Merged:Outbreak on QM2 as it pulls into New York?

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

It would be interesting to hear what conditions make it "absolutely impossible" to fly - while still making travel on a cruise ship -- bearing in mind that there can be no absolute guarantee that the cruise ship you start on will be able to bring you home.

 

I suppose some such condition might exist --- but my years of experience hearing of people who

"ABSOLUTELY CANNOT" do things have taught me that "ABSOLUTELY" does not mean "in all cases" --

A quick Google provided 3 reasons immediately:

 

• COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) ...
• Strokes. ...
• Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) ...

[rafinmd]

I was on QM2 when the World Cruise ended in Fremantle.  I know that several passengers who were going to New  York took advantage of the opportunity to claim they "could not fly" andto sail on "Merchant Ship" Queen Mary 2 back to Southampton and they would have virtually no way to get back to New York without flying.  I think if any of them had suffered disastrous consequences from that flight it would have been big news.  I think in the current situation anyone with difficulty flying would be wise to take advantage of the opportunity to fly from Barbados to New York as it's roughly 1/3 shorter than London to New York.

 

Roy

[LewiLewi]

25 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

It would be interesting to hear what conditions make it "absolutely impossible" to fly - while still making travel on a cruise ship -- bearing in mind that there can be no absolute guarantee that the cruise ship you start on will be able to bring you home.

 

I suppose some such condition might exist --- but my years of experience hearing of people who

"ABSOLUTELY CANNOT" do things have taught me that "ABSOLUTELY" does not mean "in all cases" --

Some people have a morbid fear of flying, and will only take land or sea vacations that do not require flights. Friends of ours were in this position on a HAL world cruise which ended abruptly in Feb. 2020. They had no choice but to fly home; it was very upsetting for them but they had to do it.

 

[Selbourne]

37 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

It would be interesting to hear what conditions make it "absolutely impossible" to fly - while still making travel on a cruise ship -- bearing in mind that there can be no absolute guarantee that the cruise ship you start on will be able to bring you home.

 

I suppose some such condition might exist --- but my years of experience hearing of people who

"ABSOLUTELY CANNOT" do things have taught me that "ABSOLUTELY" does not mean "in all cases" --

My wife is a full time wheelchair user. She is unable to stand unaided, let alone walk. As a result, flying is not an option for us as she would be unable to use the tiny toilets on planes, unless you know of any airlines that have fully wheelchair accessible bathrooms on board? That is why we only travel on round trip cruises from the U.K. Cruising during Covid hasn’t appealed to us due to all the on board restrictions and the risk of being confined to a cabin, but are completely impractical for us now due to the very real risk of being offloaded from the ship to a quarantine hotel overseas.

[dswallow]

15 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

My wife is a full time wheelchair user. She is unable to stand unaided, let alone walk. As a result, flying is not an option for us as she would be unable to use the tiny toilets on planes, unless you know of any airlines that have fully wheelchair accessible bathrooms on board? That is why we only travel on round trip cruises from the U.K. Cruising during Covid hasn’t appealed to us due to all the on board restrictions and the risk of being confined to a cabin, but are completely impractical for us now due to the very real risk of being offloaded from the ship to a quarantine hotel overseas.

 

Wheelchair Accessible Airplane Lavatories & Bathrooms - Wheelchair Travel

[Cruise NH]

59 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

I was on QM2 when the World Cruise ended in Fremantle.  I know that several passengers who were going to New  York took advantage of the opportunity to claim they "could not fly" andto sail on "Merchant Ship" Queen Mary 2 back to Southampton and they would have virtually no way to get back to New York without flying.  I think if any of them had suffered disastrous consequences from that flight it would have been big news.  I think in the current situation anyone with difficulty flying would be wise to take advantage of the opportunity to fly from Barbados to New York as it's roughly 1/3 shorter than London to New York.

 

Roy

Roy I’m disappointed in your post.  Your saying people ‘claimed’ indicates you think they were lying.  I was one of those people, I had a deathly fear of flying.  At that point in time no one knew what was going to happen with the virus.  I honestly thought things may have gotten better by April when we were supposed to be back in Southampton.  
 

In the end I did fly back to the east coast because the ship’s doctor convinced me that it could get worse (boy was she right).  Fear is real.  I was glad I did it in the end but it was a pretty traumatic few days.

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

It would be interesting to hear what conditions make it "absolutely impossible" to fly - while still making travel on a cruise ship -- bearing in mind that there can be no absolute guarantee that the cruise ship you start on will be able to bring you home.

 

I suppose some such condition might exist --- but my years of experience hearing of people who

"ABSOLUTELY CANNOT" do things have taught me that "ABSOLUTELY" does not mean "in all cases" --

My friend has a middle ear condition. The last time she flew, from Spain back to the U.K., she was in excruciating pain for the entire flight. She wouldn’t be able to cope with 8 hours of it from Barbados to U.K. 

[Selbourne]

7 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

Wheelchair Accessible Airplane Lavatories & Bathrooms - Wheelchair Travel

Thank you for posting that. Very interesting. Sadly, most of those look far too small as my wife has to park the wheelchair directly in front of the toilet rather than transfer from the side. It’s good to know that this issue is being looked at finally, but unless we can be guaranteed a suitable on board facility (which obviously we can’t) then we cannot risk being stranded overseas. 

[Colin_Cameron]

2 hours ago, EvaBME said:

 

What would happen if someone was physically unable to fly, and they had to return to NYC?   Sometimes the reason people cruise is because they are unable to fly.  

In that case, deciding that international travel was so essential that it needed to be done in the middle of a global pandemic, was probably not the wisest decision.

[Underwatr]

4 hours ago, Fayecruises said:

and what happens to the luggage if you fly back to NYC

That may be why (as I understand) passengers who are booked closed-loop out of New York have not yet received a letter regarding travel arrangements. The one posted on this thread to passengers originally booked to disembark in New York appears to be to those disembarking passengers who had originally boarded in Southampton.

[Vskye]

Thus the movie “Let Them All Talk” 

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

A quick Google provided 3 reasons immediately:

 

• COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) ...
• Strokes. ...
• Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) ...

And they are stated as conditions which should not give anyone pause before considering a cruise - which might require a flight should things not turn out right?

[Roland787]

Captain Hall addressed the ship on the PA this afternoon.  He indicated that the current plan for the ship is to start sailing back to Southampton the evening of the 2nd.  He stated that those plans are subject to change.  They are trying to line up charter flights to NYC for the North American passengers for the 1st and 2nd.  So, while he gave few details, I do appreciate him addressing the ship.  I realize Cunard find themselves in a bad situation and I do believe that the Captain and everyone at Cunard are doing their best to get everyone home as safely and comfortably as possible.   

 

I need to mention that the crew onboard this cruise have been amazing!  I am very concerned what this hasty return to Southampton means for the future of the ship and her crew.  Cunard put an awful lot of effort into training a truly wonderful crew, and has been getting the ship back into shape after being in "warm layup" for two years.  I really hope that as soon as the Omicron surge subsides, Cunard will be able to resume QM2's schedule, and that people will resume sailing this wonderful ship!

[Sweetpea711423]

22 hours ago, tv24 said:

Everyone on the ship was vaccinated, crew and passengers.  A requirement to board. 

I read this with interest.  You state that crew (in addition to passengers) must be vaccinated as a requirement to boarding.  The issue of crew vaccination is something that I have tried to research for a while.  As far as I could tell, there was no requirement that the crew itself had to be vaccinated.  Could you tell me the source of your information on crew vaccination?  Thanks.

[tv24]

2 hours ago, Sweetpea711423 said:

I read this with interest.  You state that crew (in addition to passengers) must be vaccinated as a requirement to boarding.  The issue of crew vaccination is something that I have tried to research for a while.  As far as I could tell, there was no requirement that the crew itself had to be vaccinated.  Could you tell me the source of your information on crew vaccination?  Thanks.

The source is Cunard.

[Yorky67]

We love Cunard and were most concerned that crew may not be fully vaccinated … for their safety and passengers. They did say that they had ‘a vaccination policy for all guests’  but

‘our crew also undergo a strict testing and quarantine period as well as regular testing …..’

( not that crew are required to be vaccinated) 

On 27th December this article appeared in the Times. 

 

People working on P&O cruise ships will have to have coronavirus vaccines if they are to sail in an effort to protect customers

GRAHAM HUNT/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Hamzah Khalique-Loonat

Monday December 27 2021, 12.01am, The Times

Cunard and P&O have joined their rivals Virgin Voyages and Tui UK in requiring staff to be fully vaccinated to work on their cruise ships as operators try to prevent new outbreaks onboard and give travellers the confidence to book.

[stratton007]

6 hours ago, Roland787 said:

Captain Hall addressed the ship on the PA this afternoon.  He indicated that the current plan for the ship is to start sailing back to Southampton the evening of the 2nd.  He stated that those plans are subject to change.  They are trying to line up charter flights to NYC for the North American passengers for the 1st and 2nd.  So, while he gave few details, I do appreciate him addressing the ship.  I realize Cunard find themselves in a bad situation and I do believe that the Captain and everyone at Cunard are doing their best to get everyone home as safely and comfortably as possible.   

 

I need to mention that the crew onboard this cruise have been amazing!  I am very concerned what this hasty return to Southampton means for the future of the ship and her crew.  Cunard put an awful lot of effort into training a truly wonderful crew, and has been getting the ship back into shape after being in "warm layup" for two years.  I really hope that as soon as the Omicron surge subsides, Cunard will be able to resume QM2's schedule, and that people will resume sailing this wonderful ship!

Well said, they are doing their very best to get this sorted out. Obviously not ideal for those on board but you need to keep a stiff upper lip when these things happen. Many people have died and many more are infected - so thank your lucky stars that you are able to cruise in some form or another!

[stratton007]

33 minutes ago, Yorky67 said:

We love Cunard and were most concerned that crew may not be fully vaccinated … for their safety and passengers. They did say that they had ‘a vaccination policy for all guests’  but

‘our crew also undergo a strict testing and quarantine period as well as regular testing …..’

( not that crew are required to be vaccinated) 

On 27th December this article appeared in the Times. 

 

People working on P&O cruise ships will have to have coronavirus vaccines if they are to sail in an effort to protect customers

GRAHAM HUNT/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Hamzah Khalique-Loonat

Monday December 27 2021, 12.01am, The Times

Cunard and P&O have joined their rivals Virgin Voyages and Tui UK in requiring staff to be fully vaccinated to work on their cruise ships as operators try to prevent new outbreaks onboard and give travellers the confidence to book.

That’s the problem, no jab no job is for new crew. No one knows who is vaccinated on this cruise. We are on the 14th January cruise and have been told we must be booster jabbed or we have to cancel! I just hope the new crew are those that also have the same level of protection.

[Rocky of London]

I think Cunard and other cruise lines will now use the experiences and the science to have a protocol in place before new sailings....

 

This will take a period of time and measures will now be reactive to get passengers home as best as possible ( that is the big issue now )

 

We all know now that even if we have the booster vaccine we can still catch the virus, but the booster should hopefully prevent what was happening with the first strains and no vaccines ?

 

Worldwide travel is amazing, but the risks that it produces of travellers bringing new strains of the virus to our countries will always be our biggest challenge and you cannot mitigate this risk......just reduce the risk?

 

We all know it will never be the same as before 2019, but we can adapt and use all the knowledge and experience to help us......move forward.❤️

 

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by Rocky of London

[Host Hattie]

8 hours ago, Roland787 said:

Captain Hall addressed the ship on the PA this afternoon.  He indicated that the current plan for the ship is to start sailing back to Southampton the evening of the 2nd.  He stated that those plans are subject to change.  They are trying to line up charter flights to NYC for the North American passengers for the 1st and 2nd.  So, while he gave few details, I do appreciate him addressing the ship.  I realize Cunard find themselves in a bad situation and I do believe that the Captain and everyone at Cunard are doing their best to get everyone home as safely and comfortably as possible.   

 

I need to mention that the crew onboard this cruise have been amazing!  I am very concerned what this hasty return to Southampton means for the future of the ship and her crew.  Cunard put an awful lot of effort into training a truly wonderful crew, and has been getting the ship back into shape after being in "warm layup" for two years.  I really hope that as soon as the Omicron surge subsides, Cunard will be able to resume QM2's schedule, and that people will resume sailing this wonderful ship!

Thanks for the first hand update @Roland787. This must be such a disappointing way to end your trip, I hope you get some more information soon.

[Yorky67]

Rocky of London

Couldn’t agree more.

I’m dreaming of a World Cruise in a year or so , when Q M will be the safest ship to travel on… better get saving! 

[Sweetpea711423]

10 hours ago, tv24 said:

The source is Cunard.

Thanks for this.  Was it on the Cunard website?  If so, could you tell me where you found it?  I was unable to locate the information on the site.  If not on the website, could you explain how Cunard actually communicated that information?  Thanks again.

[Tonopah]

I am so sorry to read all of this. Sorry for the passengers, sorry for Cunard, sorry for the industry, sorry for the world. Devastating.

[tv24]

1 hour ago, Sweetpea711423 said:

Thanks for this.  Was it on the Cunard website?  If so, could you tell me where you found it?  I was unable to locate the information on the site.  If not on the website, could you explain how Cunard actually communicated that information?  Thanks again.

Cunard communicated this with all the other information we received pre-board, i.e. along with the instructions on how all passengers were to have been vaccinated and had to receive a test prior to boarding.  They also explained that all staff were vaccinated and tested.

[Sweetpea711423]

22 minutes ago, tv24 said:

Cunard communicated this with all the other information we received pre-board, i.e. along with the instructions on how all passengers were to have been vaccinated and had to receive a test prior to boarding.  They also explained that all staff were vaccinated and tested.

Thanks.  This is terrific information.  I wonder why Cunard doesn't include it on its website (at least not that I could find).  My concern about this is actually why I recently booked a cruise with Crystal (which makes clear on its website that both passengers and crew must be fully vaccinated) instead of the Cunard cruise I was considering.

 

Thanks again!