I have to date and will from here on in, keep well away from these floating skips. I think I might even rather be dragged into MacDonalds to eat something loosely described as 'food' than to venture out on a cruise "skip" I mean ship.... Good luck to those people who like them though. Each to their own.
OK don't read the articles. One of the worst as I remember was Diamond Princess, with Covid 19 outbreak on board, with the ship quarantined at Yokohama from 4 February 2020 for ab out a month. More than 700 people became infected, and 14 people died. There were around 3500 people onboard in total so the infection rate was 20%. You might consider a 20% infection rate extremely small. No one that I know does, especially when discussing a potentially fatal disease.
Spent most of my working life at sea, so as a holiday, you couldn't get me on a cruise. That aside, I've spent a lot of time in and out of the Norwegian fjords. The views are spectacular and well worth the journey. My personal choice would be to do it by road and all the wee ferry crossings. Pack some serious wedge if you are going to be drinking ashore.
The issues on Diamond Princess were caused by asymptomatic passengers boarding the ship very early on in the pandemic and were mostly due to lack of knowledge about the disease within the shore authorities and local governments concerned at the time - hence the passengers and crew were held onboard. Of the 3711 passengers and crew onboard, 712 tested positive; giving an infection rate of around 19%. 14 subsequently died. Of those that tested positive the fatality rate was less than 2%; the fatality rate in those infected in the UK population is 2.8%. According to the latest ONS figures well over 15% of the British population have contracted Covid 19 so far. There are 314 cruise ships operating in the world. Of those 40 have had outbreaks of Covid onboard, over 3,500 case have been reported and there have been 93 deaths of passengers and crew members - a fatality rate of 2.7%, so (just) less than the UK population. At the start of the pandemic there were around 950,000 people at sea on cruise ships worldwide. 93 deaths from 950,000 people is around 0.01% 128,000 deaths from a UK population of 68.2million is around 0.19%
Personally a cruise isn't for me, the wife likes them and has been on a few with family and friends. I've point blank refused. I'm not interested in just seeing all of the plastic tourist traps that they're going to take you to, and being stuck in a floating hotel between doesn't tick any boxes. I've said when I'm old and can't be ars&d to go through customs, getting on a plane, waiting in airports etc I'd possibly consider it. But that's just my opinion, like I said she likes them.
The figures of UK infection of 2.8% -when was that figure established and by whom? Comparisons between the UK public and cruise ship passengers seems a rather strange one to me. Is it not true to say that the cruise ships were not in operation for most of the last year? As you are so certain that disease is not passed around cruise ships at alarming levels as it is in every other enclosed, high population density place, perhaps you can explain why that it the case? Also if you knew that to be the case, why did no one else think the same way - afterall were the ships not mothballed for a reason? BTW. Covid was passed around the world by asymptomatic cases. What is relevant is whether cruise ships are more -or less- likely to facilitate spread those aboard when compared to other environments.
I didn't say the infection rate was 2.8% - I said the fatality rate was... That's simple enough to calculate, you just compare the number of people who have been infected to the number that have died... Ships were "mothballed" as you put it to stop the mass movement of people around the world - you might have noticed that most air travel has been restricted too, as has a lot of land travel. To be honest, it obviously doesn't matter what I say because you clearly don't believe, or don't want to believe, anything I put forwards... Enjoy you day
Though that in itself is flawed as it's based on statistics of a closed/contained group where every single person has been, no doubt, tested on-board a ship. Versus the population of a country where not everyone has been tested, plenty just self isolating with mild symptoms or being asymptomatic, yet there's more accurate stats for the number of deaths side of the equation due to the finality of the outcome.
Its certainly true that I will not be convinced of that aboard a cruise ship because (AFAIK) its inaccurate. However, here in the UK the sun has shown up for the first time in several months, and as this will likely be hailed as a prelude to a drought I really ought to get outside and enjoy it! I wish you and yours a very enjoyable weekend too.
When my wife and I did the Holland Line Alaska inner passage cruise, a mate quipped that cruises are for over feds, newly weds and nearly deads! Lols, element of truth there too!
Bear in mind cruise target audiences is also same for covid deaths. You’d expect higher rates per se, common sense maths, than main population. Just like any all inclusive type holiday, biggest risk is probably food poisoning. And ime of 1 cruise (bit friends who do several a year) it’s hardly Spain for £399 all week all in and the service, quality and cleanliness is far better than your average on-land AI hotel
Update: Scotland doesn't even allow cruise ships full of vaxxed Brits to dock! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-57406705
