Blogging from the Ruby Princess

[mellon1]

5 minutes ago, travelers07 said:

Just wanted to jump in again. Ruby is not the only ship with issues. I was on the Sky until 3/28 but was supposed to continue until 4/9. All B2B (even those like me who had booked as one cruise) were tested before arrival in Southampton. I tested positive and I did have very mild issues. I was sent to quarantine and told I would need to disembark. They said they would get back to me with details.

 

No one ever called me and I spent hours on hold waiting to order food. When food did arrive it was cold. But I only had 2 nights so I was just happy to disembark. 
 

I did have a conversation the second night with the person who was in charge of the quarantines- I had called and insisted on talking with someone. She said there would be a hotel for me but I would need to pay and use my insurance to cover. If it did not, I could come back to Princess and submit a claim. Other option was to go ahead and get my own hotel since UK had no rules now about quarantine. 
 

Later that second night I heard people in the hallway and opened the door to several of my fellow quarantiners. Since we were all positive we started to compare notes. No one had much info. The next morning they told us they would get us individually starting at 11am. We all met in the hallway again. Some people had received letters overnight but I did not. Letters either said you would be taken to a hotel or that you were on your own. No signature on the letter and only an email- no phone number. There were 94 passengers who were positive and disembarked in Southampton.

 

The one letter that did show up was my positive test with the date I could fly back to the US. No other rules or suggestions.

 

I was so glad to get off the ship that I figured I would deal with the details later. I know this has been discussed but I was already upset that we were told our lack of internet was due to the satellite. But our medallions never worked either- and I am a techie who had it working fine at home and on the Majestic in September.

Bottom line- I am Elite and I will never sail Princess again. The lack of respect for the passengers was just too frustrating.

 

Still in quarantine in Europe on my own. Will contact the Princess Insurance at some point.

 

Good luck to all!

 

Sue

Thank you for the post.♥️

[edspec]

Okay. As someone who has been dealing with employees as well as Covid screening and contact tracing I can tell you it is extraordinarily difficult. The protocols change all the time. No one is EVER satisfied, and everyone is angry about their situation. I imagine Princess and their staff are overwhelmed. Cruise demand has been fluid, with large last minute swings. Staffing would be a nightmare. When schools are forced to have 10 classes of students in a gym because there aren’t enough teachers that should give you an idea of worker shortage. Yes, different industry but this is across all industries now. 

I am cruising on the Ruby on the 11th. I am going under the assumption that this will not be Princess at its finest. I cruised NCL at the beginning of Omicrom and while I had a good time it wasn’t the normal experience. 

I don’t worry about catching Covid, and I’m certainly not going to be monitoring the sneezes and coughs around me, because I have no control over others. I can accept this. I also realize, as a previous poster stated, that all coughs aren’t Covid. I’ve been coughing and sneezing for the last several weeks due to seasonal allergies but I have yet to have a positive Covid test.

 

if I happened to be concerned about being quarantined I’d probably add a box of dates or bag of almonds to my suitcase in case of room service delays, so the posts on this thread have been helpful to people who fear quarantine.

 

I am guessing Princess is doing everything they can to provide a good experience for guests. What would be their motivation to do otherwise? 

[PescadoAmarillo]

Good old Princess even made sure I got charged for the cheese pizza I ordered before leaving the ship. Since I don’t eat meat, I found it a better option than the room service or grill. And the PVSA violation was charged to my shipboard account. 

 

[travelers07]

My final statement via email has the shore excursion on the second half of my cruise. But there was still OBC that I never got to use, oh well. 

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Good old Princess even made sure I got charged for the cheese pizza I ordered before leaving the ship. Since I don’t eat meat, I found it a better option than the room service or grill. And the PVSA violation was charged to my shipboard account. 

 

as all ordered / requested by you ...  and our account got charged $1,200 from the medical center with having insurance purchased thru Princess (AON) - we're dealing with it ... 

[mellon1]

1 hour ago, Joy_K said:

@mellon1 in our case we were given a choice to continue on to our next cruise or disembark in San Francisco 

Well thank goodness Princess gave YOU a choice.  I am so glad you are together.  I could not imagine being apart.

 

Stay strong Joy.  I have not met you as I have Jeanne and G; however, I feel all you are going through and our thoughts and prayers are with you,

[Steelers36]

37 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Here is the only letter I was given, and I received it when G was taken away. 
I never received any further information about…well, anything. I will also post the Crew Call chats I had starting about 8pm or so that first night. It was NEVER spelled out to me whether it was safe for our cabin steward to enter the cabin, take my trash and towels, etc. After that first day he did, but neither he nor I knew for sure. 
 

I was not contacted by the medical department the next day until about 4pm when I finally left the cabin for the first time, got chips and salsa from the buffet and took it outside to get a drink from the bar on the Terrace Deck. I was handed the drink, the phone rang, and the bartender told me it was medical and I had to go to be tested. I left everything and went. When I got to the medical center, I was admonished for not coming there sooner. I said, honestly, that no one had explained the procedure to me, that no one had explained anything to me, thinking I might get some information. No, I was just told to be there before 10am the next day. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ack..posted before typing.

 

Much of the letter seems written by legal or a MD at outset of Covid.  The statement about it taking 14 days to figure out if you have Covid is a joke.  Whoever chatted with you wasn't from Medical and not very helpful beyond what you may have known.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Steelers36
No message typed

[arizonaperson]

Others’ stories are appearing on the internet too, and they are the same. This treatment is unconscionable. And Princess simply doesn’t care. 

Edited 6 hours ago by PescadoAmarillo

 

 

Maybe someone can start a new thread and have ONLY those post that have had firsthand experience with  recent positive Covid  as a passenger and or  traveling companion on a Princess ship  and or quarantine in a hotel and lump all your experiences together??  Might be a great / not great insight to “go to” as a multi passenger  poor treatment/ conditions that you have been put through?? And let Princess know all of you are in it together,very unhappy with your treatment.

I hate that this is the way Princess is treating all of you affected.

Edited April 3, 2022 by arizonaperson
Always oops

[Joy_K]

16 minutes ago, mellon1 said:

Well thank goodness Princess gave YOU a choice.  I am so glad you are together.  I could not imagine being apart.

 

Stay strong Joy.  I have not met you as I have Jeanne and G; however, I feel all you are going through and our thoughts and prayers are with you,

We were apart for a while.  Husband tested positive first and taken to quarantine and I had to stay in original cabin while I was to test daily for 5 days.  Day 4 I tested positive and joined him in quarantine cabin.  

[mellon1]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

Perfect post, just perfect

Thanks @voljeep just what all of us in love are feeling.  We are not alone.

[mellon1]

1 hour ago, gbolton said:

Yes, please continue to give us very valid and useful information, even though some of us seem to be deliberately cantankerous. And its annoying.

 

But there must be others like ourselves who love, love, love cruising, miss it so very much, but are scared to death, as I am, of being tested.  Yes, we are twice vaccinated, and boosted, but that doesn't seem to stop this virus.  It would be nightmare for me to have been in your situation, so I sincerely thank you for this very information posting. Please don't stop!

totally feel where you are coming from.  We are thinking the same

[Babr]

49 minutes ago, voljeep said:

as all ordered / requested by you ...  and our account got charged $1,200 from the medical center with having insurance purchased thru Princess (AON) - we're dealing with it ... 

 

 It does not matter whether you have Princess insurance or third-party or none at all. The patient always pays out of pocket and files for reimbursement. That is the way travel insurance works.

 

It is not the same as presenting your insurance card to a health provider at home who takes your co-pay and files the claim. Princess is not in the health care or the insurance business.

[dog]

Had enough.

Moved my FCC to shorter cruise, upgraded,cabin, flight-ez air, insurance.all paid for. 

 

get this:

used Cruise with Confidence policy to do this

 

N ow have to try to get the Cancellation fee  back he charged me in error.

Princess does Not have capable staff working for them anymore!! 
fed up

[voljeep]

2 minutes ago, ar1950 said:

 

 

FWIW, not specifically to do with this thread but something that should be emphasized about the "Princess Insurance" more often.  AON really has nothing to do with Princess directly, it is only what is offered through Princess.  People should be emphatically informed when buying it that if they need to make a claim on it they will need all of the documentation regarding the issue to submit to the insurance company.  So you need to keep ALL of the information about what meds, what procedures, what charges for treatment from the medical center you received and dates of everything for submission for a claim.  BTW, dates are important because if you missed part of the cruise because of being quarantined you may be eligible for a refund for missed cruise days (not sure about this covid stuff but we got a refund in the past for other issues).   I think that maybe more than a few people think that Princess is going to do all of this for them.  Big hassle after the fact if someone didn't keep track and is trying to get reimbursement from AON.   

My wife, who was right beside me through all of this, requested and got the itemized statement from the medical center before we got off the ship.  In fact the medical center on REGAL was very emphatic that we get that statement before disembarking.  I will say it cost us about $ 25 ( also charged to our OBA ) to get that itemized statement.  Also to add - be SURE to get a FINAL folio printout from Princess that shows that it was charged to your OBA and was PAID directly by you ( your credit card on file, or other )

[HappyInVan]

1 hour ago, edspec said:

I am guessing Princess is doing everything they can to provide a good experience for guests. What would be their motivation to do otherwise? 

 

Why? Incompetence or bureaucracy? Frankly, I'll be cheesed off with all the hassle and indifference while I'm under stress from covid. IMHO, Princess seems to have written off the infected guests. 

 

An excellent way to destroy customer goodwill.🙄

[PacnGoNow]

5 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

 That was exactly the point I made on the thread that got derailed and then closed (has it now disappeared?  I haven’t looked for it recently.). As a new passenger, I was PCR tested on Thursday. He was tested Saturday and tested negative. Meanwhile, in between, I had flown and stood in line outside the terminal for hours to check in (no social distancing, minimal masking by others). He was retested. I was not until he tested positive. Where is the sense in any of that?

If I had to guess “why” G was tested…..

I’d say, probably because some b2b’s were coming back positive from Saturday’s testing.  If there were a few,

then they may have decided to test them all again.  JMHO 

 

 

[mellon1]

7 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

If I had to guess “why” G was tested…..

I’d say, probably because some b2b’s were coming back positive from Saturday’s testing.  If there were a few,

then they may have decided to test them all again.  JMHO 

 

 

Medallion tracks everyone...I am assuming someone who had it was in close proximity to him thus the testing.  This is just what I am thinking.  Best to leave the medallion in the safe or better yet, the bathroom!  LOL

[mellon1]

Just now, mellon1 said:

Medallion tracks everyone...I am assuming someone who had it was in close proximity to him thus the testing.  This is just what I am thinking.  Best to leave the medallion in the safe or better yet, the bathroom!  LOL

oh and don't forget to FLUSH!!!!!

[dog]

2 minutes ago, mellon1 said:

Medallion tracks everyone...I am assuming someone who had it was in close proximity to him thus the testing.  This is just what I am thinking. 
————/

Best to leave the medallion in the safe or better yet, the bathroom!  LOL

This worries me.

Think about others you could be

infecting by doing that.

[PacnGoNow]

10 minutes ago, mellon1 said:

Medallion tracks everyone...I am assuming someone who had it was in close proximity to him thus the testing.  This is just what I am thinking.  Best to leave the medallion in the safe or better yet, the bathroom!  LOL

Yep. The b2b testing lines were long but fast on our turnarounds, but they check you in for your test.  So they know you were there. 

[PacnGoNow]

2 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Good old Princess even made sure I got charged for the cheese pizza I ordered before leaving the ship. Since I don’t eat meat, I found it a better option than the room service or grill. And the PVSA violation was charged to my shipboard account. 

 

Why would you have to pay the PVSA?

Beyond your control.  Do you have to submit this to insurance?  
 

Edited April 3, 2022 by PacnGoNow

[PescadoAmarillo]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

as all ordered / requested by you ...  and our account got charged $1,200 from the medical center with having insurance purchased thru Princess (AON) - we're dealing with it ... 

Of course it was. I posted that so others could see how the PVSA violation is handled and gets charged directly to the onboard account. 
 

As for needing to file an insurance claim for on board medical expenses (which these are not; not sure why you even mentioned that), it’s always been that way. I know I’ve talked about it several times on my blog and on Cruise Critic, because I’ve had to do it every season we’ve cruised. In fact, to be totally accurate, you file first with your own health insurance, and then file that EOB with any secondary health insurance, and then file with the travel insurance in case you still ended up paying anything. The only time you don’t do that is if Medicare is your only insurance. They already know that Medicare doesn’t pay out of country (and a cruise ship is considered out of country even if sailing in US waters). In that case, you can just go ahead and file the insurance claim with the travel insurance. 
 

But NOT what this is about at all. 
 

BTW, you should not have had to pay $25 for a detailed medical bill from the ship. They’re free. Guess those flowers weren’t a gift after all. 

Edited April 3, 2022 by PescadoAmarillo

[Host CJSKIDS]

4 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Why would you have to pay the PVSA?

Beyond your control.  Do you have to submit this to insurance?  
 

It was their her personal choice to end the cruise early and fly home, as difficult of a decision as that it was for her. 
J was very willing to pay it and knew ahead of time that she had to pay it when she made the decision. I’m sure she was just pointing it out to show princess charged it to her folio and that’s how she paid. 

[PescadoAmarillo]

6 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Why would you have to pay the PVSA?

Beyond your control.  Do you have to submit this to insurance?  
 

They said I was not leaving for a medical reason. No, it is totally out of pocket. As I said, this was a $2500 decision ($900 for penalty, $1600 for flight). It was not made lightly. 

[ebeluga]

2 hours ago, edspec said:

I am guessing Princess is doing everything they can to provide a good experience for guests. What would be their motivation to do otherwise? 

The reality is that they are not a non-profit business.  Good experience at what cost?  At some point under extreme stress load, good experience may evolve to min experience or even horrible experience.  Those days flying covid (+) passengers home via private jets are over (e.g. Celebrity Cruise).