Peacock documentary: Hell of a Cruise

[tonit964]

I remember reading/finding out here on CC, I think it was one of Saint Greg's LIVE threads that the cruise leaving out of LA was canceled that same morning I think it was March 14th, as people were already checked in at the terminal and waiting to board.

Edited September 15, 2022 by tonit964

[shiner6]

Soooo, if they did not pay the crew and they paid themselves, why do people still defend the cruise lines for sub-par experiences in the NOW?  Not trying to argue, just curious.  Seems like they are able to take some of that cash and make things right.

[suzyed]

3 hours ago, bronzey214 said:

When I saw that China was welding people into their apartment buildings (early February?), I decided to go to our local pharmacy to try to get some masks.

I ran into a woman in the same aisle. We didn't mention what we were looking for, but kind of locked eyes and both left empty handed.
  
When I ran into her later at our local hardware store doing the same thing, that's when I started to worry.

As I had stated, we watched it and compared some of what happened on the Diamond to the Coral that we were stuck on.  It brought back a lot of memories....the biggest one: the "bing bong" and then "This is the Captain speaking from the bridge".....so very scary each time it happened.  Once at 3am to inform us that two passengers had died in the medical center overnight. He wanted us to know before it got out by the press. I can't even describe how it made us feel...but I felt it again last night watching.

Edited September 15, 2022 by suzyed

[nbsjcruiser]

1 hour ago, suzyed said:

As I had stated, we watched it and compared some of what happened on the Diamond to the Coral that we were stuck on.  It brought back a lot of memories....the biggest one: the "bing bong" and then "This is the Captain speaking from the bridge".....so very scary each time it happened.  Once at 3am to inform us that two passengers had died in the medical center overnight. He wanted us to know before it got out by the press. I can't even describe how it made us feel...but I felt it again last night watching.

Gawd, that must have been awful.

[Guest ldtr]

3 hours ago, tonit964 said:

I remember reading/finding out here on CC, I think it was one of Saint Greg's LIVE threads that the cruise leaving out of LA was canceled that same morning I think it was March 14th, as people were already checked in at the terminal and waiting to board.

The Royal Princess.  We had just gotten off of the last cruise and was sitting at a nearly empty LAX waiting for our flight home, when we heard that they had stop disembarkation for a period (2 crew had been recent transfer from the Grand) after we had gotten off, and that the next cruise would not be boarding. A Carnival ship that had followed the same route also dah disembarkation delayed. 

 

The next day all cruises were canceled.

[Astro Flyer]

I much preferred reading novelist Gay Courter’s objective book “Quarantine!” with details of their experiences on Diamond Princess.

[PescadoAmarillo]

@Barry ATLThanks so much for bringing this documentary to our attention. We just watched it (if you have Xfinity cable, you can simply press the microphone button on your remote and say “Peacock Hell of a Cruise” and it streams it). DH must have asked me five times, “Now where were we that day?” (on the Majestic, grappling with the ‘do we stay or do we leave’ question).  It was amazing to watch the cluelessness when short videos were made on the other ships, with passengers and crew gathered closely together saying #Hang in there Diamond Princess” (especially the one from a totally packed Princess Theater) and hilarious when the infectious team member from the US who boarded the Diamond Princess and found himself in the middle of “all this really bad art” in the Fine Arts gallery. 
 

Now I’m off to find Quarantine (thanks Frank!).

[azbirdmom]

4 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

I much preferred reading novelist Gay Courter’s objective book “Quarantine!” with details of their experiences on Diamond Princess.

 

Agree!  It's an excellent read.  She is on some FB groups and I've chatted with her about her experiences.  Her earlier books are good as well but they weren't about cruising.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Thank you for posting this; I’ll definitely watch. I know to sift through the agenda. I just appreciate hearing firsthand accounts of these experiences. 

[Astro Flyer]

On 9/15/2022 at 1:32 PM, azbirdmom said:

 

Agree!  It's an excellent read.  She is on some FB groups and I've chatted with her about her experiences.  Her earlier books are good as well but they weren't about cruising.

I was on a Med/TA cruise with her about 10 years ago before knowing she was a successful novelist & she was very nice & friendly. 🙂

 

[cr8tiv1]

On 9/15/2022 at 2:15 PM, PescadoAmarillo said:

@Barry ATLThanks so much for bringing this documentary to our attention. We just watched it (if you have Xfinity cable, you can simply press the microphone button on your remote and say “Peacock Hell of a Cruise” and it streams it). DH must have asked me five times, “Now where were we that day?” (on the Majestic, grappling with the ‘do we stay or do we leave’ question).  It was amazing to watch the cluelessness when short videos were made on the other ships, with passengers and crew gathered closely together saying #Hang in there Diamond Princess” (especially the one from a totally packed Princess Theater) and hilarious when the infectious team member from the US who boarded the Diamond Princess and found himself in the middle of “all this really bad art” in the Fine Arts gallery. 
 

Now I’m off to find Quarantine (thanks Frank!).

Check your public library. I downloaded a copy to read on one of my recent cruises. It is an interesting perspective.  It even makes more sense if you are a Princess cruiser.  Thanks Frank

[caribill]

[malba2366]

I haven't seen the documentary, but for some reason it seems like Princess was at the epicenter of the cruise COVID crisis.  Any thoughts as to why that was the case?  

[cr8tiv1]

10 minutes ago, malba2366 said:

I haven't seen the documentary, but for some reason it seems like Princess was at the epicenter of the cruise COVID crisis.  Any thoughts as to why that was the case?  

 

I am not planning on watching the documentary.  But from reading the book Quarantine, it seemed to be a combination of not really knowing anything.  Princess just got caught up in a really bad situation.  Not assigning blame to anyone.  There were other cruise lines that were turned away from docking and other similar situations.  

[Mittens101]

We were scheduled to leave on March 8th.  I got really sick the week before and we canceled on Friday.  I knew they wouldn’t let us on the ship plus I didn’t want to make anyone else sick.  That Sunday at 5:30 am I got a text that the cruise was canceled, our cancelation hadn’t worked it’s way through the system.  Luckily we canceled we would have been in line to board our flight at that time. That’s the day the world  shut down.  

[Kay S]

4 hours ago, malba2366 said:

I haven't seen the documentary, but for some reason it seems like Princess was at the epicenter of the cruise COVID crisis.  Any thoughts as to why that was the case?  

I think it was mostly bad luck.

[caribill]

5 hours ago, malba2366 said:

I haven't seen the documentary, but for some reason it seems like Princess was at the epicenter of the cruise COVID crisis.  Any thoughts as to why that was the case?  

 

Having watched the film, I can say that although Princess was mentioned most (Diamond in Japan, Grand returning to San Francisco, Ruby returning to Sydney), Carnival and Costa were also featured. (Of course all three are CCL Corp. brands)

 

Basically, the film points out that no one knew at the time how to deal with this new virus. Not the cruise lines. Not the CDC. Not government leadership (especially as the movie shows in the USA).

 

The Diamond, for the most part, was following the directives of the Japanese officials. Certainly Princess was not responsible that the crowded buses that kept healthy and ill passengers near each other waiting for hours to leave the dock area nor the crowded airplanes that also had healthy and sick passengers close to each other.

[PescadoAmarillo]

@Astro Flyer Thanks very much for the Gay Courter book recommendation.  I read it straight through today and 1) found it really informative and 2) found it very fun and interesting. I would never have known about it but for your recommendation. 

[cr8tiv1]

3 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

@Astro Flyer Thanks very much for the Gay Courter book recommendation.  I read it straight through today and 1) found it really informative and 2) found it very fun and interesting. I would never have known about it but for your recommendation. 

As I read the book, it was very helpful to have sailed with Princess.  I could visualize the ship.  I read the book while on the Grand. I sympathize with Princess since the company really wasn’t at fault.  
 

Can’t support Princess now (with new Covid cases) since protocols were not enforced when there were large outbreaks. 

Edited October 3, 2022 by cr8tiv1

[PescadoAmarillo]

28 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

As I read the book, it was very helpful to have sailed with Princess.  I could visualize the ship.  I read the book while on the Grand. I sympathize with Princess since the company really wasn’t at fault.  
 

Can’t support Princess now (with new Covid cases) since protocols were not enforced when there were large outbreaks. 

Well you know I agree with you on that!!

[Astro Flyer]

4 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

@Astro Flyer Thanks very much for the Gay Courter book recommendation.  I read it straight through today and 1) found it really informative and 2) found it very fun and interesting. I would never have known about it but for your recommendation. 

You’re welcome…glad that you found it informative & interesting like I did. I appreciated her objectivity dealing with this stressful situation.

[cr8tiv1]

Grand 12 day round trip from Vancouver had 125 cases according to a passenger who heard it from the Captain when they returned on 9/26.  Those continuing on from LA will be tested onboard AFTER they leave LA for Australia.  

[AZjohn]

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Grand 12 day round trip from Vancouver had 125 cases according to a passenger who heard it from the Captain when they returned on 9/26.  Those continuing on from LA will be tested onboard AFTER they leave LA for Australia.  

If it’s a similar to our current Enchanted cruise, I’ll put 100% responsibility on the passengers themselves for Covid spread and not Princess.  

[suzyed]

There's another book you all might find interesting.."Cruising Interrupted" by Paul C. Thornton.   Of particular interest to me, anyway, was the chapter written by/about one of our co-passengers, Christine Beehler on the Coral Princess when Covid broke out March 2020!   The chapter: "Got Covid Onboard: Cruising Interrupted (But Not Stopped!)" caused me to relive what was a very scary situation.  Most everyone we knew or became friendly with on that sailing, tested positive for covid afterwards especially those of us who were still on the ship into April.

Edited October 3, 2022 by suzyed

[PescadoAmarillo]

7 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Grand 12 day round trip from Vancouver had 125 cases according to a passenger who heard it from the Captain when they returned on 9/26.  Those continuing on from LA will be tested onboard AFTER they leave LA for Australia.  

I saw that with the Majestic Princess transpacific cruise. I read on FB (so this is not confirmed) that passengers have to self test after every port, and show their “stick” to their cabin steward. Princess says it’s because of the length of the cruise. I think some people are going to be in for a shock when they test positive and are quarantined. And I can’t help but wonder if the ship has enough resources to meet their needs while they are.