COVID on QE

[starquake]

1 minute ago, Kristal Blade said:

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!

 

A friend has covid also at moment and is following this route before our trip in April, will report back, but he said the NHS app can provide part of the paperwork (he had to do a PCR via NHS for his work as he works in healthcare).   He is investiagting if US border also require a doctors note, which given he works for NHS shouldn't be hard to get from his employer.

 

The recovery certificate route is doucmented on the US entry website I believe, as it's about being able to travel for I think it is 4-6 months after an infection given a PCR/Antigen may potentially still test positiive even though you have recovered.

[Kristal Blade]

Thanks for the speedy response, starquake,

I don’t have the Covid app on my iPad but I have the ordinary NHS app. I did an NHS Covid PCR test and have the notification of positive result in email and text form. I may contact my doctor when I am allowed out to see if they can provide official documentation. When I did the test they said my GP would be informed.

 

It is all getting more complicated!

[Camgirl]

1 hour ago, Kristal Blade said:

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!

I assume you are in the UK? In which case it appears on the NHS app along with your vaccine certificates. You can get a file to print out from there if you want it in print.

 

I hope you feel better soon and have a good trip to the USA in May.

[Camgirl]

1 hour ago, Kristal Blade said:

Thanks for the speedy response, starquake,

I don’t have the Covid app on my iPad but I have the ordinary NHS app. I did an NHS Covid PCR test and have the notification of positive result in email and text form. I may contact my doctor when I am allowed out to see if they can provide official documentation. When I did the test they said my GP would be informed.

 

It is all getting more complicated!

The certificate is on the normal NHS app, not the covid one. I had covid in October and that's where I found my recovery certificate. I just printed out the whole thing before boarding QE. There were three vaccinations recorded plus my recovery. I didn't have to do anything to get it there. Hope this helps.

[mcloaked]

7 hours ago, BouncingWheel said:

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.

 

I am catching up on posts after also disembarking QE this morning. We were certainly less 'twitchy' about getting back on board after having had Covid and three vaccine doses before that. It would largely appear that being fully boosted and then getting Omicron, would be low risk of catching Omicron a second time, but of course over a period of months new variants may emerge that might evade the protection the immune system has built up after both being vaccinated as well as being infected. In fact if all passengers on a voyage had booster shots and confirmed as having had Omicron, then it would be very unlikely any would be infected if within a few months of having had Covid. Of course it simply is not possible to have a cruise only offered to passengers who have had the vaccine and the virus!  Still were were told that the passenger capacity was held at about 1500, so that enough rooms would still be available to be pretty sure that there would always be enough rooms available for both passengers and crew who were unlucky enough to test positive during the Northern Lights cruise.

[elmsliebev]

35 minutes ago, Camgirl said:

The certificate is on the normal NHS app, not the covid one. I had covid in October and that's where I found my recovery certificate. I just printed out the whole thing before boarding QE. There were three vaccinations recorded plus my recovery. I didn't have to do anything to get it there. Hope this helps.

I can't see a Recovery certificate. The test results showing I had it in January are there, but no certificate for that, just the 3 jabs. Any chance you could say which menu it was on? Thanks

[Camgirl]

21 minutes ago, elmsliebev said:

I can't see a Recovery certificate. The test results showing I had it in January are there, but no certificate for that, just the 3 jabs. Any chance you could say which menu it was on? Thanks

Hi,

I just had a look on the app on my phone. It is only on the travel pass. You need to go through to the "covid records found" details. I have three vaccines listed (one per page), then a recovery certificate. It says "recovered from covid-19" above the bar code.

[Electra 7]

7 hours 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.

check out what Viking ocean is doing they are totally on the ball everyone has to test every day and they have a laboratory on board

[mcloaked]

16 minutes ago, Electra 7 said:

check out what Viking ocean is doing they are totally on the ball everyone has to test every day and they have a laboratory on board

 

The Cunard ships also have a laboratory on board for doing analysis of swab tests.

[Kristal Blade]

30 minutes ago, Camgirl said:

Hi,

I just had a look on the app on my phone. It is only on the travel pass. You need to go through to the "covid records found" details. I have three vaccines listed (one per page), then a recovery certificate. It says "recovered from covid-19" above the bar code.

Thanks Camgirl,

really helpful info. I have seen my positive test result on the NHS app, but I may need to wait for my recovery certificate as I only tested positive on Monday. I have nearly lost my voice, but apart from that I’m doing fine.

[Megabear2]

9 hours ago, Camgirl said:

Hi,

I just had a look on the app on my phone. It is only on the travel pass. You need to go through to the "covid records found" details. I have three vaccines listed (one per page), then a recovery certificate. It says "recovered from covid-19" above the bar code.

Going forward from 1 April there may be problems for recovered UK travellers.  I am recovered  (just) from Covid but did not meet the criteria for a PCR test.  I tested positive on a LFT on 16 March and had my first negative test on 27 March.  Due to no PCR test being available to confirm the positive tests I apparently will not have a recovery certificate that meets entry requirements to most countries who are accepting them.  My NHS travel pass does not therefore contain the info Camgirl mentions, although my covid records do show my positive and negative tests.

 

The Government website has also been amended in the past week to show there is no official recovery certificate issued by the UK government. 

 

With the demise of UK testing the private LFT tests on sale come in two types, the more expensive ones apparently being reportable.  

 

Interestingly I had a long conversation with my travel insurer regarding testing as their regulations refer throughout to covid test results.  They had not considered the removal and non recordability of tests and how their terms might be affected.  I assume cruise lines will be in the same situation.

[ace2542]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

With the demise of UK testing the private LFT tests on sale come in two types, the more expensive ones apparently being reportable

And I have heard talk of these coming in at the £200 range. Could be real problems for Cunard if they are sourcing tests at even half of that price.

[ace2542]

12 hours ago, Electra 7 said:

check out what Viking ocean is doing they are totally on the ball everyone has to test every day and they have a laboratory on board

It will be interesting to see what happens to that testing programme when they start buying the tests in for £100 or even £200 a pop - the prices I have heard banded about for next week.

[exlondoner]

3 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

It will be interesting to see what happens to that testing programme when they start buying the tests in for £100 or even £200 a pop - the prices I have heard banded about for next week.

 

And I have heard about £12.50 for a packet of seven. But what do you suppose Cunard are paying at the moment?

[ace2542]

2 hours ago, exlondoner said:

 

And I have heard about £12.50 for a packet of seven. But what do you suppose Cunard are paying at the moment?

No idea but I am surprised they are doing the tests for free and taking the hit on the money. They won't continue doing that forever

[Camgirl]

19 hours ago, Kristal Blade said:

Thanks Camgirl,

really helpful info. I have seen my positive test result on the NHS app, but I may need to wait for my recovery certificate as I only tested positive on Monday. I have nearly lost my voice, but apart from that I’m doing fine.

I'm afraid I have no idea how soon my recovery certificate appeared. I was ill at the beginning of October. The certificate is definitely still there on the travel stuff. I was pretty ill with the delta varient, including a day in hospital. I don't know if that makes any difference. 

 

I hope you soon feel better and don't get any worse symptoms. Take care and rest as much as you can.

[Kristal Blade]

1 hour ago, Camgirl said:

I'm afraid I have no idea how soon my recovery certificate appeared. I was ill at the beginning of October. The certificate is definitely still there on the travel stuff. I was pretty ill with the delta varient, including a day in hospital. I don't know if that makes any difference. 

 

I hope you soon feel better and don't get any worse symptoms. Take care and rest as much as you can.

I’m already feeling much better, thank you Camgirl,

I still have a very sore throat but I am staying in, not doing much and drinking lots of hot drinks. I may have the BA2 strain, who knows?!

[ace2542]

It is the 3rd night for the new cruisers tonight and it seems like there is no sign of an outbreak yet which is good.

[BouncingWheel]

16 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

It is the 3rd night for the new cruisers tonight and it seems like there is no sign of an outbreak yet which is good.

Very good news but to be expected as the new passengers came on clean at that stage and it takes a while for the incubators to display symptoms and spread whilst clean people picking up the virus fresh should not be displaying in only 3 days. On our cruise, I believe it came to light around day 6/7 to passengers though we knew crew had it from about day 2/3 onwards when they started to disappear.

 

I am very confident this cruise will hardly be impacted due to its short length and what we may see is the familiar "I tested positive after I disembarked" posts that have been around on this site for a while now.

 

What I would really like to know is what the current offering is like in terms of service and activities due to staff levels (not things like Wi-fi etc... which are not covid related). As we have mentioned, the activities were not really as varied at the beginning of our Northern Lights cruise as normal but I felt they were quite acceptable. By the end, with the number of people in isolation, we had lost so much the daily planner barely made it onto page 2 with activities. I can only imagine the activities are still poor unless they have brought on new crew members or the existing members have been released from quarantine.

[Jonem2001]

4 hours ago, BouncingWheel said:

What I would really like to know is what the current offering is like in terms of service and activities due to staff levels (not things like Wi-fi etc... which are not covid related).

Currently aboard; @BouncingWheel, and I have to say it feels ‘normal’ and as planned. The service levels and numbers of activities are comparable to the cruise I took on QM2 in Feb. If staff were sick ‘coming into’ this cruise; it doesn’t seem obvious from what is offered.

 

I can upload a few photos of the Daily Planners for the curious - if so, do say!

[BouncingWheel]

25 minutes ago, Jonem2001 said:

Currently aboard; @BouncingWheel, and I have to say it feels ‘normal’ and as planned. The service levels and numbers of activities are comparable to the cruise I took on QM2 in Feb. If staff were sick ‘coming into’ this cruise; it doesn’t seem obvious from what is offered.

 

I can upload a few photos of the Daily Planners for the curious - if so, do say!

Excellent news @Jonem2001 and thank you so much for the update whilst you are on your holiday. Your response is more than enough to satisfy my curiosity. If you get bored and wish to post anything whilst on your cruise please do as I know loads of us are always interested - I believe the thread for your cruise is below though the title is not obvious 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2841449-back-in-southampton-and-ready-the-qe/

[D&N]

On 3/31/2022 at 10:16 AM, ace2542 said:

It will be interesting to see what happens to that testing programme when they start buying the tests in for £100 or even £200 a pop - the prices I have heard banded about for next week.

In France the sale of self tests is generally only permitted in pharmacies. To prevent profiteering the regulated price was €5.20/test. That was recently reduced to €3.35/test.

For nearly 2 months at beginning of year rules were relaxed and supermarkets were allowed to sell them. Most did so at cost price, which ranged from €1.24 to €1.95 per test.

I've just bought a box of 25 online from a German supplier for €46.80 (€1.88/test) including postage. Larger quantities intended for professional use were available at a lower unit price.

I'm sure Cunard would prefer not to need to carry out testing but the wholesale price must be similar or lower than market prices.

[elmsliebev]

On 3/30/2022 at 8:26 PM, Camgirl said:

Hi,

I just had a look on the app on my phone. It is only on the travel pass. You need to go through to the "covid records found" details. I have three vaccines listed (one per page), then a recovery certificate. It says "recovered from covid-19" above the bar code.

yep, looked there, it shows my recent negative test (I have to test for work) and my last positive in January, but no barcode or "recovered from" message. I also have the 3 vaccines with QR codes. 

[elmsliebev]

On 3/31/2022 at 4:50 PM, Camgirl said:

I'm afraid I have no idea how soon my recovery certificate appeared. I was ill at the beginning of October. The certificate is definitely still there on the travel stuff. I was pretty ill with the delta varient, including a day in hospital. I don't know if that makes any difference. 

 

I hope you soon feel better and don't get any worse symptoms. Take care and rest as much as you can.

as has been said, it looks like the recovery cert only shows if you have had the PCR test, not the LFTs. 

[ace2542]

21 hours ago, Jonem2001 said:

Currently aboard; @BouncingWheel, and I have to say it feels ‘normal’ and as planned. The service levels and numbers of activities are comparable to the cruise I took on QM2 in Feb. If staff were sick ‘coming into’ this cruise; it doesn’t seem obvious from what is offered.

 

I can upload a few photos of the Daily Planners for the curious - if so, do say!

Is the cruise still Covid clear? and I think they would tell you if it wasn't.