Norwegian Bliss February 2, 2020 from NYC

[LadyAngela]

My husband and I sailed on the Bliss out of NYC on 2/2/2020 for a two week cruise to the Western Caribbean. Upon embarkation we were given a questionnaire asking if we had been to Wuhan China or were in touch with anyone from there. The Covid-19 story was just evolving at this time. (I believe the first we heard about it here was shortly after 1/27/20). We enjoyed the cruise the first week, but noticed that by the end of that week more and more passengers were coughing, so much so that by the end of the second week we overheard other passengers saying they had to leave the Jersey Boys show because of all the coughing. We disembarked on 2/16/20. The next day my husband complained of having a sore throat. Within two days both of us had what we thought were the worst colds of our lives with continuous dry coughing, a fever one night for me, and conjunctivitis for him that glued his eyes shut. I found the attached information on another board here and wonder if anyone else was on our ship and experienced our same symptoms. We were not screened in anyway disembarking the ship. We were not contacted by Norwegian regarding this issue. We live right outside NYC, and until testing is available for anyone who may have had the virus, we are trying to learn if anyone else on this cruise experienced a "cold" like nothing they have ever had before. Any information provided is greatly appreciated.

 

www.boynegazette.com/2020/recent-travelers-to-colorado-or-on-cruises-warned-of-possible-covid-19-exposure/uncategorized/90832?fbclid=IwAR3n1hmh1JOGI9NeQFm09dAEF4zDzbP-YZ29iJbbNmeEYQco-ccKNKInaUo

[njhorseman]

14 minutes ago, LadyAngela said:

My husband and I sailed on the Bliss out of NYC on 2/2/2020 for a two week cruise to the Western Caribbean. Upon embarkation we were given a questionnaire asking if we had been to Wuhan China or were in touch with anyone from there. The Covid-19 story was just evolving at this time. (I believe the first we heard about it here was shortly after 1/27/20). We enjoyed the cruise the first week, but noticed that by the end of that week more and more passengers were coughing, so much so that by the end of the second week we overheard other passengers saying they had to leave the Jersey Boys show because of all the coughing. We disembarked on 2/16/20. The next day my husband complained of having a sore throat. Within two days both of us had what we thought were the worst colds of our lives with continuous dry coughing, a fever one night for me, and conjunctivitis for him that glued his eyes shut. I found the attached information on another board here and wonder if anyone else was on our ship and experienced our same symptoms. We were not screened in anyway disembarking the ship. We were not contacted by Norwegian regarding this issue. We live right outside NYC, and until testing is available for anyone who may have had the virus, we are trying to learn if anyone else on this cruise experienced a "cold" like nothing they have ever had before. Any information provided is greatly appreciated.

 

www.boynegazette.com/2020/recent-travelers-to-colorado-or-on-cruises-warned-of-possible-covid-19-exposure/uncategorized/90832?fbclid=IwAR3n1hmh1JOGI9NeQFm09dAEF4zDzbP-YZ29iJbbNmeEYQco-ccKNKInaUo

The article you cite refers to Norwegian Bliss cruises departing 3/1/20 and subsequent. Your cruise departed a month before that.

 

Lots of people get sick on cruises and have been as long as there's been cruising. We cruise a lot. I got pneumonia on a cruise last winter. I've also had more than one less serious illness on ships. Just because you got sick doesn't mean you have COVID-19.

 

Cruise ships have large numbers of people in close contact, which means it's easy for illnesses to spread. But the same is true of many facilities we commonly use on land...schools, hospitals and nursing homes are prime examples.

 

 

Did you know that in the US only about 15% of people who have been tested for COVID-19 have been confirmed as positive? I'm not stating that to minimize the pandemic, but just to point out that the symptoms that would lead one to get tested are anything but a sure indicator that you have the disease.

 

Hopefully you're recovering well from your illnesses.

[Liljo22]

If you are feeling ok, I would save the test for someone that may need it more.  Like most viral infections, there is nothing that can be done and you would have to just monitor symptoms.  Given your cruise was almost 2 months ago, even if you had COVID-19, its mostly likely gone now.  

[BEACHBARB]

My sisters and I were on the 2/2/20 Bliss cruise and we were NOT asked to fill out anything about China and never noticed anyone coughing.  We were and are all still fine.  Knock on wood and fingers crossed.

[johnlcruise]

Your First Post.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. 

[njhorseman]

35 minutes ago, johnlcruise said:

Your First Post.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. 

Everyone, you and I included had a first post. On the opposite side of the coin I see posters who point fingers at those who make large numbers of posts.

 

So unless the OP comes back with some wacky response let's give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that the post, even if totally misguided, was legitimately intended.

[CroozFanatic]

4 hours ago, LadyAngela said:

My husband and I sailed on the Bliss out of NYC on 2/2/2020 for a two week cruise to the Western Caribbean. Upon embarkation we were given a questionnaire asking if we had been to Wuhan China or were in touch with anyone from there. The Covid-19 story was just evolving at this time. (I believe the first we heard about it here was shortly after 1/27/20). We enjoyed the cruise the first week, but noticed that by the end of that week more and more passengers were coughing, so much so that by the end of the second week we overheard other passengers saying they had to leave the Jersey Boys show because of all the coughing. We disembarked on 2/16/20. The next day my husband complained of having a sore throat. Within two days both of us had what we thought were the worst colds of our lives with continuous dry coughing, a fever one night for me, and conjunctivitis for him that glued his eyes shut. I found the attached information on another board here and wonder if anyone else was on our ship and experienced our same symptoms. We were not screened in anyway disembarking the ship. We were not contacted by Norwegian regarding this issue. We live right outside NYC, and until testing is available for anyone who may have had the virus, we are trying to learn if anyone else on this cruise experienced a "cold" like nothing they have ever had before. Any information provided is greatly appreciated.

 

www.boynegazette.com/2020/recent-travelers-to-colorado-or-on-cruises-warned-of-possible-covid-19-exposure/uncategorized/90832?fbclid=IwAR3n1hmh1JOGI9NeQFm09dAEF4zDzbP-YZ29iJbbNmeEYQco-ccKNKInaUo

 

There was no COVID-19 on any of the ships except for what you saw reported in media articles.

[Greenpea2]

COVID was not really a "thing" on 2/2. None of the cruise lines were contacting passengers yet at that point I don't think. When I cruised on the Bliss on 2/23 it was heating up. We had a questionnaire to answer before boarding, regarding symptoms and travel. 

 

No coughing was noticed. A few children had colds.

 

By the next cruise, a young child boarded that they did realize (later) was infected. NCL sent letters to passengers informing them.

 

Nothing wrong with asking these questions first post or post #1000. That seems to be a thing here with some posters (minority) and it is dumb. I got one of those comments when, after years of being a member of CC with 1000s of posts under my belt, I stopped for awhile and signed up again when I cruised again after a break. That's the sort of thing that caused me to stop coming here in the first place. So please--think before you come down on someone who is new.

[Zippeedee]

I had very similar symptoms on the Getaway TA in April 2019. Half of the ship was coughing. Just plain old “cruise crud”.

[2+2]

The original poster is asking if anyone else on the same cruise experienced Corona virus symptoms after the cruise like her and her husband did. That is a very good question. I think many people that have symptoms and are never tested will always wonder if they actually had it. Especially if it was the worst cold or cough of their life. I hope she hears from more that were on her cruise.

[KateQ22003]

I was on this cruise and I had the same symptoms. It started with a bad sore throat at the end of the first week, followed by congestion and a horrible cough. I went to the gift shop on board to buy some cold medication and they were all out. The sales clerk told me they had sold out the cruise before us. That speaks volumes; whatever this was they had on that ship prior to us. I went to a pharmacy in one of the ports and bought some Alka-Seltzer Plus and some cough drops; that helped a bit. I never had a fever, and felt ok other than the almost constant cough and congestion. I sat next to a woman at dinner one night that said she had the same symptoms.  I ended up at walk-in care the week after we got home because I just couldn't shake the cough. They couldn't find anything wrong with me; my vitals were fine and my lungs were clear. 

 

This is actually two cruises in a row I have come home with some kind of "crud", but the last one (last fall out of Boston) I had congestion, but no cough. And for the record, I make sure never to go anywhere near the buffet.

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by KateQ22003

[scifimonkey]

Seems like a perfectly reasonable question to me and clearly the OP was not the only person who suffered the symptoms on this cruise. All the cruise companies were slow on tightening down the pre cruise checks hence the large number of cases on cruise ships however arguably most governments have been equally slow. I don’t think that there is any particular reason to blame NCL who like everyone else were running to catch up with the threat that this virus posed and although in hindsight it is clear that they should have figured out that just like norovirus, the contained environment of a cruise ship was likely to be much more difficult to manage than on shore the fact is they didn’t. Hopefully when operations are resumed checks and provision for containing viral passenger illness will be much improved.

Given the OPs symptoms I would definitely get an antibody test as soon as they are generally available. You may be ‘lucky’ enough to find that you had CV19 and can now go about your life as normal again.