Thoughts about cruising now with so much virus around- why or why not?

[TeeRick]

I think it is time to explore this topic again with some fresh thought given where we are with the pandemic.

 

So here is Food For Thought.  Anybody can respond.  Let's have the conversation without name calling and emotions.

 

There are so many cases in the US of virus infection now, about 22 million to date, and the CDC estimates 4X to 5X that number, so maybe 80 million to 100 million exposed to the virus.

So the situation is very different than back in March when cruising was banned.  At that time the CDC was trying to prevent outbreaks.  And frankly prevent the situation that we are now in anyway.  And hope for a vaccine by year end.  Well that horse has long ago left the barn.  Do I have as much risk (or more) of being exposed to the virus in the general population as on a cruise ship right now?  And if the infected but asymptomatic  people from a cruise get off the ship are they really dramatically increasing the numbers on land anymore? Or spreading significantly more virus?  Or just blending into to the massive numbers already walking around? It is estimated that 40-50% of infections in the general walking around population are asymptomatic.  Everybody is now wearing masks (for the most part) and social distancing.  We are all in the same soup of infection at this point.  Cruise or no cruise.  So why the continued focus on the cruise industry?   Especially since this industry has put in place a whole lot of safety changes.

 

I still have personally decided not to cruise unless I can get vaccinated.  That was not possible until now.  What do you think?

[sydbarrett]

I think the stigma will follow the ships around for some time. I wonder what ports are willing to accept ships? For me personally it doesn't make sense to travel anywhere because we have low double digit cases in our province. Not that we are allowed to leave the province without a 14 day quarantine anyway.   That won't be lifted any time soon. When it is, I'll be off like a bat outta hell (as long as I'm vaccinated). I am willing to give a cruise another chance but if they start quarantining ships again, that will be it for me.

[Mr. Click]

I have two cruises booked for the fall. I do not expect to go on either of them.  Vaccine rollout has been way too slow for reasons we will not discuss but the reality is the rollout has failed for now.  There needs to be a full vaccine program in effect world wide before I would consider booking or going on a cruise now. It is just not safe. The current plans to resume cruises with masks, elevator limits, show limits, buffet limits etc just don't fit my idea of a vacation.  I worked hard for a long long time to have the money to enjoy my vacation time and right now the rules for cruising do not sound like a good time to me.  My real wish is that Celebrity and the rest of the Royal family would wake up and deal with all of the CDC rules and stop playing games with our money.  CDC says no cruises from US ports before Nov 1 but Celebrity is still selling my Sept 26 Panama Canal cruise. That alone does not encourage me to book or take a cruise. 

[ScubesDad]

We have moved our cruises out to 2022, and will not book anymore until we see a significant return to something that resembles the old normal.  We have no intention of travelling until we are vaccinated and the infection rates have started to decline. 

[Fouremco]

There's a world of difference between life aboard and life ashore for many (most?) of us. In a typical week, DW and I might each make a couple of trips to buy groceries, pick up prescription renewals at the pharmacy, etc.. Our total exposure time to other people in the course of a week might be an hour or two, during which we maintain distance, wear masks and use sanitizer until we can get home and wash our hands. Now, try doing that on a cruise ship! We would be exposed to other people more in a single day than we would in a month at home. Thanks, but "No thanks!" 

[RNCheryl]

Everybody is now wearing masks (for the most part) and social distancing. (emphasis mine).

 

Not here in Dade and Broward Counties where a whole lot of cruising originates.  Hundreds of young people on NYE, maskless, crowded together.  And positivity rates are 11 and 12%.  Not even in the realm of possibility to consider cruising for a while.

 

On the positive side, we got our first Pfizer vaccine yesterday.

[GateGuardian]

Based on the number of people flying, going to resorts and other vacations, I don't think the cruise ships will have an issue filling their ship (or at least breaking even) when they go back into operations. 

 

While I wouldn't mind being on a cruise ship right now even with the revised services, I'm so tired of seeing people treating other people/staff like crap over mask policies, which makes me want to avoid crowds for a while. Also, my observation at resorts is the mask policy becomes "best effort" after a few days.

 

In addition, being a solo traveler on some occasions, it is also very hard to meet new people with social distancing.

[Crazy planning mom]

I think as soon as infection rates go down to a low rate such as 2 percent, the ships should be allowed to sail.  I think a negative covid test within 72 hours should be required to cruise and on all airline flights.

[Jeremiah1212]

No cruising for us until we're vaccinated, which given our risk factors, puts us essentially dead last. We have no high risk factors or urgent need.  American's are only flocking to Mexico because COVID doesn't exist at maskless All Inclusive resorts. They continue to fly home knowingly sick and don't care because there are no ramifications. 

 

I don't think anyone has a good answer, and thus the issue. We know the plan, but what do you do when an outbreak occurs on a ship and you're halfway to the southern Caribbean. Regardless of what various country and port guidelines were when the ship left, you can pretty much guarantee the scenario will change. 

[evandbob]

The post Christmas holiday surge is underway and Florida just posted a one day record of over 19,000 cases from previous record highs of 14 or 15,000.  Some estimates are that 1 in 20 carry the virus.

 

Cruisers should think about those odds if they fly or drive to a Florida port for a cruise.  1 in 20 people you meet in the airport, transport, cruiseport, or hotel are likely to be a virus carrier or transmitter. Seniors with medical issues like us will do better staying home and not venturing to the local supermarket or drugstore, let alone cruising.

 

So not only will we need to be fully two shot vaccinated, so will everyone else in order to be relatively safe.  With Florida's Molasses rollout of the vaccine, this may not happen for another 6 months.  It certainly won't be safe with some folks getting the 1st shot, that's a false sense of security.

 

 

[lv2cruisgrl]

We live in Ft Myers full time and the Covid numbers are high all over Florida.  We have received our first shot, hoping to get our second one end of this month.  We will not cruise until November (have a 12 night booked).  However if the Covid #s are still high we will cancel.  Even with the vaccine you can get Covid.  So it will depend on a number of things, Covid #s, what will the ships policy be in regards to masks, will a vaccine be mandatory, etc.  It is all a waiting game as far as we are concerned.  One Day at A Time !!  We really miss being on a ship, however if being on a ship means we have a way higher percentage of getting Covid, no thanks.

[PTC DAWG]

Let it rip, tater chip.  We'll take the "vaccine" as soon as we can....will be nice to leave the mask at home.  They'll know where we are at all times after getting the shot anyways.   🙂

 

Bride and I are ready to roll...

 

If not soon, when?  Folks can't exist without income forever.  

[PTC DAWG]

28 minutes ago, lovrccl said:

 Even with the vaccine you can get Covid.  So it will depend on a number of things, Covid #s, what will the ships policy be in regards to masks, will a vaccine be mandatory, etc.  It is all a waiting game as far as we are concerned.  One Day at A Time !!  We really miss being on a ship, however if being on a ship means we have a way higher percentage of getting Covid, no thanks.

Either the vaccine works or not, what's the point if you still have to mask up like a bank robber everywhere you go if you've taken the vaccine...

[Ashland]

All but two of my cruises I was able to move L/S to 2022.

 

I have a July 30, 2021 British Isles on Celebrity out of Amsterdam...nothing I can L/S

to 2022 I'm booked up because of their May L/S end unless X extends their L/S policy. I

have a NRD and unsure what to do until final payment in May. I'm new to X and unsure of just what my options will be.

 

I also have a Oct 14, 2021 Canada New England on RCI and am pretty sure this won't sail from a US port due to CDC restrictions. But that certainly isn't stopping them from sending me cruise planner sales despite the fact that this 9 nighter isn't even allowed to show up on the RCI website.

[4774Papa]

My wife and I have appointments at our local Georgia Health Department for the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, January 11.   It is the first day the vaccine will be available for people over 65.  It took me half an hour of constant calling, but I got through and made the appointments.

 

We have two trips planned this year, a safari in East Africa for July and Italy with a transatlantic cruise in October.  We expect to make both of those trips.   Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine have about 95% effectiveness.  Those numbers are great and the stats are that even if you get the virus (at our age and healthy) that the death rate is less than 1%.   Those are darn good numbers for us.  Yes, we will still wear a mask for months, until some form of herd immunity is achieved.

 

I would expect that the cruise lines will require all passengers be vaccinated.  They have all said that they will  have all the crew vaccinated.

[middlehaitch]

I live in Victoria, BC, we have 58 active cases of Covid19 at the moment. (360 since the start of the pandemic)

 

Victoria is a city that is visited by many cruise ships as the foreign port when doing an Alaska  cruise.  These ships carry thousands of people from all over the world and to be honest I do not want people visiting Victoria until this virus and disease is controlled.

 

We, in BC, are encouraged not to travel outside our local area, I haven't seen my grandson who lives in Vancouver, on the mainland, since Christmas Day 2019 because of this and I hope others would be respectful enough not to travel to Victoria, or BC for that matter.

 

We have a relatively low case incidence and I would hate for that to change because discretionary travel is opened up by any means but especially by cruise ships which deposit thousands of visitors at a time.

 

For me, now is not the time to open up cruising. Neither cruise ships nor cruise ports could cope with an outbreak at this point in time, and vaccines are yet to be universally available and distributed.

 

I am probably not going to be offered a vaccine until September being under 70 and with no co-morbidities so am not likely to be taking my September 2021 Med cruise. I'd rather be healthy at home than ill in Venice.

 

JMO

Cheers, h.

Edited January 8, 2021 by middlehaitch

[dani negreanu]

57 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

We have two trips planned this year, a safari in East Africa for July and Italy with a transatlantic cruise in October.  We expect to make both of those trips.   Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine have about 95% effectiveness.  

 

I've got my first dose of Pfizer, and will get the 2nd one in 2 weeks.

 

Israel is on the forefront re: the amount of vaccines administered already, but it does not do me any good, if Italy and all Europe are so slow in delivery the vaccines (I have a cruise out of Barcelona on Apex end of Sept. 21).

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

For us, as we hope to have a vaccine flowing through our veins by the end of February, we have no issues going on any of the cruises we have booked starting in May once the powers that be give the thumbs up.

 

As far as being on the ship with a bunch of other folks, we pretty much stay to ourselves anyway and have no issues with wearing a mask and social distancing if it means being able to cruise again. We also have no issues with only going on cruise line-sponsored excursions if we want to leave the ship at any port we stop at. Just give us a balcony cabin, unlimited internet, great food and entertainment on the open seas and we're good!

[sydbarrett]

41 minutes ago, middlehaitch said:

I live in Victoria, BC, we have 58 active cases of Covid19 at the moment. (360 since the start of the pandemic)

 

Victoria is a city that is visited by many cruise ships as the foreign port when doing an Alaska  cruise.  These ships carry thousands of people from all over the world and to be honest I do not want people visiting Victoria until this virus and disease is controlled.

 

We, in BC, are encouraged not to travel outside our local area, I haven't seen my grandson who lives in Vancouver, on the mainland, since Christmas Day 2019 because of this and I hope others would be respectful enough not to travel to Victoria, or BC for that matter.

 

We have a relatively low case incidence and I would hate for that to change because discretionary travel is opened up by any means but especially by cruise ships which deposit thousands of visitors at a time.

 

For me, now is not the time to open up cruising. Neither cruise ships nor cruise ports could cope with an outbreak at this point in time, and vaccines are yet to be universally available and distributed.

 

I am probably not going to be offered a vaccine until September being under 70 and with no co-morbidities so am not likely to be taking my September 2021 Med cruise. I'd rather be healthy at home than ill in Venice.

 

JMO

Cheers, h.

Well said! Let us see our families, then worry about cruising.

[RickT]

To me the issue is travel.  In a perfect world all travel would have been banned so that Covid would only exist in those places where it was first discovered.  With various Countries (not to mention States and Provinces) all at a different point in the pandemic it’s foolish (IMHO) to even consider travel until:

1) The area you live in has developed herd immunity 

2) The country you live in has developed herd immunity 

3) Places you wish to travel to have herd immunity and they restrict travel to those countries that have also developed herd immunity 

 

The government here is telling everyone that even after receiving the vaccine we are to continue to wear masks, social distance and other act as if the pandemic still exists until such time as herd immunity has been reached.

 

While I won’t argue that being on a cruise ship is any riskier than being at a Costco, you won’t find me at a Costco right now either.  
 

Stay safe everyone.  I think the world is on the right path to beat this.... but it will be a slow process and we can’t start to take a victory lap (or cruise) until we’ve beaten this.

[Jeremiah1212]

20 minutes ago, KnowTheScore said:

They need to start treating Covid like they do Norovirus.   Quarantine only those who are Covid positive and leave everyone else be.

 

 

The the big problem. This virus doesn't behave in a way that makes quarantining in that manner a viable option. People yell 'big brother' when it comes to contract tracing onboard because it invades their privacy (which you have none of onboard, so moot point). There just isn't an effective solution.

 

So we sit and wait.

[luv2travel90266]

Here in Los Angeles the virus is rampant and we are under a "stay at home" order. I am still allowed to meet clients and work. I heard an interesting interview on a financial website yesterday talking about ridiculously cheap flight prices. The interviewer then asked if the flight was free would they go and her answer was no. 

 

I am booked for a Europe cruise for Nov 2020 and NZ-Australia Feb 2021 and suspect neither will happen at the rate of control. I won't fly or cruise till I feel it is safe. 

[UnorigionalName]

2 hours ago, KnowTheScore said:

 

Such provisos are really quite draconian and unlikely to be achieved.  You have to factor in the corporate greed capitalist reality that there is no financial incentive to eradicate Covid.  It will be with us perpetually and they will create a regular vaccination schedule like Flu vaccines for $billions of profits.

 

In the end only one single thing matters when it comes to travel. 

 

Are you, or are you not, in that precise moment, Covid positive?

 

If you are not, then you can not possibly pose a risk to anyone else.

 

So it all just comes down to proper reliable testing.

 

Which is why cruise lines and other areas have implemented testing regimes and are not remotely concerned about who is and who is not vaccinated.

 

Here's a topical case in point. 

 

England, Scotland to require travellers to show negative COVID tests

 

https://newsaf.cgtn.com/news/2021-01-09/England-Scotland-to-require-travellers-to-show-negative-COVID-tests-WTxb2tHD5S/index.html

 

As you will read in this article, one's vaccination status does not come into play.  What they require is that you take an actual test, and test negative.   They state that vaccines are not going to cover the latest South African strain.

 

So the entire world is really just going to have to set up good reliable, accurate, and quick turn-around Covid testing, which we don't really have at the moment.  Most of the ridiculous government measures are predicated on the utterly unreliable PCR tests which produce crazy numbers of false-positives.   Once proper testing is in place then much of life can go back to normal.  We can just get tested and then people can be confident that we aren't carrying Covid.

 

 

heh, testing has been shown to not really work that well.  The problem is that there is a few days latent period during which you will test negative but are infectious.  Look at that SeaDream 1.  They tested like mad and that's what they got.  Americans that tested negative and were latent.

[phoenix_dream]

2 hours ago, KnowTheScore said:

 

How will you ever feel safe?

 

If you're vaccinated you might be the unlucky 1 person in every 10 vaccinated that isn't protected.

 

That's about as safe as any vulnerable person will ever be able to feel imo.  A 9 in 10 chance of being protected.

I think the actual number is 3-5 out of 100.  And even if you are in the unlucky few, if this vaccine works like others, you would likely not get nearly as sick as you would without the vaccine.  So will anyone ever feel completely ‘safe’?  I guess not. But being vaccinated brings down the odds of a fatal or significantly bad outcome to a very small percentage.  Speaking for myself, that is low risk enough for me to jump on a cruise ship again.

[WonderMan3]

13 hours ago, TeeRick said:

I think it is time to explore this topic again with some fresh thought given where we are with the pandemic.

 

So here is Food For Thought.  Anybody can respond.  Let's have the conversation without name calling and emotions.

 

There are so many cases in the US of virus infection now, about 22 million to date, and the CDC estimates 4X to 5X that number, so maybe 80 million to 100 million exposed to the virus.

So the situation is very different than back in March when cruising was banned.  At that time the CDC was trying to prevent outbreaks.  And frankly prevent the situation that we are now in anyway.  And hope for a vaccine by year end.  Well that horse has long ago left the barn.  Do I have as much risk (or more) of being exposed to the virus in the general population as on a cruise ship right now?  And if the infected but asymptomatic  people from a cruise get off the ship are they really dramatically increasing the numbers on land anymore? Or spreading significantly more virus?  Or just blending into to the massive numbers already walking around? It is estimated that 40-50% of infections in the general walking around population are asymptomatic.  Everybody is now wearing masks (for the most part) and social distancing.  We are all in the same soup of infection at this point.  Cruise or no cruise.  So why the continued focus on the cruise industry?   Especially since this industry has put in place a whole lot of safety changes.

 

I still have personally decided not to cruise unless I can get vaccinated.  That was not possible until now.  What do you think?

The simple fact is the entire country should be in lockdown right now as other countries in Europe have been doing when they get a surge to help mitigate spread. Hopefully the new administration implements that but even if they do they will face massive resistance from a portion of the population who is massively ignorant and places insignificant things like getting their hair styled or going to Disney World over saving people’s lives. For some people to even consider wanting to hop on a cruise ship while we are having around 250,000 new infections and 4,000 deaths per day is a mindset that I just find incomprehensible.