Reality TV Captain Says People Should Feel Okay Going on Cruises

With medical professionals busy saving lives and administering care during the coronavirus pandemic, it only makes sense that TMZ would turn to a yacht captain for scientific advice. Should people feel safe going back on boats and yachts and, god forbid, cruises?

Captain Sandy Yawn of Bravo’s Below Deck: Mediterranean says technically nothing is safe. She told TMZ (emphasis mine):

“Going to your grocery store isn’t safe. Are you going to live your life in fear, or are you going to live your life and take precautions? I choose to live my life and take precautions. If I live the rest of my life in fear, then I have no quality of life. So I say be smart, use your brain and do some deductive reasoning and then take precautions. But live.”

While the cruise industry is currently shut down, according to Royal Caribbean’s official website the organization expects to return to service June 12—a date that could obviously change. The CDC continues to recommend that all potential cruise travelers defer their plans.

When asked if she’s noticed any new protocols being taken, Sandy replied that “no one has been ill in [the] maritime sector,” which is just not true:

“The personal protection stuff… I think they’re working double time to keeping things disinfected, the same protocols everybody else is taking. The crew, you know, is taking temperatures. I know that we’re, most crews onboard yachts are tested and if they’re coronavirus [positive], they’re taken off the boat. But largely, no one has been ill in [the] maritime sector.”

Maybe she missed the news about the 100,000 crew workers stranded on cruise ships around the world with, at the very least, 50 confirmed covid-19 cases, as The Guardian reported in April.

At the least, Yawn thinks Below Deck should be safe since the show has filmed previous seasons in September and October and, she believes, “by then they’ll have a vaccine.” As much as I would love new seasons to mainline from the safety of my self-isolation, I can’t help but think maybe Yawn should be smart, use her brain, and do some deductive reasoning and recognize that a vaccine in four months likely ain’t gonna happen. But hey, maybe getting on a cruise ship—running the risk of being stranded at sea for months—is not quite as dangerous as going on a produce run.