Covid

[SC LTC]

Just heard on the news about princess grand Several people quarantine on the ship due to Covid-19’s Anyone heard anything I just recently got half Norwegian bliss and everything was up to protocol

 

[Earthworm Jim]

I don't know any details, but having some people on a cruise ship come down with Covid isn't anything unusual. Unless this is a large outbreak.

[ebeluga]

Every Princess ship with pax is in orange color on the CDC dashboard.  Of course there is COVID.

[startedwithamouse]

This is happening on every ship.  Discovery had no production show last night since they have some in isolation. The only difference is passengers from Grand went screaming to the media. 

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, SC LTC said:

Just heard on the news about princess grand Several people quarantine on the ship due to Covid-19’s Anyone heard anything I just recently got half Norwegian bliss and everything was up to protocol

 

Pretty normal theses days. It is unusual to find any ship that does not have cases of Covid aboard,  although, obviously, this information is not widely disseminated.  

[PrincessLuver]

2 hours ago, SC LTC said:

Just heard on the news about princess grand Several people quarantine on the ship due to Covid-19’s Anyone heard anything I just recently got half Norwegian bliss and everything was up to protocol

 

Princess had no problems with Covid when it had strict health protocols on it’s ships but since it did away with them Princess has been having issues with Covid on its’ ships and passengers are suffering because Princess is putting  profits above passenger wellbeing.  

[wowzz]

29 minutes ago, PrincessLuver said:

Princess had no problems with Covid when it had strict health protocols on it’s ships but since it did away with them Princess has been having issues with Covid on its’ ships and passengers are suffering because Princess is putting  profits above passenger wellbeing.  

Princess is having the same issues as any other cruise line. The relaxation of protocols has made no difference whatsoever.  Covid  is  endemic,  and is something we need to learn to live with. 

Thinking that maintaining protocols would continue to keep Covid at bay is,  frankly speaking,  wishful thinking. 

[prmssk]

7 hours ago, PrincessLuver said:

Princess had no problems with Covid when it had strict health protocols on it’s ships but since it did away with them Princess has been having issues with Covid on its’ ships and passengers are suffering because Princess is putting  profits above passenger wellbeing.  

I've been tracking CDC color codings since the re-start and ALL cruise lines (including Princess) have had issues with COVID especially when case counts increased on land (such as the Delta wave and the Omicron wave) since the restart regardless of the protocols they had in place at the time.  

[PescadoAmarillo]

27 minutes ago, prmssk said:

I've been tracking CDC color codings since the re-start and ALL cruise lines (including Princess) have had issues with COVID especially when case counts increased on land (such as the Delta wave and the Omicron wave) since the restart regardless of the protocols they had in place at the time.  

But case counts increased on land a couple of months before they increased on ships, which happened to coincide with when mandates were relaxed.  It can be argued that it was a coincidence but not proven that the relaxed mandates were not a contributing factor. 

[prmssk]

24 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

But case counts increased on land a couple of months before they increased on ships, which happened to coincide with when mandates were relaxed.  It can be argued that it was a coincidence but not proven that the relaxed mandates were not a contributing factor. 

My comparison was between cruise lines with different protocols (like mask wearing).  Celebrity and NCL have not required masks except for short times during the very height of those peeks.  And even Carnival and Royal Caribbean had more relaxed mask mandates that Princess.  Yet none of those four lines had noticeably more ships under investigation than Princess ships were even at times where other lines had no mask mandates.  Now I realize that mask mandates are just one of many protocols and so those other lines may have been doing something else different such that the comparison is not completely equal.

 

If you want to compare to land, I completely agree that the health protocols overall on cruise ships have made a huge difference in helping mitigate the spread of the virus on ships.

[PescadoAmarillo]

@prmsskYour comparison is valid, but I remain completely unconvinced  (incredulous, even) that COVID case counts on (at least) Princess ships are being accurately and fully reported. Certainly, COVID cases detected hours after disembarkation are not. I am reminded of a statement once made, “If we stop testing, the numbers will go down”. Yeah, it does tend to work that way. 

[mtnesterz]

12 hours ago, SC LTC said:

Just heard on the news about princess grand Several people quarantine on the ship due to Covid-19’s Anyone heard anything I just recently got half Norwegian bliss and everything was up to protocol

I too saw the LA affiliate story on TV.  Ambiguous numbers reported, "as many as 200." Where did that number come from? Doesn't anyone check facts anymore? Cabin photos and story of passengers whining about being confined to a small cabin for four days. What was the ship's options there? Sensationalized, questionably fair and accurate.

Edited April 20, 2022 by mtnesterz

[PescadoAmarillo]

18 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

I too saw the LA affiliate story on TV.  Ambiguous numbers reported, "as many as 200." Where did that number come from? Doesn't anyone check facts anymore? Cabin photos and story of passengers whining about being confined to a small cabin for four days. What was the ship's options there? Sensationalized, questionably fair and accurate.

If my 84 year old mother tested positive for COVID and was quarantined on a ship with no more medical oversight than my husband received when he was quarantined on the Ruby Princess, I’d be whining too. I would hope everyone would want to keep their mother safer than what the support currently doled out on Princess ships offers. But maybe it’s just me…and the lady cited in the article. 

[startedwithamouse]

45 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

I too saw the LA affiliate story on TV.  Ambiguous numbers reported, "as many as 200." Where did that number come from? Doesn't anyone check facts anymore? 

Guessing someone counted the cabins on the deck plan of the isolation deck? 😁

[san diego sue]

Numbers of Covid cases on board ships will never be accurate. On those 7 day cruises, people may not report their symptoms and just spread it then go home. Passengers that go home and start getting sick right away also got it on the cruise and it is not reported to the cruise lines (and the cruise lines wouldn't want to hear it anyway).

[Steelers36]

9 minutes ago, san diego sue said:

Numbers of Covid cases on board ships will never be accurate. On those 7 day cruises, people may not report their symptoms and just spread it then go home. Passengers that go home and start getting sick right away also got it on the cruise and it is not reported to the cruise lines (and the cruise lines wouldn't want to hear it anyway).

And don't forget to mention some unknown number of asymptomatics anywhere and everywhere, including on cruise ships.

[SC LTC]

7 minutes ago, san diego sue said:

Numbers of Covid cases on board ships will never be accurate. On those 7 day cruises, people may not report their symptoms and just spread it then go home. Passengers that go home and start getting sick right away also got it on the cruise and it is not reported to the cruise lines (and the cruise lines wouldn't want to hear it anyway).

Being tested before getting on and showing vaccine card plus wearing masks

 

[SC LTC]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

And don't forget to mention some unknown number of asymptomatics anywhere and everywhere, including on cruise ships.

True

[SC LTC]

46 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

If my 84 year old mother tested positive for COVID and was quarantined on a ship with no more medical oversight than my husband received when he was quarantined on the Ruby Princess, I’d be whining too. I would hope everyone would want to keep their mother safer than what the support currently doled out on Princess ships offers. But maybe it’s just me…and the lady cited in the article. 

I totally agree with you 

[bmc alabama]

2 hours ago, prmssk said:

My comparison was between cruise lines with different protocols (like mask wearing).  Celebrity and NCL have not required masks except for short times during the very height of those peeks.  And even Carnival and Royal Caribbean had more relaxed mask mandates that Princess.  Yet none of those four lines had noticeably more ships under investigation than Princess ships were even at times where other lines had no mask mandates.  Now I realize that mask mandates are just one of many protocols and so those other lines may have been doing something else different such that the comparison is not completely equal.

 

If you want to compare to land, I completely agree that the health protocols overall on cruise ships have made a huge difference in helping mitigate the spread of the virus on ships.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I think that the main difference is that Princess is running much longer itinerary cruises at the time (PC's, TransAtlantics, Hawaii, etc.) whereas most of the other lines were running primarily 3-7 night cruises, so if people developed symptoms, they were already at home.  We were on Carnival Mardi Gras with 5,800 people (great cruise, BTW) and there was ZERO Covid precautions.  I hardly saw a mask the whole week and venues were packed full.  But that ship is Yellow (or, at least it was last I checked).

 

Strangely enough, on the FB page for that group, there was a virus outbreak it seemed once people got home... of Influenza A.  

[azrose]

I am just off the Grand…I could tell there were probably cases going on… I got home and tested positive 👎

[MJSailors]

Read the posts regarding Covid on the ships and how quarantine is being handled on the Princess thread.

[bmc alabama]

To further support my theory of longer cruises, this is on the Celebrity boards with the first TA..

 

 

[PrincessLuver]

27 minutes ago, bmc alabama said:

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I think that the main difference is that Princess is running much longer itinerary cruises at the time (PC's, TransAtlantics, Hawaii, etc.) whereas most of the other lines were running primarily 3-7 night cruises, so if people developed symptoms, they were already at home.  We were on Carnival Mardi Gras with 5,800 people (great cruise, BTW) and there was ZERO Covid precautions.  I hardly saw a mask the whole week and venues were packed full.  But that ship is Yellow (or, at least it was last I checked).

 

Strangely enough, on the FB page for that group, there was a virus outbreak it seemed once people got home... of Influenza A.  

 

I think you are spot on.....most reporting of Covid on Princess ships have involved some 10 day, 15 day and back to back cruises which apparently allows time for the virus to make its' presence known.

[prmssk]

23 minutes ago, bmc alabama said:

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I think that the main difference is that Princess is running much longer itinerary cruises at the time (PC's, TransAtlantics, Hawaii, etc.) whereas most of the other lines were running primarily 3-7 night cruises, so if people developed symptoms, they were already at home.  We were on Carnival Mardi Gras with 5,800 people (great cruise, BTW) and there was ZERO Covid precautions.  I hardly saw a mask the whole week and venues were packed full.  But that ship is Yellow (or, at least it was last I checked).

 

Strangely enough, on the FB page for that group, there was a virus outbreak it seemed once people got home... of Influenza A.  

Celebrity runs very comparable length of trips and has a ton of B2B cruisers (likely quite similar to Princess).  Even just comparing Princess (with masks) to Celebrity (without masks), I didn't see a noticeable difference in the number or percentage of their ships under investigation throughout the re-start.  

 

Health protocols are a lot of layers though (many of which we don't even see happening), some of which may be different between the lines which can make it hard to compare and it also means that when a line relaxes one protocol (like masking), it doesn't mean they are relaxing other protocols.    As an example related to different protocols, my vaccine card was scrutinized a whole lot more on my Celebrity cruise (both an electronic upload ahead of time that had to be manually validated and the day of embarkation where it was reviewed by no less than 4 people) compared to my Princess cruise where it was barely glanced at by only one person.