What to expect... a good article on how things will be

[igraf]

Here is a good article based on actual events that explains how things will be on cruises for the near future.  I did take one exception, though.   Vaccinations do not prevent one from picking up a virus, rather, vaccinations prevent one from becoming seriously ill.

 

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

 

It should be clear to anyone reading this article that there is no way to have a cruise without COVID vaccinations.

 

igraf

 

 

[Anubi]

4 hours ago, igraf said:

Here is a good article based on actual events that explains how things will be on cruises for the near future.  I did take one exception, though.   Vaccinations do not prevent one from picking up a virus, rather, vaccinations prevent one from becoming seriously ill.

 

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

 

It should be clear to anyone reading this article that there is no way to have a cruise without COVID vaccinations.

 

igraf

 

 

Thanks for posting.  I've shared it with my cruising friends.  We need SOME good news and this makes me feel better about cruising next year.  

[bouhunter]

So someone on VACATION was near someone who tested positive.  As a result they have a swab shoved up their nose, are locked up and monitored like a prisoner.   On a 100% vaccinated ship.  I guess I don't see this as good news for the near term future of cruising.  I'm glad for the cruise lines though that there are people willing to get onboard and put up with this.

Edited June 11, 2021 by bouhunter

[grsnovi]

@bouhunter - so what would you suggest as a fair and viable protocol?

 

Having read the article (and another thread on the topic) I for one think that they did a great job. It was also interesting to note that the pax load was 600 meaning that ship was relatively sparsely populated. I thought the fact that they targeted the people who went on the same shore excursion was good (as was the fact that they were testing everyone enroute to disembarkation).

[drowelf]

I read the article and it seems to me that Celebrities response to the infection was appropriate and neither too little or too much. They seemed to effectively and quickly implemented their documented protocols with a minimum of issues. 

 

Its a shame that it happened, but anyone who cruises this year has to expect that their vacation could suffer an interruption due to Covid. Thats one of the reasons we are not doing any cruises this year. We want to see how outbreaks are handled and for vaccination to become more wide spread. 

 

Kudos to Celebrity. 

[KirkNC]

I think X handled this fine but it will give some pause about jumping on aboard a cruise ship.  Of course the news tonight featured a mention of the incident.  They gave few details which is probably worse visa a via public perception.  I know many on CC are chomping at the bit to start cruising, I am not sure the general public is, time will tell.

Edited June 11, 2021 by KirkNC

[CruiserBruce]

6 hours ago, bouhunter said:

So someone on VACATION was near someone who tested positive.  As a result they have a swab shoved up their nose, are locked up and monitored like a prisoner.   On a 100% vaccinated ship.  I guess I don't see this as good news for the near term future of cruising.  I'm glad for the cruise lines though that there are people willing to get onboard and put up with this.

The cruise line (and perhaps the CDC) policy is to test. Perhaps the test was for people who need to fly back to the US. Only a few people (including employees)that interacted with the two positive cases had to test beyond that. Only the two positives had to isolate. Brief exposures don't require tests if you are vaccinated...only longer exposures. This is a common procedure in epidemics...you isolate the cases that pop up, until you don't have cases anymore.

 

I would take a more negative outlook if lots of positives were popping up in non-vaccinated cruises. Things are much more out of control then.

[zgscl]

I for one take this as good news. Traveling at this stage still comes with the risk of quarantine, etc. Seems like they had the systems in place to minimize impact and setting up free movies & wifi for the duration of the quarantine is a nice touch. 

[KirkNC]

3 hours ago, zgscl said:

I for one take this as good news. Traveling at this stage still comes with the risk of quarantine, etc. Seems like they had the systems in place to minimize impact and setting up free movies & wifi for the duration of the quarantine is a nice touch. 

Agreed but it only worked because of the high vaccination rate onboard.

[ontheweb]

51 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

Agreed but it only worked because of the high vaccination rate onboard.

And yet the anti-vaxxers will spin in to say see vaccinations don't matter as you can still catch Covid ignoring totally that the lack of spread of the virus is the goal of the protocols.

[KirkNC]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

And yet the anti-vaxxers will spin in to say see vaccinations don't matter as you can still catch Covid ignoring totally that the lack of spread of the virus is the goal of the protocols.

And the lack of serious symptoms.

[St. Louis Sal]

On 6/11/2021 at 12:15 PM, bouhunter said:

So someone on VACATION was near someone who tested positive.  As a result they have a swab shoved up their nose, are locked up and monitored like a prisoner.   On a 100% vaccinated ship.  I guess I don't see this as good news for the near term future of cruising.  I'm glad for the cruise lines though that there are people willing to get onboard and put up with this.

To get back into St. Maarten, all passengers needed to have a negative test for Covid.  This is how the two passengers on the Celebrity Millennium were found to be positive.  So everyone would eventually have had the test no matter what, whether they were with the infected passengers or not, the exposed passengers just had their's sooner.  Staying away from others until you know for sure about your status is just common sense.  The cruise line went out of their way to make that "quarantine" time more comfortable.  I agree that the fact that, despite the prevalence of vaccinated people on the ship, two people ended up testing positive is concerning, but after all we knew when getting our vaccination that the efficacy rate is not 100%, more like 94-98%.  I was impressed with the way Celebrity handled it.  They obviously had a solid plan and it kicked in immediately when passengers were positive. After reading the blog, I was also impressed with the care taken on the various islands, they have taken the pandemic seriously.

 

If getting a vaccination, continued distancing, being asked to wear a mask in certain instances, being asked Covid questions, needing a negative test for travel, if these things are difficult for some people, they probably shouldn't travel right now, despite some itineraries opening up.

 

St Louis Sal

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, KirkNC said:

And the lack of serious symptoms.

There is still the sensationalist headline that a fully vaccinated cruise ship had cases of Covid. You wonder how many will read past the headlines.

[zgscl]

9 hours ago, KirkNC said:

Agreed but it only worked because of the high vaccination rate onboard.

Exactly. I will be getting on a ship this summer and will only do it because it is 100% vaccinated. I would not be comfortable taking the trip if it wasn't. 

[KirkNC]

39 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

There is still the sensationalist headline that a fully vaccinated cruise ship had cases of Covid. You wonder how many will read past the headlines.

That’s what will really hurt cruising.  The casual cruiser, which most are.  Not the obsessive one like on CC 😎.