COVID Testing on Iona

[Megabear2]

5 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

By the way, I don't know how recently this has been changed, but P&Os FAQs as of this morning say this:

Any instances of positive tests on board will be managed by our on board medical teams in conjunction with local port authority / Port Health requirements and protocols and there may be situations where guests are required to disembark the ship before their scheduled port of disembarkation.  In these instances, we shall always work with the local authorities and the guests’ insurance company to secure the most appropriate accommodation to continue the period of isolation.  Our dedicated CARE team will also provide ongoing support to any guests in these circumstances.  

 

Is that not pretty much what you are asking for?

 

 

Yes and it wasn't there before Christmas. 

 

As I have stated on other sections of this board I am now retiring from them and if this has now appeared I am delighted as my work is done.

[Bin man]

I guess yes we are but that suggests Positive case and not your partner or family who test negative and that's what we all need to see 

[Son of Anarchy]

13 minutes ago, smoggymonster said:

hi all , have just completed my health declaration truthfully for Iona sailing tomorrow and instantly told not to travel. I only answered yes to one of the questions which wasn't related directly to my health which barred me from cruising until the 6th January. 😪  We had been on Iona in November and loved it so I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy her for the next 12 days.   

It's a shame that you can no longer on your cruise.  Thank you for doing the right thing, hopefully you'll be able to book a suitable replacement.

[Megabear2]

11 minutes ago, Bin man said:

I guess yes we are but that suggests Positive case and not your partner or family who test negative and that's what we all need to see 

I agree. On our cruise 6 "close contacts" of the solo positive tester were put into isolation.  Two from a tour in Aruba, three from sharing a dinner table and one from a drink sitting with her in a bar. If it had been Europe they would have been offloaded with all the insurance problems.

 

The lady released from quarantine in Antigua who we spoke to was told off by a cruise member for telling us where she'd been.

[Interestedcruisefan]

52 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

I did.  Because your reporting from Britannia was balanced, factual, sensible and informative.  And, I'd followed the debate about insurance etc on here for months, so was well aware of the situation in Spain and all of your hard work to address related issues with CCL, which was very well done.  Hence, I was somewhat surprised by the suggestion that there is a wide-ranging conspiracy of cruise lines (across CCL and privately owned Norwegian and Swiss companies) to suppress passengers who wish to report on here having been debarked in Spain, with the only evidence offered being that some individuals had reported once on their experiences and then stopped.  I acknowledged in my earlier post that some were doubtless justifiably unhappy when their holiday didn't go entirely to plan.  That may have led to heartfelt posts which they didn't follow up on because - in the cold light of day - their issues were addressed and / or they realised that things weren't quite as bad as they thought.  In my view, that is more likely than that their posts were 'suppressed' by cruise lines.  Perhaps we will find out more when the passengers from Iona get back to the UK?

 

If the ship sails, and if we don't get Covid in advance, my wife and I will be on Iona to the Canaries in mid-February.  We are going fully cognisant of the risks and aware of the T&Cs which allow P&O and / or port authorities to debark passengers for medical or other reasons.  We will update on here on our experiences, good or bad.  And, I have no intent of allowing a cruise line to suppress my posts!

Be honest if things go bad but the cruise line gives you FCC in return for non disclosure then it's a reason to just take the bad on the chin

 

And there's no doubt that's happening or similar

 

Makes perfect business sense of course for the cruise lines

 

It's not conspiracy it's just the way the world works

 

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

29 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Yes and it wasn't there before Christmas. 

 

As I have stated on other sections of this board I am now retiring from them and if this has now appeared I am delighted as my work is done.

Megabear

 

You've done a brilliant job. And it's very clear you care about other cruisers and not just yourself 

 

I joked a few months ago that P and O woukd give you free cruises for life if you stopped chasing them and looking for answers from them

 

You replied to say that hadn't happened but also seemed to imply they had done something nice for you at the same time?

 

Are you allowed to say what they did for you? 

 

Totally totally  understand if you aren't able to say. Just totally  ignore the post in that case

 

[molecrochip]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Yes and it wasn't there before Christmas. 

This was the policy.  It just wasn't publicly stated anywhere. Appears @Megabear2 had more success than internal suggestions!

[molecrochip]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Because of the very limited decent medical facilities in the islands we were told people would only be removed as a last resort, ie they were becoming very unwell.  Chatting to people in St Maarten it seems the problems the American ships were having in being banned from ports was exactly for this reason - the positive testers had to remain onboard ship and therefore on the larger capacity ships could not meet the less than 1% requirements.

 

I don't think Cunard had a choice with what to do with their positive passengers to be honest.  I understand some have been moved to Queen Victoria to quarantine and assumedly these will have to fly home from Barbados.

 

I do however question the wisdom of moving passengers on to Britannia even if only for a half day.  I would hope they were tested very thoroughly before moving across. As the ship has been a "clean ship" since her arrival in the Caribbean it does seem a risk to have done this and also to move her crew around.  Fingers crossed for both ships, although I see QM2 passengers are still unfortunately testing positive as at the overnight posts on the Cunard boards.

Unless something has changed, no passengers have been moved to Queen Victoria - only crew. The ship does not currently have its hotel facilities fully operational as its only being used as a crew ship.

 

The Britannia move was a logistical compromise.

 

2 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Regardless it's great answer on behalf of anybody else who he does consider to be a conspiracy theorist

 

It's interesting that it's been suggested on the Queen Mary forum that Cunard are allowing a US based passenger who has tested  positive in Barbados to cruise back to Southampton in a balcony quarantine cabin and then fly home from the UK once negative

 

Clearly the Caribbean Islands aren't insisting people offload 

 

However,  I'm slightly surprised Cunard would want to risk positive passengers staying under their medical responsibility for so long 

 

But it shows a vastly different approach

 

I understand the person is doing ok with very little, if any symptoms, and therefore this is a technical positive case rather than someone who is very ill. To re-emphasise, quarantine on board was always the default unless too ill to be safely looked after, or local port authority insisted.

[Megabear2]

They did do some very nice things for me and also my family. I'm not subject to non disclosure so they include extremely large upgrades on my cabins, upgraded flights, free cancellation of a cruise I no longer wished to take, speciality dinners on my cruise just passed, priority seating in the Limelight Club, welcome on board gifts for my family on their Iona cruise including the breakfast in bed/bathrobes, obc for forthcoming cruises by way of apology for any stress. I also have a letter with two personal contacts at the CEO's office who will look after me and my extended family in the event we have problems with covid or offloading.

 

Most importantly from my point of view I now have a new personal friend at P&O and that is probably the nicest thing of all.

[molecrochip]

1 minute ago, Megabear2 said:

They did do some very nice things for me and also my family. I'm not subject to non disclosure so they include extremely large upgrades on my cabins, upgraded flights, free cancellation of a cruise I no longer wished to take, speciality dinners on my cruise just passed, priority seating in the Limelight Club, welcome on board gifts for my family on their Iona cruise including the breakfast in bed/bathrobes, obc for forthcoming cruises by way of apology for any stress. I also have a letter with two personal contacts at the CEO's office who will look after me and my extended family in the event we have problems with covid or offloading.

 

Most importantly from my point of view I now have a new personal friend at P&O and that is probably the nicest thing of all.

All very well deserved for highlighting and championing a situation that had, unfortunately, been overlooked.

[Megabear2]

9 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Unless something has changed, no passengers have been moved to Queen Victoria - only crew. The ship does not currently have its hotel facilities fully operational as its only being used as a crew ship.

Thought it was odd when the Canadian lady I was speaking with online told me that.  Must say sailing past her and QM2 on Friday morning in the early hours I had a massive pang to get back on board them both!!

[molecrochip]

4 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Thought it was odd when the Canadian lady I was speaking with online told me that.  Must say sailing past her and QM2 on Friday morning in the early hours I had a massive pang to get back on board them both!!

QV came into port for 3-4 hours this morning just after Britannia left. QM2 had arrived back in port just before Britannia left, I believe.

 

In the Cunard thread, @Caribbean Chris said that this friends were moved to QV. This may be a change of procedure. I wonder, if it those who need to fly back but are currently positive. Essentially as soon as they can leave quarantine they will be on a plane out of BGI therefore no concern with hotel facilities not being open.

[Caribbean Chris]

38 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Unless something has changed, no passengers have been moved to Queen Victoria - only crew. The ship does not currently have its hotel facilities fully operational as its only being used as a crew ship.

 

Actually our friend who was aboard Queen Mary2’s terminated cruise tested positive yesterday and late last night was transferred with his traveling companion to Queen Victoria where they are now quarantining in a balcony stateroom. I have their stateroom number. 
 

No knowledge here regarding the status of any others who tested positive before they could fly back to New York.

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 hour ago, molecrochip said:

Unless something has changed, no passengers have been moved to Queen Victoria - only crew. The ship does not currently have its hotel facilities fully operational as its only being used as a crew ship.

 

The Britannia move was a logistical compromise.

 

I understand the person is doing ok with very little, if any symptoms, and therefore this is a technical positive case rather than someone who is very ill. To re-emphasise, quarantine on board was always the default unless too ill to be safely looked after, or local port authority insisted.

Obviously I realise they wouldnt even consider them staying on board if they were very ill

 

Not convinced anyone can predict whether someone will become very ill or not though

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

They did do some very nice things for me and also my family. I'm not subject to non disclosure so they include extremely large upgrades on my cabins, upgraded flights, free cancellation of a cruise I no longer wished to take, speciality dinners on my cruise just passed, priority seating in the Limelight Club, welcome on board gifts for my family on their Iona cruise including the breakfast in bed/bathrobes, obc for forthcoming cruises by way of apology for any stress. I also have a letter with two personal contacts at the CEO's office who will look after me and my extended family in the event we have problems with covid or offloading.

 

Most importantly from my point of view I now have a new personal friend at P&O and that is probably the nicest thing of all.

Very nice!

 

Did you get a suite?

Edited January 2, 2022 by Interestedcruisefan

[yorkshirephil]

17 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

 

 

Not convinced anyone can predict whether someone will become very ill or not though

 

 

That is what doctors do day in day out. There are/have been millions of cases globally and much information has been gathered and shared. In many cases an early prognosis can accurately predict the outcome and severity of an illness.

[Harry Peterson]

5 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Regarding your conspiracy theories remark, my  comments about non disclosure agreements are based on people who have visited these boards to tell of their experiences upon their return to the UK but then rapidly disappeared. These passengers travelled on various cruise lines including, but not limited to, Fred Olsen, Marella, P&O and MSC.  Maybe it is a step on to assume they have to watch what they say and where, but they all reported the same thing happening and there is a constant mention of the same handful of ports with a definite underlying theme. Unfortunately there is more than a shred of evidence and after initial contact they all cease to post.  There is also evidence that the cruise lines shut down comments from quarantined passengers on their own social media outlets (which I do not read or contribute to).

 

You of course have every right to ridicule my suggestion that the cruise companies are suppressing passengers from discussing their experiences but might I politely suggest you seek out the posts elsewhere on the P&O boards on CC before labelling them as disgruntled dissenters.

Non-disclosure agreements certainly exist. A number of us here have had experience of them and can confirm that, but they’re more commonly used by cruise companies to avoid having to defend a claim in court which they know they’re likely to lose, and which might bring bad publicity. Court decisions at that level aren’t in any way binding, but they can be embarrassing when publicised.

[Megabear2]

3 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Very nice!

 

Did you get a suite?

Not on this one, but yes on the remaining ones. We were upgraded.over Christmas from inside to deluxe balcony  actually into my favourite cabin on Britannia so very happy.

Edited January 2, 2022 by Megabear2

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Not on this one, but yes on the remaining ones. We were upgraded.over Christmas from inside to deluxe balcony  actually into my favourite cabin on Britannia so very happy.

And you deserve it, for kicking them up the posterior and alerting them to something that they had never even considered .

Sometimes,  when you look at P&O management,  the Peter Principle truly applies !

[itf]

On 1/2/2022 at 4:05 PM, Harry Peterson said:

Non-disclosure agreements certainly exist. A number of us here have had experience of them and can confirm that, but they’re more commonly used by cruise companies to avoid having to defend a claim in court which they know they’re likely to lose, and which might bring bad publicity. Court decisions at that level aren’t in any way binding, but they can be embarrassing when publicised.

 

P&O absolutely use NDAs onboard. We had an issue onboard which was resolved to our satisfaction but part of that was signing an NDA.

[jeanlyon]

1 hour ago, itf said:

 

P&O absolutely use NDAs onboard. We had an issue onboard which was resolved to our satisfaction but part of that was signing an NDA.

I am so surprised about that.  Never thought that would happen.  So what do they do if you tell someone - take you to court?

[itf]

33 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I am so surprised about that.  Never thought that would happen.  So what do they do if you tell someone - take you to court?

 

Pass. My suspicion is it's to stop people running their mouth while they're onboard and causing a queue of people wanting the same thing from guest services. I don't think I have the paperwork any more, and if I did, I guess I couldn't share it as it has details.

[Selbourne]

38 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I am so surprised about that.  Never thought that would happen.  So what do they do if you tell someone - take you to court?

Not in our case Jean, because the NDA’s were incorrectly worded and actually placed the onus of confidentiality on P&O and not us! P&O use them for a past time. Believe it or not we have had 3 of them over the years. Two associated with compensation for problems with suites (although only one of those was as a result of a complaint we had made) and one because the itinerary changed beyond all recognition from what we booked before we set sail and I took issue with P&O not considering this to be a material change. 
 

By contrast, in my working life we only used them for really serious issues, such as confidentiality surrounding mergers or acquisitions, recruiting for senior roles where an incumbent was still in position (and unaware) or parting company with executive level employees. I can imagine the reaction had anyone suggested that we used an NDA to resolve a customer complaint!

Edited January 3, 2022 by Selbourne

[jeanlyon]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Not in our case Jean, because the NDA’s were incorrectly worded and actually placed the onus of confidentiality on P&O and not us! P&O use them for a past time. Believe it or not we have had 3 of them over the years. Two associated with compensation for problems with suites (although only one of those was as a result of a complaint we had made) and one because the itinerary changed beyond all recognition from what we booked before we set sail and I took issue with P&O not considering this to be a material change. 
 

By contrast, in my working life we only used them for really serious issues, such as confidentiality surrounding mergers or acquisitions, recruiting for senior roles where an incumbent was still in position (and unaware) or parting company with executive level employees. I can imagine the reaction had anyone suggested that we used an NDA to resolve a customer complaint!

Yes I can definitely understand your second para.  Can't believe P&O would use NDAs for something so relatively small, but hey ho.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

Yes I can definitely understand your second para.  Can't believe P&O would use NDAs for something so relatively small, but hey ho.

Having had experience of NDAs with P&O, Jean, I suspect their use is pretty common. Their usual tactic is to refuse to agree to negotiate until it becomes clear that the customer has both a valid claim and the determination to take it to court. At that point a settlement will be offered, but only if a NDA is signed. 

 

Never come across this on such a scale elsewhere in the travel industry,  but it will go on, I'm sure.