possible mandatory COVID testing for Caribbean cruises

[Ken the cruiser]

34 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

You’re missing the point. I am referring to an itinerary where you can’t get off the ship without being forced into a group. On a normal itinerary where there are both sea and port days where you can do as you please I enjoy that. I like a balance. Without that option of freedom in the ports then it would be 7 or more days onboard the ship some of which would be on a ship just sitting in port which is not a sea day.

This is true. As an alternative it would be nice if some ports had a COVID free area for passengers to walk around in and possibly purchase some locally made items. But I can understand a port authority's or cruise line's reluctance to allow folks to just roam free around the port where some local bars, restaurants and gift shops were open, or go on private tours where masks were optional until this pandemic is clearly behind us and vaccines were readily available. 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Ken the cruiser

[npcl]

5 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

It sounds like they are going to use the rapid testing in the event someone has symptoms. Which makes sense. I couldn't begin to judge which % accurate different types of tests are, but let's say the rapid tests are 80% accurate. If you have COVID symptoms and get a positive test, you should certainly be isolated and determine if others you have been in close contact with should be quarantined.  If you have COVID symptoms and a negative test, you should still be isolated (cause either way you potentially have some contagious disease either way), but won't necessarily quarantine healthy people. Even at 80% accurate with some positives testing negative and some negative testing positive, there isn't alot of harm done either way.  Compare that to testing 100's to 1,000's of people at a potentially 80% accuracy rate; that will lead to 10's to 100's of false positives/negatives that could disrupt the entire cruise.

Of course if someone does develop symptoms they have already been contagious.  and out and about with other passengers.  Plus if there are mild symptoms how many people are going to rush to medical immediately, or will they mentally justify the lack of action by attributing it to air conditioning or some other non-COVID cause.

 

Considering that roughly half of all cases are asymptomatic for everyone that develops symptoms you are just as likely to have someone walking around without symptoms.

 

With diagnostic tests much  more likely to be false negatives than false positives.  With antibody tests more likely to be false positive than false negatives.

[sanger727]

7 minutes ago, npcl said:

Of course if someone does develop symptoms they have already been contagious.  and out and about with other passengers.  Plus if there are mild symptoms how many people are going to rush to medical immediately, or will they mentally justify the lack of action by attributing it to air conditioning or some other non-COVID cause.

 

Considering that roughly half of all cases are asymptomatic for everyone that develops symptoms you are just as likely to have someone walking around without symptoms.

 

With diagnostic tests much  more likely to be false negatives than false positives.  With antibody tests more likely to be false positive than false negatives.

 

And those are all reasons for why cruising right now is problematic. But I still think it makes more sense to test someone with symptoms as opposed to everyone; for the very reasons of this alaska cruise season that got cancelled over 1 false positive.

[Fouremco]

2 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

And those are all reasons for why cruising right now is problematic. But I still think it makes more sense to test someone with symptoms as opposed to everyone; for the very reasons of this alaska cruise season that got cancelled over 1 false positive.

IIRC, the Alaskan and Hawaiian cruise seasons were cancelled as they could no longer use Vancouver or any other Canadian port. Ditto Canada/New England cruises. The Canadian ban most certainly wasn't based on "1 false positive".

[sanger727]

Just now, Fouremco said:

IIRC, the Alaskan and Hawaiian cruise seasons were cancelled as they could no longer use Vancouver or any other Canadian port. Ditto Canada/New England cruises. The Canadian ban most certainly wasn't based on "1 false positive".

 

I"m talking about this

 

https://cruiseradio.net/false-positive-one-wrong-test-cancels-alaska-cruise-season/

 

An alaska season for one specific cruise line that tried to get up and going again

[Fouremco]

6 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

I"m talking about this

 

https://cruiseradio.net/false-positive-one-wrong-test-cancels-alaska-cruise-season/

 

An alaska season for one specific cruise line that tried to get up and going again

My apologies, I thought that you were referring to mainstream cruise lines.

[Gracie115]

1 hour ago, WonderMan3 said:

You’re missing the point. I am referring to an itinerary where you can’t get off the ship without being forced into a group. On a normal itinerary where there are both sea and port days where you can do as you please I enjoy that. I like a balance. Without that option of freedom in the ports then it would be 7 or more days onboard the ship some of which would be on a ship just sitting in port which is not a sea day.

 

I'm NOT missing the point, I understand exactly what you are saying and that's fine for you.  For me, having only ship's excursions in the beginning to get ships back out to sea is FINE with us, VERY FINE....  we would either use them if we thought they would work or stay on the ship.    We have used private tours for the most part for the last 10 years and, yes, they are better, but not being able to do so at the moment is FINE with us.  I just want to be on a ship and will deal with excursions that might not be as fun as normal or be restricted more than normal.  The ships need to be able to sail and we ALL NEED to be prepared to put up with a bit of inconvenience until things in the world settle down, which may well take a year or two or three even with a vaccine.  

[Gracie115]

41 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

This is true. As an alternative it would be nice if some ports had a COVID free area for passengers to walk around in and possibly purchase some locally made items. But I can understand a port authority's or cruise line's reluctance to allow folks to just roam free around the port where some local bars, restaurants and gift shops were open, or go on private tours where masks were optional until this pandemic is clearly behind us and vaccines were readily available. 

Exactly

[npcl]

deleted

Edited August 14, 2020 by npcl

[WonderMan3]

4 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

 

I'm NOT missing the point, I understand exactly what you are saying and that's fine for you.  For me, having only ship's excursions in the beginning to get ships back out to sea is FINE with us, VERY FINE....  we would either use them if we thought they would work or stay on the ship.    We have used private tours for the most part for the last 10 years and, yes, they are better, but not being able to do so at the moment is FINE with us.  I just want to be on a ship and will deal with excursions that might not be as fun as normal or be restricted more than normal.  The ships need to be able to sail and we ALL NEED to be prepared to put up with a bit of inconvenience until things in the world settle down, which may well take a year or two or three even with a vaccine.  

Not sure why you are shouting words at me. I was quite clear in my posts that I was speaking about what I was personally comfortable with and yet you persist in challenging that. It is my opinion. You have a different opinion. Great. Please move on.

[Gracie115]

11 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Not sure why you are shouting words at me. I was quite clear in my posts that I was speaking about what I was personally comfortable with and yet you persist in challenging that. It is my opinion. You have a different opinion. Great. Please move on.

 was ready to move on after the post....we disagree that's why we all have options.

[hcat]

We all have our own comfort levels, cruise expectations and dreams...

 

Diff strokes for diff folks....our family position is to not spend our money and time until the arrangements are to our liking and comfort level....stresswise and health / safety wise.  No one is right or wrong in this and for now we are all on dry land!

[Gracie115]

59 minutes ago, hcat said:

We all have our own comfort levels, cruise expectations and dreams...

 

Diff strokes for diff folks....our family position is to not spend our money and time until the arrangements are to our liking and comfort level....stresswise and health / safety wise.  No one is right or wrong in this and for now we are all on dry land!

 

True....hopefully a year from now this will all feel like just a bad dream...a really really bad dream.