Covid for cruiseships is over

[Cbtours]

1 minute ago, Sparky74 said:

What the protocols say and what happens in practice can be two different things. I think @Cbtours said that they only did an initial RAT and weren’t required to one at the start of each cruise on their recent B2B2B… on the Coral Princess. 

That’s correct. Maybe if someone was on different ships it might be different but staying in sane ship was treated like one journey. And the honesty system is obviously in place. If you have any symptoms then you should test and comply if positive. We took rat tests with us, but princess would supply if you had symptoms as far as I know.

[yes!yes!yes!]

17 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

That’s correct. Maybe if someone was on different ships it might be different but staying in sane ship was treated like one journey. And the honesty system is obviously in place. If you have any symptoms then you should test and comply if positive. We took rat tests with us, but princess would supply if you had symptoms as far as I know.

Thank you

It will be on the Coral Princess.

[NSWP]

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

So they should be tougher, not sure what punishment can be administered for breaching rules though.

In the brig and put off at the nearest port.  Let us be severe on these pax who defy the rules and put other people's lives in danger.  Trouble is the cruise lines and their staff do not want confrontation with passengers, hence many pax not masking up in public areas and failing to sanitise their hands.

Edited July 22, 2022 by NSWP

[Aus Traveller]

12 minutes ago, NSWP said:

In the brig and put off at the nearest port.  Let us be severe on these pax who defy the rules and put other people's lives in danger.  Trouble is the cruise lines and their staff do not want confrontation with passengers, hence many pax not masking up in public areas and failing to sanitise their hands.

That didn't happen on our last cruise. Passengers were pretty good at following the rules re masks, particularly in the theatre, the MDR, Horizon Court and in the lifts. A crew member was always stationed outside the Horizon Court to ensure everyone washed their hands. They don't police the use of hand sanitizer so much nowadays because it has proven to be less than effective. Hand washing is the best.

[OzKiwiJJ]

14 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

That didn't happen on our last cruise. Passengers were pretty good at following the rules re masks, particularly in the theatre, the MDR, Horizon Court and in the lifts. A crew member was always stationed outside the Horizon Court to ensure everyone washed their hands. They don't police the use of hand sanitizer so much nowadays because it has proven to be less than effective. Hand washing is the best.

Are you sure you were on the same cruise as us? 🤣

 

Certainly at the start of that cruise passengers were very good at following the mask rules but by day four that had slipped badly, especially in the Universe Lounge at the On the Bayou show, and in lifts and moving around the ship in the evenings. 

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Cbtours said:

That’s correct. Maybe if someone was on different ships it might be different but staying in sane ship was treated like one journey. And the honesty system is obviously in place. If you have any symptoms then you should test and comply if positive. We took rat tests with us, but princess would supply if you had symptoms as far as I know.

That is the big difference. Here we have an integrity/honour system, so surely that is following the same path through to successive cruises. Princess policy is largely applied from overseas, where they require physical evidence of negative results for each cruise, and facilitate the supervised tests on the final day of the cruise when you are doing a B2B.

 

I would think though, that in line with their local policy, they would at least provide you with a RAT on the final day to be honourable with.

[arxcards]

32 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Are you sure you were on the same cruise as us? 🤣

 

Certainly at the start of that cruise passengers were very good at following the mask rules but by day four that had slipped badly, especially in the Universe Lounge at the On the Bayou show, and in lifts and moving around the ship in the evenings. 

I noticed the same sort of thing on Pacific Explorer. I got to thinking that on the early days, people are worried about catching it and being required to isolate. When the cruise has only a few days to go, they are way less concerned about catching it, knowing they will be off the ship before they could test positive.

 

In the end, I reason that I wear my mask now to protect myself, not others. If others don't want that layer of protection, that is their risk, not mine. It would be nice to see more compliance so that the crew can feel more protected, as it is their workplace and home away from home that we are disrespecting by ignoring those rules.

[Aus Traveller]

44 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Are you sure you were on the same cruise as us? 🤣

 

Certainly at the start of that cruise passengers were very good at following the mask rules but by day four that had slipped badly, especially in the Universe Lounge at the On the Bayou show, and in lifts and moving around the ship in the evenings. 

Most people I saw were masked. Occasionally there was someone in the lift without a mask or walking around without a mask not near anyone else but it wasn't the way the previous poster mentioned - hence many pax not masking up in public areas and failing to sanitise their hands. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

29 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Most people I saw were masked. Occasionally there was someone in the lift without a mask or walking around without a mask not near anyone else but it wasn't the way the previous poster mentioned - hence many pax not masking up in public areas and failing to sanitise their hands. 

We saw the complete opposite from mid-cruise on. During the day less than half the people were wearing masks when moving through the deck 5 Atrium area, while we were having coffee at the Good Spirits Bar (typically mid-afternoon). While having our pre-dinner cocktails in Crooners, around 7pm, we saw quite a few people heading through the Atrium without masks, and after dinner it was just as bad. The worst was at the On The Bayou show in the Universe Lounge. Although we arrived more than 30 minutes before we were very lucky to get two of the remaining seats on the right side where the seating curved around. We could see right across the audience and very few people were wearing masks, even though there were regular announcements about it being a Sip and Cover venue. Some people did cover up for a few minutes, but then removed their masks again. It was very crowded at that performance too. 

 

All we can do is continue to wear masks to protect ourselves. It is a shame that so many people have such little respect for others, especially the crew. I was not at all surprised to hear there was a significant number of cases among the crew a couple of weeks after our cruise. 

Edited July 22, 2022 by OzKiwiJJ

[Aus Traveller]

6 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We saw the complete opposite from mid-cruise on. During the day less than half the people were wearing masks when moving through the deck 5 Atrium area, while we were having coffee at the Good Spirits Bar (typically mid-afternoon). While having our pre-dinner cocktails in Crooners, around 7pm, we saw quite a few people heading through the Atrium without masks, and after dinner it was just as bad. The worst was at the On The Bayou show in the Universe Lounge. Although we arrived more than 30 minutes before we were very lucky to get two of the remaining seats on the right side where the seating curved around. We could see right across the audience and very few people were wearing masks, even though there were regular announcements about it being a Sip and Cover venue. Some people did cover up for a few minutes, but then removed their masks again. It was very crowded at that performance too. 

 

All we can do is continue to wear masks to protect ourselves. It is a shame that so many people have such little respect for others, especially the crew. I was not at all surprised to hear there was a significant number of cases among the crew a couple of weeks after our cruise. 

Fair enough observations. 🙂You were on the ship and could see what was happening.

[OzKiwiJJ]

23 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Fair enough observations. 🙂You were on the ship and could see what was happening.

It was quite a noticeable change from the first few days of the cruise. although on the Airlie Beach tenders quite a few people weren't wearing masks either. 

 

It's a worry how complacent people have become. We were grocery shopping earlier today and I reckon about 80% of those in the supermarket weren't wearing masks. There were 18,657 cases in NSW yesterday. Our LGA is averaging 120 cases a day at the moment.

[NSWP]

51 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Fair enough observations. 🙂You were on the ship and could see what was happening.

Exactly.

[NSWP]

21 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It was quite a noticeable change from the first few days of the cruise. although on the Airlie Beach tenders quite a few people weren't wearing masks either. 

 

It's a worry how complacent people have become. We were grocery shopping earlier today and I reckon about 80% of those in the supermarket weren't wearing masks. There were 18,657 cases in NSW yesterday. Our LGA is averaging 120 cases a day at the moment.

Eurobodalla had 186 new positive cases reported yesterday, mostly in the Batemans Bay area.  Tip of the iceberg that number, many positives go unreported.

[Aus Traveller]

The Rugby League State of Origin match has been described as a possible super-spreader event. Before the match our Premier said that people weren't required to wear masks because the event was outside.

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Most people I saw were masked. Occasionally there was someone in the lift without a mask or walking around without a mask not near anyone else but it wasn't the way the previous poster mentioned - hence many pax not masking up in public areas and failing to sanitise their hands. 

I think you just like an argument.

[OzKiwiJJ]

32 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Exactly.

Evon was on the same cruise so it's interesting that we saw things differently. Timing, perhaps? We avoided the buffet where mask-wearing was probably enforced more, and usually dined after 7pm and went to the late shows. 

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Evon was on the same cruise so it's interesting that we saw things differently. Timing, perhaps? We avoided the buffet where mask-wearing was probably enforced more, and usually dined after 7pm and went to the late shows. 

Yes - we both commented on what we observed on the cruise. As you say, we generally went to different areas, and at different times. I saw some people without masks but they were often walking a distance away from others. I rarely saw anyone in the lift not wearing a mask.

 

It is difficult for someone who wasn't there to state what happened.

[Russell21]

Regarding hand sanitising, if like me you are allergic to the alcohol based sanitisers then there are available sanitisers based on Benzalconium Chloride which are equally as effective as the alcohol based ones. Hands First Antibacterial is the one I use.

Thankfully it's not the alcohol I'm allergic to, but to something that is common to the sanitisers, washing up liquid and some soaps. Peels the skin of my hands.

[Fortunatefew]

On 7/22/2022 at 10:31 AM, getting older slowly said:

I personally do not want to cancel..... i was thinking if princess cancel the cruise...

 

I wonder what would happen if NZ closed to cruise ships...   13 nights

leave Melbourne and do laps of Tasmania before returning ???

 

Time to stop thinking... and just see what happens.... Don

Hopefully NZ won’t close. The Govt took long enough to announce that they were opening their borders to cruise ships.  There are so many cruise ships going to NZ from late October and they’re all pretty much sold out. 

[getting older slowly]

52 minutes ago, Fortunatefew said:

Hopefully NZ won’t close. The Govt took long enough to announce that they were opening their borders to cruise ships.  There are so many cruise ships going to NZ from late October and they’re all pretty much sold out. 

This will be our 7th cruise to NZ and looking forward to it

one our favorite ports of call is Mt Maunganui.. such a lovely place to walk around....

 

Cheers Don

[vegemeter]

Case numbers coming down in NSW and VIC on a 7 day rolling average (yes there is a much publicised spike today).

 

ICU cases down on a 7 day rolling average.

 

Death numbers now include self-certified death certificates including 'Covid 19' as a reason. Covid 19 bereavement payments available to families of those who had booster 3 months before death so death numbers associated with 19 slightly higher than average over the past few months as a result at present.

 

Go figure? I apologise if this upsets anyone but the data is from NSW and VIC health.

 

Are things are improving?

Edited July 26, 2022 by vegemeter

[arxcards]

15 minutes ago, vegemeter said:

Case numbers coming down in NSW and VIC on a 7 day rolling average (yes there is a much publicised spike today).

 

ICU cases down on a 7 day rolling average.

 

Death numbers now include self-certified death certificates including 'Covid 19' as a reason. Covid 19 bereavement payments available to families of those who had booster 3 months before death so death numbers associated with 19 slightly higher than average over the past few months as a result at present.

 

Go figure? I apologise if this upsets anyone but the data is from NSW and VIC health.

 

Are things are improving?

I hope the numbers of the 7 night sailing average are also coming down too. They did say late July for a peak, so I hope they are right. Still a lot of ground between the peak and insignificant numbers though.

[vegemeter]

2 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I hope the numbers of the 7 night sailing average are also coming down too. They did say late July for a peak, so I hope they are right. Still a lot of ground between the peak and insignificant numbers though.

 

I think European lines have done a good job of demonstrating that masking up really does prevent transmission and infection.

[arxcards]

14 hours ago, vegemeter said:

 

I think European lines have done a good job of demonstrating that masking up really does prevent transmission and infection.

We are supposedly masking up to prevent transmission too. Summer cruising is an advantage. 

[buchhalm]

It is still 6 months to our planned cruise on Celebrity from Sydney to NZL.

I realize that things will probably change by then, but I'm interested in what pre-departure Covid tests are actually accepted. It seems that the CRUISE LINES are making up their own regulations at the moment as to what type of test they do or don't accept.

As Princess is ATM the only line operating, most comments here are so far relating to that particular company.

Have any of you managed to clarify Celebrity's rules? I can only find regulations on their US website that seems to be quite US specific. They seem to accept PCR tests and RAT tests. In the case of RAT, these must ALSO be supervised and confirmed (somehow) by "a medical professional". Is this service even available in Australia?

I'll ask this also on the Roll Call for this cruise. 🙂