sugarny123

28 minutes ago, SeaHunt said:

I'm sorry this happened to your family, and am glad your husband is doing OK. I'm also very glad RCI is taking care of you. JMO but all the different cruise lines efforts seem to be paying off, with no ships with big outbreaks (shown as "red") - knock on (teak) wood ☺️

 

I know it probably doesn't seem like it could be any worse, but there was a Harmony passenger from that same sailing who was taken from the ship and hospitalized who would probably disagree. I don't know who is taking care of his situation - hopefully he had good insurance 😉

 

You'll have to use google translate to read the article (it's in Italian):

 

*edited to add the translation:

 

Covid-19 positive cruise passenger who landed at the first light of dawn from Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas, which docked at 3.27 yesterday morning. An ambulance was already waiting for the patient on the quayside and transported the man to the Sant'Andrea hospital. He is a 74-year-old American, with an Italian surname, who boarded last Sunday in Barcelona. The tourist was admitted to the Infectious Diseases ward and immediately began treatment.

 

Apparently the American had been sick for a couple of days . High fever and pain that prompted Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas medical team to subject him to an antigenic swab which immediately gave a positive result. At that point, as required by the protocols, the man was isolated in his cabin waiting to arrive at the first docking port of the cruise ship. It wasn't a walk in the park. The ship that departed from Barcelona had made a stopover in Palma de Mallorca on Monday. Presumably that evening the American tourist began to feel ill.

 

On Tuesday 31 August, the maritime health service was contacted from the ship, which was sailing directly to the port of La Spezia. At that point it was arranged to get the ship to the port of La Spezia as soon as possible given the tourist conditions. The Harmony Seas, whose arrival was scheduled for 8 am yesterday, arrived in the night. For the vaccinated American who, before embarking in Barcelona, had undergone two swabs with negative results and had a Green pass, were difficult times despite the presence of the ship's medical and nursing staff who guaranteed patient care. Hospitalized at Sant'Andrea, the tourist, who does not speak Italian, was immediately taken in charge by the Infectious Diseases staff where the doctors adequately informed him both about his condition and about the therapy to which he was immediately subjected.

 

"We activated the protocols provided for in these cases and everything went well," explains Dr. Antonella Mofferdin, head of La Spezia's maritime health -. Disembarkation was scheduled and the patient was taken to the hospital. There is no other case of Covid on the ship ». Apparently the tourist also suffered from other important pathologies. Positive result at Covid, with the fever rising, the ship's doctors decided, together with the maritime health care, to have him landed as soon as possible to be treated in a hospital. With the patient remained his wife, who landed with him. Last night Harmony of the Seas resumed sailing with two fewer guests.

 

«A guest aboard Harmony of the Seas was disembarked yesterday morning in La Spezia, Italy, due to an underlying health condition - explains Lucy Radford senior manager of Royal Caribben -. The guest was disembarked in La Spezia and was taken to hospital for medical treatment. As part of our standard procedure, the host was tested for Covid-19 and tested positive. All close contacts were traced and tested negative. To sail aboard the Harmony, which departed Barcelona on 29 August, guests aged 18 and over must be vaccinated and tested negative before boarding. Children not eligible for the vaccine must also test negative. All the crew is vaccinated

 

https://www.ilsecoloxix.it/la-spezia/2021/09/02/news/la-spezia-ricoverato-crocierista-positivo-al-covid-1.40659016?fbclid=IwAR2WMFMzQVBjcL1DQN2xSQJu8_XEfqN0kB6e53pM6dhc_KSGU5KQPon2I2E

 

 

 

oh wow. so he was in the ship what we missed. I hope for his fully recovery in Italy.

Thanks for sharing the article and your warm wishes.

33 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

 

Thanks, we are due to be in Barcelona just for one day before the cruise....will be extra vigilant...

 

 

Yes, Good luck to you and wish you the best!

2 hours ago, Babr said:

I have read of at least one instance in the US like this, except that it was a child who tested positive at the end of the cruise. It was on another cruise line that did not offer any assistance except transportation to the contracted quarantine hotel since the family could not fly home.

 

If it had been Royal, they would have been entitled to full benefits because the positive test occurred during the cruise. If it had happened at the beginning, they would be entitled to a refund only.

 

The question here is what would happen to someone who tests positive at embarkation in the US if that person did not drive to the port. Unfortunately the written policy itself does not answer the question, and we have seen Royal deviate from it in several instances.

I know.., Policy for US is different than Spain and it seems like RC is more generous for European cruises.

We would have to do our due diligence for US cruises. 

5 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

Was he wearing an N95 or KN95 mask?

yes, we all did!

7 hours ago, ludde said:

Was your husband fully vaccinated with at least 2 doses?

yes. we fully got 2 doses of vaccine in April.

2 hours ago, debrinski said:

I'm so sorry this happened to you. Hope your husband is feeling better.  Thank you for sharing the information.   We are taking the same cruise on Oct 17th and spending 3 days in Barcelona before the cruise.  We're hoping to get the booster shot for Phizer before the cruise and hope that will give us extra protection.  If it's not too personal can you tell me which vaccine you received?  

Thank you for your concern!

We all got Pfizer vaccine. Booster would help for sure. Good luck to you guys!

15 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

I'm really sorry this has happened to you and your family.  Just awful to have gone all the way to Barcelona and then only to be quarantined.  

 

Is testing at the port part of Barcelona requirements for adults?  I thought you only need to test 2 days prior.  But does make you wonder if Royal will add this to all cruises.

Currently different rules are in place in different countries. For Spain, negative test result is not required but they perform rapid test on all passengers before boarding. I feel like RC is more favorable to outside of US cruisers at the moment. 

Thanks for your concern!

9 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Did they do a second test to rule out a false positive.  Could you board this following weekend if you wanted..

everyone gets a rapid test done and for someone who tested positive on rapid, they do pct test on you.

my husband got positive for both. 

I wish we could go on a next cruise! but I have to go back to work and Kids need to back to school.😪

18 minutes ago, tampadee said:

Just wondering, did you both wear masks everywhere?

Yes, we're strong believers of mask wearing. Especially my husband. If someone needs to get an award for sanitizing, he should be the one. I took some mask breaks outdoors when nobody was around but my husband would not take off his mask. It's odd that he's the one that got tested positive. We even shared ice cream and rest of us are fine. We believe his immunity went down, through red-eye flight and lack of sleep coming to Spain. 

1 hour ago, Auntiemomo said:

Was your husband asymptomatic through this whole ordeal?  If so, how would one who is vaccinated  know at the time of embarkation that they caught covid.

Yes my husband was asymptomatic until the night we were put in a hotel. He started having fever the night we got to the hotel, for 3 days. So we believe we arrived at Spain as negative and he contracted the virus within 2 days we were at barcelona, possibly from taxi rides as he always sat next to the driver multiple times. 

I guess you would never know if you got covid or not until you test at the cruise terminal like us. It's rare but it happens as you can see. 

1 hour ago, jerseygirl3 said:

So do you think your husband picked up the virus during your 2 days precruise?  I’m wondering if this contributes to Royal’s decision to have guests provide a negative test within 2 days prior to boarding. 
 

Did he ever develop symptoms? 
 

t

This is my worst nightmare as we will be flying to Italy next Fall for a few precruise days prior to a transatlantic. 

we suspect that my husband picked up the virus within that 2 days. God knows where and when but we suspect maybe it could've been from our multiple taxi rides? My husband was the one that sat next to the driver all the time. He started having fever on the night that we were put in a hotel.

Prepare yourself to worst situation if you're flying into Italy and make all the possible backup plans as much as possible or at least mentally prepare yourself. Traveling during Covid era is so unpredictable. Getting changeable ticket is a must. Best luck to you. 

25 minutes ago, carolyn22 said:

OP, I’m sorry to hear about your thwarted trip. Is your husband feeling OK physically?  Hopefully the rest of you will

continue to feel fine and test negative.

 

 

 

 

Yes my husband feels ok now. Thank you so much for your warm wishes!

56 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

OP, thanks for sharing and so sorry for your ordeal.

 

This is the first detailed account I've seen of an RCCL or Celebrity customer when testing positive prior to embarkation.  

 

We'll be sailing from Athens on the Apex in a few weeks so are quite interested in how RCCL (and by extension Celebrity) would handle this.

 

We plan to take a test before our flight to reduce the chances of a positive test at the terminal--i.e., we will get on the flight only if negative.

 

And with respect to the chartered private jet question posed by another poster, that only happens if you test positive DURING the cruise.

 

 

We also got tested before our flight and we were all negative but this positive situation still happened in matter of 2 days. I wish you the best for your cruise from Athens. It seems like every country had different rules so please double check what their rules are before you head out. 

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

what is interesting is the OP's family member had tested positive at the cruise terminal before boarding the ship and Royal is still covering their hotel/food quarantine expense.       Is that rules for Europe?

 

Curious if a US child under 12 tests positive at pre-cruise test in any US port, will royal pay for that family to stay at a hotel near cruise port if they flew from another state?

 

If yes, this is probably another big reason why Royal is not offering testing for everyone at cruise terminal before embarkment 

Yes, conditions are certainly different in Europe. I know rules are different for US sailings.

Passengers from UK are not allowed to Cruise now and I guess they do need more passengers from US to cruise in Europe. Without that covid assurance, I wouldn't have come here. I believe only 2 families were quarantined at the cruise terminal so even if RC has to pay for the expense- they would rather offer covid assurance than not having passengers at all?

4 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Well that sucks, a wasted 10 days and a very expensive flights for 4 people. Hope they had insurance of some kind to cover that?

That will cover all of the Europe sailings for this year at least. We were due to be on Harmony in 18 days but we shifted it to September 2022. Would be just our luck we would have been in same situation as OP coming all the way from Virginia.

Luckily, every extra expense if covered. I booked a flight with no change fee for Covid related changes so I was able to change the flight with no fee with no price difference. I did have travel insurance to cover medical expense but we're lucky to not use that.

It's a good call on your end to shift your cruise to Sept 2022. I'm looking into cruising next year as well but I'm holding my thought at the moment. If the same covid rules are in place, I certainly would not want to be in the same situation again. We were all tested negative before we got on the flight to Spain and in two days, my husband turned out to be positive and he is the most cautious person in terms of sanitizing himself. 

We might book something from leaving from NJ next year and maybe I'll hold on to Europe cruise til 2023.

4 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Terribly sorry you missed your cruise but that is great to hear that Royal is covering the quarantine expense.     Hopefully everyone is feeling ok.

 

Had you also purchased Royals travel insurance for your cruise?    

 

 

 

Yes, my husband had some fever but it went a way few days ago and everyone is feeling good for now. Thank you for your concern.

I know for US cruises, cruiselines require travel insurance but not for cruises leaving out of Spain as of yet. They have different rules for different countries. I was informed that any covid-related expenses will be covered by RC so we risked to come out here in confidence.

4 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

Thanks for sharing your experience.  Have you all been retested yet?  How many days prior to flying do you have to be tested?  You’re flying back on Sept 8th?  Safe travels to you and your family.  

RC care team will send a Eurofin testers for us to the hotel on the 7th. Currently you need a negative test 3 days prior to your flight. Thank you for your warm wishes!

4 hours ago, lazydayz said:

OP, I am sorry to hear about your husband and hope he is better.  Terrible you all missed the cruise but at least Royal is covering the charges.  Did anyone else in your family get it?  Best of luck to all of you in testing negative and getting back home soon.  

Thank you for your warm wishes. My husband was the only one that got tested positive and rest of us were negative. 

4 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

Pretty unlikely, they had to quarantine ;-)!

 

No just the person tested positive has to go into quarantine but also the close contacts which means all of the family has to go into quarantine.

 

NCL just recently changed their policy. They now recommend a test before you fly (especially overseas). If you´ve got a pre-flight test result and are tested postive prior to boarding then they cover all expenses of the quarantine. If you don´t have a test done prior to flying you have to pay on your own (unless you have insurance but first you pay and then you might get your money back from insurance).

 

steamboats

Cruiselines will constantly update their policy I guess. We also voluntarily got tested for covid and it came out all negative before our flight. So in matter of 2 days, my husband turned positive. 

and you're right, we were considered close contacts as a family so we were also put into a quarantine. 

6 hours ago, BSocial said:

thank you for sharing your story.  First, I hope your husband is much better, and that the rest of you are fine,   It’s good to hear that Royal is arranging all quarantine costs for you.   Best wishes for a negative trip and safe return home.  
 

edit.

 

Thank you for your warm wishes!

4 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Wonder how long Royal is going to keep covering these expenses? I assume you got 2 keys, 2 rooms? One that your husband stayed in by himself for the 10 days

 

Did you and the others at least get a chance to go out and explore Barcelona?

Hi Jimbo,

Yes we got 2 rooms. But they assumed we will equally share a room instead of having my husband stay in one room by himself. We just had to make that decision on our own so 3 of us are sharing one room. They only had 2 twin beds in a room so I requested an extra bed but the hotel said that they are not allowed to enter any of these quarantine designated rooms so asked me to ask the "agency" to book another room. I spoke with the RC care team and the hotel got me an extra twin bed and left it in front of our door. So that wasn't smooth but it worked out. 

and yes we did have 2 days to explore Barcelona before getting to the terminal. Thank you for asking!

Just to update, I quickly got a reply from the Care team and they replied:

Thank you for letting us know about this phone call. Royal Caribbean will be covering all of the room expenses and we will ensure that the hotel is made aware. Very sorry for any misunderstanding this may have caused. 

For anyone who's considering to Cruise outside their home country, I hope you to be aware and be prepared.

We're family of four traveling from NY to Barcelona to get on the Harmony of the seas on 8/29.

Sadly, my husband tested positive at the terminal and we were immediately placed in a hotel for 10 day quarantine.

Today is our 7th day and Harmony of the seas returned to Barcelona today.

At the terminal, RC booked this hotel for us, Fira Congress. Upon arrival, hotel front desk had 2 keys ready for us without the usual check-in process of giving my credit card info. I asked and the hotel staff told me they only deal with the agency and does not bill customers.

I contacted the RC with the given tel number and wanted to make sure that the hotel stay is covered by RC. The agent personally told me he would be upset if it wasn't covered by RC and he transferred me to the "Care team".

RC has a specific "Care Team" that handles Covid related cases. Care team was very helpful and they are available to reach 24/7.

Care Team also confirmed that the hotel stay and food would be covered by RC and also arranged pre-flight testing a day before our flight back home on the 8th. Although we're in a terrible situation, I felt that RC is on our side and helping us in this misery.

But this morning, I got a call from the front desk that all charges would have to be paid by us and that is about 3098 Euros.

I emailed the Care Team and waiting for their response but I wonder if anyone else was in our shoes?