What happens when you get Covid on a cruise ship?

We have reached the point when we realize that Covid-19 is something that isn’t going to vanish as we had once hoped. Many of us now have got back into travel a bit and maybe even taken a cruise in 2021! But what happens if you’re on a cruise and you test positive for Covid? What we ALL want to know is, What happens when you get Covid on a cruise ship?

Contributing writer, Jessalynn, shares with us her experience of testing positive on a cruise in between her two back-to-back sailings on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas. Here is her story…

I got Covid on a cruise ship

My cruising buddies and I always used to call it “the cruise crud.” It’s the vaguely sick feeling you have after a week or so of having too much fun on a cruise ship, where you’ve lost your voice and maybe you’ve got a bit of a sore throat or a cough. (All that air conditioning, you tell yourself – when really it’s the drinking, haha.)

About six nights into my 8-night cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas in December 2021, I started to feel the cruise crud coming on. Given the news about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, though, I started to feel apprehensive about the upcoming antigen test that was required to board the second leg of my back-to-back cruises.

As it turns out, I was right to be nervous. My antigen test came back positive. Here’s what happened next.

My test was at 9:45 and I headed back to my cabin to wait for the results. I was surprised not to see them pop up in my email quickly, but I didn’t really have anything planned and so I was fine to just laze around.

I was fine, that is until my phone rang at 11:15. It was Guest Services, asking me to stay in my cabin. My antigen test had come back positive.

I tested positive for Covid on my cruise.

The Guest Services manager said that someone would be contacting me soon. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, the doctor called from the Medical Center to ask me some basic questions. At this point in the cruise, I had been singing karaoke and playing in the casino all week, so I sounded pretty rough. But honestly, I felt mostly fine, and I told him that. He asked me some basic questions about my medical status (pre-existing conditions, allergies, etc) and said that a nurse would be coming up to my cabin to give me a PCR test

A few moments after I got off the phone with the doctor, I was called by security for contact tracing. The security officer asked me where I’d been for the past 48 hours and who I’d been with for more than 15 minutes. (It took a while to tell him these things…I’m a pretty social person, and that’s why I love cruising!)

At noon, a nurse showed up at my door. She stood outside as she took my temperature (normal) and put a clip on my finger to take my pulse and oxygen levels (both fine). Then she gave me the PCR test – that’s the brain tickler one – before she left. She told me they would call me with my results in 45 minutes.

(Sidebar, I got my first PCR test from a fantastic nurse who gave me some good advice for those tests – just concentrate on breathing in and out through your mouth and counting to 20. It’ll be over long before you get there.)

And then…I waited.

In the interim, I messaged with the friends I’d made on the cruise. There were four of us and we’d spent a lot of time together that week, in the dance club or casino (both unmasked venues) and out on the beach at our port stops. I had given their names to security, begrudgingly, after the officer told me that they would find my friends eventually using the overhead camera system, which they reviewed for contact tracing.

Tom Petty always said, “The waiting is the hardest part.” It’s actually true – the worst part of the day was the 75 minutes waiting for that second test, the PCR test. Finally, a doctor from the medical center called to tell me that the PCR test was positive.

He explained to me what would happen next. I would have to pack up my cabin (something I was expecting as I figured I would have to disembark the cruise the next day). I would be escorted down to the Medical Center for an intake appointment, and then I would be transferred to a quarantine area on a separate part of the ship.

It was about 1:15, and he asked what time I’d like to be moved. I asked for 4 pm and that was totally fine. I hadn’t showered, so I knew I’d need time to do that and then pack up all my things.

I spent the next few hours preparing to leave. I ordered room service, which was happily delivered and left outside my door. (In fact, when I told room service I had tested positive for Covid, I was told the delivery charge would be waived and they would move me to the front of the line.) I ate my room service and packed up my things to go.

A little before 4:00, housekeeping asked me to put my bags outside the door so they could be picked up and taken to my new room. Then a little after 4:00, a knock on my door signaled the arrival of the team that would take me down to the Med Center.

This part was surreal. I should have taken pictures, but honestly, it seemed a little too voyeuristic of my own experience. But I was escorted down a back hallway to the medical center by three guys in Hazmat suits, and behind us, a guy used a fogger to clear the hallway.

Arriving at the onboard medical center

Upon arriving in the Medical Center…I did a lot more waiting. (Anyone who’s been to a cruise ship medical center knows this drill.) First, I talked to the same doctor I’d spoken with on the phone earlier. He assessed me and assured me that my symptoms were mild and I would be fine. He listened with a stethoscope to my breathing.

Next, it was a nurse who took blood for tests (I was told one was for liver function, which was HILARIOUS given the amount of alcohol I’d been drinking the last seven days) and who also took a chest x-ray. Then a temp check and a pulse ox check.

I waited for a while, presumably for the results of those tests, before I was led to my quarantine room, right down the hall from the Medical Center. It was an oceanview room, very clean and nice, with a porthole window. I was told to call if there was anything that I needed. I have to say, when you get Covid on a cruise ship, they try and take good care of you.

My quarantine cabin

It was a little after 6:00 by the time I got into the room, so I called guest services right away to ask about dinner, and to inquire about a photo that I had ordered just before I got my covid test that was supposed to be delivered to my original cabin. I was told that yes, the photo would be delivered to the new cabin and that the dining room would call me to take my order.

Half an hour later, still no dining room. I called back to Guest Services and she said that the dining room would call shortly, and I asked for a bucket of ice to be brought to the cabin. (I never did see that ice, haha.)

It was nearing 7:30 and with still no opportunity to place my order, I called Guest Services a third time. This time I spoke to a manager, who assured me that the dining room would be calling (they finally did, about ten minutes later). He also told me some vague details about what would happen the next day: I would be taken off the ship and brought to a hotel where I would be put up until a private flight could be secured to take me home.

I still didn’t have a lot of information, but at least that was something. One big thing I’ve learned through this process is that you have to be patient and wait a lot.

I was able to order the filet from Chops as part of my dinner and even though it was brought to me in reusable paper containers, it was a nice touch. (I was lucky to still have a half bottle of wine leftover from the night before, haha.) The rooms all have a small table outside where they leave your room service order or anything else you might have delivered.

A few moments before my dinner arrived, someone else from room service had called to take my breakfast order for the next morning. I finally went to sleep around 10 pm since I’d been told to expect my breakfast between 7:00 and 7:30 am. So, at least I’m well-fed while I wait. 😉

Part II – Disembarking the ship and what happened next…

Are you worried about what happens if YOU get Covid on a cruise? Share with us in the comments below.

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