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I'll add my thanks for your willingness to share your experience, and some sympathy, as well. I took a river cruise in December, when Omicron was at it's peak. While on board, the information flow was exceptional, however information pre-cruise was abysmal. That is probably why the ship was 75% empty (I loved it!) We have a HAL cruise coming up in two weeks, and we've decided to stick it out again. However, like you did, we will do everything we can to mitigate our exposure. Excursions we were considering have been scrapped (we don't want to be stuck on a bus with 30+ non-maskers) and most of our plans are now of the out-door persuasion. One extra bit of precaution we are employing is to bring our own surface sanitizer and giving our cabin the once-over upon boarding. I'm sure the crew will do their best, but they will have to turn over a lot of cabins in a short time. We are more than happy to give it a more thorough cleaning before we settle in.

I think we are all forgetting the biggest killer of formal night: baggage fees. Back in the day, airlines allowed 2 full bags each. That allowed for at least one garment bag per couple, which kept our nice suites and dresses unwrinkled. These days, with a single suitcase costing up to $60 each direction, dressing up like we're at a Hollywood premier is far too expensive. A nice sweater and slacks travel better than beaded gowns.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. That is what we planned to do, but it is good to hear that our instincts were right.

Do you mind if I use that? I'm writing an article on entitled travelers and, even a dozen paragraphs could not illustrate the phenomenon as well as you did in that one phrase.

While most of your examples are not those of "superspreader events", baring the sports stadium example, one typically departs airplanes, airports, trains, buses, malls, grocery stores and sports stadiums within a few hours, mitigating exposure. On a cruise, one is typically subject to exposure to one's fellow passengers for a week or more, day in and day out. Not to mention the exposure experienced by the hard-working crew, who feeds and cleans up after us. While one must continue to live their lives, shop for food, travel to work, etc., cruises are luxuries that are not necessary (although highly desirable). Exposing others, especially the low-paid workers on the cruise ships, indiscriminately and without the slightest consideration, is unconscionable. For their sake alone, I will happily pay $20 for a test and suffer through having a q-tip invade my sinus cavity. I'm sure they appreciate it far more than non-testers appear to appreciate them.

Of course, everything about cruising is expensive and inconvenient, before you board. Paying for airfare, going through airport security, flight delays. Airport transfers. Excursions. Again, if one cannot handle the inconvenience and minor expense to be tested, then maybe one should take road trips until they can handle their responsibility they have to their fellow passengers. Or maybe not, as road trips require that you follow the rules of the road, as well. Ugh, the inconvenience of stopping at every red light!

I offered you the a link to the entire paper. You choose not to read it, but I can advise that the subject that this thread is about is testing, which is the first mitigation measure. So, you demand that others supply a peer review study backing up their conclusions. I do. You decline to even read the study you insisted on, and you admit that there is not a study to back up your misguided conclusion. Okey, dokey, then. No sense wasting my time here.

Certainly. Below is a study printed by the National Library of Medicine specifically for cruise ships. I've added a link, but the upshot is: Conclusions In the absence of mitigation measures, COVID-19 can spread easily on cruise ships in a susceptible population because of the confined space and high-density contact networks. This environment can create superspreader events and facilitate international spread. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8739343/ Please share your "peer reviewed" study that shows that allowing infected passengers onboard a cruise ship doesn't result in increased infections.

Saying that the testing doesn't stop ALL incidences of Covid is a bit like saying that traffic laws don't stop all car crashes. Of course it doesn't stop all, but testing can stop some, and maybe even many. The fewer people who board with covid, the less likely everyone else will be infected on board. I can only assume that the complainers are afraid of being found positive and denied boarding. There is really no other reason. If a $20 test is too much to spend on their own and their fellow traveler's health and safety, then maybe they need to look at whether they should really be spending thousands of $$ on a cruise in the first place. I will happily test before boarding, and even mid-cruise, if necessary (as I had to on my last river cruise) to be as sure as possible that I don't put my fellow passengers at risk.

There is a Voyage of the Vikings blog, typically on the first page here outlining the current sailing from BOS to northern Europe, Ireland and back to BOS. You will probably get the most up-to-date info right there. I've been following it myself, as my spouse and I will be boarding the same ship in August.

Thank you to everyone who is keeping us updated on the virus spread aboard the Zaandam. I and my spouse are scheduled to board on Aug 13, just as most of you will be disembarking. We have a very early boarding time scheduled so, assuming the ship will still sail, I am a bit dubious that the crew will be able to get every cabin properly cleaned and sanitized before we board (although, I am sure they will do their best). I guess some strong disinfectant spray and wipes, as well as several masks, will be in our bags. For those onboard the Zaandam who have had their voyage interrupted with the virus, I am so sorry. I have had three planned trips cancelled before starting in the past two years, but that is nothing compared to losing your dream cruise mid-sailing. I will happily submit to as many cheek swabs, all mask mandates and every request to "washy-washy" as necessary to keep myself and my fellow travelers safe, in order to continue on this decade-long planned cruise.

Chocolate covered ginger, you say? Where did you manage to find such a wonderful and unique sounding confection? I'll be in Charlottetown in a couple of weeks on the Zaandam. Please, do tell!

Thank you for this Shipwalker, and FlaMariner. I've copied the info and included it in the itinerary info doc I made for our adult children. We used to blithely skip off without telling a soul, but as we get older, and with aging parents ourselves, it's important to make sure everyone knows how to find us.

Thank you for posting this. I'll be hopping on the Zaandam in BOS when you return (two ships in the night, so to speak) so I will enjoy following the sailing of "my" ship to Europe. Enjoy your voyage!

Thank you for sharing your experiences! We are going on that same itinerary in about 6 weeks and are quite excited. Do you mind going back a couple of days and telling me about your walk to the Citadel? I see it is on a bit of a hill. Was the walk up terribly strenuous? We'll walk it either way, but I'm wondering if I should do a few extra leg exercises before the trip 🙂.

Nevermind. I see the answer directly above. Carry on.