First Caribbean cruise, testing and only 53 passengers, Yet Covid shows up

[ontheweb]

https://thepointsguy.com/news/caribbean-cruise-covid-scare-seadream/

 

Not a very promising start to cruising. If they cannot protect at this small level, how do they realistically expect to use the normal size and mega ships even with reduced capacity?

[SelectSys]

It's totally impossible to keep these bubbles intact with people coming and going all the time.   You either accept the reality of this or simply wait it out until until a vaccine and/or incredible treatment is available.  

 

My personal expected return to cruising keeps "moving to the right."  I used to hope for early 2022, now it is looking more like mid to late 2022 before everything settles down again.

 

I hope I am wrong!

[mom says]

Well I believe it. It's inevitable that someone is going to slip thru the cracks and turn positive during a cruise. Even more worrisome are the ones who are false negatives and can unknowingly continue to spread the virus

[Cruise Critic Chris]

We have a writer onboard the SeaDream sailing and are monitoring/updating the story. Here is what we know so far: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5727/

 

[mnocket]

"Passengers are quarantined in their cabin while the ship heads back to Barbados. Once it gets there, it's likely that the island's public health agency will take control of the situation, with retests and possible quarantine."

 

Well, it seems we will get our first look at how passengers aboard a Covid ship are handled once they return to port.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Cruise Critic Chris said:

We have a writer onboard the SeaDream sailing and are monitoring/updating the story. Here is what we know so far: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5727/

 

At least two cruise writers aboard. I'm sure they were expecting no problems with their tight protocols and very limited amount of passengers. The articles would tout how cruises could still be fun and a safe way to vacation. Instead they get a case of Covid, the cruise cut short, and passengers quarantined to their cabins. Much was said early on that the cruise lines had to be careful not to start too soon as new cases when they started up could doom the entire industry. Now we have the early European cruises, many of which had cases, and this one with the virus popping up despite a minimal passenger number and testing and the bubble excursions on shore.

[cruizergal70]

These early cruises and tests aren't taking into account the incubation period. 

[getting older slowly]

The 53 passengers on board include 37 Americans. There also are passengers from the U.K., Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany.

 

Well for a start  they could have pick just Americans....

 

then to a group who have flown half way round the world....a big risk

 

and the covid-19 numbers in America and the UK are horrendous..

 

Also Europe can do on a full size cruise ship....

so are we must be missing something. ???

 

Don

[sanger727]

2 hours ago, mnocket said:

"Passengers are quarantined in their cabin while the ship heads back to Barbados. Once it gets there, it's likely that the island's public health agency will take control of the situation, with retests and possible quarantine."

 

Well, it seems we will get our first look at how passengers aboard a Covid ship are handled once they return to port.

exactly. This is why I have been so hesitant to book a cruise while others are chomping at the bit for the moments shops restart. Only 53 passengers and 3 rounds of testing. 1 preliminary positive (and sounds to be a real Positive since passenger was ill but it really doesn’t matter) and passengers are back to being stuck in their cabin and cruise cancelled. How do people think this will work any better with a thousand or two passengers.

[bigrednole]

12 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

then to a group who have flown half way round the world....a big risk

 

Not per the CDC. Contracting, transmitting, or anything else is not possible in the magical immune airline industry. It even cures Covid just by going to the airport. 

[ontheweb]

13 hours ago, sanger727 said:

exactly. This is why I have been so hesitant to book a cruise while others are chomping at the bit for the moments shops restart. Only 53 passengers and 3 rounds of testing. 1 preliminary positive (and sounds to be a real Positive since passenger was ill but it really doesn’t matter) and passengers are back to being stuck in their cabin and cruise cancelled. How do people think this will work any better with a thousand or two passengers.

When the CDC asks that question of the cruise lines, I wonder how they will answer.

 

Hopefully, sometime in the not too distant future there will be a vaccine. And that should help tremendously. But, as of now, that question does post a dilemma for the restart of mainstream cruises.

[Luckiestmanonearth]

All I can say is do the math.  Current infection rates in the USA is 4% since Covid started

 

If you have a cruise of 53 people , 4% suggests a possibility of 2 people having it.  And once people come into close quarters, it will spread if people aren’t wearing masks, frequently washing hands and social distancing .

[sanger727]

3 hours ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

All I can say is do the math.  Current infection rates in the USA is 4% since Covid started

 

If you have a cruise of 53 people , 4% suggests a possibility of 2 people having it.  And once people come into close quarters, it will spread if people aren’t wearing masks, frequently washing hands and social distancing .

 

4% of people in the US have had covid since march. 4% do not have it right now. 4% of you 53 people may have had covid but 4% don't have it right now. And if your initial testing  catches 80-90% of infections, you are down to a much smaller percentage making it onboard. But yes, at the scales of the mega ships, it's inevitable for cases to still make it onboard. 

[Joebucks]

If you're panicking because it has "showed up" then cruising is not going to be for you for a long time.

 

The focus should instead be how it can be limited, contained, treated, etc.

[broberts]

18 hours ago, getting older slowly said:

...

Also Europe can do on a full size cruise ship....

so are we must be missing something. ???

 

Don

 

I believe European cruises have halted. 

[navybankerteacher]

2 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

If you're panicking because it has "showed up" then cruising is not going to be for you for a long time.

 

The focus should instead be how it can be limited, contained, treated, etc.

Precisely --- and under present conditions it can best be limited and contained by not engaging in unnecessary spreader events --- such as cruising.

 

Intelligent people who look forward to the return of cruising realize that limitation and containment must come first.

[cruizergal70]

55 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

If you're panicking because it has "showed up" then cruising is not going to be for you for a long time.

 

The focus should instead be how it can be limited, contained, treated, etc.

So, you're willing to cruise with known Covid cases on the ship as long as it's "contained?"  A ship is a closed system. How much true containment is possible? At what point will the containment measures negate the experience of the cruise?

 

It all comes down to who is willing to risk getting sick. C19 is not like a norovirus on a ship. 

Edited November 12, 2020 by cruizergal70

[K32682]

48 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

If you're panicking because it has "showed up" then cruising is not going to be for you for a long time.

 

The focus should instead be how it can be limited, contained, treated, etc.

 

Except that too many jackasses think the focus should be on how to ignore it.

 

I also note with some interest this line in the article.

 

"The line did not require mask-wearing during the first two days of the voyage."

 

No masks? Idiots.

 

Instead of a cruise what the paying customers got was house arrest in their cabins and anxiety about what awaits them ashore.  

 

[K32682]

9 minutes ago, cruizergal70 said:

So, you're willing to cruise with known Covid cases on the ship as long as it's "contained?"  A ship is a closed system. How much true containment is possible? At what point will the containment measures negate the experience of the cruise?

 

It all comes down to who is willing to risk getting sick. C19 is not like a norovirus on a ship. 

 

The problem is the people who are willing to risk getting sick and cruise are the ones most likely to ignore social distancing, masks or other measures to reduce the spread and thereby compound the problem.

 

The prospect of cruising with a boatload of anti-mask morons is not appealing when there is a heightened risk of getting the virus or, if you are lucky, being locked in your cabin for the duration and be quarantined when you are back on land.  

[latserrof]

42 minutes ago, cruizergal70 said:

It all comes down to who is willing to risk getting sick.

No, it comes down to who is willing to risk getting sick AND making others sick, too.

[Joebucks]

2 hours ago, cruizergal70 said:

So, you're willing to cruise with known Covid cases on the ship as long as it's "contained?"  A ship is a closed system. How much true containment is possible? At what point will the containment measures negate the experience of the cruise?

 

It all comes down to who is willing to risk getting sick. C19 is not like a norovirus on a ship. 

 

I mean I'm not going to welcome COVID-19 onboard. I've come to understand that it is probably all around me and everywhere I go. Instead of expecting all or nothing, I'd rather be looking to mitigation and satefy factors as best we can. 

[navybankerteacher]

4 hours ago, latserrof said:

No, it comes down to who is willing to risk getting sick AND making others sick, too.

This is a significant addition — too many macho morons feel that the odds are against their getting infected, and that even if they do they are not among the high risk group - so they are willing to take their chances —— either forgetting or not giving a damn about the others they are putting at risk.

[cb at sea]

This "virus" is NEVER going to be gone totally....once a virus is there....it's there.  It's a matter of dealing with it.....eventually, this virus will become less virulent, hopefully, as most become, once the population has some "herd immunity".  Already, we know this virus isn't dangerous to EVERYONE.  The survival rate is quite high, actually.  

[K32682]

5 passengers have apparently tested positive.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5727/

 

All passengers are banished to their cabins on a boat without balconies and are facing further testing and likely quarantine upon their arrive in Barbados. 

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, K32682 said:

5 passengers have apparently tested positive.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5727/

 

All passengers are banished to their cabins on a boat without balconies and are facing further testing and likely quarantine upon their arrive in Barbados. 

That sure does not sound like the fun cruise that they signed up for. But at least they got a few days that they did not have to wear masks. <sarcasm>