News 7/13/22: Coral Princess Passengers Required to Test Before Going Ashore in Sydney

[LACruiser88]

 

 

Coral Princess cruisers required to test before going ashore in Sydney

Coral Princess docked in Sydney on Wednesday, with reports that some passengers disembarked for the day without showing proof of a negative RAT

Helen Hutcheon | Jul 13, 2022

New South Wales Health gave Coral Princess, which arrived in Sydney Wednesday with four passengers and 114 crew COVID-19 positive, an ‘amber’ risk level, allowing the ship to safely maintain critical services.

 

'Amber' is a safety notice to local health officials about potential quality and safety issues requiring risk assessment at the local level.

 

Isolation onboard

All infected people are in isolation onboard and are being cared for by the ship’s medical staff.

 

A spokesperson for Princess Cruises said around 10 more passengers returned a positive RAT (rapid antigen test) before disembarking. 

 

Day in Sydney

All passengers getting off the ship for the day in Sydney were required to return a negative RAT before departing, but several media outlets, including the Australian Financial Review, reported  some passengers disembarked without showing proof of a negative result.

 

Coral Princess, on a 12-day round-trip from Brisbane, sailed from Sydney late Wednesday. 

 

She is due to return to her homeport at the new Brisbane International Cruise Terminal on July 22.

 

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[USCcruisecrazy]

Some strange numbers...only 4 passengers but 114 crew.  Odd since the crew wears masks.  Then 10 passengers (I'm guessing that were asymptomatic) tested positive trying to leave the ship.  What are the Aussie Rules for those testing positive?  If the ship docks in 8 days, will those folks still have to quarantine?  Could the crew being hit hard with positives cause a cancellation of the next sailing?  What a mess!!

[Cruiser933]

23 minutes ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

Some strange numbers...only 4 passengers but 114 crew.  Odd since the crew wears masks. 

The crew wear masks in public areas. I don’t think they are wearing them in crew quarters.

[USCcruisecrazy]

2 minutes ago, Cruiser933 said:

The crew wear masks in public areas. I don’t think they are wearing them in crew quarters.

Good point.  Can't imagine how that effects the cruise experience with so many crew members out.

[ebeluga]

The crews are regularly tested so it captures a number that probably reflects the state of cases whereas pax are only tested if they report or if they want to get off the ship, that leaves a % of pax that are not tested, thus the true case numbers will not be known.

[Marjan1]

On 7/15/2022 at 4:03 AM, USCcruisecrazy said:

Some strange numbers...only 4 passengers but 114 crew.  Odd since the crew wears masks.  Then 10 passengers (I'm guessing that were asymptomatic) tested positive trying to leave the ship.  What are the Aussie Rules for those testing positive?  If the ship docks in 8 days, will those folks still have to quarantine?  Could the crew being hit hard with positives cause a cancellation of the next sailing?  What a mess!!

Crew are tested every 3 days.  Reported that most who tested positive are asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms.  

[beg3yrs]

Another important takeaway I got from the article is: "allowing the ship to safely maintain critical services".

 

This indicates to me there's a level where it's determined that there aren't enough uninfected crew to safely maintain critical services. What happens then I don't know but it could be a cruise would be canceled as passengers and the ship wouldn't be safe.