Masks Now Required on the Spirit

[dansize]

Currently on the Spirit on the canal transit. We have a week left until we finish in Seattle with only one more stop (Cabo) scheduled for Thursday. This cruise required vaccination, a Booster, and 2 precruise negative tests for all passengers. 

 

We just got the letter in our mailbox tonight (with 2 KN95 masks) noting that due to the case count on board, masks are now required again in common areas of the ship (unless eating / drinking). 

 

I'm already wondering if the Cabo folks will allow people off the ship. 

[rj59]

Cabo tried denying ships or requiring testing of everyone on board (which the ships refused), but then the businesses losing all the tourist money got the government to stop the Mexican ports from doing that. They should continue to just require infected passengers to stay on the ship, and they probably still require masks on tenders. I'm not seeing the value in a Hawaii or Panama Canal trip right now, with the greater risks of higher infection rates and higher risk of quarantine, or even of having to put masks back on. Then for those who are at risk and get seriously ill, it seems safer to stay near a US port.

[icft]

My guess is that with everyone vaccinated, having two precruise negative tests and the outbreak happening now the virus likely came on board in Cartagena. Jamaica could be possible, but the time before symptoms and allowing time for spread makes me bet on Cartagena.

[cruisingguy007]

3 hours ago, rj59 said:

Cabo tried denying ships or requiring testing of everyone on board (which the ships refused), but then the businesses losing all the tourist money got the government to stop the Mexican ports from doing that. They should continue to just require infected passengers to stay on the ship, and they probably still require masks on tenders. I'm not seeing the value in a Hawaii or Panama Canal trip right now, with the greater risks of higher infection rates and higher risk of quarantine, or even of having to put masks back on. Then for those who are at risk and get seriously ill, it seems safer to stay near a US port.

 

Exactly! Yikes! After reading all the whining going on in the Princess sub forums, I'm not sure why anyone would be taking these longer cruises. Even b2b's are risky if they want to retest you in between. Seems like a terrible gamble and the odds are not in your favor. Even if you can take some OTC congestion/headache meds and power through, there seems to be no shortage of folks who can't wait to run to medical for any/every sniffle to demand testing and have their vacations ruined and/or get some covid cruise credit and "free" quarantine time. I'd stick to 6-8 day cruises, less chance of having your trip ruined, as the trip will be over before drama can establish and fester. Most people have minor symptoms or are asymptomatic. Not really sure how there are so many people ending up on roll counts but once they do, it makes having a regular cruise much more difficult.  

Edited April 27, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[Lane Hog]

7 hours ago, icft said:

My guess is that with everyone vaccinated, having two precruise negative tests and the outbreak happening now the virus likely came on board in Cartagena. Jamaica could be possible, but the time before symptoms and allowing time for spread makes me bet on Cartagena.

Not buying it coming from shore excursions... just about every >8 day cruise has had this same outcome regardless of the port calls.

 

Tests aren't foolproof nor are they tamperproof.  And clearly vaccination+boost+boost hasn't stopped the spread.

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

7 hours ago, icft said:

My guess is that with everyone vaccinated, having two precruise negative tests and the outbreak happening now the virus likely came on board in Cartagena. Jamaica could be possible, but the time before symptoms and allowing time for spread makes me bet on Cartagena.

 

When I was in Cartagena in the hospital with my fractured ankle, I was completely paranoid that I’d catch COVID (you still need to have a negative test within 24 hours prior to flying back to the USA from abroad). I was so afraid I’d be stuck there for 5 to 10 days more.  

 

So I looked into the COVID statistics in Colombia. At their Omicron peak on January 14, 2022, the country had 34,923 covid cases reported.  On April 22, the day the Spirit was in port there the entire country had only 283 cases. So unless the entire country has given up on testing due to the mildness of the symptoms right now (and they seemed COVID aware; masks everywhere, testing at the hospital), it seems unlikely that it was picked up in Cartagena. Of course I suppose it only takes contact with 1 or 2 cases to spread the virulent Omicron around.

[TNcruising02]

7 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Exactly! Yikes! After reading all the whining going on in the Princess sub forums, I'm not sure why anyone would be taking these longer cruises. Even b2b's are risky if they want to retest you in between. Seems like a terrible gamble and the odds are not in your favor. Even if you can take some OTC congestion/headache meds and power through, there seems to be no shortage of folks who can't wait to run to medical for any/every sniffle to demand testing and have their vacations ruined and/or get some covid cruise credit and "free" quarantine time. I'd stick to 6-8 day cruises, less chance of having your trip ruined, as the trip will be over before drama can establish and fester. Most people have minor symptoms or are asymptomatic. Not really sure how there are so many people ending up on roll counts but once they do, it makes having a regular cruise much more difficult.  

I agree.  It sounds like taking a longer cruise is a risk for tight restrictions. That's not something I would want to do.

[happy cruzer]

2 hours ago, Lane Hog said:

Not buying it coming from shore excursions... just about every >8 day cruise has had this same outcome regardless of the port calls.

 

Tests aren't foolproof nor are they tamperproof.  And clearly vaccination+boost+boost hasn't stopped the spread.

 

 

Point well made.

 

If one were to test negative two days before the cruise, then get exposed that very afternoon.  Then they would get symptoms 5 days later or so.  That could be crew or passengers.  So yes, testing in not an absolute stopper.  The cruise lines have to have protocols in place for when the measures that are in place don't work and seems like they do have them including providing N95 masks, quarantining, contact tracing, etc.

 

We need to set expectations accordingly.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Simple solution - quarantine everyone in their cabins the first few days and test them two or three times!

 

(I kid you...)

 

Tom

[pickle11]

How full is the ship?  The Spirit Alaskan cruises in May say sold out.  Sounds like an outbreak to happen.

[bucfan2]

13 minutes ago, pickle11 said:

How full is the ship?  The Spirit Alaskan cruises in May say sold out.  Sounds like an outbreak to happen.

No….no it doesn’t. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

42 minutes ago, pickle11 said:

How full is the ship?  The Spirit Alaskan cruises in May say sold out.  Sounds like an outbreak to happen.

 

They've been intentionally blocking out reservations for several sailings on the Liberty that I know of. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a majority of the sailings over several weeks had dropped off the radar - overnight. When we sailed her in March (twice), it was packed to the gills. On our sailing this last weekend, it was nowhere near as full. I asked one of the officers (HD?) about that at the Diamond event and was told that they are indeed intentionally limiting guest capacity onboard. Not sure if that's Liberty specific, and due to what, I can't say (I didn't ask).

 

It was quite obvious at 6 am debarkation morning. Where the prior two sailings had folio summaries placed in everyone's "mailbox" at their doors, on this sailing It honestly looked like 20+% of the rooms near us were vacant (empty mailboxes).

 

Tom

[cruisingguy007]

51 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Simple solution - quarantine everyone in their cabins the first few days and test them two or three times!

 

(I kid you...)

 

Tom

 

You jest but the the sad part is, some actually want things like this. 🤦‍♂️

They have unrealistic covid zero expectations and blame the lines for their unrealistic expectations. It's like blaming the dealer for crapping out or busting in blackjack. It's frustrating to say the least and ridiculous at best. 

[cruisingguy007]

3 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

They've been intentionally blocking out reservations for several sailings on the Liberty that I know of. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a majority of the sailings over several weeks had dropped off the radar - overnight. When we sailed her in March (twice), it was packed to the gills. On our sailing this last weekend, it was nowhere near as full. I asked one of the officers (HD?) about that at the Diamond event and was told that they are indeed intentionally limiting guest capacity onboard. Not sure if that's Liberty specific, and due to what, I can't say (I didn't ask).

 

It was quite obvious at 6 am debarkation morning. Where the prior two sailings had folio summaries placed in everyone's "mailbox" at their doors, on this sailing It honestly looked like 20+% of the rooms near us were vacant (empty mailboxes).

 

Tom

 

Spring break is over across the nation also, I'm sure that reduced capacity on it's own. Summer will see a huge uptick again. It'll be mostly retired folks for the next month or so.  

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

8 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Spring break is over across the nation also, I'm sure that reduced capacity on it's own. Summer will see a huge uptick again. It'll be mostly retired folks for the next month or so.  

 

Hey, I was just happy to be able to (predictably) get a seat at the Alchemy Bar !!

 

Tom

[cruisingguy007]

3 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Hey, I was just happy to be able to (predictably) get a seat at the Alchemy Bar !!

 

Tom

 

I'm getting $40/$50 rates for 4 day cruises for the next moth or so, so you should have no trouble getting a seat for a little while anyways. Enjoy that cruise!  

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

2 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

I'm getting $40/$50 rates for 4 day cruises for the next moth or so, so you should have no trouble getting a seat for a little while anyways. Enjoy that cruise!  

Looks like they've opened up a couple more weekenders in May for the Liberty. I'm showing about $200pp for a balcony -- should all be FREE given my casino visits!

 

Tom

[BlerkOne]

Even as the US enters the endemic phase of covid, these events are going to happen. It is part of the new normal. We won't entirely escape masking. Fortunately Carnival was prepared with masks for everyone.

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Simple solution - quarantine everyone in their cabins the first few days and test them two or three times!

 

(I kid you...)

 

Tom

It is one solution, but still won't be 100%. Hopefully technology will catch up and we will have non-contact covid detection for the masses. Just put detectors by the food venues and comedy club.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Gosh, that’s awful, especially considering how many precautions were taken. The Caribbean Princess had a lot of cases from its Canal cruise, too. I assumed that meant cases were picked up from one of the ports on that itin, but the poster’s comment about there being not many cases in Colombia right now makes it seem otherwise. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

18 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Even as the US enters the endemic phase of covid, these events are going to happen. It is part of the new normal. We won't entirely escape masking. Fortunately Carnival was prepared with masks for everyone.

 

Nice of them to pony up the KN95's, at least offering a good quality option - over the flimsy ones they've been providing in the cabins.

 

Tom

[BlerkOne]

14 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Nice of them to pony up the KN95's, at least offering a good quality option - over the flimsy ones they've been providing in the cabins.

 

Tom

Those are allegedly 95%+. But still better than nothing.

[BlerkOne]

37 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

Gosh, that’s awful, especially considering how many precautions were taken. The Caribbean Princess had a lot of cases from its Canal cruise, too. I assumed that meant cases were picked up from one of the ports on that itin, but the poster’s comment about there being not many cases in Colombia right now makes it seem otherwise. 

I believe Caribbean Princess has had at least two recent covid cruises.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

2 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

I'm getting $40/$50 rates for 4 day cruises for the next moth or so, so you should have no trouble getting a seat for a little while anyways. Enjoy that cruise!  

 

I just dug a little deeper - those three weekend (Liberty/May) sailings, once you go to book, all show "nothing available" when you try to pick a cabin. Guess they threw a few more cabins out there and they were snapped up. 

 

Tom

[BlerkOne]

3 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

I believe Caribbean Princess has had at least two recent covid cruises.

or maybe it was Ruby Princess?