Anyone have any updates on when cruises think they can restart, or stock prices?
On July 29, I got an email saying all NCL cruises through October were cancelled. They haven’t yet cancelled November sailings so I’d say for right now , that company thinks it can restart in November.Of course, that could change in an hour.
YES. We can discuss many equally valid aspects of this situation but, in the end, that’s what it boils down to.
Maybe a better use for the soon to be scrapped ships would be to sail them over to Greece where that refugee camp burned down an let those people live in safer and more civilized conditions while they are being processed for immigration.
Were cruise ships always major vectors for illnesses?
I mean, in recent pre-COVID years, it seems that various forms of gastoenteritis got major news coverage after outbreaks on cruise ships (it’s where I first heard of norovirus). But before that – were outbreaks of, say, influenza or mononucleosis or meningitis common on cruise ships?
I know I was just a kid and was taking in information as a kid … but when The Love Boat was on television, going on ocean cruises was seen as glamorous and nary an onboard viral outbreak was ever mentioned in the press. Was that something the “jet set” (“boat set”?) would’ve been aware of in the late 1970s to early 1980s – that catching an illness on a cruise ship was an extra risk of taking ocean cruises?
Cruise ships have often been considered vectors for flu and viral gastro. I believe many ships have a doctor or medic on board. AFAIK, things like meningitis are far rarer due to the fact many cruisers are more elderly. Meningitis (among other things) might be more associated with infants and college dorms.
Since ships are a closed environment, do they know what the expected infection rate is for an outbreak? So if someone boards who has the flu, what percentage of the other passengers would they expect to subsequently get infected?
I’m sure it has studied internally. I don’t know of a specific number. Cruises might be local or international and different companies might take more precautions.
This study of 6m travellers between 2000-8 includes foreign package holidays - land and cruise. Something like 7% of land package and 5% of cruisers self-reported gastro symptoms. In this study, travellers diarrhea was slightly less common on sea than on land. Cruises have, of course, also been associated with Legionnaires Disease, a respiratory illness.
Perhaps smaller cruise ships had less chance to spread illnesses due to having a lot less people on board. The ship used in The Love Boat (MS Pacific) could carry around 1,100 people (guests and crew), while the current largest cruise ship (Symphony of the Seas) can hold almost 9,000 people (guests and crew). By the nature of how the accommodations pack as many people as possible into limited space, 24/7 food buffets, plenty of shared surfaces and spaces, as well as shared air circulation (especially for those internal berths), it should be no surprise that any illness could spread rapidly in such an environment.
All the ships for the major cruise lines have at least on doctor and two nurses onboard, the larger ships might sail with two doctors and 3-4 nurses.
A little bit of trivia I found through experience - on at least one major cruise line, the doctors are also trained to handle basic emergency dental work. If you break or lose a filling, you don’t have to scramble to find a dentist in port.
Even small cruise ships typically have a doctor. We enjoyed the ministrations of the Celebrity Xpedition’s doctor when my lovely wife developed a post-altitude sickness respiratory infection. This ship has under 50 cabins.
I have trouble reconciling a cruise with altitude, but there you go.
Typically an excursion to altitude
I wonder how that compares to a prison? If there are 2 doctors and 3-4 nurses to 9,000 people on large ships and 1 doctor to 100 people on a small ship (assuming 50 cabins is 100 people including crew maybe its 150). I’m sure it depends of if you are a cruise designed for the newly wed or the nearly dead.
The tour began in Quito (9-11k feet), then flew us to the ship in Galapagos (0 feet).
That is a pretty short flight. Did it just lift off the ground, then immediately land?
Ahem. It began with several days in Quito, then we flew to Galapagos, an altitude change of approximately 10,000 feet. Not a flight distance of 10,000 feet. Nor 10,000 to 0 without a hypotenuse. That would be a plunge, not a flight.
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/cruise-ship-during-pandemic-reporters-090743555.html
What cruising may look like going forward.