Covid cruise ship just docked in New Orleans

[ElizabethT]

And yet flying within the USA remains the COVID Wild West - no protocols whatsoever to board and fly, other than a mask. Pilots and crew are dropping like flies as a result, which is not happening in the cruise industry because of much stricter protocols. But sure, focus on cruising, CDC.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, wasn't a good time to be flying for the holidays eh? But then it never was.

 

[Winemaker]

Despite vaccination requirements for cruise ship crew and passengers, up to 94 ships have had Covid outbreaks.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...vel-regardless-of-vaccination-status-kxt8rvd8

 

[Badger]

Yeah, wasn't a good time to be flying for the holidays eh? But then it never was.

Despite vaccination requirements for cruise ship crew and passengers, up to 94 ships have had Covid outbreaks.

Both good reasons not to fly or cruise. We have enjoyed many cruises over the years and would like to fly to countries outside the US and to see our son and/or vacation in a few places in the US but those is not going to happen for at least a couple more years or longer. We will enjoy our uncrowded beach down the street and drive to the mountains to hike in the forests. We are fortunate to have safe alternatives away from crowds.


Cheers!

 

[Chuckanut]

Cruise ships operating in U.S. waters have reported about 5,000 Covid cases to the CDC between Dec. 15 - 29, a major spike compared to the first two weeks of the month when 162 cases were reported.

I would love to see some perspective applied to these numbers. For example, 5000 reported cases among how many total people who cruised? And how many of these 5000 had very mild symptoms at worst? How many were hospitalized and/or died?

If we are going to manage this disease while we get along with our lives, we have to realize that like the colds and flu people are going to get Covid on an ongoing basis for years to come.

I am NOT arguing for a let the devil-take-them attitude. I am for letting people take well thought out risks based upon the best current information as they see fit.

Me? I have one flight scheduled later this Winter. I am vaccinated and boosted. I will wear my N95 mask at the airport and during the flight. And it's a relatively short flight - slightly under 3 hours. In my mind the risk to me is minimal. But, if new information makes me think my risk of serious illness is higher than now, I will have no problem cancelling the flight. If I lose the money, so be it.

 

[athena53]

I would love to see some perspective applied to these numbers. For example, 5000 reported cases among how many total people who cruised? And how many of these 5000 had very mild symptoms at worst? How many were hospitalized and/or died?

If we are going to manage this disease while we get along with our lives, we have to realize that like the colds and flu people are going to get Covid on an ongoing basis for years to come.

The positivity rate near me (Johnson County, KS) is at 12.6%. I'm guessing it's a heck of a lot lower on the cruise ships. Mega-ships aren't my thing but I'd be more concerned about the plane flights.

Having said that- I'm getting concerned about my South American trip (mostly land but does include the Galapagos) in May because the regulations by country keep changing. I don't want to get stuck somewhere, which almost happened to me in Bolivia in March, 2020 just before they closed their borders. The PCR tests also give positive results even if you're shedding dead viruses (I learned this from a Ph.D microbiologist)- so you can get quarantined when you're perfectly healthy. Apparently the process to distinguish between live and dead viruses is complicated.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We (I) do grocery shopping as needed, all stores are less than 5miles away and easy to get to. Averages out at 4 times a week, to 4 stores, 5 if you include the liquor store but not every week obviously. Been doing this for the last 15 years, covid or no covid. I just take the correct precautions and avoid those I deem a potential risk, staying well over 6' from anyone. Takes a little longer, but I have nothing but time. OK so far, no infections in our home and we are all fully Vaxed. We have never even needed to take a Covid test.

DW on the other hand may come with me every other week. But OK for her to go for a shopping trip including lunch with our neighbor on occasion ..... go figure.

We are in NE Florida which is supposed to be a high risk too. Proves that if one is careful it is all good.

 

[cathy63]

I would love to see some perspective applied to these numbers. For example, 5000 reported cases among how many total people who cruised? And how many of these 5000 had very mild symptoms at worst? How many were hospitalized and/or died?...

I did some math in post #36 in this thread. I haven't followed along with the latest totals and we don't have enough long term follow-up info from passengers who disembarked to know if any were hospitalized or died, but the rate is low enough that I wouldn't be concerned about getting sick while cruising.

The thing that does concern me is stories like this article where a couple was involuntarily imprisoned in their cabin because the cruise line said they were exposed to someone who had Covid. https://www.elliott.org/cruises/norwegian-cruise-line-news-made-couple-stay-cabin/

Also, CA has data and charts on vaxxed vs non-vaxxed. https://covid19.ca.gov/state-dashboard/ Some types of data (especially deaths) have delayed reporting, so these are mostly pre-omicron numbers.

* From December 13, 2021 to December 19, 2021, unvaccinated people were 5.2 times more likely to get COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people.
* From December 6, 2021 to December 12, 2021, unvaccinated people were 14.5 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people.
* From November 29, 2021 to December 5, 2021, unvaccinated people were 15.0 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people.

 

[audreyh1]

My primary issue is with some of my fellow passengers, who in spite of agreeing to the terms of the cruise line's COVID protocols when they booked, apparently decided to ignore them once onboard. We found this distressing and disappointing, even though we were not terribly surprised.

The cruise served it's purpose of being a welcome distraction from both DD's and families not being here for Christmas this year, but it is likely our last cruise until the pandemic settles down. Aside from the disruptions in the industry that are currenly occuring due to the Omicron virus, I can only abide so much of my fellow humans at this point in the pandemic.

ETA: And we did stop for COVID tests on the way home, just to be safe.

Yeah, that’s a big part of the turnoff.

 

[athena53]

The thing that does concern me is stories like this article where a couple was involuntarily imprisoned in their cabin because the cruise line said they were exposed to someone who had Covid. https://www.elliott.org/cruises/norwegian-cruise-line-news-made-couple-stay-cabin/

On my Alaska cruise we were all confined to our rooms for 24 hours when two people tested positive. (I've posted about this before; one couple had gone out bar-hopping the night before; the guy tested positive and so did someone who sat at dinner with them.) The remaining passengers met with the owner of the company the morning after (all of us including the crew had tested negative) and NO ONE complained about being confined although many of us felt that COVID Joe and his lady friend should have been made to walk the plank. The crew had kept us supplied with DVDs, books, food and adult beverages and it was the safe thing to do.

ETA: OK, I see that NCL confined people for 4 days. Yeah, I'd have gone nuts. It confirms my resolve to stick to ships with under 100 passengers.

 

[audreyh1]

Well, looks like the CDC is recommending against cruising regardless of vaccine status.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/30/us-...-travel-regardless-of-vaccination-status.html



It's never ending.

Yeah, because the vaccine keeps mutating and new versions are very contagious and many people ignore transmission.