P&O Testing

[Josy1953]

Is anyone really surprised that Covid is still spreading on cruise ships ?  It is spreading ashore and very few people are still wearing masks so why would it be different on cruise ships.

 

I did a quick calculation on Emerald Princess on Monday, we walked up the central stairs and as we walked along to our aft cabin I counted the number of doors where there were no longer passenger names displayed

 

I assumed that the front half of the ship had the same number of affected cabins and that decks, 8,9,10,11 all accommodation decks had a similar number of cases. Deck 12 I ignored because it was the isolation deck.

 

21 doors

2 passengers (assumed because some will have 1 others 2, 3 or 4)

21 * 2 * 4 = 168

So my guess for our ship would be less than 200 because I may be naive but I would hope that most people would be honest enough to inform the medical centre and be isolated rather than roam around the ship spreading it.

 

I am also hopeful that peop!e will still get tested before embarkation and be honest about the result  even if they are no longer required to produce proof of a negative test.

[jeanlyon]

Since when did they display passenger names on doors?  Don't like the sound of that.

[davecttr]

32 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Since when did they display passenger names on doors?  Don't like the sound of that.

Bad idea, just wait until someone gets unwelcome attention and to make it worse they will know what cabin they occupy.

 

They tried that at work in our very large office with name badges.  The scheme was stopped within a week as female staff members were getting unwelcome phone calls.

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

Since when did they display passenger names on doors?  Don't like the sound of that.

It is Princess, I  can't remember how long it was since I last saw them on P&O.

59 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Bad idea, just wait until someone gets unwelcome attention and to make it worse they will know what cabin they occupy.

 

They tried that at work in our very large office with name badges.  The scheme was stopped within a week as female staff members were getting unwelcome phone calls.

How will they know what cabin they occupy unless the person is either followed or tells the nuisance their cabin number? I can't imagine anyone going and checking several thousand doors to check the names.

[Megabear2]

30 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

It is Princess, I  can't remember how long it was since I last saw them on P&O.

How will they know what cabin they occupy unless the person is either followed or tells the nuisance their cabin number? I can't imagine anyone going and checking several thousand doors to check the names.

It's the Medallion on Princess which displays the names on doors. It is also triggered in the lift lobbies on the big boards. My name was emblazoned on Regal Princess as someone enjoying a birthday but I wasn't. The Medallion also unlocks the door as you approach.  

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Bad idea, just wait until someone gets unwelcome attention and to make it worse they will know what cabin they occupy.

 

They tried that at work in our very large office with name badges.  The scheme was stopped within a week as female staff members were getting unwelcome phone calls.

My husband once acquired a stalker on Queen Elizabeth after a woman became somewhat obsessed with him after he spoke with her in the swimming pool one morning!  One evening she approached me in the night club and remonstrated with me that I didn't deserve to be with him as I wasn't paying him enough attention.  Despite him clearly stating he wasn't interested she followed him around for days.  It became very grating.

[Josy1953]

39 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

It's the Medallion on Princess which displays the names on doors. It is also triggered in the lift lobbies on the big boards. My name was emblazoned on Regal Princess as someone enjoying a birthday but I wasn't. The Medallion also unlocks the door as you approach.  

On Emerald, it displays your picture and unlocks your door as you approach but the names seemed to be visible on all doors as we walked past them.  I didn’t notice our names on the displays in the lift lobbies on Emerald but my Christian name showed up on Sky along with a Happy Birthday GIF because I  had my birthday on board.

I am now wondering whether someone on the ship is able to control what is displayed when.  The good thing is that you can choose in the Medallion app what picture to attach to your medallon profile so I  chose a photo of a flower that I have on my phone and David chose a photo that he took of the Northern Lights.

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Josy1953
Added pic of birthday greeting

[CCFC]

3 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

On Emerald, it displays your picture and unlocks your door as you approach but the names seemed to be visible on all doors as we walked past them.  I didn’t notice our names on the displays in the lift lobbies on Emerald but my Christian name showed up on Sky along with a Happy Birthday GIF because I  had my birthday on board.

I am now wondering whether someone on the ship is able to control what is displayed when.  The good thing is that you can choose in the Medallion app what picture to attach to your medallon profile so I  chose a photo of a flower that I have on my phone and David chose a photo that he took of the Northern Lights.

You can turn it showing your name off in the Medallion privacy settings, getting on Sky princess at the weekend, I will remind myself how to do it.

[Josy1953]

11 minutes ago, CCFC said:

You can turn it showing your name off in the Medallion privacy settings, getting on Sky princess at the weekend, I will remind myself how to do it.

Thank you, I didn’t know that, I will also be turning if off on our October cruise.

[Fionboard]

5 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Since when did they display passenger names on doors?  Don't like the sound of that.

Never seen that.

[Billish]

I see Virgin have discontinued testing as well.

[Eglesbrech]

6 minutes ago, Billish said:

I see Virgin have discontinued testing as well.

It was never going to take long until some of them started to drop it.

[Bill Y]

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Never seen that.

Before Medallions Princess had paper labels on cabin doors colour coded to reflect loyalty status. evidently the Americans like this

[Happy afloat]

So if there is no requirement for showing a negative certificate, does this mean you could just do your own test rather than booking one with Randox or such?

[kruzseeka]

1 minute ago, Happy afloat said:

So if there is no requirement for showing a negative certificate, does this mean you could just do your own test rather than booking one with Randox or such?

Yes.  Or do one and lie about the result or even not do one at all?  

[yorkshirephil]

2 hours ago, Happy afloat said:

So if there is no requirement for showing a negative certificate, does this mean you could just do your own test rather than booking one with Randox or such?

I would be tempted to ask P&O that question, it was clear until recently that you couldn't use NHS lft for travel. We bought Randox tests which are visually identical to the NHS ones. In my opinion using a NHS lft and getting a negative result is no different to buying a private one and getting a negative result as that is the important factor. However if you state you have used a NHS one you could be refused boarding? Hopefully this technicality will be cleared up soon.

 

COVID-19 testing for the purposes of international travel is not available on the NHS. Testing for this reason is only available through private providers who must have self-declared that they meet the UK Government's minimum standards for the type of commercial COVID-19 testing service they offer. 

[Ardennais]

5 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

I would be tempted to ask P&O that question, it was clear until recently that you couldn't use NHS lft for travel. We bought Randox tests which are visually identical to the NHS ones. In my opinion using a NHS lft and getting a negative result is no different to buying a private one and getting a negative result as that is the important factor. However if you state you have used a NHS one you could be refused boarding? Hopefully this technicality will be cleared up soon.

 

COVID-19 testing for the purposes of international travel is not available on the NHS. Testing for this reason is only available through private providers who must have self-declared that they meet the UK Government's minimum standards for the type of commercial COVID-19 testing service they offer. 

Yes, I hope too that they make things clear soon! 
Why on earth don’t they consider these things before sending out their e-mails?! If people on these boards can quickly spot the ambiguity, why can’t the cruiselines? 

[terrierjohn]

12 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Yes, I hope too that they make things clear soon! 
Why on earth don’t they consider these things before sending out their e-mails?! If people on these boards can quickly spot the ambiguity, why can’t the cruiselines? 

But since test kits are now available from chemists at about £2 each, it's not really a big problem to use these, even for a family of four.

[yorkshirephil]

2 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But since test kits are now available from chemists at about £2 each, it's not really a big problem to use these, even for a family of four.

Even paying £11 each for Randox wouldn't be the end of the world to ensure I got aboard, when compared with the cost of a cruise. Can't believe I just said that, must be mellowing in my old age.

[kruzseeka]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

I would be tempted to ask P&O that question, it was clear until recently that you couldn't use NHS lft for travel. We bought Randox tests which are visually identical to the NHS ones. In my opinion using a NHS lft and getting a negative result is no different to buying a private one and getting a negative result as that is the important factor. However if you state you have used a NHS one you could be refused boarding? Hopefully this technicality will be cleared up soon.

 

COVID-19 testing for the purposes of international travel is not available on the NHS. Testing for this reason is only available through private providers who must have self-declared that they meet the UK Government's minimum standards for the type of commercial COVID-19 testing service they offer. 

But since they haven't made that distinction, it would be most unreasonable (though perhaps technically correct) to deny boarding.  Most embarking this weekend for example may well have cancelled observed tests at Lloyds etc to do their own test using NHS LFTs having not read these boards or anything other than the P&O statement therefore being none the wiser.

[Ardennais]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

But since test kits are now available from chemists at about £2 each, it's not really a big problem to use these, even for a family of four.

Oh I completely agree, as long as passengers aren’t turned away for using the NHS ones! 

[kruzseeka]

 

8 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Oh I completely agree, as long as passengers aren’t turned away for using the NHS ones! 

They won't know that you've used a NHS test.  In fact they don't even know if you've taken a test!  No proof asked for - just your declaration that you have a negative result.  Loophole city!

[Billish]

18 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Oh I completely agree, as long as passengers aren’t turned away for using the NHS ones! 

They cannot be turned away, because P&O do not ask which tests were used.

[Fionboard]

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

But since test kits are now available from chemists at about £2 each, it's not really a big problem to use these, even for a family of four.

Yes, less than a tenner for box of five from Superdrug! 

[jeanlyon]

Exactly!  Why would you bother to test at all?