Would we be required to stay in cabin?

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

If this question has been asked i apologize. I can't locate where to search

Anyway my husband and I were about to book a cruise and I got a bit panicked seeing some threads about not requiring vaccines. I'm not worried to catch it as we will be vaccinated by the time the cruise comes. 

My question is what if there is an outbreak on board. Would everyone be required to self.isloate or just the people who test positive? The cruise we are looking at is 14 days and I cant imagine being stuck in a cabin for that long.

[firefly333]

Carnival hasnt stated any procedures so far. It's all guesswork. No one knows how they would quarantine. If you would wear a tracer bracelet and only those close to someone positive have to quarantine or how it will be.

[BlerkOne]

Doubtful everyone, but if there was an outbreak, the cruise is likely over.

[BlerkOne]

But you will probably be well compensated if a cruise end early.

[BlerkOne]

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

 

. If you would wear a tracer bracelet and only those close to someone positive have to quarantine or how it will be.

I'm sure those will be a big hit with the Don't Tread on Me cult.

[SNJCruisers]

No policies have been put in place yet and since your cruise is more than likely in 2022, many things can change between now and then.  Book it, but hold off on air in case you change your mind or you do not like the policies that are in place by Carnival when your cruise takes place.

[pe4all]

Too early to tell what CCL will put into place.  And - once in place - might change as new scenarios open up on the cruise.  We always book balconies, so if there was an outbreak, and somehow we are confined to our cabin at least we will get some air - lol! 

[Honolulu Blue]

8 hours ago, Cruisin 4 Ever said:

If this question has been asked i apologize. I can't locate where to search

Anyway my husband and I were about to book a cruise and I got a bit panicked seeing some threads about not requiring vaccines. I'm not worried to catch it as we will be vaccinated by the time the cruise comes. 

My question is what if there is an outbreak on board. Would everyone be required to self.isloate or just the people who test positive? The cruise we are looking at is 14 days and I cant imagine being stuck in a cabin for that long.

 

It's a key question, so thanks for asking.  CCL hasn't given a complete answer yet.  Other Carnival Corporation lines are sailing sooner (though not yet near the U.S.), so perhaps their policies will transfer over when and where Carnival is ready to go?

 

One important thing the CDC has said is IF you're fully vaccinated AND do not have any symptoms, you DO NOT have to be quarantined if you're a close contact of a positive case.  My guess is, since it seems to be such a reasonable policy, that it will be in effect on all cruises.  But maybe they want to be hypercautious and quarantine everyone anyway.  One thing they're likely to do is test the close contacts they can find and isolate the positives.  There may or may not be an announcement.

 

8 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Doubtful everyone, but if there was an outbreak, the cruise is likely over.

 

I'm hopeful that we're now in a world where we can either drop off the positives (and the people linked to them) in a nearby port that can handle them, or simply isolate them until the cruise meets its natural end.  Of course, an outbreak is a lot less likely when everyone onboard is vaccinated.

[sanger727]

13 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

It's a key question, so thanks for asking.  CCL hasn't given a complete answer yet.  Other Carnival Corporation lines are sailing sooner (though not yet near the U.S.), so perhaps their policies will transfer over when and where Carnival is ready to go?

 

One important thing the CDC has said is IF you're fully vaccinated AND do not have any symptoms, you DO NOT have to be quarantined if you're a close contact of a positive case.  My guess is, since it seems to be such a reasonable policy, that it will be in effect on all cruises.  But maybe they want to be hypercautious and quarantine everyone anyway.  One thing they're likely to do is test the close contacts they can find and isolate the positives.  There may or may not be an announcement.

 

 

I'm hopeful that we're now in a world where we can either drop off the positives (and the people linked to them) in a nearby port that can handle them, or simply isolate them until the cruise meets its natural end.  Of course, an outbreak is a lot less likely when everyone onboard is vaccinated.

while it’s true that you shouldn’t have to quarantine if you are fully vaccinated. I’m having trouble seeing how that will Play out on a cruise. Have everyone wear their cdc card around their neck to easily identify who is vaccinated? Or will they have enough in place for contract tracing that they only need to identify certain people and post a guard outside their room if not vaccinated. What if it’s the person who had dinner next to your table last night and you are vaccinated but your kids aren’t. You get to go out and do things while your kids are stuck in the room? A fully vaccinated cruise would certainly make this situation much more straightforward.

[Honolulu Blue]

21 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

while it’s true that you shouldn’t have to quarantine if you are fully vaccinated. I’m having trouble seeing how that will Play out on a cruise. Have everyone wear their cdc card around their neck to easily identify who is vaccinated? Or will they have enough in place for contract tracing that they only need to identify certain people and post a guard outside their room if not vaccinated. What if it’s the person who had dinner next to your table last night and you are vaccinated but your kids aren’t. You get to go out and do things while your kids are stuck in the room? A fully vaccinated cruise would certainly make this situation much more straightforward.

 

You bring up some good points, so thank you.  I can't see any universe where you have to carry that CDC card or whatever vaccine proof they come up with while you're on the ship and outside the cabin.  Maybe they'll ask the vaccinated question on the checkin health questionnaire and somehow put that record on your Sail & Sign card.  As for splitting up the parents and kids, I think what Royal does on their cruises outside the U.S. will be instructive.  On their summer cruises, the kids don't have to be vaccinated.  My guess is that the whole party gets quarantined together unless one or more are actually positive for the virus.  But people a lot smarter than me will be making these decisions.  We'll see what they come up with.

[sanger727]

50 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

You bring up some good points, so thank you.  I can't see any universe where you have to carry that CDC card or whatever vaccine proof they come up with while you're on the ship and outside the cabin.  Maybe they'll ask the vaccinated question on the checkin health questionnaire and somehow put that record on your Sail & Sign card.  As for splitting up the parents and kids, I think what Royal does on their cruises outside the U.S. will be instructive.  On their summer cruises, the kids don't have to be vaccinated.  My guess is that the whole party gets quarantined together unless one or more are actually positive for the virus.  But people a lot smarter than me will be making these decisions.  We'll see what they come up with.

I was just thinking in terms of IF someone on the sailing tested positive and IF they quarantined the whole cruise. If vaccinated people don’t have to quarantine there would have to be an easily visible way for the crew to identify that that person is ok to leave their cabin as they are walking around the ship. If everyone is quarantined then it’s easy, no one would be out walking around. If everyone is vaccinated then it’s easy, everyone can be out walking around. But if say 80% is vaccinated and 20% get quarantined; how do you enforce the quarantine on the 20%. Outside of posting guards outside the room, there’s nothing to stop them from leaving. So a visible and easy to identify method of seeing that someone is not on quarantine would be needed. If the person doesn’t have that they get escorted back to their cabin.

[keywest1]

26 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

I was just thinking in terms of IF someone on the sailing tested positive and IF they quarantined the whole cruise. If vaccinated people don’t have to quarantine there would have to be an easily visible way for the crew to identify that that person is ok to leave their cabin as they are walking around the ship. If everyone is quarantined then it’s easy, no one would be out walking around. If everyone is vaccinated then it’s easy, everyone can be out walking around. But if say 80% is vaccinated and 20% get quarantined; how do you enforce the quarantine on the 20%. Outside of posting guards outside the room, there’s nothing to stop them from leaving. So a visible and easy to identify method of seeing that someone is not on quarantine would be needed. If the person doesn’t have that they get escorted back to their cabin.

Could be as simple as card color, same as the Platinum, Diamond, Red etc used now.

[rainbowflag]

52 minutes ago, keywest1 said:

Could be as simple as card color, same as the Platinum, Diamond, Red etc used now.

Perhaps similar to a radiation detecting badge as worn on the spaceship Enterprise. One day it will happen.

 

[SNJCruisers]

4 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 What if it’s the person who had dinner next to your table last night and you are vaccinated but your kids aren’t. You get to go out and do things while your kids are stuck in the room? A fully vaccinated cruise would certainly make this situation much more straightforward.

NCL would be your only option at this point amongst the mass market lines.

[BlerkOne]

6 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

I'm hopeful that we're now in a world where we can either drop off the positives (and the people linked to them) in a nearby port that can handle them, or simply isolate them until the cruise meets its natural end.  Of course, an outbreak is a lot less likely when everyone onboard is vaccinated.

 

Perhaps any staff that came in contact with them (cabin stewards, MDR waitstaff) and what if they chatted with the captain? Diverting to a port that would actually accept a covid patient is going to be tough in current times and would throw the cruise schedule off anyway.

 

I think anyone testing positive will be whisked from their cabin to one designation as an isolation cabin to try to keep anything from going through the ventilation system.

 

A cruise line definitely can't afford a major outbreak. I think the first few cruises that have a positive test will be especially cautious.

[tidecat]

Contact tracing will be a huge factor. 

 

For those of you who haven't seen Morgan O'brien's video on his cruise from March. It covers TUI's response to positive tests onboard:

 

 

[scpirate]

21 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

I'm sure those will be a big hit with the Don't Tread on Me cult.

Your absolutely right as always.

[RWolver672]

I found this in an interesting article:  Even though you have gotten the shots, it's possible that you could  still test positive and pass it on to someone else.  If that's the case, more than likely they would quarantine everyone.

 

 "Dr. Weiss agrees those who have been vaccinated should be cautioned that it's possible they could potentially transmit the virus. "We have seen that phenomenon with some other infectious agents, so it will be important to examine this issue for COVID-19," he says. Because there are so many asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 (more than with other viruses), it could still be possible to spread it after vaccination without actually being sick; although the likelihood of this is unclear."

[stellarose]

if Europe can safely cruise so should we.

[asalligo]

Vaccinated or not, I think you can expect to be confined to your cabin if an outbreak occurs. I would say one person, maybe not, but once they have multiple cases and they feel it was transmitted on the ship, you can bet everyone will be quarantined. This is the reason I am only booking balconies for a while. 

 

 Check out "The Last Cruise" on HBO. 

 

Remember last week the CDC released that 5800 people caught Covid after being fully vaccinated and 74 of those died. Before you think that number is low remember many people do not exhibit symptoms. These are only the ones they are sure about. 

[embarkation75]

This highlights the problem with just flipping the switch back to normal because if the scenario plays out as originally stated with quarantines, cruising will essentially be killed off. This is why I see no path forward that doesn't involve vaccinated individuals with preferred status, while the path for unvaccinated although not impossible, will be much more difficult to accomplish (e.g., self quarantine ahead of time, no airline or mass transit used, numerous covid tests). If an unvaccinated individual can pass all of those hoops, then they might need a couple days of rest on the ship just to get past the stress/anxiety of clearing those hurdles for their $$$ already spent.

[asalligo]

3 minutes ago, embarkation75 said:

This highlights the problem with just flipping the switch back to normal because if the scenario plays out as originally stated with quarantines, cruising will essentially be killed off. This is why I see no path forward that doesn't involve vaccinated individuals with preferred status, while the path for unvaccinated although not impossible, will be much more difficult to accomplish (e.g., self quarantine ahead of time, no airline or mass transit used, numerous covid tests). If an unvaccinated individual can pass all of those hoops, then they might need a couple days of rest on the ship just to get past the stress/anxiety of clearing those hurdles for their $$$ already spent.

In this scenario, most of the cruise lines perish to bankruptcy. There might be a few ships left, but mass market cruising would die. 

[harkinmr]

26 minutes ago, asalligo said:

Vaccinated or not, I think you can expect to be confined to your cabin if an outbreak occurs. I would say one person, maybe not, but once they have multiple cases and they feel it was transmitted on the ship, you can bet everyone will be quarantined. This is the reason I am only booking balconies for a while. 

 

 Check out "The Last Cruise" on HBO. 

 

Remember last week the CDC released that 5800 people caught Covid after being fully vaccinated and 74 of those died. Before you think that number is low remember many people do not exhibit symptoms. These are only the ones they are sure about. 

This.  I think there will be contact tracing through bracelets or other methods and all affected passengers will be tested.  Positive cases will go into isolation. Because infection can show up later, even if an initial test is negative, there may be continued quarantine even for negative test cruisers with further testing.  I don't think vaccination status will come into play if you are a close contact because it's not 100% as others have pointed out.  If there is a "threshold" number (whatever that is) of positive cases on board, then everyone will be quarantined and the cruise will end and the ship will return to it's origin port.  Cruise lines are already forewarning folks that that could happen.

Edited April 19, 2021 by harkinmr

[embarkation75]

2 minutes ago, asalligo said:

In this scenario, most of the cruise lines perish to bankruptcy. There might be a few ships left, but mass market cruising would die. 

Right. This is where those refusing to get vaccinated but still wanting to get on a cruise don't get it. Nobody...and I mean nobody in the cruise industry is saying it will just flip back to showing your passport and boarding papers, then away you go. Instead, unvaccinated individuals will have to clear way more tests/hurdles for embarkation at the risk of watching their $$$ go flying out the door when they fail a test. Don't get me wrong, I do believe unvaccinated folks can safely cruise but will those folks (many of which are covid deniers) be willing to put in the effort ahead of time to avoid exposure when they've spent the last year refusing to stop activities that do expose them to the virus...I really doubt it. I see many of these deniers throwing tantrums when they are refused to board. This is where the vaccines are not only a smart health choice, but also an insurance policy on your cruise investment.

[embarkation75]

12 minutes ago, harkinmr said:

This.  I think there will be contact tracing through bracelets or other methods and all affected passengers will be tested.  Positive cases will go into isolation. Because infection can show up later, even if an initial test is negative, there may be continued quarantine even for negative test cruisers with further testing.  I don't think vaccination status will come into play if you are a close contact because it's not 100% as others have pointed out.  If there is a "threshold" number (whatever that is) of positive cases on board, then everyone will be quarantined and the cruise will end and the ship will return to it's origin port.  Cruise lines are already forewarning folks that that could happen.

I really don't see this entire scenario being an issue since this is where the path for boarding for unvaccinated individuals is going to be a nightmare vs vaccinated will be significantly easier. Never say never, but the cruiselines even if they say they won't require vaccines, are not going to risk another covid meltdown, hence they're going to incentivize getting the vaccine by allowing those folks a much easier path to embarkation. If you're unvaccinated and want to take 10-14 days off from work/school before the cruise, travel only via personal vehicle, do not partake in any public activities ahead of time (e.g., no church, no public dining, etc..), then go for it.

Edited April 19, 2021 by embarkation75