Holland America Caribean Cruise?

Has anyone been on a recent Caribean Cruise? We are scheduled for the end of Feb for a 10-day cruise and 4 of the destinations are rated "High" or "Very High" for COVID by the CDC. Looking for some "boots on the ground" observations before we make a final decision. Thanks

Sorry, 'boots on the ground observations' as to what?? As to what Covid protocols are observed, what the experience is on shore, what?? And who knows what the Covid situation will be, by the end of February?

I cannot speak to the Caribbean or Holland America, but I can say that Norwegian went above and beyond to make passenger feel safe in an extremely clean environment. I can only imagine that HA would do the same. We had approx 1900 passengers and 1700 crew and we all boarded COVID Free. We all left 16 days later the same way. NCL's 100% vaccination requirement appeared to work, complimented by their attention to social separation when possible, and following the EU mask policy seemed to do the trick.

I would not worry about the places you will visit as much as I would the ship. When in port, especially in Caribbean, I would expect that you will be outside and the wind and water are your friend. It is on the boat you will be risk and if HA is lackadaisical on enforcing CDC guidelines and common sense you could be a risk.

Safe travels - let us know what you decide.

It was a general question but primarily directed to the COVID situation and how it was handled, both on the ship and on land. Apologies I'll be more specific.

Thank you TomB, the boat is a concern and we are contacting HA for clarification of their policies and protocols. I understand the wind is our friend, but all in our party are over 70 and even though we are vac'd and boosted, we still have concerns. Thanks again for the input.

DonAt,

Your concerns are valid.
We were a party of three couples, all over 65.
I was the baby at 65. (For the record my wife is 4 days older)
HA should be very forthcoming on this topic.

The CDC is providing a status on ships operating in US waters Link: CDC Color Status You should be able to track your ship and how it is doing. This report is done weekly. Pretty good page with lots of info.

One of the key things you want to try to find out - is how booked is the ship. We were at 43% so there was lots of space. If you have not done it yet, I would check out Cruise Critique Site for your ship in the Roll Call section. You will interfacing with folks that you will be traveling with, and a lot of great info can be gleaned from frequent cruisers. Link: Cruise Critic Holland America
You have to login to get info - they do not allow lurkers

BTW - Welcome to TTOL. This is another good place to find out information from folks that have been there and done that.

We are on the Nieuw Amsterdam and also the Nieuw Rotterdam the previous two weeks. HAL ships are all CDC green. They take Covid very seriously. We are tested once a week. Masks at all times unless eating or drinking. You are gently reminded if you don’t have a mask on. Cleaning and sanitizing constantly. Also, you don’t touch anything at the Lido buffet..Lovely voyage.

Speaking as a person who wears a mask whenever I am out in public here, that honestly doesn't sound appetizing to me, to be on a cruise and have to be masked unless eating or drinking. Sigh....

Thank you for the info on your experience with the N Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Any trouble with offshore excursions?

We were on Holland America Eurodam from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale from October 30 to November 14, 2021. In Barcelona, even though we were fully vaccinated with Moderna (and already had received the booster), we were tested in terminal before boarding and had to have a negative result to board. On board, masks were required for everyone in any public space, whether vaccinated or not, unless eating or drinking - a few people had a drink with them at all times to excuse less than regular mask wearing. We also had a test on board before disembarking in Fort Lauderdale. I would hope, if not assume, that you are fully vaccinated and boosted - if not, get it done.

Capacity was about 60% and as Tom references above, a low capacity can help balance the annoyance of having to wear a mask all the time, and it does permit more spacing from other passengers. It also was the case that every passenger with whom we talked was (or at least claimed to be) fully vaccinated - this was true on both our Eurodam cruise and our August cruises on Celebrity.

The biggest negative we experienced on this Eurodam transatlantic cruise was service a little less than we usually have experienced on Holland (we were in a Neptune Suite this time) primarily because of staff shortages. The crew was suffering from COVID outbreaks and various areas were short of staff as a result, especially the dining room. For the first time in decades of cruising, we had a serious chat with our head waiter about the service we were getting, and were prepared to involve the matrre d' if things dd not improve - the problems were really not all the fault of the crew working, they just could not keep up. Overall, we enjoyed the cruise but it was a little disappointing because of COVID.

On this Eurodam cruise, we were able to do what we wanted in the ports of call in Spain and Portugal. When we cruised in August on Celebrity Edge in the Caribbean our time in ports was very much affected by COVID protocols, both the ship's and the port's. We did a back to back and each 7 night cruise only had three port stops instead of a usual four because of port cancellations. In the majority of the six ports at which ship stopped, you were limited to ship excursions to leave port area. Ship itself was great and from what we experienced and what I have heard from others is that Celebrity has done a great job of keeping COVID off its ships, relative to other big ship lines.

A Royal Caribbean ship was denied disembarkation of passengers in St Lucia just the other day and it could be hard to get ashore in any of the Caribbean ports for the next few months at least, if Omicron causes the surge that is being predicted. It just is impossible to predict with any certainty what conditions will be on a sailing in the next couple weeks, let alone a couple months from now.

We have a back to back scheduled on Royal Caribbean Enchantment out of Baltimore in February and we plan to go no matter what the port situation is - on the first 12 night cruise we are traveling with two other couples and we will have a great time, even if we cannot get off the ship.

Not sure what your cancellation situation is, but in general, it is easy to cancel last minute if you are OK with taking future cruise credit and do not have the problem with unrelated air and hotel reservations which you cannot easily cancel without penalty.

Snorkeller--thanks for your honest assessment. I had been somewhat thinking about trying to cruise again, and I think I will put that aside for a while. That just doesn't sound appetizing to me, doing only ship excursions and wearing a mask all the time. I would rather just stay home, or better yet--just go to SXM!

I saw one of the huge Royal Caribbean ships had 40-some positive tests when it returned to Miami this weekend. Possibly the same ship that was denied docking at St. Lucia?

It was Explorer of the Seas denied entry on December 16,. Apparently, just a few crew had tested positive - I am not sure of exact facts on the positive case numbers. From our own experience on St Kitts in February 2020 - when Royal Caribbean had to fight to get permission to let passengers off because of a handful of active flu cases - I would not be at all surprised if all the islands, especially those not wild about or dependent on cruise ships coming anyway, bar the big cruise ships, generally..

Could be. You are lot closer to that situation than I am. As I said before, I think that it will be a while before we get onboard again..

Carol - yes, I do not think it a good time to jump back into cruising!

I respect your opinion.

Happy holidays to you and yours!!!!

I truly appreciate all the input from all the responders, we have decided to cancel our trip due to the mask requirements on board and the potential of being denied entry to some of the ports. It just doesn't sound like as much fun as we experienced on our last cruise in 2020 just before the COVID struck. We hope to make a cruise once this virus is under control, it may be a long time.

Don--I don't really blame you. Recent reports of many positive tests are not going in the right direction.

DonAT,

I think you are choosing wisely.
Things are just too much in the air now.
HA Skips Mexico - NBC

Sure glad we made with only minor interruption, albeit frustrating.
The mask deal really wasn't that big of a nuisance. Skipping the Azores so the US Govt could do their thing was a bummer.
All in All good time.

Tom