Live(ish) report: First real cruise this year - Greece with TUI Cruises Mein Schiff 6 - 9/27

[Hugahav]

What a beautiful ship, thank you so much for sharing your photos.  I love the colour scheme of your stateroom, very elegant and restful.  

Edited September 27, 2020 by Hugahav
Fixing typo.

[ecslady]

So, glad you made it onboard.  The ship definitely reminds me of Celebrity, both Solstice class and Edge. Have a great time! Looking forward to your review.  You always do such a great job and the live report is very much appreciated for us folks in the USA just waiting and wishing we can be onboard with you.

Edited September 27, 2020 by ecslady

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

The couch in your cabin looks considerably more comfortable than the concrete-like one in S class staterooms!

[Fouremco]

I'm cruising vicariously through your post!

[hcat]

Love the design  and decor of the ship!

Thanks for sharing photos and your experience!

[prish]

Miaminice, thanks for the gorgeous pictures, makes me feel homesick! I can imagine how excited both of you must feel, am so happy you’re cruising again. And we get to do the vicariously...😉

[LGW59]

19 minutes ago, prish said:

Miaminice, thanks for the gorgeous pictures, makes me feel homesick! I can imagine how excited both of you must feel, am so happy you’re cruising again. And we get to do the vicariously...😉

Wow what a beautiful ship!  Thanks for sharing these and sounds they have done a good job under the circumstances!

[Germancruiser]

Thanks for all the pictures Miaminice- and the report, what a pleasure to cruise with you. From what I saw from the interior of MS6,  it is very similar to MS2- in some parts- in others it differs a bit- i much prefer the chairs , decor etc. of MS6.

For my taste with MS2 ( and I fear with MS1 as well) they went a triffle overboard with the modern design.

( According to the pictures the same as they did with Edge and Apex)

The best excample are the chairs in the TUI - Bar.

MS6 has a more - well how to put it- classic feeling.

Four more days to go- taken the PCR test turnes out negativ.

Have a wonderful cruise- we have now the honor to know your dear wifes name- Birigt and Miami.

[MandL]

Ditto!  Beautiful ship.  Design is so like Celebrity.  Dreaming of the day we cruise again. Until then, we will enjoy your cruise.

Best to both of you!

Mark and Lauren 

 

[rmf11699]

Can't wait to hear detail of the cruise!

[Miaminice]

Ahhh, waking up to this is what we missed...

 

 

PS: if you have any specific questions, just shoot!

I will answer them as we go along and it gives me an idea what you guys are interested in...

Edited September 28, 2020 by Miaminice

[vickykay]

Loved all your photos.  Thanks so much for taking qus all along.

[Miaminice]

Okay… The captain just made an announcement we did not want to hear!

 

Nine crewmembers have been tested positive. Despite being on board for many weeks and not showing any symptoms.
 

The positive tests were conducted by a Greek laboratory. The on-board PCR, which is now used to confirm the results, already showed two of the nine as negative. The rest is still pending.

 

Of course pre-determined procedures now kick in. Crew are isolated and authorities were notified. They now have to determine if we can continue our voyage or if we have to return Heraklion.

 

So it’s wait and see now…

 

In case you wonder if we are worried – no! Not at all. With all the measures we experienced the past 1 1/2 days we still feel safer than at any hotel, any shopping mall or any restaurant.

 

Of course I will let you know what happens!

[RickT]

So sorry to hear of the crew members testing positive (both for their sake and yours).  Please keep us posted.

[Miaminice]

So far we are still heading north towards Piraeus. Other news reported that the authorities have determined that the ship must call on Piraeus as planned for now. 
More remains to be seen...

 

On board everything is normal. Of course everyone wonders how this journey will continue, but nobody seems worried. 
I guess we all feel the same confidence in the concept we have experienced so far. 
 

No new announcement yet.

 

BTW: This is the third 7 night cruise of MS 6 already. So the ship is back in service for more than a week already. Marine Traffic should actually know 😉

Edited September 28, 2020 by Miaminice

[Host Hattie]

Thanks for the first hand reports

[Miaminice]

Correction on my part: it was twelve crew members!

[Miaminice]

Update: 
The captain just announced that all on-board PCR tests done so far turned out negative. So there is a discrepancy between the on-board PCR tests and the tests done in Heraklion.

 

So for now we are continuing our journey to Athens, where we will arrive at 5:30 am tomorrow morning. Local authorities will then board the ship and test the crewmembers again for confirmation.

 

The captain and obviously the on-board medical team seem confident that this was a false alarm. So they already made plans for an overnight in Athens since excursions tomorrow will not be possible before we are cleared. 

The very low cruising speed on this itinerary allows for an extra day without problem.

 

As soon as we know more we will let you know.

[hcat]

I think the concept and implementation have been  excellent.   False positives are going to be an issue along the way...and cruising will probably never be Covid free. 

 

 If this ship cruised from the US we would take a chance..totally loved how it looks.

Fresh and modern but not over the top in any way.  Classy and Classic.  Hope Celebrity takes note!

 

Would like to hear more about evening events and other activities. How is the food?

Enjoy...enjoy...enjoy!!!

[sandebeach]

Hoping that all turns out well and you have a safe and uneventful remainder of your cruise. 

[Miaminice]

We just received another update by the Captain:

 

He assured us that they are feverishly working on processing the onboard PCR tests.

He informed us that so far ALL of the tests processed showed a negative result without stating the number of processed tests.

 

When he made the first announcement at around 1pm he mentioned two tests. Given that the machine takes about 70 minutes per test the number must be higher by now. 
High enough to boost confidence and for them to continue planning our itinerary changes. Regardless of that the 12 crew members remain isolated.
 

I don’t really want to speculate what went wrong. However, I am trying to look at the pieces of puzzle. PCR tests are the most reliable tests. False results are rare. In Germany positive results are reconfirmed by retesting the samples. One discrepancy is unusual. The number of two, mentioned a few hours ago, is more than just unusual. More than two... extremely implausible.

 

Anyway, it seems as if the Greek authorities feel the same way. Otherwise the reaction would have been different and any plans for a changed itinerary futile.

We will know more tomorrow...

Edited September 28, 2020 by Miaminice

[GRANNYOFSIX]

Thank you Miaminice for taking the time to share your cruise experience with us all.  The ship looks so very beautiful!  Will keep the crew and guests in my thoughts and prayers.  Praying your cruise continues safely and that the crew's covid tests all come back negative!!! 

Edited September 28, 2020 by GRANNYOFSIX

[Sea Dog]

@Miaminice Thank you for your up to date reporting. Fingers crossed everything goes well.

[bama4cruisin]

Definitely hoping the earlier test results were a false positive!  

[groryjm]

🤞