Sea Dream Yacht Club Passenger Tests Positive for COVID

[cruisead]

Sea Dream has reported that a passenger has tested positive for COVID during the first cruise in the Caribbean.  Despite doing what appears to be doing everything right with pre-testing, a passenger complained of feeling sick once on board, and was tested, which came back positive. Passengers are now quarantined and the ship is heading back to Barbados, where the cruise started.  According to reports, once the ship docks in Barbados, it looks like they will take over whatever needs to be done. This does not appear to bode well for cruises starting back up and might cause ports to rethink allowing ships to dock.  I feel terrible for the passengers and crew on board. 

[Hanoverian]

It may have been a false-positive.  The following is from an article yesterday in "The Maritime Executive" .

 

"The ship’s captain announced that they had a preliminary positive test among one of the 53 passengers aboard the cruise at midday today, according to cruise travel reporter Gene Sloan, who is on the cruise and reporting for The Points Guy website. Sloan said that shortly before lunch the captain asked all passengers to return to their suites and that meals would be served to them there while the ship launched onboard testing for all of the crew and passengers.  As of this evening, Sloan is reporting that the ship completed the tests with Abbott quick test equipment onboard and that everyone is testing negative."

 

Also from the same article:  "The first cruise was suspended today and the ship is sailing back to Barbados where it is due to arrive this evening. Sloan reports that they will be met by local health officials who they expect will conduct another round of testing for the passengers and crew."

 

Let's see what news today brings.

 

[KirkNC]

Whether false or not, everyone is quarantined and the cruise is over.  

[StanandJim]

3 hours ago, KirkNC said:

Whether false or not, everyone is quarantined and the cruise is over.  

+1

People need to take a step back and STOP pushing the envelope on this.

Cabin fever, though irritating, isn't fatal.

 

[pinotlover]

59 minutes ago, StanandJim said:

+1

People need to take a step back and STOP pushing the envelope on this.

Cabin fever, though irritating, isn't fatal.

 

Well maybe, or not!  You might be surprised at the rather large increase of retail store liquor, beer, and wine sales. Part of it is a replacement for on site ( restaurant, bars, stadium) consumption, but total over all wholesale sales are up. This is being followed by a noticeable uptick in domestic abuse calls.  Not withstanding the current calls of our elected officials, trying to lock people down at home alone for the holidays may not prove to be very healthy at all for many!

[kim826]

It was just reported that the number is now 5.

[1985rz1]

9 minutes ago, kim826 said:

It was just reported that the number is now 5.

It would be helpful to have a link to that announcement.

[TrulyBlonde]

11 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

It would be helpful to have a link to that announcement.

CNN, NYT, The Points Guys (he is onboard).

[1985rz1]

8 minutes ago, TrulyBlonde said:

CNN, NYT, The Points Guys (he is onboard).

Thanks.  I finally found it on CNN a little while ago, but Google Search was useless.  A link to an article is really helpful, so here is one for the others searching:

 

Covid-19 scare unfolds aboard first cruise to resume sailing in the Caribbean

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/caribbean-cruise-seadream-1-covid/index.html

[Tranquility Base]

So, almost 10% of the total passengers onboard.

Even with testing  prior to arrival at embarkation, and again prior to boarding, this  virus shows how tricky it is.

 

What will be very interesting is to figure out the passengers' movements over the 4 or 5 days prior to boarding.

 

Makes you wonder how even the hoped for simulated  cruises out of Florida will manage with several hundred onboard.

 

As StanandJim mentioned, pushing the envelope on cruising at this early stage of the pandemic may set an actual real restart back many many months.

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Tranquility Base

[TrulyBlonde]

3 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

So, almost 10% of the total passengers onboard.

Even with testing  prior to arrival at embarkation, and again prior to boarding, this  virus shows how tricky it is.

 

What will be very interesting is to figure out the passengers' movements over the 4 or 5 days prior to boarding.

 

Makes you wonder how even the hoped for simulated  cruises out of Florida will manage with several hundred onboard.

 

As StanandJim mentioned, pushing the envelope on cruising at this early stage of the pandemic may set an actual real restart back many many months.

 

 

 

Actually, I read from a passenger onboard that the group of 5 all had a grand time in Miami prior to arriving in Barbados and the exposure has been limited to this group so far. Always a few selfish people everywhere that ruin it for the rest. SD is a wonderful cruise line, Very sad.

[pinotlover]

40 minutes ago, TrulyBlonde said:

Actually, I read from a passenger onboard that the group of 5 all had a grand time in Miami prior to arriving in Barbados and the exposure has been limited to this group so far. Always a few selfish people everywhere that ruin it for the rest. SD is a wonderful cruise line, Very sad.

Time to address the problem. Chum the waters and then the guilty can walk the plank. That will go a long way towards others not opting to have “ a grand time” prior to boarding. Justice at Sea for the offenders! 

[1985rz1]

Unfortunately, the rest of the passengers aren't off the hook, yet.  It can take up to 2 weeks after being transmitted, for the virus to show itself.  Let's hope they say clear.

Edited November 13, 2020 by 1985rz1

[tgg]

The person who has been doing reporting from the ship is Gene Sloan.  You can read his posts at:

 

https://thepointsguy.com/author/genesloan/

[BSR]

23 minutes ago, tgg said:

The person who has been doing reporting from the ship is Gene Sloan.  You can read his posts at:

 

https://thepointsguy.com/author/genesloan/

Thanks for the link.  

[KirkNC]

There maybe a sixth case.

 

Per passenger on board:

 

“there is preliminary evidence that there may be a sixth case on board.“

https://thepointsguy.com/news/more-passengers-test-positive-for-covid-on-caribbean-cruise-ship/

 

Edited November 13, 2020 by KirkNC

[RJB]

37 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

There maybe a sixth case.

 

Per passenger on board:

 

“there is preliminary evidence that there may be a sixth case on board.“

https://thepointsguy.com/news/more-passengers-test-positive-for-covid-on-caribbean-cruise-ship/

 

Big setback for future cruises.  Only 53 passengers on this cruise.  What happens when there are thousands?   Must have vaccine the everyone must take.    ONLY WAY

[KirkNC]

54 minutes ago, RJB said:

Big setback for future cruises.  Only 53 passengers on this cruise.  What happens when there are thousands?   Must have vaccine the everyone must take.    ONLY WAY

But even then, despite the high effectiveness, 10% of the passengers could still get the virus.

[Sea42]

20 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

But even then, despite the high effectiveness, 10% of the passengers could still get the virus.

The upside is that there may be 90% less people that will be infecting others. So the chances that the other 10% are infected would go down dramatically.

[Belfastman]

1 hour ago, RJB said:

Big setback for future cruises.  Only 53 passengers on this cruise.  What happens when there are thousands?   Must have vaccine the everyone must take.    ONLY WAY

Even the vaccine may not be the answer. No-one knows how long protection given by a vaccine will last. If it is only six months everyone will need to have the vaccine again and again ..... As it is going to take a very long time even to get the first time vaccination for everyone how long will repeated doses take?

[KirkNC]

16 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

The upside is that there may be 90% less people that will be infecting others. So the chances that the other 10% are infected would go down dramatically.

True, but if someone does tests positive, the whole ship goes into quarantine and returns to port.

[Sea42]

Just now, KirkNC said:

True, but if someone does tests positive, the whole ship goes into quarantine and returns to port.

Unfortunately, that's true. That is my main concern. If that remains the case, I would not take the chance on going on a cruise.

[KirkNC]

I am curious if Barbados will allow negative passengers to disembark without requiring a quarantine.  Since it takes several days for incubation you would think at least a week in quarantine.

[Tranquility Base]

February 4th, Yokohama.

9 months ago, in many ways it feels far far longer.

 

We have learnt so much since the Diamond Princess.

Yet here we are with a mini Diamond Princess situation.

 

We may be tired of the virus, but it certainly is not tired of us.

 

Can cruising restart next year and remain viable long term ?

Yes, but you need a starting base of passengers who haven't been exposed to areas where Covid is not under control using sound pandemic management.

Edited November 13, 2020 by Tranquility Base

[Tranquility Base]

On 11/13/2020 at 6:28 AM, StanandJim said:

+1

People need to take a step back and STOP pushing the envelope on this.

Cabin fever, though irritating, isn't fatal.

 

 

22 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

 

Makes you wonder how even the hoped for simulated  cruises out of Florida will manage with several hundred onboard.

 

As StanandJim mentioned, pushing the envelope on cruising at this early stage of the pandemic may set an actual real restart back many many months.

There is a thread on the Royal Caribbean forum which mentions about 2 U.S. Politicians writing to the CDC asking them to reinstate the No Sail Order.