June 18th Fantasy COVID

I was on that cruse and am in the Facebook group. This was our 5th sailing since September and it was a very different experience (last was over New Year). We masked indoors but very few did and you can't mask at dinner and the tables are back to being very close together. I think stopping testing at the port the day of the cruise is missing positive cases. I get it that covid is here to stay and we will need to learn to deal with it, but with no covid measures on board, it didn't feel good. Now the post-cruise testing is bearing witness to the lack of controls. With capacity up, no mask requirements and no day of cruise testing, I think everyone needs to go into sailing with an honest assessment of the chance of contracting covid and make personal decisions based on that knowledge. I did not book a placeholder (after 26 DCL cruises). I'm sure we will cruise again, but we are not rushing to book any more for the foreseeable future.

Did you test after getting home?
 
The thing is there are a lot of factors now with testing before hand. Like one person said you might be negative a few days before cruise, but a lot can happen between those days of traveling to embarkation. Furthermore, if people go to parks before hand that increases risk. I wished DCL will go back to day of testing, yes it's stressful, but at least it's the most up to date.

From previous posts it's also based on honor system. How many people actually have symptoms but say on safe passage they don't when they answer the survey on day of embarkation. No one wants to not go on vacation since we've all been waiting forever and paid so much already. Especially if your on vacation that's out of the country ie those Mediterranean cruises.
 
As an argument, "COVID is here to stay and you can get it at Walmart too" can get flimsy in a hurry. Falling sick after COVID is hardly the issue anymore. Rather, it's the travel logistics mayhem that is unleashed once you pick it up on a cruise.
 


Are there statistics available from pre-Covid on people getting sick after cruises? Like with anything….a cold, the flu, adenovirus, etc. I just wonder if it’s really any different now As far as people picking something up while on vacation. I know for Disney world, I have read on these boards about people getting Covid at Disney. But people always got sick when they went to Disney. I read about it all the time. And how many of the people testing positive are actually sick? That’s an important statistic. And I’m not saying that Covid is “Just as cold” because it’s not always like that. But sometimes it is. And sometimes it’s even less than that. I guess at some point we will go back to “hey, when you go on vacation you will be exposed to lots of people and you might get sick with something so be aware, wash your hands, and have a great time!”
 
Just about everyone I know who has gone on vacation anywhere has gotten covid either while away or tested positive shortly after returning home. It isn’t just a cruise thing.
My case of Covid was from a WDW trip last Christmas. We were there nine days (all masked, except when dining) and I literally noticed the first symptoms on the flight home.

On the other hand, we flew to Rome, with a six hour layover in a very crowded Amsterdam Airport surrounded by a symphony of coughs, spent a week packed like sardines at Roman sites and restaurants, cruised for eight nights, visiting more packed sites, sometimes on a packed buss, (all while maskless if you are curious), and none of us, caught it. All of us had been previously infected and boosted. I think a huge factor is whether you have had something similar to the current strain and current case counts. I only know of one person in our rather large and active Facebook group who caught it too, with the exception of too families who got it before the cruise.

It's cases like mine, and many people I know who caught it from regular travel, that makes me wonder if cruising should be requiring extraordinary precautions these days that go above and beyond other forms of travel, even though I understand the reasoning of those who favor it.
 
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We were on it and didn't get sick. The only time we wished that we had a mask with us was when we were waiting in the stairway to debark at Castaway. We didn't arrive there until 11:46 am (they said bc of bad weather, but no one ever saw any) and everyone was ready to get off and get to enjoy the island. We were all stacked together in the Aft stairwell on deck one. My last count on the FB page was 83 that tested pos either on the ship or after debarkation. Mostly after debarkation.

This is exactly what was said the week before on the 6/11 cruise, with a similar arrival time at CC. We also saw no bad weather of any kind between St. Thomas and CC: ship seemed to not be going as fast when it left St. Thomas in comparison to going there, and then the speed to get from CC back to Port.

Once is happenstance; twice is coincidence....
 


There is a mental illness called hysterical contagion where people think they have a disease and even show many of the symptoms associated with it. They believe they have it and manifest like they are inflicted. I name a new variant called “cruise hysterical COVID” - where after every cruise I have been on now there is a FB group saying they all now have COVID. Not saying some don’t, and many have symptoms, but there is this sort of groupthink where you want to be part of the group so badly you actually get the disease.

I think someone might be jumping to medical diagnosis conclusions, and it ain't the people on Facebook....
 
The Rapid Antigen tests are only 74% accurate, if you have symptoms. As pp said just because you test negative two days before the cruise doesn’t mean you don’t have/contract Covid. People are not mentioning the Noro virus which really makes me want to wash my hands! We had Covid a week ago and didn’t know until we tested (my DSis was going to Ottawa to visit her grand.) I paid for two PCR tests ($100) before testing positive.
We both live on a farm and all the farmers are cutting hay right now. We had runny eyes, noses and slight cough. In other words, hay allergies. No other symptoms. At this point you either cruise, or you don’t. Just sayin’
 
The Rapid Antigen tests are only 74% accurate, if you have symptoms. As pp said just because you test negative two days before the cruise doesn’t mean you don’t have/contract Covid. People are not mentioning the Noro virus which really makes me want to wash my hands! We had Covid a week ago and didn’t know until we tested (my DSis was going to Ottawa to visit her grand.) I paid for two PCR tests ($100) before testing positive.
We both live on a farm and all the farmers are cutting hay right now. We had runny eyes, noses and slight cough. In other words, hay allergies. No other symptoms. At this point you either cruise, or you don’t. Just sayin’
i agree with your last sentence.

anyone taking a plane to get on a boat has a high liklihood at this point of having been really exposed to covid. no one is masking on planes anymore. we will be in august but i'm also going to test saturday to get on the ship monday (the 15th of august), flying on thursday. if we (despite wearing masks on the plan/indoors because thats how we roll) get covid on the plane thurs, the odds of us testing positive saturday on an antigen test are massively low.

and we are folks that are still covid careful/covid cautious.

they should just drop testing at this point and require vaccinations to mitigate risk of serious medical complications.
 
Just about everyone I know who has gone on vacation anywhere has gotten covid either while away or tested positive shortly after returning home. It isn’t just a cruise thing.
My husband got it this past trip to WDW and I think the main difference with us was eating table service this time around and of course not wearing masks. On our December 2021 trip, we choose not to do TS and wore masks just about everywhere and we were fine. We usually go in December every other year and it also may be the first time we've gone that time of year and not come back with bad colds.
 
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Just know that if you eat indoors that greatly increases your risk even if you wear mask everywhere else
I know; we've only been seated indoors a handful of times and accept that our luck may run out whenever we do it. Just comes down to whether the tables around us are contagious enough to get through whatever immunity I picked up to date I suppose. Every day I go in to work (2x a week at present) I get an email that someone was there who was positive, so the clock is running out anyway I slice it. I had been planning to continue running on the ship as I do at home, but I might skip it... I get overheated easily while working out and crank up the AC while on the treadmill. Not sure how well I'd do trying to wear a mask since that would make me even more hot. I assume all scheduling/masking has been dropped in the gym as well..?
 
This might sound callous, but I'm of the mindset that it is what it is at this point. If someone is severely compromised or worried about catching COVID (or any illness), then cruising and traveling in general is not for you. And that's fine. Do what's best for your situation.

I am vaxxed and boosted. We've been on multiple cruises with ships of different sizes and capacities, have been in crowded airports and planes, traveled domestically to various states, etc during the past year. Then out of nowhere I caught COVID around Easter from someone in my office. After all that.

Unfortunately, I believe COVID is here to stay is some form. And that may change from year to year. But I don't think people testing positive after coming from a cruise vacation should be big news anymore.
 
since Covid, we have taken at least 15 trips to WDW - via plane and hotel and stay onsite. We have been on 3 cruises as well. Family vaccinated - not boosted. I also travel for work, 3-4 flights a month with multi night hotel stays. never got Covid in all these travels.
My wife got covid from one of several students at school where masks were lifted and not required. I then got Covid from her.
So you can get it anywhere. Our school district stopped telling how many people had it. And to be honest most parent still send their kids to school with runny noses or coughs and DON"T want a covid test because the child would have to stay home for 10 days and they don't want that. So as a teacher she is around these students 8 hours a day, and the mask mandate was lifted and many got ill. But that's not on the news. So it's not just cruise travel. Cruise travel is just an easy target.
 
We were on the Dream the week of June 7th and both my son and mom tested positive after the trip. Both exhibited symptoms (fever, sore throat, tiredness) so that is why they tested. My husband, myself and my older son continued to test negative. I agree that cruise travel is an easy target. We knew the risk going into it, and I honestly don't think they even contracted it on the ship. I know it is tough to pin point where you got it because it could be transmitted anywhere, but if I had to guess it was from the airport or plane.
 
since Covid, we have taken at least 15 trips to WDW - via plane and hotel and stay onsite. We have been on 3 cruises as well. Family vaccinated - not boosted. I also travel for work, 3-4 flights a month with multi night hotel stays. never got Covid in all these travels.
My wife got covid from one of several students at school where masks were lifted and not required. I then got Covid from her.
So you can get it anywhere. Our school district stopped telling how many people had it. And to be honest most parent still send their kids to school with runny noses or coughs and DON"T want a covid test because the child would have to stay home for 10 days and they don't want that. So as a teacher she is around these students 8 hours a day, and the mask mandate was lifted and many got ill. But that's not on the news. So it's not just cruise travel. Cruise travel is just an easy target.
This is where I am. We've been really careful about where we go and what we do. Then, about a month ago, I got Covid and it was probably from school since we don't go many places. Luckily, no one in my house got it, but, I was kind of hoping they all did get it-a little extra protection for the cruise! LOL

But you're right, our kids' school stopped sending out messages about any positive cases. It's just one of those things that's going to be here to stay. I just hate having to quarantine if this is something we have to live with. Having to shut down our lives for a few days is really frustrating-I get it though, having an immunocompromised person in my family, but it's just I don't get how we learn to live with it when we have to stop our lives for 5 days and stay away from everyone. I'm from the Chicken Pox generation-we all got shoved around other kids who had it so that we could get it! LOL!
 
This is where I am. We've been really careful about where we go and what we do. Then, about a month ago, I got Covid and it was probably from school since we don't go many places. Luckily, no one in my house got it, but, I was kind of hoping they all did get it-a little extra protection for the cruise! LOL

But you're right, our kids' school stopped sending out messages about any positive cases. It's just one of those things that's going to be here to stay. I just hate having to quarantine if this is something we have to live with. Having to shut down our lives for a few days is really frustrating-I get it though, having an immunocompromised person in my family, but it's just I don't get how we learn to live with it when we have to stop our lives for 5 days and stay away from everyone. I'm from the Chicken Pox generation-we all got shoved around other kids who had it so that we could get it! LOL!
I wish it was only 5 days!!! I was positive for 11 and my husband 13. Son was negative so he could go to daycare… but we couldn’t bring him inside the building. So he stayed home for a week and a half while we tried to work from home. If sucked. We could have worn a mask and lied about being negative, but I would have hated if someone did that and my son got sick.
 

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