2 passengers on first 100% vaccinated North American cruise test positive for COVID-19

[Island Beachdog]

Just read this on news feed.  USA today said 2 on the Celebrity Millennium cruise tested positive 72 hours before scheduled to return to port as part of the end of cruise testing.  Reportedly they are asymptomatic and in quarantine.

[oteixeira]

6 minutes ago, Island Beachdog said:

Just read this on news feed.  USA today said 2 on the Celebrity Millennium cruise tested positive 72 hours before scheduled to return to port as part of the end of cruise testing.  Reportedly they are asymptomatic and in quarantine.

So what you are saying is, they took the vaccine, and they tested positive but have no symptoms, aren't sick, and didn't pass it to anyone else on the ship based on all the others testing negative?  Sounds like everything (including the vaccine) is working as designed.  This is a win, people are going to test positive if you test everyone all the time.

[AdoraBelle]

On the live thread for this sailing, someone is saying 95% vaccinated. But of course we’re all speculating at this point.

 

Apparently people onboard are now masking up.

 

 

[Gen X Life]

Danny  has been Vlogging from/on the ship live-streaming., hopefully he will have an update on any new info.

[All-ready2cruise]

So unfortunate... 

[rabidstoat]

So what happens when they get to port? Can they transfer to an on-shore quarantine hotel?

 

Having a 0% covid rate seems pretty tough across all the cruises out there. Having a few vaccinated people get asymptomatically sick doesn't seem like any huge breakdown in the system.

[oteixeira]

The statement from the cruise line less then an hour ago said they are being isolated on board at the moment.  I am sure the cruise line is working on whatever next steps are.  I (not being an expert) assume they will be disembarked and isolated as per the port agreements in place with each country.

[RaftingJeremy]

Someone else said it best but I’m gonna say it again.  Vaccinated, asymptomatic, nonspreader. The vaccine is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do….  What’s the problem?

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, oteixeira said:

So what you are saying is, they took the vaccine, and they tested positive but have no symptoms, aren't sick, and didn't pass it to anyone else on the ship based on all the others testing negative?  Sounds like everything (including the vaccine) is working as designed.  This is a win, people are going to test positive if you test everyone all the time.

2 people out of 500 = .04% positive rate. Land based vacations would love to see numbers that low, just sayin. 

[Island Beachdog]

At the risk of contributing to further argument, every new variant increases the risk for everyone, vaccinated or not. That is the why the experts are pushing everyone to get vaccinated.  A virus that is held in check in the population is less likely to have an opportunity to mutate and create a new strain.  Vaccines are developed to target specific known strains at the time.  New variants create greater and greater challenges for existing vaccines.

I am not an expert, but I have spent my career working in a hospital.  While I don't expect to be fully protected by a vaccine, I do expect it will allow me to survive covid if I get it. 

 

[Navis]

I was reading about some of the common misconceptions about vaccine efficacy when I was trying to sort this all out a few months ago. What I learned was that 95% effective does NOT mean you have a 5% chance of breakthrough infection ... it means that the vaccines reduce infection risk by 95%. The actual observed breakthrough rate has been minuscule (a month ago it was like 0.008%). So this 0.04% observation is even much higher than one would expect (although still crazy low).

 

What I AM worried about is the impact these cases can have on my ability to enjoy my cruise, even as a fully-vaccinated traveler ... and I’m learning that sadly that is looking like it might be a port by port issue. Take Anguilla ... maybe the easiest case .. starting 7/1 all visitors to the island must provide proof of vaccination .... no exceptions. So that’s simple ... if the cruise is going there then all passengers must be vaccinated (unclear yet whether they would require the entire ship to be vaccinated or just those seeking entry -  so more to come).

 

More concerning is a country like Barbados, which just released their cruise rules last week. They have a whole set of requirements for cruise ships ... including only ship-sponsored “bubble” excursions and contract tracing. In order for a cruise to dock in Barbados the cruise line must prove to Barbados that they have procedures to quarantine any positive cases on board as well as ALL passengers that were a close contact of such passengers. 
 

So in this case, were i to be deemed a close contact of these two passengers on the Millennium I would need to be quarantined as well if my cruise itinerary included a stop in Barbados.  That would annoy me. Perhaps it is just a new cruise risk I need to accept? 
 

I bring all this up because I am actually on a 14nt Caribbean cruise next winter visiting 13 islands. The cruise line has already communicated a bunch of information to us that they claim is to manage passenger expectations. The latest was to tell us that of the 13 islands we are visiting, the cruise line has been advised by each government that all but one (St Lucia) will only allow passengers off the ship if they are on a ship-sponsored excursion that exercises social distance and other COVID-appropriate protocols (and they gave masking as an example). A bummer for sure ... but we can live with that. What we are thinking about now is how collateral infection might still effect our vacation in ways we have not fully grasped.

[BermudaBound2014]

If the media is correct (and that is a stretch) this was a 💯 vaccinated sailing ….

 

Two passengers who shared a room onboard Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Millennium ship, which was carrying only fully vaccinated passengers and crew, have tested positive for COVID-19, the cruise line said in a statement.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2021/06/10/passengers-positive-covid-after-sailing-100-vaccinated-cruise/7645511002/

[Capitan Obvious]

Here is something to ponder...

 

The entire cruise industry has been shut down since March 2020 because we're being told that a shipboard enviornment is too dangerous during this pandemic.

 

The US Coast Guard...have you seen all the news stories about their ships being out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews?

 

The US Navy...have you seen all the news stories about their ships being out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews? You think Covid wouldn't spread like wildfire on a submarine? You think you can social distance on a submarine?

 

The Merchant Marine...have you seen all the news stories about their ships being out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews?

 

How about the Navies of other countries? Seen all the news stories about how their ships are out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews?

 

 

I guess the virus only affects cruise ships? Yep, that sounds like science.

[MichiganBound]

7 minutes ago, Capitan Obvious said:

Here is something to ponder...

 

The entire cruise industry has been shut down since March 2020 because we're being told that a shipboard enviornment is too dangerous during this pandemic.

 

The US Coast Guard...have you seen all the news stories about their ships being out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews?

 

The US Navy...have you seen all the news stories about their ships being out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews? You think Covid wouldn't spread like wildfire on a submarine? You think you can social distance on a submarine?

 

The Merchant Marine...have you seen all the news stories about their ships being out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews?

 

How about the Navies of other countries? Seen all the news stories about how their ships are out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews?

 

 

I guess the virus only affects cruise ships? Yep, that sounds like science.

I guess you missed the stories of multiple US Navy ships being hit with COVID over the past year. Are you saying COVID is a hoax?  

 

So what is your take on this current case on the Millennium?  That's the issue in this thread. 

 

[PTC DAWG]

EVERYBODY PANIC

[PTC DAWG]

3 hours ago, oteixeira said:

So what you are saying is, they took the vaccine, and they tested positive but have no symptoms, aren't sick, and didn't pass it to anyone else on the ship based on all the others testing negative?  Sounds like everything (including the vaccine) is working as designed.  This is a win, people are going to test positive if you test everyone all the time.

Exactly

[BermudaBound2014]

There is a good chance these are false positive results. Antigen is famous for bad data. Our entire country lost our minds over a test that gives false positive results over 50% of the time.

 

If this wasn’t a PCR test, celebrity  will likely do one as soon as possible to rule out the false positive factor. Even if these are truely positive results there is nothing to panic over. Of course, I suspect the news media is about to lose their minds once again. 

[BermudaBound2014]

This article is very interesting. It’s from someone currently quarantined In their room On celebrity millennium awaiting test results. She was contact traced. Apparently, two days ago she was on a shore excursion with the couple who just tested positive,

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/celebrity-millennium-cruise-ship-covid/

[ziggyuk]

5 hours ago, oteixeira said:

There are already multiple studies showing the breakthrough cases are very rare and even more rare do people even get symptoms.

 

Here in the UK the delta variant is spreading fast, 3.7% of all new cases are in those with both shots, 5% of all hospitalisations are fully vaccinated.

 

Being to be asked to put a mask on after known cases in a very specific situation is not an unreasonable request.

You don't always drive at the maximum speed limit, some times it has to be moderated for the conditions.

 

 

 

LINK

One shining light however is that vaccination still appears to be making an impact on spread,” she said, noting 73% of Delta cases are in unvaccinated people and only 3.7% Delta cases are in people who’ve had both doses, while only 5% of people hospitalised with this variant have had both jabs.

[julig22]

5 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

If the media is correct (and that is a stretch) this was a 💯 vaccinated sailing ….

 

Two passengers who shared a room onboard Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Millennium ship, which was carrying only fully vaccinated passengers and crew, have tested positive for COVID-19, the cruise line said in a statement.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2021/06/10/passengers-positive-covid-after-sailing-100-vaccinated-cruise/7645511002/

Per the blog from a passenger, 16 and older required vaccination.  So not 100% if there are children aboard.

[RaftingJeremy]

The real alarming thing here is that some people didn’t or still don’t understand vaccine efficacy.  Worse, it’s falling into another ridiculous mask debate.  I’m sure some of you are fun at parties… 🤦‍♂️

[mpdog42]

2 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Here in the UK the delta variant is spreading fast, 3.7% of all new cases are in those with both shots, 5% of all hospitalisations are fully vaccinated.

 

Being to be asked to put a mask on after known cases in a very specific situation is not an unreasonable request.

You don't always drive at the maximum speed limit, some times it has to be moderated for the conditions.

 

 

 

LINK

One shining light however is that vaccination still appears to be making an impact on spread,” she said, noting 73% of Delta cases are in unvaccinated people and only 3.7% Delta cases are in people who’ve had both doses, while only 5% of people hospitalised with this variant have had both jabs.

Speed limits have nothing to do with mask wearing...I actually feel bad for a lot of people from the UK...My ancestors are from England and Ireland.. and i love visiting London!!..but the freedom's that you have given up is a real shame.... and this total obssesion over variants

Edited June 11, 2021 by mpdog42
correct

[WarfRatWA]

5 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

This article is very interesting. It’s from someone currently quarantined In their room On celebrity millennium awaiting test results. She was contact traced. Apparently, two days ago she was on a shore excursion with the couple who just tested positive,

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/celebrity-millennium-cruise-ship-covid/

To be quarantined because they were on the same shore excursion kinda sucks, given you have limited days on a cruise.  Imagine if the cruise was not 100% vaccinated....how many of these micro outbreaks would occur and how many people would be quarantined due to contact tracing.

 

I think this is an argument for 100% vaccinated cruises.

[chengkp75]

7 hours ago, Capitan Obvious said:

Here is something to ponder...

 

The entire cruise industry has been shut down since March 2020 because we're being told that a shipboard enviornment is too dangerous during this pandemic.

 

The US Coast Guard...have you seen all the news stories about their ships being out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews?

 

The US Navy...have you seen all the news stories about their ships being out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews? You think Covid wouldn't spread like wildfire on a submarine? You think you can social distance on a submarine?

 

The Merchant Marine...have you seen all the news stories about their ships being out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews?

 

How about the Navies of other countries? Seen all the news stories about how their ships are out of commission because of rampant Covid among their crews?

 

 

I guess the virus only affects cruise ships? Yep, that sounds like science.

Well, lets set things straight here, with your statements.  Both the US Navy and USCG require all crew to quarantine, in a secure location (i.e. on base with no contact to non-deploying personnel), for 14 days, and then have testing requirements prior to deployment, and then have very tight regulation of who "outside the ship's bubble" gets to break that bubble.  There are restrictions that would drive the typical cruise passenger to rip their face off.

 

Now, to merchant ships, where I have been living and working for the past year and a half.  We started out, from the beginning with a lock down on crew changes that lasted for a few months (what passenger would like to be stuck on the ship for an extra two months) and no shore leave allowed.   Then we transited to a 14 day quarantine and testing prior to joining the ship, followed by a 14 day partial quarantine while on the ship (social distancing from other crew, mask wearing full time, and eating meals separately from others).  Once past those barriers, you were "in the bubble" among 25 total crew, on a ship where you can go without seeing a particular crew member for days.  Protecting the bubble led to measures to limit contact with outsiders to a bare minimum, and which required changes to basic operating principals, and changes to standard safety measures.  Following this for 6-8 months, we are now under the EO that requires mask wearing at all times on all forms of transportation (as mandated by USCG), so that at all times outside your cabin, even when the nearest crewmember is 100 feet away, and you are outdoors, you are masked, even in 130*F heat in the engine room, so tell me what cruise passenger would accede to that?

 

There is absolutely no correlation between armed forces vessels and merchant ships, and cruise ships.  The biggest being that on Naval or merchant vessels, everyone is an employee, and can be forced to follow whatever restrictions the company or the government set.  Passengers are far more difficult to control.

 

And, for those who are saying it is "sad" that the passengers on the ship are now masking, and not following the "science", it could very well be that the CDC approved covid response plan that MSC has, requires this.  Unless you are on the ship, and really, unless you are an officer onboard, you have no idea what is required, and what is going on.

[CroozFanatic]

27 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

There is absolutely no correlation between armed forces vessels and merchant ships, and cruise ships.