LIVE from "Iceland's Natural Beauty" -- All Sailings, 2021

[bluesea777]

13 minutes ago, Bruce4fun said:

 

 

 

UPDATE: They have not been told they are not allowed on Airplane back to Reykjavik, they must take a 5 hour bus ride from Akureyri to Reykjavik, overnight in hotel, then fly home.

I cannot see how they will allow them on a plane to the USA, but not on a plane from one city in Iceland to another?

 

Impossible! Airlines would never allowed positive tested people on board to mix with other negative tested people to fly back to the USA! That is why airlines need to see negative test results to allow passengers to board planes back to the USA.

 

Looks like they will be in hotel quarantine in Reykjavik until they are cleared to fly home.

 

The bus ride will be a scenic one and they'll be seeing a bit more of Iceland as the route is through the interior (middle). Hopefully there are no other passengers on bus.

 

 

 

[sleepybobo]

5 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Impossible! Airlines would never allowed positive tested people on board to mix with other negative tested people to fly back to the USA! That is why airlines need to see negative test results to allow passengers to board planes back to the USA.

 

Looks like they will be in hotel quarantine in Reykjavik until they are cleared to fly home.

 

The bus ride will be a scenic one and they'll be seeing a bit more of Iceland as the route is through the interior (middle). Hopefully there are no other passengers on bus.

 

 

 

They are not tested positive.  They are close contacts because they were in the same tour bus with the positive case.  They are now being asked to be quarantined in their stateroom for the rest of the cruise or get off the ship and fly home provided they get the clearance from Iceland authority.

 

It seems a bus load of people are in the same situation.

[bluesea777]

1 minute ago, sleepybobo said:

They are not tested positive.  They are close contacts because they were in the same tour bus with the positive case.  They are now being asked to be quarantined in their stateroom for the rest of the cruise or get off the ship and fly home provided they get the clearance from Iceland authority.

 

It seems a bus load of people are in the same situation.

 

I see, and I now understand.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

I'd go for the bus ride rather than the short air ride.

 

[BQEC]

My friend and I decided to cancel our Iceland cruise, Sky 8/28, flying 8/27. Today is the last day to qualify for the future cruise credit, a loan to Viking you might say. 

We had a long discussion this morning about the uncertainty of events in the case of testing positive or being deemed to have been in close proximity to a positive person. This report reconfirms our concerns.

Viking daily testing and contact tracing goes above and beyond Iceland's requirements. Holding the entire busload of Viking passengers in quarantine for 7 days goes above and beyond what Viking anticipated, I'll bet.

Another thread reported 71 people being taken off the ship. First hand from two passengers part of the 71 person contingent. They were released after a day and missed their flight. Nothing more heard about that.

I am truly sorry for the passengers.

 

 

[schnapperin]

Iceland’s quarantine & isolation regulations didn‘t change since spring 

 

if you are a contact to someone who tested positive it’s a 14 day quarantine period with the option to test out on Day 7 (if Viking is telling people to simply fly home and breaking quarantine regulations I hope the officials will take further steps)

 

if you test positive it’s a 14 day isolation period - no testing out or less if fully vaccinated. Also it’s 14 days and 7 days after last symptoms so it could even be longer

[TayanaLorna]

13 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

I see, and I now understand.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

I'd go for the bus ride rather than the short air ride.

 

I would go for quarantine in my room, enjoy room service, drink wine, watch movies on tv, read and write, connect to WiFi when everyone was off the boat touring, as well as sit on my balcony enjoying the scenery.  I would be tested every day for free and leave the boat with hopefully 4-5 days of negative results.  I would still have to declare that i was exposed to someone who tested positive in the departure health declaration,  but with a handful of daily negative tests I expect i could fly home on my scheduled flight.  

[jtwind]

22 hours ago, kate7047 said:

Thank you for some actual data

 

The data in the graph shows that, by the time you are ready to travel, covid numbers in Iceland will be either higher, lower, or about the same.

[schnapperin]

37 minutes ago, sleepybobo said:

My heart sinks every time I hear people are quarantined because of contact tracing.  Cruising to Iceland now is like rolling a dice.  The risk of quarantine is real.  

travelling during an ongoing pandemic- in Iceland current at the highest it ever was- comes with the risk of needing to quarantine or isolate after catching Covid 

[jtwind]

3 minutes ago, schnapperin said:

Iceland’s quarantine & isolation regulations didn‘t change since spring 

 

if you are a contact to someone who tested positive it’s a 14 day quarantine period with the option to test out on Day 7 (if Viking is telling people to simply fly home and breaking quarantine regulations I hope the officials will take further steps)

 

if you test positive it’s a 14 day isolation period - no testing out or less if fully vaccinated. Also it’s 14 days and 7 days after last symptoms so it could even be longer

Viking has just been blatantly breaking the rules all along.

[bbtondo]

1 hour ago, Rappersmom said:

This is a game changer from what we've been told was the recent protocol. Being on the same bus with someone means a lot of people have to be quarantined. And Viking is totally silent about the protocol so people won't cancel. We may have to reconsider this cruise. It's just not worth all the potential stress.

Again, if it's true that they are quarantining the entire bus, this is NOT following the science.  Negative is negative.  If this is Iceland's rule for cruiselines, there's nothing Viking can do.  But is this Viking's rule?

 

I am questioning whether the contact tracers that Viking have people wear, is possibly making more trouble then necessary.  I say this since Viking tests EVERY day on a fully vaccinated ship.  IMHO I think testing everyone every day is sufficient.  

[Independent]

4 minutes ago, schnapperin said:

travelling during an ongoing pandemic- in Iceland current at the highest it ever was- comes with the risk of needing to quarantine or isolate after catching Covid 

True enough, but these are not people who have “contracted Covid”.

[schnapperin]

Just now, jtwind said:

Viking has just been blatantly breaking the rules all along.

yes - and everyone can read the requirements on Covid.is - they are pretty clear that to expect 

[TayanaLorna]

3 minutes ago, schnapperin said:

Iceland’s quarantine & isolation regulations didn‘t change since spring 

 

if you are a contact to someone who tested positive it’s a 14 day quarantine period with the option to test out on Day 7 (if Viking is telling people to simply fly home and breaking quarantine regulations I hope the officials will take further steps)

 

if you test positive it’s a 14 day isolation period - no testing out or less if fully vaccinated. Also it’s 14 days and 7 days after last symptoms so it could even be longer

Read the clarification in post #2528.  It is the NEGATIVE contact traced guests who have the choice to quarantine on board or disembark and fly home.  To fly back to the US you must have a negative Covid test which they do.  Having been in contact with someone positive may require them to self quarantine after arriving home.  

[Rappersmom]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

I have a November cruise coming up but I don't expect Viking to notify me every time there is a positive on board the cruises and what the protocol is for that week.  It is ever changing as are the virus numbers.  It is my responsibility to be informed and make my decision accordingly.  Viking is providing as safe as experience as they possibly can.  It is up to us to evaluate the risk and have appropriate insurance and back up plans.

 

Of course I don't expect Viking to send me a personal text or email every time something changes. And I didn't say that. But I would expect them to have their COVID policy--updated--on My Viking Journey. And to keep their customer service employees informed. I do my research daily but the US Embassy web site has a lot of errors on it, and covid.is doesn't address these issues. And now I have a Viking employee contradicting a first hand account (well, second hand on here but it seems like something pretty factual). So where do you go to make informed adult decisions about the ever-changing Viking/Iceland policies? I'd like to include that site in my research.

 

In our one and only Viking river cruise I found out by accident that until the week before ours the river water was low and people were being bussed from port to port and had to pack and unpack every day. Viking never once mentioned that. Of course they don't want people to cancel. But it doesn't engender a lot of trust for Viking.

[schnapperin]

Just now, Independent said:

True enough, but these are not people who have “contracted Covid”.

But they have been a contact of someone who tested positive? 

that’s a Risk everyone who is traveling takes - even more during an ongoing wave.

 

[schnapperin]

1 minute ago, TayanaLorna said:

Read the clarification in post #2528.  It is the NEGATIVE contact traced guests who have the choice to quarantine on board or disembark and fly home.  To fly back to the US you must have a negative Covid test which they do.  Having been in contact with someone positive may require them to self quarantine after arriving home.  

Iceland regulations are pretty clear - if you are classified as contact it’s 14 day quarantine or a test on Day 7 of that quarantine period. Testing negative the day or on the same day is simply not following the same rules as demand in Iceland

[Rappersmom]

1 minute ago, schnapperin said:

But they have been a contact of someone who tested positive? 

that’s a Risk everyone who is traveling takes - even more during an ongoing wave.

 

I agree. But the point is we are being told by Viking that as long as you test negative you are allowed to keep traveling. 

 

[schnapperin]

2 minutes ago, Rappersmom said:

I agree. But the point is we are being told by Viking that as long as you test negative you are allowed to keep traveling. 

 

As mention before the rules on land are different and didn‘t changed in the last months - so I don‘t understand why Viking think they can do it differently?  Still with the bubble there are local contacts on a tour, a shop visit or even on the way back home with the airport & flight. 

nobody tests positive that quickly after a contact 

https://www.covid.is/categories/how-does-quarantine-work

Edited August 12, 2021 by schnapperin

[Independent]

3 minutes ago, schnapperin said:

Iceland regulations are pretty clear - if you are classified as contact it’s 14 day quarantine or a test on Day 7 of that quarantine period. Testing negative the day or on the same day is simply not following the same rules as demand in Iceland

So will you be cancelling your cruise?

[schnapperin]

2 minutes ago, Independent said:

So will you be cancelling your cruise?

I would currently not travel to Iceland with those high numbers (specially over 50 % are fully vaccinated) but I do plan a cruise around Italy (fully aware of the risk of quarantine/isolation)

 

but I also knew the risk when I did travelled to Iceland this spring that if I do test positive at departure I‘m stuck for 14 days (but then the risk was extremely low with close to zero contacts and just a handful of cases) 

Edited August 12, 2021 by schnapperin

[Rappersmom]

6 minutes ago, schnapperin said:

As mention before the rules on land are different and didn‘t changed in the last months - so I don‘t understand why Viking think they can do it differently? 

 

https://www.covid.is/categories/how-does-quarantine-work

This page from the same web site says something different. https://www.covid.is/flokkar/sottkvi.  It says that you are quarantined if you are in a close relationship. It's hard to tell whether one page is more current than the other. Being at the back of the bus is hardly a close relationship. 

[Wander58]

There has got to be more to this situation...as it's the exact opposite of what we've been hearing from previous cruises.

[schnapperin]

5 minutes ago, Rappersmom said:

This page from the same web site says something different. https://www.covid.is/flokkar/sottkvi.  It says that you are quarantined if you are in a close relationship. It's hard to tell whether one page is more current than the other. Being at the back of the bus is hardly a close relationship. 

I did found „You have come into contact with someone who turned out to be infected.  “ no mention of the kind of contact 

 

Guest from a kayak group were sent into quarantine after someone serving breakfast in a guesthouse tested positive 

 

Just the question if Viking is to strict with the contact - before Delta it was common around Europe to stick to the 15 minute close contact (in the same room) rule - or  if for example the tracking device is set up for a shorter distance and amount of time. 
 

but doesn‘t change the fact that you won‘t test positive if tested after someone tested positive in the morning - that’s just a too short window to be positive

Edited August 12, 2021 by schnapperin

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

2 hours ago, Rappersmom said:

This is a game changer from what we've been told was the recent protocol. Being on the same bus with someone means a lot of people have to be quarantined. And Viking is totally silent about the protocol so people won't cancel. We may have to reconsider this cruise. It's just not worth all the potential stress.

Viking has their protocol, but so does Iceland, and with things changing as rapidly as they are now, the two can easily get out of sync.  But Viking has to follow Icelandic regulations, and unless/until things in the Covid world stop changing so rapidly, things will be unpredictable.  I feel terrible for anyone on Jupiter now who was possibly exposed/definitely exposed/infected/sick, but I hope they can make the best of it. 

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

11 minutes ago, Wander58 said:

There has got to be more to this situation...as it's the exact opposite of what we've been hearing from previous cruises.

I have to admit I was kind of thinking the same thing, as I was on the previous Jupiter cruise, and didn't see or hear of anyone testing positive. And with a few exceptions, people were complying with Covid protocols quite well, though masks alone are certainly no guarantee of safety. But people can take chances, get infected at home or on the plane, etc.  Who knows what they did after they were tested and before they stepped on Jupiter in Reykjavik?  Given Iceland's protocols, I gather all it takes is one positive person to get a lot of people quarantined.  It was always in the back of my mind.....