COVID Testing on Iona

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Nobody is attacking moley that I can see?

 

 

 

 

I will rephrase my post. 

People are attacking the P&O policy, as described by Moley,  but some posts do seem  to be rather personal.

I think we should all welcome Moley's insight,  and be grateful that we have an insight into how P&O are approaching the current situation.  Do not kill the messenger! 

 

[zap99]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

Can I just suggest that those posters who take delight in slagging off Moley, just take a breath. 

He is just trying to explain the corporate position regarding Covid, quarantine etc.

You might not like the position adopted by P&O or the Spanish authorities,  but for goodness sake,  do not attack Moley when he explains the rationale behind the decisions made. 

Why not contact P&O direct, rather than attack an employee who is merely explaining what is happening?

I thought it was way over the top. He sneaks us a bit of ' inside ' information that is welcomed. Leave him alone.

[Megabear2]

Just heard from a member of staff that we won't be seeing Queen Mary 2 in St Kitts tomorrow as she is apparently "in trouble" and heading direct to Barbados. Apparently Queen Victoria moved from Barbados today to assist her. Not sure if this is COVID related but seems likely following on from the New York incident.

[wowzz]

18 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Just heard from a member of staff that we won't be seeing Queen Mary 2 in St Kitts tomorrow as she is apparently "in trouble" and heading direct to Barbados. Apparently Queen Victoria moved from Barbados today to assist her. Not sure if this is COVID related but seems likely following on from the New York incident.

Thanks for the update.  Seems a bit of a coincidence after the New York disembarkations. 

[Son of Anarchy]

 

After zooming in it looked like QM2 and QV were about 3km apart.  There was also an unnamed vessel just ahead of QV. The data showed that these ships were underway, but that data may have been historic. 

 

Just re-freshed, it looks the unnamed vessel may be shuttling between QM2 and QV.  

 

 

[nosapphire]

While I sympathise with the people who have been shunted off the ship into a "prison" hotel, the post rather reminded me of people who book a holiday in Florida during hurricane season and then complain that the weather was awful.

If somebody is capable of booking a holiday, then they must surely be also capable of understanding the continuous news reports about the ongoing situation in all countries, and realising that a holiday at the minute is a gamble - and that a lot of things are outside the tour operator's control.

Presumably each country has selected hotels that can be used as quarantine hotels, and the tour operator/cruise line is limited to which of these have availability. It can also be assumed that these will not be offering the same levels of service or food as the cruise ship does, so logically the hotel is going to be a poor substitute for the ship.

The Gov Uk website has links to the PDF forms guidance for cruise ship operators, which is very similar to the EU guidance, and it is quite clear that it is expected the cruise line will have designated ports on their route where people can be disembarked for quarantine.

P&O FAQ questions about Covid protocols discuss positive tests and quarantine on page 7.

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cruise-ship-travel

 

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, nosapphire said:

While I sympathise with the people who have been shunted off the ship into a "prison" hotel, the post rather reminded me of people who book a holiday in Florida during hurricane season and then complain that the weather was awful.

If somebody is capable of booking a holiday, then they must surely be also capable of understanding the continuous news reports about the ongoing situation in all countries, and realising that a holiday at the minute is a gamble - and that a lot of things are outside the tour operator's control.

Presumably each country has selected hotels that can be used as quarantine hotels, and the tour operator/cruise line is limited to which of these have availability. It can also be assumed that these will not be offering the same levels of service or food as the cruise ship does, so logically the hotel is going to be a poor substitute for the ship.

The Gov Uk website has links to the PDF forms guidance for cruise ship operators, which is very similar to the EU guidance, and it is quite clear that it is expected the cruise line will have designated ports on their route where people can be disembarked for quarantine.

P&O FAQ questions about Covid protocols discuss positive tests and quarantine on page 7.

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cruise-ship-travel

 

Like us there are still many people with cruises still to take which were booked pre covid, and because this pandemic and its future impact on us was an unknown, even cruises booked up to 2 yrs ahead after covid first appeared, were expecting things would be back to normal by the time the cruise was due.

[tring]

1 hour ago, Son of Anarchy said:

 

After zooming in it looked like QM2 and QV were about 3km apart.  There was also an unnamed vessel just ahead of QV. The data showed that these ships were underway, but that data may have been historic. 

 

Just re-freshed, it looks the unnamed vessel may be shuttling between QM2 and QV.  

 

 

 

Thanks for that info.  Good to know what is happening, though I for one am not assuming all people being transferred are passengers.  Some, or even all, could be crew who have tested positive or were close contacts.  It is possible that QV has covid free crew who can be transferred back to The QM2 to make up the shortfall.

 

Whatever the situation is though, it is very sad and I feel for all who are affected by this, including all the crew.  As passengers we have the risk of one holiday going haywire in a way we would not be happy about, but the crew are likely concerned that their livelihood is once again in jeopardy.  

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by tring

[Dermotsgirl]

My friends are on this QM2 cruise and they booked it way back in October 2019.

 

What I don’t understand is why they didn’t move the cruise - but they are not on social media of any sort - I think they assumed they would go into a Covid free bubble. Their travel agent, who they trust a great deal, even told them that everything was getting back to normal in the Caribbean.

 

I think there must be lots of people like my friends who genuinely thought that all would be well on their cruise, because nobody told them otherwise.

 

if I’d spoken to them before they’d paid their final balance, I would have told them about some of the potential pitfalls. But they’d paid in full by  the time I spoke to them, so I didn’t think it was fair to alarm them shortly before they sailed🤷‍♀️

[bbtablet]

Absolutely agree - I have made this point before but was met with denial that such people as your friends could possibly exist!

[Ardennais]

19 minutes ago, bbtablet said:

Absolutely agree - I have made this point before but was met with denial that such people as your friends could possibly exist!

To be honest, it’s difficult enough for me to work out what’s going, and I pop in here several times a day. There’s so little ‘official’ information. I can well believe that there are lots of passengers like Dermotsgirl’s friends. 
My husband’s positive result today has just reinforced my views. It’s now not the fear of Covid as such (and that’s an amazing things to say when you think about where we were a year ago). We could easily have embarked on a cruise late last week with our negative flows, and have found ourselves in deep trouble this week. 

[Bin man]

I am supprised that the cruise lines haven't got together and used one of their ships as a floating hospital using all balcony cabins as isolation just providing basic quarantine and food and of coarse medical care instead of just been anchored in a bay somewhere Dont know if that is allowed or ever thought of 

[Interestedcruisefan]

24 minutes ago, Bin man said:

I am supprised that the cruise lines haven't got together and used one of their ships as a floating hospital using all balcony cabins as isolation just providing basic quarantine and food and of coarse medical care instead of just been anchored in a bay somewhere Dont know if that is allowed or ever thought of 

Its heading that way

 

Talk on the RC forum of one of their ships being used as a quarantine hotel in Caribbean

 

Bear in mind quarantine hotels seem to charge more than cruise ships!

[davecttr]

Is Queen Victoria performing such a function for QM2?

[Son of Anarchy]

The plot thickens:

 

 

QM2 is now about 50NM from QV, however Azura is now about 5 NM from QV, with un-named vessels close by both ships.

 

I'm wondering whether these are tenders shuttling between the ships.  Anyone currently on board Azura with some info?

[Megabear2]

Hi from St Kitts.  Britannia arrived safely on time with no dramas.  However the driver on our excursion to the railway told us that only us and Crystal Serenity have docked today out of 5 ships expected.  On our return we noted in the distance what looks like a Silverseas ship at anchor further round the bay.

 

We are due to rendezvous with Azura tomorrow in Antigua. Will see if I can find anything out from anyone now we are back on board.

[Mollag]

44 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

The plot thickens:

 

 

QM2 is now about 50NM from QV, however Azura is now about 5 NM from QV, with un-named vessels close by both ships.

 

I'm wondering whether these are tenders shuttling between the ships.  Anyone currently on board Azura with some info?

The other ships are Azura and QV but both of them are out of range of the land based AIS receivers so it shows the satellite signal which you have to pay for to get all the info on them. 

[Son of Anarchy]

2 hours ago, Mollag said:

The other ships are Azura and QV but both of them are out of range of the land based AIS receivers so it shows the satellite signal which you have to pay for to get all the info on them. 

Thanks.  I'm clearly a cheapskate!🤣🤣

[Megabear2]

Just confirmed Azura and two other ships will be in Antigua tomorrow. No idea who the other two are though.

[molecrochip]

Crew cycle on and off ships most port days. This is difficult during the pandemic so, Queen Victoria is acting as a pre-boarding vessel for new crew.

 

Crew fly into Barbados, quarantine on QV before joining which ever Carnival family ship they are assigned to. Most are going to QM, Britannia and Azura.

 

This avoids the need to use local quarantine facilities at Carnival’s expenses.

 

There was also a theory that in the event of a major outbreak, QV could be called into action as a static quarantine point. I don’t have the latest on if this is happening but clearly QM has problems.

 

 

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Crew cycle on and off ships most port days. This is difficult during the pandemic so, Queen Victoria is acting as a pre-boarding vessel for new crew.

 

Crew fly into Barbados, quarantine on QV before joining which ever Carnival family ship they are assigned to. Most are going to QM, Britannia and Azura.

 

This avoids the need to use local quarantine facilities at Carnival’s expenses.

 

There was also a theory that in the event of a major outbreak, QV could be called into action as a static quarantine point. I don’t have the latest on if this is happening but clearly QM has problems.

 

 

Thank you for the explanation. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

8 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Crew cycle on and off ships most port days. This is difficult during the pandemic so, Queen Victoria is acting as a pre-boarding vessel for new crew.

 

Crew fly into Barbados, quarantine on QV before joining which ever Carnival family ship they are assigned to. Most are going to QM, Britannia and Azura.

 

This avoids the need to use local quarantine facilities at Carnival’s expenses.

 

There was also a theory that in the event of a major outbreak, QV could be called into action as a static quarantine point. I don’t have the latest on if this is happening but clearly QM has problems.

 

 

Cruise Law News is suggesting ships are now offloading positive crew to keep below 1 per cent of cases on board in order to still be able to enter some ports?

 

With 1 per cent of cases apparently the threshold for being denied entry?

 

There's also an article about RC swapping positive crew for negative crew between ships in order to be able to "cleverly" stay under the 1 per cent threshold on both ships 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Interestedcruisefan

[terrierjohn]

36 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Cruise Law News is suggesting ships are now offloading positive crew to keep below 1 per cent of cases on board in order to still be able to enter some ports?

 

With 1 per cent of cases apparently the threshold for being denied entry?

 

There's also an article about RC swapping positive crew for negative crew between ships in order to be able to "cleverly" stay under the 1 per cent threshold on both ships 

 

 

 

Most firms will work the system in some way to stay within the regulations, not just cruise lines. And wasnt it you advocating that  passengers might want to to work the system by declaring they had been in contact with a covid case?

It must be in the human psyche.

[Interestedcruisefan]

28 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Most firms will work the system in some way to stay within the regulations, not just cruise lines. And wasnt it you advocating that  passengers might want to to work the system by declaring they had been in contact with a covid case?

It must be in the human psyche.

Im not judging what they are doing John

 

Just passing on what I've read

 

 

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Cruise Law News is suggesting ships are now offloading positive crew to keep below 1 per cent of cases on board in order to still be able to enter some ports?

 

With 1 per cent of cases apparently the threshold for being denied entry?

 

There's also an article about RC swapping positive crew for negative crew between ships in order to be able to "cleverly" stay under the 1 per cent threshold on both ships 

 

 

 

That’s interesting, probably explains why any announcements from the bridge about Covid always seems to mention ‘less than one percent’