15 WAYS TO AVOID GETTING COVID ON A CRUISE
By Guest Author Paulette Cooper
I can’t say I wasn’t warned. Many of my friends who had been on cruises this year came back with an unwanted souvenir. So, I wasn’t totally surprised when four days before the end of my 16-day transatlantic cruise, it was my turn to get Covid-19.
After I came home, I contacted several friends who had been on various ocean and river cruises in the last couple of years who had also caught Covid. I asked them how they thought they had gotten it, what they thought they had done wrong, and what they could have done instead.
But before you read these suggestions, recognize that there will always be some risks. Ships are filled with people coming from all over the world — most choosing to be maskless now —- so they’re like Petri dishes for the virus. You may get sick — and not just from Covid. Even so, there are a few things you could do that may enable you to avoid getting sick.
BUFFETS & DINING ROOMS: Do you really think you can stay 6 feet from people in front of you as they stop to grab an extra piece of bacon or fill a cone from the soft ice cream machine? You’re lucky if you can stay six inches away.
Buffets are risky. They’re usually crowded and in unventilated rooms. Dozens (hundreds?) of people before you probably used those same serving spoons and tongs to pick up food. The buffet area is often so crowded during meal times that you may be forced to sit next to strangers who could pass on more than just greetings.
The best bet is to go to the buffet (and also the dining rooms) earlier when fewer people have breathed the air. And wash your hands after, and not just before the meal if you’ve touched anything that others have also handled.
LECTURES & SHOWS: Today’s ships may hold as many as 500 people at a time in cavernous unventilated theaters. Free programs, shows and lectures range from the one on our Queen Mary 2 voyage by Lord Astor to those on our Norwegian cruise on napkin folding and how to make balloon animals. Consider wearing a mask if you’re in an unventilated area with a lot of other passengers even if so few others are doing it now. If the lights are out or dimmed for a show, no one will see you anyway. Also, choose a seat as far back as possible so fewer people are breathing toward you.
ELEVATORS, STEPS, AND LINES: It’s obviously safer to take the steps –except for the part where you hold on to the banister that hundreds of others have touched. But if you’re taking an elevator, choose one with fewer (or no) people. Wait a few minutes rather than grabbing one immediately before or after an activity when it’s generally packed with those leaving or entering.
Also, follow this timing with lines for the dining room, lectures, and shows. Time your arrivals and departures for when there are fewer people lined up.
POOLS AND WHIRLPOOLS: Indoor ones would seemingly be more dangerous than those outdoors. But outdoor pools and surrounding areas may be so crowded that passengers are practically on top of each other. Whirlpools are especially risky, indoors or out, because they’re small, and it’s hard to avoid people next to you breathing on you.
Choose whirlpools filled with fewer people. Go to the pool area late in the afternoon after the others have left, or early before the onslaught. Find a chaise lounge far away from others.
SAILAWAY: Most passengers go outside to watch the ship pull out, all squeezed together on a few upper decks. For example, in a New York sailing, almost everyone goes up to see the Statue of Liberty. Or to look up when the ship goes under the Verrazano Bridge. Ducking when you’re under it won’t protect you from Covid. Watching the scenic sailing from your cabin might.
CREW MEMBERS: Ships’ employees may be more likely to be Covid carriers because many sleep bunk-style in small unventilated rooms, and aren’t given (much) time off even if they’re ill. If someone gets too close to you, take a few steps back. Try to choose quieter dining venues so the wait staff can hear your order without invading your space with their possibly contaminated breath.
EXCURSION BUSES AND TENDERS: Unless you’re on an adventure excursion with open Zodiacs, you may get to and from your ship in a covered tender. And while you’ll be outdoors, tenders are small, and passengers are often so squished together that they’re still all breathing on top of each other.
Don’t be the first to leave the ship, or the last to return, which is when the most amount of people may be scurrying to get on and off tenders. As for the excursion buses, don’t wonder later how you got Covid after spending hours in an unventilated bus with mostly unmasked people. Just because you’ve left the ship doesn’t mean the virus hasn’t.
Finally, you may also think you’ll be safe if you try to avoid other passengers. But one reason you go on cruises is to make new friends and talk to people whom you might not meet at home. Ever try talking to someone from 6 feet away? There’s not much you can do about distancing if you want to meet people. And if you don’t, you might as well stay home.
But there is one other thing you can do. We went on our last cruise with another couple, and neither of them got Covid. Luck? Or was it that we were boosted eight months before the cruise, while they got their shots one month earlier, and were probably better protected? Vaccine immunity does wane, and timing is everything –- including when you have your shot.
