Pandemic Cruising

 

Boy, it felt great to be back at sea!

Cruising is back, with a lot of special protocols, that will hopefully help it to continue. We passengers have surely missed it, and many of the crew have not had jobs for 16 or more months. Needless to say, many were as thrilled to be back to work as we were to be cruising! 

We cruised on MSC Divina, 7 nights, and Carnival Horizon 8 nights. 

Both companies had health and safety protocols, but they varied in their approaches. For both companies, all crew are vaccinated and go through a quarantine period before going into service. In fact, we discovered portions of Divina decks blocked off for crew getting ready to onboard, as well as rooms set aside for passengers or crew who might get sick (hopefully not!). One crew member we talked to described his quarantine period, where he was housed in a passenger balcony cabin, with his meals brought to him. He enjoyed being in the balcony but got a little bored. Crew also have to be masked at all times, the exception being entertainment staff (like the band) while performing, where they are also roped off to limit interaction.

Most crew, including dining room staff, are all masks all the time. Carnival has a fun way to let you know what everyone looks like: a button with their picture! This was Macarena dance night. I'm not sure why I look like I'm doing the Thriller Dance? LOL! 

All passengers, regardless of vaccination status, are required to mask in elevators, at food service locations and in other congested places. For the latter, MSC passengers did a much better job at this than Carnival passengers. We were a bit surprised, with all of the masking requirements, that we were then seated close to people in the formal dining room. Room stewards and room service were not to enter cabins at same time as passengers, and they did a good job at this. Masking requirements at stops varied depending on the country's rules. For most places it was masking indoors, outdoors if social distance cannot be maintained. 

Mask Life: Wash and dry the masks, beach towel clips as mask holders.

Masking is required at embarkation and debarkation, and embarkation involved a few more stops / stations for additional checks of vaccine cards and negative COVID tests. Check-in and embarkation were by appointment, in theory to minimize crowds. Didn't work in practice. 

Both cruises were at much lower than full capacity, Divina about 1/3 and Carnival about 2/3. Divina had a much more homogeneous crowd, the majority being older and long-term cruisers, mostly people from Florida or nearby states. At 30 cruises, we were the 'babies.' Carnival had a mixture of ages, more children and teens, and people from all around the U.S., but primarily from the southeast. We met several people from Michigan and even two Canadian ladies. Compliance was better on MSC, although it was fairly good overall on Carnival. Occasional rule-breakers were often not confronted, just like on land. We just did what we always do on cruises, and now in pandemic times: avoid crowds and annoying people!

The Horizon either didn't have pool / hot tub limits or was not enforcing them. While a much lighter load than on a 'normal' sailing, it was still too peoply for us in these times, especially as the cruise went on and passengers were increasingly exposed to people outside of the 'bubble.' We did our swim at 8 a.m. when the pools first open and are empty. One of our lifeguards who I got a chance to chat with had been a high school and college swim champion in the Philippines, specialty butterfly!

The overwhelming majority of passengers are vaccinated, with a small number of non-vaccinated (children under 12 and a handful of medical exemptions). Non-vaccinated have to provide a negative PCR test taken with 72 hours of embarkation, take a rapid antigen test before boarding, and take a test during the cruise. There are certain areas that are restricted, more so on MSC than on Carnival. For example, on MSC non-vax were in one dining room (which vax could go to, but not vice versa). Non-vax also could only go ashore in 'bubble tours,' sponsored by the cruise line and had additional costs in terms of required insurance. Vaccinated passengers have to provide a negative PCR, rapid NAAT or rapid antigen test taken with 48 hours of embarkation. Getting appointments for those that can guarantee results in the time frame and covered by our insurance was challenging and a bit stressful.

The buffet. That is what everyone wondered about when cruising resumed. MSC and Carnival had very different approaches. On Divina, the buffet was highly monitored. At the entrance, crew were stationed to make certain passengers hand sanitize. Daily temperature checks were also part of the a.m. buffet experience. After being handed a tray and silverware, passengers walked up to the various stations and indicated what they wanted. The downside is that one's tray ends up with a lot of plates very quickly (e.g. you want butter, another plate with your butter patty). Carnival, in contrast, was like it always has been, other than people wearing masks while getting their food! There was no monitoring of hand-washing / sanitizing, and I rarely saw people doing this as they entered. To be fair, Horizon has several places where one can eat during 'buffet times,' that don't require being in a line, pushing and shoving, and people touching everything. We spent  most of our time in those places! We actually ate in the dining room the most because we discovered our friend Chris Hadinata, who is a dining room team leader, was onboard! Bonus surprise, yay! This made our Horizon cruise super special.

When Chris popped around the corner at our first sea day brunch, we both started crying.

MSC also was more stringent about the elevators. Only two people at a time, with the busier elevators monitored by crew. Carnival, on the other hand, not so good. There were no limits, and people sometimes crowded in, and a few refused to wear their masks. Horizon has an interesting elevator system that works pretty well at cutting down on elevator congestion, if the passengers follow the instructions correctly. This was hit or miss.

Muster was handled differently on each ship, but both approaches focused on reducing the gathering of people. On Divina, at an assigned time we had to watch a video on our cabin, then dial a number on the phone and enter a code given at the end of the video. Then we had to show up in the muster meeting area and have our ship card scanned. On Horizon, we visited our muster station at our leisure within a specific time frame, where a staff member demonstrated how to put on the life jacket and our cards were scanned. There was also a video to watch in cabin, but no check-up to make certain it was viewed.

The most noticeable change to me was the insertion of technology into so many aspects of cruising life, particularly on Carnival. While many MSC ships had already begun using the tracking wristbands, Divina is not equipped for this. However, in addition to the changes to muster, all menus were accessed via a QR code like so many restaurants today. Paper menus were available as an option, but they were difficult to come by. Divina was still delivering the daily program by paper. Horizon, in contrast, required us to constantly use our mobiles, which had some convenience aspects, but I generally did not care for. I like to be away from all that on a cruise. Pre-pandemic, there was the Carnival Hub, but it was more by choice. On this cruise, we had to use the Hub for everything: daily schedule, port and weather information, check in for dining, buying excursions, looking at account statement. Since we didn't purchase internet package, we had to go through a multi-step process to get into the Hub every time that we switched back to 'regular' status on our mobiles (e.g. in port when we wanted to use data). This was annoying.

At both ports, technology had made its way into Customs. No need to show one's passport, just step us to the camera and get scanned for facial recognition and you are on your way. This significantly decreased the debarkation time, which I was grateful for since it's challenging to wear a mask for a long time in Florida heat and humidity.

In all, I was happy with my cruise experience and felt much safer on the ship than on land in Florida! I don't think I would have felt comfortable if the ships were at full capacity. I don't know how they would be able to carry out the health and safety protocols in that setting? Our next cruise, my birthday cruise, has evolved into a Salsa Charter, so we will see how MSC does with a much higher passenger load. Even so, for the near future I think we'll be sailing at some level of reduced capacity, so I'm hopeful for the additional cruises we have booked for the remainder of this year. 

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments if there's an aspect of cruising you are curious about that I missed. If you care to continue on, below piccies and comments from our trips, in no particular order ...

Curaçao

Curaçao is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is part of the Leeward Antilles, commonly known as the ABCs. (Our cruise was supposed to also go to "B" Bonaire, but that was canceled, boo.) Can you see the clogs in the water? Yes, it is the origin place of the liqueur (very interesting history with link to Valencia, Spain) and it has a famous pontoon bridge, but we did all that on our last visit here. This time was all about the water!

This was our favorite port stop out of both cruises, probably because we hired Gone Caribe to tour us to some destinations of our choosing. We highly recommend this small business if you visit Curaçao. The highlight of our day was our two snorkel stops, but we also enjoyed some interesting sights on the island.

This cathedral, I believe called Church of Sint Willibrordus, was en route to our second snorkel spot. The graveyard reminded me of New Orleans. In this case, the graves are above ground to save space. We learned that while most residents are Catholic, Curaçao is home to the oldest continuously used synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, Mikve Israel-Emanuel. 

Sint Willibrordus is commonly called Williwood, and it even has its own Williwood sign.

Guess I shouldn't have said "sit on her lap," since she's a sculpture and all, but we couldn't resist the openness and warm-heartedness represented by the Curaçao Chichi doll! We also took a pause to look at this sculpture, one of several commemorating the slave revolt of 1795.

Snorkel Stop One: Playa Piscado / Playa Grandi aka Fisherman's Beach. Because the fishermen clean their catches at this spot, the sea turtles are attracted at certain times of day. They are not captive or enclosed. You can snorkel peacefully with them as they go about their business. This was a very special experience, swimming along with these beautiful creatures!

How awesome! Also, many pretty fish and this guy....

I was swimming along with this dude when I realized it was going toward John...

John suddenly jumped back and out of the water! Whoa! We think the turtle may have been attracted to the reflection on the plastic phone case.

John made a video of snorkeling with the sea turtles. Link here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/3Jx2yVnhczWbCHFP9

Thanks to friend Nicolas Deuson for the use of your lovely music!

Playa Piscado: Thumbs Up!

Snorkel Spot Two: Playa Porto Mari, where nature comes first and wild pigs roam (well, they weren't doing much roaming this day, just enjoying laying out).

Beautiful, clear Caribbean waters with great snorkeling right off the beach! I saw several fish I'd never seen before, including these dudes. First, a spotted trunkfish aka cow-fish. Looked a lot like a puffer. I wasn't able to identify the second fish, which was a dark burgundy color with white dots.

We were happy to see some healthy bits of coral!

A great day with Joey as our guide!

Life at Sea 

When not debarking to snorkel or swim, we're up every morning for a swim. I like MSC pools better than Carnival pools in general. On Divina, the first pool, forward, can be covered in inclement weather. The second pool, aft, is almost an infinity pool.

The aft pool was our favorite on Horizon. This is morning view, waiting for it to open at 8 a.m. We swam in this pool all week, but it wasn't until the last day that I noticed the decoration is a sea turtle. Cute!

Exercising means we can enjoy some of our favorite Carnival foods. 😃 Carnival excels at the cold soups, and strawberry is one of my favorites (dessert for appetizer!). Having our free Platinum frozen drink. I always get the children's banana split at least one time; it's just the right size. Always enjoy Mongolian Wok! Note my little travel fan (early birthday present from Emily); I utilized it a lot on Horizon. It was so hot on the ship (except, thankfully, our cabin)!

Here are some new things we tried and liked from Carnival. Guy's (Fieri) Pig & Anchor BBQ had good pulled pork and mac n cheese. From the sea day brunch menu, fancy cookies. We especially liked the lemon ricotta one. New on the dinner menu one night: Michigan pasties. Represent! The crust wasn't quite right, but the filling inside was on point.

We aren't huge drinkers, but we do enjoy an adult beverage while listening to live music. Horizon had some very talented musicians on board. While we enjoyed a husband-wife duo from Brazil in the Pig & Anchor, John tried the beer brewed right on board the Horizon. While listening to the house band, AKA The Quarantones, I finally got to try the drink our friend Francesco recommends, Aperol Spritz (note the fan again). Very tasty. A trio from the band even treated us to jazz a few afternoons (labeled Instrumental Grooves to not scare people away, sigh 🙄).

Now, you may have gathered that we prefer Carnival's food to MSC's, and you would be correct. However, MSC excels at coffee, pizza, cheese and pastries ... like seriously excels! Coffee everywhere on the ship is top-notch. In the morning, there is warm milk to add. The pan au chocolat is delicious. One afternoon I treated myself to a fancy coffee drink (I think it was a macchiato) while studying my Italian.

Contemplative time

When you don't want to get up from your sea day nap to go play trivia. All the music trivia were fun. They played a clip and then we guessed the song. The hilarious part was after when the cruise director would play the song and then people had to sing the lyrics. Without exception, people only know the chorus or the hook!

Did I say how happy I was to be back at sea?

Horizon Dining Room Fun

Origami by waiter Yoga from Indonesia. I kept the shirt / tie and dress for future formal nights!

The Dining Room Dances: Not as many as usual, but still lots of fun. On one night, a talented waiter sang for the dining room guests. Another night was a parade with the flaming Baked Alaska. We were so happy to get to spend the entire week with our friend Chris Hadinata!

Ocean Cay, Bimini, Bahamas

Ocean Cay was our second favorite stop. It's the best cruise private island we have been to. Go MSC! We stayed for two days, which provided lots of time to enjoy the beautiful beaches and scenery.

Up early to enjoy this stunning sunrise. We've arrived!

 

A short ride on the golf cart to Ocean Cay Lagoon.

Lagoon swimming is great. Crystal clear waters. The lagoon is netted, so only very small sea creatures. An ocean swimming pool! Once that sun comes out, hat and sunglasses are a necessity.

Back out in the evening for a sunset swim at Lighthouse Bay. This was awesome!

Another beautiful sunrise to start the day.

Morning swim at Lighthouse Bay, after which we went over to the Nature Area to do some snorkeling. Saw a fair amount of fish and some healthy coral forming. Thank you MSC for making this marine reserve!

After a morning of snorkeling and swimming, it's easy to grab a quick lunch at the food trucks on the island. There is also the traditional island BBQ lunch.

Seen Around

Eastern Auger. Look but don't take from Ocean Cay. There was an unbelievable amount of confiscated shells in the security area on Divina. Floating in the Divina forward pool view.

Sunrise reflections on Divina aft. Mask decoration on Divina.

Monkey is one of my favorite towel animals. A guitar-shaped building en route to cruise.

New towel animals. Puppy so cute. Scorpion, that's me!

Waterworks on Horizon was Dr. Seuss themed. A chair for crabby passengers.

The Feet Series

Ocean Cay, Bimini, Bahamas; Cozumel from the Thermal Spa on Divina; Catamaran in Aruba; Horizon Deck 5 at sea; Horizon Deck 11 at La Romana, Dominican Republic.

Aruba Snorkel and Catamaran

The water was quite choppy and murky, so our fish and coral piccies weren't any good. However, we had a fun time snorkeling and swimming. The men's fins provided on board had a nice feature with cutouts to have a better grip on them. (If you've ever tried to hold onto your fins while getting up the catamaran steps, you can appreciate this. I bet they lose a lot fewer fins now!) Our catamaran ride was very enjoyable.

Mother Nature's Shows