Covid on Iona

[Son of Bare]

2 minutes ago, trondicc said:

Okay, so if you have plucked up the requisite courage to proceed to cruise and passed all cruise boarding tests then its vital you do the following.

 

Remember the difficulty here is being out of step with your cabin partner. One of you testing positive in advance, presumably, of the other. Thereby creating a dilemma for the insurance company.

 

So here’s what to do. You need to get intimate with your cabin partner several times a day. This should start a couple of weeks before the cruise if possible and last until disembarkation. This should ensure one of you will only be hours behind the other in terms of testing outcomes methinks.

 

Examples of intimacy could include tender mouth to mouth kisses, shaking hands and rubbing eyes after coughing or sneezing, etc etc. I know, i know this could be very embarrassing but the first example can improve with practice, so i am led to believe.

 

Good luck, but don’t blame me if this all goes horribly wrong.

Quite.

It's not hard is it!

 

[yorkshirephil]

11 minutes ago, trondicc said:

Okay, so if you have plucked up the requisite courage to proceed to cruise and passed all cruise boarding tests then its vital you do the following.

 

Remember the difficulty here is being out of step with your cabin partner. One of you testing positive in advance, presumably, of the other. Thereby creating a dilemma for the insurance company.

 

So here’s what to do. You need to get intimate with your cabin partner several times a day. This should start a couple of weeks before the cruise if possible and last until disembarkation. This should ensure one of you will only be hours behind the other in terms of testing outcomes methinks.

 

Examples of intimacy could include tender mouth to mouth kisses, shaking hands and rubbing eyes after coughing or sneezing, etc etc. I know, i know this could be very embarrassing but the first example can improve with practice, so i am led to believe.

 

Good luck, but don’t blame me if this all goes horribly wrong.

Can't you catch it from the toilet seat?

[Son of Bare]

13 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

Can't you catch it from the toilet seat?

Yep, but can you get intimate with one?

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Son of Bare said:

Quite.

It's not hard is it!

 

That might be the problem.😉😊

[Son of Bare]

4 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

That might be the problem.😉😊

Haha. Very good. 😄

[Megabear2]

Gosh, Auntie is going to be VERY surprised by these new protocols  ....

[picsa]

8 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

But if all covid clauses exclude non positive companions, then no one could afford to cruise.

Of course they could - don’t exaggerate.

 

A quarantine stay for a non-positive companion isn’t hundreds or even tens of thousands, so to suggest that every P&O passenger *couldn’t* afford to pay is absurd.

Sure there are plenty who couldn’t afford to pay, but for others it is loose change.

 

They may not *want* to pay, which is a completely different thing, but then if they don’t want to take that risk then there is a simple answer - Don’t cruise during a global pandemic.

[Dermotsgirl]

I’ve just seen a couple of posts on a social media site regarding someone on a Fred Olsen cruise. ( Not sure if I can mention the name, but think of the noise a little bird makes) 

 

The person reports that one of their dinner table mates tested positive and the whole table were offloaded  at Funchal. They’ve all got to stay in an isolation hotel for 10 days. The person who was positive was originally taken to hospital, but is now in a different hotel.

 

If this is all true, it’s food for thought. Not only was the positive person offloaded but close contacts too.  I think it’s probably best not to share a dining table with anyone outside of your party, and also to consider the increased possibility of the cruise ending abruptly and being left overseas. I wonder if insurance covers this scenario 

[terrierjohn]

3 minutes ago, picsa said:

Of course they could - don’t exaggerate.

 

A quarantine stay for a non-positive companion isn’t hundreds or even tens of thousands, so to suggest that every P&O passenger *couldn’t* afford to pay is absurd.

Sure there are plenty who couldn’t afford to pay, but for others it is loose change.

 

They may not *want* to pay, which is a completely different thing, but then if they don’t want to take that risk then there is a simple answer - Don’t cruise during a global pandemic.

Presumably you would be in quarantine until your partner tested negative, which could be more than 10 days  which costs £2285 in the UK, then you need to find and pay for your return flight(s). So on a conservative estimate from the Med  it could be £2500, and from the Canaries maybe £2700, which is probably more than you paid for the holiday. Not many would consider it worthwhile  unless they were desperate for a cruise holiday.

[Megabear2]

It's getting rather stupid now if this Fred Olsen story is  correct.  Again, will anyone actually say who has paid for this quarantine or are they going to be banned for fear it might panic the rest of the cruisers.

 

The head in the sand approach of the cruise lines on this is not going to help.  They may have all of us idiot enough to accept Cruise With Confidence locked in because we gave them our money before we realised what could happen but once a few of these stories break (which they inevitably will) how many are going to say no thank you?

 

If there's nothing to hide and these people are not forking out themselves when will someone publish it. The more stories that are heard the worse the commotion will be when it becomes public knowledge. Slow news days anyone?

[picsa]

8 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Presumably you would be in quarantine until your partner tested negative, which could be more than 10 days  which costs £2285 in the UK, then you need to find and pay for your return flight(s). So on a conservative estimate from the Med  it could be £2500, and from the Canaries maybe £2700, which is probably more than you paid for the holiday. Not many would consider it worthwhile  unless they were desperate for a cruise holiday.

And by your own maths you demonstrate that those figures, although unpleasant, are easily afforded by lots of P&O passengers, so the “no one could afford to cruise” is a ridiculous exaggeration.

 

That is not to say that people shouldn’t be aware of the financial risk they are taking, but cruising in a global pandemic isn’t cruising in normal times.

[picsa]

21 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

The person reports that one of their dinner table mates tested positive and the whole table were offloaded  at Funchal. They’ve all got to stay in an isolation hotel for 10 days. The person who was positive was originally taken to hospital, but is now in a different hotel.

 

If this is all true, it’s food for thought. Not only was the positive person offloaded but close contacts too.  I think it’s probably best not to share a dining table with anyone outside of your party, and also to consider the increased possibility of the cruise ending abruptly and being left overseas. I wonder if insurance covers this scenario 

Sharing a table during a global pandemic and things go wrong - well surprise, surprise.

 

But then seeing how some people were behaving on Iona they clearly believed the ‘everyone has been tested, what’s to worry about’ nonsense.

[Megabear2]

You are still ignoring the fact P&O et al never told anyone this disembarking into quarantine without a positive test scenario might occur and many are now locked in to cruises they wouldn't have made final payment on if they had been aware.

 

These are meant to be holidays, not a game of Russian roulette to empty your bank account!   Sadly I know of several who couldn't afford those sums of money mentioned above and they would most likely end up in debt as a result.

[Megabear2]

5 minutes ago, picsa said:

Sharing a table during a global pandemic and things go wrong - well surprise, surprise.

 

But then seeing how some people were behaving on Iona they clearly believed the ‘everyone has been tested, what’s to worry about’ nonsense.

You are assuming they aren't on linked bookings or family groups. I would have thought that may be possible, certainly we were 10 spread over 2 tables on Britannia in July and 6 on a table on Regal Princess in August - or perhaps you would have preferred we all dined alone?

[picsa]

26 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

You are still ignoring the fact P&O et al never told anyone this disembarking into quarantine without a positive test scenario might occur and many are now locked in to cruises they wouldn't have made final payment on if they had been aware.

 

These are meant to be holidays, not a game of Russian roulette to empty your bank account!   Sadly I know of several who couldn't afford those sums of money mentioned above and they would most likely end up in debt as a result.

But cruising in a global pandemic is a risk!
 

And anyone who thinks that the cruise operator knows exactly what will and will not happen when someone tests positive - well let’s just say they haven’t really been paying attention to what has been going on in this ever changing world in the last couple of years.

[picsa]

26 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

You are assuming they aren't on linked bookings or family groups. I would have thought that may be possible, certainly we were 10 spread over 2 tables on Britannia in July and 6 on a table on Regal Princess in August - or perhaps you would have preferred we all dined alone?

I don’t care what anyone does provided 1. It doesn’t put me at risk, and 2. They don’t moan if it goes wrong.

 

As for the people sharing tables on Iona, the conversations (impossible not to overhear) revealed they were definitely not linked bookings or family groups.

[Megabear2]

26 minutes ago, picsa said:

But cruising in a global pandemic is a risk!
 

And anyone who thinks that the cruise operator knows exactly what will and will not happen when someone tests positive - well let’s just say they haven’t really been paying attention to what has been going on in this ever changing world in the last couple of years.

And that's exactly why they should have been honest that the insurance policies they are pushing at you may well not cover you if their intended course of action of removal if you are a close contact occurs. 

 

Of course there are many on here and elsewhere who wouldn't choose to book a new cruise knowing what they do now, but an awful lot of them are locked in to trips already paid for before the protocols were announced.  The cruise companies have behaved in an underhand way, particularly with their announcements being so close to departures. 

 

You clearly are happy with the situation although your complaints about people's behaviour on Iona would appear to offer a different view.  If you are happy to cruise with the risk you may be offloaded at your own cost, having to possibly get involved in complex monetary discussions and legal requirements while maybe your family member is unwell that is your prerogative.   

 

You are, however, quick to judge your fellow passenger.  If the rules were not being followed that is surely as much a failure by P&O for allowing these groups to share and if it worried you so much perhaps you could have had a quiet word on the issue with those in charge. Of course there is always the possibility P&O were happy with the other people's dining arrangements and your idea of wrong doing may in fact have on this occasion been perhaps incorrect.

[picsa]

6 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

And that's exactly why they should have been honest that the insurance policies they are pushing at you may well not cover you if their intended course of action of removal if you are a close contact occurs. 

 

Of course there are many on here and elsewhere who wouldn't choose to book a new cruise knowing what they do now, but an awful lot of them are locked in to trips already paid for before the protocols were announced.  The cruise companies have behaved in an underhand way, particularly with their announcements being so close to departures. 

 

You clearly are happy with the situation although your complaints about people's behaviour on Iona would appear to offer a different view.  If you are happy to cruise with the risk you may be offloaded at your own cost, having to possibly get involved in complex monetary discussions and legal requirements while maybe your family member is unwell that is your prerogative.   

 

You are, however, quick to judge your fellow passenger.  If the rules were not being followed that is surely as much a failure by P&O for allowing these groups to share and if it worried you so much perhaps you could have had a quiet word on the issue with those in charge. Of course there is always the possibility P&O were happy with the other people's dining arrangements and your idea of wrong doing may in fact have on this occasion been perhaps incorrect.

Not sure why you think I am unhappy with other peoples behaviour; if they want to do things that put themselves at risk then carry on.

 

Why would the cruise company care if people from different groups want to share a table if the solution when one tests positive is to send them all off to the quarantine hotel as is being claimed.

 

Now if P&O had been insisting that I share a table with strangers as it does in normal times then I would have complained; but it didn’t, so I didn’t need to.

 

As for people being “locked into trips paid for before the new protocols were announced”, unless these were booked prior to March 2020 then they were booked in the middle of a global pandemic - and if people haven’t learned by now that doing anything is uncertain and changeable then they really haven’t been paying attention.

 

For the last 18 months and for the foreseeable future booking a cruise is a gamble that things might change and you might be exposed to a risk (financial, health, itinerary changes, etc.) you hadn’t anticipated. Accept the risk or don’t book.

[Snow Hill]

Will be sticking to our policy of not booking a cruise until 2023 at the earliest, until more of the world is vaccinated then the risk of being quarantined off ship somewhere in the world will remain.

 

 

[Eglesbrech]

27 minutes ago, picsa said:

 

As for people being “locked into trips paid for before the new protocols were announced”, unless these were booked prior to March 2020 then they were booked in the middle of a global pandemic - and if people haven’t learned by now that doing anything is uncertain and changeable then they really haven’t been paying attention.

I would imagine some people booked last year when the National government continually stated that it would all be over by Christmas. Then the next mantra was it would all be over by Easter 21.
 

You don’t have to look far on this site to find posts mocking those of us who were more sceptical and cautious quoting the “over by Christmas / Easter”
 

I do however feel that cruise companies should be more transparent about these types of policies so that people could choose not to pay a final balance if they did not wish to or could not afford to take the financial risk.

 

[wowzz]

40 minutes ago, LynnForestgate said:

 

I think, most will applaud you for your forward thinking.

An excellent decision.

If everyone thought that way, there would be no cruise industry left in 2023 ! And I believe the majority on here will certainly not be applauding the decision.   

And why is it excellent! 

We all have to make our own decisions,  but waiting until 2023 seems excessive.

We have done our own mini risk assessment,  and are happily cruising later this month,  three times next year, and again in 2023.  

Edited October 12, 2021 by wowzz

[terrierjohn]

9 hours ago, picsa said:

And by your own maths you demonstrate that those figures, although unpleasant, are easily afforded by lots of P&O passengers, so the “no one could afford to cruise” is a ridiculous exaggeration.

 

That is not to say that people shouldn’t be aware of the financial risk they are taking, but cruising in a global pandemic isn’t cruising in normal times.

But the pandemic is passing and  the govt now want us to get back to normal, but a potential 60% increase in your cruise fare is equally newsworthy as energy increases. It's bad enough to lose part of your holiday, and to have all the hassle that would ensue, even if you are asymptomatic, without it costing you as well.

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

If everyone thought that way, there would be no cruise industry left in 2023

Exactly the reason why I chose not to ask for my money back from cruses booked in 2019 which have been rearranged, cancelled, rearranged ...

 

Apart from one cruise which was booked as a "fresh" one mine are old money - the new one is biting the dust in the near future if I can't find full cover insurance. The problem is because I wanted there to be a cruise industry I have made the mistake of believing the companies would not ask me to take a major risk either with my health or my money. They have in my opinion achieved the first, the second remains open to interpretation.

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, picsa said:

Not sure why you think I am unhappy with other peoples behaviour; 

Because you took to a public forum to comment on it!

1 hour ago, picsa said:

Why would the cruise company care if people from different groups want to share a table

Because you appear to have intimidated that these groups of people were not following the protocols?

[CABINET]

This is all very worrying.  I cannot fly so only cruise from Southampton (and back obviously).

 

When reading about the quarantine cabins I assumed that's where anybody who developed covid would be placed and they would only be removed from the ship if they became dangerously ill. 

 

Obviously becoming seriously ill is a risk but, I thought, hopefully a fairly small one. 

 

Testing positive but not being particularly unwell on the other hand is far more likely so being offloaded and then being unable to get home is a pretty scary prospect. 

 

I have a cruise booked for the end of next year and am beginning to wonder if I have made a mistake.