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cruise
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2023-06-20
Finally got COVID
I finally got sick with COVID after 3 years. I went on a cruise to celebrate my fiancé’s graduation and had to remove my mask when the heat was so bad in Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. I’m mostly worried about getting my fiancé sick who is disabled, but hopefully we don’t live together just yet. I’m currently being isolated in my parents house watching people stream on Twitch.TV and playing Animal Crossing. I had a fever of 101 yesterday, and hopefully am able to return to work on Friday which means I’ll be able to represent my work at Hampton Roads Pride on Saturday. Since it’s pride month, me getting COVID feels very homophobic -
2020-04-08
A Celebratory Trip Canceled by the COVID-19 Pandemic
I graduated from college in April 2020, one of my sisters also graduated from college that same semester, and my other sister graduated the year before. As a family we had planned a big trip to Florida and a cruise to the Bahamas as a celebration of our graduations. Unfortunately, because of locks downs and restrictions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 that trip was canceled. We weren’t able to reschedule that trip and I haven’t been on any trips since but if I could travel anywhere it would be on that trip with my family. I missed out on a fun travel experience to celebrate our graduations as a family because of the pandemic so being able to actually experience that trip now that restrictions are lifted would be a full circle experience. There are a few sites on Nassau that I would like to see like For Charlotte as well as the Pirate Museum. I would document my trip mostly through photography, especially since I would have limited access to the internet while on the cruise ship. This trip would mostly be about spending time with my family as we haven’t all been in the same place at once since Christmas of 2019. Traveling to me is mostly about creating memories with loved ones. The location and things we do are less important than the memories we create together. -
2021-04-22
Bye Quarantine Hair!
In December 2010, my husband and I made a pact with our friends, all of us either brand new parents or weeks away from becoming parents, that we’d go on a Disney Cruise together in summer of 2020. Well by planning time 2019, our friends bailed, but we were still committed. For Christmas 2019, we gifted our two kids and my mom a 7 day Disney cruise to the Caribbean. The first week of March of 2020, I went to get my hair done. I considered chopping it to my shoulders, but I told my hair dresser that I wanted to wait until July and chop it right before the cruise. I’m sure you know where this is going. Clearly, the cruise was one of earliest events to be cancelled due to the pandemic and I never went back to my hair dresser in 2020. Throughout the school year, I lamented over my waist length quarantine hair, in desperate need of a cut. Over and over I told my students “when I get vaxxed, I’m getting this chopped off since you know, no cruise.” By the end of March both my mom and I were vaccinated, but were unsure about our hairdresser. She had lost her shop during Covid - had she retired? With case counts declining significantly, we reached out to her and not only was she still doing hair inside her house, (one household at the time), but was vaccinated as well. So farewell to my quarantine hair, cut away all the fear and panic and sleepless nights of the past year and let’s start fresh. (No cruise though, my short hair and I will just hit the beach). -
2020-04-25
Did Cruise Companies Act too Late?
All it took was one passenger who disembarked a week before others began to fall ill, to quarantine all passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess by February 4th. Given the dire nature of these outbreaks, many have asked – did the cruise companies act too late? This Washington Post article outlines the experiences of the Celebrity Eclipse and Coral Princess, where before passengers could disembark, the two ships reported 150 Covid-19 cases and six deaths in April. At the time the article was written, the cruise industry reported outbreaks on 55 ships in waters across the globe and 65 deaths among passengers and crew. The article alleges that the industry failed to recognize the signs and symptoms of Covid-19, which later were confirmed as positive cases. Further concerning allegations from the article claim that cruise ships brought Covid-19 to ports and cities around the globe that were otherwise virus-free, where many places lacked the infrastructure to handle large-scale outbreaks. -
2020-08-07
CDC Rates Cruise Ships for Sanitation and Cleanliness
Cruise ships are bustling cities. Lido decks are a din of conversation over food, and while most cruise ships suspended buffets years ago, passengers still share access to, among others, refillable water stations, cookie baskets, and salt and pepper shakers. Tables are close together and guests stand closely in line. While hand sanitizer stations are dotted throughout common areas, cruise ships with so many people in such close quarters, are difficult places to prevent the spread of aerosol, airborne virus’ like Covid-19. Now that cruise ships, and world health organizations, have had time to assess the risk they are developing new protocols to help making cruising possible again when it is safe to do so. The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed the Vessel Sanitation Program, which is now shifting to include Covid-19 health protocols. Ships receive a surprise inspection from the CDC where they evaluate the following areas: medial facilities, potable water systems, swimming pools and whirlpool spas, galleys and dining rooms, child activity centers, hotel accommodations, ventilation systems, and common areas of the ship. At The Points Guy blog, they outline how the program works and how future cruisers can use the CDC data to inform the health and safety of their future vacation. -
2020-04-03
Cruise Industry Crewmembers Heroes during Covid Pandemic
The cruise industry is a tight-knit group, where it seems like everyone knows everyone else. The Covid-19 pandemic blindsided the industry, which was unprepared for how quickly Covid-19 would spread across the globe and amongst ships. Covid-19 stressed all health and sanitation protocols the industry at large had in place. This lead to some dire circumstances and a humanitarian crisis with Covid-19 outbreaks aboard cruise ships adrift at sea where they were denied port entry in numerous countries around the world. The following article is an appeal for help written early on in the crisis by Suzanne Westover, wife of Holland America Line’s Staff Captain Craig Ravesloot. Herself a former crew member, Suzanne uses her platform to remind the world that the onboard crew was working round the clock to protect the health and wellbeing of passengers. Her friends and colleagues at sea needed help, the situation was dire, what would we do if in the same position? -
2020-05-05
Professional Seafarers are Covid Essential Workers
My covid-19 story started at the end of January, 2020. I was working as a Marine Operations Manager for Holland America Group, which is comprised of four cruise companies: Holland America Line, Seabourn, Princess Cruises, and P&O Australia. As covid-19 spread across Asia in January, we stood up our Emergency Response Center, which involved taking 12-hour shifts to support the ms Westerdam, which had been denied docking in multiple ports in Asia as a result of the covid outbreak on the Diamond Princess. Though there were no covid cases onboard the ms Westerdam, she was denied docking in Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam, Guam, Philippines, and Taiwan. Our job was to ensure that our full complement of guest and crew had enough fuel and provisions, with toilet paper being of critical importance (seriously!), to make it until we could find a port that would allow the ship to dock. Eventually, the Cambodian government allowed the ship to dock in Sihanoukville to disembark guests, which became a political photo op of good will for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who attended the ship himself when it docked. But this story was just the beginning of the nightmare for cruise companies, and other maritime organizations. After working to disembark guests, the next hurdle was to repatriate crew, which was next to impossible with the extreme disruption to global travel, some crew members had spent months longer on the ships than anyone could have ever envisioned. Using our ships like ferries, we made plans to transport crew to their homes, but to compound the problem, local governments like South Africa and Mauritius were unwilling to accept their own nationals back when the ships arrived, which meant they had to keep sailing and further plans had to be made to get the crew home. What you see in the object attached is the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and that of its member companies making a humanitarian appeal in their interactions with local port authorities who were blocking their own citizens from returning home during this crisis. We were working long days, 7 days a week to get our colleagues home - but there is only so much you can do when local authorities will not cooperate. The object speaks to a desperate time in the maritime industry during the covid-19 pandemic. (Arizona State University, HST 580)