Live from Grandiosa - Covid outbreak

[soloadventurer]

There is a Covid outbreak on the ship - exact numbers are unknown ( as many as 100 plus) apparently many are asymptomatic. The ship took a number hours to clear health authorities in Genoa yesterday and walking tours were cancelled. 

 

All passengers are being given FFP2 facemasks and they are the only acceptable facemasks to wear. 

 

Large numbers of private limousines are waiting on the quayside in Civitavecchia this morning to transfer affected passengers to their homes or facilities. 

 

A number of crew are also affected and I think they were transferred to the Musica ( quarantine ship) in Genoa yesterday. 

[soloadventurer]

Still lining up for passengers. 

[ConnieTact]

Thanks for reporting this. We are particularly interested as we were due to board this ship on Saturday. We have since postponed our cruise but just as well as my partner has covid!

Are you due to stay on a bit longer? I hope your cruise isn’t impacted too much and that you can still enjoy that lovely ship. 
Keep us posted if you can. I am interested in how MSC deal with these matters as our experience with them has been very good so far. There have been other threads about other companies but MSC not mentioned yet as far as I know.

[soloadventurer]

I hope your partner is OK and recovers quickly. 

 

 

 

 

A meeting between Usmaf, the shipping company, the Liguria Civil Protection and the Harbor Master's Office led to the drafting of the tourist evacuation plan positive results: Italian cruise passengers residing in Northern Italy disembark in Genoa to be transferred on special vehicles to their residences while tourists residents in the Center-South land in Civitavecchia. About a dozen foreign citizens with Covid-positive results will be hosted in a protected residence in Genoa and in an RSA in southern Piedmont.

[dexddd]

Any word on future cruises?

[ConnieTact]

46 minutes ago, soloadventurer said:

I hope your partner is OK and recovers quickly. 

 

 

 

 

A meeting between Usmaf, the shipping company, the Liguria Civil Protection and the Harbor Master's Office led to the drafting of the tourist evacuation plan positive results: Italian cruise passengers residing in Northern Italy disembark in Genoa to be transferred on special vehicles to their residences while tourists residents in the Center-South land in Civitavecchia. About a dozen foreign citizens with Covid-positive results will be hosted in a protected residence in Genoa and in an RSA in southern Piedmont.

Thanks for your kind words.

 

The information is very useful. It shows that MSC want to drop off Italian residents testing positive to their nearest port and will be transported home. Also, helpful to know that foreign passengers will be offloaded at nearest port to quarantine.
It would be good if any of those passengers would feedback on here but it’s unusual for MSC European threads to get much traffic! 

thanks again for keeping us posted. Please let us know how the rest of the cruise goes. When are you due to disembark Soloadventurer?
 

 

[soloadventurer]

4 hours ago, dexddd said:

Any word on future cruises?

 

No word, but everything seems under control. 

 

[soloadventurer]

3 hours ago, ConnieTact said:

Thanks for your kind words.

 

The information is very useful. It shows that MSC want to drop off Italian residents testing positive to their nearest port and will be transported home. Also, helpful to know that foreign passengers will be offloaded at nearest port to quarantine.
It would be good if any of those passengers would feedback on here but it’s unusual for MSC European threads to get much traffic! 

thanks again for keeping us posted. Please let us know how the rest of the cruise goes. When are you due to disembark Soloadventurer?
 

 

Due to get off in Barcelona. 

 

I believe more passengers will disembark tomorrow in Palermo. 

 

All walking tours cancelled again. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

Amazed that this thread is getting so few posts?

 

I believe foreign passengers are being quarantined at an old peoples home in Genoa?

 

Is that correct?

 

 

Edited January 5, 2022 by Interestedcruisefan

[sidari]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Amazed that this thread is getting so few posts?

 

I believe foreign passengers are being quarantined at an old peoples home in Genoa?

 

Is that correct?

 

 

It could be that those people are not aware of cruise critic.

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 minute ago, sidari said:

It could be that those people are not aware of cruise critic.

But it doesn't interest other MSC cruisers ahead of the posts they are discussing?

 

I'm just surprised

 

 

[8420PR]

3 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Amazed that this thread is getting so few posts?

I think most people put it into perspective - when 15% of people in London would test positive for covid-19 last week, to be on a cruise with just 0.1% (47 out of 4500 passengers and crew) testing positive is not such a bad result.

 

I'm impressed to see MSC distributing the FFP2 masks - one credit I give them is that for the last 16 months since they restarted cruises they are constantly learning, improving and not afraid to take measures to keep everyone safe.  I've taken 6 cruises since May 2021, and wouldn't hesitate to take another tomorrow (in the full knowledge that I might end up in quarantine).

[CruisingCats5]

We are also onboard at present. There were hundreds of people removed at Genoa and Civitavecchia. Although 120-150 positive cases, this means 120-150 cabins to be disembarked so several hundred people in total. As previously mentioned, Italians were taken off depending on the closest port to where they live, ‘foreigners’ - from what we gather on a well known social platform - have not had a good experience at all where they have been housed. This is why everyone is swabbed before the ship arrives at the 3 Italian ports.
 

Onboard it has been contained well. What is frustrating is the lack of communication, for example we were due to be in Malta today, and received our tickets last night for our excursion (we were really looking forward to being off the ship as all of our excursions have been cancelled since the outbreak). When we woke this morning we were nowhere near land! Today is now a sea day and we are heading towards Mallorca. I understand things change and you have to be flexible, however a few of the bar staff said to us last night that today was a sea day and we corrected them, so we can’t help but wonder if they knew Malta had been shelved. Likewise they let us change our walking tour in Genoa to a walking tour in Palermo and insisted it would go ahead, guess what, it was cancelled also. Obviously since the outbreak they knew no walking tours were allowed so why not tell us this. 
 

We were quite uneasy the first couple of days with the outbreak, and after the horrendous boarding at Barcelona, however we are having a good cruise and the staff have been excellent overall. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

This is what cruiselines are doing right now

 

Saying no positives on board with absolutely no idea as they haven't tested anyone for 4 days

 

Right now they probably daren't test all the passengers on board for fear of renewed chaos it will bring 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Interestedcruisefan

[tweakes]

1 hour ago, CruisingCats5 said:

Yes the memo was received a short time ago confirming the change in itinerary, and finally an update from the captain for the first time. It does also state there are zero reported cases, however there has been no mandated testing since the 2nd when the previous cases were identified. It also says that all positive cases were held in a dedicated area, however we know this to be untrue as our neighbours unfortunately were in isolation until being disembarked on the 4th, as were another cabin a few doors down. They do seem to have contained the outbreak and thankfully no one was sick apparently; as a senior member of staff noted, that would have been the end of the cruise. 
 

I agree with the personal responsibility; we have been very careful, and knew the risks when booking. We have felt safe overall and the protocols have been good. 
We’re disappointed that all our walking excursions have been cancelled so we haven’t been off the ship once, as we really didn’t want to sit on a bus for several hours. But we have good food and a great ship to enjoy. 
 

If you’re embarking at Barcelona I hope it’s not as chaotic as ours, and I’d recommend bringing water and snacks as we waited over 4 hours in total.

Hoping we will have a better experience in Barcelona, as I've seen that's been an ongoing problem. This is our first time in the Yacht Club so I hope that will help a little bit... this is why I don't want to cancel... I normally cannot afford it!! 🙂

[8420PR]

2 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

This is what cruiselines are doing right now

 

Saying no positives on board with absolutely no idea as they haven't tested anyone for 4 days

 

Right now they probably daren't test all the passengers on board for fear of renewed chaos it will bring 

They will test everyone before boarding and once on the cruise - how much more testing should they do?

 

It's a tried, tested and successful way to cruise during a pandemic - working for the last 16 months - with routines being updated given changes in the situation (with the current major challenge being the increased transmissibility of omicron).  The nature of covid is there will be people with covid onboard, but given the measures in place should be less than the population on land.

[steamboats]

1 hour ago, 8420PR said:

They will test everyone before boarding and once on the cruise - how much more testing should they do?

 

It's a tried, tested and successful way to cruise during a pandemic - working for the last 16 months - with routines being updated given changes in the situation (with the current major challenge being the increased transmissibility of omicron).  The nature of covid is there will be people with covid onboard, but given the measures in place should be less than the population on land.

 

They are only doing the tests the authorities force them to do. The test prior to the first Italian port is required by the Italian health authorities. That´s the test where they discovered 120 to 150 positive passengers. Since that test they haven´t tested anymore and therefore there are zero new cases ;-). Unless a passenger doesn´t feel well and asks for a test at the hospital they don´t discover new cases. You can only say there are zero cases when you did a test.

 

steamboats

[Markanddonna]

19 minutes ago, steamboats said:

 

They are only doing the tests the authorities force them to do. The test prior to the first Italian port is required by the Italian health authorities. That´s the test where they discovered 120 to 150 positive passengers. Since that test they haven´t tested anymore and therefore there are zero new cases ;-). Unless a passenger doesn´t feel well and asks for a test at the hospital they don´t discover new cases. You can only say there are zero cases when you did a test.

 

steamboats

I have to say that makes sense. One thing we have learned is that there is a way to manipulated the number of cases in either direction. Everything depends on what outcome is desired. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

As from 15th January CDC are due to  allow cruises to self regulate

 

At which stage I've no doubt at all they will test people even less

 

The weekly testing of crew will be the first thing they stop doing 

 

 

[johnnylikely]

Oh gosh, I was thinking of doing the Grandiosa on 11th Jan (my Cunard for the 10th just got cancelled!)

I'm guessing it's probably not the greatest idea to book the cruise from Rome on the 11th... lol

[steamboats]

14 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

As from 15th January CDC are due to  allow cruises to self regulate

 

MSC Grandiosa is in the Med and there the CDC has nothing to say. There´s a European recommendation for cruises which all countries have adopted and some have set up some stronger rules. One of the basic EU recommendations was and still is the mask requirement indoors.

 

steamboats

[steamboats]

14 hours ago, sidari said:

Passengers on Queen Mary 2 for luxury cruise spend days locked in cabins after catching Covid | Daily Mail Online

 

Complaining on a pretty high level... I don´t know what cruise passengers expect when they are tested positive. All cruise lines do have their procedures more or less online and of course you have to quarantine. Sure that ruins your vacation plans but that´s not the fault of the cruise line. If they don´t quarantine you they can´t sail at all. With all cruise lines I do read the same... no communication, no medical service (but here´s the question, what can they do? There is no need for tests during the quarantine, there are hardly any medications which can be handed out, if you do feel bad you have to call them)... I know that RCI is pro rating all quarantine days and you get your money back. Others do this as well. And I don´t think that Cunard won´t pay money back especially after this cruise has been stopped and the ship returns to Southampton now. Unfortunately nothing about the compensation of the passengers is mentioned in the article.

 

steamboats

[cruising.mark.uk]

I agree.  And, I'm pretty sure Cunard is giving everyone a 100% Future Cruise Credit.

 

[hamrag]

3 hours ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

I agree.  And, I'm pretty sure Cunard is giving everyone a 100% Future Cruise Credit.

 

They are indeed, pro-rata on number of days onboard since NYC arrival a few days before Christmas.

[dexddd]

17 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

So what you are saying is they will still test crew in Europe but not outside of Europe?

 

I'm aware of number 2 already. As you know I would never expect the cruise lines to test anybody they aren't mandated to test

Edited January 7, 2022 by dexddd
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