Coral Princess in Sydney today - 13th July 2022

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Coral Princess made her maiden visit to Sydney today:

Here is she arriving in to Sydney this morning!:

 

 

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Coral Princess in Sydney today:

 

 

 

[arxcards]

Pity the Quay West cam is no longer working

[ekka49]

Thank you

[SuitesRbest]

Great to see.

[NSWP]

To quote the media...'Coral Princess slipped into Sydney Harbour under the Cover of Darkness.'

 

Now I heard those words before when Ruby Princess arrived here 2 and a bit years ago.

[Aus Traveller]

4 hours ago, NSWP said:

To quote the media...'Coral Princess slipped into Sydney Harbour under the Cover of Darkness.'

 

Now I heard those words before when Ruby Princess arrived here 2 and a bit years ago.

The media doesn't seem to understand that cruise ships cannot enter or leave the harbour during peak hours (because of ferry traffic on the harbour) and currently it is winter when the sun rises later. As the ship was only coming from Eden, it was able to arrive early - nothing suspicious about that.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

The media doesn't seem to understand that cruise ships cannot enter or leave the harbour during peak hours (because of ferry traffic on the harbour) and currently it is winter when the sun rises later. As the ship was only coming from Eden, it was able to arrive early - nothing suspicious about that.

The media doesn't seem to understand even the most basic facts about how cruise ships operate.🤔🙄🤣

[Cbtours]

21 hours ago, NSWP said:

To quote the media...'Coral Princess slipped into Sydney Harbour under the Cover of Darkness.'

 

Now I heard those words before when Ruby Princess arrived here 2 and a bit years ago.

I sailed in on THE Ruby two years ago! And we have been part of the inquiry etc since, completed our statements with NSW police and have followed it closely. It was NSW health who made the call to release the passengers as it was classed as low risk because we had only been to NZ. Ruby officers notified the harbourmaster authorities that they had respitory type sickness on board. Ruby had 25 covid test kits on board. They took tests but of course couldnt complete the results which had to go to NSW health. The ship docked at something like 1-2am early with ambulances waiting for the sick needing hospitalisation. The official status of those 25 tests, was they were sent to pathology, and they got overlooked and did not get tested for 18 hours by which time everyone was dispersed all over the world.

 

Princess gave every indication of what would happen, we would be temperature checked and cleared by border authority and NSW health teams and cleared to disembark. Absolutely nothing was checked when we left the ship! We were totally waved through as quick as they could get rid of us (as in NSW health etc not Princess). Sent by bus to airport and boarded our flight home. the next day we received an email from Princess saying some had tested positive and if we developed any symptoms to get checked.

 

I have kept a very close eye on all proceedings. I also kept a close eye on Qantas reporting and they for months and months were happy to report there had been no transmissions on any QF flight. I was very pleased about that as it meant we didnt transmit anything. We developed very minor symptoms the day after, frank had a temperature, achy back and headache. I had a scratchy throat for two hours. But because everything was so new, we actually isolated for four weeks to make absolutely sure.

 

The final cherry! Princess refunded our cruise money in full, in fact we ended up with more than we paid as port and tax fees came through separately. Im so glad we'd opted to treat ourselves with a club class mini suite 

[Mikamarii]

1 hour ago, Cbtours said:

I sailed in on THE Ruby two years ago!

It is fascinating to hear first hand accounts of the 'early days' of covid and how it was handled.

 

There is a documentary on netflix of the Diamond Princess. All it is is cell phone video of various passengers lumped together. No commentary, no added text so it was pretty raw.

 

With complete understanding that the virus was new and authorities didn't understand any of it; it is still interesting to go back and see how it was handled and how the blame was shifted to the cruise ship.

 

When Diamond princess first learned of the infections they began isolating and testing people. What was interesting was that they would only test about 1-200 people per day (then increased it) and report the numbers. So day 1, OMG there are 20 cases, Day 2, OMG there are 100 cases, Day 30 OMG there are 400 cases and they concluded that the virus was spreading through the air and they actually sealed off vents and openings. In actuality it was likely that all those passengers already had it and the testing was revealing it. The reported numbers were cumilative.  If they had tested the entire ship at one time (impossible I know) they likely would have had similar numbers. They hypothesized that 'patient zero' had been infected about 3 or 4 days earlier at a port stop and brought it to the ship where it was business as usual as nobody knew.

 

What was even more hilarious (for lack of a better term) was that every authority person was in a hazmat suit but they escorted all the passengers off in groups in their regular clothes and they boarded planes that were basically cargo planes. They boarded the plane together With the exception of the confirmed infected who were in the middle of the plane with a plastic wrap as a barrier that didn't even go to the roof. So they were screaming deadly and air born but really did nothing to protect the people at risk.

 

So the cruise ships get so much blame but as we've seen our governments had laid out restrictions that were so poorly implemented but put the blame on different groups for the rise in cases. 

Edited July 15, 2022 by Mikamarii
spelling

[MicCanberra]

Cheers Stu.

[arxcards]

44 minutes ago, Mikamarii said:

It is fascinating to hear first hand accounts of the 'early days' of covid and how it was handled.

 

There is a documentary on netflix of the Diamond Princess. All it is is cell phone video of various passengers lumped together. No commentary, no added text so it was pretty raw.

 

With complete understanding that the virus was new and authorities didn't understand any of it; it is still interesting to go back and see how it was handled and how the blame was shifted to the cruise ship.

 

When Diamond princess first learned of the infections they began isolating and testing people. What was interesting was that they would only test about 1-200 people per day (then increased it) and report the numbers. So day 1, OMG there are 20 cases, Day 2, OMG there are 100 cases, Day 30 OMG there are 400 cases and they concluded that the virus was spreading through the air and they actually sealed off vents and openings. In actuality it was likely that all those passengers already had it and the testing was revealing it. The reported numbers were cumilative.  If they had tested the entire ship at one time (impossible I know) they likely would have had similar numbers. They hypothesized that 'patient zero' had been infected about 3 or 4 days earlier at a port stop and brought it to the ship where it was business as usual as nobody knew.

 

What was even more hilarious (for lack of a better term) was that every authority person was in a hazmat suit but they escorted all the passengers off in groups in their regular clothes and they boarded planes that were basically cargo planes. They boarded the plane together With the exception of the confirmed infected who were in the middle of the plane with a plastic wrap as a barrier that didn't even go to the roof. So they were screaming deadly and air born but really did nothing to protect the people at risk.

 

So the cruise ships get so much blame but as we've seen our governments had laid out restrictions that were so poorly implemented but put the blame on different groups for the rise in cases. 

I have still have this stored on the Foxtel box. It was one of the hardest things I have ever watched. Raw, no hyperbole, and mostly narrated by passenger accounts.  We have been on the ship, loved it, and were familiar with all the settings, so it was really tough to watch as it unfolded.

 

When Concordia tipped, we reasoned that we would have enough smarts to respond suitably enough to survive the tragedy. When we watched this doco though, we were confronted as to what we could do if we were in the same boat, so to speak. We still haven't found an answer to that, so I am glad so much has been learned by the industry and health professionals around the world.

[arxcards]

For anyone looking for it, the Diamond Princess doco is called "The Last Cruise"

[Mikamarii]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

I have still have this stored on the Foxtel box. It was one of the hardest things I have ever watched. Raw, no hyperbole, and mostly narrated by passenger accounts.  We have been on the ship, loved it, and were familiar with all the settings, so it was really tough to watch as it unfolded.

 

When Concordia tipped, we reasoned that we would have enough smarts to respond suitably enough to survive the tragedy. When we watched this doco though, we were confronted as to what we could do if we were in the same boat, so to speak. We still haven't found an answer to that, so I am glad so much has been learned by the industry and health professionals around the world.

The jaw dropping moment for me was when passengers on their balcony were looking out and seeing the groups of officials in full hazmat suits. At that point, knowing something was wrong, being isolated, and hearing people have died; to look out and see that would be so traumatizing. Images like that have been so engrained in us over the past couple years that I don’t know if people would have the same reaction, but, at the time…..what a horrific scene. 

[arxcards]

17 minutes ago, Mikamarii said:

The jaw dropping moment for me was when passengers on their balcony were looking out and seeing the groups of officials in full hazmat suits. At that point, knowing something was wrong, being isolated, and hearing people have died; to look out and see that would be so traumatizing. Images like that have been so engrained in us over the past couple years that I don’t know if people would have the same reaction, but, at the time…..what a horrific scene. 

And the couple who were separated when she tested positive and was taken to a hospital in Japan, while he had to remain isolated in the cabin. Helplessness. These were mostly accounts from seasoned cruisers, so also had that perspective. The tone of the PA announcements getting more intense each day, and the touch of wit by someone programming Groundhog Day among the cabin movies.