Fantasy 9-night Southern Caribbean + Covid

[mmouse37]

I was also on the Wish MV and tested positive 3 days after the cruise. Do I think I got it onboard, who knows! We were in WDW for 3 days before the cruise, flew to Florida, was in the supermarket the day before we travelled. I really don't believe anyone can really say where they picked it up. It is out there no matter what you do. Masked or unmasked. I am triple vaxed, my cruise roommate was vaxed with both boosters and she got it as well. This strain is just very contagious. Luckily, I had one really bad day with pounding headache but the rest of the time I felt like I had a bad cold. I would still sail with the higher capacities, in fact I am on hold with DCL as I type this to book a Canadian cruise for October.

It is a risk however you vacation this year or even just going about your normal routines around town. I am just happy that people do not seem to be getting terribly sick and hospitalized with this strain (of course there is always the exception) but its not going anywhere.

MJ

 

[loislane]

We're in a similar situation and hope it will provide us with enough immunity for the fairly "agressive" schedule that we have for August. Knowing what we know now, we might have decided to do things differently... but hoping that a cruise in space and two cruise at seas in a span of 3 weeks will go just fine.

I'm hoping for that immunity too!
Enjoy the Halcyon - plus 2 cruises! I'm super jelly!

 

[KGmomoftwins]

We just got off the Wonder today from a 7 night Alaska (every feels fine so far, let's see how the week progresses lol) and my main gripe was also RUDE and UNRULY teens, both boys and girls in the 15-17 age range. We saw some quite atrocious behaviour and our (just about to turn 14 yr old) kept calling them all hooligans lol Honestly, we usually travel at the end of August and that has never been an issue.

I hope you guys had an awesome time and continue to be well!

 

[soniam]

We were on the cruise too. Husband and I got covid in Disneyland late June. Our son never got it. He finally succumbed on night 6 of the cruise. The 3 of us quarantined for the rest of the cruise in our cabin. It wasn't ideal, but I would rather be stuck in a cabin with a view than in a hotel room. We never caught it from him, so I think getting it in June really helped our immunity. We didn't wear masks on the cruise. We had our son wearing his N95, but we were eating indoors. I would assume that you are going to get it on a cruise, if you haven't recently (within in a month or so) gotten it. He wasn't very sick, so that was good. We also just made it in time so that he will be fully recovered to head to my uncle's wedding next weekend in Tennessee.

 

[kmmfl2va]

Just got back on Saturday from our 9-night Southern Caribbean cruise.
I really liked it, but it felt so full - heard there were 3200 passengers.
I hated that part - having done a 1/2 capacity cruise, I felt overwhelmed on this cruise.
I also now understand the folks who do the Panama cruises only, or only do cruises not during school vacation.
There were WAY too many kids - tons of toddlers, crying babies, strollers, babies with swim diapers on the main pool, babies coughing... ughhhh.
I'm never going on a Disney cruise again during the Summer (at least not out of the USA - hoping there's less kids in Europe).
It's basically a floating daycare. No thanks. As I said, I got a taste of sailing with mostly adults and a few teens/tweens and I loved it.

I really enjoyed the ports, especially St Marteen. I loved the French portion of the island. Spent all day in Marigot which has a very real French vibe with the language being spoken everywhere and real nice boulangeries, stores and bistros.

On the last day of the cruise I felt super weak and started sneezing and sniffling. - I thought I got a sort of flu because as I said, there were tons of people sneezing and coughing, especially toddlers in the WD theater.
Decided not to get off the ship in CC because I was too tired.

Today I decided to get tested the moment I couldn't taste food.
Sure enough, positive.
I'm ticked off because I was undefeated for the whole pandemic (vaxxed but not boosted)
Not a hint of Covid for almost 30 months, and now I got it. probably from one of the dozens of coughing babies around the ship.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

If you are sailing with Disney soon, be prepared to come back positive.
The ships are now almost 100% full and there is zero distancing, zero restrictions, and it feels like half the passengers on the ship are sick with all the coughing, sniffling, sneezing.

We don't have another cruise till summer of 2023, hopefully Covid is gone by then because I'm not in the mood to go on a floating clinical trial for Covid again.

Wow. We were on this cruise and this was not our experience at all. In fact, my husband and I noted we saw very few small children, mostly teens and pre teens. Could be because we had second seating and didn’t cross paths with all of the little ones.

My husband tested positive for Covid after the cruise, the only one of us who did. Luckily, it’s a mild case…he’s already feeling better. Other than that we had a great time.

 

[PinkPixel]

Just got back on Saturday from our 9-night Southern Caribbean cruise.
I really liked it, but it felt so full - heard there were 3200 passengers.
I hated that part - having done a 1/2 capacity cruise, I felt overwhelmed on this cruise.
I also now understand the folks who do the Panama cruises only, or only do cruises not during school vacation.
There were WAY too many kids - tons of toddlers, crying babies, strollers, babies with swim diapers on the main pool, babies coughing... ughhhh.
I'm never going on a Disney cruise again during the Summer (at least not out of the USA - hoping there's less kids in Europe).
It's basically a floating daycare. No thanks. As I said, I got a taste of sailing with mostly adults and a few teens/tweens and I loved it.

I really enjoyed the ports, especially St Marteen. I loved the French portion of the island. Spent all day in Marigot which has a very real French vibe with the language being spoken everywhere and real nice boulangeries, stores and bistros.

On the last day of the cruise I felt super weak and started sneezing and sniffling. - I thought I got a sort of flu because as I said, there were tons of people sneezing and coughing, especially toddlers in the WD theater.
Decided not to get off the ship in CC because I was too tired.

Today I decided to get tested the moment I couldn't taste food.
Sure enough, positive.
I'm ticked off because I was undefeated for the whole pandemic (vaxxed but not boosted)
Not a hint of Covid for almost 30 months, and now I got it. probably from one of the dozens of coughing babies around the ship.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

If you are sailing with Disney soon, be prepared to come back positive.
The ships are now almost 100% full and there is zero distancing, zero restrictions, and it feels like half the passengers on the ship are sick with all the coughing, sniffling, sneezing.

We don't have another cruise till summer of 2023, hopefully Covid is gone by then because I'm not in the mood to go on a floating clinical trial for Covid again.

I'm sorry you got sick, my whole family got sick at Disney in June. But why are you blaming it on babies? How many babies got sick from adults? Disappointing to read this.

 

[anricat]

I love Martinique, but having now visited St Marteen, it's my new favorite island on the Caribbean.

I'd love to know what you did because we drove all over the island and thought it was unimpressive. If we ever go back, we definitely need to do something different.

 

[mab2012]

I would assume that you are going to get it on a cruise, if you haven't recently (within in a month or so) gotten it.

It's not inevitable. We caught COVID on the WBPC in March 2020, and since then have done nothing to avoid it, except when required by law. We've flown several times, been to Disney World, and taken two cruises, including the 12-night Magic a few weeks ago. We don't wear masks unless it's required, and we don't try to avoid people. As far as I know, none of us have caught it again since the beginning of the pandemic.

I do agree that anyone planning a cruise should be prepared for the possibility of catching COVID, and if you're not comfortable with that risk, you should probably avoid cruise ships for now. With or without a mask. But assuming that you will catch it is probably overstating the situation a bit. I think the odds of not catching it are still better than even, it's just that we're more likely to hear about the people who did.

 

[DisneYE]

I'd love to know what you did because we drove all over the island and thought it was unimpressive. If we ever go back, we definitely need to do something different.

We went to the French side once we learned everything was closed on the dutch side due to it being Sunday.
had a taxi drop us off in Marigot by the pier and they had a nice French bakery where we sat for coffee and pastries.. then went to the market across the street, walked by the pier for a while then went to a bistro for some aperos and wine and then to carrefour to buy bread and cheese.. I just love all things French so the slightest hint of it makes me like the place. And the town is clean, well organized and pretty.

 

[nancipants]

Also note that babies/toddlers on that sailing still had to PCR test a few days beforehand and test again at the port. So they were probably least likely to bring Covid onto the ship.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

Oh no - so sorry you got sick. Have to admit, I'm really worried. Have managed to avoid COVID and I'm hoping since we'll be on a three day Wish cruise this September, we will not get it since it's so short??? I hope so, because we've got 2 weeks in DW after the cruise.

We disembarked yesterday from a 4/3 B2B and both groups are lighting up with +s so it’s definitely possible on shorter cruises…

 

[randumb0]

If you haven't had covid recently and you eat in the MDR you are at increased risk of getting it

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

OP, I’m so sorry you got sick but I appreciate your and everyone else’s candor. We‘ve booked a long weekend at WDW for a stay on the Galactic Starcruiser and I was thinking of adding a short 3 or 4 night cruise for afterwards to decompress from all the running around, but I‘ll be taking 4 days off work including travel days just with the WDW/GS part, and I can’t lose another week and a half like I did when I got Covid (triple vaxxed, my son brought it home from school two weeks after they dropped masks). Obviously there‘s a chance we could get it at WDW or on the GS anyway but we managed to pull off a Universal trip in April without getting sick by only dining outdoors and wearing masks everywhere else, so I’ve just got my fingers crossed that the 2 nights on the starcruiser won’t do us in. The numbers of folks getting sick from cruises right now just doesn’t make it seem worth it.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

Wow. We were on this cruise and this was not our experience at all. In fact, my husband and I noted we saw very few small children, mostly teens and pre teens. Could be because we had second seating and didn’t cross paths with all of the little ones.

My husband tested positive for Covid after the cruise, the only one of us who did. Luckily, it’s a mild case…he’s already feeling better. Other than that we had a great time.

Agreed, at trivia the first day, the crew member running it commented on how small the number of children was (under 1000) for a summer cruise. I did encounter regularly a teenage boy group I took to calling the "hooligans", but didn't have issues with children otherwise. Compared to past summer cruises on the Fantasy, it definitely felt like there were fewer kids (pools less crowded, AquaDuck lines shorter, etc).

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

We went to the French side once we learned everything was closed on the dutch side due to it being Sunday.
had a taxi drop us off in Marigot by the pier and they had a nice French bakery where we sat for coffee and pastries.. then went to the market across the street, walked by the pier for a while then went to a bistro for some aperos and wine and then to carrefour to buy bread and cheese.. I just love all things French so the slightest hint of it makes me like the place. And the town is clean, well organized and pretty.

We took an excursion to the French side. We didn't find much of interest over there - just a mediocre patisserie and standard Caribbean market stalls. Most places were also closed over there on Sunday. I also wouldn't use the word "pretty" to describe it, but I'm glad to hear that you had a good time.

 

[RysMomma]

This is the way that all cruise lines are doing it now. There's no social distancing, no masking, no limited capacities. It's not just Disney. If they went back to masks, people would be up in arms about that. These cruise lines cannot win.

 

[Sykes]

We finally caught COVID on our July cruise, which was our 5th cruise in the last year. Anecdotally, it seems like my July cruise Facebook group has more positive cases than the other 4 cruises combined. Since the restart COVID has always been a risk in cruising, but now I think that if you go on a cruise and haven't had BA.5 specifically yet then you have to go in accepting that you'll probably come home with it. It's a trade-off I'd personally be willing to make again, but everyone has their own risk tolerance.

(Meanwhile, while I have temporary super-immunity I'm now trying to sneak in another cruise before the next variant comes along. )

 

[Calantha]

I did encounter regularly a teenage boy group I took to calling the "hooligans"

I think we all did. One of them almost took me out after his ride down the banister. I told my 7-year old if I ever caught him riding the banister on the ship, it would be his last cruise.

We did not wear masks except in Dominica, and so far so good on the covid front.
St. Martin was okay...we did enjoy a visit to the beach and lunch in Marigot. DS got to feed iguanas.
Ate the best ice cream of my life at the Salt & Straw in Disney Springs after we got off the ship (and then almost died of the heat - how does anyone go to Disney in the summer?).

 

[soniam]

We finally caught COVID on our July cruise, which was our 5th cruise in the last year. Anecdotally, it seems like my July cruise Facebook group has more positive cases than the other 4 cruises combined. Since the restart COVID has always been a risk in cruising, but now I think that if you go on a cruise and haven't had BA.5 specifically yet then you have to go in accepting that you'll probably come home with it. It's a trade-off I'd personally be willing to make again, but everyone has their own risk tolerance.

(Meanwhile, while I have temporary super-immunity I'm now trying to sneak in another cruise before the next variant comes along. )

I like your way of thinking. I would totally do it if I could swing it schedule wise. Too many things coming up for us.

I think we all did. One of them almost took me out after his ride down the banister. I told my 7-year old if I ever caught him riding the banister on the ship, it would be his last cruise.

We did not wear masks except in Dominica, and so far so good on the covid front.
St. Martin was okay...we did enjoy a visit to the beach and lunch in Marigot. DS got to feed iguanas.
Ate the best ice cream of my life at the Salt & Straw in Disney Springs after we got off the ship (and then almost died of the heat - how does anyone go to Disney in the summer?).

I adore Salt & Straw. They have one at Downtown Disney at Disneyland. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in June and tried to hit it everytime we had to walk by back to the hotel. We went to the one at Disney Springs before the cruise too.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

@Calantha , @anricat , @DisneYE , @Clarkson U , @soniam , @kmmfl2va , @Doofenshmirtz513
Checking in. We're doing OK after the cruise. Nothing to report but lots of emails (grad school) to catch up on.
Enjoyed the cruise overall for our first (and last time) sailing during summer vacation. Way too many groups of kids (teens) taking over the common areas and not paying attention to others!
The ship was far more crowded than our May cruise on the Dream.
We've been to St Martin several times via air and stayed in the resort areas on the French side. This was a first via ship and land tours. The resort areas are beautiful, but we saw a different everyday life on the French side from the bus. Not pretty, run-down, trash, and rubble everywhere.
Love Martinique also (Wonder January 2016).
Enjoyed Salt and Straw (Disney Springs) during our four days before this cruise. Fantastic ice cream variety.