Impact of Covid on Cruising

[Dotinthought]

How safe is it now to be cruising?   I am familiar with restrictions and policies in place to control the spread of Covid but I would be interested in knowing how frequently cruises are cut short due to Covid or are conducted in a way that severely compromises the cruising experience.   I hope this sort of question does not fall afoul of cruise critic policy on this topic.  I am not asking for opinions on those divisive topics of vaccines etc.  I just want to know as a practical matter how it is going.  
 

I have been on only one voyage during the past year, on the Queen Mary 2 (February 22 Caribbean).  The experience was overall wonderful.  I was disappointed, though, that Cunard was quite secretive about how many passengers became ill.  Transparency would be better.

[*Miss G*]

Since the restart I have done a Southern Caribbean with HAL and a TA with Princess.  In October I have a river cruise with Avalon followed by a TA with HAL.  I guess you could say that my feeling is that cruises are not being conducted in a way which severely compromises the experience.

 

I have not seen any cruises cut short by covid but perhaps I am reading the wrong threads.  Cruising is about as safe as life is going to get during a pandemic.  No one’s asking me to test negative before I get on a domestic flight or go to the grocery store or check into a hotel, so I would rate cruising as safer than exposing myself to those situations. 

 

I don’t need to know how many passengers are ill.  I haven’t heard of one cruise ship covid-related death since the restart so it’s not at all important to me.  If anyone’s sick they go into lockdown and most are reporting very mild symptoms.  

 

We are all fully vaccinated and boostered.  We have to present negative tests to board.  Cleaning/sanitation is job #1.  I stay masked in indoor spaces with the exception of removing it to eat.  I wash my hands frequently and use the Purell canisters.  I feel we are entering the endemic stage and now covid will become part of my flu shot regimen.  The risk remains that you might get the flu or covid but the shots increase your chances of survival.  Life is short.  I’m going to live it.

[ByThePond]

The CDC color status gives you a view of current status of cases on cruise ships. https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/cruise-ship-color-status.html 

[Keata]

We just got back from a 7 day West Coast on the Discovery Princess.  This was out 1st cruise since Feb 2020.  A lot of people chose to be masked in the elevators and other tight spaces.  All embarking and disembarking and tenders required people to be masked and Princess did insist if someone was not compliant.  The cruise was at 65% capacity which was very nice to get loungers and places in the buffet.  We had 3 guests taken away in ambulances due to supposed COVID complications (this from a front desk employee).  I felt safer there than at the Air Canada lounge at LAX where we heard lots of coughing, no masks and lots of grabing of food despite the employess wanting to serve you.  One parent was on the phone with someone saying she was pretty sure her son (under 2 I would guess) had covid - the child had flushed ceeks and was coughing constantly.  She let him roam the lounge - we left immidiately after hearing what she said. We have tested everyday since returning; no symptoms just being safe and we are still negative.  My next cruise is at the end of June on NCL.

[1kaper]

13 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

 

I have not seen any cruises cut short by covid but perhaps I am reading the wrong threads.  Cruising is about as safe as life is going to get during a pandemic.  No one’s asking me to test negative before I get on a domestic flight or go to the grocery store or check into a hotel, so I would rate cruising as safer than exposing myself to those situations. 

 

Same. 

I was a bit worried about it with our cruise the end of March but, admittedly, I wasn't as careful as I probably should have been. I did feel uncomfortable unmasked in elevators, but yet I didn't wear a mask either.  I did wash my hands.  We also didn't do shows or anything so the elevators was the place we were closest to people. 

Our ship reported no cases to CDC (see link above).  I asked in our online group of about 3000 people if anyone came down with Covid.  While I doubt everyone saw it, no one reported knowing of any cases after the cruise. 
 

One lady in my group said she thinks Covid is over, which I found funny because I came home to a large increase in cases here.  But that did make me consider - we sailed out of Texas. The vast majority of people sailing drove to port. Texas has been wide open for a long time and went through many waves of Covid.  Many of the people I talked to on the ship had already had covid.  On top of that, virtually everyone was fully vaccinated (Carnival gives out very few exemptions and usually only to children), and tested prior to getting on the ship. 
So I wondered if that was a contributing factor to the low numbers. 

 

[Tango99]

17 hours ago, Dotinthought said:

How safe is it now to be cruising?   I am familiar with restrictions and policies in place to control the spread of Covid but I would be interested in knowing how frequently cruises are cut short due to Covid or are conducted in a way that severely compromises the cruising experience.   I hope this sort of question does not fall afoul of cruise critic policy on this topic.  I am not asking for opinions on those divisive topics of vaccines etc.  I just want to know as a practical matter how it is going.  
 

I have been on only one voyage during the past year, on the Queen Mary 2 (February 22 Caribbean).  The experience was overall wonderful.  I was disappointed, though, that Cunard was quite secretive about how many passengers became ill.  Transparency would be better.

Consider that for cruise ships to return to business in July 2021, that their hvac systems, medical facilities, and health protocol were all renewed and increased to manage any incidence of covid, that the crew is 100% vaccinated and tested randomly and regularly for covid, and that only fully vaccinated and negative tested adult passengers were first to cruise again. Ship capacity including crew were reduced by 50%. For many months since then, the positivity rate on cruise ships was between 0.002 and 0.003%….ie 2-3 people per 1000. Albeit likely to increase further, compare that with on shore rates, previously 28% in Canada, higher in US states, and now as high as 1 in 15 in the UK, and hardly any tracking in other countries. Yet in general, tracking and testing continues for the cruise and travel industries.  How to disclose any statistics publicly or to guests while on board as a matter of privacy to individuals and crew? Hmmm. Hardly likely with all the privacy rights of individuals. But the individual ship status can be viewed on the CDC website. Most are ‘under review’. On a personal note, frankly I wondered a little when on a cruise with 3700 on Mar 6 immediately following a cruise with 1400 the week before. And decided what happens, happens. I was adequately prepared and have trust in the vaccine and testing. The cruise lines are doing what they must to reduce the risk, but for the most part it’s up to passengers to do their part. Especially when in much larger venues with different age groups being introduced.