Return to Cruise: Carnival Breeze – Pre-Cruise & Protocols

After a fifteen month hiatus, Carnival Breeze will sail her first cruise on July 15th from Galveston. Premier Custom Travel’s Chris Grum will be onboard and will chronicle the experience in our special blog series RETURN TO CRUISE: CARNIVAL BREEZE.

Our departure is just a few days away and the pre-cruise process has been mostly the same as it was prior to the pandemic.

THE PRE-CRUISE EXPERIENCE

Before COVID-19, you could usually check in for your cruise much further out from your departure date. Now (and I expect this to be temporary) you must wait until two weeks prior to your sailing date. For several years now, Carnival Cruise Line has been asking you to select a port arrival time so that they can control the traffic flow at the terminal. They have been emphasizing that this will be even more important that ever, so we made sure to check in as soon as our clock hit 14 days out. Luckily, we were able to get the earliest available arrival time for our entire group of nine – 10:30 to 11:00am. Side note – some of us had originally purchased “Faster to the Fun,” which is Carnival’s package that allows you to get priority boarding and some other perks. A few weeks ago, we got an email that FTTF would not be available for this sailing and our purchase price had been refunded. While I was a bit disappointed, I understand why they did this and with the ship operating at a reduced capacity, I don’t think we’ll miss this feature.

The check-in process was exactly the same as before. The system asked for our emergency contact info, our preferred payment method for onboard expenses, and verification of our travel documents like passports or birth certificates. There was not any health info requested during the actual check-in questions. A few days later, the health questionnaire was available in our cruise planner accounts. Two different versions of this have appeared, although I believe one of them was posted in error. The first one asked a bunch of questions that we’ve all heard during COVID-19: Have you been exposed? Have you been around anyone with COVID-19 in the past 14 days? How do you feel? Are you exhibiting any symptoms of COVID? Each passenger was required to answer these questions. A few days later, this survey disappeared and was replaced by a more straightforward question – Are you vaccinated?

This cruise will be operating under the 95/98 rule, which means that 95% of the passengers must be vaccinated and 98% of the crew. By choosing this option, Carnival does not have to have a test cruise for this ship first. It does, however, keep some from being able to sail, including children under 12 who are not eligible to be vaccinated presently. They do allow for 5% of the passengers to get exemptions, although we believe that priority is given to those who have legal or medical reasons for needing it over families with children. I’ve been keeping tabs on the availability of rooms on our cruise, and at last check before the cruise was taken off sale, there were roughly 20% of the staterooms still available in inventory. That number does not include accessible rooms and any rooms the cruise line might be holding back, so it’s likely a lower number than the actual availability. What is unknown is the capacity at which the ship will be sailing. I could not get an official answer from Carnival, but we are led to believe that the number is around 60-70% of normal capacity.

Carnival Breeze can carry between 3690 (sold out at double occupancy only) and 4891 (sold out with all berths occupied). So at 60% capacity and sold out, that means between 2214 and 2935 passengers. Now take 20% of that away, and you have between 1771 and 2348 people. I’m expecting the ship to sail with somewhere between 2200 and 2800 passengers. I presume at some point we’ll learn the actual number and I’ll certainly share it when it is announced.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS

Since cruising shut down 15 months ago, everyone has been wondering what the experience would be like in a post-COVID world. I must say that the required protocols are, at least on paper, not nearly as invasive or restrictive as we might have expected even a few months or weeks ago. Here is a look at the protocols for our cruise.

PRE-CRUISE

As I mentioned previously, all of us must do the standard check-in plus fill out a health questionnaire prior to our arrival at the port. So far, this process has been extremely simple and not had any unexpected requirements.

VACCINE & TESTING REQUIREMENTS

We are required to be vaccinated and most in our group received our shots months ago. We will have to present a copy of our COVID-19 vaccine records when we arrive at the port. The good news is that we will not require testing to board the ship or to return to the U.S. after the cruise. The only testing that might come in to play is if we exhibit any symptoms or come into contact with someone who has tested positive.

ENHANCED HEALTH SCREENING

Carnival is telling us to expect “enhanced” health screening at the port, although I don’t expect this to be any big deal at all. I’m sure they’ll check all our documents and I’m also anticipating them asking the same questions that were asked on the online health questionnaire, but beyond that I don’t expect too much unless someone in our group is deemed “at risk” or is symptomatic. They are also telling us to expect contact tracing onboard, which I presume will be done via the Carnival HUB app and where we get our room keys scanned.

MASKS & SOCIAL DISTANCING

The great news is that since this is a fully vaccinated cruise, we don’t have to wear masks or social distance while onboard. We will need to wear them in the terminal during embarkation and disembarkation, plus they will be required while ashore in Mexico. The only place onboard that will require a mask is the medical center, and I certainly hope nobody in our group needs to visit that area of the ship during our voyage.

YOUTH PROGRAMS

Because kids under 12 cannot be vaccinated at this time, the kids clubs for those ages will not be operating on our cruise. The teen clubs will be open, although I expect the overall number of children to be lower than normal due to the vaccine requirements. I’ve sailed summer cruises in the past where the under 18 total was half of the number of total passengers. On this cruise, I’d be surprised if it’s more than 25 to 30 percent. I feel terrible for the families that have had to change their plans due to this rule, but I can also understand Carnival’s desire to resume cruising. We have to crawl before we can walk.

SHORESIDE EXPERIENCE

As mentioned previously, we will be required to wear masks while ashore in Cozumel, but since we are all vaccinated we will be allowed to either participate in a Carnival excursion or explore on our own. On non-vaccinated cruises, the passengers may only go ashore on cruise line authorized excursions due to COVID protocols. So it’s great news that we have that freedom. Right now we don’t have specific plans for Cozumel, a port we’ve visited quite frequently. However, I do want to at least go ashore and give some business to the local shop owners at the port, who have been without customers for the past 15 months.

ONBOARD HEALTH

Despite what the media and some on social media will tell you, cruise ships have always done a great job with keeping you healthy onboard. Before COVID, you’d occasionally hear about the Norovirus, which some called the “cruise ship” disease. Statistically, you’re much more likely to catch Norovirus on land than at sea. The numbers are staggering. But nobody ever tells that story. Instead, when a rare outbreak does happen on a ship (typically affecting only a small percentage of the passengers), it gets reported endlessly on the news with hyperbolic headlines.

With COVID-19, I’m sure we will experience even more stringent cleaning and lots of hand sanitization stations. I’m completely certain that the cruise line will do its part to keep things clean and healthy. I’m not as confident in the passengers, who I’ve frequently seen leave restrooms without washing their hands. We as customers are responsible for our health as much as the cruise line is. We must do our part to keep things safe and healthy. Hopefully there will be more frequent reminders of this fact from the crew, our cruise director, and the ship’s captain.

I don’t find any of these protocols to be surprising or invasive. From what I’ve heard about the first few sailings so far, the experience is more similar to what is was in the past than it is different. Sure, there might be a few things that are unavailable temporarily and the crew might be a bit rusty since they haven’t done their jobs in almost a year and a half. But I know for sure that they will be enthusiastic and very happy to see us. I’m honestly expecting this to be one of my favorite cruises just because of that energy that will be permeating throughout the ship from the moment we board.

Have questions you want answered or topics you’d like to see me cover? Send me an email and I’d be happy to include them in future posts.

The next blog will be posted at the end of our first day onboard. I’ll cover the boarding process and what it’s like on the ship. I’ll also be sharing daily updates that will include the daily menus, activity schedules, and an overall report on how things are going and what the experience is like.