Positive Posts Alaska Land and Sea

[chopper825]

Although it is helpful to read reviews of the unfortunate people who have tested positive for Covid and forced to quarantine there must be people out there who made it through these cruises without getting Covid.

Leaving  Monday and all of these posts are making me want to cancel. Trying to stay positive but it is difficult. If there are thousands of people the majority must make it through without Covid.

Not afraid of getting Covid but it seems no matter what you do, wear a mask or dont, vaccinated and boosted,  some are just going to get it. No rhyme or reason. 

Would love to hear from people who enjoyed their cruise and were fortunate not to be infected.

[c-boy]

 

went B2B without catchin' a thing

sometimes it ain't a thing...

gonna worry bout tomorrow

when tomorrow comes

til then I'll twiddle my thumbs... 

 

Don't worry be happy... X2

 

you can't control what others do

don't try walkin' in their shoes 

you can control only you...

it's best to do only you 

 

Don't worry be happy... X2

 

when life makes you sad

think of the warm beach sand...

and take your love by the hand

 

Don't worry be happy

 

 

 

[ahhb]

My husband and I were on a land tour then the Royal southbound May 21-28.  We are relieved to be back home--we live in Florida as well--without COVID.  We tested again last night and were still negative. I have read the posts about people who tested positive and certainly heard about people testing positive during each component of the trip, so getting COVID is a definite risk. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip.  I am sure those who were impacted personally by COVID on the trip have perspectives that are very different from ours.  FYI, we consistently wore our masks around others unless we were outside or dining.  We avoided the crowded venues but that was not a big issue for us as we went on this trip primarily for the Alaska experiences, not the cruise ship experiences. Only a minority of travelers wore masks on our flights to and from, on the coaches during the land tour, on the direct to the wilderness rail and on the ship.  I estimate that, at most, 10% of guests on the ship wore masks.  On the other hand, all the Princess crew wore masks.  We were fortunate to have club class dining and there was always at least one table between us and other guests.  We waited three years for this trip to become a reality and it was a wonderful experience for us.  

[QuilterGirl]

DH and I are currently finishing up our eighth Princess cruise since the pause, a total of 65 days at sea.  Some of the cruises were "no masks required."  Some were "masks required."  Some were "masks suggested."  Five of our cruises were out of our home port, not involving flights.  Three involved flights, including cross-country.   We are double-vaxxed and double-boosted.  To the best of our knowledge, we have not gotten Covid.  So - it can be done!

 

We have worn primarily well-made cloth masks (tightly fitted, with several layers, and properly worn).  We wore KN95s on flights.  We wear masks 100% of the time when out and about on the ship, and on tours except when by ourselves outside (bike ride, snorkeling, etc.).  We use hand sanitizer after handling menus and many other times throughout the day when away from home, as an adjunct to washing with soap and water when feasible.  We have not gone out of our way to avoid crowds, but the passenger counts on these cruises has made it easier to do so.

 

In some of the ships' dining rooms, we were able to be seated at tables away from others; on some, it was at two-tops so close to each other that you could hardly not get involved in your neighbors' conversations.  We leave our masks on until we have ordered our meals. 

 

On our current cruise, we estimate the passenger mask-wearing to be 5-10% (and not all of those worn correctly).  On all of these cruises - starting last July and continuing still - the crew wore their masks constantly (and consistently).  Kudos to them!

[suekel]

Not Alaska but 3 cruises since January.  One mask required, 2 not.  Didn't wear ours on the last 2.  No covid.  Got Covid at home where I rarely go out.  It can happen anywhere. 

[chopper825]

I am starting to think that if you are destined to get it on board you will no matter what you do.  Many masked up the whole time and got it anyway and many didn't and did not get it. Not afraid of getting it but just getting it on board. Well here goes nothing.  Fingers crossed.  Thanks!

[hapster85]

I think Princess now requiring a negative test before the land portion was a good move. Still doesn't eliminate risk, of course, but should help reduce the number of cases. 🤞

[JeffT237]

 

25 minutes ago, chopper825 said:

I am starting to think that if you are destined to get it on board you will no matter what you do

 

We sailed on an Alaskan itinerary early May and we were fortunate to not get Covid.  We chose not to mask at all including on our flight.  I'd estimate 10% of travelers did mask and that may be a generous number.  We are vaxxed and boosted, for precautions we brought extra meds and my wife's doctors prescribed her with Paxlovid as she is immunocompromised.  We felt comfortable with our decision to return to cruising now.  Our biggest concern was being quarantined to a cabin, not getting sick from Covid itself.  Like you there were times we thought we were destined to get it.  We did go into this trip thinking we'd somewhat modify our behavior, however once we actually started the vacation we pretty much enjoyed ourselves like the pre-Covid days.  

[Guest ldtr]

We are now far enough into Covid that there is lots of data out there on the effectiveness of preventive measures.

 

Keep in mind that none of them will guarantee that any one individual will not contract Covid because there are too many variables and no prefect method of protection.

 

What the data indicates is that being up to date with vaccines will reduce infect by about 40% (reduce serious illness by about 90%).  So if you have a strain with an R0 (measure of spread) of 10.  Having everyone up to date on vaccination will reduce it to about 6.  

 

Comparing a properly masked population (good mask, worn correctly, worn indoors in crowded area) reduces R0 by about 50%.  So the combination of masking and vaccination would reduce an R0 10 to an R0 of around 3.

 

While some would still get infected, even if masking (except when seated and eating) it would greaty reduce the total number of infections.

 

Add in testing, which also is not perfect (antigen testing only detects around 50% of asymptomatic infections, and about 80% of symptomatic cases) it does keep a good percentage of potential sources of spread off of ship, again greatly reducing the number of potential infections.

 

Combine it all together if you had 4 source cases get on board during a 7 day cruise without testing,  vaccination or masking, you are likely to have around 400 infections by the end of the cruise.  If you have all tree testing, up to date vaccinations, and masking when moving indoors, you would expect around 24 infections at the end of the 7 days.  Bad luck for one of the 24, but far better than 400.  Not in either case a lot would not get infected in either case, but the practices would make substantial difference in the number that would.  Go with testing, vaccination, but no masking would make the expected number to be around 84.  

 

The two main safety factors though are 1. the incidence rate of the illness in the population and 2. The number of different people one comes in contact with or are in a given volume of inside space.  When dining most people are seated and there are relatively few people nearby.  When out and about moving around on a cruise ship on passes many people, during a week long cruise one probably passes close by just about everyone during the cruise at one time or another.  Thus better to mask while moving around indoors, especially in crowded areas.