Coach passengers testing positive at terminal

[hamrag]

2 hours ago, Mostonian said:

I am due to cruise with P&O in October.  The cruise has been paid for and as part of the Select fare I was offered a transfer from a convenient point near home to the ship by a carrier of their choosing. Surely they have a duty of care and I should be able to expect P&O to get me to the ship in safety and have protocols in place to ensure this. I have spent a considerable amount if money on this cruise and would hate to be denied boarding at the last minute. Anyone have thoughts on this.

The only thought I can offer is travel yourselves, and leave the transfer offered for others to avail themselves! 😉

[Harry Peterson]

2 hours ago, Mostonian said:

I am due to cruise with P&O in October.  The cruise has been paid for and as part of the Select fare I was offered a transfer from a convenient point near home to the ship by a carrier of their choosing. Surely they have a duty of care and I should be able to expect P&O to get me to the ship in safety and have protocols in place to ensure this. I have spent a considerable amount if money on this cruise and would hate to be denied boarding at the last minute. Anyone have thoughts on this.

You're right - they do have a duty of care if it's an integral part of the fare paid.   And they will have, or at least should have, protocols in place to ensure your safety, and, as a corollary, your safe passage to the ship and to your cruise.

 

However, having said that, things can and do go wrong, and all the protocols in the world can't provide a 100% guarantee.  Unless there's a very clear and evidenced breach of the protocol, though, it will be virtually impossible to establish negligence, and therefore a claim, against P&O if anything did go wrong.

 

Short of travelling on your own, though, there's no simple solution - though having said that if you travel independently, even by coach or train, it will only be your own test result that could cause problems. Not an entire coach full of tests.  Illogical, but true, I believe.

 

In your shoes I'd probably take a chance on the pre-arranged coach, but it's very much a personal decision, balancing costs against risk.

[Les_ldh]

56 minutes ago, hamrag said:

The only thought I can offer is travel yourselves, and leave the transfer offered for others to avail themselves! 😉

I agree, this is the best option. Unfortunately we don’t all have this option as we don’t all have a car. I would need to hire a car in order to travel without using the coach and, having looked into it, it would add around £500 to the cost of my holiday. So I’ll be isolating for the two weeks prior to travel, using the coach wearing an N95 mask and crossing my fingers.

Les.

[Windsurfboy]

2 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

 

 

Short of travelling on your own, though, there's no simple solution - though having said that if you travel independently, even by coach or train, it will only be your own test result that could cause problems. Not an entire coach full of tests.  Illogical, but true, I believe.

 

 

Your right Harry

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

You're right - they do have a duty of care if it's an integral part of the fare paid

So Harry, you have to present a negative test before you get on the coach, you must keep your mask on whilst travelling, and you will be tested again before being allowed on the ship.

To be frank, that seems pretty good to me.  What more do people expect ?  

[Ardennais]

15 minutes ago, wowzz said:

So Harry, you have to present a negative test before you get on the coach, you must keep your mask on whilst travelling, and you will be tested again before being allowed on the ship.

To be frank, that seems pretty good to me.  What more do people expect ?  

Possibly a half full bus? 

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, Ardennais said:

Possibly a half full bus? 

The bus is half full. Next! 

[Ardennais]

10 minutes ago, wowzz said:

The bus is half full. Next! 

No idea really, just musing! 
 

Does it stop on the way and do passengers get off?

Are they allowed to remove their masks to drink/eat? 
Do the windows open? 
 

I would personally avoid using the coaches but I understand that many passengers rely on them. 

[wowzz]

7 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

No idea really, just musing! 
 

Does it stop on the way and do passengers get off?

Are they allowed to remove their masks to drink/eat? 
Do the windows open? 
 

I would personally avoid using the coaches but I understand that many passengers rely on them. 

Well of course people eat and drink, and of course people get off,  and of course the windows don't open! 

[AndyMichelle]

8 hours ago, Les_ldh said:

I agree, this is the best option. Unfortunately we don’t all have this option as we don’t all have a car. I would need to hire a car in order to travel without using the coach and, having looked into it, it would add around £500 to the cost of my holiday. So I’ll be isolating for the two weeks prior to travel, using the coach wearing an N95 mask and crossincrossed  my fingers.

Les.

Fingers crossed for you Les... 

You can only follow the guidelines and do what's best for you. 

Have a fantastic time 

Andy 

[Harry Peterson]

9 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

You're right - they do have a duty of care if it's an integral part of the fare paid.   And they will have, or at least should have, protocols in place to ensure your safety, and, as a corollary, your safe passage to the ship and to your cruise.

 

However, having said that, things can and do go wrong, and all the protocols in the world can't provide a 100% guarantee.  Unless there's a very clear and evidenced breach of the protocol, though, it will be virtually impossible to establish negligence, and therefore a claim, against P&O if anything did go wrong.

 

Short of travelling on your own, though, there's no simple solution - though having said that if you travel independently, even by coach or train, it will only be your own test result that could cause problems. Not an entire coach full of tests.  Illogical, but true, I believe.

 

In your shoes I'd probably take a chance on the pre-arranged coach, but it's very much a personal decision, balancing costs against risk.

 

7 hours ago, wowzz said:

So Harry, you have to present a negative test before you get on the coach, you must keep your mask on whilst travelling, and you will be tested again before being allowed on the ship.

To be frank, that seems pretty good to me.  What more do people expect ?  

I said, wowzz, that they have a duty of care.  What I very carefully did not say was that they had breached that duty of care - I can't comment on that, because I have no idea of the facts surrounding these travel arrangements.  Only a court could decide the extent of that duty of care, and whether or not it had been met.

[AndyMichelle]

13 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

 

I said, wowzz, that they have a duty of care.  What I very carefully did not say was that they had breached that duty of care - I can't comment on that, because I have no idea of the facts surrounding these travel arrangements.  Only a court could decide the extent of that duty of care, and whether or not it had been met.

I do agree Harry, but we all also should have a duty of care to ourselves and the people around us. 

The accepted fact seems to be that any travel at the moment involves some risk, we should be responsible ourselves for judging whether that risk should be taken, hence why many of us are not going further than Walton on the Naze... 

Many travel companies are trying to save their businesses/jobs etc, so will inevitably take a bit of a risk within the guidelines, it's up to us if we decide to accept that, we don't have to... 

Andy 

[Les_ldh]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

Fingers crossed for you Les... 

You can only follow the guidelines and do what's best for you. 

Have a fantastic time 

Andy 

Thanks Andy, I’m sure I will. 😀

Les.

[terrierjohn]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

The bus is half full. Next! 

The windows wound down!

 

( I always seem to be late to the party!)

Edited August 18, 2021 by terrierjohn

[Windsurfboy]

14 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

 

 

Short of travelling on your own, though, there's no simple solution - though having said that if you travel independently, even by coach or train, it will only be your own test result that could cause problems. Not an entire coach full of tests.  Illogical, but true, I believe.

 

 

Your right Harry , I've been thinking about odds.  ONS say one in 75 people have covid.  However far less prevalent in age group going on cruises . Let's say it's one in 500 . Then at 50 people a coach one in ten coaches will have someone,  OK testing will bring this down but it doesn't  catch people in early stages. So even if it halves it 1 in 20 coaches will have someone who tested negative  before they got on coach then tested positive.  5% chance of being sent back not a risk I'd like to take.

 

If they adopted a different  protocol,  absolutely  no movement on coach. Masks , no eating,  Board and leave in seat order, keep  windows open. Then  they could then only isolate nearby seats say 10 people per coach. Chance of missing  cruise would drop by factor of 5 to only 1% , a more acceptable risk

 

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Windsurfboy

[wowzz]

56 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

keep  windows open.

When did anyone last travel on a modern coach with opening windows!!

[cockneyjock]

P&O preferred coach partner to Southampton have a boarding guideline on their fb page. They are not starting operations until September. When international cruises start. I cannot name them, because it will be classed as advertising by the administrators.

[Windsurfboy]

11 minutes ago, wowzz said:

When did anyone last travel on a modern coach with opening windows!!

Shows how long since I've been on a coach

[ace2542]

2 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

If they adopted a different  protocol,  absolutely  no movement on coach. Masks , no eating,  Board and leave in seat order, keep  windows open.

No movement on the coach? So no using the bathroom then? Seriously? And the coach companies that have the contracts for the cruise ships don't have windows that open at all so far as I am aware. Nor the open window roof thing in the top either.

Edited August 18, 2021 by ace2542

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

No movement on the coach? So no using the bathroom then? Seriously? And the coach companies that have the contracts for the cruise ships don't have windows that open at all so far as I am aware. Nor the open window roof thing in the top either.

Indeed - lets face it, the chances of any fully vaccinated passenger, on a modern airconditioned  coach,  with mask wearing and social distancing measures in place,  contracting CV19 is miniscule.  

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Indeed - lets face it, the chances of any fully vaccinated passenger, on a modern airconditioned  coach,  with mask wearing and social distancing measures in place,  contracting CV19 is miniscule.  

Unless the masks are FFP3, very unlikely, I think there’s no evidence for that statement, given the Delta variant’s very high rate of infectivity.  Fully vaccinate passengers are quite capable of contracting, and passing on, the virus - but hospitalisations will be unlikely.

[davecttr]

Got some of those FFP masks for travelling to Southampton but did not realise I would need to take a course in fitting it. Almost as bad as changing the duvet cover and I have yet to recover from THAT yesterday.

[Windsurfboy]

Whatever you do doesn't  matter.  I wouldn't risk my holiday if I knew that if only one passenger on a coach was positive  we'd all be kicked off even if I  was  wearing a space suit. 

 

Like Harry said if you must take public transport don't use a P&O coach , go independently  then it's only your test that matters not everyone else on the coach.

[wowzz]

13 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Got some of those FFP masks for travelling to Southampton but did not realise I would need to take a course in fitting it. Almost as bad as changing the duvet cover and I have yet to recover from THAT yesterday.

But don't those FPP masks have an exit valve, that means your breath goes everywhere ? 

[davecttr]

44 minutes ago, wowzz said:

But don't those FPP masks have an exit valve, that means your breath goes everywhere ? 

No, not all do and anyway they have multiple filter layers that trap really minute particles, in both directions. You have to fit them properly though with a tight fit. Mine filter about 94% of particles, much better than a surgical mask. I am only wearing it for travel to Southampton and will be using surgical masks onboard. Every little percentage helps.