Musings from Covid isolation

[biggerbearmom]

19 hours ago, CoolBeansVA said:

TayanaLorna’s observations in the infirmary — passengers being told that if they tested positive for Covid, they’d have to isolate for six days, did they want to be tested, no thanks — imply that Viking has replaced its focus on passenger wellness with indifference.  I am deeply disappointed.

 

We didn’t experience this look-the-other-way coercion because we showed up in the infirmary announcing that we’d self-tested positive that morning.  So the jig was up.

When we self tested last August and came up positive, we called the medical center. I told the nurse that we wanted a PCR test to confirm our positive self test

(I had symptoms so I was pretty certain). The nurse told me the the same thing, if she came up to test us, and if we tested positive that we would be in quarantine, and then asked if we still wanted to be tested. We chose to test and spent the remainder of the cruise in quarantine. I was too sick to do anything else, plus as others have said, it’s the right thing to do.

[Azulann]

My sister and I are going on a Viking cruise in early June. both of us got COVID in Feb. Both mild cases. I even got the therapeutic prescription but did not use it . so I am bringing it along on our cruise and some self tests. but I feel we will still have some immunity in June. 

Santa Fe  and others, hope you all. have a quick recovery.  

Viking was following protocol during pandemic, when we were on two cruises. They are following protocol now IMO.

. It is up to each of us as adults  to not spread  any illness while we are on a ship if we become sick.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Azulann

[SantaFe1]

Thank you all for well wishes.  I have had a very mild case, as did my husband.  Just got off the phone with my doctor who says I am free to go on Thursday, but must wear a mask everywhere for another five days.  Easy enough to do.  She also told me that we would have immunity for about another 90 days (long enough to get us through our upcoming Alaska cruise).  We will also take a couple of tests and some Paxlovid.  

Edited March 21, 2023 by SantaFe1

[TayanaLorna]

55 minutes ago, biggerbearmom said:

When we self tested last August and came up positive, we called the medical center. I told the nurse that we wanted a PCR test to confirm our positive self test

(I had symptoms so I was pretty certain). The nurse told me the the same thing, if she came up to test us, and if we tested positive that we would be in quarantine, and then asked if we still wanted to be tested. We chose to test and spent the remainder of the cruise in quarantine. I was too sick to do anything else, plus as others have said, it’s the right thing to do.

It really is the right thing to do and thank you for doing it.

[SempreMare]

To those who have been in quarantine, how have you / are you keeping yourself entertained? 

[SantaFe1]

35 minutes ago, SempreMare said:

To those who have been in quarantine, how have you / are you keeping yourself entertained? 

watching it snow.

[biggerbearmom]

1 hour ago, SempreMare said:

To those who have been in quarantine, how have you / are you keeping yourself entertained? 

The first three days of quarantine I was sick with fever, headache, cough and body aches. All I wanted to do was sleep and occasionally eat. My husband on the other hand, who tested positive but felt mostly okay had a harder time. He watched TV, movies on the Ipad, read and napped. By day 5 I was feeling better which was the day we were in Flam. It was a beautiful day and I was melancholy as I watched people leave the ship, knowing they were all going off for a wonderful day of exploring. Having previously been to Flam, I knew what I was missing out on. When we arrived in Bergen we were ready to be off the ship, so we disembarked a day early and traveled on to Sweden.

[JDincalif]

9 hours ago, Haqdeluxe said:

Day 0 is followed by Night 0. So if Day 0 is Sunday, Monday night is Night 1 and so on. You have not served your "5 nights" time until Saturday morning. This is simply another example of how Americans and Europeans differ. 

 

Actually, this is consistent with how US hospitals calculate inpatient length of stay. Day of admission = day 0, so if one is admitted to a hospital on, say, Sunday January 1st and is discharged on Friday, January 6th, length of stay = 5 days. 

You may now return to your normal program...

[d9704011]

24 minutes ago, JDincalif said:

 

Actually, this is consistent with how US hospitals calculate inpatient length of stay. Day of admission = day 0, so if one is admitted to a hospital on, say, Sunday January 1st and is discharged on Friday, January 6th, length of stay = 5 days. 

You may now return to your normal program...

I can see how your count works.  Any idea how @Haqdeluxe comes up with a Saturday morning discharge?

[Earthworm Jim]

It seems to me the posters in this thread aren't being sufficiently cynical about human and corporate nature.

 

• Of course Viking doesn't want to admit how many Covid cases. It's bad for bookings and customer satisfaction
• Of course passengers don't want to take a voluntary Covid test and risk being quarantined during their cruise
• Of course Viking doesn't want to make those tests mandatory. Again, bad for business. It just as long as you pretend you don't have Covid, they'll pretend with you.
• Masking and contact tracing would disturb the predominant mutually agreed upon mass delusion the Covid is behind us. That would also be bad for business.

 

While I don't disagree that those measures would indeed reduce the spread of Covid onboard, it's hardly surprising that they aren't happening.

[Earthworm Jim]

On 3/19/2023 at 12:06 PM, d9704011 said:

Seems to be a strange conclusion from your story.

 

The best way to avoid viral infection is through good hygiene and the primary element of that is thoughly washing your hands after handling/touching things.

 

If the viral infection in question is Covid-19, which is what people are most worried about, you can wash your hands all you want and it is unlikely to have any impact on your chances of catching it.

 

For norovirus though, it's certainly good advice.

[SantaFe1]

2 hours ago, biggerbearmom said:

The first three days of quarantine I was sick with fever, headache, cough and body aches. All I wanted to do was sleep and occasionally eat. My husband on the other hand, who tested positive but felt mostly okay had a harder time. He watched TV, movies on the Ipad, read and napped. By day 5 I was feeling better which was the day we were in Flam. It was a beautiful day and I was melancholy as I watched people leave the ship, knowing they were all going off for a wonderful day of exploring. Having previously been to Flam, I knew what I was missing out on. When we arrived in Bergen we were ready to be off the ship, so we disembarked a day early and traveled on to Sweden.

I am sorry I was so flip in my answer.  We both had it, which makes it easier; we got it at home, which makes it easier; and we did not have it bad, but very mild.  I started working on a new piano piece; my husband edited his photos from our Mediterranean trip last month.  We cooked a lot. We made  big complicated meals we seldom have time for.  We read, books and books, watched a few new Netflix movies, played with the dog, got the taxes ready to go to the accountant, and best of all:

I booked another cruise!  British Isles Explorer, June 2024!  

Edited March 22, 2023 by SantaFe1

[JDincalif]

13 hours ago, d9704011 said:

I can see how your count works.  Any idea how @Haqdeluxe comes up with a Saturday morning discharge?

Apologies for the wonkiness but wanted to respond.

Haqdeluxe may have had a different experience with the way the medical staff counted isolation days. In our two experiences last year on two different cruise ships with five day COVID isolation, the standard hospital calculation of length of stay as defined in the US and CDC and EU was used. The medical staff explained each time that the positive test/first isolation date is designated day 0, day after is day 1, and so forth until the morning of day 5, at which point an asymptomatic patient is released from isolation. 

[Nicole&Pete]

On 3/19/2023 at 12:20 AM, CoolBeansVA said:

We’re on our fifth Viking Ocean cruise.  We were very impressed with Viking’s leadership in establishing science-based Covid policy, and had no qualms about taking our first post-Covid cruise last year.  At that time, Covid tests were mandatory at embarkation and daily while onboard.  Passengers all wore contact tracing devices on lanyards, crew members were masked at all times, and we were encouraged to mask in crowded areas such as the Star Theater and on busses.  I never heard anybody complaining — we all had agreed to these conditions before booking — and we were rewarded with a heathy and enjoyable two-week adventure.

 

On our present cruise, we knew they had dispensed with contact tracers and were offering onboard Covid tests only upon request, but we were surprised that there was no Covid testing at embarkation.  We assumed that a negative test would be a routine entrance requirement.  Once on board, it’s as though Covid is fully behind us.  Neither passengers nor crew members are masking.  A note in the Viking Daily recommends onboard masking, but also says, “Face masks are optional while moving about the ship, but highly recommended for those guests with a persistent cough.”   (Ahem, perhaps passengers with persistent coughs should get themselves tested).
 

Anyway, my husband and I continued to mask in the theater, on busses and whenever we shared an elevator with others, because we believe that judicial masking in indoor public places was one of the practices that helped keep us from ever getting Covid in the last three years.  But we didn’t mask at meals or when having drinks in the Explorer’s Lounge or coffee in the Living Room.

 

And Covid finally caught us.  Fortunately we came prepared with Paxlovid, which we started ten minutes after our positive tests, and we are improving each day.  Unfortunately, we are in mandatory isolation in our stateroom for 6 days, during which we are missing two key ports of our itinerary and, frankly, going stir-crazy.

 

So here’s a question:  Do you think it would be helpful for passengers to know approximately how many Covid cases are on board?  I have friends at home who live in retirement communities that are ‘cruise-like”  in their social and group dining amenities, and they always know the daily headcount of cases among residents and staff.  When numbers go up, they take more precautions.  
 

I asked for a case count at the infirmary when I got my positive test results confirmed, and was told that information is not disclosed.  Huh.  There are indications that the number of cases is not insignificant. For one, we heard a fair amount of coughing on busses and around the ship before we got sick. Two, most every time we call room service for meals, we’re told that delivery time will be a little longer because they’re very busy.  Three, all passengers had to go through immigration when we docked in Australia.  Because we’re in isolation, our passports were picked up in our room for processing. The person who picked up ours had a box with what looked like over two-dozen passports already in it.  
 

I do get that we’re all tired of Covid and just want to move on and live our lives (that’s why we’re on this trip).  But I also feel that a few more precautions (such as pre-embarkation testing and more routine masking for passengers and crew members) are a modest nuisance compared to spending nearly a week in isolation.

Not trying to incite a political discussion, folks!!  All politics aside, what balance of precautions and information feels right for you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours is a really good question. I think being alerted of high Covid numbers is probably sensible but on the other hand being told of low ones could mean that people take even less precautions. But I personally would like to know because I would like to know to take more precautions when there are a lot of cases.

 

On our last cruise we tested beforehand, avoided crowded places and wore masks most of the time and we were healthy throughout and had a lovely holiday. The slight inconvenience of testing beforehand and wearing a mask is nothing in my view compared to having a holiday ruined by an illness and quarantine (although I know masking only lowers the risk and doesn’t prevent it completely).
 

I will say it is a long and anxious 15 minutes waiting for that negative Covid test before a cruise and it is an annoying piece of pre-cruise admin. However, the fact that all passengers know they have to have the negative test to board means that people are a little more careful in the week or so before the cruise so in theory there is less chance of Covid or other viruses including norovirus getting onboard in the first place. 
 

So I have been wondering if I would rather still have pre-testing which is a nuisance but nothing compared to the nuisance of illness and isolation? And I wonder if others feel the same?

 

It does bother me that the cruise lines have dropped testing but still require mandatory quarantine. I could be really careful before my cruise to not catch Covid and someone is allowed on board knowing they have it and passes it to me and I have to isolate. I wonder if they will drop quarantine at some point as well?

[Pushka]

2 hours ago, Nicole&Pete said:

So I have been wondering if I would rather still have pre-testing which is a nuisance but nothing compared to the nuisance of illness and isolation? And I wonder if others feel the same?

But even with daily testing, Covid spread on the ships because it was at least a 24 hour delay between testing and getting the positive result. Plenty of time to spread in that period. And subsequently illness and quarantine. 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Pushka

[TayanaLorna]

4 hours ago, Nicole&Pete said:

Yours is a really good question. I think being alerted of high Covid numbers is probably sensible but on the other hand being told of low ones could mean that people take even less precautions. But I personally would like to know because I would like to know to take more precautions when there are a lot of cases.

 

On our last cruise we tested beforehand, avoided crowded places and wore masks most of the time and we were healthy throughout and had a lovely holiday. The slight inconvenience of testing beforehand and wearing a mask is nothing in my view compared to having a holiday ruined by an illness and quarantine (although I know masking only lowers the risk and doesn’t prevent it completely).
 

I will say it is a long and anxious 15 minutes waiting for that negative Covid test before a cruise and it is an annoying piece of pre-cruise admin. However, the fact that all passengers know they have to have the negative test to board means that people are a little more careful in the week or so before the cruise so in theory there is less chance of Covid or other viruses including norovirus getting onboard in the first place. 
 

So I have been wondering if I would rather still have pre-testing which is a nuisance but nothing compared to the nuisance of illness and isolation? And I wonder if others feel the same?

 

It does bother me that the cruise lines have dropped testing but still require mandatory quarantine. I could be really careful before my cruise to not catch Covid and someone is allowed on board knowing they have it and passes it to me and I have to isolate. I wonder if they will drop quarantine at some point as well?

I liked all the previous Covid precautions and safely took 2 cruises during the height of the Delta strain and beginning of Omnicron.  In the US, i believe only NY and PR still do daily counts of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.  In PR, masks are still mandatory in all medical facilities and away from the metropolitan tourist areas i still see 25% still masking in stores.  However Covid fear and awareness has really become a thing of the past.  I don't think mandatory testing to board a cruise ship will make a difference.  People might be more cautious the week before and they might wear masks on airplanes but I doubt it.  We recently came through Miami International airport which was absolutely jam packed with people at Customs and Security check.  We were the only ones wearing masks that i could see.  One could test negative at home but contact Covid in the press of unmasked humanity at the airports.  

[JDincalif]

3 hours ago, Pushka said:

But even with daily testing, Covid spread on the ships because it was at least a 24 hour delay between testing and getting the positive result. Plenty of time to spread in that period. And subsequently illness and quarantine. 

On our Viking cruise last May, daily PCR test vials were collected around 0800 and those with equivocal or positive test results were notified by early afternoon; isolation was immediately arranged that same day for those with confirmed positive results. Because the PCR test can detect the presence of virus before one becomes contagious, additional spread, illness and quarantine most likely can be averted or minimized under this protocol.

 

[SJD117]

Bummer! I tested positive this morning. So far the Big C feels like a mild head cold — I hope it stays that way.

 

We leave for Europe in 13 days. Keeping our fingers crossed that we can do the trip.

[DGHOC]

I'm really sorry to read this SJD, I hope you manage to bat it off quickly. We were both feeling much better within two weeks so hopefully you'll be feeling ready to travel.

[SantaFe1]

29 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

Bummer! I tested positive this morning. So far the Big C feels like a mild head cold — I hope it stays that way.

 

We leave for Europe in 13 days. Keeping our fingers crossed that we can do the trip.

Just an observation, not even a suggestion, but we both took Paxlovid and our symptoms, mild as they were, disappeared in a day or two.  Of course, check with your doctor.  

[JDincalif]

39 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

Bummer! I tested positive this morning. So far the Big C feels like a mild head cold — I hope it stays that way.

 

We leave for Europe in 13 days. Keeping our fingers crossed that we can do the trip.

So sorry to hear this - wishing you a rapid and complete recovery!

[SJD117]

13 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

Just an observation, not even a suggestion, but we both took Paxlovid and our symptoms, mild as they were, disappeared in a day or two.  Of course, check with your doctor.  

Thanks for the message. Linda is out picking up a Paxlovid prescription for me as I write this. Fortunately she tested negative.

Edited March 23, 2023 by SJD117

[SantaFe1]

6 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

Fortunately she tested negative

Yes, well not to rain on her parade, but I tested negative the day my husband tested positive.  Then two days later I tested positive too.  It’s hard to be in the same house without passing it on…

 

good luck to you both, and speedy recovery!

Edited March 23, 2023 by SantaFe1

[basenji56]

1 hour ago, SantaFe1 said:

Yes, well not to rain on her parade, but I tested negative the day my husband tested positive.  Then two days later I tested positive too.  It’s hard to be in the same house without passing it on…

 

Hard but not impossible.  I was just talking to my physical therapist.  She got covid twice.  But her husband never got it even though they slept in the same bed.  He also never got the vaccine.  So, there is hope!

[Twitchly]

31 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

Hard but not impossible.  I was just talking to my physical therapist.  She got covid twice.  But her husband never got it even though they slept in the same bed.  He also never got the vaccine.  So, there is hope!

Yup. My husband didn’t give it to me when he had it (at the beginning of the pandemic — no masks, no vaccines), and I didn’t infect him when I had it last year (post-vaccines and boosters). There’s definitely hope.

 

Speaking of which, I hope you feel better soon, SJD117.