Princess and covid cases

[pris993]

The amount of stress expressed here ref passengers potentially getting covid is amazing to me.  You would think covid was like cancer.  It isn't.  It is like getting the flu for most people.  It is easy to get even if vaccinated.  We all have a choice, we either stay home or accept the risk and stop complaining.  Cruise lines are doing what they can.  Best we can do is wear a mask in public areas, avoid crowds if we decide to cruise.  

[MsSoCalCruiser]

7 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Although Island Princess is not currently a participant in the newer voluntary CDC Covid recommendations program, Princess has 7 ships in the program.  All 7 ships are coded orange by the CDC.  Orange means there are enough Covid cases onboard, and the number is enough to trigger CDC monitoring the ships' Covid protocols and procedures.  Red is the highest category, and a red ship means the number and severity of Covid cases on a ship is causing the CDC to put additional public health requirements in place.  At the present time, CDC reports there are no cruise ships coded red, 85 cruise ships coded orange and 4 yellow and 4 green (lower categories requiring no further monitoring by the CDC.)

 

I think out of the thousands and thousands of people who have cruised, we are really only hearing the stories of those in the minority who tested positive for Covid.  People just don't jump on CC or other forms of social media to report that nothing happened to them.  This is not to minimize what has happened to those who got Covid, but it does seem that the very vocal minority is making the issue appear to be worse than it is.  If things were really, really bad and out of control, there would be any number of ships coded red by the CDC.

A great deal of the cases test positive after they leave the ship.  So they aren’t counted.  I had a rough time with Covid after my B2B cruises.  I’m getting back on the ship soon so I’m praying that I am Covid free this next time.  😊

[PacnGoNow]

18 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

A great deal of the cases test positive after they leave the ship.  So they aren’t counted.  I had a rough time with Covid after my B2B cruises.  I’m getting back on the ship soon so I’m praying that I am Covid free this next time.  😊

Glad your getting back on!  Some people do have a hard time and get pretty ill. Not everyone just has a mild cold.  
Have a great cruise and don’t get sick this time! 😳

[CruisingAwayTheBucketList]

22 minutes ago, pris993 said:

The amount of stress expressed here ref passengers potentially getting covid is amazing to me.  You would think covid was like cancer.  It isn't.  It is like getting the flu for most people.  It is easy to get even if vaccinated.  We all have a choice, we either stay home or accept the risk and stop complaining.  Cruise lines are doing what they can.  Best we can do is wear a mask in public areas, avoid crowds if we decide to cruise.  

I agree.  I believe Covid is not going away.  Different strains will come and go just like the flu.  We respect anyone who chooses to wear a mask and take precautions that we have stopped doing because we don't know their reasons.  And we mask up when required without a problem.  But we are so happy to be back cruising and even happier to see the mandates going away.  Within the past month we have seen testing requirements for Italy and Israel for our upcoming cruise be dropped as well as testing to get back home.  Now hoping that the final requirement for testing to get on the ship is rescinded before we sail again.  And we certainly do not want to see everyone have to wear masks again.  

[MsSoCalCruiser]

26 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Glad your getting back on!  Some people do have a hard time and get pretty ill. Not everyone just has a mild cold.  
Have a great cruise and don’t get sick this time! 😳

Thank you so much!  It was awful. The fatigue was so bad weeks later that the dentist had to put something in my mouth to hold it open because I kept falling asleep. Now that’s definitely a first for me 🤣.  Thanks again.

[memoak]

30 minutes ago, CruisingAwayTheBucketList said:

I agree.  I believe Covid is not going away.  Different strains will come and go just like the flu.  We respect anyone who chooses to wear a mask and take precautions that we have stopped doing because we don't know their reasons.  And we mask up when required without a problem.  But we are so happy to be back cruising and even happier to see the mandates going away.  Within the past month we have seen testing requirements for Italy and Israel for our upcoming cruise be dropped as well as testing to get back home.  Now hoping that the final requirement for testing to get on the ship is rescinded before we sail again.  And we certainly do not want to see everyone have to wear masks again.  

Don’t look now but masking requirements on some Alaskan cruises are going up

[PacnGoNow]

10 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Thank you so much!  It was awful. The fatigue was so bad weeks later that the dentist had to put something in my mouth to hold it open because I kept falling asleep. Now that’s definitely a first for me 🤣.  Thanks again.

Oh my!  I heard fatigue is bad. Are you back to normal now?

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Just now, PacnGoNow said:

Oh my!  I heard fatigue is bad. Are you back to normal now?

I’m almost back to normal.  I hope I never go through that again.  When I was sick I thought I would never step foot on a ship again but I love it.  The worst part of it all was that I was terrified my friend would get sick that cruised with me in an inside cabin. Thankfully she stayed healthy.  How is that even possible?  I have several months until we cruise so who knows what it will be like by then.

[Buckeye10640]

56 minutes ago, CruisingAwayTheBucketList said:

I agree.  I believe Covid is not going away.  Different strains will come and go just like the flu.  We respect anyone who chooses to wear a mask and take precautions that we have stopped doing because we don't know their reasons.  And we mask up when required without a problem.  But we are so happy to be back cruising and even happier to see the mandates going away.  Within the past month we have seen testing requirements for Italy and Israel for our upcoming cruise be dropped as well as testing to get back home.  Now hoping that the final requirement for testing to get on the ship is rescinded before we sail again.  And we certainly do not want to see everyone have to wear masks again.  

My thinking is along your same line. I am vaccinated and got my second booster before our 5/14 Alaska cruise. I have no problem with people choosing to mask, and we did our best to be respectful of others on elevators (ie. if those on the elevator were masked we would wait for the next one, did not crowd onto full elevators, etc).  But we did not mask unless required, which was pretty much only in YVR airport.  I am ok either way with the testing requirement but do hope the vaccine requirement remains in place for the forseeable future, particularly if they do away with pre-cruise testing. 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Buckeye10640

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I’m almost back to normal.  I hope I never go through that again.  When I was sick I thought I would never step foot on a ship again but I love it.  The worst part of it all was that I was terrified my friend would get sick that cruised with me in an inside cabin. Thankfully she stayed healthy.  How is that even possible?  I have several months until we cruise so who knows what it will be like by then.

That’s great news. Take care

[geocruiser]

11 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I’m almost back to normal.  I hope I never go through that again.  When I was sick I thought I would never step foot on a ship again but I love it.  The worst part of it all was that I was terrified my friend would get sick that cruised with me in an inside cabin. Thankfully she stayed healthy.  How is that even possible?  I have several months until we cruise so who knows what it will be like by then.

 

 

Sorry to hear that you got so sick.  I hope that you keep on getting better and enjoy your next cruise.  Did your friend take a covid test after getting home, or on ship?

[Priszm]

8 hours ago, jeno said:

The Island thread mentioned 200 positive out of 800 b2b passengers.  No wonder they didn’t “volunteer”.  

I missed the thread.  Can you point me to it? My parents are currently on Island. They were supposed to stay on on Monday for the next trip, but dad tested positive yesterday.  Communication from mom before that said there were at least 40 cases of covid and at least 12 cabins on their deck with it (unknown which deck).

[MsSoCalCruiser]

35 minutes ago, geocruiser said:

 

 

Sorry to hear that you got so sick.  I hope that you keep on getting better and enjoy your next cruise.  Did your friend take a covid test after getting home, or on ship?

Thank you. We were both fine on the ship. My friend tested a few times after she got home.  She tested negative each time and never developed any symptoms. I was exhausted the day I got home and developed a headache that day.  I figured it was just because of everything that I had to deal with at the port when my battery was stolen out of my car (lovely day, lol).

 

The ER doctor told me that we are contagious 3 to 5 days prior to any symptoms and testing positive. I was really upset because I would hate for anyone to be sick because of me.  I sent an email to Princess letting them know that I did test positive and I told them the names of the employees that I had daily contact with. 

Edited June 13, 2022 by MsSoCalCruiser

[geocruiser]

7 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Thank you. We were both fine on the ship. My friend tested a few times after she got home.  She tested negative each time and never developed any symptoms. I was exhausted the day I got home and developed a headache that day.  I figured it was just because of everything that I had to deal with at the port when my battery was stolen out of my car (lovely day, lol).

 

The ER doctor told me that we are contagious 3 to 5 days prior to any symptoms and testing positive. I was really upset because I would hate for anyone to be sick because of me.  I sent an email to Princess letting them know that I did test positive and I told them the names of the employees that I had daily contact with. 

That was very nice of you to send Princess a E-mail about who you had contact with. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

58 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

That’s great news. Take care

Thank you. You take care too.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

18 minutes ago, geocruiser said:

That was very nice of you to send Princess a E-mail about who you had contact with. 

Thank you.  I hope you are both doing well.  

[geocruiser]

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Thank you.  I hope you are both doing well.  

Thank you.  We are both well.  We are not cruising now because of covid.  We hope some day to get back on board.  But that may not happen.  We are happy that we sailed as many times as we did.  We have all our great cruises to look back on..

[Guest ldtr]

5 hours ago, pris993 said:

The amount of stress expressed here ref passengers potentially getting covid is amazing to me.  You would think covid was like cancer.  It isn't.  It is like getting the flu for most people.  It is easy to get even if vaccinated.  We all have a choice, we either stay home or accept the risk and stop complaining.  Cruise lines are doing what they can.  Best we can do is wear a mask in public areas, avoid crowds if we decide to cruise.  

With the difference that once the symptoms go away with the flu there is little to no effects afterwards.

 

With Covid data shows that even with mild cases the virus can cause long lasting impacts on several of the bodies systems.  As result studies indicate that a group that has experienced had Covid in the past year shows a greater than 50% increase in cardiac events, strokes, diabetes, than a similar group that has not had covid (comparable age, sex, race and pre-existing conditions).  For an example the VA did a rather large study doing this comparison.

 

So flu is really not a good comparison because while in a vaccinated population and the current strain the mortality rates might be getting in the same order of magnitude,  There is really no comparison on potential post infection impacts on long term health.

 

In addition with the increasing time since initial vaccination and the relatively poor uptake of boosters (30% vs 70%) the protection against serious illness is starting to wane to some degree.  Especially in an elderly population.

[caribill]

7 hours ago, pris993 said:

The amount of stress expressed here ref passengers potentially getting covid is amazing to me.  You would think covid was like cancer.  It isn't.  It is like getting the flu for most people. 

 

And an example of someone who is not "most people":

 

6 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

It was awful. The fatigue was so bad weeks later that the dentist had to put something in my mouth to hold it open because I kept falling asleep.

 

[Princessfan20]

13 hours ago, pris993 said:

The amount of stress expressed here ref passengers potentially getting covid is amazing to me.  You would think covid was like cancer.  It isn't.  It is like getting the flu for most people.  It is easy to get even if vaccinated.  We all have a choice, we either stay home or accept the risk and stop complaining.  Cruise lines are doing what they can.  Best we can do is wear a mask in public areas, avoid crowds if we decide to cruise.  

Let’s try this again.  You do not get put into quarantine on a cruise ship for having a cold for flu.  Princess lowered their health protocols and then once COVID is loose on their ships they reimpose them.  Cruise ships are unique environments where disease can spread easily.

I bet those over 1 million US citizens who died of COVID would disagree with your assessment.

[southamptoncruisers]

10 hours ago, pris993 said:

The amount of stress expressed here ref passengers potentially getting covid is amazing to me.  You would think covid was like cancer.  It isn't.  It is like getting the flu for most people.  It is easy to get even if vaccinated.  We all have a choice, we either stay home or accept the risk and stop complaining.  Cruise lines are doing what they can.  Best we can do is wear a mask in public areas, avoid crowds if we decide to cruise.  

Totally agree

[Honolulu Blue]

12 hours ago, mandyq1030 said:

I wonder how many people test positive and aren't able to go on their cruise.

This is a key question, IMHO, and one that I haven't heard answers to.  I assume the cruise lines are tracking it.  My naive opinion (worth about as much as anyone else's who's not an insider) is that these days, 1-2% of cruisers test positive within 14 days of their cruise and cancel out.  This, I estimate, would have gone as high as 10% on certain ships within the height of Omicron.

[leck57]

18 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I think out of the thousands and thousands of people who have cruised, we are really only hearing the stories of those in the minority who tested positive for Covid.  

 

And the loudest who insist on telling us all.

Guess what? I cruised on Emerald a few weeks ago, had a great cruise, was in crowded lifts and tenders, and didn't catch Covid. No news there. 

Edited June 13, 2022 by leck57

[dog]

6 minutes ago, leck57 said:

 

And the loudest who insist on telling us all.

Guess what? I cruised on Emerald a few weeks ago, had a great cruise, got in crowded lifts and tenders, and didn't catch Covid. No news there. 

Nice to hear you did well.

 

7 bus loads off a Princess ship recently did not. they are in quarantine near London airport due to testing positive for Covid.

[nijh]

Personally totally in favour of getting rid of all restrictions, but here’s some of the weirdness of Princess rules witnessed.

 

Full theatre for performance - no mask required.

Queuing to get in theatre for shore excursion - no mask required.

Princess staff putting 12 people in a lift to get down to the gangway - no mask required.

Sitting on full excursion bus for 1.5 hour trip out and 1.5 hour trip back - no mask required.

Queuing 20 minutes to get into MDR - no mask required.

 

….it’s coming….

 

Half empty tender vessel with windows and sides open, along with open access to the top deck - Princess staff telling us masks are compulsory.

 

Anyone care to explain that one😀