Be careful of testing requirements!!

[resordanis]

Just an update. Apparently a firm decision will be made on going ashore without being on a cruise ship tour within the next week. Will keep you all informed when I here a reply again.😷

 

[arxcards]

14 minutes ago, resordanis said:

Just an update. Apparently a firm decision will be made on going ashore without being on a cruise ship tour within the next week. Will keep you all informed when I here a reply again.😷

 

I have heard positive things this afternoon while I managed to get my Medallion app issues sorted. Seems it wasn't the app itself, but wrong details attached to the booking number at their end.

 

The detail of the new guidelines hasn't been announced by the states, but the cruise lines have them and are working through how the details look on the ground.

 

As far as the various testing, nothing is finalised.

When it comes to independently going ashore, they are confident this will not be restricted - but not yet in writing.

[resordanis]

8 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I have heard positive things this afternoon while I managed to get my Medallion app issues sorted. Seems it wasn't the app itself, but wrong details attached to the booking number at their end.

 

The detail of the new guidelines hasn't been announced by the states, but the cruise lines have them and are working through how the details look on the ground.

 

As far as the various testing, nothing is finalised.

When it comes to independently going ashore, they are confident this will not be restricted - but not yet in writing.

Yes, that is what the information I have received, but definitely not firm as yet!

My medallion app works well, but not my husbands, but will worry about that another day, let’s sort out  P&O first!

 

[arxcards]

32 minutes ago, resordanis said:

Yes, that is what the information I have received, but definitely not firm as yet!

My medallion app works well, but not my husbands, but will worry about that another day, let’s sort out  P&O first!

 

It was a bit of remiss of me. When they announced the cruise ban wasn't going to be extended, I didn't expect to see any announcements of the guidelines until that had expired. It ends on Sunday, a ship arrives Monday, so just maybe the fine print comes out on Tuesday. Fingers crossed for you.

[MicCanberra]

13 hours ago, bazzaw said:

Think about this possibility before booking cruises, especially overseas departures. 

Good advice.

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, resordanis said:

Just an update. Apparently a firm decision will be made on going ashore without being on a cruise ship tour within the next week. Will keep you all informed when I here a reply again.😷

 

Good news or bad, at least we will know.

Cheers 

[Cbtours]

16 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Good news or bad, at least we will know.

Cheers 

Will be waiting as we planned catch ups in between cruises! Who or where will I go be released?

[resordanis]

49 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

Will be waiting as we planned catch ups in between cruises! Who or where will I go be released?

I will post here as soon as I get the email.

[lissie]

14 hours ago, bazzaw said:

It seems that Cunard (at least) are now requiring negative tests before boarding - who knows how long this requirement will last but it brings up the same possible complications that the former requirement for testing at the Qld Border introduced.  Fly somewhere to board a ship - and then get refused boarding permission. Think about this possibility before booking cruises, especially overseas departures. 

This has been required by Cunard since the restarted cruising last year. All that's changed is that they are now making the Brits organize their own rather than dong testing at the dock in Southampton. 

 

We're flying to SF to join our cruise with a week in Hawaii/SF first. Basically we have a vague plan B that if we get denied boarding we will try to join the ship in Florida  or we're do a trans-continental train journey over to the east coast and fly to Europe from there (the cruise is to Barcelona). 

 

I don't see it as a big risk  -we all now know how to avoid covid. Get as many boosters as you can -we both hope to have 2nd one before we leave NZ (me in a medical trial, he because he's old enough), if not the first thing we're do in the USA is get a 2nd booster. 

 

Then track case numbers and if they are too high mask indoors, avoid super spreader events like busy indoor bars and bus trips. Mask indoors and obviously on planes regardless of the rules. 

[pully8]

We probably have to accept rules will change. testing, masking and so on for awhile.

not just cruise line protocols but also port rules too.

Agree all we can do is take all the precautions and health measures we can and comply if we want to travel safely. 

Luckily even testing positive does not seem to mean severe illness for all.

Just the inconveniences if quarantined or removed from the ship.  

[nermal9900]

what is the rules like these days.I did a air/land week in Cairns last December for Christmas and being in Adelaide I went to the Drive Through Pathology at Ridgehaven(Since relocated to Walkley Heights)a few hours after work ended for the year so a 6pm appointment but the line up meant no testing till close to 7pm or a little after(17/12/2021)results returned - around lunch time the next day.Flew up 20/12/2021 1pm flight Virgin arriving around 3:30pm beating the deadline thanks to the time differences by 3.5 hours(between testing at Ridgehaven and Cairns Arrival it was 68.5 hours).Can I do the same system for a local cruise now or do I have to go to a big hospital in the city or in my case SA Pathology Frome St in the City.

[nermal9900]

On 4/14/2022 at 10:34 AM, OzKiwiJJ said:

Exactly! 

I could be wrong here bit Cairns is for the most part an Indigenous Australian community.It is downright scary(I was lucky last year between Ridgehaven Testing and Cairns Hospital all my results were -)I am of course fully vaccinated now but am playing it safe to get boosters and whatever else is required to get things up to date.I can recall my last MMR was done for school around this time 30 years ago(Year 9 1992 age 14)but as for Typhoid and the others I would rather get them arranged at any cost at some point

[Aus Traveller]

43 minutes ago, nermal9900 said:

what is the rules like these days.I did a air/land week in Cairns last December for Christmas and being in Adelaide I went to the Drive Through Pathology at Ridgehaven(Since relocated to Walkley Heights)a few hours after work ended for the year so a 6pm appointment but the line up meant no testing till close to 7pm or a little after(17/12/2021)results returned - around lunch time the next day.Flew up 20/12/2021 1pm flight Virgin arriving around 3:30pm beating the deadline thanks to the time differences by 3.5 hours(between testing at Ridgehaven and Cairns Arrival it was 68.5 hours).Can I do the same system for a local cruise now or do I have to go to a big hospital in the city or in my case SA Pathology Frome St in the City.

The finer details have not been announced, but it is likely the pre-cruise testing will be a supervised RAT test. With the number of people going on a ship, I don't believe it would be viable (or necessary) to ask for PCR testing and waiting for a lab result. Supervised RATS can be done at many pharmacies. In Brisbane Chemist Warehouse and Terry White Pharmacies are already listed as doing supervised RATS. They take 15 minutes and the customer is given a certificate showing the result.

[Aus Traveller]

38 minutes ago, nermal9900 said:

I could be wrong here bit Cairns is for the most part an Indigenous Australian community.It is downright scary(I was lucky last year between Ridgehaven Testing and Cairns Hospital all my results were -)I am of course fully vaccinated now but am playing it safe to get boosters and whatever else is required to get things up to date.I can recall my last MMR was done for school around this time 30 years ago(Year 9 1992 age 14)but as for Typhoid and the others I would rather get them arranged at any cost at some point

Cairns isn't part of an Indigenous community. There is an Aboriginal community at Mossman Gorge around 70km north.

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, nermal9900 said:

I could be wrong here bit Cairns is for the most part an Indigenous Australian community.It is downright scary(I was lucky last year between Ridgehaven Testing and Cairns Hospital all my results were -)I am of course fully vaccinated now but am playing it safe to get boosters and whatever else is required to get things up to date.I can recall my last MMR was done for school around this time 30 years ago(Year 9 1992 age 14)but as for Typhoid and the others I would rather get them arranged at any cost at some point

Cairns is already getting hundreds of cases a day so the risk is not to the community. This risk is passengers bringing Covid onboard after sightseeing there.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Cairns is already getting hundreds of cases a day so the risk is not to the community. This risk is passengers bringing Covid onboard after sightseeing there.

That would be the risk with any port of call and it will probably that way for quite some time.

[OzKiwiJJ]

9 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

That would be the risk with any port of call and it will probably that way for quite some time.

Unfortunately yes. But if it happens the media will spin it so the cruise ship is to blame.

[Cbtours]

9 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Unfortunately yes. But if it happens the media will spin it so the cruise ship is to blame.

thats true 😟

[kaseyoz]

What worries me about the preboarding testing is what if you have had covid in the few weeks prior to a cruise. No symptoms now, isolation done but you can still be shedding and test positive.

 

[arxcards]

6 minutes ago, kaseyoz said:

What worries me about the preboarding testing is what if you have had covid in the few weeks prior to a cruise. No symptoms now, isolation done but you can still be shedding and test positive.

 

Hello,

Yes, that is a worry. 

At our workplace, nearly all of our infected folk have returned negative RATs to return to work 7 days after testing positive. Curious to see what specs come out.

 

While Americanised, my Princess Medallion health survey currently says - I can't board if I have tested positive in the past 10 days (even if testing negative); can't board if identified as a close contact within the past 14 days (even if testing negative). Thank heavens our close contact rules are far more relaxed than they were. That status could change before Princess returns in October, but I hope P&O isn't having to adopt the same definitions for the restart.

[Bizziecruzer]

55 minutes ago, kaseyoz said:

What worries me about the preboarding testing is what if you have had covid in the few weeks prior to a cruise. No symptoms now, isolation done but you can still be shedding and test positive.

 

Letters of recovery have been acceptable for northern hemisphere cruises.

[carlandlyn]

Hi all, the site below outlines both international and domestic requirements. Currently only WA and SA have any domestic requirements, with all the others allowing unrestricted domestic travel between the states. I am hoping 🤞 that once a ship arrives in Oz and completes any International requirements, that these domestic rules apply. Trips to the South Pacific Islands and NZ will need to meet both ours and their rules, so more complicated for those trips.
Here is hoping some common sense 🤪 applies, and at least the domestic cruises will be relatively free of those types of restrictions.
 

https://www.australia.gov.au/states

 

As we all know, rules and restrictions can change, and all we can do is to continue to review those rules up to, and beyond, our departure dates.

The ships themselves will also have their own company rules (some imposed by the country's they are cruising to/from), which, hopefully, will be well advertised prior to departure.
For those on the early cruises this will be a real pain 😳 , as they will be making some of this up as they go along, but hopefully they will be embedded quickly, and hopefully(?) well advertised.

Safe and happy sailing all!!

 

Lynn and Carl

[Aus Traveller]

10 hours ago, kaseyoz said:

What worries me about the preboarding testing is what if you have had covid in the few weeks prior to a cruise. No symptoms now, isolation done but you can still be shedding and test positive.

 

This is possible. In my 'Virtual COVID Ward' calls from the Q'ld Health Dept, I was told not to bother testing at the end of my one week's isolation because I could still test positive, but not be infectious if I did not still have symptoms. A couple of days ago, at the end of my second week I tested negative, but someone in my extended family who had COVID in 2020 tested positive for around seven weeks. This was the original variant of COVID.

 

P.S. I wonder, if someone tested positive on a RAT but were pretty sure they were past the infectious stage, whether it would be worth paying for a PCR test, one where the result would be available within hours, not days. Would the PCR test be more accurate????

Edited April 18, 2022 by Aus Traveller

[Aus Traveller]

9 hours ago, Bizziecruzer said:

Letters of recovery have been acceptable for northern hemisphere cruises.

I don't know where I would get a letter of recovery. I don't even have documentary proof I had COVID earlier this month.

[Laura L]

11 hours ago, kaseyoz said:

What worries me about the preboarding testing is what if you have had covid in the few weeks prior to a cruise. No symptoms now, isolation done but you can still be shedding and test positive.

 

Good point!