Rant #2,673: Beyond the Sea

Since the pandemic hit, perhaps no industry was hit harder than the cruise industry, which was pretty much shut down because cruises had become potential Petri dishes to spread the virus.
 
It is only in recent weeks that the CDC has allowed cruises to pick up again, and the various cruise lines have just started to send out test cruises to make sure that all protocols in place will allow safe cruising and allow the industry to open up again.
 
Well, reports are that those plans to reopen the industry are going to have to be examined again.
 
Two passengers sharing the same stateroom on board the first North American cruise since 2020 tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
 
Incredibly, this happened in spite of the fact that all crew and adult passengers on board the Celebrity Millennium had to show proof that they were fully "vaccinated" as well as provide a negative COVID-19 test prior to or at the time of boarding.
 
The passengers found out they were positive while undergoing testing before disembarking the ship in St. Maarten.
 
The cruise line stated that the individuals are asymptomatic. Contact tracing is being conducted, and further testing is being done to all those people who might have come in contact with the infected passengers.
 
The Millennium is reportedly the largest COVID-19-vaccinated cruise in the world so far. The ship, which usually holds more than 2,000 people, is operating at about 30 percent capacity, or about 600 people.
 
Celebrity reportedly made some adjustments to its operations, like readjusting its usually crowded muster drill with an online version, and getting rid of self-serve buffets. They also increased staffing at the ship’s infirmary, which is now staffed with two doctors and 11 nurses, and they have added more ventilators on board as well as isolation rooms.
 
The interesting part of this story is that the CDC continues to recommend against cruise travel--but it recently gave Celebrity permission to sail the first cruise out of the U.S. at the end of the month from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
 
I guess that this particular cruise with the infected passengers was a test cruise, and you know that when you do a test, anything can happen.
 
Even with rigorous protocols, these infected passengers got through, because perhaps they didn’t have the virus when they got on board or they actually got the virus while on board, so that has to be found out.
 
I don’t know if this is going to set back the industry from reopening, but it probably puts a damper on people who signed up for cruises for this year, thinking that the worst of the pandemic was over with.
 
Personally, the cruise my family and I plan to take won’t be for another year, having been postponed several times by the pandemic.
 
With this misstep, or instance, or whatever you want to call it, we are hoping that by that time, well into 2022, that these problems will be minimized, or eradicated, and that we can finally take this cruise that we signed up for but was prevented from taking.
 
Evidently, things had gotten to the point that some cruise lines had lifted their ban on non-inoculated passengers, and were allowing both those with the shot and those without to sail.
 
We are going on the Carnival line, and currently, I believe they have in place that all passengers must be inoculated. I am willing to bet that they will also do testing before you get on the boat, or that you will have to be tested two days before getting on the boat.
 
And again—and this could be thought of as a  really nebulous point, but it is actually extremely important—what inoculation did these sick passengers receive to supposedly protect themselves from the virus?
 
I have been saying this for a long time, and I will continue to say it: did they receive the two-dose shots or just the single dose shot, the latter of which I don’t think offers enough protection from this virus either for the person getting it or for people who come in contact with those who have gotten it?
 
Look, this is all political nonsense to bring up the number of people who have been “vaccinated.” You would have to really have your head in the sand not to realize this, and if those two passengers received the one-dose inoculation, then what does that say about the effectiveness ot that shot?
 
Remember, just a few weeks ago, the Yankees were infested with the virus, with nine members of the team—including two coaches and one player who had already contracted the virus months before—getting infected, even though they had gotten inoculated—by the one-dose “vaccine.”
 
This story was kind of pushed aside because that is how the current narrative plays out, but these personnel were all in close contact with each other, much like people are on a cruise, and much like this duo that got the virus were in close quarters.
 
Look, I have no idea if the infected people on the cruise got the two-dose “vaccine” or the single-dose one, but it is very important for officials to ascertain which one they got, and why it did not protect them as it is advertised to do.
 
If it is found that they took the single-dose shot, I would say that the industry—with CDC backing—should insist that anyone taking cruises must get the two-dose shot, because the single dose shot is like shooting water into your veins, and gives a false sense of relief--and protection--to those who get it.
 
But whatever the case, the CDC must investigate how and why these two people supposedly were inoculated, passed all protocols to get on the ship, yet still somehow got infected.
 
It makes no sense, and until these questions are answered, it makes anyone who has a cruise in their future a bit wary about the efficacy of having a cruise when we are still in the middle of a pandemic, even if we are supposedly reaching the finish line to end this thing—
 
Or are we really?
 
Food for thought for now.
 
Have a good weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.