avalon007

Thanks for the replies. I don't think I'll be cruising for the next couple of years by the sounds of things, or at least until the general level of public information catches up to the data & they do finally follow the science. Slow process turning the ship around on this one though I think - yes, pun  intended. 🙂 

I haven't posted on here now literally for years! Our last cruise was on Ovation Feb 29, 2020 - was the last Royal ship that made it to NZ & finished the cruise before they shut their borders & the toilet paper rush back home was a rumour being discussed in the Diamond Lounge. Those were the days!! 😄  

Has anyone heard from Royal when they intend to remove all mandates for jabs/masks etc etc? 

Is it dependent on the ports of call policies as well as Australian state/federal gov policy?

I don't want to cruise again until it's back to 'normal' more or less, enhanced cleaning, hand washing etc is fine, but I am talking no masks on staff etc. It just won't be my relaxing 'escape' if every day there are still constant reminders of the last few years.  

On 4/15/2021 at 11:04 AM, Blackduck59 said:

 

Best not post erroneous information a "facts"; at this point in time I have heard of no "research" to suggest an efficacy of 6 months for the vaccine. 

 

You missed my point - which was the vaccine does not last very long regardless of if it's 2,4 or 6 months. The Australian dept of health actually said about 6 months for the Astra Zeneca vaccine, so not something likely you would have heard in Canada as you would be hearing from your own health dept not ours & secondly in April, Pfizer did announce on their website in the news section that they have seen 91.3% vaccine efficacy so far up to 6 months after the 2nd shot.

On 4/7/2021 at 3:05 PM, bazzaw said:

Will you please stop speaking the truth and arguing logically when it comes to Covid19

LOL - Yes, seems in some people overrides logic it seems.

Truth - well one of my favourite quotes about that sums it up:

As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.

Josh Billings

Best not point out other facts like vaccine 'protection' only lasts about 6 months based on current research, so can't see them being a long term answer, especially if you need to get 2 jabs some time apart - planning vaccinations around a cruise date to get them done in time, but not be past the 6 month mark could be a juggling act! 😄 

This thread has quite a them & us tone to it based around a fear of anyone not vaccinated  - seeming to assume if you get the jab you will be 'safe'. But that is not the case - people need to be aware that just like the flu vaccine the Covid vaccine has a variable effective rate. This from NSW Gov health:

" Benefits of the vaccine A combination of several clinical trials showed that COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca is effective in preventing COVID-19 in people aged 18 years and older. People who had two doses of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca were about 62-70% less likely to get COVID-19 than people who did not get the vaccine." 
 

What the medical fraternity calls effective at preventing Covid is obviously different than what many of the public may consider effective - 62% is still a long way off, even if the 70% is accurate, at least 30% of anyone on board could still get Covid vaccinated or not. A vaccine is not a guarantee of protection. 
So a fully vaccinated ships crew & passengers does not mean you won't get Covid - although if you don't have a comorbidity even if you get Covid you are likely to be fine, vaccinated or not.

I find based on the stats there seems to be in some cases an irrational fear of dying from Covid - my elderly aunt believes if you get it & you are over 80 you will die for sure - yet the death rate even in that highest risk category is 14.8% - so 85.2% percent recover, yet she lives in fear. When the SARS & MERS viruses were about with much higher death rates people seemed less concerned but the SARS death rate was 9.6% & MERS death rate was 34.3% compared to Covid at around 3.4%. Not a lot of logic in the debate around Covid at times I find.

I won't cruise again until it's back to normal more or less.

I cruise to relax & get away from a busy life - I don't want to have to remember a dozen rules about this or that - my cruise style is very unstructured, prefer my time dining & never know most days what time or where I want to eat & wearing a mask is a definite deal breaker for me.  😷😬

I'm not rushing to take a vaccine they developed in record speed & has not been tested for any long term side effects as yet. I am not in any high risk group (aged, obese, diabetic etc) & don't take the flu vaccine normally so will wait this one out & see how it goes. There will most likely be no cruising out of Australia this year anyway so there is no rush from my perspective. 🙂  

I live in rural NSW on our farm, work from home (web & graphic design) & usually only go into town once a week for groceries - so if we hit lock down my life apart from lack of work coming in will be much the same! 😄 At least I have acreage to roam about, a beautiful view to enjoy & plenty of farm & gardening jobs to do, a tonne of books to read & other household projects I haven't time for previously.

I think going through 2 months of fires in Jan/Feb, staying inside because of weeks of smoke pollution etc has hardened everyone in my area to be better able to cope with self isolation as we have already experienced worse prior. At least the virus isn't going to burn our house down or destroy our farm & livestock. I don't have to keep looking out the window for weeks on end checking to see if had crept on me either! 

The question was posted way before the cruise cancellations or before any of this blew up back when Royal was saying if you presented to board with any signs of illness you would be screened. 🙂 But yes, we are way beyond that time now.

Luckily we managed to complete the last Ovation cruise to NZ before they stopped the cruises.

Update - After watching day 5 video above he now says he is being sent home next week to the UK , but with the airlines shutting down more each day who knows if that will even be possible by then?

1 hour ago, Dennis#1 said:

Are all of the crew still aboard these cruise ships?

Yes as far as we know - one crew member on Oasis is doing a daily video blog of what happens on board with the crew. He is up to day 5 of the 30 day shut down  

7 hours ago, Biker19 said:

At anchor for a while, like Radiance is now in Sydney.

Yes Radiance anchored in the harbour at Athol Bay, & will be joined by MSC Magnifica tomorrow (the ship that refused to allow anyone leaving the ship in Tasmania to reboard) according to the port authority schedule. Spectrum is currently off the Australian East coast doing the last of her free fire related first responders cruises to nowhere & Ovation heading back from NZ currently in the Tasman Sea after maybe just one port (Auckland) before NZ closed ports to cruise ships. We just did the cruise before on Ovation to NZ so were lucky to have just missed all the closures.

Looks like Voyager is at Eden NSW south coast tomorrow & from the info on the port authority cruise ship schedule it looks like for the next few weeks at least most ships in our waters are rotating every few days or so between anchorage, days at sea, then Sydney or Eden terminals to restock food etc I assume? So maybe this will be the same process worldwide, a constant rotation to allow ships to go out to sea to make water, dump allowed treated waste, then anchor for a few days, then dock for supplies for crew  - repeat until things improve. 

Ship - Ovations of The Seas

Deck - 7

Stateroom # - 7128

Stateroom Category –Balcony

Starboard or Port Side - starboard

Quiet Stateroom? – NO - see below

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – great scenic view, ledge outside stops direct view down side of ship.

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal

Was wind a problem? - No

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - N/A

Any specific problems with this cabin? - Yes, very noisy compared to the other 2 cabins I have had on Ovation in the past - mostly water noises of all kinds as if the plumbing from many cabins was running through the roof or walls at the front of the cabin. Toilet was also very loud which I reported along with the rest of the noise & they fixed the toilet same day, but running water, hearing lots of other flush like sounds etc continued & would often wake us up middle of the night. Opposite this cabin is housekeeping areas, so not sure if pipe work happened to connect into there etc. Also could hear anchor drop and cabin vibrated slightly during that process - but cabin is quite forward in position so no surprise in that regard.

 Any other comments? - No 

OR if they have their marketing hats on the cruise lines will want to attract back as many cruisers as possible after the virus has passed, and regular loyal to Royal cruisers are more likely to do that than newbies scared off cruising by the over hyped media coverage of quarantined ships.

So what better way to get people to cruise than to offer Crown & Anchor members deals with extra perks, rather than reduce current perks which will only alienate members? Hope you are listening Royal! 😄 

1 minute ago, MicCanberra said:

 

Sorry, I meant tendering, we have had priority boarding every time except for the last.

LOL - yep tendering only for D/Plus & above so same experience regards tendering as you in that regard.

18 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

We had priority boarding once, but we have never had I again. Perhaps I was due to low numbers of Diamonds on board

We have had priority boarding for Diamond every cruise since becoming Diamond 6 years ago except for this last cruise & in some cases with loads of Diamonds on board. I have found in the past that some staff at the OPT are just unaware of the Crown & Anchor benefits or unless you ask for it they don't automatically notice what level is on your boarding pass.

One positive regards Diamond perks - on Ovation there were 2 of the icey type cocktails now included in free drinks, Pina Colada & Strawberry Margarita. 🍹😄 

Human nature being what it is, self isolation is not fully effective as people break the rules & the trust system employed by most countries when screening people by asking if they have been to affected countries, or in contact with anyone who has in the last 14 days is a joke.

Many would lie & most people would have no idea if they were close to people who had returned from affected countries overseas - could be the hotel guest check in staff, the local shop keeper, some random person on the bus, train etc.

Looks like our Ovation cruise that returned from NZ on Thursday will be the last one to have completed a NZ cruise for a while. Their tourism sector was already suffering according to a local tour company we used, now it will be hard for them in ports that have grown used to multiple cruise ships arriving each week, although the season is at least near it's end, so could have been worse if the virus consequences had hit in October. 

13 minutes ago, lissie said:

 

I think that is an overreaction - its a virus - not a terrorist attack . 911 changed travel - this will become just another seasonal flu in a year or - vaccines will be developed.   Hopefully there will be a big uptick in people getting seasonal flu (and other) vaccinations.  If it brings in more mandatory vaccinations for travellers I think its a very good thing 

 

The only real question I see is how long will it take to blow over - I'm currently thinking of rebooking for August might be a safe window 

Flu vaccines are only on average about 40% effective so not going to be any guarantee.

Now NZ has decided to ban all cruise ships stopping there until June 30th & all travelers from non Pacific nations to self isolate for 14 days on arrival. 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-14/jacinda-ardern-new-zealand-travel-restrictions-coronavirus/12056754

8 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Guess staff have no choice.

I didn't realise he was staff, I agree they would have no choice.

11 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Yes I saw an interview from one staff member who was glad he got off in Hobart.  He was sharing an inside cabin with someone he didn't know. 

Sharing an inside cabin with a stranger is reason not to go at all, let alone get off !!! LOL 

We left on Ovation on Feb 29 to NZ for 12 days & on boarding had to answer a set of questions as to whether we had been in the affected countries within 14 days - totally an honour system, no screening.

On return 2 days ago, all we had was a letter the night before from the ship saying if we had transited through any of the most at risk countries in the last 2 weeks (they gave a list) then to report for additional screening before disembarking. 

We disembarked & nothing at all was any different than normal, just had the usual customs check & then walked right out.

No known cases of the virus on board & very limited in NZ.

We spent the last 2 weeks in NZ on Ovation & docked in Sydney no problem 2 days ago. seems the story relates more to protection of passengers than them bringing the virus to Tassie.

"  Cruise company MSC Cruises had taken the decision to stop people disembarking "to ensure [passengers'] health and safety, in response to potential risk of COVID-19", according to a TasPorts spokesperson."

26 minutes ago, ivanp91 said:

 

I know I'm being picky, but what you mean is the Passenger Vessel Services Act. People tend to incorrectly cite the Jones Act, usually thinking they are the same thing or that the Jones Act encompasses the rules of the PVSA, but they are not and do not.

Just quoting an article from cruise Critic - that's what they called it - so maybe let them know they have it wrong if it concerns you. 🙂 

" With Canada out of the picture until July 1, big-ship cruises from U.S. ports to Alaska could effectively be terminated as well, barring any relaxing in Jones Act regulations by the U.S. federal government." 

https://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/5190/?et_cid=3320081&et_rid=40008568&et_referrer=Party - Celebrity