Concerned but ready to go

[vandy]

No hate please…. Just trying to make good decisions.  We are sailing this Sunday with older parents.  We are all boosted but getting nervous about the growing cases amongst the vaccinated & the predictions of case numbers by Christmas Day. Not living In fear, but also don’t want to be foolish.  
I’d love to hear other opinions on the safety of sailing at this time.  I felt really good about it all until the numbers started growing at this rate.  Thank you.  

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, vandy said:

I’d love to hear other opinions on the safety of sailing at this time

You are likely safer on the ship than at home. 

[RosieRoo]

I actually felt safer on the ship than I do at home in my local supermarket. On the ship all adults have to be fully vaccinated and provide a negative Covid test, as well as having to wear a mask in public areas. I don’t know who is vaccinated in the market and most of them aren’t wearing a mask anymore. 

[GTO-Girl]

6 minutes ago, vandy said:

No hate please…. Just trying to make good decisions.  We are sailing this Sunday with older parents.  We are all boosted but getting nervous about the growing cases amongst the vaccinated & the predictions of case numbers by Christmas Day. Not living In fear, but also don’t want to be foolish.  
I’d love to hear other opinions on the safety of sailing at this time.  I felt really good about it all until the numbers started growing at this rate.  Thank you.  

We sailed in October, November and will sail again January 2nd.  Royal does an awesome job with cleaning and health protocols.  

 

I felt safer there than anywhere I have to go here at home….(we are 68 & 72 yrs old)

Edited December 16, 2021 by GTO-Girl

[acwsmom]

We leave this Sunday, too, and I feel pretty safe. Living in a state that has only about 40% of our population vaccinated, I feel much safer on the ship than I do walking around our town. 

[barbeyg]

What @Biker19 said. We just returned, and we’re impressed with the protocols. We are taking my oldest sister and 80 year old aunt on an AK cruise in May, and would have felt perfectly fine taking them on this one. I hope you have a wonderful time.

[karena1]

39 minutes ago, vandy said:

No hate please…. Just trying to make good decisions.  We are sailing this Sunday with older parents.  We are all boosted but getting nervous about the growing cases amongst the vaccinated & the predictions of case numbers by Christmas Day. Not living In fear, but also don’t want to be foolish.  
I’d love to hear other opinions on the safety of sailing at this time.  I felt really good about it all until the numbers started growing at this rate.  Thank you.  

no issues at all.  I am 65 and husband will be 78 in Jan.  Been traveling since August 2020 and have never worried about getting sick.  Started cruising finally again In August 2021 and have been cruising since.  Feel totally safe, having the time of our lives being back on a ship and enjoying our favorite islands.

[Mapleleafforever]

37 minutes ago, vandy said:

No hate please…. Just trying to make good decisions.  We are sailing this Sunday with older parents.  We are all boosted but getting nervous about the growing cases amongst the vaccinated & the predictions of case numbers by Christmas Day. Not living In fear, but also don’t want to be foolish.  
I’d love to hear other opinions on the safety of sailing at this time.  I felt really good about it all until the numbers started growing at this rate.  Thank you.  

I'm more concerned with the growing cases amongst the non-vaccinated, they're the ones going to the hospital (In my Province anyway). 

 

Cruising is as safe as it can be under the circumstances and I'm thinking there will be more precautions on the way. 

 

Having said that my family won't be cruising any time soon as we can't afford to be quarantined on a ship or away from home (could happen) and I won't cruise while I have to wear a mask onboard. 

 

Oh, and the biggest reason we won't be cruising any time soon is because my federal government has advised against international non-essential travel. 

 

If I was retired and living in Florida though I'd most likely be cruising as I wouldn't want to spend my golden years locked up.....so I get it. 

 

[Basketball wife]

Hello Vandy,

   While it is true that you are more likely to be safer from Covid on the ship because of their protocols and vaccination requirements, you have no idea/control over what is/will be happening in any ports — especially with the ever fast spread of the omicron variant.  You should consider not only your health safety but also your ability and risk tolerance to having an extended cruise with all of its implications (medication you need and amount brought with you/ employment absence/ house sitters, etc.)
 
  Today, Explorer (I think) was refused entry to St. Lucia because of crew members testing positive. This may happen more often.

 

  We spent a month on the Celebrity Eclipse in March 2020 because no port would let us dock. It was only about five or six days after our “stranding “ that we knew how and when we would get home (not a pleasant experience).  The ship was able to negotiate with Chile to get most prescriptions required by guests who were running short but I recall they couldn’t get enough insulin so they asked guests to pool anything they had. The ship made a subsequent stop in another country to pick up more. Consider if your elderly parents may require not only medications but particular medical interventions.

 

  We have a New Year’s cruise that I just cancelled because my risk tolerance is very low.

[Mapleleafforever]

1 minute ago, Basketball wife said:

Hello Vandy,

   While it is true that you are more likely to be safer from Covid on the ship because of their protocols and vaccination requirements, you have no idea/control over what is/will be happening in any ports — especially with the ever fast spread of the omicron variant.  You should consider not only your health safety but also your ability and risk tolerance to having an extended cruise with all of its implications (medication you need and amount brought with you/ employment absence/ house sitters, etc.)
 
  Today, Explorer (I think) was refused entry to St. Lucia because of crew members testing positive. This may happen more often.

 

  We spent a month on the Celebrity Eclipse in March 2020 because no port would let us dock. It was only about five or six days after our “stranding “ that we knew how and when we would get home (not a pleasant experience).  The ship was able to negotiate with Chile to get most prescriptions required by guests who were running short but I recall they couldn’t get enough insulin so they asked guests to pool anything they had. The ship made a subsequent stop in another country to pick up more. Consider if your elderly parents may require not only medications but particular medical interventions.

 

  We have a New Year’s cruise that I just cancelled because my risk tolerance is very low.

Wowza! Some guys on my hockey team and I are supposed to be in Montreal for the Habs-Leafs game Jan 6, not even sure if that will happen at this point sadly. 

 

Did you get a refund for your New Years cruise?

[Basketball wife]

Mapleleafforever,  the Canadiens are playing fanless tonight. Moving the refund to October Odyssey cruises.

[mek]

1 hour ago, vandy said:

No hate please…. Just trying to make good decisions.  We are sailing this Sunday with older parents.  We are all boosted but getting nervous about the growing cases amongst the vaccinated & the predictions of case numbers by Christmas Day. Not living In fear, but also don’t want to be foolish.  
I’d love to hear other opinions on the safety of sailing at this time.  I felt really good about it all until the numbers started growing at this rate.  Thank you.  

Where do you live?  Are you flying or driving?

[erinsmom03]

Absolutely no hate here... my husband and I are discussing the latest news and wondering about our cruise on January 3. We have been looking forward to this for so long, and all 3 of us are boostered and ready to get on the ship! We've decided against getting off in Nassau, and plan to just enjoy our day on CocoCay to the max (we splurged on a Beach Club beach cabana). Really hate that we are having to wonder if one of us could still test positive before the cruise and miss out again. I agree with everyone saying that we will probably be safer on the ship. Now to just keep us all free from virus so we can all get on the ship!

[Mapleleafforever]

24 minutes ago, Basketball wife said:

Mapleleafforever,  the Canadiens are playing fanless tonight. Moving the refund to October Odyssey cruises.

Heard about that, sad. Good to hear about the refund, we're set to be on Odyssey in Feb....not gonna happen though and asking for a refund as soon as we can. No interest in a FCC. 

[Babr]

41 minutes ago, Basketball wife said:

Hello Vandy,

   While it is true that you are more likely to be safer from Covid on the ship because of their protocols and vaccination requirements, you have no idea/control over what is/will be happening in any ports — especially with the ever fast spread of the omicron variant.  You should consider not only your health safety but also your ability and risk tolerance to having an extended cruise with all of its implications (medication you need and amount brought with you/ employment absence/ house sitters, etc.)
 
  Today, Explorer (I think) was refused entry to St. Lucia because of crew members testing positive. This may happen more often.

 

  We spent a month on the Celebrity Eclipse in March 2020 because no port would let us dock. It was only about five or six days after our “stranding “ that we knew how and when we would get home (not a pleasant experience).  The ship was able to negotiate with Chile to get most prescriptions required by guests who were running short but I recall they couldn’t get enough insulin so they asked guests to pool anything they had. The ship made a subsequent stop in another country to pick up more. Consider if your elderly parents may require not only medications but particular medical interventions.

 

  We have a New Year’s cruise that I just cancelled because my risk tolerance is very low.

Thank you for giving some insight into what is likely the bigger problem - disruption of plans. Everyone keeps talking about being safe as if they think getting seriously ill is the issue.

[vandy]

43 minutes ago, mek said:

Where do you live?  Are you flying or driving?

We are driving from TN. 
 

I have felt comfortable with the protocols up too now and proceeded with our plans.  The virus spreading so quickly now and among the vaccinated has me concerned though.  It is not bad where I am, but passengers are from all over, of course. 
 

It seems likely that there will be a lot more cases onboard as people can be exposed in the window after testing.  We really want to go & are still planning to do so. We sail this Sunday. 
 

Does anyone else find the Explorer situation concerning ? Isn’t the crew fully vaccinated? It seems strange that they are catching it onboard. 

 

[delmom18]

Just off the Harmony on Sunday and aside from letting some elevators pass us by because people were over the 6 passenger limit or unmasked, we felt safe.  But we drove to the ship and planned on it being a "stay to ourselves, skip the ports" cruise.  We made good use of the balcony and when the ship was in port and most others got off hung out on the mostly empty Solarium decks.  We did attend a show or two in the theater but discovered that sitting in the almost empty unvaccinated upper balcony for the later show made us much more comfortable than sitting side by side people downstairs.  

 

As someone else said, take extra medicine with you and be prepared for it to be unlike previous cruises - and have a great time!

[matj2000]

Perhaps stop listening to the news and Government for advice.

 

Your Anxiety might actually go away...

[MommaBear55]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

You are likely safer on the ship than at home. 

Agree totally. Everyone 12 and over are vaccinated, everyone 2 and over has tested negative to get on the ship, people are pretty good about required masking. We e enjoyed our recent cruises tremendously. 

[bgoff60]

2 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

We sailed in October, November and will sail again January 2nd.  Royal does an awesome job with cleaning and health protocols.  

 

We will hopefully see you aboard the harmony on January 2nd.  Looking forward to it!!!

[RoyalC]

My current cruise (Oddesey) has zero enforcement of 6 to an elevator. In fact, the crew was on 4 times with me and each time the load ended up being 10-12 people. One crew member even held the elevator door so more people could fill it. That one had 12 people! Not like the Symphony which had better enforcement. Masks are not too well enforced either. But everyone is tested before and mostly vaccinated. Hardly anyone coughing vs. the Symphony. Not really worried...

[radarcruiser]

As Omicron numbers surge over the next few weeks, I’m more concerned about disruptions, like missed ports and departure delays, etc. due to the responses to positive tests, rather than the virus itself.  
 

We just got off Mariner and I felt safe the entire time.  

[cruiselvr04]

We cruised in November and felt more comfortable on the ship then in our area.  
If you test negative and can go be especially careful until you are in the ship bubble where everyone has been tested. You are at more risk driving in, stopping in public restrooms, hotels and eating along the way.    Wear your mask around others.  We only got off in one port of call and then we did an outdoor, no bus, no cab excursion.  
This doesn’t of course guarantee there will not be covid on the ship. Right now there is no guarantee unless you stay in house and don’t let anyone in.    We all have to weigh what is acceptable risk for ourselves.

[cured]

51 minutes ago, radarcruiser said:

As Omicron numbers surge over the next few weeks, I’m more concerned about disruptions, like missed ports and departure delays, etc. due to the responses to positive tests, rather than the virus itself.  
 

We just got off Mariner and I felt safe the entire time.  

I agree. I think Omicron is going to throw a few new wrenches into the protocols.  Omicron doesn't really care if you are vaccinated and apparently actually likes you better if you have had covid before.

 

Look at Cornell University this week.  They just announced they were going to online finals, effective immediately. Their student population is 97% vaccinated, yet Omicron (they think) is spreading at a rate that makes the graph look like a vertical line rather than a slope.

 

While Omicron appears to be milder and people are not going to be having serious illness, a ship having escalating positive cases due to the increased transmissibility, might have some issues docking.  

 

While I would still feel pretty safe health wise, I would have some serious reservations about being on a ship with the possibility of Omicron causing positive tests.  Especially since Omicron has shown, in the case of Cornell, that it can spread very quickly among the fully vaccinated.

Edited December 17, 2021 by cured

[vandy]

When and how would protocols likely change? 
 

Concerning that fully vaxxed crew has numerous cases on the Explorer.