Alaska Cruise Tours why so many positive Covid?

[sunsetme]

What is going on that so many people are testing positive? Are the hotels not clean? Are the busses packed?

Very concerning.

[memoak]

1 minute ago, sunsetme said:

What is going on that so many people are testing positive? Are the hotels not clean? Are the busses packed?

Very concerning.

People are on land tours packed in buses and likely not masked up

[cr8tiv1]

14 minutes ago, sunsetme said:

What is going on that so many people are testing positive? Are the hotels not clean? Are the busses packed?

Very concerning.

 

I was wondering about this, but how did you find out numbers?  Are these numbers for Land Tours coming aboard cruise ships?  Are they testing positive AFTER the ship sets sail?  More please.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Yes...too much of a "blanket statement" and not enough hard facts...such as links to news articles.  FaceBook links DO NOT COUNT!

[Cruise Raider]

I think it is just so widespread, around our area anyway, that it doesn't much matter if you are taking every precaution possible.  You can still get it and just hope the vaccines do what they are meant to do and keep you from getting hospitalized.  

[wblotner66]

we’re heading out there today. Everyone has been vaxxed. I’ve been quad-vaxxed. I’ve been wearing a mask for 2 weeks, will wear on the bus and I can still test positive and not allowed on the ship. Meanwhile people with flu, norovirus or some other infectious disease are free to board. There was a time for these precautions but most vaxxed people who are positive have minor issues and cause no more risk than the others above. I plan to wear the mask onboard as instructed but that is my choice. Others can choose not to. This is what makes our Country so great. 

[sunsetme]

some are testing positive at the end of their tour before the cruise begins.

[Keksie]

I guess it would help to define "so many people"  How many cruise tours do you have data for?  How many people are taking these tours?  How many people are testing positive of that group?  How soon after starting on the tour are people testing positive?  What were the people who test positive doing before starting the tour?  What were the people on the tour doing?  Were they all on the same excursions?  Did they stay at the same hotel?  Eat at the same restaurant?  Without answers to these questions it is hard to draw conclusions as to whether to be concerned or not.  

[pamps2801]

2 hours ago, sunsetme said:

What is going on that so many people are testing positive? Are the hotels not clean? Are the busses packed?

Very concerning.

One reason could be, that only 62% of Alaskans are vaccinated. So if the cruise people are mingling with the unvaccinated Alaskans, and everyone is unmasked, then, here come the Covid cases. 

[cr8tiv1]

All speculation without fine tuning the sample.

[karatemom2]

Quite frankly, COVID is just surging across the country. You could be traveling anywhere and see the same level of exposure. It’s not unique to Alaska or to cruises. I work in a hospital and our numbers are way up currently. 

[zentraveler]

Have been wondering this myself as we are about to get on an Alaska Ruby cruise from SF on 7/19. Lots of reports of people turning positive during the cruise. Actually made me concerned about going at all,  despite vaccinated like a lot of people. 

 

The early June trip report I read for our cruise was some sort of casino tournament and a lot of passengers who seemed to spend a lot of time in close, casino smoke-allowed quarters, and that is my suspicion about what happened. But expeditions, crowded elevators etc. could certainly account for it. Covid spreads in close crowded quarters, and cruise ships - as 2020-2022 has shown - are certainly the poster child for this. 

 

Still going, but masking up and will likely spend a lot of time on our balcony, on the decks and walking around stops on our own. And taking the stairs.

[PacnGoNow]

6 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

Quite frankly, COVID is just surging across the country. You could be traveling anywhere and see the same level of exposure. It’s not unique to Alaska or to cruises. I work in a hospital and our numbers are way up currently. 

They are sick enough to come to the hospital? 😳

[zentraveler]

5 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

Quite frankly, COVID is just surging across the country. You could be traveling anywhere and see the same level of exposure. It’s not unique to Alaska or to cruises. I work in a hospital and our numbers are way up currently. 

True and I am in health care too, and what is unique to cruises is how many people are packed together for a long period of time. The "spreader" events are crowded events like weddings etc and cruise ships have lots of them (shows, restaurants, elevators, expeditions etc.) for several days.

[karatemom2]

3 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

They are sick enough to come to the hospital? 😳

Yes. Omicron may be a milder variant but it still can make certain people very ill - the unvaccinated, the very elderly and people who are immunocompromised. Plus we have people who are hospitalized for other reasons who end up also testing positive. They count too. The very good news is that we are seeing less needing care in ICU and fewer deaths. 

Edited July 2, 2022 by karatemom2

[zentraveler]

1 minute ago, PacnGoNow said:

They are sick enough to come to the hospital? 😳

Our hospital, and most I assume, test anyone coming in for anything. That is how we get a rough estimate of the community asymptomatic positivity. Come in for a colonoscopy or an ER visit because you think your leg might be broken and you get tested - covid symptoms or not. But also the numbers of people with covid who need the hospital is going up also. 

[karatemom2]

3 minutes ago, zentraveler said:

True and I am in health care too, and what is unique to cruises is how many people are packed together for a long period of time. The "spreader" events are crowded events like weddings etc and cruise ships have lots of them (shows, restaurants, elevators, expeditions etc.) for several days.

Yes, cruises do create the perfect environment for any illness to spread. Two plus years I dodged COVID, even working in a hospital. But we all tested positive after getting home from our cruise in May. It’s just so contagious and harder to avoid when you are in crowded places and also having fun on vacation which naturally leads to letting your guard down on precautions. 

[zentraveler]

3 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

Yes, cruises do create the perfect environment for any illness to spread. Two plus years I dodged COVID, even working in a hospital. But we all tested positive after getting home from our cruise in May. It’s just so contagious and harder to avoid when you are in crowded places and also having fun on vacation which naturally leads to letting your guard down on precautions. 

We have taken two cruises since Covid and no one (including us) tested positive on either - and they tested us getting on, weekly and getting off. But these were MUCH smaller cruise lines (both with <400 people at lower capacity), hence my hesitation about this Princess one with SO many people. I picked it when rates were down and because it round trips SF-SF and I live just a few miles from the terminal. It was easy and we love the itinerary to Alaska. Fingers crossed. 

 

Next Cruise in October is another small ship!

[Keksie]

I think it would be a good idea to take the cruise tour portion after the cruise.  That way you take the test at the beginning and not the middle.  

[sfaaa]

5 hours ago, memoak said:

People are on land tours packed in buses and likely not masked up

Very few people are masked up on cruise ships even when the rule says they are required. Most act like Covid is over. Hence the inevitable result.

[victoriaj]

3 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

Yes, cruises do create the perfect environment for any illness to spread. Two plus years I dodged COVID, even working in a hospital. But we all tested positive after getting home from our cruise in May. It’s just so contagious and harder to avoid when you are in crowded places and also having fun on vacation which naturally leads to letting your guard down on precautions. 

Just wanted to add our experience . We were on the Grand B2B May 11-25th and tested positive several days after returning home. Everything fine with no one talking about cases on Northbound but 2 days after passengers embarked for Southbound many who had stayed at Denali prior to boarding came down with Covid. We never attended any events, sat at table for 2 and only place we were grouped in close quarters was waiting  to disembark in Vancouver where we were about 2 hours in Crooners.  Communication system and announcements so poor you could not hear them so we didn't want to deviate from our designated time and place. Wont do that again. Thankfully as fully vaxxed Seniors we had mild symptoms and approved for Paxoloid fully recovered.

[zentraveler]

1 hour ago, victoriaj said:

Just wanted to add our experience . We were on the Grand B2B May 11-25th and tested positive several days after returning home. Everything fine with no one talking about cases on Northbound but 2 days after passengers embarked for Southbound many who had stayed at Denali prior to boarding came down with Covid. We never attended any events, sat at table for 2 and only place we were grouped in close quarters was waiting  to disembark in Vancouver where we were about 2 hours in Crooners.  Communication system and announcements so poor you could not hear them so we didn't want to deviate from our designated time and place. [Edits mine] Wont do that again. Thankfully as fully vaxxed Seniors we had mild symptoms and approved for Paxoloid fully recovered.

Helpful; were you masking in crowded places? Was anyone else? What did you mean by the bolded edits above if you don't mind me asking?

[jvaka]

We were on Cruisetour in early June. My estimate is 10% of the people wore masks on the flights we took to Fairbanks. My wife and I were usually the only ones who wore masks on the bus rides from one city to the next and also on the train from Talkeetna to Whittier. We were required to wear masks while inside the ship. Many times I saw 6-7 people cram into an elevator we half not wearing masks. The COVID shot is an immunization not a vaccine. 

[caribill]

1 hour ago, jvaka said:

We were on Cruisetour in early June. My estimate is 10% of the people wore masks on the flights we took to Fairbanks. My wife and I were usually the only ones who wore masks on the bus rides from one city to the next and also on the train from Talkeetna to Whittier. We were required to wear masks while inside the ship. Many times I saw 6-7 people cram into an elevator we half not wearing masks. The COVID shot is an immunization not a vaccine. 

 

There have been some posts on "live froms" by people on Alaska cruisetours who tested positive when tested near the end of the tour prior to joining the ship.

 

As jvaka's post indicates, very few people are taking the proven precaution of wearing appropriate masks while on the tours and thus with the virus as prevalent as it is these days it is no surprise that some on the tour do get Covid. It may have been acquired pre-tour or while on the tour.

 

Even worse, those who had it detected before the cruise likely spread it to other tour participants who did not have enough virus in their system to be detected at test time and thus boarded the ship infected and with the ability to spread it to others on board.

 

Popular opinion is that masks are a nuisance, so most people do not wear them in airports, on planes, crowded buses, etc. Often not even on cruise ships even when it is "mandatory."  Since the virus pays no attention to popular opinion, it is no surprise that it shows up in participants on cruisetours and on cruise ships.

[deliver42]

It all goes back to the current thinking of people in general. I'll do what I want, and the hell with everyone else.