BREAKING NEWS: Prof. Cruise Catches Covid on a Cruise Ship!

Sorry for the alarmist headline, I was just trying my hand at click bait. Did it work?

However, while the “BREAKING NEWS” part and the dramatic punctuation were, admittedly, overkill, everything in between is factual. (I mean I could have gone all-in National Enquirer and blamed it on aliens who landed on the ship’s helipad and stealthily injected me with Covid without, conveniently enough, any witnesses).

I actually debated writing about this at all, but decided to share my experience for three reasons. First, it’s a salient part of my story as a professional cruiser, a “Professor of Cruising,” if you will. Second, because I’ve promised to always be honest and open with you, my trusted students and readers. And third, because I figured my experience may be helpful to anyone at high risk for Covid complications who is still on the fence about getting back to cruising. Obviously mine is just one story, so take it for what it’s worth.

With that…

My Story of Catching Covid on a Cruise Ship

I’ll try to keep this short and factual and to the point. As much as I’d relish in an equivalent number of clicks, this isn’t The Daily Mail! (But if you want to forward this link to, like, 10 million of your closest friends with subject, “YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS!,” I won’t complain.)

The setting: The Norwegian Spirit, on a 16-day sailing from Honolulu to Vancouver that visited 7 ports in Hawaii and Alaska.

Observable Covid precautions on our sailing: Full vaccination and a negative Covid test was required of passengers. Crew wore KN95 masks at all times around guests. And performers wore masks unless performing on stage or eating/drinking/outside. Our ship was sailing at 50% capacity as this was the last of NCL’s ships to re-enter service. There were crew members encouraging hand sanitizing outside the buffet and there were extra hand sanitizing stations near elevators and dining rooms. Masking of passengers was not required or encouraged and very, very few people masked (I observed 20 at most, including my family). There was no social distancing required or encouraged, except for a sign on the gym door posted midway through our sailing encouraging distancing (but none of the machines were blocked off). The ship didn’t feel overly crowded except for in the main theater (due to the low occupancy, shows were only performed once each night, so they were very, very full).

Personal Covid precautions taken: I did want to point out that, due to the long duration of this cruise and our need to get home to our dog and Mr. Cruise’s work immediately after (quarantine in Vancouver would have created major problems for us) and our general desire to avoid getting sick on vacation, we did choose to wear KN95 masks religiously while indoors while not actively eating or drinking. We also did our best to eat outdoors when that was possible and tried to distance when we could. In other words, we did everything within reason to avoid getting Covid. But 2 of the 3 of us still came home with it.

Known Covid presence on our ship: Two things happened alerting us to a Covid presence on our ship. First, a member of my Facebook roll call group reported that she’d tested positive after experiencing symptoms and was quarantined (along with others – she didn’t specify how many, just saying, “I’m not alone down here”) on deck 5 (not in her original cabin or cabin category). Second, we witnessed two crew members in full hazmat gear removing items in plastic bags from a passenger cabin. There was never any information about Covid cases communicated to passengers (that’s been my experience on all my many post-Covid cruises with the exception of one).

How and when I knew I had Covid: I started experiencing symptoms of Covid the day after we returned home and didn’t test positive until the next day (my test on that first day was negative). We did take a bus home from Vancouver to Seattle, so it’s possible we caught it there, but it’s unlikely since nearly everyone on the bus was masked and our symptoms started so soon after. My son started showing symptoms a day after me and tested positive that same day. Mr. Cruise is still negative and has no symptoms (scientists currently have his immune system under a microscope looking for an “S” symbol and a cape).

My experience with Covid after cruising: First, for context, I should note that I’ve been fully vaccinated and double boosted (my last booster was around a week before we boarded). My 9 year-old son has also been fully vaccinated and boosted.

My first Covid symptom was a bad sore throat and I thought I was getting a cold. I also had other classic cold symptoms the first day (when I tested negative) – mild body aches, a runny nose, and sneezing. It was when the sore throat went away, but the body aches and chills started getting worse (usually those only lasts the first day of a cold for me) that I suspected I might have Covid. I tested again and got a positive result immediately (the test line turned black the instant the liquid hit it).

I’m currently on day 5 of isolation and I’m feeling 100% better. I felt pretty miserable for days 2-3 with bad body aches, chills, and painful (weird feeling) sinus congestion. Thankfully, I never developed a cough or any breathing issues.

My 9 year-old son had a mild runny nose and a slight headache as his only symptoms and is also back to 100% today (although he’s a day behind me in his isolation).

Would I have taken this cruise knowing the outcome? I feel extremely lucky that we caught Covid at the tail end of our cruise and were able to enjoy it fully without becoming ill or having to quarantine on the ship or in Vancouver at debarkation. I also feel so fortunate that our symptoms were mild and that we caught it in time to (hopefully) minimize spreading it to too many others (I did alert NCL and the bus company and reported our test results to the state for contact tracing purposes).

But would I take this cruise again knowing the outcome? No, probably not. If there were zero risk of us having spread it to anyone else on the ship or on the bus, then, honestly yes, I’d do it again. It was inevitable that we were going to get Covid eventually and the outcome turned out fine for us. But I know others are still at risk for more serious illness and I would feel horrible if I spread to someone who had a less fortunate outcome.

A few final thoughts

I guess if this experience has taught me anything it’s that, despite any personal precautions one may take (and we took pretty much all of them), there is still currently the risk of catching Covid on a cruise ship. Each person has to calculate their own personal risk of Covid and play out the worst case scenario in the event of a positive test and quarantine (on the ship or in your debarkation city) and make the best decision for themselves.

So, what’s next for me? I’ve taken numerous cruises post-Covid (I was so eager to get back to cruising, I was on Carnival’s very first post-Covid cruise from Seattle) and will continue to cruise. In fact, I have another one booked for just a few weeks from now (assuming I text negative by then – please send me your good vibes!).

And with that…

Class Dismissed!

Homework (10 points): Share your own experiences with Covid and cruising in the comments and check back for my reviews of this latest cruise (despite the unfortunate ending, this was one of my favorite cruises ever!). And be sure to follow Prof. Cruise on your favorite social media sites:

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