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Wednesday, September 15, 2021

MSC Virtuosa Passenger Dies of COVID-19 after Super Spreader Cruise

"COVID has got a hold of me. I love you": were the veteran's heartbreaking final words before he died from coronavirus after cruise with family on board the MSC Virtuosa.




The MSC Virtuosa had significant outbreaks on board with multiple passengers (counts have been estimated to be over 100) complaining of COVID-19 after returning from their European cruise.  This went virtually unnoticed in the US press since most of the passengers were British. 

Unfortunately one passenger died after this super spreader cruise. 

 

A spokesperson for cruise line MSC said they were "devastated" to learn of Mr Broyden's death and that all members of his party tested negative, in line with their protocols, upon boarding the ship.

The 81-year-old Navy veteran went on the cruise with his wife Carol, 74, her son Gary Shelley, Gary's eight-year-old son, his girlfriend Sue and her two daughters, aged nine and 11.

While they were aboard the MSC Virtuosa - one of the world's largest cruise ships - signs started to emerge that COVID had broken out on board with their children asked to go for tests, staff suddenly wearing hazmat suits, and some isolated incidents of people seen coughing and apparently struggling to breathe around the lift areas.

About five days into the cruise, Mr and Mrs Broyden began to feel unwell, and so spent the final portion of the trip confined to their cabin, although staff were not informed and therefore no tests were carried out.

Mr Broyden, who suffered with Non Hodgkin lymphoma and was classed as "high risk", had been given the go ahead by his physician to go on the cruise after his lymphoma blood levels were checked and found to be good.

Now MSC has announced increased COVID measures on board the Virtuosa. 

Cruise companies have a vested interest to not report cases of COVID-19 to the media or to passengers.  While we sailed on Viking Jupiter in Iceland during July, a passenger tested positive for the virus.  As a result, some passengers were quarantined for the remainder of the cruise due to contact tracing.  Viking never told us as passengers, that there was a confirmed COVID case or that other passengers were in quarantine.  In fact, the rumor was circulated that the case was a false positive and was never confirmed.  We suspect that rumor was circulated intentionally.  The Viking Sky, on the same itinerary, three days ahead of us had the entire second half of their cruise cancelled due to a COVID-19 case. 

Unfortunately the CDC does not require reporting of COVID cases on ships operating outside of US ports. Royal Caribbean recently had a passenger sent to the hospital in Italy due to COVID-19 as reported by an Italian news organization. 

Thinking of cruising? What can you do?

Good luck if you would like to know how many people infected with COVID-19 from being aboard cruise ships. Clearly you won't be provided that information by the cruise industry.  Fortunately, the CDC is making efforts to inform the public. 

USA Today initially reported in early August that the CDC updated its guidance to recommend travelers (departing from U.S. ports) who are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 avoid cruise ships, regardless of their vaccination status. According to the CDC:

"CDC recommends that people who are not fully vaccinated avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises, worldwide. That’s because the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is high since the virus appears to spread more easily between people in close quarters aboard ships. It is especially important for people with an increased risk of severe illness to avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises. CDC has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for cruise ship travelers who are not fully vaccinated."

The new CDC guidance applies to older adults (defined as 65 and older), people with certain medical conditions and pregnant and recently pregnant people. Prior to this announcement, the CDC recommended that only people who were not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 completely avoid cruise ships. 

A table on the CDC website, which promises to be updated several times a week, assigns each ship a color status—green, orange, yellow, red or gray. 

The color-coding is based on both surveillance data collected over the previous 7-day period as well as the findings of any CDC investigations. (When cruise ships notify the CDC of a suspected or confirmed case of the virus, the agency determines whether an investigation is needed.) 

  • Green status means the ship has no reports of cases of COVID-19 or COVID-19-like illness.
  • Orange status means the ship has reported cases of COVID-19 but is below the threshold for CDC investigation.
  • Yellow status means the ship has met the threshold for CDC investigation, which includes one of the following criteria:
    • at or above the investigation threshold for crew COVID-19 cases,
    • at or above the investigation threshold for passenger COVID-19 cases; or
    • state or local health department notified CDC of passenger COVID-19 cases occurring within 5 days of disembarkation.
  • Red status means the ship is at or above the threshold for passenger and crew COVID-19 cases. Based on CDC’s investigation, additional public health precautions, such as returning to port immediately or delaying the next voyage, will be taken to help ensure the health and safety of onboard travelers or newly arriving travelers.
  • Gray status means CDC has not reviewed or confirmed the cruise ship operator’s health and safety protocols. This status only applies to cruise ships arriving in, located within, or departing from a port in Florida that chose to not follow the CSO on a voluntary basis.
The major limitation of this system is that it only informs us about cruise ships operating or planning to operate in U.S. waters. For example, we cruised in Iceland during July 2021 on Viking Ocean and data on that line is not available.  Click here to see our series of videos from Iceland on YouTube. 


Click below to check out these combined vaccine card and passport covers at Amazon! You can use them to organize all the documents needed to travel internationally these days! 




Wednesday, September 8, 2021

CDC updates COVID-19 Testing Guidance for Cruise Ship Industry

Check your favorite cruise line! At least four cruise lines have shortened the time that guests have to get a negative COVID test before their cruise, after the Centers for Disease Control made changes to the Conditional Sailing Order (CSO).



Even though the CSO and its accompanying guidance are now non-binding recommendations, several cruise lines have chosen to continue to adhere to its advice on a voluntary basis.

Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC, Disney, and Holland America have announced newly-updated pre-cruise testing protocols set to begin on all sailings from the U.S. from Sept. 13, 2021. Princess Cruises will begin implementing its new pre-cruise testing requirements beginning Sept. 19, 2021.

All of these lines are requiring a negative COVID test two days prior to embarkation.  For example if you sail on Saturday, you will need to provide proof of a negative test taken Thursday, Friday or Saturday. The only outlier from this list of cruise lines is Norwegian.  NCL recently updated their policy to PROVIDE  the test to passengers at the port prior to embarking:

"All guests will be required to take a COVID-19 antigen test, administered and paid for by the cruise line, prior to boarding and receive a negative result. Guests are also responsible for complying with all local health and safety requirements which may include additional testing."

Princess Cruise Line has only indicated that they have partnered with Quest Diagnostics to facilitate a pre cruise COVID test, however be prepared that your insurance company will be billed.  Princess has indicated they will provide guests with a COVID test upon disembarking from a cruise vacation if required to reenter your home country. You should note that the CDC suggests ocean and river cruise guests get tested for COVID 3-5 days after disembarking from your ship. 

Many cases of COVID have been reported since cruise ships began operating again.  Carnival Cruise Line has had the significant press regarding their voyages and one passenger passed away after being removed from her voyage in Belize. 

The MSC Virtuosa had significant outbreaks on board with multiple passengers (counts have been estimated to be over 100) complaining of COVID-19 after returning from their European cruise.  This went virtually unnoticed in the US press since most of the passengers were British. Now MSC has announced increased COVID measures on board the Virtuosa. 

Cruise companies have a vested interest to not report cases of COVID-19 to the media or to passengers.  While we sailed on Viking Jupiter in Iceland during July, a passenger tested positive for the virus.  As a result, some passengers were quarantined for the remainder of the cruise due to contact tracing.  Viking never told us as passengers, that there was a confirmed COVID case or that other passengers were in quarantine.  In fact, the rumor was circulated that the case was a false positive and was never confirmed.  We suspect that rumor was circulated intentionally.  The Viking Sky, on the same itinerary, three days ahead of us had the entire second half of their cruise cancelled due to a COVID-19 case. 

Unfortunately the CDC does not require reporting of COVID cases on ships operating outside of US ports. Royal Caribbean recently had a passenger sent to the hospital in Italy due to COVID-19 as reported by an Italian news organization. 

Thinking of cruising? What can you do?

Good luck if you would like to know how many people infected with COVID-19 from being aboard cruise ships. Clearly you won't be provided that information by the cruise industry.  Fortunately, the CDC is making efforts to inform the public. 

USA Today initially reported in early August that the CDC updated its guidance to recommend travelers (departing from U.S. ports) who are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 avoid cruise ships, regardless of their vaccination status. According to the CDC:

"CDC recommends that people who are not fully vaccinated avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises, worldwide. That’s because the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is high since the virus appears to spread more easily between people in close quarters aboard ships. It is especially important for people with an increased risk of severe illness to avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises. CDC has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for cruise ship travelers who are not fully vaccinated."

The new CDC guidance applies to older adults (defined as 65 and older), people with certain medical conditions and pregnant and recently pregnant people. Prior to this announcement, the CDC recommended that only people who were not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 completely avoid cruise ships. 

A table on the CDC website, which promises to be updated several times a week, assigns each ship a color status—green, orange, yellow, red or gray. 

The color-coding is based on both surveillance data collected over the previous 7-day period as well as the findings of any CDC investigations. (When cruise ships notify the CDC of a suspected or confirmed case of the virus, the agency determines whether an investigation is needed.) 

  • Green status means the ship has no reports of cases of COVID-19 or COVID-19-like illness.
  • Orange status means the ship has reported cases of COVID-19 but is below the threshold for CDC investigation.
  • Yellow status means the ship has met the threshold for CDC investigation, which includes one of the following criteria:
    • at or above the investigation threshold for crew COVID-19 cases,
    • at or above the investigation threshold for passenger COVID-19 cases; or
    • state or local health department notified CDC of passenger COVID-19 cases occurring within 5 days of disembarkation.
  • Red status means the ship is at or above the threshold for passenger and crew COVID-19 cases. Based on CDC’s investigation, additional public health precautions, such as returning to port immediately or delaying the next voyage, will be taken to help ensure the health and safety of onboard travelers or newly arriving travelers.
  • Gray status means CDC has not reviewed or confirmed the cruise ship operator’s health and safety protocols. This status only applies to cruise ships arriving in, located within, or departing from a port in Florida that chose to not follow the CSO on a voluntary basis.
The major limitation of this system is that it only informs us about cruise ships operating or planning to operate in U.S. waters. For example, we cruised in Iceland during July 2021 on Viking Ocean and data on that line is not available.  Click here to see our series of videos from Iceland on YouTube. 


Click below to check out these combined vaccine card and passport covers at Amazon! You can use them to organize all the documents needed to travel internationally these days! 




Monday, September 6, 2021

COVID-positive vaccinated passenger medevaced from Royal Caribbean's ship Harmony of the Seas in Italy

On September 1, 2021 a passenger on board Harmony of the Seas was transferred to a hospital in La Spezia Italy after he complained of symptoms of COVID-19.  The vaccinated passenger boarded the ship on August 29, 2021 in Barcelona and shortly thereafter complained of symptoms consistent with the virus.    The day following a planned stop by the ship in Palma de Mallorca, it was arranged to have the passenger to be transported to the Sant’Andrea hospital in La Spezia. He was admitted into the infectious diseases ward and was accompanied by his wife who remained with him as the ship sailed on to the next port.  




According to the Italian newspaper Il Secolo XIX who reported this on September 2, 2021, Royal Caribbean required all guests over the age of eighteen to be vaccinated and test negative before boarding. The entire crew is vaccinated. The article states that the guests also “suffered from other important pathologies.” He tested negative for COVID-19 shortly before embarking the ship. No further updates have been given. 

After disembarking the infected guest, the Harmony called on ports in Civitavecchia (Rome) and Naples, Italy. There were no other public reports of COVID-19 infection among the crew or other guests. The ship returned to Barcelona tomorrow on September 5, 2021.

Carnival Cruiseline has had their own issues with COVID-positive passengers and one elderly passenger removed from a Carnival ship in Belize later died of the virus. 

Thinking of cruising? What can you do?

Good luck if you would like to know how many people infected with COVID-19 from being aboard cruise ships. Clearly you won't be provided that information by the cruise industry.  Fortunately, the CDC is making efforts to inform the public. 

USA Today initially reported in early August that the CDC updated its guidance to recommend travelers (departing from U.S. ports) who are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 avoid cruise ships, regardless of their vaccination status. According to the CDC:

"CDC recommends that people who are not fully vaccinated avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises, worldwide. That’s because the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is high since the virus appears to spread more easily between people in close quarters aboard ships. It is especially important for people with an increased risk of severe illness to avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises. CDC has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for cruise ship travelers who are not fully vaccinated."

The new CDC guidance applies to older adults (defined as 65 and older), people with certain medical conditions and pregnant and recently pregnant people. Prior to this announcement, the CDC recommended that only people who were not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 completely avoid cruise ships. 

A table on the CDC website, which promises to be updated several times a week, assigns each ship a color status—green, orange, yellow, red or gray. 

The color-coding is based on both surveillance data collected over the previous 7-day period as well as the findings of any CDC investigations. (When cruise ships notify the CDC of a suspected or confirmed case of the virus, the agency determines whether an investigation is needed.) 

  • Green status means the ship has no reports of cases of COVID-19 or COVID-19-like illness.
  • Orange status means the ship has reported cases of COVID-19 but is below the threshold for CDC investigation.
  • Yellow status means the ship has met the threshold for CDC investigation, which includes one of the following criteria:
    • at or above the investigation threshold for crew COVID-19 cases,
    • at or above the investigation threshold for passenger COVID-19 cases; or
    • state or local health department notified CDC of passenger COVID-19 cases occurring within 5 days of disembarkation.
  • Red status means the ship is at or above the threshold for passenger and crew COVID-19 cases. Based on CDC’s investigation, additional public health precautions, such as returning to port immediately or delaying the next voyage, will be taken to help ensure the health and safety of onboard travelers or newly arriving travelers.
  • Gray status means CDC has not reviewed or confirmed the cruise ship operator’s health and safety protocols. This status only applies to cruise ships arriving in, located within, or departing from a port in Florida that chose to not follow the CSO on a voluntary basis.
The major limitation of this system is that it only informs us about cruise ships operating or planning to operate in U.S. waters. For example, we cruised in Iceland during July 2021 on Viking Ocean and data on that line is not available.  Click here to see our series of videos from Iceland on YouTube. 


Click below to check out these combined vaccine card and passport covers at Amazon! You can use them to organize all the documents needed to travel internationally these days!