arxcards

Once bitten. If we do Star Class again, we will be dining in Coastal Kitchen every night. The specialty restaurants are 2nd prize in comparison.

Not even to do it in a stretch limo.

😲😲😲

We also had a great cruise on Majestic, and figure we had to catch it at some stage. I now have a tinge of regret. In the one day of work before testing positive, one of my work mates managed to catch it from me, and I don't wish it upon anyone. I have had a rebound of symptoms, and am currently fighting a bout of tiredness and fatigue after short simple tasks. I will get over it, but the benefit of our relaxing holiday has just about gone. Testing positive 2 days after arriving home, feel like crap but get no insurance or cruise day credits, and I am glad we don't have another cruise till February.

Vanuatu is still closed till 1st December, excepting a small number of "trial" visits.

All cruise by cruise, ship by ship. Unlikely to be much of an announcement, but if all crew start wearing masks indoors, that would be the first sign of tier 2.

Much of the delays stemmed from the delayed disembarking, both from interaction with borderforce and NSW health, then the pragmatic disembarking of infected passengers. The deep cleaning is ongoing, but there is a fogging of cabins of infected passengers - quite a lot of cabins to take care of.

That is true, but they only asked for those tests to be done because the ship had triggered tier 2. As with Majestic, it was the port mandated tests that took the ship from tier 2 to tier 3. If people like yourself had not come forward to be tested, the ship wouldn't have been tier 2, and the ports wouldn't have required testing before going ashore - pretty much how Majestic cruised under the radar until tier 2 was triggered. Even though a ship may suspect the presence of covid aboard, they will only voluntarily test anyone presenting with symptoms, and it is only when there is a mandated port test that a true number is known. In the early days of restarting overseas, ships did not visit ports that had a mandated arrival test. None of the cruise lines will do any precautionary screening tests, kind of hoping that the cruise will be over before they can trigger an elevated response from their home port.

Bear in mind that 2 weeks into Coral's around Australia cruise, they also hit tier 3, despite masks being required from the start of the cruise. The classic is those with a hacking cough that lower their mask to let it out, generally without muffling it into their forearm.

That is pretty much our experience. It was evident for our early days on Majestic that something was going around. Turns out it was covid, but we only listed as tier 1 a couple of days prior to returning to Sydney. Had there been a need to test everyone, as occurred on Majestic on Friday, or for your cruise on Coral, the numbers would have been higher. I will make a sweeping statement. Covid may not be on every ship, but you need to be alert to the possibility that it is on every ship. For Luminosa, Quantum, Encounter & Coral; you will no longer see a regular reference about their status on a government website - only when they visit other states on their cruise.

There is no testing at disembarkation. When a ship hits tier 2, as with Majestic Princess yesterday, they require everyone to do a pre-arrival test, which applies to port visits and disembarkation ports. The tests that were done for Majestic Princess were done yesterday morning, so that port authorities could have a measured approach for when the ship docked this morning. Some testing negative from the same cabin as a positive passenger may be required to test before disembarking - not sure about that one. I don't know what Royal have in place. In Princess' case today, even those testing negative will be delayed somewhat through disembarkation, but an 11am flight should still be able to be caught. Those testing positive are likely to be making other plans.

After visiting an overseas port? There is no limit to what you can bring back to the ship, but you need to smoke most of it before you arrive back through Australian customs. Limit is: - one unopen packet of up to 25 cigarettes or 25 grams of other tobacco products; and - one open packet of cigarettes. Most ships will allow you to purchase a carton of their "duty free" cigarettes, and take them back to your cabin, P&O does not. For ships visiting foreign ports, $50 for a carton of 200 in the ship duty free shop or $12 individual pack at the bars (Majestic Princess last month) is pretty competitive compared with duty free prices in overseas ports.

Well done. There are no suite perks on Carnival are there? Just the bigger cabin and priority boarding, or have they added some extra perks now?

We were on the previous cruise, and were lucky not to be affected - well, until testing positive a couple of days after returning home. Usually we just like a boarding photo souvenir, but scored an extra bonus this time. 800 is a number plucked from someone on social media, so it is now the definitive number. Based on those aboard, tier 3 confirms there is a minimum of around 430 infections aboard, and anything more is speculative. There isn't/won't be any official number released, so they will also not spell out how many are crew. We can speculate when the ship departs, if they remain at tier 2 or 3, a significant number of crew are infected. If they drop to tier 1, it would suggest very few crew are infected. Personally, I would have to think that passengers and crew have managed to share. Isolation for couples is pretty straight forward. The family group remains together in most cases, so positive parents won't be separated from negative kids or vice versa. If one is positive, they remain in cabin isolation. Any that are negative are free to leave the cabin, get tested daily, but cannot sit in dining/bar/theatres etc. They can go and grab food & supplies. For a recent experience of being in iso with covid, there is a very recent active thread for Coral Princess around Australia cruise. There is a fair bit of day by day response from a couple of members who tested positive during the cruise.

They love a number. As with channel 9, I couldn't find much to argue about. Even the "covid riddled" phrase isn't exaggerated in this case. Still, their first coverage said "we are hearing 800", but subsequent reports are quoting 800. Someone on social media has quoted that number, so they will run with it, and it is monkey see, monkey do between all of the news outlets. I get the feeling someone has done the tables in corridor maths and about 400 tables has become about 800 infections, but it isn't that simple. It is extremely unlikely that Majestic will have announced an actual number. Still, not to get hung-up with the number, the ship has gone from being healthy to tier 3 in a matter of 11 days, and that spells having little control over the spread of the virus aboard. Officers aboard need to be able to see what is happening with passenger hygiene, because blind Freddy can. To just assume there is no covid until a few passengers have tested positive is very short-sighted, and then the horse has bolted. I look around on the previous cruise, and so many just don't give a rats about the health of those around them, and way too hard to be bothered covering a cough or a sneeze. The Aussie media are not the problem.

If the crew is largely healthy, she will likely be back to tier 1 after disembark. The joy of a reset after each cruise. Tier 2 triggered yesterday, and showed when NSW updated their page earlier today. The tier 2 triggered a pre-arrival RAT for everyone, taken this morning. That net caught a heap of fish to get to T3 - quite a haul. The last night of a cruise can be fun, fitting in as much as possible before getting kicked-off the next morning. Ahh, to have tested negative and having the run of the good spirits bar tonight. Great fun for those that dodged the bug.

They triggered tier 2 yesterday, and in keeping with protocols, everyone was required to complete a pre-arrival RAT this morning. The results of those tests tipped it up to tier 3, a considerable number. Good news is that all that are positive will be managed according to the protocols, and most of those passengers will disembark and go home. What happens on the following cruise(s) will depend on how many crew are infected, but for passenger numbers they pretty much start again with a clean slate.

First day jitters, as they squared things away with port authorities and borderforce. The same has happened on the initial turnaround days for all the ships in Sydney, but much quicker for the following cruises. 10am is a bit early. If disembark is smooth and on schedule, check-in will open between 11 and 11:30.

Sorry I didn't get back earlier. Posting multiple photos with the latency of satellite internet and the sites' BBcode is quite a challenge.

Unless Majestic announced the actual number aboard, which I doubt, that is just a stab. As we noticed on the previous cruise, some of the resident bar experts have absolutely no idea on numbers, but are happy to share their inaccurate accounts. Based on what I think the current number of passengers and crew, tier 3 would kick in at around 430. As much as I would like to rely on news accounts, they just read social media like anyone else. Also considering that at 800, that is nowhere near 1/4 of the approx 4300 people aboard. It is only in the past 24hrs they triggered 3%, so to get to 10% from a round of tests is staggering in itself. Between NSW authorities and Majestic Princess, tier 3 is all that will be announced - no specific numbers. Great to see that cruising is at the forefront of the current surge. I am having a bit of rebound of some of my symptoms, so another quiet weekend ahead. Once again, I don't blame the ship, but the gross manners of a small number of the passengers aboard.

Tongue in cheek on steroids - lol?

And take advice from your own doctor, who should be all over this and has your medical history and wellbeing at heart. Doctor CC can be misleading.

These ultra cheap offers are selective.

They were too busy serving our drinks. Sorry you missed out. 😉

Shouldn't be necessary. We haven't used them personally, but via word of mouth they are very reputable.