Pt 2 I was positive on AOS 7/24

[deweytrader]

16 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

I also hope you and your family are doing better too.  I noticed in your signature that you have some upcoming cruises, one in August and one in September (that I am on also).  Do you still plan to go on these cruises if you test negative?

The August cruise I am in process of canceling right now as I was traveling with my two unvaccinated children and will not he setting foot on Carnival anytime soon.  The September cruise on Norwegian to Bermuda I am traveling with my mother who is 100% fully vaxxed. However the new Delta variant might change her mind, I would still go...  I will hold out and make a decision closer to sailing.

[emeraldcity]

Thank you for taking the time to post your experience. So many of us are weighing the decision of whether or not to take upcoming cruises. You have given us some very detailed pictures of what to expect if the unthinkable happens. 

 

I commend you for your determination to get your story out and am sorry that some folks thought this made a great forum to highlight their personal positions. This has always been a simple narrative of what happened to one cruiser ... and will likely happen to others in the coming months.

 

I wish you and your partner good health and hope to meet some day on a Royal ship.

[ATG]

Let me add my thanks.  I’m amazed with the process and very happy it worked.

 

I hope your family continues to improve and no one else develops anything.

 

Thanks

[Jasukkie]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I successfully cruised on Adventure in June, I'm traveling on land right now, and am scheduled to cruise in September. I'm concerned, as a health care worker I was vaccinated in December, and I'm hearing about more and more peers getting Covid now. No one has been hospitalized but they are symptomatic to various degrees. All well and good if you are home, but complicated with cruising. 

[perfect match]

Thank you Coconut Crew and deweytrader for sharing your experiences with us. I hope you and your families are all back to good health soon.

[read2learn]

6 hours ago, Coconut Crew said:

Well my thread was locked before I could respond so here is a quick response to some questions/comments.  My spouse and I are doing well.  Thank you for all of the well wishes and kind unjudgemental responses! I only posted so others would know the huge hurdles that Royal jumped through for our family.  There were SO many moving parts to getting us back home and they really stepped up and ensured our safety and that of the crew and remaining passengers. Here’s some quick responses.  A family member that was on the cruise with us picked up the car in Florida and a different family member will fly to Florida in a few days and drive it back to us several states away.  We NEVER had the thought cross our mind about not being able to fly back to Florida.  That threw us at first but we fully understand that was a good decision.  So keep in mind a car at the port/hotel could be an issue if this happened to you.  We all had Pfizer.  I had my second shot at the end of March.   Felt great on the cruise and after testing have some congestion.  Spouse has exhaustion and congestion.  Remaining family members all feel great.  The order of test was a rapid test in the main dining room followed by a pcr that somehow only took 1 hour to get back.  I got a CVS pcr within 24 hours (Saturday) of getting home on Friday just to confirm the results.  I am still waiting for that to come back. Contact tracing- they had me detail my movements and used my purchases and reservations as a way to help track things.  That was helpful as I was stressed and my stomach was in knots trying to absorb all the intensity of the moment.  The sh** gets real fast!!  Like crazy fast response.  They helped me walk through where I had been and were going to review security camera footage to see who might also need to be quarantined such as staff/passengers.  They also did make an announcement to the whole cruise that 6 people had tested positive.   As of right now, I had paid $319 for a Travel Guard travel insurance for a family of 4 and don’t have any receipts to submit! It really is amazing that at this moment there aren’t a stack of receipts.  I did have the ship doctor fill out the medical certificate form required by the travel insurance and Royal gave me a letter certifying the illness which is also needed.  As far as transports go, the medical transport I took told me there were 10 transports leaving Freeport that day from other sources not just Royal.  They said they have been busy doing these transports and most were not critical cases just Covid Positive.  The cruise line HAS to send you directly to your home. I was told they need to see me enter the house.  I have not been contacted by any health agencies in terms of quarantine. Cruise line said 14 days. The burning question of a refund— we were told we would get a refund for the unused portion of our cruise back on our card writhing 7-10 days.  How much that will be for those of us that left early vs the family’s group that stayed in quarantine until disembarkation remains to be seen.  No idea about credit for double points.  This was our first Royal cruise.  Regardless,  Royal staff was very helpful and I even had a call from Royal Cares telling me when my spouses flight took off assuring me they would not have just left him in the Bahamas.  Overall amazing experience and we would still cruise again! Night and day response to when our family was quarantined and had the norovirus on NCL 13 years ago.  They were terrible.  Hope I answered the bulk of questions.  Best wishes to you all!  

I was on your cruise and so worried about everyone that tested positive. Happy to hear you are feeling better and hope the others are as well. Kudos to RCCL!!! 

[YankeesFan4Life]

@Coconut Crew maybe I missed it in the previous posts, but if you were asymptomatic, why were you tested?  Do they random test on the ship?  And glad you and your family got home ok, hope everyone gets better soon!

[sfaaa]

This thread has swayed me. Even though I am fully vaccinated and can't wait to resume cruising, I have decided to take a hit in my wallet and cancel my B2B cruise in Nov and Dec. Just not worth the hassle and risks. 

[Ocean Boy]

5 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

This thread has swayed me. Even though I am fully vaccinated and can't wait to resume cruising, I have decided to take a hit in my wallet and cancel my B2B cruise in Nov and Dec. Just not worth the hassle and risks. 

It certainly has my attention, too.

[Biker19]

28 minutes ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

but if you were asymptomatic, why were you tested?

Everyone is tested for the return flight to the US from Nassau. 

[YankeesFan4Life]

13 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Everyone is tested for the return flight to the US from Nassau. 

Gotcha. We have a closed loop cruise from Port Canaveral, so that won’t apply to us…thx

[smokeybandit]

38 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

This thread has swayed me. Even though I am fully vaccinated and can't wait to resume cruising, I have decided to take a hit in my wallet and cancel my B2B cruise in Nov and Dec. Just not worth the hassle and risks. 

The hassle is worth it. And the risk is low. As someone who was flown home privately solely due to a close contact in my group, not even testing positive, I'm already looking forward to my next cruise.

[internetwhiz]

Coconut Crew and others, thanks for sharing in part two. I can’t find part 1, so I guess locked means gone. What a shame. 
 

I have one question that may have been answered in part 2. Were all six positives in one party? Acquaintances?

 

all of you, get well soon!  
 

I'm proud of how RC has he fled things!

[emeraldcity]

8 minutes ago, internetwhiz said:

Coconut Crew and others, thanks for sharing in part two. I can’t find part 1, so I guess locked means gone. What a shame. 
 

I have one question that may have been answered in part 2. Were all six positives in one party? Acquaintances?

 

all of you, get well soon!  
 

I'm proud of how RC has he fled things!

I tested positive for Covid on Adventure 7/24 Sailing - Royal Caribbean International - Cruise Critic Community

 

I found the previous post on page three.

 

[graphicguy]

@Coconut Crew and @deweytrader…thank you both for sharing.  What opposite experiences.  Kudos to Royal…Bah to Carnival!

 

 Serious stuff!  Wishing the best to you and your families!

[firefly333]

31 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

@Coconut Crew and @deweytrader…thank you both for sharing.  What opposite experiences.  Kudos to Royal…Bah to Carnival!

 

 Serious stuff!  Wishing the best to you and your families!

Carnival has a policy in print. I agree maybe they should have helped book the quarantine hotel more and it didnt go well. But carnival was clear quarantine expenses are on you. I agree it looks bad vs rcl flying people home from nassau. I'm still confused if I cruise from Galveston does rcl fly me home. Is their usa policy from usa to pay for quarantine? I'd like to compare apples to apples. If I do a 5 day explorer cruise for $1000 and am positive will they fly me home.  Idk i have 10 rcl booked so I'm curious.

 

What's rcl usa policy. Here is what someone posted carnivals policy is. 

 

If you traveled by air to join your cruise and test positive at embarkation and are not able to cruise – or test positive during the debark testing – you may be required to quarantine before traveling home. While Carnival will help make quarantine arrangements, all guests are responsible for expenses associated with quarantine.

 

 

[mek]

8 hours ago, Babr said:

Protocols are subject to change, but I was talking about the assistance plans that help passengers who test positive by arranging for them to get home.

 

Those plans were formulated months as part of the agreement to return to sailing and will expire on Oct. 31. Royal, Celebrity, and Princess have published the details of their plans on their websites, but I have not seen anything in writing from Carnival.  I don’t know why they don’t have to be forthcoming in the same way as the other lines, but their assistance is minimal, and I don’t know why they would change now. 

 

The point is that all of them will expire by the end of the year (Princess in December), and people need to realize that they will be responsible for their own arrangements after that.

I sent an e-mail to my TA this evening about the insurance I purchased in October, 2019 when I booked the cruise we will be taking in November.  Since Covid wasn't even on the radar at that time, I'm not sure exactly what is covered.  That just might be the deal breaker for me - if we have to buy extra insurance on top of what we have already purchased it just might cost more than what I will lose if I just cancel the cruise.

[AshleyDillo]

53 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

What's rcl usa policy. Here is what someone posted carnivals policy is. 

 

Through October 31st per https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center

 

100% cruise fare refund for you, and your Travelling Party, if any of you tests positive for COVID-19 within 14 days prior to the cruise or at the boarding terminal.

• Pro-rated cruise fare refund if your cruise is cut short for reasons related to COVID-19.

• If you test positive for COVID-19 during the cruise, Royal Caribbean will cover the costs of COVID-19 related medical treatment onboard, any required land-based quarantine, and travel home for you and your Traveling Party.

[firefly333]

10 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

 

Through October 31st per https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center

 

100% cruise fare refund for you, and your Travelling Party, if any of you tests positive for COVID-19 within 14 days prior to the cruise or at the boarding terminal.

• Pro-rated cruise fare refund if your cruise is cut short for reasons related to COVID-19.

• If you test positive for COVID-19 during the cruise, Royal Caribbean will cover the costs of COVID-19 related medical treatment onboard, any required land-based quarantine, and travel home for you and your Traveling Party.

Sounds like a good policy. I hope its extended to my dec and later rcl cruises. ..though idk how rcl can afford all these jets. It is nice coverage.

[Coconut Crew]

6 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Curios, why were on different plane home than your husband?

My spouse tested positive 24 hours after testing negative on a rapid and pcr test. He was sent home on a different jet after I had already left the ship. The first one didn’t have room for my family of 4.  

[Coconut Crew]

7 hours ago, deweytrader said:

What a terrible situation for all of us I hope you and your family are doing well too!  Carnival did nothing I mean absolutely nothing. The only reason they transported us to the quarantine hotel was because I said I would have contract an ambulance and they did not want an ambulance at the port.  Carnival does not announce positives onboard the  cruise ship and try to keep hush hush. A quote from a doctor in the medical center was " The last thing Carvinal wants is for this to be in the news". luckily we have travel insurance and hopefully we'll be in reimbursed but at this time everything is coming out of our pocket.  My negative husband and daughter are also quarantined in a separate hotel room and my husband has been taking good care of us regarding food and necessities.  They have to quarantine from minimum 7 days( as long as they continue to test negative) and my son and I 10 to 14 depending on test results.

I am so glad your husband and daughter are nearby and have been able to provide food and necessities. That would be a huge challenge if you had been separated and on your own.  I hope your travel insurance will pick up all of these costs.  Good thing you have it.  It is very interesting how different cruise lines are addressing the positive cases that are bound to happen.  Best wishes for a smooth and quick recovery so you can get back home!!

[Coconut Crew]

4 hours ago, read2learn said:

I was on your cruise and so worried about everyone that tested positive. Happy to hear you are feeling better and hope the others are as well. Kudos to RCCL!!! 

Thank you! I hope you had a fabulous cruise.  We were amazed at how empty the ship and ports felt wherever we went.  It truly was an awesome trip overall.  

[retiredgram]

Coconut Crew, thanks for the follow up.

[Coconut Crew]

5 hours ago, syesmar said:

If your official travel insurance won’t cover it, there’s a *chance* your credit card might kick in if they have insurance. Sometimes they cover such cancellations if it was charged to your card. Some airlines will also do free changes for various scenarios without fees.

Best wishes for you and your family! Really appreciate the insight into your experience. It sounds like Royal Caribbean has taken care of their passengers quite well.

I will have to look into it.  The tickets were in the name of my niece and nephew since we were treating them to some fun in Orlando but cancelled the whole trip because of our situation.  I figured insurance would only cover it if it was for the four of us that were insured.  Thanks.

[firefly333]

51 minutes ago, Coconut Crew said:

I will have to look into it.  The tickets were in the name of my niece and nephew since we were treating them to some fun in Orlando but cancelled the whole trip because of our situation.  I figured insurance would only cover it if it was for the four of us that were insured.  Thanks.

I used to work for amex and the window where some cards had insurance coverage was very small where you could apply. I would call asap if you think you might have coverage. It's like someone crashed a rental car and we would have covered it, but it's now 48 hours past, so sorry. Or whatever. I just remember we covered very little just because you had to apply so fast. 

Edited August 2, 2021 by firefly333