NCL cruise passengers quarantined in Athens for 19 days

[CalTexCruiser]

'Solitary Confinement': Texas Couple Recalls Being Quarantined in Greece for 19 Days Over COVID

'Solitary Confinement': Texas Couple Recalls Being Quarantined in Greece for 19 Days Over COVID (newsweek.com)

[ColeThornton]

This almost doesn't even seem newsworthy these days.  People know what chances they are taking.  Unfortunate this happened but not surprising.

[BermudaBound2014]

34 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

People know what chances they are taking.  

 

Do they really? It seems that the rules are changing so frequently that it's hard to keep up. The fact that this couple had to do 19 days in quarantine is the first I've heard of a cruise quarantine lasting that long so that is newsworthy to me.  Typically, I've seen 10 day quarantine listed which is what most people may plan for. Of course, you need to test negative to get out of quarantine, but I'm not convinced that 'most' travelers are aware of the repercussions should they test positive in another country. It appears that in Greece, the government paid for the quarantine. I don't believe that is the case everywhere which is something else to consider.

[ColeThornton]

9 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Do they really? It seems that the rules are changing so frequently that it's hard to keep up. The fact that this couple had to do 19 days in quarantine is the first I've heard of a cruise quarantine lasting that long so that is newsworthy to me.  Typically, I've seen 10 day quarantine listed which is what most people may plan for. Of course, you need to test negative to get out of quarantine, but I'm not convinced that 'most' travelers are aware of the repercussions should they test positive in another country. It appears that in Greece, the government paid for the quarantine. I don't believe that is the case everywhere which is something else to consider.

 

 

Absolutely agree with you that it's hard to keep up with the ever changing rules but having said that if people don't realize with all the information that is available that the chances of something going awry are very real then that's on them.  Risk vs Reward.  

[bluesea777]

4 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

Absolutely agree with you that it's hard to keep up with the ever changing rules but having said that if people don't realize with all the information that is available that the chances of something going awry are very real then that's on them.  Risk vs Reward.  

 

+1

 

[JennJ99738]

33 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Do they really? It seems that the rules are changing so frequently that it's hard to keep up. The fact that this couple had to do 19 days in quarantine is the first I've heard of a cruise quarantine lasting that long so that is newsworthy to me.  Typically, I've seen 10 day quarantine listed which is what most people may plan for. Of course, you need to test negative to get out of quarantine, but I'm not convinced that 'most' travelers are aware of the repercussions should they test positive in another country. It appears that in Greece, the government paid for the quarantine. I don't believe that is the case everywhere which is something else to consider.

 

I'm confused by this comment.  They were quarantined for so long because they continued to test positive.  Once they tested negative, they were released from quarantine, did some sightseeing and flew home.  So what would you have had Greece do?  The couple would not be able to board the plane back to the U.S. without a negative test. 

 

"The Knights were first isolated in the room for 10 days. Later, they were isolated for a second quarantine period of seven days after they both tested positive for COVID again. Overall, it was 19 days spent in hotels for the Knights."

 

[SeaShark]

Sorry, but this is how "misinformation" starts.

 

"NCL cruise passengers quarantined in Athens for 19 days"

 

To be factual, these people were NOT "NCL cruise passengers". They never set foot on an NCL ship. This didn't happen on an NCL ship. This is all on the Greek government.

 

Titles like this lead people to believe that people are infected on a cruise when that was not the case.

[CalTexCruiser]

This is newsworthy because it is a reminder of risks people take when they travel nowadays.

 

News like this may give some a bit of pause on booking or may cause them to consider cancelling a booked cruise overseas if an extended quarantine would be devastating for their work or family.

 

This couple was probably going on the NCL Jade, which from what I understand is sailing at 60-70% capacity, i.e., so over 1,500 passengers on each sailing--lots of people rolling the dice.

 

 

[CalTexCruiser]

If I'm booked on an NCL cruise from Athens and I traveled to Athens to embark on said NCL cruise then I am an NCL cruise passenger.

 

Title did not say passengers infected on cruise.

[All-ready2cruise]

I'd be more interested in knowing what airline on which these pax arrived in Athens.  The problem is though, this new variant is so easily transmitted, I doubt that anyone knows where these people picked up the virus. 

 

 

[CalTexCruiser]

6 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

I'd be more interested in knowing what airline on which these pax arrived in Athens.  The problem is though, this new variant is so easily transmitted, I doubt that anyone knows where these people picked up the virus. 

 

 

 

They most likely picked it up in the great state of Texas, the great unmasked frontier, before they got on the flight.

 

We were there last month and it was business as usual in most business establishments--i.e., very few people wearing masks.  We ditched our masks also, following the adage "When in Rome do as the Romans"

 

On the other hand, out here in Cali we keep our masks on nice and tight.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by CalTexCruiser

[SeaShark]

32 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

If I'm booked on an NCL cruise from Athens and I traveled to Athens to embark on said NCL cruise then I am an NCL cruise passenger.

 

Title did not say passengers infected on cruise.

 

Disagree. You are not an NCL cruise passenger until you embark. Having the intention to embark is not enough.

 

If I fly to Orlando with the intent of visiting Disney World and I am involved in an accident on the way to the park, it would be misleading to say "Disney World guest injured in an accident". That headline would mislead people into thinking that there was an accident in Disney World when that was, in fact, not the case.

 

These people were not NCL passengers, just like they weren't passengers of the airline they flew in on when this occurred.

[macandlucy]

It’s not unusual to continue to test positive for covid for weeks after recovery. (Where I live it’s 10 days post positive test/symptoms plus symptom improvement that is required to end isolation, definitely no post recovery testing). If Greece is going to require a negative covid test to release from isolation, that concerns me. 

Edited August 30, 2021 by macandlucy

[milolii]

After months of watching the situations and restrictions in the EU and the U.K., we decided to modify our August land  trip.  But then, Delta took hold and we decided to cancel for this very reason.  We did not  want to end up quarantined in a hotel room away from home.  It’s a risk.  
 

 

[classy_cruiser]

16 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

Disagree. You are not an NCL cruise passenger until you embark. Having the intention to embark is not enough.

 

If I fly to Orlando with the intent of visiting Disney World and I am involved in an accident on the way to the park, it would be misleading to say "Disney World guest injured in an accident". That headline would mislead people into thinking that there was an accident in Disney World when that was, in fact, not the case.

 

These people were not NCL passengers, just like they weren't passengers of the airline they flew in on when this occurred.

If they booked the trip and air through NCL, they are passengers of NCL and the cruise line was responsible for them throughout the quarantine process according to all the FAQs on the Sail Safe page. This was before all the new additional testing requirements came into play.

 

Considering that the article didn't have any complaints about the quality of the hotel room I'd imagine NCL had a hand in making sure they didn't have to quarantine in a government hotel. My PCC told me they have a deal with the Hyatt for quarantine but this hasn't been confirmed by anyone here. 

 

There were a few articles about people having to quarantine in Greek government hotels and the gist of it was that they are not a place you want to be for any length of time. 

[CalTexCruiser]

41 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

Disagree. You are not an NCL cruise passenger until you embark. Having the intention to embark is not enough.

 

If I fly to Orlando with the intent of visiting Disney World and I am involved in an accident on the way to the park, it would be misleading to say "Disney World guest injured in an accident". That headline would mislead people into thinking that there was an accident in Disney World when that was, in fact, not the case.

 

These people were not NCL passengers, just like they weren't passengers of the airline they flew in on when this occurred.

 

I think trying to draw a fine line between what constitutes a "passenger" vs what does not misses the whole point here, that is there is a substantial quarantine risk if one engages in travel overseas for cruise vacations.

 

No one is assigning blame to NCL or suggesting that these two picked up the virus on a cruise because obviously they never made it onto the cruise--the reason this is a topic of interest (to some at least) on this particular board is that the two persons were supposed to get on an NCL cruise in Athens, but ended up "jailed" (their words not mine) in a hotel for 19 days.

[SeaShark]

28 minutes ago, classy_cruiser said:

If they booked the trip and air through NCL, they are passengers of NCL and the cruise line was responsible for them throughout the quarantine process according to all the FAQs on the Sail Safe page. This was before all the new additional testing requirements came into play.

 

Considering that the article didn't have any complaints about the quality of the hotel room I'd imagine NCL had a hand in making sure they didn't have to quarantine in a government hotel. My PCC told me they have a deal with the Hyatt for quarantine but this hasn't been confirmed by anyone here. 

 

There were a few articles about people having to quarantine in Greek government hotels and the gist of it was that they are not a place you want to be for any length of time. 

 

First, "If..." just means we're guessing and we don't have the facts. I'd rather pass on that.

 

Second, saying "Considering that the article didn't have any complaints about the quality of the hotel room" indicates that you didn't read the article because that is not a true statement.

[SeaShark]

5 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

I think trying to draw a fine line between what constitutes a "passenger" vs what does not misses the whole point here, that is there is a substantial quarantine risk if one engages in travel overseas for cruise vacations.

 

No one is assigning blame to NCL or suggesting that these two picked up the virus on a cruise because obviously they never made it onto the cruise--the reason this is a topic of interest (to some at least) on this particular board is that the two persons were supposed to get on an NCL cruise in Athens, but ended up "jailed" (their words not mine) in a hotel for 19 days.

 

No, it is exactly the point here. You're trying to infer a risk based on a cruise and these people never even boarded a ship. The fact that they traveled with the intent of boarding a cruise ship is irrelevant here. Had they made the same exact trip with the only difference being that they were staying on a land-based vacation, they would have still tested positive for covid and would have still been quarantined. This had nothing to do with being a cruise passenger as it happened COMPLETELY independent of the cruise.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, CalTexCruiser said:

This is newsworthy because it is a reminder of risks people take when they travel nowadays.

 

News like this may give some a bit of pause on booking or may cause them to consider cancelling a booked cruise overseas if an extended quarantine would be devastating for their work or family.

 

This couple was probably going on the NCL Jade, which from what I understand is sailing at 60-70% capacity, i.e., so over 1,500 passengers on each sailing--lots of people rolling the dice.

So,,, this has nothing to do with NCL. This is about fully vaccinated people who caught COVID and had to quarantine. 
 

wrt impacts to work, they would have had to quarantine somewhere. Just because you’re in the good ‘ole USA does not make it ok to show up to work if you know you are testing positive. 

You can mitigate the risk of getting stopped at the gangway by taking a test before you travel. In fact, this is now a requirement of NCL if you want any help from them should you fail the COVID test pre-embarkation. NCL is putting protocols in place to help prevent people from traveling if they are unwell. 
 

Pretty much no one is going to tell the press “yeah,,, I was feeling sick, but I had a cruise to go on so I traveled anyways. They will always say “I was asymptomatic”. We’ve been on a couple of cruises recently and there are always people sniffling, coughing, and wheezing saying “allergies”… but did they test before coming to the port that way? 

[CalTexCruiser]

27 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

No, it is exactly the point here. You're trying to infer a risk based on a cruise and these people never even boarded a ship. The fact that they traveled with the intent of boarding a cruise ship is irrelevant here. Had they made the same exact trip with the only difference being that they were staying on a land-based vacation, they would have still tested positive for covid and would have still been quarantined. This had nothing to do with being a cruise passenger as it happened COMPLETELY independent of the cruise.

 

Maybe irrelevant to you, but highly relevant to me, as I'm booked on a cruise from Athens in a few weeks and I find this Newsweek article highly relevant to my decision making regarding risk-benefit, and whether or not I want to continue with the cruise or cancel for future credit.

 

And I can't help you are inferring all sorts of things that I never implied.

[SeaShark]

1 minute ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

Maybe irrelevant to you, but highly relevant to me, as I'm booked on a cruise from Athens in a few weeks and I find this Newsweek article highly relevant to my decision making regarding risk-benefit, and whether or not I want to continue with the cruise or cancel for future credit.

 

And I can't help you are inferring all sorts of things that I never implied.

 

But is was YOU who put "NCL cruise passengers" in the thread title, no? This does nothing but give an impression that someone onboard an NCL ship had to be quarantined for Covid...which is nothing if not misleading.

 

Heck, look at the Newsweek article...they didn't even say that these people were "NCL cruise passengers".

 

This one is on you, just own it.

[Wren_dc]

We were passengers on the Jade out of Athens in early August, and I believe this couple were supposed to be on our sailing.  

 

We 100% understood the risk were taking, and we were prepared to quarantine in Greece if we tested positive.  Everything was spelled out very clearly on the Greek Government's Ministry of Tourism website (where we had to fill out a mandatory PLF in order to travel to Greece).  There was also clear information on the US Department of State website.  Even our airline sent us emails about the quarantine requirement if we tested positive in Greece.

 

Because of the risk of having to quarantine in Greece (and miss our cruise) we got tested (twice) before leaving the U.S. and we wore N-95 masks during our flight to Greece.  We also purchased the best travel insurance possible in case we got very sick in Greece.  

 

We had no problems, and we had a great trip!  I'd take the risk and do it again if I could.....

 

[Crazy planning mom]

17 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

Maybe irrelevant to you, but highly relevant to me, as I'm booked on a cruise from Athens in a few weeks and I find this Newsweek article highly relevant to my decision making regarding risk-benefit, and whether or not I want to continue with the cruise or cancel for future credit.

 

And I can't help you are inferring all sorts of things that I never implied.

The point is not about cruising about international travel.  If you travel to Athens to cruise or to do a land trip, there is a chance of being quarantined in Greece.   However, if you cruise out of a domestic US port that you drive to ,say Galveston or LA, and you test positive , then you can just go home to quarantine.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Crazy planning mom

[CalTexCruiser]

1 minute ago, Wren_dc said:

We were passengers on the Jade out of Athens in early August, and I believe this couple were supposed to be on our sailing.  

 

We 100% understood the risk were taking, and we were prepared to quarantine in Greece if we tested positive.  Everything was spelled out very clearly on the Greek Government's Ministry of Tourism website (where we had to fill out a mandatory PLF in order to travel to Greece).  There was also clear information on the US Department of State website.  Even our airline sent us emails about the quarantine requirement if we tested positive in Greece.

 

Because of the risk of having to quarantine in Greece (and miss our cruise) we got tested (twice) before leaving the U.S. and we wore N-95 masks during our flight to Greece.  We also purchased the best travel insurance possible in case we got very sick in Greece.  

 

We had no problems, and we had a great trip!  I'd take the risk and do it again if I could.....

 

 

Even though not required to enter Greece we also plan to test in the US before leaving as well, to reduce chances of positive test on arrival. 

 

We also plan to isolate as much as possible 2 weeks before the trip and avoid crowded places.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed it.

[Wren_dc]

2 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

Even though not required to enter Greece we also plan to test in the US before leaving as well, to reduce chances of positive test on arrival. 

 

We also plan to isolate as much as possible 2 weeks before the trip and avoid crowded places.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed it.

 

That was our strategy as well, and it worked for us.  

 

Enjoy Greece and the cruise on the Jade.  The only bad thing about the sailing was that it was too short!