COVID on QE

[techteach]

@rakkor I noticed you received a bottle of Merlot! Have the prizes improved? Every one have safe travels home and thanks for providing this great adventure every morning.

[2Oldpeopleinlove]

24 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

It is going to be interesting to see what happens with the Cunard and others out of Southampton when both the requirements to isolate etc end in April and also the free testing goes away. From my understand testing will no longer be free from next month. Who would pay for day 2 test for 2000 people?

We plan to bring four of our own tests with us. So, if someone on staff wanted to monitor them, that could work…a message to passengers ahead of time could let them know 1- they’ll need to pack tests and 2- Cunard is taking it seriously.

[Annabel50]

Lets hope mandatory testing before boarding stays see the below statement released today. So sadly not everyone thinks of others unlike those who have shared their stories here the last few days.

 

Out of more than 1,300 people who tested positive before the legal requirement to self isolate was lifted, only 64% said they were in quarantine to avoid spreading the disease, according to the Office for National Statistics.

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, Camgirl said:

Here, here!

 

We went up to the Commodore Club after our release this morning. Everyone around us was coughing and sneezing. We left in the end. We were wondering to ourselves just how many people have not bothered to admit to their symptoms and get tested. Especially at this late stage of the cruise. 

 

Rakkor and Bouncing wheel - we have just done appallingly badly in the music quiz without you all.

 

I'm sure there are people who have mild symptoms and haven't been tested. It's always been like that with Noro (remember when we thought THAT was the worst that could go around a ship???). People would hide in their cabins but not tell the ship they were sick.

 

[BouncingWheel]

Been sleeping most of the day. I understand why they moved us as they have a smooth quarantine food situation going on here with the aft cabins which is in easy reach of the kitchens.

 

I think we are all being delayed off the ship together so although a nuisance it seems sensible.

 

Can’t fault the organisation of the quarantine arrangements so far for us.

[Host Hattie]

Thanks for the update, I guess it's good news that there were still quarantine cabins available.

I hope your last night on board is as comfortable as it can be in the circumstances and you have a safe journey home tomorrow.

[ace2542]

12 hours ago, Electra 7 said:

I had wondered if your cruise would be delayed so ship could have a deep clean you must let us know

A meaningless gesture if it is in the crew from the last sailing. Although it would probably be very difficult and costly for Cunard to rotate crews out every sailing. Lets hope any spread among the crew is under control.

[exlondoner]

2 hours ago, aday10 said:

Thank you BouncingWheel! I hope you get home safely, and haven’t got too fair to travel. I am hoping you will still get breakfast this morning and get taken care of before you are taken off. 
 

Yes I did think as it’s a shorter cruise, ours could just be cancelled, as this has happened in twice a couple of months ago. 
 

I have not received anything from Cunard to indicate a later boarding time, so we are aiming to head down around 12. Hopefully all will be well. 

 

And  in any case, though it's cheering and reassuring to see a sparkly clean ship, it seems generally accepted that it's air, not surfaces, that Covid spreads in/on.

Edited March 30, 2022 by exlondoner
Punctuation

[BouncingWheel]

The crew test every week and, unlike all passengers, they additionally test if they get symptoms.

 

The issue is the incubators (both passengers and crew). When tested they were negative but between then and the next test (or no test for some passengers) they become positive and can be spreading this highly infectious virus to others.
 

it is the same situation as work environments, theatres, shops etc…

some say more likely on here as all confined in tight spaces other say less likely as more testing occurs. 
 

each person must gather their own data and decide themselves on if a cruise or theatre trip etc… is worth it.

[rakkor]

Hopefully catching COVID and being OK with it will mean Jane stresses less about it from now on. The fear of the unknown is powerful. I'm going to be pushing for a night on the town once we're clear.

[rakkor]

We were collected from our stateroom at 10:00 this morning, given masks and gloves and escorted to the B lifts for disembarkation. All quick and painless. I did an LFT this morning to see if I was no longer infectious, no chance, still a strong red T line. Picked up the car and on our way home.

 

Thanks for listening and I hope to cruise with you sometime in the future.

 

Jim

 

[Host Hattie]

Thanks again for keeping us updated on your experience. It's been very useful to have first hand reports of what happens on board.

I hope you're all feeling better soon and it hasn't put you off cruising completely.

 

[rakkor]

 

Jane is more worried than I am, mainly because she doesn't want to lose 5 days or worse from a cruise. Freedom dining and dumbing down the dress code puts us off more though

[BouncingWheel]

As we were stuck in the stateroom till 10:30 this morning and I had land 4G again (another dig at the poor Cunard Wi-fi) we started looking at sites with info on how immune you are after you catch Omicron. Apparently being vaccinated and having caught Covid is the best immunity you have. Also that Dr Faucci chap in US reckons it should be at least 3 months till you can catch it again.

 

This is just me repeating others opinions but once you have recovered I would say you are in the best position possible. However I am not sure it is worth rushing back to cruises until they have a system of having backups in place in case crew isolate as it still no fun if you are fit and well and service, activities etc… are lacking due to staff numbers.

[ace2542]

19 minutes ago, rakkor said:

 

Jane is more worried than I am, mainly because she doesn't want to lose 5 days or worse from a cruise. Freedom dining and dumbing down the dress code puts us off more though

Might be interesting to see what happens once the requirements for self isolation is scrapped in UK and elswhere for that matter.

[ace2542]

20 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I'm sure there are people who have mild symptoms and haven't been tested. It's always been like that with Noro (remember when we thought THAT was the worst that could go around a ship???). People would hide in their cabins but not tell the ship they were sick.

 

The big question though is will Cunard and other lines for that matter start enforcing testing on people who are walking around with mild symptoms. Can the lines do that and what kind of atmosphere will it create onboard if they did.

[BouncingWheel]

1 hour ago, ace2542 said:

The big question though is will Cunard and other lines for that matter start enforcing testing on people who are walking around with mild symptoms. Can the lines do that and what kind of atmosphere will it create onboard if they did.

I am sure the answer to that is no. Just been to NHS online to try to confirm when I should test again (I thought day 5 & 6 and if then negative then I would be free back into society). It seems things have changed and will change again in a few days time (in England at least). From what I can see it is heading towards a flu approach now - stay at home and avoid contact when unwell. Go back into society when you feel better.

Edited March 30, 2022 by BouncingWheel

[ace2542]

7 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

I am sure the answer to that is no. Just been to NHS online to try to confirm when I should test again (I thought day 5 & 6 and if then negative then I would be free back into society). It seems things have changed and will change again in a few days time (in England at least). From what I can see it is heading towards a flu approach now - stay at home and avoid contact when unwell. Go back into society when you feel better.

Yup and they don't confine you to the cabin for Flu on a cruise ship to my knowledge though I could be wrong.

[LittleFish1976]

21 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

Yup and they don't confine you to the cabin for Flu on a cruise ship to my knowledge though I could be wrong.

 

Wouldn't it be common decency to confine oneself to one's cabin for the sake of other passengers (if not for concern for one's own health) if one had flu? It's anti-social to impose any illness on other people.

 

Covid is not the flu and I can't believe people are still attempting to manufacture some illusory equivalence between the two.

 

Also, you forgot to mention being thrown into the brig if a covid test is refused on a ship 😉

[Victoria2]

28 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

Yup and they don't confine you to the cabin for Flu on a cruise ship to my knowledge though I could be wrong.

If you have ''proper'' flu, as opposed to, let's say, ''man flu'',  🙂 there is no way you can get out of bed never mind wander around a ship.

I've had flu once, and my definition afterwards was, if there was a bundle of £50 notes on the bed  just out of reach, you were so ''out of it'' you couldn't lift a finger to get it so wandering around the ship wouldn't be on the cards, so to liken it to flu isn't really appropriate as Covid positive folk can still be perfectly able to walk around infecting many.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2022 by Victoria2

[ace2542]

19 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

Wouldn't it be common decency to confine oneself to one's cabin for the sake of other passengers (if not for concern for one's own health) if one had flu? It's anti-social to impose any illness on other people.

 

Covid is not the flu and I can't believe people are still attempting to manufacture some illusory equivalence between the two.

 

Also, you forgot to mention being thrown into the brig if a covid test is refused on a ship 😉

They can't run ships like that forever though and this will never go away this will be all year round forever. How many times a day would you test people, twice a day? I also think it is anti social to snitch on people imagine the atmosphere on board.

 

Be interesting to see how this next trip and the QM2 trip are working out though. That will be a good baseline for the future I think.

[SybilUnrest]

There are, of course, tiers of antisocial behavior, and I cannot imagine anything more antisocial than sniffling your covid infection about in a ship full of pensioners. I’m pretty comfortable “snitching,” as it has so charmingly been put, when my health and safety are at risk. I am a healthy, active person and when I caught covid at 40, I suffered what may be permanent brain fog. A close friend, also 40, has permanent heart damage from it. It’s absurd to pretend that there is some moral value to refusing to protect yourself and others.

[jmklade]

On 3/28/2022 at 5:56 AM, ace2542 said:

Ok so if Jane is negative, still negative how can they be sure you are positive? I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't have caught it from you after 3 or 4 days in the same cabin even if you are wearing the mask the entire time? Could your tests have been incorrect? Or could her's be incorrect? A scary though either way.

My wife and I both had Covid two completely different occasions despite sleeping in the same bed.  Also, my wife had the original virus in November of 2020 and I had Omicron in January of this year.  As somebody wrote earlier, the virus is very, very random.  

[starquake]

5 hours ago, rakkor said:

Hopefully catching COVID and being OK with it will mean Jane stresses less about it from now on. The fear of the unknown is powerful. I'm going to be pushing for a night on the town once we're clear.

 

Hope you get well soon and agree it'll be less stressful for you in future.  Personally I'd be booking more cruises for the next 6 months if I caught covid now as would then have the "semi" immunity card (yes I know catching it doesn't prevent antoher varient catching me etc).    Will we see you rebooking with the cruise credit you must have gained "soon" ? 

 

I'd in a way prefer to catch covid now, as US entry requirements are easier (no pre flight antigen test needed if you get a recovery certificate), and it would remove the whole testing positive risk across 6 of us before joiniing a flight to US next month potentially.   Otherwise I see us needing to isolate for 2 weeks pre-flight to avoid any risks of a positive test.

 

That said I hope this sailing for QE goes well for all onboard, as we hopefully will be back on the ship this summer!

[Kristal Blade]

15 minutes ago, starquake said:

 

Hope you get well soon and agree it'll be less stressful for you in future.  Personally I'd be booking more cruises for the next 6 months if I caught covid now as would then have the "semi" immunity card (yes I know catching it doesn't prevent antoher varient catching me etc).    Will we see you rebooking with the cruise credit you must have gained "soon" ? 

 

I'd in a way prefer to catch covid now, as US entry requirements are easier (no pre flight antigen test needed if you get a recovery certificate), and it would remove the whole testing positive risk across 6 of us before joiniing a flight to US next month potentially.   Otherwise I see us needing to isolate for 2 weeks pre-flight to avoid any risks of a positive test.

 

That said I hope this sailing for QE goes well for all onboard, as we hopefully will be back on the ship this summer!

I have Covid right now. I will be flying to USA in May. Does anyone know how I can get a recovery certificate? Assuming I recover, of course!