RuthieC62

Yes but quarantine wouldn’t have been optional if the ship had indicated the risk of Covid-19. Following the pattern of other cruise ships they would then have had to move to a mandated quarantine and we’d probably still be on the ship. Any choice would have been taken out of our hands.

My guess is that many of the people on the Eclipse are conflicted as am I. On the one hand I’m really really thankful that we were able to get off the ship and  fly home to Australia safely. On the other hand I developed symptoms and tested positive on 1st April even though I thought I must be at very low risk because of the constant “healthy ship” messages. This means that I put my travelling companions, air crew, airport lounge staff at risk and I’m horrified at the thought that I may unknowingly have put these people at risk. So the conflict is between the selfish “I’m ok and Australia is a much better place to be” and the unselfish “but what about others who were just doing their jobs - they wouldn’t have been at risk if I’d been quarantined on the ship”. It’s not a black or white situation, but people seem to be posting as if there was an aboslute right or absolute wrong course of action - it’s not that clear cut.

The problem with the constant reassurance is that countless other people were put at risk as we all travelled home - airport staff, airline crew, people stopping off for fuel or groceries before self-isolating, people calling in to hug their family before self-isolating. How many would have made different decisions or been more careful if they had known that there was a greater risk than previously understood that we might be infected . I had some mild cold symptoms but thought it’s just a cold right, because my temperature was normal.  I reported these symptoms when I arrived in Sydney and subsequently tested positive. I’m thankful that Australia had such tight protocols so I’m confident I’ve not infected anyone in Australia. I’m not so confident when it comes to the airport staff at San Diego and SFO or the United Airlines crew who flew us home. But I thought I couldn’t be a risk to anyone because after all I’d been on a ship for 17 days and there was no-one with symptoms on board.

3 minutes ago, Pushka said:

 

Australia now puts everyone arriving internationally into a quarantine hotel for 14 days. All the Australians will get tested. The results will be interesting and made publically known here. 

Just to clarify. Everyone returning from overseas is quarantined in a hotel for 14 days but only those who declare symptoms (as we did) are actually tested. Don’t know whether they will decide to test everyone in Australia who came off the eclipse but at the moment they are not.

We’ve just flown back to Australia. I developed fairly mild cold like symptoms a day day or so before we disembarked but didn’t worry about it as we’d been isolated for 17 days with no illness on board or so we believed. However I read the email from Celebrity when we landed in Sydney so declared my symptoms when we were screened at the airport (many people off our flight didn’t declare even though they had similar symptoms) I was immediately isolated into a hotel in a separate room from my husband. Today my test results have come back as positive for Covid-19 (my husband doesn’t have his results yet). So please, if anyone has any even minor symptoms please get tested. I feel very misled by Celebrity!