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

[showingdiva]

3 hours ago, kohl1957 said:

I have had Norwalk virus on CANBERRA, BLACK PRINCE and CARONIA... trust me, the effects of this are never "asymptomatic"!  You don't need a "test" to tell you are sick. And there's no real way to get rid of it... it runs its course in people and ships.  

 

I don't wish to go off topic, especially as the thread involves my favourite Queen Mary 2 .... but BLACK PRINCE .. now there's a blast from the past.   She was a regular in the home port I work in, and used to be known by all involved with her as "BLACK PLAGUE" as she forever seemed to be met at the dockside by sanitation teams.

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, exlondoner said:

 

Presumably Cunard aren't the only company operating cruises at present. You make it sound as if they are the only ones in this position.

This is a Cunard thread - dealing with a Cunard ship - on a particular Cunard itinerary.
 

 Of course other lines gambling on things working out well for themselves (and, hopefully, their passengers) are likely to experience similar problems.

[RalphWiggum]

I doubt Cunard or any cruise line told passengers that “everything was fine” or that the ship was a covid-free bubble.   However, people will hear what they want to hear.   If they want to assume that because a ship requires all passengers and crew to be vaccinated, that there is no Covid risk on board, that’s on them.  I’ve taken two holiday cruises out of NY area since cruises have resumed (and was strongly considering taking this QM2 holiday cruise, which is why I’m following this thread).  I saw some unmasked passengers crowding together and generally acting as if there was no ongoing pandemic. Yes, being in a room where you know everyone is vaccinated is lower risk than being in a room where you don’t know, but the risk is not zero.  
 

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

 

This utterly astonishes me.

I was rather surprised myself 

[Se1lad]

2 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

As I said else where on this forum, my friends on this cruise didn’t have a clue that this could happen. They thought they were going into a Covid free bubble 

I’m not sure how anyone could reasonably expect this seeing as the incubation period can be up to 14 days

[P2l]

PG & QG available again on Cunard website implies people are cancelling, or rather, taking advantage of the transfer to future cruise option. We’re on the 4 day Hamburg cruise and are waiting to see what transpires in the intervening period. 

[johnnylikely]

53 minutes ago, P2l said:

PG & QG available again on Cunard website implies people are cancelling, or rather, taking advantage of the transfer to future cruise option. We’re on the 4 day Hamburg cruise and are waiting to see what transpires in the intervening period. 

Me too! I'm on the 10th Jan- no idea whats gonna happen

[sogne]

Cruise cancelled QM2 returning direct 2 UK   forv10th Jan  3rdJan  TA cancelled US citizens and/or those due to leave in NYC will be flown home full refund or 125% FCC nothing yet about future cruises   gleaned from FB sites

[Dermotsgirl]

Just now, sogne said:

Cruise cancelled QM2 returning direct 2 UK   forv10th Jan  3rdJan  TA cancelled US citizens and/or those due to leave in NYC will be flown home full refund or 125% FCC nothing yet about future cruises   gleaned from FB sites

Yes, I’ve seen that to.

 

They will be mooring off Barbados for an unspecified number of days as they have to fly new crew out to Barbados.

 

This implies a fairly major outbreak.

 

then the ship will sail straight back to Southampton.

 

very sad for everybody - and will be a surprise for the passengers who believed it was just a ‘few’ crew affected 

 

[safarigal]

Just had this confirmed by friend on board. Wow, this is really  so sad 😞

[Boytjie]

4 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

It was a video. What has been shown is two screenshots. The full video showed them coming out of the lift, across the landing,, a heavy door was opened then they went through to the cabin corridor. It’s not two different locations  

 

The "heavy door" was likely the fire door. We were on HAL's Nieuw Amsterdam in August and there were two sections of cabins on two decks reserved for crew and passenger isolation; one was on our deck and the fire door two cabins down from us was kept closed for that.  

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Boytjie

[Lakesregion]

So much for using the 'Ghost ship" as a way to keep the virus count under 1% in order to be able to dock. Wonder how they deal with those that never have flown and refuse to do so now. Not to mention the folks  who drove to the pier in NYC  and are in cabin with 10 pieces of luggage and  airline limits of two low weight bags. Guess this puts the rest of 2022 and all of 2023 on hold until Cunard determines if they still have a viable company.

[gkerlin]

Here is the recent email from my friends on board:

 

Ok, looks like the #^*% has hit the fan… 😳 We got off in Barbados and got back all well and good. Then at about 5.30pm we had an announcement from the captain that we will be moored off of Barbados for a few days out of the harbor to sort out staff and supplies. Here is the kicker, we will not be stopping anywhere (including New York) again and that our next stop will be Southampton UK 🇬🇧 *****?!?

You can only imagine what kind of drama this has probably set off. I am just processing this all and am not sure what I will do yet. However, so far we have been healthy and I really don’t want to try and get off the ship and end up stuck in a third world country during a worldwide plague. So it may be safer and easier to go to the UK and fly directly back to Houston from there. I want to keep being Cunard’s responsibility and see what options they offer up.

So, the adventure has begun! 🤣😳😬

Let me know what you hear from the outside world. Apparently there are other ships that have tested on board and the cases have been pretty high so the islands are just not letting ships in. Can’t blame them. But not testing people before they get on is kinda stupid… we’ll, maybe getting on a ship at all was a little crazy. More later, Rxx

[johnnylikely]

9 minutes ago, gkerlin said:

Here is the recent email from my friends on board:

 

Ok, looks like the #^*% has hit the fan… 😳 We got off in Barbados and got back all well and good. Then at about 5.30pm we had an announcement from the captain that we will be moored off of Barbados for a few days out of the harbor to sort out staff and supplies. Here is the kicker, we will not be stopping anywhere (including New York) again and that our next stop will be Southampton UK 🇬🇧 *****?!?

You can only imagine what kind of drama this has probably set off. I am just processing this all and am not sure what I will do yet. However, so far we have been healthy and I really don’t want to try and get off the ship and end up stuck in a third world country during a worldwide plague. So it may be safer and easier to go to the UK and fly directly back to Houston from there. I want to keep being Cunard’s responsibility and see what options they offer up.

So, the adventure has begun! 🤣😳😬

Let me know what you hear from the outside world. Apparently there are other ships that have tested on board and the cases have been pretty high so the islands are just not letting ships in. Can’t blame them. But not testing people before they get on is kinda stupid… we’ll, maybe getting on a ship at all was a little crazy. More later, Rxx

oMG!

[NSWP]

With the huge number of new daily cases in UK and USA this does not surprise me.

[fourmile.ranch]

[lissie]

1 hour ago, safarigal said:

Just had this confirmed by friend on board. Wow, this is really  so sad 😞

Well at least they got a free cruise! 

[lissie]

6 minutes ago, fourmile.ranch said:

 

So basically you get a free cruise back and a number of days in Barbados before you go.  Not what they signed up for but a pretty good option I'd have thought

[rafinmd]

Wow!  Shades of 19 months ago in Perth.  I know then there was a rush of people trying to use QM2 as a merchant ship to avoid long flights.  A number of them were from the US and somehow then somehow survived getting back home from Southampton, so I suspect people who say they can't fly will somehow survive.

 

A sad situation today.  Godspeed to all on board.

 

Roy

[tv24]

We have been following this terrible news on Facebook.  As a big fan of the QM2 and a loyal customer, this breaks my heart.  I feel more than a little lucky that we disembarked in NYC.  And I am so sorry for the friends we met on board who are now facing the end of the cruise and a troubling return home.  I blame it all on the darn Omicron, which changed everything.

Edited December 29, 2021 by tv24

[lissie]

4 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Wow!  Shades of 19 months ago in Perth.  I know then there was a rush of people trying to use QM2 as a merchant ship to avoid long flights.  A number of them were from the US and somehow then somehow survived getting back home from Southampton, so I suspect people who say they can't fly will somehow survive.

 

A sad situation today.  Godspeed to all on board.

 

Roy

Except that's not what the letter says.  Fremantle was different - they had to  get every one off and home asap - that was partly because of the Australian government  being about to shut their borders.  No one knew what would happen, no vaccine, no treatments. 

 

Two years later the offer is that you can leave if you like  and we'll fly you home - or you can stay on board to the UK and we'll fly you home. Everyone on board are vaccinated - the disease is a mild disease in the vaccinated. 

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, tv24 said:

We have been following this terrible news on Facebook.  As a big fan of the QM2 and a loyal customer, this breaks my heart.  I feel more than a little lucky that we disembarked in NYC.  And I am so sorry for the friends we met on board who are now facing the end of the cruise and a troubling return home.  I blame it all on the darn Omicron, which changed everything.

The question is how did the Omicron get on board? Pax, crew or both. How many unvaxxed people on ship, pax and crew.

[CarolRoy]

3 hours ago, sogne said:

Cruise cancelled QM2 returning direct 2 UK   forv10th Jan  3rdJan  TA cancelled US citizens and/or those due to leave in NYC will be flown home full refund or 125% FCC nothing yet about future cruises   gleaned from FB sites

Not sure what this means.  We have friends onboard now.  They left from Brooklyn.  Will Cunard get them back to Brooklyn via air or sea.  Will the ship return to the UK and will they have to fly home to NJ/NY.

[NSWP]

1 minute ago, CarolRoy said:

Not sure what this means.  We have friends onboard now.  They left from Brooklyn.  Will Cunard get them back to Brooklyn via air or sea.  Will the ship return to the UK and will they have to fly home to NJ/NY.

They will have to fly I suppose, 86 ships affected so far to yellow level with Covid, not just Cunard.  This could suspend cruising for some time.

[lissie]

7 minutes ago, CarolRoy said:

Not sure what this means.  We have friends onboard now.  They left from Brooklyn.  Will Cunard get them back to Brooklyn via air or sea.  Will the ship return to the UK and will they have to fly home to NJ/NY.

Read the letter linked above - they can choose to fly from Barbados or they can stay on the ship and be flowen from  the UK