COVID is everywhere is the short answer.
Is a cruise ship prone to an outbreak? Sure. It’s no different to an outbreak of everything else when you have a bunch of people all sharing common spaces. However, it doesn’t mean you will get COVID.
We cruised on Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas in December 2022. Of the six of us who went on the cruise, two of us ended up with COVID and the rest of us didn’t. The two of us who did get it were not in the same cabins so those of us sharing with them never got it. I guess it’s the luck of the draw. Of the four of us who didn’t get it, three of us have never had it.
There are, of course, things you can do to help avoid it. The ship had hand sanitiser everywhere. Use it. When you’re out and about touching things, use it when you can.
Some people wear masks (we didn’t). We weren’t sick on the cruise and never experienced any symptoms. Once off the cruise, it took two days before the first of us tested positive and then the following day the next tested positive. Whether we got it from the cruise or the plane ride home we wouldn’t know. I do know we all tested negative when we got home.
One other thing that I did differently to my partner (who was one of our group who got it Christmas Day morning) was the vaccination. He got his fourth booster shot in September before we went to the Gold Coast as he was worried we would be more exposed due to school holidays and being at theme parks. I decided to wait until just before the cruise. Weather this assisted or it was just luck but either way, I never got COVID. I had my fourth booster shot just over two weeks before boarding the ship.
Another thing I, personally, avoided was sitting around in lots of areas with lots of people. I avoided the pools and spas, which aren’t really my thing to just sit around all day in anyway, and tried not to join every party on the ship (although we still attended some). When getting off things like the dodgem cars, where lots of people have touched controls before you, I made a conscious effort to not touch my face util I had used hand sanitiser. So did my partner though so, again, who knows.
I think the main thing to remember is that you need to continue to live your life, obviously, but there are certainly things you can do to help avoid it. Why take unnecessary risks if you don’t have to.
We’ll see on our next cruise how I go. I’ll be the only one left who hasn’t had it in the last couple of months so, fingers crossed, it stays that way. I guess we’ll see.
