Princess reinstating covid protocols?

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, Ronnieslady said:

Someone’s not telling the truth. Either the CDC or the cruise ships namely Caribbean Princess. According  to their ( Caribbean Princess)  reports of cases  to the CDC they have been & still are in the ORANGE as of 5/12/2022 the latest report.  Check the report from the CDC yourself.     

No thanks. I’m happy. But you’re probably not going to like what I found out last night when talking with some folks on a B2B. They didn’t have to take an antigen test before being cleared to go on the next leg. 

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, Ronnieslady said:

Someone’s not telling the truth. Either the CDC or the cruise ships namely Caribbean Princess. According  to their ( Caribbean Princess)  reports of cases  to the CDC they have been & still are in the ORANGE as of 5/12/2022 the latest report.  Check the report from the CDC yourself.     

BTW 1650 passengers + 1000 crew = 2650 x 0.3% = 7.9 (or a minimum 7-8 people testing positive depending if CDC rounds up or down).

[dockman]

Just off 23 days Emerald Princess april 16 to May 1 Ft Lauderdale to Southampton and then May 1 to May 9 back to Southampton.

 

Observations:

 

First leg was mostly great.  Masks were recommended but not required which resulted in a mish mash with about 30% or so never wearing masks even in elevators etc.  About day 10 or so a letter went to rooms saying masks now required in elevators and most indoor venues.  Word was a lot of covid folks in quarantine but Princess very hush hush as to numbers etc...only that a number of crew and guests had tested positive.  Walking down the hallways small tables started to appear in front of a lot of cabin doors...wasn't sure at first but turns out these were rooms where people were quarantined

 

I wore masks and refused to share elevators with people with no mask.  It was obvious that many people just flat did not care if they ignored the recommendation and then the required protocols. I must have gotten off or never got on elevators full of oblivious / don't care people at least 5 times a day. So much for elevator etiquette signs at all elevators asking you to be respectful and wear a mask.

 

  Also on May 1 no more required masks back to recommended only.  There were fewer Americans and more Brits on leg 2 and a large percentage of the brits especially seem to think that covid and masks are a thing of the past.  In spite of all my precautions. wearing masks almost everywhere inside; using hand sanitizer dozens of times a day, being vaxed and boosted, and trying my best to avoid people who ignored all recommendations on May 1 I woke with a runny nose and sure enough tested positive and was sent off to deck 12 which had been designated as a quarantine floor. I was told that they were running out of rooms on the quarantine floor so obviously there were a lot of cases.

 

 Got a nice balcony room but not allowed to leave room for anything.  Learned quickly that calling room service main number got u nothing but on hold time after time. Fortunately i learned if u call guest services and say i am in quarantine and would like to order food you got transferred quickly to room service with no holding or waiting. You could order anything you wanted but all was served with wooden forks spoons and no plates or bowls or glasses...only disposable stuff, There was a security guard in the hall and the fire doors were all closed preventing anyone trying to sneak out of quarantine floor.

 

 I got a call every morning from med center asking to know my temperature  (they provided a free digital thermometer).  From what I saw the entire port side of deck 12 was full of quarantine passengers ( no idea re starboard side as fire doors all closed...I have no idea how long these pax had been there or how Princess handled people who were not booked on leg two so had to get off on May 1.  I  was tested again by a rude med center person after only 3 nites of quarantine and was told later that i was negative and free to go back to my original room and no restrictions.  Very little printed information was provided by Princess so you are really just in limbo not knowing how it all works with when you get tested again and what happens if you continue to test positive etc.  Lots to sit in your quarantine and worry about especially knowing that u must have negative result to fly back into usa and the clock is ticking.  The second leg had 6 or so port calls and i was able to get off the ship only on the final day in glasgow port

 

Princess continued to blah blah about how the health and safety of guests and crew was NUMBER ONE PRIORITY...to which i say BS..If health and safety of crew and guests were really number one they would not have just "recommended masks" inside etc but stuck with required inside

 

Over and over I saw unmasked passengers  getting right in face of crew member after crew member all of whom wear masks with NO REGARD for the health of the crew member having to breathe in whatever the unmasked was spewing into their face.  Personally i thought this was total BS as so many cruisers always talk about how kind and caring the crew is yet these passengers don' t care enough to wear a mask for a few minutes when coming into close contact with the crew that has NO CHOICE but to grin and bear it all.  At least as a guest I could get as far away from these people as possible, an option not available to the hard working crew.

 

Ultimately i was allowed to get off the ship on may 9 with a letter from med center saying I was fit to fly on May 10 which just happened to be the day i was scheduled to fly back to usa. A traveling friend who tested positive a coupe days after me was not allowed to fly til May 12 and got little to no advice help etc figuring it all out.

 

Princess obviously was aware of a of cases onboard but did little to nothing to mitigate the cases and stress to passengers or crew.  As others have said there were a lot of still positive passengers who got off the ship after leg 1 and yet IN SPITE of that the required wearing of masks was dropped for the entire second leg ot the cruise where still more people ended up in quarantine.  

 

It was apparent that  the Emerald Princess was more interested in pretending that all was just great re covid rather than taking any significant steps to stop the spread that ruined my and a lot of other passengers vacations.

[Mike07]

20 hours ago, mrobinson said:

I was on the April 16 TA emerald cruise and there were hundreds of cars. Part way thru the cruise they handed out K95 masks and everyone was required to wear them inside. Hundreds were taken off cruise when it docked on Southampton and takes to the Covid hotels including one of our friends and a relative cruising with us. We stayed on ship for the B2B British Isles cruise. Even though everyone was required to wear masks on that cruise the majority did not wear masks and the crew did not press it.

 

 

Eek... I was thinking about taking that one as well, but opted to try a Celebrity cruise that overlapped on the Emerald's TA dates.... Glad I did not take that TA now.  Granted, COVID was running like a wild child around the Apex I was on.

[prmssk]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Not anymore:

 

o  Highly vaccinated threshold is now 90%, not 95%

 

o Children under 5 years of age (not eligible to be vaccinated) are not subject to this limit of 10% not vaccinated.

You are right.  With the very recent CDC changes, there have been some changes by Princess.  My point was that Princess has been transparent about vaccination rates all along (even if they haven't been transparent about other things like covid case counts).

[ebeluga]

1 hour ago, dockman said:

Just off 23 days Emerald Princess april 16 to May 1 Ft Lauderdale to Southampton and then May 1 to May 9 back to Southampton.

 

Observations:

 

First leg was mostly great.  Masks were recommended but not required which resulted in a mish mash with about 30% or so never wearing masks even in elevators etc.  About day 10 or so a letter went to rooms saying masks now required in elevators and most indoor venues.  Word was a lot of covid folks in quarantine but Princess very hush hush as to numbers etc...only that a number of crew and guests had tested positive.  Walking down the hallways small tables started to appear in front of a lot of cabin doors...wasn't sure at first but turns out these were rooms where people were quarantined

 

I wore masks and refused to share elevators with people with no mask.  It was obvious that many people just flat did not care if they ignored the recommendation and then the required protocols. I must have gotten off or never got on elevators full of oblivious / don't care people at least 5 times a day. So much for elevator etiquette signs at all elevators asking you to be respectful and wear a mask.

 

  Also on May 1 no more required masks back to recommended only.  There were fewer Americans and more Brits on leg 2 and a large percentage of the brits especially seem to think that covid and masks are a thing of the past.  In spite of all my precautions. wearing masks almost everywhere inside; using hand sanitizer dozens of times a day, being vaxed and boosted, and trying my best to avoid people who ignored all recommendations on May 1 I woke with a runny nose and sure enough tested positive and was sent off to deck 12 which had been designated as a quarantine floor. I was told that they were running out of rooms on the quarantine floor so obviously there were a lot of cases.

 

 Got a nice balcony room but not allowed to leave room for anything.  Learned quickly that calling room service main number got u nothing but on hold time after time. Fortunately i learned if u call guest services and say i am in quarantine and would like to order food you got transferred quickly to room service with no holding or waiting. You could order anything you wanted but all was served with wooden forks spoons and no plates or bowls or glasses...only disposable stuff, There was a security guard in the hall and the fire doors were all closed preventing anyone trying to sneak out of quarantine floor.

 

 I got a call every morning from med center asking to know my temperature  (they provided a free digital thermometer).  From what I saw the entire port side of deck 12 was full of quarantine passengers ( no idea re starboard side as fire doors all closed...I have no idea how long these pax had been there or how Princess handled people who were not booked on leg two so had to get off on May 1.  I  was tested again by a rude med center person after only 3 nites of quarantine and was told later that i was negative and free to go back to my original room and no restrictions.  Very little printed information was provided by Princess so you are really just in limbo not knowing how it all works with when you get tested again and what happens if you continue to test positive etc.  Lots to sit in your quarantine and worry about especially knowing that u must have negative result to fly back into usa and the clock is ticking.  The second leg had 6 or so port calls and i was able to get off the ship only on the final day in glasgow port

 

Princess continued to blah blah about how the health and safety of guests and crew was NUMBER ONE PRIORITY...to which i say BS..If health and safety of crew and guests were really number one they would not have just "recommended masks" inside etc but stuck with required inside

 

Over and over I saw unmasked passengers  getting right in face of crew member after crew member all of whom wear masks with NO REGARD for the health of the crew member having to breathe in whatever the unmasked was spewing into their face.  Personally i thought this was total BS as so many cruisers always talk about how kind and caring the crew is yet these passengers don' t care enough to wear a mask for a few minutes when coming into close contact with the crew that has NO CHOICE but to grin and bear it all.  At least as a guest I could get as far away from these people as possible, an option not available to the hard working crew.

 

Ultimately i was allowed to get off the ship on may 9 with a letter from med center saying I was fit to fly on May 10 which just happened to be the day i was scheduled to fly back to usa. A traveling friend who tested positive a coupe days after me was not allowed to fly til May 12 and got little to no advice help etc figuring it all out.

 

Princess obviously was aware of a of cases onboard but did little to nothing to mitigate the cases and stress to passengers or crew.  As others have said there were a lot of still positive passengers who got off the ship after leg 1 and yet IN SPITE of that the required wearing of masks was dropped for the entire second leg ot the cruise where still more people ended up in quarantine.  

 

It was apparent that  the Emerald Princess was more interested in pretending that all was just great re covid rather than taking any significant steps to stop the spread that ruined my and a lot of other passengers vacations.

Just curious, did you dine indoors where physical distancing was not possible?

[stevenr597]

Nothing is perfect, nothing is 100%.  We are seeing cases of Influenza, which in fact can be more severe then Covid, and at sea Norovirus is still out there.

But in respect to Covid, a requirement is that unless there is a medical exemption vaccination with boosters should be required.  In addition, cruise ships should have adequate supplies of Paxlovid  for passengers who test positive while on board and have symptoms. 

[PrincessLuver]

1 hour ago, dockman said:

Just off 23 days Emerald Princess april 16 to May 1 Ft Lauderdale to Southampton and then May 1 to May 9 back to Southampton.

 

Observations:

 

First leg was mostly great.  Masks were recommended but not required which resulted in a mish mash with about 30% or so never wearing masks even in elevators etc.  About day 10 or so a letter went to rooms saying masks now required in elevators and most indoor venues.  Word was a lot of covid folks in quarantine but Princess very hush hush as to numbers etc...only that a number of crew and guests had tested positive.  Walking down the hallways small tables started to appear in front of a lot of cabin doors...wasn't sure at first but turns out these were rooms where people were quarantined

 

I wore masks and refused to share elevators with people with no mask.  It was obvious that many people just flat did not care if they ignored the recommendation and then the required protocols. I must have gotten off or never got on elevators full of oblivious / don't care people at least 5 times a day. So much for elevator etiquette signs at all elevators asking you to be respectful and wear a mask.

 

  Also on May 1 no more required masks back to recommended only.  There were fewer Americans and more Brits on leg 2 and a large percentage of the brits especially seem to think that covid and masks are a thing of the past.  In spite of all my precautions. wearing masks almost everywhere inside; using hand sanitizer dozens of times a day, being vaxed and boosted, and trying my best to avoid people who ignored all recommendations on May 1 I woke with a runny nose and sure enough tested positive and was sent off to deck 12 which had been designated as a quarantine floor. I was told that they were running out of rooms on the quarantine floor so obviously there were a lot of cases.

 

 Got a nice balcony room but not allowed to leave room for anything.  Learned quickly that calling room service main number got u nothing but on hold time after time. Fortunately i learned if u call guest services and say i am in quarantine and would like to order food you got transferred quickly to room service with no holding or waiting. You could order anything you wanted but all was served with wooden forks spoons and no plates or bowls or glasses...only disposable stuff, There was a security guard in the hall and the fire doors were all closed preventing anyone trying to sneak out of quarantine floor.

 

 I got a call every morning from med center asking to know my temperature  (they provided a free digital thermometer).  From what I saw the entire port side of deck 12 was full of quarantine passengers ( no idea re starboard side as fire doors all closed...I have no idea how long these pax had been there or how Princess handled people who were not booked on leg two so had to get off on May 1.  I  was tested again by a rude med center person after only 3 nites of quarantine and was told later that i was negative and free to go back to my original room and no restrictions.  Very little printed information was provided by Princess so you are really just in limbo not knowing how it all works with when you get tested again and what happens if you continue to test positive etc.  Lots to sit in your quarantine and worry about especially knowing that u must have negative result to fly back into usa and the clock is ticking.  The second leg had 6 or so port calls and i was able to get off the ship only on the final day in glasgow port

 

Princess continued to blah blah about how the health and safety of guests and crew was NUMBER ONE PRIORITY...to which i say BS..If health and safety of crew and guests were really number one they would not have just "recommended masks" inside etc but stuck with required inside

 

Over and over I saw unmasked passengers  getting right in face of crew member after crew member all of whom wear masks with NO REGARD for the health of the crew member having to breathe in whatever the unmasked was spewing into their face.  Personally i thought this was total BS as so many cruisers always talk about how kind and caring the crew is yet these passengers don' t care enough to wear a mask for a few minutes when coming into close contact with the crew that has NO CHOICE but to grin and bear it all.  At least as a guest I could get as far away from these people as possible, an option not available to the hard working crew.

 

Ultimately i was allowed to get off the ship on may 9 with a letter from med center saying I was fit to fly on May 10 which just happened to be the day i was scheduled to fly back to usa. A traveling friend who tested positive a coupe days after me was not allowed to fly til May 12 and got little to no advice help etc figuring it all out.

 

Princess obviously was aware of a of cases onboard but did little to nothing to mitigate the cases and stress to passengers or crew.  As others have said there were a lot of still positive passengers who got off the ship after leg 1 and yet IN SPITE of that the required wearing of masks was dropped for the entire second leg ot the cruise where still more people ended up in quarantine.  

 

It was apparent that  the Emerald Princess was more interested in pretending that all was just great re covid rather than taking any significant steps to stop the spread that ruined my and a lot of other passengers vacations.

 

Thanks for your post and the ships we have been on your story is more the norm since they basically have done away with their stricter Covid protocols.  

 

Princess and many passengers just want to pretend that Covid is no longer "a thing" and that everything is all good.  They need to advertise "Hey.....if you get Covid on one of our ships...and you probably will....you are assured to come back rested and refreshed staying in of our spartan and zen like quarantine cabins."

Edited May 14, 2022 by PrincessLuver

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, dockman said:

Just off 23 days Emerald Princess april 16 to May 1 Ft Lauderdale to Southampton and then May 1 to May 9 back to Southampton.

 

Observations:

 

First leg was mostly great.  Masks were recommended but not required which resulted in a mish mash with about 30% or so never wearing masks even in elevators etc.  About day 10 or so a letter went to rooms saying masks now required in elevators and most indoor venues.  Word was a lot of covid folks in quarantine but Princess very hush hush as to numbers etc...only that a number of crew and guests had tested positive.  Walking down the hallways small tables started to appear in front of a lot of cabin doors...wasn't sure at first but turns out these were rooms where people were quarantined

 

I wore masks and refused to share elevators with people with no mask.  It was obvious that many people just flat did not care if they ignored the recommendation and then the required protocols. I must have gotten off or never got on elevators full of oblivious / don't care people at least 5 times a day. So much for elevator etiquette signs at all elevators asking you to be respectful and wear a mask.

 

  Also on May 1 no more required masks back to recommended only.  There were fewer Americans and more Brits on leg 2 and a large percentage of the brits especially seem to think that covid and masks are a thing of the past.  In spite of all my precautions. wearing masks almost everywhere inside; using hand sanitizer dozens of times a day, being vaxed and boosted, and trying my best to avoid people who ignored all recommendations on May 1 I woke with a runny nose and sure enough tested positive and was sent off to deck 12 which had been designated as a quarantine floor. I was told that they were running out of rooms on the quarantine floor so obviously there were a lot of cases.

 

 Got a nice balcony room but not allowed to leave room for anything.  Learned quickly that calling room service main number got u nothing but on hold time after time. Fortunately i learned if u call guest services and say i am in quarantine and would like to order food you got transferred quickly to room service with no holding or waiting. You could order anything you wanted but all was served with wooden forks spoons and no plates or bowls or glasses...only disposable stuff, There was a security guard in the hall and the fire doors were all closed preventing anyone trying to sneak out of quarantine floor.

 

 I got a call every morning from med center asking to know my temperature  (they provided a free digital thermometer).  From what I saw the entire port side of deck 12 was full of quarantine passengers ( no idea re starboard side as fire doors all closed...I have no idea how long these pax had been there or how Princess handled people who were not booked on leg two so had to get off on May 1.  I  was tested again by a rude med center person after only 3 nites of quarantine and was told later that i was negative and free to go back to my original room and no restrictions.  Very little printed information was provided by Princess so you are really just in limbo not knowing how it all works with when you get tested again and what happens if you continue to test positive etc.  Lots to sit in your quarantine and worry about especially knowing that u must have negative result to fly back into usa and the clock is ticking.  The second leg had 6 or so port calls and i was able to get off the ship only on the final day in glasgow port

 

Princess continued to blah blah about how the health and safety of guests and crew was NUMBER ONE PRIORITY...to which i say BS..If health and safety of crew and guests were really number one they would not have just "recommended masks" inside etc but stuck with required inside

 

Over and over I saw unmasked passengers  getting right in face of crew member after crew member all of whom wear masks with NO REGARD for the health of the crew member having to breathe in whatever the unmasked was spewing into their face.  Personally i thought this was total BS as so many cruisers always talk about how kind and caring the crew is yet these passengers don' t care enough to wear a mask for a few minutes when coming into close contact with the crew that has NO CHOICE but to grin and bear it all.  At least as a guest I could get as far away from these people as possible, an option not available to the hard working crew.

 

Ultimately i was allowed to get off the ship on may 9 with a letter from med center saying I was fit to fly on May 10 which just happened to be the day i was scheduled to fly back to usa. A traveling friend who tested positive a coupe days after me was not allowed to fly til May 12 and got little to no advice help etc figuring it all out.

 

Princess obviously was aware of a of cases onboard but did little to nothing to mitigate the cases and stress to passengers or crew.  As others have said there were a lot of still positive passengers who got off the ship after leg 1 and yet IN SPITE of that the required wearing of masks was dropped for the entire second leg ot the cruise where still more people ended up in quarantine.  

 

It was apparent that  the Emerald Princess was more interested in pretending that all was just great re covid rather than taking any significant steps to stop the spread that ruined my and a lot of other passengers vacations.

Sorry you caught C19 while on your cruise. If I might ask as you were on a B2B, were all passengers continuing on the next leg required to get a complementary antigen test prior to continuing on?  
 

It was unclear if you were tested and found positive because you alerted the medical staff of your running nose or because Princess required all passengers on a B2B to get tested?

[dockman]

18 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Sorry you caught C19 while on your cruise. If I might ask as you were on a B2B, were all passengers continuing on the next leg required to get a complementary antigen test prior to continuing on?  
 

It was unclear if you were tested and found positive because you alerted the medical staff of your running nose or because Princess required all passengers on a B2B to get tested?

i had a runny nose so did a self test which showed positive so i then called med center and they sent a nice guy to my room who also tested me  and it was positive...also as i recall we did get a test on last day before  arriving southampton on may 1 and i tested negative only to get symptoms and test positive next day or two...strange that first 8 days were all sea days and yet covid obviously got on board from FT Lauderdale in spite of everyone having to show negative test before boarding....mr covid is a sneaky bugger that just loves to be around people who think it is all over

[dockman]

47 minutes ago, ebeluga said:

Just curious, did you dine indoors where physical distancing was not possible?

ate very little in dining room..ate more in lido but tried to pick slower times and sit as isolated as possible and always wore my mask when walking to buffet line etc....

[ebeluga]

12 minutes ago, dockman said:

ate very little in dining room..ate more in lido but tried to pick slower times and sit as isolated as possible and always wore my mask when walking to buffet line etc....

It appears then that the transmission rate on that particular sailing is quite high (higher numbers of carriers) that the odds were stacked against you.

[junglejane]

2 hours ago, dockman said:

In spite of all my precautions. wearing masks almost everywhere inside; using hand sanitizer dozens of times a day, being vaxed and boosted, and trying my best to avoid people who ignored all recommendations on May 1 I woke with a runny nose and sure enough tested positive and was sent off to deck 12 which had been designated as a quarantine floor.

@dockman This is disheartening because we're on the July 20 Emerald cruise and we've been convincing ourselves that by diligently wearing masks and being extra vigilant, we can hope to avoid infection. May I ask what you did for meals before you tested positive? It seems like dining is a time of increased risk due to proximity to other unmasked people while you're unmasked yourself. Edited to add that I just saw your latest comment about eating on lido deck during slow times.

Edited May 14, 2022 by junglejane

[Mikel1733]

18 hours ago, wowzz said:

Just to be clear, if you had Covid in April in the UK (and the same applies today) there was no need to go to a quarantine hotel. Indeed, there are no such things as quarantine hotels.

The only reason is that the US requires a negative test before you can fly, and therefore those with covid had to be accomodated somewhere until they tested negative.

Interestingly, I can test positive for Covid, but can travel  anywhere in Europe with no restrictions, as I am fully vaccinated and have had a booster.  About time the US did the same. 

I agree with you.  I'm still confused about the 10 day"quarantine".  If you test negative after say 5 days can you not travel?  How do the Airlines know who tested positive when?  Does Princess report positive tests to the airlines?

[nini]

20 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

That doesn't sound like much fun to me!  Just thinking of how little seating there is around certain venues and that sounds like a gigantic hassle.  Thanks for reporting about your current on-board experience!

Also, we have eaten in the dining one time out of 6 nights. It was crowded, loud, with other people right next to you as a table of two. We now just find a table in the buffet area which is far away from others. The Crown Grill is also a nice choice. I enjoyed my lobster tail there.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Did anyone else receive a survey from Princess this past week asking about guest perceptions of Princess COVID protocols?  I wondered if I received it because I blasted them on my post cruise survey after the Ruby Princess debacle. Questions centered around whether I was more or less likely to cruise if protocols were increased or decreased, my willingness to fly domestically or internationally, and whether I was going to cruise, choose non-cruise vacations or simply stay home in the next 12 months. 

[kiwimum]

We were on the TA and subsequent British Isles cruise, disembarking May 9.   DH tested positive on May 4 after developing sniffles the afternoon prior.   Tested in our cabin, tested positive, called Medical and they tested him negative.  Asked him to isolate for the day and would be tested the next day.  Positive test, me negative.  Packed up what he needed for the couple of days in isolation.  Off he went to isolation.  I was allowed off the ship, roam around and do whatever I wanted except eat outside the cabin.  DH on the other hand orders food from Sabatinis and Crown Grill, our expense.   Black and Blue soup came in a large coffee cup type container, still good.  Carbonara from Sabatinis came in a cardboard container and rather solid.  All meals served with biodegradable utensils.   Tried to order a bottle of wine but was shot down as the bottle could not be incinerated, could be decanted into 4 glasses.  He had no trouble ordering other items from the Medallion App.  Assorted beverages delivered with no issues.

Currently residing at the Radisson Blu at Heathrow.  Free to come and go.  I will test tomorrow prior to flying Monday.   The issue has switched from the positive member to the negative member remaining negative.

A testing site is in the parking lot of the hotel, info on booking provided at checkin.   Self tests are available by the testing facilities website for pickup.

Once we were loaded on the buses from the port to the hotel, negative separated from positives. Absolutely no contact with Princess since disembarkation.   Fortunately I have stayed at the hotel many times in my working life.

Fingers crossed I test negative tomorrow and we can fly Monday.

[LouCoop]

32 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Did anyone else receive a survey from Princess this past week asking about guest perceptions of Princess COVID protocols?  I wondered if I received it because I blasted them on my post cruise survey after the Ruby Princess debacle. Questions centered around whether I was more or less likely to cruise if protocols were increased or decreased, my willingness to fly domestically or internationally, and whether I was going to cruise, choose non-cruise vacations or simply stay home in the next 12 months. 

I received that survey. I haven't cruised yet since covid, our last cruise was February 2020. We are booked on a cruise in August.

[Oceansaway17]

4 hours ago, stevenr597 said:

Nothing is perfect, nothing is 100%.  We are seeing cases of Influenza, which in fact can be more severe then Covid, and at sea Norovirus is still out there.

But in respect to Covid, a requirement is that unless there is a medical exemption vaccination with boosters should be required.  In addition, cruise ships should have adequate supplies of Paxlovid  for passengers who test positive while on board and have symptoms. 

I agree but go over to HAL and there is a thread all about what is in medical center. I got a bit flamed for saying USA ports should have this medicine. Then others said not approved by FDA. It is becoming a hot topic on several thread from various cruise lines.

[Oceansaway17]

6 hours ago, dockman said:

 

First leg was mostly great.  Masks were recommended but not required which resulted in a mish mash with about 30% or so never wearing masks even in elevators etc.  About day 10 or so a letter went to rooms saying masks now required in elevators and most indoor venues.  Word was a lot of covid folks in quarantine but Princess very hush hush as to numbers etc...only that a number of crew and guests had tested positive. 

 

Princess obviously was aware of a of cases onboard but did little to nothing to mitigate the cases and stress to passengers or crew.    

 

I am thinking that Princess is just a bit sensitive or touchy since in the beginning it was their ships that had the stories of early covid.

They want to make up as much money and as quickly as possible.   

I feel news will spread and folks will decide for their furure cruises whom to give their money too.

the whole industry is still recovering and trying to do good but some fall short.

[Sunwanabe]

7 hours ago, dockman said:

Just off 23 days Emerald Princess april 16 to May 1 Ft Lauderdale to Southampton and then May 1 to May 9 back to Southampton.

 

Observations:

 

First leg was mostly great.  Masks were recommended but not required which resulted in a mish mash with about 30% or so never wearing masks even in elevators etc.  About day 10 or so a letter went to rooms saying masks now required in elevators and most indoor venues.  Word was a lot of covid folks in quarantine but Princess very hush hush as to numbers etc...only that a number of crew and guests had tested positive.  Walking down the hallways small tables started to appear in front of a lot of cabin doors...wasn't sure at first but turns out these were rooms where people were quarantined

 

I wore masks and refused to share elevators with people with no mask.  It was obvious that many people just flat did not care if they ignored the recommendation and then the required protocols. I must have gotten off or never got on elevators full of oblivious / don't care people at least 5 times a day. So much for elevator etiquette signs at all elevators asking you to be respectful and wear a mask.

 

  Also on May 1 no more required masks back to recommended only.  There were fewer Americans and more Brits on leg 2 and a large percentage of the brits especially seem to think that covid and masks are a thing of the past.  In spite of all my precautions. wearing masks almost everywhere inside; using hand sanitizer dozens of times a day, being vaxed and boosted, and trying my best to avoid people who ignored all recommendations on May 1 I woke with a runny nose and sure enough tested positive and was sent off to deck 12 which had been designated as a quarantine floor. I was told that they were running out of rooms on the quarantine floor so obviously there were a lot of cases.

 

 Got a nice balcony room but not allowed to leave room for anything.  Learned quickly that calling room service main number got u nothing but on hold time after time. Fortunately i learned if u call guest services and say i am in quarantine and would like to order food you got transferred quickly to room service with no holding or waiting. You could order anything you wanted but all was served with wooden forks spoons and no plates or bowls or glasses...only disposable stuff, There was a security guard in the hall and the fire doors were all closed preventing anyone trying to sneak out of quarantine floor.

 

 I got a call every morning from med center asking to know my temperature  (they provided a free digital thermometer).  From what I saw the entire port side of deck 12 was full of quarantine passengers ( no idea re starboard side as fire doors all closed...I have no idea how long these pax had been there or how Princess handled people who were not booked on leg two so had to get off on May 1.  I  was tested again by a rude med center person after only 3 nites of quarantine and was told later that i was negative and free to go back to my original room and no restrictions.  Very little printed information was provided by Princess so you are really just in limbo not knowing how it all works with when you get tested again and what happens if you continue to test positive etc.  Lots to sit in your quarantine and worry about especially knowing that u must have negative result to fly back into usa and the clock is ticking.  The second leg had 6 or so port calls and i was able to get off the ship only on the final day in glasgow port

 

Princess continued to blah blah about how the health and safety of guests and crew was NUMBER ONE PRIORITY...to which i say BS..If health and safety of crew and guests were really number one they would not have just "recommended masks" inside etc but stuck with required inside

 

Over and over I saw unmasked passengers  getting right in face of crew member after crew member all of whom wear masks with NO REGARD for the health of the crew member having to breathe in whatever the unmasked was spewing into their face.  Personally i thought this was total BS as so many cruisers always talk about how kind and caring the crew is yet these passengers don' t care enough to wear a mask for a few minutes when coming into close contact with the crew that has NO CHOICE but to grin and bear it all.  At least as a guest I could get as far away from these people as possible, an option not available to the hard working crew.

 

Ultimately i was allowed to get off the ship on may 9 with a letter from med center saying I was fit to fly on May 10 which just happened to be the day i was scheduled to fly back to usa. A traveling friend who tested positive a coupe days after me was not allowed to fly til May 12 and got little to no advice help etc figuring it all out.

 

Princess obviously was aware of a of cases onboard but did little to nothing to mitigate the cases and stress to passengers or crew.  As others have said there were a lot of still positive passengers who got off the ship after leg 1 and yet IN SPITE of that the required wearing of masks was dropped for the entire second leg ot the cruise where still more people ended up in quarantine.  

 

It was apparent that  the Emerald Princess was more interested in pretending that all was just great re covid rather than taking any significant steps to stop the spread that ruined my and a lot of other passengers vacations.

Profits over passenger safety. Compounding the problem is the moving ahead with increase in capacity onboard while continuing to have staffing issues. Not a good combo.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Did anyone else receive a survey from Princess this past week asking about guest perceptions of Princess COVID protocols?  I wondered if I received it because I blasted them on my post cruise survey after the Ruby Princess debacle. Questions centered around whether I was more or less likely to cruise if protocols were increased or decreased, my willingness to fly domestically or internationally, and whether I was going to cruise, choose non-cruise vacations or simply stay home in the next 12 months. 

I think that is the survey I received maybe two weeks back?  It was so impactful I just can't quite remember the questions.  I probably indicated we have bookings this Fall we plan to keep and no qualms about flying and not particularly a fan of increased protocols - thinking ahead and expecting endemic rather than pandemic.

[sfaaa]

One night at MDR, a woman 2 tables away from me was coughing nonstop without covering her mouth. Everyone including the server around her was getting uneasy but no one wanted to be rude and did not say a word. Luckily after 5 minutes,  she finally got the hint and left. I was ready to abandon my dinner midway and leave if she hadn't done so.

[Steelers36]

It can be difficult to have a cough in public these days as some people immediately leap to Covid conclusion.

[ebeluga]

18 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

It can be difficult to have a cough in public these days as some people immediately leap to Covid conclusion.

It isn't so difficult to wear a mask if one is coughing or sneezing, is it?  Unless there is a medical reason not to...