OzKiwiJJ

If masks are worn by everyone the spread would be significantly reduced. Masks are most effective at reducing aerosol transmission from an infected person, and people are usually infections for around two days before developing symptoms. But since far too many people either don't wear properly fitting masks, or wear them incorrectly (noses poking out, big gaps at the sides etc) then Covid spreads far too easily.

Yes, there will be overlap so Covid might stay onboard. Also I just discovered what the R0 factor is for the latest variants of Omicron. No wonder it spreads like wildfire onboard, especially with so many idiots onboard not wearing masks properly.

This is why Covid is spreading so quickly on cruise ships. Flu has a R0 of between 1 and 2.

The logic of that is skewed. It assumes there are no formalities to be done on arrival in Sydney. Wrong! The ship still has to be cleared by the the authorities and there is no guarantee it will be cleared promptly. Chances are it will be but ...

It's best to take wine in your carry-on. There is usually a table just after the security scanning where you declare your wine, if you have more than one bottle per person, and pay the corkage on the extra bottles.

1. There will be very little Covid onboard when you embark as most, if not all, passengers from the previous cruise will have disembarked taking most, if not all, Covid cases off the ship. 2. New passengers will bring Covid onboard - unwittingly in most cases but possibly deliberate (faking their pre-cruise RAT) in some cases. 3. If everyone wears masks properly and reports to the medical centre at the slightest onset of any symptoms then Covid will not spread. However pigs will have to fly for this to happen! 4. Be sensible, wear a good quality mask when moving around the ship and in theatres, wash your hands regularly and use sanitizer when needed, and have a great cruise.

The RATs we use at home state result not valid after 15 minutes on the instruction sheet, and the guy that did my RAT on Princess also said to take a photo immediately as it might not stay the same after 15 minutes. We always bin them as soon as we've finished with them.

The last time we did an NZ cruise, in 2019, the processing was done in Hobart.

So far we've booked at $30 (unbelievable value), $40 (still very good value), and $50 (OK but the limited selection of wines gets very boring). I think $65 will be too borderline for us. On Sea Princess in 2019 our average drinks cost pp per day was under $54 and we didn't stint on the wines we bought by the bottle. Add in $7.50 or so for internet and that's only $61.50. Plus we're spending $5-7 pp per day extra for decent wines occasionally and other drinks over the Plus limit. I think wine by the bottle is more expensive now but even so it won't be worth getting the Plus fare.

Because the results on the strips are only valid between 10-15 minutes of being activated so there could be a problem if you can't get hold of your steward in that time.

We've got the Westerdam cruise coming up so we'll see how that suits us. They had reasonable fares with drinks packages, internet, excursion credits, and speciality restaurants included. Not gratuities though unfortunately. It's a shame as Princess suits us in so many ways.

I've already got enough cruises booked between now and the 2024 world cruise, thank goodness.

They should be requiring a photo of the negative RAT that then gets shown to the cabin steward by a certain time. The ship's medallion system should be able to register that people have tested negative, the medical centre will know who reported positive, and security can chase down the rest.

I just read the email. It's $65 pp per day here. We won't be getting the Plus package on any new Princess cruises we book. We'll stick with the ones we already have booked - which includes the 2024 world cruise at the original $40pp per day. It might be time to start looking at the luxury lines.

It was. At $50 it's still a reasonable deal unless you like decent quality wines with meals. They haven't honoured the "25 wines by the glass" that the drinks package is supposed to have, there are only 9. At $60 it starts losing it's value and offering "premium desserts" that look like something that would more suit a children's birthday party is almost an insult.

If Princess mandates tests must be done on a particular day they supply the test kits, in our region at least. Also all Covid treatment onboard is free.

That's very sensible. It should catch any cases that have developed since embarkation and slow the spread. Ideally tests should be done every second day until this current Covid wave subsides.

Hang in there, Les. {{{{{Hugs}}}}}

How late in November? I think most of the cruise lines wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas.

What is it with people who do that? It's happened to me twice now: - In 2019 we stood outside the OPT in heavy rain for an hour waiting for Border Force to allow embarking passengers into the terminal. The delay was caused by four passengers deciding that they didn't have to go through passport control. - In September this year, on a B2B, we sat in the cruise terminal for over an hour before being allowed back onboard because two passengers decided that they didn't have to leave the ship to clear Customs. At least that time we didn't have to wait outside in the cold.

The other point to remember is that in terms of numbers Tier 2 and Tier 3 are different for each ship as it is a percentage of passengers and crew, not a fixed number. So for Coral Princess Tier 2 kicks in at around 87 cases, Tier 3 at around 290 cases, based on lower berth and crew counts. Majestic Princess is 147 and 490 cases respectively. Ovation of the Seas is 164 and 548 cases respectively.

Sure, but probably not as many as there should be especially early on in a cruise.

From comments I've seen elsewhere there seem to be a certain percentage of passengers who don't believe in reporting symptoms and/or who don't do mandatory RATs properly (not sure how) so they test negative, then brag and joke about it. Go figure!

Sorry, mate, but this is totally wrong.

There is a drop-off / pick-up area right outside the terminal. The tricky bit is getting to it especially on a weekend when the markets are open. It's well organised but isn't a big area. I recommend getting whoever is picking you up to wait somewhere on the way to the terminal until you contact them to tell them you are outside the terminal.