areas and bars have QR Codes on a plaque on each table that you scan with your phone camera to bring up the menu quickly. If don't have a smart phone or don't want to use one, you can ask for a printed menu and pick up a Fun Times at guest services. You can also use the Sign and Sail kiosks located around the ship. The buffets on the Lido deck are in full operation with self serving. This kind of surprised me but it is working fine. Besides these changes, your cabin steward only enters your room once a day, instead of twice, to clean. You can of course call him or her any time if you need something.
Then lastly is disembarkation. As you did when you got on the ship on day 1, you will need to wear a face mask when you leave the ship at the end of your cruise and all they way through customs, until you exit the port building.
In my opinion, this is the perfect time to cruise. The ships are not operating at full capacity. Ours was only at 50% with very few children due to the 5% non-vaccinated rule and it is also school time. It's kind of like and adults only cruise with less people than normal. The areas that are usually crowded like the pool area and buffet area were not at all. I only ate on the Lido deck a few times and never had to wait for service. Embarkation and disembarkation was quick and efficient. Crew members are always out and about wiping things down. The medical center now has more staff. The crew is super excited to be back to work. And the deals are great! See you on board!
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Marla
Oak Lane Travel LLC