COVID Testing on Iona

[Interestedcruisefan]

14 minutes ago, wowzz said:

If there is no official requirement,  I can't see cruise lines or air lines requiring it. 

Agreed

 

Equally this in due course might apply so that testing isn't needed to do shore excursions

 

In one way it's good news but at the same time once countries get overwhelmed with cases they simply shut up shop entirely to tourists 

 

E.g. France

 

Don't think the regular  places where cruises stop can just let overseas cases in uncontrolled. 

 

Caribbean, Spain, Portugal, Italy etc

 

Their health services have a battle to cope with internal cases once they are overwhelmed 

 

So although airlines and cruises would never insist on tests if they weren't forced to - until now if we get to that stage tourism has normally stopped regardless 

 

Hope that makes sense guys?

Edited December 30, 2021 by Interestedcruisefan

[Megabear2]

49 minutes ago, Denarius said:

As I understand it, a LFT within 48 hours of re-entry is currently a UK requirement. Reintroduced to stop/slow the spread of omicron to the UK. It is suggested in today's press that this requirement may soon be removed; there is no point in guarding the stable door now that the horse is happily galloping around the countryside. If it is, it will presumably be up to airlines or cruise companies or the countries from which they are travelling  whether they continue to test before exit.

The LFT we are having is to allow us back into Barbados.  It will also double for those of us on the 31/12 flights for UK requirements.  Those departing on 1/1 are testing today for Barbados and then again tomorrow if they wish to leave the ship other than to travel to the airport.

 

Regardless of what UK government rules state the test is required going forward.  The PCR in the UK 72 hours before departure is also a Barbados Government requirement. The LFT at the airport on day of departure is the only one P&O have control over.

[Megabear2]

44 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Equally this in due course might apply so that testing isn't needed to do shore excursions

I am out of touch on what's happening in European ports but every port on our itinerary bar one, St Vincent, has not required testing and only St Vincent and Grenada insisted on an excursion or tour.

[Megabear2]

Thank you Mercury7289.  Wishing the same to you.

 

 

[Megabear2]

Good evening to you all from Barbados airport where we await our flight.  I am delighted to report that all passengers departing the good ship Britannia today and tomorrow tested negative and are clear to return home.

 

We noted a large number of extra staff this morning and assume the inbound 2,200 new passengers are also safely on their way.

 

Wishing everyone a very happy new year and good health for 2022.

[AndyMichelle]

10 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Good evening to you all from Barbados airport where we await our flight.  I am delighted to report that all passengers departing the good ship Britannia today and tomorrow tested negative and are clear to return home.

 

We noted a large number of extra staff this morning and assume the inbound 2,200 new passengers are also safely on their way.

 

Wishing everyone a very happy new year and good health for 2022.

Safe journey home and happy New year. 

Thank you for keeping us all updated on your holiday, you can't beat 'live' reporting. 

Andy 

[jeanlyon]

Safe journey Megabear.  Good news for once.

[lindyloo22]

Safe journey and a happy new year.

[Slugsta]

Thanks Megabear, I wish you a safe journey and a Happy New Year.

[Astrajet]

Delighted to hear that Megabear. Have a safe journey home. 

Happy New Year & thank you for all your work on cruise insurance - very much appreciated. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

54 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Good evening to you all from Barbados airport where we await our flight.  I am delighted to report that all passengers departing the good ship Britannia today and tomorrow tested negative and are clear to return home.

 

We noted a large number of extra staff this morning and assume the inbound 2,200 new passengers are also safely on their way.

 

Wishing everyone a very happy new year and good health for 2022.

Incredibly good news

 

Safe journey 

 

[purplesea]

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Good evening to you all from Barbados airport where we await our flight.  I am delighted to report that all passengers departing the good ship Britannia today and tomorrow tested negative and are clear to return home.

 

We noted a large number of extra staff this morning and assume the inbound 2,200 new passengers are also safely on their way.

 

Wishing everyone a very happy new year and good health for 2022.

Safe journey home and thank you for a very informative view on life on board.

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Good evening to you all from Barbados airport where we await our flight.  I am delighted to report that all passengers departing the good ship Britannia today and tomorrow tested negative and are clear to return home.

 

We noted a large number of extra staff this morning and assume the inbound 2,200 new passengers are also safely on their way.

 

Wishing everyone a very happy new year and good health for 2022.

Happy New Year to you too, and thank you  for your impartial posts.

[mercury7289]

22 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Which is less than would be found on shore. Proves that cruising is safer than staying at home ! 

Wowzz

On the bench and eat your stilton sandwiches with your old lady. this is rubbish!

 

Happy New Year!

Edited January 1, 2022 by mercury7289

[wowzz]

24 minutes ago, mercury7289 said:

Wowzz

On the bench and eat your stilton sandwiches with your old lady. this is rubbish!

 

Happy New Year!

Please substantiate your reply. 

Just shouting does you no favours.

And my wife is rather upset. 

Insult me, but not my wife. 

Edited January 1, 2022 by wowzz

[cruising.mark.uk]

8 hours ago, mercury7289 said:

Wowzz

On the bench and eat your stilton sandwiches with your old lady. this is rubbish!

 

Happy New Year!

This morning's figures for the week before Christmas which show that 1 in 25 people in England (1 in 15 in London) had Covid suggest that Wowzz is 100% correct - I'm not aware of any ship getting anywhere near that number of passenger infections.  The threshold to be 'under investigation' by the CDC is 1 case per 1000 passengers!

[lujaha]

17 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

This morning's figures for the week before Christmas which show that 1 in 25 people in England (1 in 15 in London) had Covid suggest that Wowzz is 100% correct - I'm not aware of any ship getting anywhere near that number of passenger infections.  The threshold to be 'under investigation' by the CDC is 1 case per 1000 passengers!

That may well be true, but if you catch Covid at home, you are not thrown into a Spanish quaranteen hotel and fed awful food then left to find your own way home, not knowing if your insurance will pay for it or not.  

[bobstheboy]

Happy New Year, a message to all, even my friend from Sanctimonia 😄

 

Same old argument. I am laying low for a while. Gets boring, I know like me !

[terrierjohn]

16 minutes ago, lujaha said:

That may well be true, but if you catch Covid at home, you are not thrown into a Spanish quaranteen hotel and fed awful food then left to find your own way home, not knowing if your insurance will pay for it or not.  

I doubt that passengers being quarantined abroad figured in any of the CDC deliberations. Wowzz was simply stating that covid infection rates on ships are far lower than at home, which from the data cannot be denied.

Edited January 1, 2022 by terrierjohn

[Ardennais]

12 hours ago, wowzz said:

Which is less than would be found on shore. Proves that cruising is safer than staying at home ! 

All that I can say is this. Theoretically, we could have embarked on a cruise a few days before Christmas with negative LFTs. My husband was then advised to take a PCR after a working partner tested positive on the 25th and the result arrived on the 27th to say that he was also positive. His LFTs were still showing negative until the 28th. The other 4 of us in the house all took PCRs and we’re all negative. 
 

So if we had been on a cruise this past week, we would not have been in a very good/safe situation. Onboard testing would have shown my husband to be positive and then the offloading might have begun. 

 

 

 

[terrierjohn]

56 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

All that I can say is this. Theoretically, we could have embarked on a cruise a few days before Christmas with negative LFTs. My husband was then advised to take a PCR after a working partner tested positive on the 25th and the result arrived on the 27th to say that he was also positive. His LFTs were still showing negative until the 28th. The other 4 of us in the house all took PCRs and we’re all negative. 
 

So if we had been on a cruise this past week, we would not have been in a very good/safe situation. Onboard testing would have shown my husband to be positive and then the offloading might have begun. 

 

 

 

I agree with you, but a few passengers being offloaded to an overseas quarantine hotel, does not make a cruise ship a more dangerous covid environment than a restaurant, hotel or local pub, which is what wowzz and I are saying, despite the CDC advice to avoid cruising.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Ardennais said:

All that I can say is this. Theoretically, we could have embarked on a cruise a few days before Christmas with negative LFTs. My husband was then advised to take a PCR after a working partner tested positive on the 25th and the result arrived on the 27th to say that he was also positive. His LFTs were still showing negative until the 28th. The other 4 of us in the house all took PCRs and we’re all negative. 
 

So if we had been on a cruise this past week, we would not have been in a very good/safe situation. Onboard testing would have shown my husband to be positive and then the offloading might have begun. 

 

 

 

I understand what you are saying, but what is the solution?

Cruising per se is safer than going to a hotel, pub or restaurant.  If the cruise lines could negotiate a protocol that meant people did not have to be disembarked in foreign ports,  I think the majority of forum members would be happy to start cruising again. 

[Megabear2]

I've just been sent this from a friend in the US:

 

"According to a year-end press release, since cruising restarted in the U.S. in June 2021, Royal Caribbean Group has carried 1.1 million guests with 1,745 people testing positive – a positivity rate of 0.02%, with only 41 people needing hospitalization. None of the Omicron cases have been severe or needed to be taken to a hospital."

 

He was looking at it in the context of the CDC situation.

 

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by Megabear2

[zap99]

20 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I agree with you, but a few passengers being offloaded to an overseas quarantine hotel, does not make a cruise ship a more dangerous covid environment than a restaurant, hotel or local pub, which is what wowzz and I are saying, despite the CDC advice to avoid cruising.

It's all about risk. I don't know how many folk have cruised since it opened up again and I don't know how many have been offloaded into foreign isolation hotels. I would guess lots have cruised and few have been offloaded. We don't have any cruises booked until June and then 3 in quick succession. The risk of being offloaded are slim, so we will accept that risk.

[Ardennais]

41 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I agree with you, but a few passengers being offloaded to an overseas quarantine hotel, does not make a cruise ship a more dangerous covid environment than a restaurant, hotel or local pub, which is what wowzz and I are saying, despite the CDC advice to avoid cruising.

Of course, but it doesn’t make it a ‘safer’ environment either! Just different.