biff-tannen

It's confirmed that what happened yesterday was a false positive.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/cruise-passenger-royal-caribbean-test-covid-19-negative-third-13741854

1 hour ago, flyguyjake said:

I thought they were just going to evacuate the positive passenger and NOT cancel the cruise? This is really stupid. Perhaps vaccines will be required. Qantas Airlines said they will make it mandatory for air travel once the vaccine is widely available. I support airlines, public transit, cruises, movie theaters, concerts, sporting events and any other mass gathering events to require vaccine proof.

I guess the prevalent attitude these days is to be safe rather than sorry. 

Just read that the 83 year old covid suspect is not infected. 

7 minutes ago, Pratique said:

No I get tested for a school where I teach part-time. It is unbelievably easy to do. They trained me how to do it in less than 5 minutes and gave me a single page of easy-to-follow instructions. 15 seconds in each nostril, place swab in vial. The lab can tell if you didn't do it properly. This is almost idiot proof. If you can brush your teeth you can do this too.

 

 

How far up the nostril does one have to go? Knowing people, some might just swab some where / thing else (tongue, armpit, the sink) and be done with it. 😛

2 hours ago, Pratique said:

Having been through routine testing myself I think some of y'all are too anxious about it.

 

I don't know how the cruise lines will do it but if they use self-swab kits it's easy-peasy. Give everyone enough kits for the entire cruise. Each morning when you get up, stick a swab up your nose and put it in the vial. Drop the vial in a collection box on your way to breakfast or lunch. If they haven't received your sample by a designated cut-off time, they'll know where to find you. It will be a small part of your daily routine.

Self swabbing opens up the possibility of people not swabbing properly so I gather it wouldn't be advisable for laypersons. You sound like you work in a clinical environment so you know how to self swab properly. I certainly don't know how to swab myself at the moment.

1 minute ago, TheMastodon said:

 

Can't keep Rona off a ship.  Impossible.  It will simply be shear luck that it doesn't show up on a ship.  

Nope. It's looking likely that, for this particular instance, Rona was, in effect, not on the ship. Someone just thought she was.

13 minutes ago, masteradept said:

 

I feel like although it's a real bummer from the revenu side, hopefully the response by the line helps to inspire confidence in the procedures and safety measures - from the news reports it seems that most of the passengers were satisfied with the way things were handled. It probably doesn't outweigh the negative publicity from the scare, but it might inspire confidence at least that the Diamond Princess won't be repeated.

 

Also, as for revenue, I suspect RCI (and Dream) are working with the government really closely, so while I don't think the government will be reimbursing them, I do think they might be getting some aid (e.g., the govt is paying for the PCR testing for the guests at least). It's a PR exercise for the government as much as it is for the cruise lines here, to show that isolated cases can be dealt with while the activity resumes, especially with the push to resume MICE activities.

Agree on your points. You know the government here well, it's been "Don't worry, we planned for this" the whole day on the local media. I wonder whether they planned for a false positive, though? It's also a darn shame for those on board today, having to sit in their rooms the whole day waiting to be evacuated for a fire that never was. Oh well.  

Btw, I know at least some of you must have thought this: Someone bungled the test on board.

I'm just thinking, again - assuming tomorrow's tests confirm the negative result - what it means for RCI in the aftermath of this whole shebang  - they did follow protocol by terminating the cruise early and cancelling the subsequent 10 Dec sailing, but by doing so, they have now lost 30% of their revenue from the current sailing, and had to do a full refund for all pax booked on the 10th Dec one, ON TOP OF the 25% FCC given out.

That's a real bummer.

1 minute ago, Ethanol95 said:

Even if it's false positive, at this point the media has sensationalised the high possibility of Covid-19 on these cruises, it probably damaged the image of cruising for a lot.

Actually, when I heard the news this morning, I thought to myself that this could go both ways. Either very bad, or very good. Seems that the "overabundance of caution" may have scrapped a whole bunch of people's holiday plans. Let's see how the final round of tests go tomorrow.

3 minutes ago, masteradept said:

Yep this is from MOH!

https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/no-new-cases-of-locally-transmitted-covid-19-infection-9decfullpr

 

Heh was following pretty closely because I've got another sailing coming up in a few weeks, and hoping all goes smoothly from here.

I feel for those who booked on 10th Dec and wakes up tomorrow to the confirmation from MOH that, indeed, it was a false positive. Oh no...

3 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Oh no, after cancelling the next cruise and all they went thru

it's a circus down here now. 🙂 awaiting further confirmation .... news looks kosher

5 minutes ago, Ethanol95 said:

Did you get this from MOH's website?

oops! looks like masteradept was quicker to the draw than anyone else, yet again. Yes, i got some screenshot that looks like it's could be a false positive

Latest news, (not sure how true) - the sample from the Covid positive case in question has returned a negative upon further testing. 

stay tuned.

RCI QOS cruise for dec 10th cancelled due to "overabundance of caution"

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/royal-caribbean-cancels-dec-10-cruise-covid-19-resume-dec-14-13735476

28 minutes ago, masteradept said:

Some updates from the local news, it looks like both Quantum of the Seas and World Dream will continue their schedule as planned after today. They also mentioned that RCI will be doing an additional day-of-departure test at the cruise terminal on top of the current PCR test two days before.

So everyone would have to test twice before boarding now? I wonder why not just do the test on embarkation day instead , just like what Dream cruises is practising?

30 minutes ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

A person could test negative pre-cruise and at boarding but become sick the day after. Testing only shows that you didn't have Covid-19 at the time you were tested. 

Yes, that's well understood. However, you have to put this into the singapore context. We have had very low and even no community cases in the past two months. To suddenly have a case slip through the pre-boarding test and pop up on a ship is pretty discouraging (or sheer bad luck). 

4 hours ago, masteradept said:

Just saw two posts on two separate forums from guests on board that at around 2am local time it was announced that Quantum would be returning to Singapore and guests were asked to remain in their cabins... looks like a positive case on board. Ship tracking also shows the ship returning to port a day early. Hope all goes well... 

Egads! 😞 That's not very reassuring, knowing that everyone was tested, and someone then fell ill on board .. guess it's just bad luck that a case had to pop up on board (and with so few community cases islandwide too) 

11 hours ago, toad455 said:

Is there another sailing immediately after this one for the Quantum? What's the duration of these "cruises to nowhere" sailings?

AFAIK there are continuous sailings throughout Dec and Jan. I believe they are mostly 3N (departs MOndays, back Thursday morning) and 4N (depart Thurs, back early Mon) "nowhere" cruises , except some special dates like christmas, new year and chinese new year cruises where they are shorter duration cruises at higher prices. 

1 hour ago, masteradept said:

 

 

Overall, both lines are good! You probably wouldn't go wrong picking either one, though Royal wins out overall, I think. Final word though - Dream is really expensive for weekend cruises compared to Royal, and their trips tend to be 2-night, so I would definitely pick Royal if all else is equal.

 

Hope this helps anyone looking to make a choice! I do have pictures from World Dream, but I don't think they fit here, so feel free to PM me and I could send you some. Also, as I mentioned above, my travelling partner at https://www.instagram.com/saxoftheseas/  put up the World Dream pictures as well so feel free to take a look there.

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, thanks for such a detailed comparison! We've actually decided on RC last month, it's our New Year holiday as we've been stuck on the island for a year (fancy that - it's been almost a year of covid, dang!) I'd think RC vs Dream is similar to MBS vs Resorts world. Have had a look at the pics on Dream, overall decor and etc looks a bit kitschy but then again, most of us locals in this region are pretty familiar with the Genting brand. Since this is our couple-only vacation, we decided on RC as it sounds more upmarket. But if I were to go solo and hit the casino often, I think I would go for Dream (I always seem to have a bit better luck in RWS vs MBS). 

Oh, the other thing I realised was that RC's customer service and their apps seem to be very professionally done. I half expected Dream's processes to be slightly chaotic (as mentioned, we do know Genting well), and you more or less confirmed it for us in your writeup!) 🙂

Again, thanks for all the time you spent updating everyone, and enjoy the rest of your future cruises!

9 hours ago, masteradept said:

 

 

I did have the opportunity to sail World Dream last week (it was a last-min replacement from a Hong Kong trip, and it was fortunate I didn't go to Hong Kong as Royal announced passengers travelling overseas within 14 days wouldn't be allowed on). I see a lot of fellow Singapore-based cruisers here so if anyone's interested in that cruise, or on a comparison between Dream and Royal on these nowhere-cruises, I can do that as well!

Hi, hopefully you're all back home and fully rested! Oh yes, please, if you have the inclination, do make a comparison between the two. We had both options but my wife says "Let's do RC, sounds better" and I kind of agree. QOS looks classier, and food choices look better. Awaiting your studied response! 

Cheers!

12 minutes ago, toad455 said:

Thank you, thank you, thank you 100 times over for this review. Makes me miss cruising so much more. is the Quantum the only cruise ship sailing from Singapore?

Nope, the other one allowed to sail is the World Dream of Dream cruises by Genting .

they started a month earlier in Nov

https://www.insider.com/cruise-to-nowhere-singapore-photos-2020-11

Thanks, masteradept, for bringing us along your trip! 

13 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The exchange rate used should be the same as buying anything else. Exchanging money on board might get you a bad rate.

Hi Biker19, what I meant was - should I look to get USD's at a better rate outside before boarding the ship. Anyway, just a thought.

2 hours ago, masteradept said:

In the end we decided to skip the show, but it didn’t look like people would have any trouble booking it.  
 

I’m charging everything to the ship account for now, so didn’t bring any USD (I get more points for USD spend on my card anyway). 

Sadly from the show venues' itinerary that you posted, i'm guessing "Starwater" @ 270 isn't on the cards 😞

The reason i asked about the USD is that the credit card exchange rate (USD - SGD) would probably be bad. Wondering if I should bring aboard some USD's. 

16 minutes ago, masteradept said:

I think it’s USD in the casino too, at least from looking at what’s been going on. 

Quick question : Did you bring US dollars on board or just charge everything to ship account? 

23 minutes ago, masteradept said:

Thanks for the comments! Ah that explains the immigration I guess, if it’s required for international waters. We actually went the other way though! Out East past Tekong and into the South China Sea. On World Dream last week we did go into the Straits of Malacca. I noticed that Quantum is still sailing fast, while World Dream stopped once she got into the strait. 
 

Wish this cruise was longer too, but we booked it because it was the first! We’ve got two more trips lined up which are 3N and 4N though, so lots of time to enjoy (this is what happens when you can’t fly anywhere and the country is so small domestic travel is limited to Jurong to Punggol and back). 

Yes, it's so funny that we "cross the whole country" everyday when commuting for work. The other option we have is to just sit in a grounded plane in Changi and eat airline food, which really doesn't do it for us ! 🙂 

When will you be sailing again? We're booked on the 7th Jan. 

Btw, thanks for the casino shots. Did you have trouble booking the shows, or are you just going to wing it and queue?