Quantum/Ovation/Luminosa quiet on Covid reports

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, Tripmode33 said:

Just off Luminosa on Sunday. No obvious signs of Covid on board. It was a seven nighter. We were one of the very few wearing masks in public areas. 1% at most wearing masks. A few more masks seen last two days as news of Majestic outbreak filtered through. 

I usually sail Princess and I found Luminosa had significantly less insistence on using hand sanitizer at MDR and buffet, and certainly no hand washing sinks at buffet. Rarely saw guests using hand sanitizer though it was provided at all points. 

Hot foods were served by wait staff (except at BBQ station located on aft deck just outside buffet). Cold selections self service.

I wore masks except when outside or seated for dining. I had extra incentive to do so as I board Majestic this coming weekend for a five night Tasmania, followed six days later by a round NZ cruise on Princess.  Feeling slightly nervous with them so close with the new wave in the community.

Sounds like you have done everything you can do to avoid catching Covid.  Hope you stay covid free so you can cruise to Tassie and around NZ on Princess.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Tripmode33 said:

Just off Luminosa on Sunday. No obvious signs of Covid on board. It was a seven nighter.

Depending on how many people brought Covid onboard with them my guess is that it takes at least ten days for obvious signs to be noticed. Coughs might be noticed prior to that, of course, but they may not be Covid coughs. On Princess it was very easy to tell which cabins had people isolating because of the tables outside the doors, but other lines may not do this. 

 

On the Coral Round Australia cruise I think I started noticing tables around the time we reached Darwin. Darwin was day 10 from the Sydney embarkation. I developed symptoms on day 14. I tested negative again on day 20 and by then there were tables everywhere.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

We are currently cruising on Grand Princess. There is no encouragement or insistence to handwash or use sanitiser on entering the buffet or other venues on the ship. We spoke to the buffet supervisor and expressed our disappointment, pointing out that norovirus still exists as well as covid. He said he would take our comments onboard, but nothing has changed.

 

Covid cases onboard continue to increase, and masks changed from recommended to strongly recommended to the current required. Announcements from the captain inform us that we must wear n95 masks, but they only gave us 1 surgical mask each, telling us to change them every 3 or 4 days. Lucky we brought our own supply.

That's bad. Also I've seen some posts elsewhere that people who are in isolation aren't getting the same level of care as we did on Coral. Grand seems to have dropped the ball a bit. 

[NSWP]

8 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That's bad. Also I've seen some posts elsewhere that people who are in isolation aren't getting the same level of care as we did on Coral. Grand seems to have dropped the ball a bit. 

Julie...Sounds like another Covid Explosion in the making. How slack are the staff and the pax re hand washing, sanitsing etc.

[Chiliburn]

3 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

We are currently cruising on Grand Princess. There is no encouragement or insistence to handwash or use sanitiser on entering the buffet or other venues

they only gave us 1 surgical mask each, telling us to change them every 3 or 4 days. Lucky we brought our own supply.

That’s bad ,even P&O insists on hand washing.

Those masks must be stale after a few days.

 

No wonder the media bashes Princess.
 

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Chiliburn

[OzKiwiJJ]

57 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Julie...Sounds like another Covid Explosion in the making. How slack are the staff and the pax re hand washing, sanitsing etc.

Apparently they aren't insisting on hand washing at the buffet. 

 

It will depend on how long the cruise is. If it's seven days or less passengers will be off the ship before things get too bad but if it's a 13/14 day cruise they could end up triggering higher Tier levels.

[OzKiwiJJ]

12 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

That’s bad ,even P&O insists on hand washing.

Those masks must be stale after a few days.

 

No wonder the media bashes Princess.
 

 

3-4 days is far too long to wear the same surgical mask. I was surprised they only provided one each at the start of our cruise, then another over a week later. They did switch to KN95 masks once the outbreak ramped up and you could request extra masks at any time through the app or Guest Services. We took a good supply of P2 masks with us.

 

The problem is that there are too many people who don't understand how to wear a mask properly and how often you should change them. I saw people wearing them inside out, people wearing ones that were screwed up and gungy-looking, and far too many noses poking over the top of masks. 

 

But there hasn't been much feedback about what masks the other cruise lines are supplying, and how many, so it's a bit unfair to judge Princess for the poor behaviour and lack of common of passengers. I think they've done reasonably well overall.

[Chiliburn]

8 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

3-4 days is far too long to wear the same surgical mask. I was surprised they only provided one each at the start of our cruise, then another over a week later. They did switch to KN95 masks once the outbreak ramped up and you could request extra masks at any time through the app or Guest Services. We took a good supply of P2 masks with us.

 

The problem is that there are too many people who don't understand how to wear a mask properly and how often you should change them. I saw people wearing them inside out, people wearing ones that were screwed up and gungy-looking, and far too many noses poking over the top of masks. 

 

But there hasn't been much feedback about what masks the other cruise lines are supplying, and how many, so it's a bit unfair to judge Princess for the poor behaviour and lack of common of passengers. I think they've done reasonably well overall.

It’s going to be a long season.

It must have cost Princess a lot ,paying for transport and accommodation for the last cruise.

I think the cruise lines are hurting, the way Royal is price gouging they seem to be putting profits ahead of everything else.

Edited November 15, 2022 by Chiliburn

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Depending on how many people brought Covid onboard with them my guess is that it takes at least ten days for obvious signs to be noticed. Coughs might be noticed prior to that, of course, but they may not be Covid coughs. On Princess it was very easy to tell which cabins had people isolating because of the tables outside the doors, but other lines may not do this. 

 

On the Coral Round Australia cruise I think I started noticing tables around the time we reached Darwin. Darwin was day 10 from the Sydney embarkation. I developed symptoms on day 14. I tested negative again on day 20 and by then there were tables everywhere.

Majestic for us only took a couple of days to realise that something was starting to do laps, but no way of knowing it was covid. Fair to say with hindsight, it was. A small number were starting to test positive around day 7, likely contracted around day 3. Quite a contingent of B2B passengers following the transpacific.

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by arxcards

[OzKiwiJJ]

8 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

It’s going to be a long season.

It must have cost Princess a lot ,paying for transport and accommodation for the last cruise.

I think the cruise lines are hurting, the way Royal is price gouging they seem to be putting profits ahead of everything else.

The restart cruises for Princess were surprisingly cheap. We paid less for a suite pp per day on one of those than we have for a regular balcony on other bookings. The Round Australia cruise was the first to operate under regular pricing. I don't think it much dearer than other ones we'd had booked that were cancelled. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, arxcards said:

Majestic for us was only took a couple of days to realise that something was starting to do laps, but no way of knowing it was covid. Fair to say with hindsight, it was. A small number were starting to test positive around day 7, likely contracted around day 3. Quite a contingent of B2B passengers following the transpacific.

 

That timing sounds about right. And by day 3 those passengers who had unknowingly (?) brought Covid onboard with them would be infectious even if they hadn't started developing symptoms.

 

I wonder how well the governments are/were communicating with the cruise lines about the possibility/probability of a new wave of Covid ramping up. 

[arxcards]

44 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

That’s bad ,even P&O insists on hand washing.

Those masks must be stale after a few days.

 

No wonder the media bashes Princess.
 

 

When they set a new pinnacle for infections of anything on a cruise ship, they make themselves a big target. P&O copped a bit of a bash in July as well, and as you say, it is a long season that is barely underway. Most ships will get a turn, as it is a passenger problem, not a ship one.

 

The masks, even though only surgical ones, were free on demand but useless if passengers are happy to keep wearing the same mask day after day - or in the case of Majestic, not require anyone to wear one until the code red is sounded.

 

 

[arxcards]

2 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That timing sounds about right. And by day 3 those passengers who had unknowingly (?) brought Covid onboard with them would be infectious even if they hadn't started developing symptoms.

 

I wonder how well the governments are/were communicating with the cruise lines about the possibility/probability of a new wave of Covid ramping up. 

Not just the asymptomatic. The coughing & sneezing was evident by day 3 and increasing by the day. But, if passengers don't think covid is present, why would they get tested? Yes, anyone with any cold or flu like symptoms is supposed to get tested, but that clearly wasn't happening early in the cruise.

 

I wonder how much of the new wave is being generated by the ships themselves. I feel as if I am near the front of the new wave. Majestic --> ME --> work mate --> 3 of his family, and that is all we know so far.

[OzKiwiJJ]

27 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Not just the asymptomatic. The coughing & sneezing was evident by day 3 and increasing by the day. But, if passengers don't think covid is present, why would they get tested? Yes, anyone with any cold or flu like symptoms is supposed to get tested, but that clearly wasn't happening early in the cruise.

 

I wonder how much of the new wave is being generated by the ships themselves. I feel as if I am near the front of the new wave. Majestic --> ME --> work mate --> 3 of his family, and that is all we know so far.

I suspect cruise ship cases are just a drop in the bucket on the new wave. NSW reported 19375 cases last week, up from 12440 cases the previous week. However if Professor Catherine Bennett is correct they are only seeing 10% of cases in the community so that would mean close to 200,000 cases in reality. 800 cases from a cruise ship isn't going to make that much difference. 

 

Cruise ships get the blame because they are closed environments that are required to report cases of infectious illnesses. It's impossble to quantify the number of infections from theatres, pubs, shopping malls, churches, etc as they are places people don't go to every day. Schools and workplaces are a little easier to track I guess. These latest varients are very infectious I believe.

 

Unfortunately many people don't want to report having symptoms because they don't want their fun spoilt by having to isolate. Cruise ships need to start requiring mandatory testing of all passengers every few days until this wave is over. 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by OzKiwiJJ

[Tripmode33]

6 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

We are currently cruising on Grand Princess. There is no encouragement or insistence to handwash or use sanitiser on entering the buffet or other venues on the ship. We spoke to the buffet supervisor and expressed our disappointment, pointing out that norovirus still exists as well as covid. He said he would take our comments onboard, but nothing has changed.

 

Covid cases onboard continue to increase, and masks changed from recommended to strongly recommended to the current required. Announcements from the captain inform us that we must wear n95 masks, but they only gave us 1 surgical mask each, telling us to change them every 3 or 4 days. Lucky we brought our own supply.

Disappointed to hear of your experience on the Grand. We are boarding it in a fortnight for around NZ itinerary.

On our two Coral Princess cruises this season, you certainly couldn't enter buffet without washing hands with soap and water. They were very strict and watchful!

We received one surgical mask on Coral, and zero on Luminosa. I'm assuming both would have provided more upon request. We take plenty of '95' masks with us.

Some time ago, someone on forum suggested you use three '95' masks - labelled 1,2,3 - use one on each of three successive days, then on day 4, start again with #1 and so on, rotating through so only using each one every third day.

[Cruisers47]

9 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

We are currently cruising on Grand Princess. There is no encouragement or insistence to handwash or use sanitiser on entering the buffet or other venues on the ship. We spoke to the buffet supervisor and expressed our disappointment, pointing out that norovirus still exists as well as covid. He said he would take our comments onboard, but nothing has changed.

 

Covid cases onboard continue to increase, and masks changed from recommended to strongly recommended to the current required. Announcements from the captain inform us that we must wear n95 masks, but they only gave us 1 surgical mask each, telling us to change them every 3 or 4 days. Lucky we brought our own supply.

Have been on 3 RCL cruises post Covid.  Two in the Med.   Both ships had wash sinks before entering the buffet.   Staff at the entrance all the time asking you to wash.   Only once did I see anybody not washing.   Was very happy with that.