Why do you think Princess is having excess Covid cases and not P&O, Carnival or RCL.

[korky1]

We are going on Majestic Princess on 8th December.   I have heard that in Australia Princess tend to  have an older demographic than other cruise lines.  Do you think this maybe a contributing factor? 

[rkmw]

7 hours ago, korky1 said:

We are going on Majestic Princess on 8th December.   I have heard that in Australia Princess tend to  have an older demographic than other cruise lines.  Do you think this maybe a contributing factor? 

Why do you think older people are a contributing factor ?????

Edited December 3, 2022 by rkmw

[bretts173]

6 minutes ago, rkmw said:

Why do you think older people are a contributing factor ?????

Because they spend a lot less time on the pool deck spread out in the open air, which leads to higher crowds congregating for indoor shows and activities. Add to this the concern they may have for their own health so are more likely to get tested.

Edited December 3, 2022 by bretts173

[Ozwoody]

49 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

Because they spend a lot less time on the pool deck spread out in the open air, which leads to higher crowds congregating for indoor shows and activities. Add to this the concern they may have for their own health so are more likely to get tested.

I don't believe covid is just a problem for Princess, I was on a P&O cruise just recently, and quite a number of people with covid came off after that cruise. Also had family members on a Carnival Cruise recently, and it to had a number of people come off with covid.

Princess has a bigger risk of recording more people having it, as they tend to do longer cruises, thus more people are recording positive results during cruise.

In both cases with P&O and Carnival above, they were short 7 day cruises, and a number of people tested positive after the cruises so did not reflect total number, like the longer Princess cruise do.

Also from what I've heard Princess treats it covid passenger's better than how P&O treated us.

 

As far as the older generation being a contributing factor in covid numbers, do you have statistical numbers for that?

My experience is that its the older generation that take health guide lines far more seriously than the younger ones, its generally not the older people who skip hand washing and etc, from what I've seem its the younger people who just walk past the sanitising stations.

 

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, bretts173 said:

Because they spend a lot less time on the pool deck spread out in the open air, which leads to higher crowds congregating for indoor shows and activities. Add to this the concern they may have for their own health so are more likely to get tested.

Seniors mightn't be on the pool deck, but many will be outside in the fresh air enjoying being on a ship, not indoors.  I agree with the comments that Seniors follow health guidelines seriously.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Ozwoody said:

As far as the older generation being a contributing factor in covid numbers, do you have statistical numbers for that?

My experience is that its the older generation that take health guide lines far more seriously than the younger ones, its generally not the older people who skip hand washing and etc, from what I've seem its the younger people who just walk past the sanitising stations.

 

I have to disagree with you. The restart cruises had a much wider demographic than usual on Princess and there were more seniors disregarding the health protocols than younger people, particularly regarding mask-wearing in the theatre and at trivia. 

 

Also immune systems become less robust as you age unfortunately.

 

I do think the length of the cruise pays a big part. On the 28 day Round Australia cruise we didn't start seeing signs of Covid until around Darwin, 10 days from the Sydney embarkation. Few other cruises prior to that went over 12 days, and I suspect people who started feeling unwell around day 10 would have just decided it was a cold and didn't bother getting tested as their cruise was almost over.

 

 

 

[Ozwoody]

7 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I have to disagree with you. The restart cruises had a much wider demographic than usual on Princess and there were more seniors disregarding the health protocols than younger people, particularly regarding mask-wearing in the theatre and at trivia. 

 

Also immune systems become less robust as you age unfortunately.

 

I do think the length of the cruise pays a big part. On the 28 day Round Australia cruise we didn't start seeing signs of Covid until around Darwin, 10 days from the Sydney embarkation. Few other cruises prior to that went over 12 days, and I suspect people who started feeling unwell around day 10 would have just decided it was a cold and didn't bother getting tested as their cruise was almost over.

 

I was on a P&O cruise and there definitely was a much higher ratio of younger people, and it was mostly younger people who passed me while I was washing my hands.

Now before you say almost everyone is younger than me, (which is probably true!), by younger I'm referring to people under 45.😁

Different ship demographics I suppose.🤷‍♀️

 

 

[bretts173]

Just now, Ozwoody said:

I was on a P&O cruise and there definitely was a much higher ratio of younger people, and it was mostly younger people who passed me while I was washing my hands.

Now before you say almost everyone is younger than me, (which is probably true!), by younger I'm referring to people under 45.😁

Different ship demographics I suppose.🤷‍♀️

 

 

Under 45 on princess head to kids club.

[arxcards]

- Length of cruise

- Passenger mix. No so much about age, but the number of passengers transiting from interstate and overseas, with more chance of collecting something in transit. Overseas passengers that wont test, as it is just another cold/flu to them now, giving it to Aussie passengers who still have heightened health messaging about covid and will get tested. 

- If it was an age thing, this would be a bigger issue on Holland America

 

Actually, there is only one thing that stands out as being totally different. It must be that the Medallion transmits covid.

[korky1]

I truly am sorry if I have offended anyone by my comment about perhaps an older demographic could be the reason why Princess cruises in Australia seem to be  reporting higher levels of covid cases than the other cruise lines sailing here.   They are reported more by the media and also on this site.

 

Part of the reason we chose this cruise was because Princess attracts an older crowd.  My husband and I are oldies too.  Also the longer cruise.  Not many lines doing 13 night cruises at the moment. 

 

What I meant was perhaps we treat covid a little more seriously than younger people and will be quick to  test and report a positive result even if it means having to isolate.   

 

Anyway, I am so looking forward to the cruise. We are boarding with absolutely no fear.  Will do the right thing by following mask mandate and any other protocols the ship deems necessary.   Apart from that will enjoy all the lovely food and entertainment on board.  

 

Fingers crossed we will avoid covid but what will be will be.  Wish us luck - we may need it.

[Ozwoody]

29 minutes ago, korky1 said:

I truly am sorry if I have offended anyone by my comment about perhaps an older demographic could be the reason why Princess cruises in Australia seem to be  reporting higher levels of covid cases than the other cruise lines sailing here.   They are reported more by the media and also on this site.

 

Part of the reason we chose this cruise was because Princess attracts an older crowd.  My husband and I are oldies too.  Also the longer cruise.  Not many lines doing 13 night cruises at the moment. 

 

What I meant was perhaps we treat covid a little more seriously than younger people and will be quick to  test and report a positive result even if it means having to isolate.   

 

Anyway, I am so looking forward to the cruise. We are boarding with absolutely no fear.  Will do the right thing by following mask mandate and any other protocols the ship deems necessary.   Apart from that will enjoy all the lovely food and entertainment on board.  

 

Fingers crossed we will avoid covid but what will be will be.  Wish us luck - we may need it.

You do not offend people by asking questions, people make replies, which get replies, you then take from it what you will. That's the point of forums.

Have a great trip.

 

Regards

[Semi Retired]

34 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

You do not offend people by asking questions, people make replies, which get replies, you then take from it what you will. That's the point of forums.

Have a great trip.

 

Regards

A couple on that latest "cruise in the news" stated wife got sick, told to stay in her cabin, while hubby stays there and able to go about his day onboard. 

I know RC has cases on cruises I been on (6 in past year), and they have a lower deck of quarantine cabins, where the ill are sent to for rest of cruise, getting room service and free internet.

[Ozwoody]

6 minutes ago, Semi Retired said:

A couple on that latest "cruise in the news" stated wife got sick, told to stay in her cabin, while hubby stays there and able to go about his day onboard. 

I know RC has cases on cruises I been on (6 in past year), and they have a lower deck of quarantine cabins, where the ill are sent to for rest of cruise, getting room service and free internet.

That is what happened to us, my wife got sick and confined to cabin, and yes I was allowed to leave the cabin. But only white wearing a mask, and only to get food to bring back to the cabin, where I had to eat it, I was not allowed to eat any wear outside of the cabin. And took a rat test every second day. Which I kept returning negatives.

Yes we got free internet, and access to the room service menu free. That was it, other wise we just stayed in and read, or checked out the net, or at least tried to as the net was painfully slow.

I don't know about RC, but it was no fun on P&O, and I didn't disagree with the actions taken. As they say "it is what it is".

I suspect the hubby on RC would probably have took rat tests as well.

 

[kernow]

1 hour ago, Semi Retired said:

A couple on that latest "cruise in the news" stated wife got sick, told to stay in her cabin, while hubby stays there and able to go about his day onboard. 

I know RC has cases on cruises I been on (6 in past year), and they have a lower deck of quarantine cabins, where the ill are sent to for rest of cruise, getting room service and free internet.

Not currently happening on Ovation, there are so many cases people are now isolating in their own cabins. I tested positive on the last Ovation cruise, stayed in our balcony cabin with hubby who was negative and allowed to come and go. From what I have read it's the same on the current cruise.

[arxcards]

4 hours ago, korky1 said:

I truly am sorry if I have offended anyone by my comment about perhaps an older demographic could be the reason why Princess cruises in Australia seem to be  reporting higher levels of covid cases than the other cruise lines sailing here.   They are reported more by the media and also on this site.

 

Part of the reason we chose this cruise was because Princess attracts an older crowd.  My husband and I are oldies too.  Also the longer cruise.  Not many lines doing 13 night cruises at the moment. 

 

What I meant was perhaps we treat covid a little more seriously than younger people and will be quick to  test and report a positive result even if it means having to isolate.   

 

Anyway, I am so looking forward to the cruise. We are boarding with absolutely no fear.  Will do the right thing by following mask mandate and any other protocols the ship deems necessary.   Apart from that will enjoy all the lovely food and entertainment on board.  

 

Fingers crossed we will avoid covid but what will be will be.  Wish us luck - we may need it.

I would agree that age has a bit to do with it, particularly on Carnival and P&O. If you work on a reluctance to accept you might have a mild dose and get tested if you are under 50, that would be enough to lower the numbers below a threshold that calls for mandatory testing by the ports on their itinerary. It doesn't fit Holland America though, so maybe they do something better - less people drinking at bars or using the gym perhaps, or lower passenger density.

 

I think the media side plays a significant role in how people think too. If you get mild symptoms in Carnival, you could self-reason it might be something else. Mild symptoms on Princess could be nothing other than covid, because the media has made it clear they have lots of covid on their ships and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

Edited December 4, 2022 by arxcards

[resordanis]

2 hours ago, kernow said:

Not currently happening on Ovation, there are so many cases people are now isolating in their own cabins. I tested positive on the last Ovation cruise, stayed in our balcony cabin with hubby who was negative and allowed to come and go. From what I have read it's the same on the current cruise.

Unfortunately I think you are right.I do think there are many cases! We just walked back to the cabin and could see many cabins with trays outside.Unfortunately not a great wearing masks even on the shuttles today and we were all all told to do so!

[OzKiwiJJ]

9 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

I was on a P&O cruise and there definitely was a much higher ratio of younger people, and it was mostly younger people who passed me while I was washing my hands.

Now before you say almost everyone is younger than me, (which is probably true!), by younger I'm referring to people under 45.😁

Different ship demographics I suppose.🤷‍♀️

 

 

Yes. It was interesting to see the demographics change from cruise to cruise during the four Princess restart cruises we did, then to compare those with the Round Australia cruise.

[bretts173]

It's a strange virus, I had a work conference in Canberra last week so out of precaution I took a RAT test the day prior as I had a mild tickle in my throat, positive. A week later my only other symptom was I think I slept better. If I didn't have to this work thing I would never have tested myself so it's  easy to be someone out and about in the community with the virus.

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

That is what happened to us, my wife got sick and confined to cabin, and yes I was allowed to leave the cabin. But only white wearing a mask, and only to get food to bring back to the cabin, where I had to eat it, I was not allowed to eat any wear outside of the cabin. And took a rat test every second day. Which I kept returning negatives.

Yes we got free internet, and access to the room service menu free. That was it, other wise we just stayed in and read, or checked out the net, or at least tried to as the net was painfully slow.

I don't know about RC, but it was no fun on P&O, and I didn't disagree with the actions taken. As they say "it is what it is".

I suspect the hubby on RC would probably have took rat tests as well.

 

On Princess when I had Covid Rolf had to test every day. He was allowed to leave the cabin but not eat or drink in any restaurants or bars. Mostly he stayed in the cabin but on one port day he went to the buffet to get us some lunch as only the regular room service menu was available and it didn't appeal to me. We got free drinks as well which, since we had the drinks package, essentially meant wines by the bottle, cans of soft drink, and no extrra charge for the XO cognac. 😊

[Ozwoody]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

On Princess when I had Covid Rolf had to test every day. He was allowed to leave the cabin but not eat or drink in any restaurants or bars. Mostly he stayed in the cabin but on one port day he went to the buffet to get us some lunch as only the regular room service menu was available and it didn't appeal to me. We got free drinks as well which, since we had the drinks package, essentially meant wines by the bottle, cans of soft drink, and no extrra charge for the XO cognac. 😊

For me the test every second day was voluntary, they did not ask me to, just did it as I thought it the right thing to do. I got the impression they wanted me to do the three times a day trip to save them doing it. We could have used the room service menu, but Hil was not keen on hamburgers, pizza, and sandwiches every day, wasn't much else on the list, and delivery could be some hours from ordering.

So I got to do little sorties from the cabin. felt comfortable doing it as long as I got the negative result.

We were terrified that I would catch covid and we would have to order from the room service menu.🤣

[MicCanberra]

My theory on why Princess. Older people are more likely to have had the 4 jabs, and as such less likely to show or take note of any symptoms of covid early.

[OzKiwiJJ]

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

My theory on why Princess. Older people are more likely to have had the 4 jabs, and as such less likely to show or take note of any symptoms of covid early.

That's possible. When I tested negative to the first PCR test onboard I was almost certain it was just a cold but, of course, I stayed in our cabin and, sure enough, I tested positive next day. 

 

But even years ago when I was still working there were always people who shrugged off whatever cold or flu they had and just carried on at work or socialising. I think that attitude, which was sadly encouraged by many businesses, is ingrained in some people, only now it's because they don't want their fun spoilt. 

 

[marinating]

Currently on the Majestic doing 3 BTB, the first was 8 days, second 5 days and currently on 13 day NZ cruise. I think that on the longer cruises you will always have higher Covid numbers, the virus has time to spread and symptoms to develop, prior to passengers disembarking thus the higher numbers testing positive. On Saturday there was mandatory Covid testing in response to increasing numbers of passengers testing positive, I personally feel that Princess needs to test all passengers doing BTB  cruises the day prior to the completion of each cruise, this brings them in to line with all new passengers who have to test within 24 hours of cruise commencement. 
 

[Sallyandtex]

On 12/4/2022 at 7:25 PM, arxcards said:

I would agree that age has a bit to do with it, particularly on Carnival and P&O. If you work on a reluctance to accept you might have a mild dose and get tested if you are under 50, that would be enough to lower the numbers below a threshold that calls for mandatory testing by the ports on their itinerary. It doesn't fit Holland America though, so maybe they do something better - less people drinking at bars or using the gym perhaps, or lower passenger density.

 

I think the media side plays a significant role in how people think too. If you get mild symptoms in Carnival, you could self-reason it might be something else. Mild symptoms on Princess could be nothing other than covid, because the media has made it clear they have lots of covid on their ships and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

Got back a few weeks ago from a 14 day Holland America NZ cruise (less than 2000pax). We were the "kids" being in our mid-50s, mostly everyone very much older ( so much more than the Alaska trip we had done).

The ship had been at sea from Seattle, so a LONG time. There was many from USA aboard.

There were SO many maskless people coughing and blowing noses all around us! Even saw people leaving their used tissues on the dinner plates in the Lido and MDR for the staff to clean (YUK). A good percentage seemed to be doing what they wanted with disregard for fellow passengers. (My guess is they didn't test so they could continue as normal.) So, the numbers would be out of skew.

This made me so anxious I am reluctant to cruise again for a while.

 

I have been on Carnival/P &O pre covid and I found them quite good with the hygiene (washy washy)..

 

Perhaps the "new" lot of passengers that got on in Sydney were much more compliant with hand hygiene and mask wearing (which was not enforced, even though mandatory). So, perhaps it's the thing that we in Aus have been thought so much isolation stuff and got used to the masks and trying to do the right thing??

 

My advice to the OP is just be extra careful with hygiene, wear a mask, and a P2 or N95 in the tenders, or when you are in an enclosed space. Move seats when you have someone coughing near-by. If we all look after each other then we can continue cruising in a safe place.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, marinating said:

 I personally feel that Princess needs to test all passengers doing BTB  cruises the day prior to the completion of each cruise, this brings them in to line with all new passengers who have to test within 24 hours of cruise commencement. 
 

Not sure if the protocols every required it, but when P&O and Princess restarted here, it was in their covid FAQs that they would test B2B passengers on the last sea day. It doesn't appear to have translated onto the ships.