We are cruising again, hopefully, 10 July - 14 August

[cadburysmom]

Julie,

 

I've been enjoying your wonderful posts and was both sad and a little shocked to hear both you and your husband have contracted Covid, despite being so very careful.  Glad to know Seabourn is treating you well and look forward to hearing more on this new twist in your adventure.

 

Thanks again for sharing your journey with us and hoping your symptoms remain mild and your recovery is quick.

Edited July 16, 2022 by cadburysmom
Also looking forward to your thoughts on "Widow Cliquot"...it's next on my reading list!

[Mr Luxury]

Hi Julie,

 

Rotten luck for you both.

You could be in worse prisons I suppose.

It'll give you both time to work on the six pack.😁

[frantic36]

44 minutes ago, Mr Luxury said:

Hi Julie,

 

Rotten luck for you both.

You could be in worse prisons I suppose.

It'll give you both time to work on the six pack.😁

 

Thanks Mr L. Don't laugh but we googled some youtube today for exercise with stretch bands which I did and now admit to having slightly tender Abs so we will aim get out with a three pack at least 😅.

[lincslady]

Good on you,  Julie - making lemonade when you have been given lemons.

 

Lola

[Mr Luxury]

1 hour ago, frantic36 said:

 

Thanks Mr L. Don't laugh but we googled some youtube today for exercise with stretch bands which I did and now admit to having slightly tender Abs so we will aim get out with a three pack at least 😅.

Let's call it a party four instead.

You and Keith could find the stretch bands addictive.

Don't forget to have a safe word 😉

 

Just found out that our flights with BA have been cancelled to Athens.

We booked Seabourn Air business and luckily they have got us on Aegean a day earlier and put us up in a Hotel.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Mr Luxury

[lincslady]

Lucky you,  Mr. L,  especially if it is the Grande Bretagne.

[SLSD]

3 hours ago, frantic36 said:

 

 

@SLSD stay safe in Dallas. Do I remember you saying you had a rural retreat, maybe a break there for a few weeks might be a good idea?

 

Yes, we have a farm in the eastern part of Texas and we try to live there half of the time.  We are headed there on Monday.  We are back to wearing masks in public here and mostly staying out of public places.  We yearn to cruise on Seabourn again, but every time we think about booking, the virus rears its ugly head again.  I'm hoping that your cruise is wonderful in spite of this setback!!

[Fletcher]

@frantic36that's seriously bad luck and I wish you well.  Any idea if other passengers are in the same situation, or crew members?  I'm now a bit nervous about getting on board in two months' time.

[frantic36]

8 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

@frantic36that's seriously bad luck and I wish you well.  Any idea if other passengers are in the same situation, or crew members?  I'm now a bit nervous about getting on board in two months' time.

As you say it was bad luck and maybe since we dodged it for 2.5 years it was time. My doctor told me prior to us leaving that I was one of her rare patients patients who hadn't had it, and the medical practice is a big one.

 

I think there may be a couple of others. I have spoken to crew we interacted with prior to quarantine, for example our stewardesses when they dropped off things and they are all still fine. We aren't having long waits so I don't think things are bad at all.

 

For all we know we could have picked it up in the hotel just before we left Rome. Friends of mine went to London  in April to visit their son and then after a week went to Spain for business and tested positive on arrival there. Obviously picked it up in London, so it can happen anywhere.

[Mr Luxury]

10 hours ago, lincslady said:

Lucky you,  Mr. L,  especially if it is the Grande Bretagne.

I have insisted 😉

[fudge]

2 hours ago, Fletcher said:

@frantic36that's seriously bad luck and I wish you well.  Any idea if other passengers are in the same situation, or crew members?  I'm now a bit nervous about getting on board in two months' time.

Please dont do what I did, we wore masks everywhere on the ship but got complacent at the end, because most were not wearing masks we didnt on the last day, nor at the airport or flying home, big mistake, I got it after arriving home, still suffering after two weeks.

[Catlover54]

11 hours ago, fudge said:

Please dont do what I did, we wore masks everywhere on the ship but got complacent at the end, because most were not wearing masks we didnt on the last day, nor at the airport or flying home, big mistake, I got it after arriving home, still suffering after two weeks.

 

I am sorry you got sick, (again, so soon, this time with documented Covid).

But there is realistically no "ALWAYS" wearing a mask when people eat and drink in restaurants with strangers, often 3x/day, talk there at meals, etc (unless they have perfected a method of eating while masked).

 

The latest versions of Covid are reportedly  *very, very infectious* (more infectious than the original, though fortunately less lethal), and the virus didn't get the memo that it isn't supposed to transmit when people are feeding, imbibing, and talking at meals just because that is when the cruise line said it is fine with pax being unmasked.

 

I seem to recall you also had woken the first night of your cruise with a bad sore throat and muscle aches, i.e., a viral syndrome, and had reported you had been very strict about mask-wearing pre-cruise. Then you recovered enough to feel well enough to be up and about (masked but going back to restaurants within 15 hours of symptoms onset, and still felt tired and off for several days). Even if that wasn't Covid with a false negative  antigen self-test , the uncomfortable point is that wearing masks except when eating or sunbathing, even if people wear the N95 and K95 type which isn't always the case,  provides a false sense of security to too many that they will definitively not get infected with Covid, or for that matter with other viruses that have been the scourge of overseas travel for decades. People get sick when they travel, and old people get sick more often.

 

Many  thousands of " always mask wearers" simply still do report they  got  infected (and I don't think this Board is unique), regardless of percentages or risk reductions if there are any, and thankfully either have no or only mild but unpleasant symptoms (some even have moderate symptoms).  But fortunately the vast majority of cruisers  still do not visit death's door or even its driveway (we would be hearing more about hospitalized or dying Covid positive cruisers in the news and in medical literature, if that were happening, like we did 2 years ago when no one was vaccinated ) .  

Travelers today are already a self-screened population, of course (the truly frail and super vulnerable are mostly just staying home, along with those who may not be particularly frail but think they are, and/or those who always have low risk tolerances for other risks). 

 

What it boils down to right now, is if we cruise or travel  today, even if we engage in a variety of infection control practices, we have to  willing to accept the risk of getting a non-lethal virus, be it Covid or something like you apparently had at the beginning or your cruise.  Most can handle that, though it is unpleasant.  What many (like me, though not necessarily this board) have more issues with is the risk of:

 

1) getting quarantined -- especially if the quarantine is not always going to be in one's original luxury suite on a luxury line, like Frantic fortunately has.

Odds of that happening have diminished, at least for Americans and others where negative screening tests are not required to be able to fly home, and cruise lines have abandoned routine mid-cruise screening of asymptomatic pax (though they continue screening on crew).

2) missing return to work dates  (for those still employed in hands-on professions who cannot connect on-line), or other important scheduled activities (for those who are retired but still have busy lives or commitments at home, e.g., animal care or others, chemo appts., etc., this can be significant)

 

IMHO one should consider oneself "lucky" if something adverse does NOT happen, (especially if one is a 'vulnerable' senior) rather than "unlucky" if it does, as getting infected has gotten so common.

 

And don't even get me started on the problem with the airlines, the cancellations, the lost luggage, etc.  (which is due to the response to Covid), another major pain.

 

I have done 5 cruises since Covid, and still have not had Covid (symptomatic or otherwise ), but am slowing the pace of booking due to the ongoing headaches caused by the *response* to Covid, rather than fear of being very sick with Covid illness, despite being a senior on immunosuppressive  meds. I worry more about falling and getting injured on a cruise (with or without a fracture) than I worry about getting hospitalized with Covid. I am retired, and my kitties have passed, so I am ready for quarantine if it comes, (hopefully on a ship and not in a 3rd world hospital)  but am not ready for a rescheduled coach transatalantic in a middle seat 😲)

 

I suspect I am in a minority here when I say I do *not* want extra masking and extra testing for Covid on cruises (be it the butler leaning forwarding into my face to touch my forehead for a temperature or pre-disembarkation testing, fortunately now gone).  

 

I look forward to the day when we can choose to travel without the imposed restrictions of the Covid era, *and its consequences*  (the airline and service/labor mess which interferes with cruising quality) .  But at the rate we are going, I am afraid we will not see that day anytime in the near future.

 

 

 

[skybluewaters]

Julie, I hope both of you are feeling better and will be able to resume the full cruise experience soon.

 

If I may ask, what are the criteria you need to meet in order to get out of isolation?  A negative antigen test and also resolution of symptoms?

 

And are there any circumstances in which you might be required to leave the ship and isolate in one of the port cities that you will visit, either because of local regulations or Seabourn's rules? 

 

Thanks! 

 

[frantic36]

10 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

 

 

I look forward to the day when we can choose to travel without the imposed restrictions of the Covid era, *and its consequences*  (the airline and service/labor mess which interferes with cruising quality) .  But at the rate we are going, I am afraid we will not see that day anytime in the near future.

 

 

 

 

I also look forward to the day when we all feel safer and have less restrictions.

 

However as I said at the beginning of my review I am wanting to focus on my experiences. Please do not use my review as a place to get on a soapbox and be negative about ship life and cruising. If you wish to do so please start your own topic.

 

My husband and I are still feeling well though getting a little cabin crazy. The good news is I tried on a dress I bought in Rome and it fits even better. The exercise is working.

 

Room service has been prompt and I have found ordering dinner around 6.30 if we want MDR menu they deliver between 7.15 and 7.30 and it is hot.

 

Julie

[Mr Luxury]

Good to hear Julie.

Are you using the balcony or have they locked you in 😁

[frantic36]

2 minutes ago, Mr Luxury said:

Good to hear Julie.

Are you using the balcony or have they locked you in 😁

 

We are allowed to use the balcony. In fact we are encouraged to keep the door open during the day and get out there for fresh air. If our neighbours are outside we either don't go out or sit well back within the confines. 

 

Today we are in Valencia so everyone seems to have gone out already so we will take the opportunity to spend more time there. No sun as yet on the balcony.

[Mr Luxury]

Have you recruited a kind soul to get supplies ashore for you.

[frantic36]

24 minutes ago, Mr Luxury said:

Have you recruited a kind soul to get supplies ashore for you.

 

We don't need anything, I always overpack for just in case. The ship even gave us two bottles of a lovely Rose they bought when they were in Bandol to cheer us up.We enjoyed them over a couple of dinners. 

[Isklaar]

Glad to hear that you are both still feeling well Julie. 

 

[Joc123]

I’m so sorry to hear you have been hit by the dreaded virus. (AFL results won’t help)
If you have to be isolated, probably on Seabourn in the Med isn’t too bad but 7 days will feel like an eternity. Hang in there.

 

[frantic36]

1 hour ago, Joc123 said:

’m so sorry to hear you have been hit by the dreaded virus. (AFL results won’t help)

😅 That is so true. Keith managed to watch the Dockers game and couldn't watch to the end, then the Eagles were even worse 😟.

[Joc123]

Haha!, We will both be free in September  - sorry to hijack your thread.

Hope you are ok.

[MrToblerone]

I have been enjoying your posts as would love to be cruising the Med again and I enjoy reading other travellers cruise reports .We recently returned from Vancouver after completing our cruise on the Odyssey from Los Angeles.

We traveled from New Zealand and decided to leave Europe until next year due to time limitations . We have not yet had covid and like you were very careful and managed to avoid it , although I think I became a little obsessive ! 

I hope you are out of your cabin soon and enjoy the rest of the cruise , I admire your positive attitude ! 

[Silver Spectre]

Dear @frantic36, sorry to hear that you are COVID quarantined. I appreciate you may be bored but please don’t poke the bear in the pit on the SS boards, it only encourages him.

[frantic36]

1 minute ago, Silver Spectre said:

Dear @frantic36, sorry to hear that you are COVID quarantined. I appreciate you may be bored but please don’t poke the bear in the pit on the SS boards, it only encourages him.

Sorry😔