Cruising in 2021

There is no surprise that we love to cruise. It is one of the most economical ways to travel internationally. You have great food and entertainment as you sail to beautiful new places. Its a safe way to travel despite the constant “floating petri dish” comments that are made by some. Before the pandemic we would try to go on at least one cruise a year. For us as of December of 2021 it had been over a year since we had been on a cruise ship. After our planned December trip that was a Christmas Market tour of Austria, Germany and Switzerland was canceled due to Covid lockdowns in those countries we still wanted to take an international trip. We looked at our options and decided on a 7 day cruise out of Miami to the Eastern Caribbean. Being the first cruise back we were expecting a very different experience and were not sure what to expect but we had a great time. Here is a little bit about our experiences and some changes that have been made already after our cruise.

Booking the Cruise and Pre-Cruise

We took a look at Norwegian Cruise Line’s website and found some really great deals for black Friday that included specialty dinning (steak house, French restaurant, Japanese style restaurant similar to Benihana), money of shore excursions and more. We called our personal cruise consultant who helped us with all the details. Pre-cruise you always have to fill out check in documents that include information such as your passport, emergency contact and other items. This time there was more as expected you needed to fill out such as vaccination status since on Norwegian and many of the cruise lines require all (Norwegian) or most people to be vaccinated to cruise. We also needed to setup a pre-cruise Covid Antigen Test that would occur at the dock. The paperwork was quick to fill out and I knocked it out in around 30 minutes. With Norwegian if you take a Covid Test like a PCR up to 96 hours before you embark on the ship and it comes out negative and if you test positive at the dock they will pay for any quarantine that will be required. So its recommended that you get a Covid Test ahead of time in case you have been exposed to the virus and have it. After all that we were ready to cruise.

At the Port

We took a NCL transfer from the Miami airport to the cruise port and saw there was already a long line for Covid Testing at the port. CVS was handling the testing. We arrived at our scheduled time and got in line. The line was a bit chaotic but we got into the testing center after around an hour wait. They took our temperature and scanned a QR code I got when we filled out the paper work. We were sent to a testing station where we self swabbed while a CVS nurse watched and took the samples. We sat down in a waiting area as we watched for our test numbers to be shown on the screen. Once the time was up we went to see our results. Our test results as expected came back negative. If we had positive results from the Antigen test they would have given us a PCR test to confirm the positive result. From there we went to officially check in where they asked us Covid questions and took our temperature. Once that was out of the way we were able to board the ship pretty much normally.

On the Ship

On the ship in general things were back to normal. There were fewer people as Norwegian is keeping capacity held down to 50-60%. The state rooms next to ours were both empty. So as we went around the ship at times we would be alone or nearly alone. We were able to go to dinning just as we had before the pandemic, the activities on board were open for us to go to such as go-karts, casino, laser tag, Virtual Reality games, an escape room and much more. The entire crew was required to wear masks and we found out that the crew had also been boosted on top of being vaccinated with a two dose regimen. The passengers on our cruise were not required to wear masks. NCL provided us with KN95 masks in our stateroom and suggested people wear them. As I have been saying all along we take a middle ground approach to the pandemic. We are definitely not locked away at home and we also are not going all over the place without masks or precautions. I believe we would be in better shape if we would take more of a middle ground approach instead of the two extremes. We decided to wear our high grade KN95 and N95 masks while not eating on board the ship. This gave us some protection while going about or trip. We did get the occasional comment or stare “Why are you wearing a mask if its not required?”. Beyond that pretty much everything was like it was before. The crew was constantly working to sanitize high touch areas as they have always done and there was ample hand sanitizer around the ship. Before you entered a restaurant you had to sanitize your hands. Things have changed since our cruise already and now masks are mandatory for all crew AND guests while in public and not actively eating or drinking. I have no issue with that as masks for me personally do not effect my trip badly. You get used to them and in general its just about mindset. We hear from many that they cannot breathe in a mask. We had N95 masks on when we left our cruise for about 12 hours straight and felt just fine. We got many thanks and appreciative words from the crew for continuing to wear masks and working to keep ourselves and the crew safe. If someone onboard tests positive due to whatever reason they took a test the cruise will contact trace and test those in contact with that person. For me that was another reason to wear a mask as I did not want to be quarantined at a port we stopped at or in our stateroom due to catching Covid.

Shore Excursions

We had four different stops on the cruise that all had different rules associated with them. In our stop to The Bahamas (Norwegian Private Island), masks were required on the tender boats but not on the island itself. We did a lot of snorkeling there so we wore our masks when around a bunch of people but not as much as other places. In the US Virgin Island Masks were required but at least on our safari bus most people were not wearing masks. At the shops and places though there were signs stating if you did not wear a mask no service would be given. The same was said for The British Virgin Island were masks were required. We went into a straw market (like a flea market with local crafts and gifts) and a maskless couple was arguing with a local lady running the shop who wanted them to put on a mask. They left angrily. The lady then turned to us an thanked us for helping work to keep her safe and for respecting the laws of her country. You have to remember that people in different countries have different mindsets and you are a guest in their country. Just like I would not disobey someone’s wishes in their house as a guest, I want to respect the people when visiting another country. I want to leave a good impression with them of myself and people from my country and not leave the impression as this couple did. If we were alone we would take our masks off just for fresh air in the hot tropical environment. In the Dominican Republic they were extra cautious as they desperately want tourism to continue with out a shutdown as their income depends on it. Our tour guide made sure everyone was wearing a mask and explained he has a family and he doesn’t want to catch it and bring it home to them. Everyone on our tour adhered to his request and wore masks on the tour. In general most people were wearing masks except outdoors in the Dominican Republic. We thoroughly enjoyed all of our tours despite the changes due to Covid. Everyone we talked with also enjoyed them so the precautions did not really change much.

Getting off the Cruise

In general getting off the cruise was not really any different than before other than masks were required while in the port. The only real change was we did not go through US passport control and customs like we were used to. They just let us pass through and leave the port. We did not take a test when entering the US like we had to take when we flew back home from Costa Rica.

In Conclusion

We really enjoyed our cruise and did not have any issues with the precautions and even took some additional precautions so our cruise was not ruined. The bottom line is if you are not willing to get vaccinated or deal with wearing a mask cruising is not only not for you but not going to be possible with the vaccination requirement. In general not being vaccinated severely limits your ability to travel internationally. At the worst case you will not be able to enter a country unvaccinated, at the best case you will have to do additional testing and other requirements. It is a personal choice to get vaccinated but if you want to cruise or travel internationally its almost a must.

As I mentioned above, I constantly see people online saying cruises are “floating petri dishes” and full of disease. For me personally I do not believe that to be the case. In general I felt safer on the cruise ship than I do going to the store back home. Before the cruise we had to test to get on and the ship was fully vaccinated. On board the crew is constantly cleaning and sanitizing all over the ship. That cannot be said for many places back home. Now with the mask mandate on cruise lines like Norwegian it will be even safer. Its once again a personal choice to how you travel or if you even feel safe to travel at all. I for one trust cruising as a safe way of traveling despite what some might say. Things are changing rapidly so keep a eye out to see if things change before you go on any kind of trip.