Wastegirl

Heads up for anyone travelling on Royal Caribbean, currently they are having a Black Friday sale on their drinks package with 35% off.  Still pricey but so are the drink prices on board for those who use AUD.  Another benefit is that they are also offering early access.  We don't have a cruise until after Christmas 2024 and I'm sure that RC prices will go up between now and then.

25 minutes ago, arxcards said:

The protocols are solid, except for the human element:

Some will fudge a pre-embark test,

Some will pretend they don't have symptoms to avoid testing positive and going into isolation,

Some will not wear masks when requested.

 

They are probably all the same people, but the protocols don't work when they all become a bit too voluntary.

Yes some people just don’t get it. Picking up breakfast in the buffet this morning to take back to hubby in quarantine an old bloke was stopped by a staff member because he didn’t have a mask on. He was handed one and he grabbed it muttering and cursing and by the time he got it on he was half way round the buffet. You think it would be the young ones being difficult but actually I’ve seen mostly the oldies acting up. 

8 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Good to hear you've recovered. I really hope your husband tests negative tomorrow. I must admit I was starting to feel a bit antsy at the end of my isolation period. 

 

It's very strange how two ships of the same cruuse line have handled Covid so differently. I would have thought the initial experiences with Coral - what to expect as an outbreak ramps up, what worked and what didn't - would have been documented and transmitted to the other ships operating here. Grand seems to be dropping the ball all over the place whereas Coral managed the situation on my cruise very well, with only minor hiccups as the number of cases grew. I'm beginning to think the current CEO of Princess isn't doing his job properly.

Thanks Julie, I think the anti virals went a long way to fixing me up. Hubby wasn’t on them as he wasn’t as bad but then he’s been infectious longer. It’s interesting though, I’ve been talking to a few couples on my wander round and they’ve all said ‘why did you declare it, there’s been people coughing all over the place and they just haven’t told Princess’. Well that explains why it’s rife in the ship 🙄

Update on how we are going. Room service slow but I suspect with so many Covid cases now it’s getting difficult. 
 

We advised Medical on the 22nd we had Covid and when I saw the Doctor on the 23rd he said the 22nd counted as Day 0. So effectively from the 22nd using Princesses calculations Day 5 (or the 6th day of our incarceration) was the 27th. Then we found out that they don’t test until Day 6. Then we further found out that they didn’t start counting until my Doctor visit 😳. I told them vehemently that we notified them the day previous to that visit. I got  the run around of a ‘nurse will call you’ but they never did. So finally today the 29th, 7 days after we first reported we were tested at 11.30 am and told we would be advised within approx an hour. So about 45 minutes later I get the call, I’m clear but the Rats shows my husband as still having Covid, so he is being tested again tomorrow morning, Day 8. I’m allowed out but my husband is so depressed I’m worried about him. So to anyone thinking they could do 5 days in a cabin fine, in our case it isn’t 5, it was 7 for me and at least 8 for my husband. He is an active person and has hardly felt sick at all. 
 

We have tried letting people know our concerns but we just get the run around, no one returns calls and it’s no use complaining of the terrible treatment and lack of service to the nice young lass from guest services that rings us each day, she listens and is very polite but has no authority to help us. Throughout all of this the most difficult has not been having to clean our own room, or no bed changes but the lack of communication as to what procedures are. A letter from the powers that be just detailing what is happening and what we can expect would have gone a long way to covering our concerns. 

Everything from the debacle of our embarkation to how my husband literally feels like he’s in a prison is a result of Princess handling the situation very badly. 
 

BTW in my first walk around this arvo the ship seems very quiet and a bit empty. I mean there are people around but usually on a coolish sea day you can’t move for people in the Atrium but I could have got a seat anywhere. 
 

My advice to anyone still going make sure you don’t get caught in a busy embarkation because that’s when we think we caught it. We were crammed together cheek by jowl.  In retrospect we should have waited until everyone was through and waltzed through Station Pier as the last passengers. 
 

Just to let everyone know, Room Service has had a complete turnaround today, everything delivered on time. Also was offered free laundry service. I think someone has had a bomb put under them. I hope I’m not celebrating too soon 😁

34 minutes ago, NSWP said:

The Americans would be sueing Carnival Corp if they were treated like Wastegirl on Grand Princess. I agree we Aussies are often too easy going and often reluctant to complain.

Don’t worry I’ve been complaining 😁. Got a message delivered with our menus this morning stating how room service was going to be handled going forward. Seems like I wasn’t the only one complaining. We’ll see if it improves today.  Still it took them 90 minutes to deliver breakfast from the time I ordered but considering yesterday’s performance that was blistering fast.  Our coffee was piping hot so I can forgive them if they got held up at the coffee machine. 

59 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

I know it won't make your trip any better Wastegirl, but believe me your doing heaps better than our experience on P&O Aust.

Hil came down with covid morning of the third day of our trip, took rat test confirmed positive.

Contacted medical, they said doctor would come see her. Well a nurse turned up three hours later, confirmed positive result, confined us to cabin, (I was negative, but still mostly restricted to cabin.).

Nurse said she would send anti viral med, told me I could go up to Pantry (Horizon on Princess) wearing a mask to get meals, but had to bring them back to the cabin to consume them.

The anti viral meds did not arrive until early that night after dinner.

Hil had to chase the service deck re room service, they eventually sent us a normal room service menu, with a very small selection of food to choose from. I spent most of the rest of the cruise running up the stairs then down the lift with food for us as it was far more practical than waiting on the room service. No offer of free alcohol, indeed straight out advise that no alcohol would be sent to us. Not that Hil cared she doesn't drink alcohol, but dam it I do, and I was NEGATIVE!!!

Like you we were grateful for our balcony cabin, doubly lucky in that just before the cruise, our TA got us relocated to a spare disabled balcony cabin, and that extra room was a massive blessing as it turned out.

They did give us a sheet of paper that said our cabin had been stocked with spare sheets and towels and cleaning and disinfections sprays. Well no they didn't and when nothing turned up after two days we contacted them, requesting them, they said a special teem would visit us, NO they didn't, two days later we chased them again, the next day we said don't worry as we were departing the next morning.

We assume all the other covid pax had similar experience. Not Good.

That nurse by the way was the last contact with the medical centre we had until night just before disembarkation, then only to to tell us ignore our nominated time, we were to stay in our cabin and that we would not disembark until everyone else was off the ship, approximately 10am.

Our next contact was when Hil rang them at 10:45am to ask what happening, she was told we should be leaving about 10:30-10:45am, they will come for us in about 10-15 min.

20 minutes later they rang us and told us to head down to deck 7 forward stairs. where we were grouped into a small passage next to the stairs with about 30 other covid people waiting to depart.

After about another 15 or so minutes we were herded together off the ship to collect our bags pass through customs, then to ward waiting taxis. fortunately we had parked our car at the BICT carpark,

so we escaped the last bunching and wait to be allocated transport.

 

I definitely will never travel P&O Aust again, felt them very lacking in interest in our health or comforts.

 

Regards

Good heavens Ozwoody, red wine is the only thing that’s keeping my husband sane 😁. Having been on P&O I know their food is lacklustre but also know their room service menu is pitiful. What would have happened if you were positive as well, I shudder to think.  At least we’re getting offerings of clean towels etc. I can see people will start booking cruises with lines that give Covid passengers better support. 

Had a day in Brisbane recently on our Grand Princess cruise. Having been to Brissie before on cruises expected a shuttle bus to be available. Did not find out til the night before that the shuttle was now called a ‘Brisbane on your own’ tour and cost $39.95 each. Made a last minute booking and nabbed a couple of only a few seats left. The buses were limited and a lot of passengers got caught out and either had to stay on the ship or pay for very expensive taxi rides. We were crammed on the buses, dropped off at 8.00, 8.30 and 9.am respectively and had to be back for our corresponding return all around the 12.30, 1.30 mark. I don’t know how it works on other cruise lines but it had certainly changed from the regular shuttle service going back and forth whenever you wanted that we had previously. Also a lovely elderly single lady, on her own next to me, was very confused as she thought she had booked an actual tour and was quite lost. 

3 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That's really bad. Make sure you fill in the post-cruise Princess survey to let them know how awful things were for you. 

 

It's weird how things can be so different on two ships in the same fleet. We had such good care when I had Covid. Sure, there were a few minor things, but nothing even worth mentioning, and Coral had 300+ cases on that cruise.

From what I’ve read the Coral is a bit different to the other Princess ships, better service all round, have heard good things about it. 

8 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We got a letter delivered to us stating drinks were free while in isolation.

No letter or acknowledgment of any kind from Grand Princess and if I hear the Captains twice daily report one more time on how passenger comfort and safety is important to Princess I’ll march up to the bridge and bop him on the nose. 

Just now, OzKiwiJJ said:

We noticed a few charges go onto our account initially but they were reversed before we finished isolation.

As soon as we have freedom I’m heading down to the services desk and try to get the extra charges removed, especially if we have to live on Pizza for the next few days 😂. We haven’t been getting the value out of our Beverage Package while in iso, you just don’t feel like drinking that much when you’re just sitting around. 

3 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

They did on Coral. In fact you didn't even need a beverage package as all drinks were free while in isolation. We had cocktails, beer, wine by the bottle, canned soft drinks, and cognacs delivered to our cabin. Most we ordered through the app but wine and beer with meals we ordered when we placed the meal order.

I’ll try that tomorrow, we actually have check boxes for ordering and were told to fill it in and leave outside our room. Only worked on quarantine Day 1, your method might work better. They’re still using our Beverage package no free wines for us, if my husband orders a more expensive red he’s still charged the difference. BTW lunch never turned up, but paying for a Pizza to be delivered worked. We only ate half of it in case our dinner doesn’t show up. Wine and drinks I’d ordered through room service never showed up either. Just placed an order on the app and got my fingers crossed. 

4 minutes ago, buchhalm said:

Tell me: If one had a beverage package but was locked up in quarantine, would they bring you cocktails or not?

Yes your beverage package still works with room service but by the time the cocktails get to you they’re melted a bit. 

Thank you Eileen, at least we weren’t kicked out of our verandah cabin to an inside as I’ve heard has happened. They would be dealing with my husband having a mental breakdown if they did, it must have been awful for those people. 

10 minutes ago, Cruisers47 said:

Hi

our first princess cruise was on the diamond princess more than 10 years ago to NZ.  We had persuaded 4 friends to come with us.   Our only previous cruise was on Norwegian in Alaska.

 

we had a balcony but no couch or chairs on Princess.  I could not believe it as the Norwegian had a couch and lots of little extras like a jug to make coffee or tea.  We had brought champagne and nibbles on and we sat on the bed and brought the balcony chairs in for our toasting our first group cruise.  I laugh now but we were disappointed at the time.

 

now we cruise Royal Carribean although that always means a trip to Sydney or Brisbane.  Now with our free drinks and free washing I am happy with that.

 

I wish you all the best and hope you recover quickly and enjoy the rest of the cruise.

 

please don’t be put of cruising you could have gone to the local pub for dinner and got Covid.

 

eileen

 

 

I’ve yet to try Royal Caribbean though we like Celebrity. I know I could have caught Covid at the pub but at least I’d be isolating at home feeding myself not paying $7000 for the privilege of cleaning my own room and starving.  Hopefully Royal Caribbean treats it’s passengers better, I hear other cruise lines are doing a much better job. 

2 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Unfortunately your experience sounds similar to our experience on the previous Grand cruise. At least you got menus delivered -we didn’t. Not much info given once you test positive, incorrect room service deliveries. Felt like a full time job just trying to get fed 3 times a day.

 

Hope you feel better soon.

The food issue is serious. It’s now 3 pm in the afternoon and no lunch delivered. This time I rang Guest Services instead of Room Service and the girl says to me she’s having trouble getting through to them as well, If their own people won’t communicate with each other what hope have us Covid passengers got. I’ve just ordered Pizza on the app so hopefully that’ll arrive soon. You’re right it’s a full time job just getting fed. Paid all this money to clean my own room and starve 😳. I will be contacting Princess when I get home but don’t expect that’ll get me far. Apologies for grumbling but I’m at my tethers end at the moment. 

We thought about keeping the February cruise but our hearts just aren’t in it, maybe when we get home we might change our minds but I doubt it. Menus didn’t get picked up again today, so it’s nearly 1.30 and no lunch yet. I can see the staff coming in in 3 days time to find our starved bodies mouldering in the room 🤣

We want to keep the May cruise as it’s Kimberly cruising up the west coast and we’ve been looking forward to that.  Cross our fingers Covid is not too bad then. 

2 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Princess has only ever had one room steward since I've been cruising and rarely does towel animals, it's not a Princess thing. Celebrity cut back to one room steward in about 2017. 

 

Given all the cruise lines had virtually no income for a couple of years it's not surprising there are cutbacks in some areas. 

I must be confusing old Princess ships that are owned by P&O who we cruised with the most in 2018 and 19 because they had some interesting Ports. Too many cruises and too many cruise lines get you muddled with whats what 😁. Of course it could also be age related 😂😂. We’re booked on the Coral next year in September for the Hawaii trip (which we have done before and was fantastic), looking forward to a smaller ship, I like the ambiance in those. 

3 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Thanks for sharing your experiences.  I'm sorry you feel disappointed with regard to lack of care and poor service.  I hope Grand Princess lifts their act and you start to feel better soon  . 

Thanks, am already feeling completely better, those anti virals certainly work well. 

What no tub chairs in the standard balcony😳. Admittedly we haven’t cruised Princess since 2019 and by the chair removal we’ll have to get a mini suite if we want to sail with them again. Looks like Celebrity and HAL will be our go to cruise lines from now on as they give you a full couch. Also noticed other little things missing, like only 1 room steward, no pillow chocs even on formal nights, no pens in the room, not a proper quilt cover in the bed and forget about getting a towel animal. The last are small silly things but cost cutting nevertheless. 

We are on the Grand Princess currently, with Covid. We are travelling up the East Coast and are in quarantine. I will try and keep this as short as possible staying with a list of the facts so people can make up their own minds whether the chance of getting Covid will make a difference to your travel plans. For us it was the little things that make it difficult. 
 

- Embarkation was a shambles we were all shoved in like sardines, inches from one another, no chance of social distancing. No checking whether you were in your right embarkation group just everyone flooded in.  We asked if they wanted to see our Rats but no, not necessary. This has to be fixed as given the timeline this is where we most likely caught Covid. 
- Everyone was wearing masks

- Our Dining Room experience was that we were all crowded together with little social distancing

- In the buffet there was a lot of self serve with the same tongs being used by multiple people 

- My husband and I were fanatical about health protocols, are fully vaccinated and have, until now, not had Covid

- My husband felt flat a couple of days before I got Covid but as he’s had a bypass this year it’s not unusual but now thinking about it he was already infected before me

- Husband got a cough and a bit of flem, that’s when we thought maybe Covid and then the same night I got a cough, tightness in chest and aches in my joints. We rang the medical centre who asked us to do a rats using a couple of kits I brought along and we were positive. She said not to go out of our cabin, sent us some Panadol, masked up staff to sanitise our room and told us the doctor would visit next morning. 
- Next morning we got two MDR menus delivered which we could order lunch and dinner from each day. 
- Were told there was no breakfast menus available and we had to organise that ourselves

- By 1 pm no visit by Doctor, had to chase them up, was told no visit but I could see a doctor if I came to the Medical Centre and they would send a staff member with a chair to escort me down. My husband was not allowed to come. 
- I was wheelchaired down in busy lifts, I was too sick to say anything at the time but I should have told the people in the lifts that I have Covid because the porter didn’t 😳

- Spent over an hour waiting to see a doctor who told me I had Covid (as if I didn’t know) and he would give me anti virals, briefly mentioning a 5 day quarantine starting with Day 0 not Day 1 and sent me on my way back up busy lifts. 
- To date there has been no official statement from Princess telling us we’re quarantined and what to do and we only found out today that our room steward did not know we had Covid

- We have to make our own bed and clean our own room

- Keep getting charged for room service which I then have to ring and say that we shouldn’t be charged. 
- A very little thing but we’re not getting our Patter (I know you can get it on the TV) it’s as if we’re non passengers

- Use the app for some room service orders but it’s too rigid, eg I can’t order a half strength latte or a Chai Tea

- Guest services do ring us twice a day to ask if we need anything like new towels, tissues, toilet paper etc

- When we arrived in our Deck 10 cabin there was no tub chair, was told they don’t have them in verandah staterooms anymore (I find that hard to believe) finally got one then asked for a second one later seeming we’re in quarantine, it hasn’t arrived yet after 2 days. 
- Room service is hit and miss, for example ordered specialty tea this morning with breakfast, got cups, hot water, milk but no teabags. A lot of orders have things missing off them

- Yesterday our lunch was late, stuck my head out of the door and the menus are still there at 1 pm, rang someone, the menus were picked up and we finally got something to eat at 2. Will check outside late morning each day now. 
- While I was not positive I was in the laundry and an unmasked American lady is holding forth on how this mask wearing and Covid is all a beat up and her son is not even vaccinated. She was but only because the Australian government wouldn’t let her in without. 
- Also before quarantine we got on the shuttle to Brisbane, it was cheek to jowl so I said to the bus driver I didn’t want to be shoved in the rear seat squashed up to my neighbours. He replied if I didn’t sit down he couldn’t leave and I was stopping the whole shuttle process. He was very aggressive about it and I felt I had to sit down or I’d cause problems. Well the poor people squashed up to me probably have Covid by now and I feel horrible for them. 
 

As for the cruise itself before quarantine, it was a little surreal, a lot of the “fun” vibe seems to be missing. 
 

Well that’s my experience for what it’s worth. We had a cruise booked for February but will cancel that. A cruise we have in May we might leave booked for the moment. 
 

As a side note stuck in a cabin with a husband climbing the walls can be challenging and I’m sure he thinks the same about me 🤣. Also Mitch our cabin steward has been very helpful. 

Looking at the two round Australia cruises, both have a good itinerary. HAL calls into Bali & Komodo - Princess does Kimberley Coast cruising and calls into Alotau in PNG.

Bali - not my favourite port but go into the interior and it has lovely countryside, haven't been to Komodo and Alotau is an undeveloped but interesting destination.

HAL does Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island, if you are after Australian wildlife in the wild, this is the place to see it.

HAL does Exmouth (red soil and cliffs, also dropping off point for Ningaloo Reef), Princess does Busselton (Margaret River - wine country). Exmouth is a port that ships sometimes have trouble getting into.

The Princess cruise is on one of the smaller older ships, not the sparkly new mega ships that Princess run elsewhere.

HAL uses the Maasdam, an even smaller ship but the advantage of that is that it gets into ports the bigger ships can't get into.

HAL also does Cairns and Hamilton Island for that far north Queensland visit.

On both cruises because of their length you will get an older demographic doing the whole trip but both HAL and Princess break these cruises up into segments so younger cruisers might grab those.

I have been on both HAL and Princess and have enjoyed both.

And the Emerald deck minis are usually the cheapest. We had one on the Diamond Princess and the balcony was great, especially as they are the only balconies that look direct down to the ocean.

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While I previously reported on this thread that I have been on several Australian coastal cruises with no international stops and shopping, other than alcohol and cigarettes, was no problem, imagine my surprise when talking to friends just last night that they had an issue with it.

They returned a few weeks ago after doing a portion of a Princess cruise that included an international stop after they left the ship. There was just 150 passengers on this particular portion, a special trip organised by their TA.

On their Cruise Card they had a pink spot (sticker) which indicated to staff that they were not allowed to make purchases and this was confirmed when one of them tried to purchase a sun hat.

So from this I conclude that Princess is enforcing this and it only impacts if you are on a section of an international cruise where you leave the ship while still in Australian waters.

I suppose on true Australian coastal cruises they reprice all the goods to include government charges and on international cruises the government charges are removed. Therefore if you are one of only a smallish group that are on a local portion of an international cruise the cruise line does not want (or cannot have) two lots of pricing in their shop, so the small contingent of local cruisers miss out.

You would think there would be a way around this, also something to watch out for if you book one of those specialised cruises (eg rail, train, etc) that big TA's periodically put out.

Thanks everyone for your replies. It reinforces what I already suspected but the lady at Princess was so adamant she was right that she put some doubts in my mind. I just can't get over her absolute confidence that the web page was right. [emoji15] obviously strong indoctrination training procedures are alive and well.

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