Category Archives for Cruises.
Between 40 and 60 passengers on board a Carnival Cruise ship in the waters off New York brawled across five levels of the ship. The fight began after a threesome among passengers led to cheating allegations and jealousy.
Indoor congregant settings are where the virus spreads most easily. Cruise ships require very high rates of vaccination in order to sail. They’re likely safer than spending time indoors at restaurants, bars and gyms or attending indoor concerts and sporting events. But they’re going to have Covid-19 cases because breakthrough infections are real, and they’re looking for cases.
It’s not the health risk you should be worried about, it’s whether you’ll be able to visit the ports on your itinerary, whether you’ll be quarantined in your room, and whether you’ll be allowed to disembark and return home as-planned.
I don’t think most people who are vaccinated with one of the mRNA vaccines in widest use in the United States have too much to fear from Covid-19, and shouldn’t be overly concerned about catching the virus on a cruise ship. However I still don’t think it’s a good idea to cruise now, even if you’re vaccinated.
That’s because other people might catch the virus, and you might be forced to quarantine. Or worse yet, your ship might not be able to dock. I’d want greater certainty that a cruise is going to end according to its published itinerary before recommending a return to sailing.
Carnvial Cruises has an elite status match program. They will match against casino loyalty programs, because they want big gamblers on their ships. And the offer even includes free cruises.
In the context of a growing epidemic in the U.S., I wouldn’t go anywhere near a cruise ship but also don’t see much public health benefit from banning them either providing rigorous testing is in place. Will you cruise while before the pandemic ends?
Cruise line CEO, on an earnings call, says it’s crazy for their customers to be booking cruises – and he wouldn’t do it, “who would book? It’s crazy,”
They claim they can offer “no cases of COVID-19 contamination” through “100 percent monitoring of people and goods before boarding” and strict health protocols. There are great protocols, but there are two problems that are stoppers.
This is a report out that cruise bookings are up 600% off of an extremely low base, and up 200% year-over-year. The claim is highly dubious if taken to mean that the cruise industry is on a path towards recovery or that people are prepared to cruise in the middle of a global pandemic.
It’s taken as almost a given that the cruise industry is going to suffer for the long term. After seeing shifts sailing endlessly, not welcomed in any port, and becoming floating petri dishes for the spread of disease, who is going to get back on a ship?
And yet there are reports that cruise bookings are actually up compared to the same point in 2019, with cruise customers saying they’ll sail again.
Over the past several days multiple airline flight crews have refused to work their flights because they were carrying passengers off of Holland America’s Zaandam cruise ship.
Now the U.S. government will no longer allow returning cruise passengers to take commercial flights.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
