New CDC Guidance - Avoid Cruise Travel Regardless of Vaccination Status

[WESTEAST]

Looks like more cruise lines may cancel itineraries if guests follow this advisory:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/30/us-cdc-says-people-should-avoid-cruise-travel-regardless-of-vaccination-status.html?__source=iosappshare|com.apple.UIKit.activity.PostToTwitter

[cbr663]

5000 cases in 2 weeks.  I consider that an alarming number.

[rodndonna]

Just now, cbr663 said:

5000 cases in 2 weeks.  I consider that an alarming number.

 

how many passengers in the last 2 weeks?

[cbr663]

4 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

how many passengers in the last 2 weeks?

 

No mention in the article.  

 

It did state that there were 162 cases in the two weeks prior to Dec 15th - 29th, so a substantial jump in cases.

[rodndonna]

1 minute ago, cbr663 said:

 

No mention in the article.  

 

It did state that there were 162 cases in the two weeks prior to Dec 15th - 29th, so a substantial jump in cases.

 

We cruised Dec 5-15, we were just saying how we had great timing!

 

That is quite a change but would be curious to see if the jump is more than the relative jump in cases generally.

 

Hopefully this will have all settled out in the next couple of weeks. REALLY REALLY hoping 😉

 

[CruisinFinsUp]

CDC website: 

 

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/covid-4/coronavirus-cruise-ship
 

 

[melbur]

Since when does Canada pay any attention to CDC guidelines? They also recommend 5 day quarantine, but we stay at 14 days. 

[melbur]

20 minutes ago, melbur said:

Since when does Canada pay any attention to CDC guidelines? They also recommend 5 day quarantine, but we stay at 14 days. 

I see we are 5 days as well now. At least that's today's news . . . tomorrow, who knows?

[rodndonna]

6 hours ago, melbur said:

Since when does Canada pay any attention to CDC guidelines? They also recommend 5 day quarantine, but we stay at 14 days. 

 

Ontario has come down to the 5 days 😀

 

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-introduces-shortened-isolation-periods-new-testing-guidelines-1.5723606

Edited December 31, 2021 by rodndonna

[melbrook]

Canada has never lifted the "Avoid all cruise ship travel" advisory.  It's funny to me the shock waves created by the CDC saying the same thing.  

[tottenhamfc]

BC is now 5 days as of this morning.

[iancal]

3 hours ago, melbrook said:

Canada has never lifted the "Avoid all cruise ship travel" advisory.  It's funny to me the shock waves created by the CDC saying the same thing.  

It is no accident that the US covid related deaths per million population currently stands at about 3 times the Canadian rate per million populaton.

Edited December 31, 2021 by iancal

[MamatoJack]

I hadn't read about BC, but I saw Ontario (yesterday) and Alberta (to start Jan 3) have reduced it to 5 days as well. I wonder if the country will do so as well, so if out of the country and you test positive, you only need to quarantine for 5 days before you can fly home. 

[Fouremco]

8 minutes ago, MamatoJack said:

I hadn't read about BC, but I saw Ontario (yesterday) and Alberta (to start Jan 3) have reduced it to 5 days as well. I wonder if the country will do so as well, so if out of the country and you test positive, you only need to quarantine for 5 days before you can fly home. 

That's an interesting question. PHAC indicated on Wednesday that it wasn't planning on following the CDC's lead, but that was before some of the provinces switched to the shorter period. I suspect that the GOC will fall in line, although it has acted very independently on COVID issues in the past.

[cantstopingcruising]

I don't care what the government says. My cleaning lady tested positive and I will wait at least 14 days before she can come back. I would rather err on the side of caution.

[mama-of-three]

On 12/30/2021 at 11:30 PM, melbur said:

Since when does Canada pay any attention to CDC guidelines? They also recommend 5 day quarantine, but we stay at 14 days. 

Our PHO in BC has just moved us down to 5 days also. 

Edited January 1, 2022 by mama-of-three

[Postcards]

The CDC set’s the requirements (health/disease) in which the cruise industry must follow. That sail from U S ports( and others) The next date to see which changes they must follow is the 15th of Jan.

A Canadian Gov advisory is for the population. So it is still a “your choice” 

 

So that said,  The CDC can put the ships sitting in ports.  That is the reason for the shock waves.

[DirtyDawg]

21 hours ago, melbrook said:

Canada has never lifted the "Avoid all cruise ship travel" advisory.  It's funny to me the shock waves created by the CDC saying the same thing.  

To put it in cruise terminology, the shock waves from a 300 pounded are a lot bigger in the belly flop contest than from a 95 pounder. The CDC carries a lot more 'weight' than  PHAC. 

[Mud_Shark]

The numbers of infected on cruise ships (5000 in the final 2 weeks of 2021) is still well below the rate of infection in the US (somewhere around 30% lower) and the rate of infection in Canada.  And now that we are not testing asymptomatic exposures or non-high risk exposures, our reported infection rate numbers will be even lower than actual infection rate numbers.  Yet, cruise lines continue to require frequent testing so their infection rate numbers are likely more accurate, and yet still below national averages.)

 

In reality, though it would make sense for the infection rate to tail off in a few weeks, if it remained at its current state, pretty much all of Canada will have had COVID at some point by this time next year.  Is it not time to somehow just live with it and soldier on?

 

So, while I do not consider the cruise infection rates alarming, it is still not the time for us to cruise.  Just too high a potential for missed ports and too many extra hoops to travel right now.  Too high a stress level that something could go wrong, even if it is just a mild case of COVID.  But when the world settles down a bit, and decides how best to just weather the storm, maybe then these numbers will not frighten us into bad policy moves.

 

Don

[broberts]

3 hours ago, Mud_Shark said:

The numbers of infected on cruise ships (5000 in the final 2 weeks of 2021) is still well below the rate of infection in the US (somewhere around 30% lower) and the rate of infection in Canada.  And now that we are not testing asymptomatic exposures or non-high risk exposures, our reported infection rate numbers will be even lower than actual infection rate numbers.  Yet, cruise lines continue to require frequent testing so their infection rate numbers are likely more accurate, and yet still below national averages.)

 

In reality, though it would make sense for the infection rate to tail off in a few weeks, if it remained at its current state, pretty much all of Canada will have had COVID at some point by this time next year.  Is it not time to somehow just live with it and soldier on?

 

So, while I do not consider the cruise infection rates alarming, it is still not the time for us to cruise.  Just too high a potential for missed ports and too many extra hoops to travel right now.  Too high a stress level that something could go wrong, even if it is just a mild case of COVID.  But when the world settles down a bit, and decides how best to just weather the storm, maybe then these numbers will not frighten us into bad policy moves.

 

Don

 

Other than boarding, I'm not aware of any out of the ordinary cruise line testing. I am actually very skeptical of cruise line reported positives. I believe they vastly under report cases contracted on board. Mostly because as far as I know once off a ship positive cases are bundled into the general population numbers. In fact I suspect that on most week long or shorter cruises, the reported non-crew positives are almost entirely contracted prior to boarding.

 

I agree that current conditions suggest a less than pleasant cruise experience. I guess I'm not a true addict. 😀

Edited January 2, 2022 by broberts