A Canadian’s recent quarantine experience on Royal Caribbean

[Ciren219]

On 5/15/2022 at 10:31 AM, FM said:

 

Sorry that everyone tested positive. Hoping for a speedy recovery for all.  Which cruise line are you booked with in July if you don't mind me asking. 

 

For those who have reported testing positive, the question is how mild or severe were the symptoms? It seems that most people report being healthy ... the concern is for those who are approaching their senior years 60's+ or have some other underlying health conditions and whether they should reconsider going on a cruise at this point in time. 

I'm booked with Cunard in July.

 

My husband and I are in our 60s. I had just a sore throat and cough. My husband had the sore throat, cough and fever. The fever of 102 F lasted two days. The sore throat was a bit stubborn to leave but we're fully recovered now.

[Trazz007]

Thank you very much for sharing your story, @nlcruiser01! It is helping me to navigate my current situation on the same ship. I usually just read other people’s comments but thought this might be important enough to share. I am assuming there are a lot of people right now trying to evaluate the risks of cruising with COVID. Unfortunately there is not much info available through the government or cruise companies. 

 

Here is my on-going COVID story on board of Radiance of the Seas in May 2022. Sorry it’s long but as it turns out having COVID on a cruise ship is a bit of an ordeal and in most cases it’s not the illness itself that is the issue. 

 

If you are short of time here are my main conclusions about COVID and cruising:

 

1. You are almost guaranteed to be exposed to COVID on a cruise ship. Be prepared that you might get sick during or after the cruise. 
2. Not everyone who gets exposed to COVID will develop symptoms and get sick. Be prepared for your party to be separated if some people in your party get COVID and some won’t. 
3. Most passengers won’t be wearing masks even in small crowded places. 
4. Cruise companies are not interested in sharing the up-to-date COVID situation on the ship to help you assess the risk. They want you to be drinking in the bars and playing in the casinos, not hiding in your room. It’s likely that you will never hear word ‘COVID’ from the ship’s crew. 
5. There does not seem to be a good framework or any desire on the ship for mandatory testing of symptomatic passengers. Passengers with symptoms (especially mild) can easily avoid getting tested. COVID monitoring on the ship relies mostly on self- reporting. Given that there is no reward for reporting COVID symptoms and a positive test will result in mandatory 5+ day isolation with bad food and service (10 days if disembarking in Canada), many passengers won’t report their symptoms as they continue to move around the ship infecting others. 
6. The isolation cabins are ok but they don’t seem to be maintained to the same level as the rest of the ship. The people in isolation cabins are no longer customers, they become liability for the cruise company.
7. If only a few people on the ship are quarantining, the isolation cabins are likely to have good service. However, if a large number of people are sick, the services will be overwhelmed. Cruise ships have limited resources to staff isolation cabins. Their priority will be the money-spending passengers somewhere else on the ship. 
8. Government rules and cruise ship policies around COVID are changing often, be prepared that some rules might change mid-cruise. 
9. Infection control measures and cruising fun don’t go hand in hand. Cruise ships will always focus on fun and profits first. They will go for the least impactful measures first (e.g. hand sanitizers and mandatory masks for the crew). Don’t expect any serious preventative/monitoring measures like mandatory masks for passengers, mandatory testing mid-cruise, etc. unless things are really bad. 
10. Find out what you are entitled to from the cruise company if you test positive before the cruise. Buy additional insurance if you think you need more protection from unexpected COVID expenses. 

 

Below is my recent/on-going experience the above summary is based on. 

My spouse and I are doing back-to-back Alaska cruises from Vancouver to Seward and back to Vancouver. We started on May 6 and will be back on May 20. The embarkation in Vancouver was great. Everything went really fast and efficient, we were on board in no time. 

I agree that the crew on Radiance of the seas is still new and there are some kinks to work out. The first week, our dinning room staff was ok but not fully trained, the second cruise they assigned experienced staff to our table and the service was top-notch.  The food also improved the second week. 

 

One thing I noticed right away is that staff doesn’t use the C-word (COVID) on the cruise ship. It’s about your health, wellness, well-being but not the infection. Lots of hand sanitizers everywhere. Masks are mandatory for the staff (most wear them properly but some don’t) and optional for the passengers and 95% of passengers did not wear them. Ventilation on the ship is very good but not every place the ship will have the same ventilation speed/frequency. The ship does not provide any info about COVID situation onboard even though They do have the numbers since the government requires them. They don’t tell passengers if the counts are going up or down and how widespread it is. However, there were a couple of things on our first cruise that indicated that COVID was spreading. After a few days, staff masks got upgraded from regular 3 ply mask to KN95. Also the big music shows in the main theatre got canceled after the first one due to “technical difficulties”. They are supposed to be back at the end of the second cruise on May 19th according to the cruise planner (and it is just a pure coincidence that that this date is the end of required 10 day COVID quarantine after the initial cancellation 🙂 ). 

 

My spouse and I are both triple vaccinated and have avoided getting COVID so far. We were very diligent about the masks on the ship. We always wore our N95 masks indoors while outside the cabin. A few exceptions: no masks when seated at the dinner table in the evening (our own table, only 6 to 8 people at the tables around us, same people every night), once in the bar having a drink (nobody around), and several times during sea days in solarium or indoors reading a book (nobody in the close proximity). We ate breakfast and lunch outdoors on the patio in the back of the ship behind the buffet restaurant (usually we were the only people there since it was a bit cool). We didn’t hangout with anyone else on the ship. 

On the shore we mostly did outdoor walks and hikes and occasionally had a beer on outdoor patios away from other people. Any time we were indoors (stores, museums, bus), we wore our masks. 

We changed our masks regularly. 

 

By the middle of the first cruise, we started noticing that a few people on the ship were coughing, sneezing and having runny noses. We dismissed it as COVID paranoia since the rules are clear: testing is mandatory if you have COVID symptoms. It turns out the rules are not enforced for the passengers, it’s a recommendation. Passengers are only getting tested if they report the symptoms to the medical staff. 

 

At the end of our first week we learned that over 300 passengers were staying for the second b2b cruise just like us. We wondered how many would end up positive for COVID since testing between cruises was mandatory. However, Royal Caribbean changed their testing policy before the second cruise and it was no longer needed. I don’t know why this policy was changed. It could be because the b2b passengers were not testing positive often enough to worry about it or it could be the opposite, too many were testing positive, and cruise company didn’t want to get overwhelmed with quarantining a large number of passengers. 

Ultimately, the embarkation for returning passengers was very disorganized and it likely turned out to be a super-spreader event. We were all asked to come to the main theatre at 8:30 am to complete the embarkation process. Most people were unmasked and in close proximity to each other. Once in the theatre at 8:30 am we were told that we could not go back to our rooms until 1:30 pm so the rooms could be disinfected. Returning passengers would have to wait here or leave the ship. Needless to say, nobody was happy with this sudden announcement. We went on shore as soon as we could. 

 

On the third day of the second cruise, I woke up with a sore throat and feeling unwell. It’s not unusual for me to have a sore throat and aches, I have a long-term health condition (non-infectious) that often causes these symptoms. We went for breakfast (masked and eating outside). I felt worse during breakfast and on the way back noticed that I am physically weak (huffing and puffing after a couple of flights of stairs). I also noticed that the sore throat was spreading into the back and into the nasal passages. It started to feel like a regular cold. My spouse was feeling fine. 

I decided that calling the medical services was the right thing to do. Plus, it’s not likely to be COVID, since we were taking all these precautions, right?

Medical services said that they will send someone over to test me and my spouse. We were to isolate in our cabin until the test results were in (my asymptomatic spouse could leave the cabin with a mask on, but I could not). It took a bit of time for somebody to come to our cabin since they were busy. My spouse got a rapid test with a long q-tip that goes deep into the nose. As a symptomatic passenger, I got a PCR test with a very short q-tip that just got waved in front of my nose without really being inserted. It did not seem like the person collecting the sample for the test new the proper way of doing it (I have done a few PCR tests before). Once they left, I started to doubt that my test will produce accurate results and decided to do our own rapid tests. My asymptomatic spouse was negative but I tested positive within 30 seconds on the 15 minute rapid test. We waited for the official results but they didn’t call. I called them after a couple hours and both of our results were negative. My spouse was in the clear and out of any restrictions but I had to remain in the cabin until the second test the next day. I expressed concerns about the accuracy of their test and the risk to my spouse if we remain in the same cabin for the next 24 hours.  They dismissed my concerns and suggested for both of us to wear masks inside the cabin for the next 24 hours (it sounded like they were swamped with testing and positive cases). I regret for not insisting to redo my test again right way. They said a doctor will contact me to follow up on my symptoms. The doctor did call but was very dismissive of my concerns about symptoms and test results. 

Because I was isolating in my cabin, the room service became free. For breakfast and lunch I could order from the room service menu and for supper I could order from the main dinning room menu. The service was quick and the food was fresh and hot. Since we had a balcony, I didn’t feel terribly locked up. My sense of taste and the appetite were not impacted. 

The next day, the COVID test was supposed to be done at 10:30 am but they did not come until after 11:30 am. This time it was done better with a short q-tip going into both nostrils. My spouse did not have to test again since my previous test was negative the day before. I was told to wait for a couple of hours for PCR test results. I waited and waited and waited but nobody called. I tried calling the COVID line but nobody answered. They have call display and know what room the call is coming from. So they don’t answer if they don’t want/ are not ready to talk to you. I took another rapid test and it was positive right away (less than 30 seconds). By now I was certain I had COVID and would have to isolate. 

By 5:30 pm, I finally got a call confirming my positive results and was asking me to pack my bags for the move to the isolation floor. They apologized for not letting me know sooner but they were currently swamped with positive cases. My spouse did not have to move and could remain in our cabin. They did not have any enhanced cleaning procedures in place for our cabin and didn’t offer my spouse any cleaning supplies. They said they would be testing my spouse daily for 5 day. My spouse was considered a close contact and would have wear a mask and would not be allowed to eat in the dinning room. No other restrictions. They did not explain all these rules initially, my spouse and I had to ask them for the rules. I started to get a sense that COVID mitigation measures were either not well organized or the staff was overwhelmed and overworked and didn’t have time to go through all the proper steps. 

 

I did get a call that evening to do contact tracing. They asked me and my partner to recall all the different areas of the ship we visited in the last 3-4 days and who we were in contact with. In our case, it was only the people seating near us in the dinning room every evening. The contact tracer said that they will be contacting them to do the COVID testing but I don’t know if they did or not. My spouse said that the night before some of our dinning room neighbours were not there. 

 

By 7 pm I was in my isolation cabin on the 3rd deck after taking the service elevator and being escorted by the cruise staff. I saw a few people in the hallway on my original floor and they were all confused about why I had suitcases with me. They did not realize that there was COVID isolation on the ship since COVID was never mentioned anywhere. 

My isolation cabin was a regular window cabin. There was a bunch of cleaning supplies (not sure why, I already got COVID) and a little page explaining that I would now get the free VOOM internet (the most basic, single device surf plan, painfully slow but better than nothing, no instructions on how to get this free internet, I had to call Guest Service twice to figure out what to do), free phone calls to family and friends (the calls are not direct, they had to go through customer service) and entertainment goodies (I did not find any, there were no new exciting channels on TV as far as I could tell). Otherwise, the cabin was ok, a bit dusty, fridge did not work, shower head was broken but it had a kettle for boiling water (no tea bags, had to be ordered). 

The page told me to call guest service if I needed some toiletries, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc. but they actually didn’t have some of these things available and didn’t know what to do. 

Nobody briefed me on the safety procedures, how to evaluate in case of emergency, where my new muster station would be, etc. 

 

No-contact quarantine rules were not explained. For example, they were supposed to knock on your door after your food was dropped off on the table outside and you had to wait for them to move away. Often they would knock but your food would not be there and they would hand it to you directly once they find it. No explanation on how garbage disposal works and no garbage bags were initially provided (we were supposed to fill one or more red plastic bags with garbage and leave it outside the cabin at 2 pm). 

 

Room service was bad. I often had to place my order multiple times and wait several hours for anything delivered to the room (eg a glass of milk)

 

Food was terrible. Always cold, always late (lunch after 2 pm, supper after 7 pm, no option to get it earlier). Passengers in isolation had to use crew menu (not the dinner room or room service menu like the rest of the passengers). All meals were sets, no changes, you get what you get. All 5 days of isolation meals had to be ordered on the first day. I spoke with the room service staff several but still did not get the simple dietary accommodations I ask for. I don’t know what they did for people with food allergies. 

It seems like it was one or two people handling the isolation meals and these meals were the lowest priority.

By day 2, I figured out how to get fresh hot food. I would wait for my cold food to be dropped off, call room service and complain and order again, this time from the passenger room service menu or the dinning room. 

 

My spouse was tested (negative) on Sunday but he was not tested again on Monday after my positive test results. He was not tested on Tuesday either, even though they said the rules are to test every day for 5 days. They finally called on Wednesday and asked to get a test at the crew testing cabin on deck 3. The person collecting the test did not know how to collect the sample properly and it sounded like they were running out of supplies. His sample got identified with a post-it note instead of the barcode. 

 

Initially, I was told by the guest service to find accommodations in Vancouver to quarantine after the cruise for 2 additional nights only. However, the day later they called and changed it to 6 day hotel quarantine. The Canadian federal quarantine rules for the cruises are pretty clear about cruise companies’ responsibilities: they are responsible for providing 10 days of quarantine accommodations and meals to the COVID positive passengers after the initial positive test result. This could be on the ship or in the hotel but it is not passenger’s responsibility to find and pay for suitable accommodations. The 10 day quarantine is counted from the day of the first positive test, not the first day of symptoms. So if you have symptoms for two days and take a test on day 3, the 10 day quarantine starts on day 3. In my case this meant an extra day in quarantine due to the poorly-done initial test. 

 

Guest services made it very clear that they would not be arranging for my quarantine accommodations and meals in Vancouver. This directly contradicted the government rule that required cruise ship companies to take responsibility for 10 day of quarantine accommodations and food (both on the ship and after the cruise). Guest services asked me to arrange my own hotel and order room service while there. I was also told to keep silent in the hotel about my positive COVID test. They promised to reimburse me up to 250 USD for room and 100 USD for meals a day. I had to summit my quarantine expenses to the email address they provided and was promised to get the money back in 30 days. This was fine by me since I would rather pick my own hotel. They recommended Radisson hotel by Vancouver airport and it worked for me. I also found out that 250 USD a day did not go very far in Vancouver in terms of accommodation.

As far as the transportation costs, it was my responsibility to find and pay for the new plane ticket. Lucky for me, WestJet was very accommodating after I explained my situation. There was a change fee but it was covered by the fare difference. So the new plane ticket did not cost me anything. 

 

I also investigated another option (one way car rental to get home and quarantine at home) but it was a no-go. Cruise ship company would only cover 150 USD per day for car rental and no other costs. Just the one way fee was over 500 USD at most auto rental places so this option got costly fast. It still would have been cheaper for the cruise company compare to the 6 day of hotel and meals but their rules were inflexible. 

 

I had to redo my ArriveCAN app QR code. This app is not designed to handle COVID positive cruise passengers. It also kept crashing on my iPhone when selecting the name of the cruise ship. I ended up using the website instead. 

 

It sounds like the passport control and customs will be mostly virtual for the COVID positive passengers and the cruise company will arrange for the transportation to the hotel. 

 

I have not yet started looking into cruise ship fare and excursions refund for the COVID impacted passengers. Hopefully it’s a straight forward process. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

RCL appears to handle the situation better than Celebrity, which was a major ***** show on the Apex TA to Amsterdam 

 

[Been There, Planning That]

Thank you so much Trazz007 for your complete and detailed summary of your COVID experience and all its trials and challenges.

 

Such reports need wide coverage so that individuals can make informed decisions.

 

Ruth

[broberts]

9 hours ago, Trazz007 said:

Thank you very much for sharing your story, @nlcruiser01! It is helping me to navigate my current situation on the same ship. I usually just read other people’s comments but thought this might be important enough to share. I am assuming there are a lot of people right now trying to evaluate the risks of cruising with COVID. Unfortunately there is not much info available through the government or cruise companies. 

 

Here is my on-going COVID story on board of Radiance of the Seas in May 2022. Sorry it’s long but as it turns out having COVID on a cruise ship is a bit of an ordeal and in most cases it’s not the illness itself that is the issue. 

 

If you are short of time here are my main conclusions about COVID and cruising:

 

1. You are almost guaranteed to be exposed to COVID on a cruise ship. Be prepared that you might get sick during or after the cruise. 
2. Not everyone who gets exposed to COVID will develop symptoms and get sick. Be prepared for your party to be separated if some people in your party get COVID and some won’t. 
3. Most passengers won’t be wearing masks even in small crowded places. 
4. Cruise companies are not interested in sharing the up-to-date COVID situation on the ship to help you assess the risk. They want you to be drinking in the bars and playing in the casinos, not hiding in your room. It’s likely that you will never hear word ‘COVID’ from the ship’s crew. 
5. There does not seem to be a good framework or any desire on the ship for mandatory testing of symptomatic passengers. Passengers with symptoms (especially mild) can easily avoid getting tested. COVID monitoring on the ship relies mostly on self- reporting. Given that there is no reward for reporting COVID symptoms and a positive test will result in mandatory 5+ day isolation with bad food and service (10 days if disembarking in Canada), many passengers won’t report their symptoms as they continue to move around the ship infecting others. 
6. The isolation cabins are ok but they don’t seem to be maintained to the same level as the rest of the ship. The people in isolation cabins are no longer customers, they become liability for the cruise company.
7. If only a few people on the ship are quarantining, the isolation cabins are likely to have good service. However, if a large number of people are sick, the services will be overwhelmed. Cruise ships have limited resources to staff isolation cabins. Their priority will be the money-spending passengers somewhere else on the ship. 
8. Government rules and cruise ship policies around COVID are changing often, be prepared that some rules might change mid-cruise. 
9. Infection control measures and cruising fun don’t go hand in hand. Cruise ships will always focus on fun and profits first. They will go for the least impactful measures first (e.g. hand sanitizers and mandatory masks for the crew). Don’t expect any serious preventative/monitoring measures like mandatory masks for passengers, mandatory testing mid-cruise, etc. unless things are really bad. 
10. Find out what you are entitled to from the cruise company if you test positive before the cruise. Buy additional insurance if you think you need more protection from unexpected COVID expenses. 

 

Below is my recent/on-going experience the above summary is based on. 

My spouse and I are doing back-to-back Alaska cruises from Vancouver to Seward and back to Vancouver. We started on May 6 and will be back on May 20. The embarkation in Vancouver was great. Everything went really fast and efficient, we were on board in no time. 

I agree that the crew on Radiance of the seas is still new and there are some kinks to work out. The first week, our dinning room staff was ok but not fully trained, the second cruise they assigned experienced staff to our table and the service was top-notch.  The food also improved the second week. 

 

One thing I noticed right away is that staff doesn’t use the C-word (COVID) on the cruise ship. It’s about your health, wellness, well-being but not the infection. Lots of hand sanitizers everywhere. Masks are mandatory for the staff (most wear them properly but some don’t) and optional for the passengers and 95% of passengers did not wear them. Ventilation on the ship is very good but not every place the ship will have the same ventilation speed/frequency. The ship does not provide any info about COVID situation onboard even though They do have the numbers since the government requires them. They don’t tell passengers if the counts are going up or down and how widespread it is. However, there were a couple of things on our first cruise that indicated that COVID was spreading. After a few days, staff masks got upgraded from regular 3 ply mask to KN95. Also the big music shows in the main theatre got canceled after the first one due to “technical difficulties”. They are supposed to be back at the end of the second cruise on May 19th according to the cruise planner (and it is just a pure coincidence that that this date is the end of required 10 day COVID quarantine after the initial cancellation 🙂 ). 

 

My spouse and I are both triple vaccinated and have avoided getting COVID so far. We were very diligent about the masks on the ship. We always wore our N95 masks indoors while outside the cabin. A few exceptions: no masks when seated at the dinner table in the evening (our own table, only 6 to 8 people at the tables around us, same people every night), once in the bar having a drink (nobody around), and several times during sea days in solarium or indoors reading a book (nobody in the close proximity). We ate breakfast and lunch outdoors on the patio in the back of the ship behind the buffet restaurant (usually we were the only people there since it was a bit cool). We didn’t hangout with anyone else on the ship. 

On the shore we mostly did outdoor walks and hikes and occasionally had a beer on outdoor patios away from other people. Any time we were indoors (stores, museums, bus), we wore our masks. 

We changed our masks regularly. 

 

By the middle of the first cruise, we started noticing that a few people on the ship were coughing, sneezing and having runny noses. We dismissed it as COVID paranoia since the rules are clear: testing is mandatory if you have COVID symptoms. It turns out the rules are not enforced for the passengers, it’s a recommendation. Passengers are only getting tested if they report the symptoms to the medical staff. 

 

At the end of our first week we learned that over 300 passengers were staying for the second b2b cruise just like us. We wondered how many would end up positive for COVID since testing between cruises was mandatory. However, Royal Caribbean changed their testing policy before the second cruise and it was no longer needed. I don’t know why this policy was changed. It could be because the b2b passengers were not testing positive often enough to worry about it or it could be the opposite, too many were testing positive, and cruise company didn’t want to get overwhelmed with quarantining a large number of passengers. 

Ultimately, the embarkation for returning passengers was very disorganized and it likely turned out to be a super-spreader event. We were all asked to come to the main theatre at 8:30 am to complete the embarkation process. Most people were unmasked and in close proximity to each other. Once in the theatre at 8:30 am we were told that we could not go back to our rooms until 1:30 pm so the rooms could be disinfected. Returning passengers would have to wait here or leave the ship. Needless to say, nobody was happy with this sudden announcement. We went on shore as soon as we could. 

 

On the third day of the second cruise, I woke up with a sore throat and feeling unwell. It’s not unusual for me to have a sore throat and aches, I have a long-term health condition (non-infectious) that often causes these symptoms. We went for breakfast (masked and eating outside). I felt worse during breakfast and on the way back noticed that I am physically weak (huffing and puffing after a couple of flights of stairs). I also noticed that the sore throat was spreading into the back and into the nasal passages. It started to feel like a regular cold. My spouse was feeling fine. 

I decided that calling the medical services was the right thing to do. Plus, it’s not likely to be COVID, since we were taking all these precautions, right?

Medical services said that they will send someone over to test me and my spouse. We were to isolate in our cabin until the test results were in (my asymptomatic spouse could leave the cabin with a mask on, but I could not). It took a bit of time for somebody to come to our cabin since they were busy. My spouse got a rapid test with a long q-tip that goes deep into the nose. As a symptomatic passenger, I got a PCR test with a very short q-tip that just got waved in front of my nose without really being inserted. It did not seem like the person collecting the sample for the test new the proper way of doing it (I have done a few PCR tests before). Once they left, I started to doubt that my test will produce accurate results and decided to do our own rapid tests. My asymptomatic spouse was negative but I tested positive within 30 seconds on the 15 minute rapid test. We waited for the official results but they didn’t call. I called them after a couple hours and both of our results were negative. My spouse was in the clear and out of any restrictions but I had to remain in the cabin until the second test the next day. I expressed concerns about the accuracy of their test and the risk to my spouse if we remain in the same cabin for the next 24 hours.  They dismissed my concerns and suggested for both of us to wear masks inside the cabin for the next 24 hours (it sounded like they were swamped with testing and positive cases). I regret for not insisting to redo my test again right way. They said a doctor will contact me to follow up on my symptoms. The doctor did call but was very dismissive of my concerns about symptoms and test results. 

Because I was isolating in my cabin, the room service became free. For breakfast and lunch I could order from the room service menu and for supper I could order from the main dinning room menu. The service was quick and the food was fresh and hot. Since we had a balcony, I didn’t feel terribly locked up. My sense of taste and the appetite were not impacted. 

The next day, the COVID test was supposed to be done at 10:30 am but they did not come until after 11:30 am. This time it was done better with a short q-tip going into both nostrils. My spouse did not have to test again since my previous test was negative the day before. I was told to wait for a couple of hours for PCR test results. I waited and waited and waited but nobody called. I tried calling the COVID line but nobody answered. They have call display and know what room the call is coming from. So they don’t answer if they don’t want/ are not ready to talk to you. I took another rapid test and it was positive right away (less than 30 seconds). By now I was certain I had COVID and would have to isolate. 

By 5:30 pm, I finally got a call confirming my positive results and was asking me to pack my bags for the move to the isolation floor. They apologized for not letting me know sooner but they were currently swamped with positive cases. My spouse did not have to move and could remain in our cabin. They did not have any enhanced cleaning procedures in place for our cabin and didn’t offer my spouse any cleaning supplies. They said they would be testing my spouse daily for 5 day. My spouse was considered a close contact and would have wear a mask and would not be allowed to eat in the dinning room. No other restrictions. They did not explain all these rules initially, my spouse and I had to ask them for the rules. I started to get a sense that COVID mitigation measures were either not well organized or the staff was overwhelmed and overworked and didn’t have time to go through all the proper steps. 

 

I did get a call that evening to do contact tracing. They asked me and my partner to recall all the different areas of the ship we visited in the last 3-4 days and who we were in contact with. In our case, it was only the people seating near us in the dinning room every evening. The contact tracer said that they will be contacting them to do the COVID testing but I don’t know if they did or not. My spouse said that the night before some of our dinning room neighbours were not there. 

 

By 7 pm I was in my isolation cabin on the 3rd deck after taking the service elevator and being escorted by the cruise staff. I saw a few people in the hallway on my original floor and they were all confused about why I had suitcases with me. They did not realize that there was COVID isolation on the ship since COVID was never mentioned anywhere. 

My isolation cabin was a regular window cabin. There was a bunch of cleaning supplies (not sure why, I already got COVID) and a little page explaining that I would now get the free VOOM internet (the most basic, single device surf plan, painfully slow but better than nothing, no instructions on how to get this free internet, I had to call Guest Service twice to figure out what to do), free phone calls to family and friends (the calls are not direct, they had to go through customer service) and entertainment goodies (I did not find any, there were no new exciting channels on TV as far as I could tell). Otherwise, the cabin was ok, a bit dusty, fridge did not work, shower head was broken but it had a kettle for boiling water (no tea bags, had to be ordered). 

The page told me to call guest service if I needed some toiletries, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc. but they actually didn’t have some of these things available and didn’t know what to do. 

Nobody briefed me on the safety procedures, how to evaluate in case of emergency, where my new muster station would be, etc. 

 

No-contact quarantine rules were not explained. For example, they were supposed to knock on your door after your food was dropped off on the table outside and you had to wait for them to move away. Often they would knock but your food would not be there and they would hand it to you directly once they find it. No explanation on how garbage disposal works and no garbage bags were initially provided (we were supposed to fill one or more red plastic bags with garbage and leave it outside the cabin at 2 pm). 

 

Room service was bad. I often had to place my order multiple times and wait several hours for anything delivered to the room (eg a glass of milk)

 

Food was terrible. Always cold, always late (lunch after 2 pm, supper after 7 pm, no option to get it earlier). Passengers in isolation had to use crew menu (not the dinner room or room service menu like the rest of the passengers). All meals were sets, no changes, you get what you get. All 5 days of isolation meals had to be ordered on the first day. I spoke with the room service staff several but still did not get the simple dietary accommodations I ask for. I don’t know what they did for people with food allergies. 

It seems like it was one or two people handling the isolation meals and these meals were the lowest priority.

By day 2, I figured out how to get fresh hot food. I would wait for my cold food to be dropped off, call room service and complain and order again, this time from the passenger room service menu or the dinning room. 

 

My spouse was tested (negative) on Sunday but he was not tested again on Monday after my positive test results. He was not tested on Tuesday either, even though they said the rules are to test every day for 5 days. They finally called on Wednesday and asked to get a test at the crew testing cabin on deck 3. The person collecting the test did not know how to collect the sample properly and it sounded like they were running out of supplies. His sample got identified with a post-it note instead of the barcode. 

 

Initially, I was told by the guest service to find accommodations in Vancouver to quarantine after the cruise for 2 additional nights only. However, the day later they called and changed it to 6 day hotel quarantine. The Canadian federal quarantine rules for the cruises are pretty clear about cruise companies’ responsibilities: they are responsible for providing 10 days of quarantine accommodations and meals to the COVID positive passengers after the initial positive test result. This could be on the ship or in the hotel but it is not passenger’s responsibility to find and pay for suitable accommodations. The 10 day quarantine is counted from the day of the first positive test, not the first day of symptoms. So if you have symptoms for two days and take a test on day 3, the 10 day quarantine starts on day 3. In my case this meant an extra day in quarantine due to the poorly-done initial test. 

 

Guest services made it very clear that they would not be arranging for my quarantine accommodations and meals in Vancouver. This directly contradicted the government rule that required cruise ship companies to take responsibility for 10 day of quarantine accommodations and food (both on the ship and after the cruise). Guest services asked me to arrange my own hotel and order room service while there. I was also told to keep silent in the hotel about my positive COVID test. They promised to reimburse me up to 250 USD for room and 100 USD for meals a day. I had to summit my quarantine expenses to the email address they provided and was promised to get the money back in 30 days. This was fine by me since I would rather pick my own hotel. They recommended Radisson hotel by Vancouver airport and it worked for me. I also found out that 250 USD a day did not go very far in Vancouver in terms of accommodation.

As far as the transportation costs, it was my responsibility to find and pay for the new plane ticket. Lucky for me, WestJet was very accommodating after I explained my situation. There was a change fee but it was covered by the fare difference. So the new plane ticket did not cost me anything. 

 

I also investigated another option (one way car rental to get home and quarantine at home) but it was a no-go. Cruise ship company would only cover 150 USD per day for car rental and no other costs. Just the one way fee was over 500 USD at most auto rental places so this option got costly fast. It still would have been cheaper for the cruise company compare to the 6 day of hotel and meals but their rules were inflexible. 

 

I had to redo my ArriveCAN app QR code. This app is not designed to handle COVID positive cruise passengers. It also kept crashing on my iPhone when selecting the name of the cruise ship. I ended up using the website instead. 

 

It sounds like the passport control and customs will be mostly virtual for the COVID positive passengers and the cruise company will arrange for the transportation to the hotel. 

 

I have not yet started looking into cruise ship fare and excursions refund for the COVID impacted passengers. Hopefully it’s a straight forward process. 

 

Thanks for the detailed report.

 

I'm disgusted that a cruise line knowingly ignores government regulations. I guess it figures that unless the affected report the avoidance of responsibility, GOC will do nothing. 

[StanleyandGus]

Thank you for for report, Trazz007. Not having unlimited funds or time off work is making us reconsider our transatlantic this Fall. We kept thinking that surely by this time (which keeps getting reevaluated) things would be more normal. 
 

Apparently, not yet. 
 

And, has anyone seen the Royal Caribbean thread that essentially says if you’re an American in Europe, suspicious that you might test positive, arrange flights through Canada and drive across the border. I don’t think that’s what the GOC had in mind! 

[tottenhamfc]

1 minute ago, StanleyandGus said:

Thank you for for report, Trazz007. Not having unlimited funds or time off work is making us reconsider our transatlantic this Fall. We kept thinking that surely by this time (which keeps getting reevaluated) things would be more normal. 
 

Apparently, not yet. 
 

And, has anyone seen the Royal Caribbean thread that essentially says if you’re an American in Europe, suspicious that you might test positive, arrange flights through Canada and drive across the border. I don’t think that’s what the GOC had in mind! 

They were doing it in the early stages of Covid. Restricted flights from India were coming via Mexico to Vancouver. The Govt was well aware of what was going on even when we as Canadians were restricted by a noose for travel.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, StanleyandGus said:

Thank you for for report, Trazz007. Not having unlimited funds or time off work is making us reconsider our transatlantic this Fall. We kept thinking that surely by this time (which keeps getting reevaluated) things would be more normal. 
 

Apparently, not yet. 
 

And, has anyone seen the Royal Caribbean thread that essentially says if you’re an American in Europe, suspicious that you might test positive, arrange flights through Canada and drive across the border. I don’t think that’s what the GOC had in mind! 

I hope these people get tested at the airport 

 

[Trazz007]

Just a quick update on Radiance of the Seas quarantine. 

As I mentioned before, the food in isolation cabin has been bad (it’s always late, always cold, low on vegetables and fruit, and often too salty). Today (last cruise day) I found out why. It turns out that I was placed in the crew section of the isolation area (there was no room left in the passengers section). When I moved there they created a new profile for me as a crew member. There is a separate food service for the crew members in quarantine (and it’s bad food but unfortunately crew is not allowed to complain). 
The cruise passengers who are in quarantine cabins are allowed to use both the room service menu and the dinning room menu and order the food at any time. So my last couple of meals should be fine. 
Health wise, I am doing fine, 95 % recovered from COVID on day 5. Just some nasal congestion left.
Medical services have been calling me twice a day and visited a couple of times. They provided all the necessary over-the-counter medication to deal with fever, sore throat and runny nose. It’s definitely more medical attention that I would get at home as a vaccinated and boosted adult who is not a risk for severe COVID outcomes. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

38 minutes ago, Trazz007 said:

Just a quick update on Radiance of the Seas quarantine. 

As I mentioned before, the food in isolation cabin has been bad (it’s always late, always cold, low on vegetables and fruit, and often too salty). Today (last cruise day) I found out why. It turns out that I was placed in the crew section of the isolation area (there was no room left in the passengers section). When I moved there they created a new profile for me as a crew member. There is a separate food service for the crew members in quarantine (and it’s bad food but unfortunately crew is not allowed to complain). 
The cruise passengers who are in quarantine cabins are allowed to use both the room service menu and the dinning room menu and order the food at any time. So my last couple of meals should be fine. 
Health wise, I am doing fine, 95 % recovered from COVID on day 5. Just some nasal congestion left.
Medical services have been calling me twice a day and visited a couple of times. They provided all the necessary over-the-counter medication to deal with fever, sore throat and runny nose. It’s definitely more medical attention that I would get at home as a vaccinated and boosted adult who is not a risk for severe COVID outcomes. 

Wow ! 
on Celebrity Apex the room service was awful, I took drinks and meals to my wife 

[jpnr]

We are booked on a 51 nt. b2b Australia/ New Zealand cruise on HAL in October departing SEA. Just wondering if one of us tests positive will be asked to leave the ship in Sydney before the 2nd leg or will they let us stay on in quarantine. Is it still 10 days of isolation or are they reducing it to 5 days?

[Trazz007]

1 hour ago, jpnr said:

We are booked on a 51 nt. b2b Australia/ New Zealand cruise on HAL in October departing SEA. Just wondering if one of us tests positive will be asked to leave the ship in Sydney before the 2nd leg or will they let us stay on in quarantine. Is it still 10 days of isolation or are they reducing it to 5 days?

It’s too far in the future to know what the rules will be in October. Each country has its own ever changing COVID regulations on top of cruise ship companies’ rules. Currently on RCL for Alaskan sailings, it’s 5 days of mandatory quarantine after the first positive test. On days 5 and 6 they do additional tests. If both are negative, quarantine is over but you have to wear a mask indoors and is not allowed to eat in the dinning room. 10 days after the initial positive test, all restrictions are done. They no longer test between b2b cruises. If you disembark, either American or Canadian federal and provincial rules about COVID come into play depending where you are. In Canada, cruise companies are responsible for arranging and paying for the 10 day quarantine. Not sure about USA. 

[molly2kit]

Not RCL but I returned from a 7 day Alaska cruise (Koningsdam) on May 14, very fatigued and tested positive on May 16.  As I live in Vancouver I am recovering at home.  I also wore mask at all times outside cabin except when eating or drinking,  did not attend any events or music venues.  Boarding was very crowded, I walked stairs to avoid crowded elevators and stayed as far away from others as often as possible.  Masking was 10-20% by 3rd day and people using hand sanitizer at entrance to restaurants was rare.  I feel like numbers are going to explode among cruisers now.  I have cancelled a future cruise and 2 friends have cancelled theirs also.

[Dismomx5]

8 hours ago, molly2kit said:

Not RCL but I returned from a 7 day Alaska cruise (Koningsdam) on May 14, very fatigued and tested positive on May 16.  As I live in Vancouver I am recovering at home.  I also wore mask at all times outside cabin except when eating or drinking,  did not attend any events or music venues.  Boarding was very crowded, I walked stairs to avoid crowded elevators and stayed as far away from others as often as possible.  Masking was 10-20% by 3rd day and people using hand sanitizer at entrance to restaurants was rare.  I feel like numbers are going to explode among cruisers now.  I have cancelled a future cruise and 2 friends have cancelled theirs also.

Sorry to hear that you were stricken.😪 I am wishing that masking weren't "recommended" while on the ship. We're on the Koningsdam next Saturday and will be wearing our masks. But as you pointed out, if the majority don't, it might be for naught. 🤞 that we can stay healthy enough to get home when it is time. As an aside-flying home from Cairo last week was the same 10-20% masking on the plane even though the safety protocols ON the plane were directing people to wear a mask, and change them regularly. 

[molly2kit]

51 minutes ago, Dismomx5 said:

Sorry to hear that you were stricken.😪 I am wishing that masking weren't "recommended" while on the ship. We're on the Koningsdam next Saturday and will be wearing our masks. But as you pointed out, if the majority don't, it might be for naught. 🤞 that we can stay healthy enough to get home when it is time. As an aside-flying home from Cairo last week was the same 10-20% masking on the plane even though the safety protocols ON the plane were directing people to wear a mask, and change them regularly. 

Good luck on the Koningsdam, it is a beautiful ship.  Strongly suggest using the Verifly App for boarding.  When we went for embarkation the room was a mass of people with huge lineups, except the Verifly line.  When we said we had Verifly we were walked right up to an agent, no waiting.  Suggest bring your own supply of masks, ones from HAL -one broke immediately and they ran out of replacements. I had my own supply with me.

[Dismomx5]

1 hour ago, molly2kit said:

Good luck on the Koningsdam, it is a beautiful ship.  Strongly suggest using the Verifly App for boarding.  When we went for embarkation the room was a mass of people with huge lineups, except the Verifly line.  When we said we had Verifly we were walked right up to an agent, no waiting.  Suggest bring your own supply of masks, ones from HAL -one broke immediately and they ran out of replacements. I had my own supply with me.

Thank you for those suggestions. I have a few masks packed but will up them. I'm hopeful that the VeriFly app will work for me. I did have problems uploading pics. Although I am travelling with my sisters/hubbies, I said that I want to use the VeriFly app since we have another cruise booked in the fall, and I want to see how it works. DH and I have sailed the Koningsdam twice before and this will be the first HAL cruise for my sisters.

[Senga]

Checking out Verifly, it appears not all cruise lines use this.  We’re sailing Princess Wednesday and they are not listed.  😢

[Trazz007]

Disembarking and hotel quarantine update (sorry it’s long, I wish it would’ve been less eventful)
 

My so called “cruise” arrived in Vancouver this morning. I have never been so happy for a cruise to end. 

 

I made a couple of discoveries about my quarantine room last night. I found out why I was sneezing all the time for the last few days. I thought it was COVID but it turns out it was the dust in my isolation cabin. It is on everything in the room and I am fairly certain that my room has not been cleaned or vacuumed since the COVID started in 2020. I also discovered that the sheets on the bed were not changed from the last person who was isolating here. I only slept on one of the single beds and change sheets after the first night because of night sweats. Last night I opened the covers on the other bed only to discover sweat and food stains all over the sheets. Neither discoveries were a surprise given how everything else was going with the quarantine. 

 

The last cruise day I got a note saying that RCL will refund me the portion of the cruise for the days I was quarantined in the cabin on the 3rd deck but not while in my own cabin. It is a bit strange since quarantine rules for both were exactly the same: I was not allowed to leave the cabin, and neither room was cleaned. It was also their fault that my initial COVID test was not administered correctly and came back negative. I will have to call them but don’t have much hope at this point. 

 

My spouse still had no symptoms and was allowed to leave the ship with the rest of passengers. However, they forgot to test him on the last full day of the cruise. So there was a flag on his file, and they did not let him off initially. Once the guest services realized the mess they might have to deal with if they try to test him as he was leaving, they let him of the ship untested. He ran away from the ship as fast as he could. He is probably not the only close contact on the ship who has not been properly monitored. He is home now and tested negative with a rapid test. 

 

On the last cruise night I was told to be ready to leave the room by 9 am the next morning. I asked for the customs form and my COVID test results (I lost count how many times I asked for them already). I was promised to get them shortly. I did not get them that night. 

 

I requested customs form and my COVID test results again in the morning of debarkation. I got customs form right away but no test results by the time they called for me to leave the room soon after 9 am. I refused to leave the room without the results. They said they will work on it and call me later. Within the next 45 minutes I got 2 printouts with my results. I was ready to leave now. Not so fast 🙂 They called after 10 am and said to be ready. It was around 11:30 am a crew member came to my door to escort me off the ship. 

By noon I was on a bus with the other honest passengers. I recognized many of them. It turns out we were all b2b cruisers who were seated in the same section of the restaurant for the 5:30 pm dinner. We all got symptoms soon after the second cruise started between Saturday and Monday. It all started to make sense now. Our waiting staff disappeared right after the first cruise. We were told that they were reassigned other duties. These duties were likely to pace around one of the cabins on deck 3 for 5 to 10 days. It seems like the whole contact tracing on the ship was a smoke and mirror operation. Our next table neighbours tested positive before I did but we were not notified. And I am sure if a staff member tested positive, their close contacts among passengers would not be notified. The excuse - passengers could not be close contact for staff because staff were always masked. It wouldn’t matter that some staff (including in the restaurant) did not cover their nose or left a big gap for the air to escape. 

 

The great thing about COVID disembarking progress was the border control and customs. There were none. We scanned our cruise cards on the ship, got off the ship and into cruise terminal, took an escalator down and went outside on the pier. There was a big bus parked in front of the ship for us to take to our hotels. There was no passport checks, customs questions or anything. Nobody checked our customs decorations. Nobody explained to us what the quarantine rules are, if we needed to test at the end of it, what we allowed to do, who do we contact if we need assistance or have quarantine questions, if we need to follow up with anybody, if we are going to be monitored, etc. Nothing at all. 

We spent the next 2+ hours on the bus, driving around Vancouver, dropping people off at different hotels. There were around 30 people on our bus. The bus always dropped passengers off on the side or the back of the hotel to avoid attention. This way, passengers could pretend to be arriving from the airport and not from a COVID cruise. Some passengers mentioned that the original hotel they booked canceled their reservation once they learn their COVID status (they had to fill out pre-checkin form with COVID questions).

I was in my hotel by 2:15 pm. Check in was quick and smooth, nobody asked me the reasons for of my stay in Vancouver.

Once I was in my room, I finally started to relax. Not so fast :(. It was 2:30 pm and the 8 am breakfast was long gone. Lucky, since this was the cruise ship recommended quarantine hotel, it had a room service. As it turned out, it used to. They canceled it when COVID started and it was not there anymore. So this hotel that guest services on the ship recommended was actually not suitable for quarantine. Not the end of the world, the hotel had a restaurant with takeout options. Unfortunately, there was no response from the restaurant either. It was closed. They were only open for breakfast until 11 am and supper after 5 pm. 

There was another food option: food delivery services. Unfortunately, I never used them before and was not sure if they deliver directly to the hotel rooms.

I has not been given any contact info for obtaining quarantine assistance from the government or the cruise company. 

So I looked up a restaurant nearby, called them, placed a pickup order, put my n95 mask on, walked out of the hotel, pickup my order, brought it back and ate. 

I am pretty sure that the 100% of other quarantine passengers staying in this hotel did the same.

According to the local health recommendation in Vancouver, a person will COVID is ok to leave quarantine (wearing a mask) 5 days after their symptoms began and 24h after the serous symptoms are gone (eg fever). My case met both conditions and I did not feel I endangered anyone. 

By the way, I do believe that the rules and the laws are very important (I stop at every stop sign even if nobody is around). However, government rules should have a clear benefit for the country and the people. I don’t really understand what the purpose of this hotel quarantine rule is in the way it is currently implemented. It only really applies to the cruise ship passengers who report their symptoms while on board (maybe a few hundreds in a week in Vancouver?) while 37 million people in this country can do whatever they want even if they have symptoms and don’t want wear a mask.

It seems like a big farce that government pretends not to notice that cruise companies (at least RCL) are not providing passengers with the proper quarantine arrangements on land but could still threaten COVID positive passengers with big fines or jail if they leave their hotel room (I am assuming they can, nobody actually told me). 

 

My present conclusion is that while COVID as an illness can temporarily dampen your vacation fun, the government bureaucracy and the cruise ship companies’ indifference  will definitely ruin it. 

I would not advise to do an Alaskan cruise from Vancouver this summer. (unless you just recovered from COVID and have a certificate to prove it). 

Edited May 21, 2022 by Trazz007
Typos

[Been There, Planning That]

You most certainly have provided extensive reports of your ongoing saga.

As I said before it merits wider coverage.

 

I guess this too will end for you, but COVID and cruising do not hold such promise.

 

Thank you,

[pink845]

Trazz007,  I just finished reading all your reports.  Fabulous information and thanks so much for giving us all the true down and dirty of what is happening on these ships.  You have sealed the deal for me.  As much as I LOVE CRUISING, and normally do four to five per year to all points of the globe, I will not put my husband and myself at risk of Covid while travelling with 2000 to 4000 of my newest friends (ha ha).  We have avoided it thus far (four doses to boot).  With all the isolation requirements, it is simply not worth the aggravation.  We are enjoying the lost art of driving vacations and seeing Canada and the US that way.  We have of course, missed the production shows and the ease of dining afforded by cruising, but have found many interesting restaurants and lovely hotels and breathtaking venues while on our driving vacations from coast to coast throughout North America and will continue vacationing this way for the foreseeable future.  We have a credit which is due to expire in Dec 2022 with RCCL ($2000USD from a previous RCCL debacle) but who cares is my opinion. Again, thanks for your very on tap information especially about the fact that once you are in isolation and not spending the big bucks at the casino or on drinks, or whatever else, you are basically a liability and we all know how liabilities are treated - just the way you were. 

[FM]

The detail and depth of information you provided @Trazz007 is excellent.  Dismayed to read about how icky (politely speaking) your quarantine conditions were onboard the ship.  It is fortunate that your port of disembarkation was in Canada; as noted on the Gov of Canada website -- 

• If you test positive while on your cruise, and the cruise ends in Canada, you will need to complete your isolation in Canada as organized and paid for by the operator. 

 

As per our TA, it is up to yourself to arrange and pay for any period of isolation if you disembark at a US port.  Can only imagine the level of concern one may have if one is flying down from Canada to SEA for a 7-day round trip Alaskan cruise and one tests positive while down in the US.

 

Is there a contact person at your hotel that is monitoring your status and thus able to give or provide clearance for you to return home once quarantine is completed? 

[nlcruiser01]

On 5/12/2022 at 12:41 AM, tottenhamfc said:

If this continues I could see Canada going back to PCR. I to was on the same cruise and I would suggest that there is a very reckless element on board. The double vax is the main criteria and the antigen was the additional measure for CDC and Canadian authorities. We masked and we attempted to social distance as best we could. Most on board thought that they were protected because of the requirements laid out by the powers to be. There was no inconvenience attached to our own measures of protection. We did not get the virus on either the first or the back to back so we are either very lucky or the additional measures help.

Hi Tottenhamfc, I thought you were on board with us as I'd seen your name in the CC group for that sail date.  I agree with your comment with respect to the "reckless element".   People looked at my husband and I like we were from another planet as we walked around inside wearing our KN95 masks.  I noticed many staff who weren't wearing them correctly either.  I very politely asked our waiter in Giovanni's to pull his mask up over his nose and he was none too impressed.   Glad you avoided the virus on your B2B. 

[nlcruiser01]

On 5/15/2022 at 2:53 PM, FM said:

Really appreciate hearing a first-hand account of what occurred with you and your husband during your recent cruise @nlcruiser01

 

It was quite fortuitous that you had the forethought to acquaint yourself with RCL's policy re: “Refund and Cancellation Policy for COVID-19” ... one would think that the emphasis would be more towards working with passengers who have taken the opportunity to cruise with them instead of staying at home!

 

You mentioned that your husband 'received medications as required' - were the medications of the anti-viral kind approved for COVID 19 treatment such as Remdesivir?

Hi FM, you call it "fortuitous" but prior to this cruise, my husband always described my planning as "obsessive".  Not anymore!!   I've been home almost a month and still no sign of the remaining refunds RCL owes us.  I'm still waiting on a call back from 2 weeks ago re: this.  I'm glad I didn't agree to pay up front for the costs RCL ultimately paid as per the contract. 

 

He was given Acetaminophen for his fever, Nyquil and cough drops.  Thankfully he didn't become ill enough to require Remdesivir or any other anti-virals. 

[tottenhamfc]

It has not made me more concerned as I am at the point in time where protecting myself is the main criteria. If I protect myself I automatically protect others with my cautious approach. It really isnt a big issue to mask in high traffic areas TBH.

Edited May 22, 2022 by tottenhamfc

[Happiest when cruising]

5 hours ago, pink845 said:

Trazz007,  I just finished reading all your reports.  Fabulous information and thanks so much for giving us all the true down and dirty of what is happening on these ships.  You have sealed the deal for me.  As much as I LOVE CRUISING, and normally do four to five per year to all points of the globe, I will not put my husband and myself at risk of Covid while travelling with 2000 to 4000 of my newest friends (ha ha).  We have avoided it thus far (four doses to boot).  With all the isolation requirements, it is simply not worth the aggravation.  We are enjoying the lost art of driving vacations and seeing Canada and the US that way.  We have of course, missed the production shows and the ease of dining afforded by cruising, but have found many interesting restaurants and lovely hotels and breathtaking venues while on our driving vacations from coast to coast throughout North America and will continue vacationing this way for the foreseeable future.  We have a credit which is due to expire in Dec 2022 with RCCL ($2000USD from a previous RCCL debacle) but who cares is my opinion. Again, thanks for your very on tap information especially about the fact that once you are in isolation and not spending the big bucks at the casino or on drinks, or whatever else, you are basically a liability and we all know how liabilities are treated - just the way you were. 

That sounds like a great way to spend your time. 
Question….$2000.00 is a lot of money, was this real dollars, or some kind of credit you were given. If it’s a “free” credit, then I might not care, but if I had put 2000.00 of my hard earned money out, I would care. So many cruisers are only going because of credits they have to use up. 
for any payments you made, could you dispute it on a credit card, if that’s how you paid for it?