Our Response to Current CDC Travel Advisory on Cruise Travel
CDC Travel Advisory
The Centers for Disease Control has issued a warning about cruise travel. As stated on their website:
Key Information for Cruise Ship Travelers
Avoid cruise travel, regardless of vaccination status.
Even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.
The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters on board ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you are fully vaccinated and have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose.
Outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported on cruise ships.
If you travel on a cruise ship, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel and get a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose if you are eligible.
People who go on a cruise should get tested 1–3 days before their trip and 3–5 days after their trip, regardless of vaccination status or symptoms
You can find the CDC guidance here.
Our Response
The first two bullet points shown above would indicate an admission by the CDC that the “vaccines" are not very effective. Even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants. Therefore, “vaccines” do not prevent getting or spreading the virus. Prior claims by the CDC and government officials promising an end to COVID-19 if everyone would just get vaccinated were apparently false and misleading. Unfortunately, these admissions now have many Americans questioning everything we have been told about COVID-19 and the “vaccines.”
The third bullet point The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters on board ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high has us scratching our heads. Is the virus more likely to spread between people in close quarters on a cruise than it is in a restaurant? How about an airplane? What about people in close quarters in a grocery store, or perhaps standing in line waiting to get a Covid test? Yet, there are no warnings for these venues, only for cruise ships. Why?
The fourth bullet point from the CDC states that Outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported on cruise ships. Since there have been a few thousand people testing positive on cruise ships, while hundreds of millions have tested positive around the world, would that not indicate that there have been many more outbreaks in places other than cruise ships?
The fifth bullet point is almost in contradiction with the first. If you travel on a cruise ship, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel and get a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose if you are eligible. But wait, I thought the vaccine did not guarantee protection against contracting or spreading the virus?
The sixth bullet point is almost nonsensical. People who go on a cruise should get tested 1–3 days before their trip and 3–5 days after their trip, regardless of vaccination status or symptoms. Every cruise line that I am aware of has been requiring a negative COVID-19 test withing 2 days of boarding for the past several months. In fact, that is the CDC's own protocol! It is statements like this that make us question the competence of the people in charge of our health and safety.
Royal Caribbean recently reported that since the restart of cruise operations in 2021, 1.1 million guests have returned only 1,784 positive test results. That is a 0.02% positivity rate. Compare that with Ft. Worth, Texas that recently reported a 24% positivity rate! Royal Caribbean went on to report that of the 1784 positive cases, only 41 were hospitalized. And, there have been no hospitalizations with the Omicron variant.
The Omicron variant is rapidly replacing the Delta variant as the dominant variant, which is very good news since it appears to be much less virulent than previous variants. It is likely that sooner rather than later, everyone, regardless of 'vaccine' status will be exposed to the Omicron variant. Fortunately, many who are infected with the Omicron variant are asymptomatic and only become aware of the infection after having been tested. While the "vaccines" and boosters may reduce the risk of death, serious illness or hospitalizations from Omicron, they have little, if any, effect on transmission of Omicron.
We see no reason to change our future travel plans based on the CDC warnings for cruise travel. If you choose to do so, we believe that is your right. We base our travel decisions on sound science and common sense, not media hype or hyperbole.
My review of Viking Ocean Cruises’ Viking Orion
