Covid on Adventure

[broadwaybaby123]

4 minutes ago, Susanb10567 said:

That’s disappointing that protocols for unvaccinated passengers were not being followed. You would think at the beginning they would have been on top of it. 

What's also unclear is if someone lied about their vaccination status (so that they wouldn't have as stringent restrictions) or how the crew will know who is vaccinated and who isn't.  I was listening to Cruise Radio today and they did a review on Adventure.  It was mentioned in the show how RC hasn't been forthcoming about how they will identify those who have been vaccinated and those who haven't, other than the fact that passengers will need to keep their Sea Pass cards with them (which they need to anyway).  I'm wondering if there's something on the Sea Pass card that identifies you as being vaccinated or not, just like how they can determine which drink package you purchased by looking at your Sea Pass.

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

RC and Celebrity's guarantee for sailings through October 31 is to "cover the costs of COVID-19 related medical treatment onboard, any required land-based quarantine, and travel home for you and your Traveling Party" if you test positive onboard.

 

So technically they're not required to fly you home on a chartered private flight. I imagine they're doing that at first for the good publicity of how they're handling positive cases, but eventually that will get too expensive and they'll go with the cheaper route of land quarantine until you test negative then scheduled airline flights home.

 

But under the current guarantee if someone tests positive they can't just kick them off the ship and tell them to pound sand.

 

I'm interested to see what happens after Oct 31. Wonder if that's the date due to CSO. It'll be a lot of bad press if they're still kicking you off for a positive test but making you pay for all the costs. I haven't looked at travel insurance lately - are they covering quarantine? 

[DallasGuy75219]

54 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

I haven't looked at travel insurance lately - are they covering quarantine? 

It depends on the policy, but most exclude any claim resulting from a pandemic or epidemic. 

[smplybcause]

37 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

It depends on the policy, but most exclude any claim resulting from a pandemic or epidemic. 

 

That's what I thought, but wasn't sure if it changed. 

 

So that's a big thing to navigate. Royal won't pick up the tab after Oct (currently) but travel insurance won't either. So how will they spin it if the cruise line causes thousands in costs if you're kicked off? 

[DallasGuy75219]

 

2 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

I also feel/think these are the true test cruises compared to the ones from FL right now. Hopefully the kids didn’t pass it along to many others along the way.

This.  I don't understand why the CDC permitted 2 night test cruises with small (unrepresentative) passenger loads.

 

If RC isn't going to enforce protocols for the unvaccinated on a 95+% vaccinated cruise (like they supposedly haven't been on Adventure) and two unvaccinated teens with a negative pre-cruise test tested positive on day 5, you have to wonder how much asymptomatic spread was happening with other unvaccinated teens and won't be detected until they test positive after they return home. 

 

Now apply that asymptomatic spread to a cruise where vaccination is only recommended.  Can RC's protocols handle the additional passengers who are going to test positive on day 5 or 6 but would have never tested positive on a 2 night test cruise?  A 2 night test cruise isn't putting enough strain on the RC's ability to respond to positive cases on onboard.

 

2 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

So that's a big thing to navigate. Royal won't pick up the tab after Oct (currently) but travel insurance won't either. So how will they spin it if the cruise line causes thousands in costs if you're kicked off? 

While the 2 night test cruises were convenient to restart unvaccinated cruises ASAP, my fear is that RC is burying its head in the sand with regard to the negative PR (and potential re-lockdown of cruising) that will happen when larger groups than 2 people start testing positive on longer cruises.

[Jasukkie]

I'm currently onboard. Can confirm there is nothing being done to contain teens and many kids walk around the ship unmasked. I think it's very likely the two positives have shared covid with unvaxxed peers who would be negative on Wednesday when we were tested but could be spreading it by the time they fly home on Saturday. This timing works out for the industry but it's hard to imagine greater than 7 night cruises happening for awhile. 

 

The crew is universally masked and I expect that will continue. We have gotten off elevators when kids have gotten on, easy to wait for the next one. Yes, vax protects from illness, but didn't want to risk testing positive. I have very few complaints on what has been an otherwise perfect sailing, but really wish Royal would enforce masking for kids. Particularly yesterday they seemed to be everywhere.

[DallasGuy75219]

39 minutes ago, Jasukkie said:

I'm currently onboard. Can confirm there is nothing being done to contain teens and many kids walk around the ship unmasked. I think it's very likely the two positives have shared covid with unvaxxed peers who would be negative on Wednesday when we were tested but could be spreading it by the time they fly home on Saturday. This timing works out for the industry but it's hard to imagine greater than 7 night cruises happening for awhile. 

I'm not on Adventure on until September.  Hopefully things will improve when they drop the vaccine requirement to 12 years and older on August 1.  At least the rebellious/"I don't have to follow the rules" 12-15 age group will have to be vaccinated to cruise by then.

 

I guess we can also hope Miami lays down the law on mask enforcement in the aftermath of these 2 cases.  Besides the bad PR, chartering a medical evacuation flight for a family of 4 isn't cheap.

 

Teenagers' ages can be hard to guess.  I'm guessing there's no way to identify vaxxed vs. unvaxxed passengers (like the wristbands for vaxxed passengers that it was proposed RC might use on cruises out of Florida), unless child is clearly under 12/16?

Edited June 25, 2021 by DallasGuy75219

[L454S]

1 hour ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

I'm not on Adventure on until September.  Hopefully things will improve when they drop the vaccine requirement to 12 years and older on August 1.  At least the rebellious/"I don't have to follow the rules" 12-15 age group will have to be vaccinated to cruise by then.

 

I guess we can also hope Miami lays down the law on mask enforcement in the aftermath of these 2 cases.  Besides the bad PR, chartering a medical evacuation flight for a family of 4 isn't cheap.

 

Teenagers' ages can be hard to guess.  I'm guessing there's no way to identify vaxxed vs. unvaxxed passengers (like the wristbands for vaxxed passengers that it was proposed RC might use on cruises out of Florida), unless child is clearly under 12/16?

 

But, if you are vaxxed, why do you care???????? Why the hand wringing????? Just let it go, move on and enjoy ..........

[BoozinCroozin]

I haven't read all the posts here but read the article about the cases found. I guess the good in it is that the RCL caught. This shows that the detection protocols are working.

 

With that said, I have some questions that have not been addressed in the articles out. First, how in the world were these people disembarked and then allowed to be on a flight to FL? It is my understanding or at least previously that no one could fly be on a plane to the US with a positive covid diagnosis. Second, I may be wrong, but doesn't RCL charge $136 for the test? If that is the case, then who pays for the close contact testing because of these positive covid tests? I should not be subject to the bill because of unvaccinated passengers. The bill for all of those tests should go to the cabin(s) of the positive case(s), assuming they are being charged for them.

[lovesthebeach2]

1 hour ago, L454S said:

 

But, if you are vaxxed, why do you care???????? Why the hand wringing????? Just let it go, move on and enjoy ..........

So the CDC doesn’t shut down cruising is the only reason that people may care.

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, L454S said:

 

But, if you are vaxxed, why do you care???????? Why the hand wringing????? Just let it go, move on and enjoy ..........

Because (1) I don't want my cruise cut short by an outbreak among the vaccinated and (2) I don't want to get kicked off the ship mid-cruise and/or quarantined in the Bahamas or Mexico if I test positive because of that outbreak.

[KKB]

9 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

They were also in an airport, on a plane, and in Nassau to board the ship.  Many places (within the incubation period) where they could have been exposed between the pre-cruise and post-cruise tests.

Masks r required in airports/on planes so transmission very unlikely there

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, BoozinCroozin said:

With that said, I have some questions that have not been addressed in the articles out. First, how in the world were these people disembarked and then allowed to be on a flight to FL? It is my understanding or at least previously that no one could fly be on a plane to the US with a positive covid diagnosis.

 

Second, I may be wrong, but doesn't RCL charge $136 for the test? If that is the case, then who pays for the close contact testing because of these positive covid tests? I should not be subject to the bill because of unvaccinated passengers. The bill for all of those tests should go to the cabin(s) of the positive case(s), assuming they are being charged for them.

(1) Per earlier posts, there's an exception for medical evacuation flights that meet certain criteria.

 

(2) That fee is for unvaccinated travelers old enough to be vaccinated on the FL cruises where RC can't require proof of vaccination.  If you're vaccinated and have to be tested, debarked, quarantined, and/or flown home, those expenses would be paid by RC under their current guarantee through October 31.

[UNCFanatik]

1 minute ago, KKB said:

Masks r required in airports/on planes so transmission very unlikely there

Masks aren’t 100% effective at stopping Covid especially in a closed indoor space like an airplane flight for several hours crammed together with fellow passengers 

[KKB]

2 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

Masks aren’t 100% effective at stopping Covid especially in a closed indoor space like an airplane flight for several hours crammed together with fellow passengers 

No but masks do minimize spread well.

[Jasukkie]

1 hour ago, L454S said:

 

But, if you are vaxxed, why do you care???????? Why the hand wringing????? Just let it go, move on and enjoy ..........

I'm an RN so from a general public health stance I care that the current protocols have a gap that could be problematic. Royal says all the close contacts of these two teens were vaccinated. Maybe that's true. Maybe they never mixed with the packs of kids onboard. A lot hangs on the definition of close contact. And yes, judging age can be difficult. I take the pre-pubescent ones with neck masks as less than 16 though. Royal has clearly instructed staff not to say boo about it. 

 

The timing of tests onboard makes it almost impossible to demonstrate passenger to passenger spread onboard. It will pick up those who already had it brewing or picked it up en route to their cruise. Fortunately for Royal, no one is being tested a week after arrival home. But big picture, these unvaxxed and unmasked kids are far more likely to just pick this up in their home lives than on a 92% vaccinated cruise.

 

I just hope parents reading this thread will have their kids be serious about mask wearing. It feels so wonderful to be cruising again but it's such a privilege. Follow the rules or delay your return to cruising.

[Goodtime Cruizin]

46 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Because (1) I don't want my cruise cut short by an outbreak among the vaccinated and (2) I don't want to get kicked off the ship mid-cruise and/or quarantined in the Bahamas or Mexico if I test positive because of that outbreak.

 

Well we all saw what happened for this sailing. The non-vaxed kids did not ruin the cruise for others. And you won't be 'kicked' off a cuise if you're vaxed. The protocals in place proved they worked. If you still have concerns, you should use the Cruise with Confidence program and apply it. You probably shouldn't go. 

[DallasGuy75219]

1 minute ago, Goodtime Cruizin said:

 

Well we all saw what happened for this sailing. The non-vaxed kids did not ruin the cruise for others. And you won't be 'kicked' off a cuise if you're vaxed. The protocals in place proved they worked. If you still have concerns, you should use the Cruise with Confidence program and apply it. You probably shouldn't go. 

Not taking the bait for the argument you've tried to start on multiple threads.  Sorry, not sorry.

[Goodtime Cruizin]

4 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Not taking the bait for the argument you've tried to start on multiple threads.  Sorry, not sorry.

 

Good. 

 

The fact is people like yourself want to cruise. Then when cruising starts, the complaining starts.  They're have been four cases found. Two w/ vaxed people. Two w/ non vaxed people. Neither cruise was ruined. Yet here I read more posts complaining. The facts show that one can not prevent covid from getting on a ship.  So go ahead... cruise w/ covid. 

[ReneeFLL]

12 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

It was on day 6 and could have easily been much sooner.

 

11 hours ago, Goodtime Cruizin said:

 

It probably was. The day someone tests positive doesn't mean it's the day they actually got covid. 

This is what I was saying. They probably did get it sooner. Had they had shown any symptoms earlier what would Royal have done? End the cruise if there had been more? Guess we won't know until or if it happens.

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by ReneeFLL

[Goodtime Cruizin]

The only way to find covid immediately is to test pre-board and then every single day.

How many of y'all want to go on a cruise so badly that you are willing to test daily for covid?

[Nessa1dc]

I first want to say that I pray a speedy recovery to the Teens in that family.  Secondly, get VACCINATED, Lastly.....I'm glad that it didn't ruin the vacation of the others.

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, Jasukkie said:

 

 

I just hope parents reading this thread will have their kids be serious about mask wearing. It feels so wonderful to be cruising again but it's such a privilege. Follow the rules or delay your return to cruising.

 

It's entirely likely the kids had covid prior to boarding. And it's entirely likely if they weren't on a cruise this week neither kid ever would have known they had covid.

 

The extreme stigma over a positive test has to go away or we'll never get back to normal

[deweytrader]

I am on this cruise right now snd can say that mask protocols are being enforced.  All kids that I can tell have been wearing masks when required.  In fact the one time I saw an under 12 without a mask in the theater, an attendant came up ro her and she ran back to her room to get a mask.  The teens and above are harder to catch as some teens nowadays look like they are 20....I can saw the announcement has not affected the cruise at all.  Wish I could say that about the emergency alarm at 11:20 last night...scared the crap out of me!

[A&L_Ont]

19 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

It's entirely likely the kids had covid prior to boarding.

 

I agree with this. 

 

Quote

And it's entirely likely if they weren't on a cruise this week neither kid ever would have known they had covid.

 

To me this is unknown, as we will never know the severity of their infection.  

 

Quote

The extreme stigma over a positive test has to go away or we'll never get back to normal

On land, yes.  It is back to normal and positive tests arise. It doesn’t seem to matter, unless it is in a Hospital or LTC setting. 
 

For cruise lines just starting to sail again in the Caribbean the stigma is real, and for the immediate future. The press will be watching and the all clear really hasn’t been declared like on land. They need time to pass, protocols to work, rules to be followed and some luck on their side as well.  With time it will pass, along with positive tests at sea and sailing that have no incidents as well.

Edited June 25, 2021 by A&L_Ont