Aus Traveller

If you don't have a phone that will allow you to photograph your RAT test, all I can suggest is that you do it with a camera that you will have with you. All digital cameras will allow you to review photos. No-one asked us for the photo of the RAT. I wonder if they only ask people who appear to have symptoms. The medallion comes in a very small plastic case attached to a lanyard (free). Check-in is similar to the old days, but faster. We had to show the paper copy of our vaccination certs. It was quite handy to have the cabin door unlock as we approached, but not a great advantage.

Thank you for posting the link to the report. Page 31 makes interesting reading. I read with interest that the Barrister for the Plaintiffs claimed that Carnival and Princess should have known that there would be COVID on board. Wow! We were on the Sea Princess around the same time, and there were no reports of COVID on, or following that cruise. Some cruiseships had COVID and some didn't. At the time, it was the luck of the draw. Somewhat like it is now. As for passengers not being told of the risk - once again Wow! Passengers would had to have been living under a rock, not to have known that COVID was an increasing risk worldwide. Before we got on the Sea Princess, we had heard about COVID but considered it was unlikely it would be on our ship because it wasn't widespread in either Aust or NZ. We were lucky that none of the international passengers brought it on board (as happened on the Ruby). BTW Princess wouldn't allow people to board if they had been in China or Singapore in the previous 14 days. We were advised to take 14 days' extra medications with us. It was pretty obvious why. While we were on the ship, a written up-date on COVID was delivered to our cabin many times during the cruise. We were advised not to shake hands, to practice good hand sanitisation and to visit the medical centre if we had any respiratory symptoms. I feel so sorry for the families of people who died, or people who have been left with long-COVID. This can be said of those who contracted COVID on the Ruby, or anywhere else for that matter. I won't be suing Specsavers for the fact that I contracted COVID from one of their staff who wasn't wearing a mask!

And expected to run for a month. We will keep having a re-hash of the Ruby Princess debacle on the news at night.

I agree that eating alone isn't fun. I like going to the MDR but my husband only goes for dinner. With P&O, the proximity of the tables for two was great. At least I had the chance of having someone close enough to chat to. On our last P&O cruise, they weren't putting people at share tables. If you arrived in the dining room alone, you were seated alone.

As you say, "Time will tell" if there is any evidence of their claim.

I agree with your comments. Unfortunately the lawyers build people's hopes up that they will get a big pay-out and (from what I have read) fed them an alternative version of the facts. An example is claiming that COVID was on the previous cruise. Tests showed that people had viruses, but no-one tested positive to COVID. This claim is a major part of the plaintiff's action.

Sorry. Yes. You did say 'liquid egg'. I have only seen the Horizon Court omelettes cooked on the very large hotplate where they also cook fried eggs. Maybe they now have omelette pans.

Whenever I have ordered an omelette in the Horizon Court, I have seen the eggs (yolk and white) in a small cup. It is whisked and tipped onto the hot griddle and topping added. They don't use powdered eggs in the Horizon Court and I doubt that they use them in the MDR kitchen. The omelettes in the MDR taste quite OK.

The Coral Princess deck plans show that some cabins on Caribe deck have big balconies but others don't.

I suppose I am not keen on the recent trend of litigation funders making a business of funding class action law suits where people are encouraged (pushed?) to be part of it. It is too much like the American system where people sue over the slightest thing - or so it seems to me. The end result in genuine cases can be poor for the litigants. An example is the residents of Grantham (SE Q'ld) who suffered in the floods several years ago. They got a great judgement in their favour, but by the time the lawyers and the litigation funders took the lion's share, and one of the defendants appealed the judgement, the people who suffered the damage, got very little.

The theory that COVID was on board the Ruby from the previous cruise does not stand up to scrutiny. Genomic testing of those who contracted it on Ruby's last cruise showed that the particular strain of COVID was NOT present in Australia prior to the Ruby returning into Sydney. It was taken onto the ship by someone who came from overseas to join the cruise. It had to have been a passenger because of the spread of the infection - 700 passengers and 6 or 7 crew by the end of the cruise. If it had been present on the ship on the previous cruise, passengers would have taken it ashore and been diagnosed during the time the Ruby was on its NZ cruise. Your Honour, I suggest that the theory has been shot down.

With respect, your friends' theory is not logical. When there were no confirmed cases on the previous cruise, how could Princess have 'known there was COVID on board'?

I hope the spine specialist had some encouraging news for you. 🙂

In addition to revenue from ship's tours, there is money that passengers spend on tours, hire cars and the local shops.

I don't see why not. Neither the cruise lines nor the government specify a particular brand of RAT. We have several different brands.

Agreed. By far the easiest and cheapest way to meet the requirements set by the cruise company. BTW, a RAT is a 'rapid antigen test' and can be purchased from any chemist shop (drugstore) and many other stores for around $8 or so each.

Yes, it is worth buying the Carnival Corporation shares. We have received the shareholders OBC even when we booked on a flash sale, either P&O or Princess. We bought through ANZ Share Trading, but someone has said that ANZ no longer does this. Have a look at the thread about Carnival Shares.

That is a very helpful answer. Better than mine, so I will delete mine.

deleted.

As you mentioned in a later post, your trip to NZ ws in 2018. A lot has changed since, including the requirement to obtain an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) to visit New Zealand. I feel that you should have qualified your statement with mention of the date to avoid giving the impression that an ETA isn't required for NZ, when it is 🙂.

In Australia we don't have the option of having the medallions posted out.

I don't think we would hear of this ahead of time. I feel it is unlikely because a lot of people would sell their shares, causing the share price to drop a bit. If I didn't have shares (bought when they were much more expensive) I wouldn't hesitate to buy them now.

And having the bathroom to yourself .... fantastic!

There were lobsters served on the second formal night on the 25th June-3rd July cruise. However, they were easy to miss on the menu.

Princess currently has some super deals for cruises leaving from Melbourne. I got an email from the 1st TA.