Covid-19 on river cruise ship on Moselle river

[notamermaid]

A German river cruise ship has been struck with an outbreak of Coronavirus. The Vista Serenity is currently moored in Piesport in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district. When Covid-19 cases were suspected at the weekend, all passengers left and were taken to Cologne, where the ship had started the itinerary from. All the crew have been tested since and 13 cases have been confirmed. The ship will stay under quarantine in that port.

 

This article in German gives a photo and a few details. The cases add towards the count of the district.

 

https://www.volksfreund.de/region/mosel-wittlich-hunsrueck/coronavirus-13-crewmitglieder-eines-flusskreuzfahrtschiffs-infiziert_aid-54174395

 

notamermaid

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by notamermaid
missing word

[notamermaid]

And another ship is in quarantine - this one on the Main river. It is the Excellence Countess and she is docked in Miltenberg. A crew member tested positive. Again, all passengers were allowed to leave the ship.

 

Report from regional newspaper online "Fränkische Nachrichten".

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

[gnome12]

This is all getting very scary.

[dogs4fun]

@gnome12 Yes, getting scary and, IMHO, doesn't bode well for us to safely return to cruising anytime soon. 

[notamermaid]

To me it seems that the greater risk of one person on the ship infecting many others comes more from the crew than the passengers mingling - I mean with the new measures in place. I have seen the crew cabins on television. And the small galleys. Having two-thirds of the passengers does not automatically mean you can reduce the crew by a third as well. I wonder if cruise lines spread out the crew members to the "aquarium class" cabins? At least the prolonged exposure during rest times would be reduced. Would like to see or talk to a cruise line employee about that.

 

I find it interesting to read that on both ships the passengers were not quarantined with the crew. For German cruisers it is of course easy to get home. With both ships the embarkation port is only a maximum seven hour coach ride away. If this sort of thing happened with longer distances, like the Douro cruise earlier this year or people coming from across the ocean, how would they do this? On the Douro at the time no action was needed as the passengers had left according to schedule before the cases were confirmed. Not so easy to fit many people in a suitable self-isolation hotel I should think. 

 

With three outbreaks now on a much reduced fleet* of the industry sailing, this does not make me feel comfortable.

 

*I have no recent figures

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

I cannot find an update on the ship in Piesport on the Moselle, especially as regards the passengers. Meanwhile, another ship has had an outbreak, this time more serious.

 

More on that in a separate thread.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Okay, slight change. Info on the river cruise ship Swiss Crystal here, instead of a new thread. 60 of the passengers on a music themed cruise from Passau to Frankfurt tested positive after having already left the ship. German media call it a superspreader event (a bit dramatic). Some of the Swiss passengers and a popular singer who gave a performance on board had symptoms on their return to Switzerland and tested positive. None reportedly fell ill while still on board. Quarantine is nevertheless happening for them at home. Experts put the outbreak down to singing and gathering in the lounge for a prolonged period of time. All health protocols where supposed to have been in place.

 

Short report: https://www.cruisetricks.de/viele-covid-19-infizierte-nach-musik-themenkreuzfahrt-auf-der-swiss-crystal/

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

I do not want to alarm you but here is just some info on another river cruise ship. The Viva Tiara has had four positive cases among the crew during the recent cruise and when this article was written was docked in Passau, where the cruise officially ended. All passengers were sent home and advised to self-isolate, etc.This is the article of the local newspaper: https://www.pnp.de/lokales/stadt-und-landkreis-passau/passau-stadt/Corona-auf-Kreuzfahrtschiff-in-Passau-Weitere-Details-bekannt-3827247.html

 

The crew members are quarantined of course.

 

It would be interesting to find out if any cases among the passengers have come to light, but we will probably not hear about this at all.

 

notamermaid

 

[Shmoo here]

10 hours ago, notamermaid said:

All passengers were sent home and advised to self-isolate, etc.

Does this mean, after they got off the ship, they then traveled (via busses, trains, airplanes, whatever) thereby exposing others before they "self-isolate"?

 

Doesn't sound like a great plan.

 

 

[notamermaid]

On 11/1/2020 at 4:34 AM, Shmoo here said:

Does this mean, after they got off the ship, they then traveled (via busses, trains, airplanes, whatever) thereby exposing others before they "self-isolate"?

 

Doesn't sound like a great plan.

 

 

The mask-wearing and other safety measures - the mask mandate extends to all public transport in Germany - on board means they were most likely considered a low risk. Not ideal travelling, but staying on the ship would be worse I suppose - it is a confined space.

 

Meanwhile, another ship has had an outbreak among the crew, it is the MS Thurgau Chopin, currently docked in quarantine in Potsdam. The passengers tested negative and as "second degree" risk status were sent home - to contact health authorities locally, etc. 10 crew members tested positive, who are not allowed to leave the ship. I do not want to link the ad-heavy German website and an English one is subscriber only. If you google the news with the name of the ship and Potsdam you should be able to find it if you wish to do so.

 

The statistics are getting more unfavourable for river cruising.

 

notamermaid