Thought of the Day - September 3 2021 - Cruising

With cruise ships plying the waters around the USA, their CDC has introduced a COVID-19 status reporting system for ships operating or planning to operate in US waters.

A table on the CDC website, which promises to be updated several times a week, assigns each ship a colour status. The colour-coding is based on both surveillance data collected over the previous 7-day period as well as the findings of any CDC investigations.

These are the CDC definitions of each of the colour codes:

• Green: No COVID-19 cases or COVID-19-like illnesses are reported onboard;

• Orange: Reported cases are below the CDC threshold for investigation, which varies for restricted voyages, simulated voyages and ships with crew-only;

• Yellow: The ship meets the threshold for investigation (for crew or passenger COVID-19 cases), or a state or local health department has notified the CDC of passenger cases occurring within five days of disembarkation [yes, yellow is worse than orange];

• Red: The ship is at or above the threshold for passenger and crew COVID-19 cases. Based on CDC investigation, the ship is subject to additional public health precautions, such as immediate return to port or delay of the next voyage;

• Gray: The ship operator’s health and safety protocol hasn’t been reviewed or confirmed by the CDC; this only applies to ships arriving in, located within, or departing from a port in Florida that chose not to follow the CDC Conditional Sail Order (CSO) voluntarily.

As of today, ships operated by the following cruise lines are included in the table: American Queen Steamboat Company, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Company, Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc., Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Crystal Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceana, Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, and Silversea Cruises LTD.

Of the 70 ships currently listed: 33 are green with no reports of COVID- onboard; 15 ships are rated orange; 22 are yellow; none are red or gray. While this does not sound too bad, please note many of these ships are not yet active. Last month, the CDC reported that 15 of the 24 ships currently sailing in U.S. waters with paying passengers have experienced outbreaks of the virus onboard - Staggering!

Canada will soon allow cruise lines to once again enter Canadian ports ( Thought of the Day - July 23 2021 - Nuttin' Borin' 'bout Borders ). Hopefully, we are also implementing an easily accessible outbreak reporting system.

Oh, and while we are on the subject of cruise ships, for those of you looking for options to once again be able to visit friends, or access your property or boat in Point Roberts, WA, USA, there is a new option being offered by none other than National Geographic. In case the US decides to once again extend the border closure into October, just fly down to Seattle for October 2nd, and join an eight-day cruise onboard the National Geographic Venture.

“Explore the Salish Sea includes stops around the San Juan Islands and arriving on day three to Point Roberts. Visit the pene-exclave of Point Roberts, WA, a unique area which has been cut off from the rest of the world as a result of politics and the pandemic,” reads the promotional flyer for the excursion.

The catch, besides the fact that the Lindblad-National Geographic is not yet one of the cruise lines registered and rated on the CDC site, is the cruise starts at $5,290 per head.

Cheers

Cliff