jerseygirl3

I can't answer your specific question, but I just wondered. Is there any problem taking your daughter out of school for a cruise right after school has started? I know when my kids were younger and in school, it was so difficult to take them out of school even when it was toward the end of the school year.

That would make sense, but I think they'd find out because you would need to inform your cabin attendant and probably order meals through room service. When my husband tested positive for Influenza A in February 2020 (our last cruise before Covid hit), he was quarantined in our cabin (I was given Tamiflu and not restricted in any way). The cabin attendant was not allowed in our cabin and room service meals were left outside our door.

Is Royal still banishing cruisers to the Covid "ward" if you contract Covid onboard? Someone posted on Celebrity that they were allowed to stay in their balcony cabin.

"If guests choose an alternative sailing, their booking will be transferred in the same stateroom category as they had chosen for the original, now oversold cruise. There will be no transfer fees and no change in cruise fare. Guests who choose one of these alternate bookings will still receive the 100% refund of their original cruise fare" If it's a free cruise, why does it say there's no change in cruise fare? That sounds like the new selection is merely price protected.

What's the big incentive. They are refunding your monies paid for the original, oversold cruise and price protecting if you rebook a later cruise. So what's the big incentive?

Because nothing all are crossing the Atlantic Ocean (eg Pacific Ocean)

If you go to Princess’ website, cruises departing from Europe still require testing 3 days prior to embarkation. So this statement is misleading

Why are we still having to test on cruises out of Europe when Europe does not require testing????

So basically the vaxxed are screwed with having to still test, but unvaccinated are a welcome aboard. 😡

Not true in all situations. The medical facility I work for still requires masks and it is privately owned. It has more to do with the surge in cases.

It's not a Greece policy. The only Greek embarkation port requiring testing us Piraneus (sp?). It's most def a Royal policy. We have to prevruise test leaving from Italy and no testing is required there.

I'll bet this announcement on Aug 14, if it actually happens, will be a relaxation of vaccines and not testing. That seems to be the direction they are headed. Really wish they would get rid of the European testing since none if the coutries, except one embarkation port in Greece, requires it.

Agreed! Pretty much every country that Royal visits has removed testing. So why is Royal still requiring testing and only letting up on vaccine mandates?

Did you upload your vaccine card when you applied for it? If not, that could account for why you never got the authorization beforehand.

We did wind up booking a flight to Bologna. We will spend 4 days in Bologna, and we've arranged (with several friends) a transfer to Ravenna the morning the ship sails.

Being a nurse, I always pack a “pharmacy” to take with us. But when hubby’s temp reached almost 103 even with Tylenol, I figured it was time to see a doctor. I do get a flu shot every year, and in the past 30 years I’ve gotten flu twice (once from a kid I was swabbing for a flu test and he gagged and spit in my face and 15 min later he tested positive for flu; 3 days later I tested positive for flu; no surprise there). But both times I got a much milder case than the first time I got flu without a flu shot and felt like death for 10 days.

I agree hate that they move people to a less cabin. With my husband's influenza, we were allowed to stay in our own cabin (Feb.2019).

When you got flu in your cruise in 2008, did they do a rapid test in the Medical Center to confirm influenza and what type? My husband does have some pre-existing conditions, but the Medical Staff seemed to be treating everybody who came to be checked the same. This occurred right before the pandemic hit, on our last cruise (February 2019). He started running a fever, body aches, and cough on the 7th night of our 12 night sailing. We stayed in the cabin that evening (and darn, it was formal night!!). In the a.m. his temp was almost 103, so we immediately went to the Medical Center when they opened. They told us they would be testing him for influenza. They said he came back positive for Influenza Type A. They said anybody who tests positive for Influenza must be quarantined until they are fever free for 24 hours. Apparently there were a lot of flu cases on our sailing, but they never told us how many (I asked :). We did not have to change cabins, and I was allowed to roam the ship, but they did put me on Tamiflu prophylactically (we were both flu vaccinated; I never caught it, and hubby had a much milder case). Hubby was also put on Tamiflu. The doctor and a nurse came to check on him twice a day (they said this was normal protocol) to take his vitals. They told him he could order anything he wanted from room service, but honestly he had no appetite. The cabin attendent was not allowed inside our cabin, so every day I would put dirty linens outside our door in a red bag and the cabin attendent would leave clean ones. On the last day of the cruise, we were told to stay in our cabin until the general population of passengers had debarked, and they would come and escort us off the ship. Seeing how many people were being escorted, I would guess there were probably about 80 passengers who had contracted flu on that sailing. I've often wondered if it could have been Covid and since testing wasn't available that early on, did they just tell us it was Influenza? The odd thing is that the couple of months prior to that cruise, during the height of flu season, where I work (I'm a nurse), we didn't see any flu (and that was before masking or any other mitigation). Typical flu season is late October to late March. I can count on one hand how many we had, despite testing. I think Covid was here that winter before we all realized what it was. We were never given a bill, although I did tell them we had travel insurance. Thankfully, hubby felt fine by the time the cruise ended, and was able to drive us home from Baltimore to New Jersey (I hate driving!!LOL). BTW, I did not take your questions as being argumentative 🙂

Dont know where you live, but many doctors offices require masks.

True, but if you contract flu on a cruise, you are quarantined. Happened to my husband on Day 8 of a 12 day sailing.

For sure. It is so highly contagious. Thankfully, less virulent. I lost my Mom to Covid in March 2020. She lived for 12 days before she passed. It was heartbreaking, because other than dementia, she was exceptionally healthy.

My husband didn't test positive until 5 days after we arrived in Florida. This new variant has an incubation period of, on average, 2 days. I doubt he picked it up before we arrived there. I became symptomatic 2 days after hubby, so obviously I caught it from him.

Yes. Hubby and I wore masks in airport, on plane, and in all public places (stores, rental car, etc.). We arrived on a Saturday, only went to one restaurant (and ate outdoors) before he felt ill and tested positive on Wednesday. Only place we weren't masked was sitting on the beach, of course. But in all the places we stopped (Publix, airport, car rental), we rarely saw anybody else wearing a mask. Hubby has Pulmonary and Cardiac Sarcoidosis, so we are extremely careful. Thankfully, he did okay with the virus. He was down for about a week with flu-like symptoms, (as was I). I was in contact with his cardiologist and pulmonologist at Univ. of Penn and they both advised that he get monoclonal antibodies (he can't take Paxlovid because he's on a blood thinner). I called all over southwest Florida, and nobody had it. So I just kept an eye on his oxygen levels and if they had dropped dangerously low, we were prepared to hear to the E.R. I became symptomatic 2 days later, but didn't test positive until 5-6 days later. I'm pretty sure we both had the newest variant (B.A. 5), because it was so recent and so highly contagious.

Im a nurse who's worked with sick patients the entire pandemic. I've worn a mask as have my patients. I never caught Covid until we took a vacation to Florida in May where nobody was masked.

We are arriving in Italy 4 days before we board our ship. You wanna talk about stress! We have to test within 2 days of boarding (we plan to test Friday before our Sunday boarding) with rapidtestandttace. If either if us test positive, we're stuck in italy for a 10 day quarantine, and have to book flights home since we are booked on a transatlantic back to the States. Does anybody know if Rapidtestandtrace is available in Italy. Plus we have to pray for reliable wifi