COVID Alive and Well?

[jdacombe]

Got back on Sunday from a great cruise on Sky to the Norwegian fjords.

Felt as if I was coming down with a cold on the Sunday, did a test on Monday and came back negative, tested again today as I was not feeling any better and the result has come back positive this time.

I must admit I did hear several passengers coughing quite a bit, plus the usual Buffet users going through without washing or sanitising their hands

 

[Reina del Mar]

Lots of coughing on Coral Princess on Round Australia cruise in March. Ended up joining the coughing, but three Covid tests proved negative. Felt dreadful during flight home and did a fourth test before visiting Doctor…all still negative. Tests were within date.

 

Have since read that many people were diagnosed with Lower Respiratory Tract Infections.  Six weeks after coughing started, I am only just beginning to feel more like myself. Sure many people on the flight must have thought I had Covid with all the coughing. Perhaps the tests do not recognise the latest strain, but whatever it was, I have never felt that dreadful in all my life !!

[leck57]

50 minutes ago, jdacombe said:

I must admit I did hear several passengers coughing quite a bit, plus the usual Buffet users going through without washing or sanitising their hands

 

 On Coral Princess in Feb there were crew at the entrances to the buffet and you had to wash your hands before entering. They were quite strict about it and I would be happy to see this on all ships whereas it seems to be very inconsistent across the fleet. We shouldn't need to be told to wash our hands but unfortunately many do.

[dickinson]

Wow... I was just thinking that I hadn't read anything on here lately about Covid and here is this thread!  Sorry to see it because I am sorry you caught it.  Our cruise is in a couple of months and hope to remain healthy but one never knows.  

[PacnGoNow]

Sorry to hear about your covid.  I do wish guests would practice good hygiene so we could keep these illnesses down.

Hope all of you are well soon!

[jdacombe]

The annoying thing is that I was due to go into hospital on Thursday to get my Pacemaker changed, this has now been put back for a few weeks.

[Martha1974]

Definitely still doing the rounds in this part of the world - husband and I both tested positive on Saturday. He’d been suffering longer than I had and he was clear again by the time we tested again yesterday but I’m still positive. Really cross with myself as I’ve managed to avoid it so far, but four years in it’s finally got me! 

[555]

I'm convinced that Covid is here to stay and I'm not going to worry about catching it. Live your life & deal with it if you do get it. 

[KarlK]

Yep, to each his own but it does not factor in my decisions. Then again, myself and no one in my immediate family has gotten it. Or any local neighbors. In the last 4 years we have had 3 minor cases with the 24 of us at work (simple flu like symptoms out for 10 days). We also only had 1 case in our towns Senior Center and no one passed in our town of it. In fact, personally, I don't know of anyone who was hospitalized.

[eclue]

Covid is definitely here to stay - just like the flu - the main thing cruisers can do is STOP jamming in to elevators - even more important than handwashing.....just wait for the next elevator and avoid being crowded in. That is probably the main cause of covid transmission.

 

[Lady Arwen]

We wash our hands always before eating or drinking.  We avoid the buffet completely.  Rarely eat in the MDR.  Take the stairs when possible.  Avoid the showroom if crowded.  We generally stay to ourselves as much as we can.  We try to get loungers in the Sanctuary, which is quite effective when you desire distance from others.  
 

Happy to say we have never had Noro or Covid on land or at sea.  We’re very aware of the possibility of viral and bacterial cross contamination, so we do what’s necessary to mitigate our exposure. 

[Lady Arwen]

15 minutes ago, 555 said:

I'm convinced that Covid is here to stay and I'm not going to worry about catching it. Live your life & deal with it if you do get it. 

Unfortunately, seniors and those with compromised health issues, cannot afford to be quite so blasé.  Easy for you, perhaps, but not so much for many others.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

3 hours ago, jdacombe said:

COVID Alive and Well?

of course, it is. We just got it on our latest cruise yet again (April). I only had sniffles, but DH had the same horrible cough and misery for over 10 days as we did back in 2022.

There were MANY coughing and sneezing people on the cruise, and most of them didn't even cover up.

 

26 minutes ago, KarlK said:

Then again, myself and no one in my immediate family has gotten it. Or any local neighbors. In the last 4 years we have had 3 minor cases with the 24 of us at work (simple flu like symptoms out for 10 days). We also only had 1 case in our towns Senior Center and no one passed in our town of it. In fact, personally, I don't know of anyone who was hospitalized.

 

pure luck, I guess. I personally lost two cousins to covid (who were not biologically related to each other and were not vaccinated). BIL still has long covid over a year later. 

I had it 3 times, DH had it twice, my parents had it 4 times (they are more active in the community than us - we work from home and get our covid on cruises), and our kid  didn't have it.

 

2 hours ago, jdacombe said:

The annoying thing is that I was due to go into hospital on Thursday to get my Pacemaker changed, this has now been put back for a few weeks.

 

I was sure we were going to get it on our November cruise, so I scheduled my surgery for 2 weeks after.  Per current CDC guidelines, one doesn't even have to quarantine anymore, which is crazy to me. I totally quarantined my husband away from me and our kid last month.

However, you probably don't need to wait for several weeks if that's what you are waiting out. Now, if the appt is not available, that's a different matter.

Edited May 7 by Itchy&Scratchy

[partybarbie]

Covid was alive and well on the Royal Princess in March. My mom and sister both caught it. My husband caught a cold and I got a sinus infection. At least it wasn’t Noro.

[WisCruiser2]

37 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I was sure we were going to get it on our November cruise, so I scheduled my surgery for 2 weeks after.  Per current CDC guidelines, one doesn't even have to quarantine anymore, which is crazy to me. I totally quarantined my husband away from me and our kid last month.

However, you probably don't need to wait for several weeks if that's what you are waiting out. Now, if the appt is not available, that's a different matter.

We cancelled a cruise scheduled for last October as DH had a cardiac procedure (ablation) scheduled for 2 weeks after we returned and the hospital policy was 3 weeks of no symptoms or positive test. We didn't want to risk it being postponed. We did go on a 20-day cruise in February and were among the few wearing masks inside the ship. Avoided Covid until the end of the cruise, which I feel we may have gotten from the dining room...luck of the draw, I guess.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

2 minutes ago, WisCruiser2 said:

Avoided Covid until the end of the cruise

same. I think it was Typhoid Mary in the theater on the last night who coughed the entire performance long right behind us.

[partybarbie]

33 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

same. I think it was Typhoid Mary in the theater on the last night who coughed the entire performance long right behind us.

That is exactly what happened to us, but it was the man behind us in Princess Live. We got up and left, but it was too late. 

[Musky Ike]

33 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

same. I think it was Typhoid Mary in the theater on the last night who coughed the entire performance long right behind us.

I do however feel for those with a cough due to a chronic respiratory issue that has nothing to do with a communicable disease.  They get the automatic dirty looks as people assume it is a cold or covid. Maybe the scarlet letter A is now for asthma.

[jdacombe]

My procedure was originally due in March, which would have given 5 weeks before the cruise. This, however, was postponed due to  the fact that several years ago I contracted the MRSA bug and I couldn't have the op until I had two clear tests at least 6 days apart, the date I was given after getting the all clear was 9 May. I never even factored in the possibility of getting COVID.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

4 minutes ago, Musky Ike said:

I do however feel for those with a cough due to a chronic respiratory issue that has nothing to do with a communicable disease.  They get the automatic dirty looks as people assume it is a cold or covid. Maybe the scarlet letter A is now for asthma.

we sat in the same seats in the last row in the theater every night, and so did she (she accompanied a person in a wheelchair). But she only coughed on the last night. She also sat next to us in the lounge several times throughout the cruise and didn't cough. So, yeah, not the chronic kind this time.

 

My dad is a former smoker, so he coughs a lot. DH has respiratory allergies and coughs a lot (not on a cruise though, because he is removed from his allergens). 

Edited May 7 by Itchy&Scratchy

[555]

1 hour ago, Lady Arwen said:

Unfortunately, seniors and those with compromised health issues, cannot afford to be quite so blasé.  Easy for you, perhaps, but not so much for many others.

I'm about a senior as they come on a cruise ship and still without taking extreme precautions, have never caught it. 

If the people that have serious health conditions maybe they should rethink cruising in general where it's next to impossible to separate yourself from the crowds.

[Puggy13]

My son (child) caught it on Ruby to Hawaii, then me, then my daughter. I just read on another thread, the next cruise to Alaska someone caught it. There was lots of coughing going on, I heard it everywhere including balconies, rooms on either side of us. 1 room was connected and they never shut their balcony so the wind just shot right into ours thru the door. I saw 1 staff collecting dishes on pool deck was coughing. It was the worst 3 days of my life, I was completely knocked out. I'm still dealing with the cough 2 weeks later and sore lungs. Probably time for an xray, now that im negative. Canada didn't release vaccines before we left, my last was in Sept/Oct. 

[azbirdmom]

I've found that we have gotten sick when we've traveled out of the USA and taken longer cruises.  In 2021 and 2022 our flights were to US ports and the cruises were 7 to 10 days in length.  Many of those required masks.  We came home healthy.  Last year we flew to London and Sydney for cruises.  Got Covid on the way home from the British Isles cruise (12 days) and a nasty upper respiratory cruise after our New Zealand cruise (13 days).  On both there were many folks with barking coughs everywhere including on excursion busses where there was no where to escape them.  So yeah, lots of illness out there but I do think the longer the cruise the greater the chances of exposing yourself to that illness.

[memoak]

Covid, the flu , the common cold, Noro etc  are still around and zi doubt they will ever go away completely. Vaccines do keep the symptoms down for Covid and flu but cannot completely prevent them. That is a fact of life we still cruise 3-4 times a year total around 60 days total   We bring masks for situations where there is an out break and test about every 10 days while traveling. We have both had covid twice but the symptoms have been mild I believe because we are vaccinated twice a year

[Muffinz]

I think part of the issue is - people have paid thousands of $ to do a cruise and paid for airfares / accommodation and the last thing they want to do is spend some / most of the cruise stuck in their stateroom because they are unwell.

 

Common sense would tell you that if you feel unwell and have covid like symptoms you should test yourself - and if positive you should isolate in your stateroom.

 

But I fear many would just ignore that and try to carry on as normal, going to the buffet, theatre, bars...etc... all while infecting other passengers with covid.

 

We cancelled a cruise for February 2023 on Majestic, because it docked in Sydney (just before final payment was due) with over 800 covid cases on board.

 

However, we're not living our lives around covid and fully intend to take out cruise in December on Crown Princess