Iona - COVID Testing Changes

[Muckyduckway]

5 hours ago, Angel57 said:

Oh no. So sorry to hear you have caught Covid.

Sadly what you say does not surprise me.

I hope you feel better soon.

 

Thank you, I hope so too.

[Snow Hill]

In order for this to be a proper test P&O need to follow up with passengers post disembarkation to see if they developed Covid in the days immediately post cruise, otherwise how will they no whether it is safe to drop test requirements altogether? 

[Snow Hill]

Duplicate post

Edited July 4, 2022 by Snow Hill
Deleted duplicate post

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

In order for this to be a proper test P&O need to follow up with passengers post disembarkation to see if they developed Covid in the days immediately post cruise, otherwise how will they no whether it is safe to drop test requirements altogether? 

Cruise lines will only be concerned with outbreaks on board ship, so wont be concerned about post cruise infections. This is not a criticism of cruise lines, or a kick in the face for people generally concerned about their health, just my assumption.

[Snow Hill]

8 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Cruise lines will only be concerned with outbreaks on board ship, so wont be concerned about post cruise infections. This is not a criticism of cruise lines, or a kick in the face for people generally concerned about their health, just my assumption.

In other words don’t care what happens to their passengers post disembarkation, as it will be someone else’s problem. 
 

Have they deliberately chosen shorter cruises in order to say dropping tests works as we had few cases, what happens on the longer cruises or those who do back to back, and they get a significant outbreak and the ship is refused docking. 
 

I know from recent experience in my wife’s case one individual with Covid on the course she was on has now caused the infection of 14 other people in just over a week. 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Snow Hill

[Ranchi]

Not disagreeing with anything you state, Snowhill but getting valid results from passengers once they had left the ship would be complex. Who would pay for testing? Who would be tested? Would they conform? You hear on sites like this from some of the people who have contracted but not all and if you are clear then it’s hardly worth a mention. I would imagine that there will be regular testing of the ship’s company and variation in numbers there could analysed to give an indication of what is happening on board. 
We came back a week or so ago & tested +ve. We then had run out of tests and had to wait for more to be delivered ( from a relative’s stock.) Now negative. We have a longer cruise booked later in the year and would certainly feel happier if pre boarding testing was still in place. It’s obviously not a complete solution but if you can limit (even by a small amount) the base infection level of boarding passengers then it seems worthwhile. 

[molecrochip]

On 7/5/2022 at 7:32 AM, Snow Hill said:

In other words don’t care what happens to their passengers post disembarkation, as it will be someone else’s problem. 
 

Have they deliberately chosen shorter cruises in order to say dropping tests works as we had few cases, what happens on the longer cruises or those who do back to back, and they get a significant outbreak and the ship is refused docking. 
 

I know from recent experience in my wife’s case one individual with Covid on the course she was on has now caused the infection of 14 other people in just over a week. 

This was/is a first stage trial across Iona/Rotterdam. Rotterdam's last cruise in the trial is 14 days long. This trial is focused on determining whether pre-cruise testing stops a bigger outbreak during the cruise.

 

The "problem" is that once someone disembarks the ship, steps away from the bubble, the likelihood that Covid +ve is caused by the cruise diminishes. Someone who tests positive three days later might have picked it up on their 3 hour train journey home or in Tesco later that day whilst doing their shopping.

 

I thought I had read that if you were back to back on the same ship then you only had a test at the start of your first cruise therefore this isn't affected.

 

I hope your wife is fully recovered. The problem with Covid is that whilst it is most likely to have caused the infection of 14 other people, unless those 14 other people were solely in contact with your wife and did not leave the same house, there will have been other contact points (shops, transport, places of work, the petrol station, the postman etc. etc.) which could also be to blame. Maybe not in all cases but in a few of those 14 with somewhat co-incidental timing.

 

A very long way of saying, this is why the trial is interested in results which it has a degree of control over.

 

[david63]

33 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

I thought I had read that if you were back to back on the same ship then you only had a test at the start of your first cruise therefore this isn't affected.

That may be the case now but last month on Britannia when we did our B2B we had to have a compulsory lft on the last day of the first cruise.

[zap99]

NCL are dropping precruise testing from 1 August. It's all changing.

[Eglesbrech]

45 minutes ago, zap99 said:

NCL are dropping precruise testing from 1 August. It's all changing.

And once one does it the rest will follow. Some pax will be delighted and some really worried by this change.

 

The caveat is that it may still be required depending on local regulations.

[wowzz]

Oceania, Regent Seven Seas, and Norwegian (all part of NCLH) got rid of the testing requirement at the same time. But  it DOES NOT YET apply to embarking cruises from the U.S., Canada, or Greece.

 

[Snow Hill]

8 hours ago, molecrochip said:

This was/is a first stage trial across Iona/Rotterdam. Rotterdam's last cruise in the trial is 14 days long. This trial is focused on determining whether pre-cruise testing stops a bigger outbreak during the cruise.

 

The "problem" is that once someone disembarks the ship, steps away from the bubble, the likelihood that Covid +ve is caused by the cruise diminishes. Someone who tests positive three days later might have picked it up on their 3 hour train journey home or in Tesco later that day whilst doing their shopping.

 

I thought I had read that if you were back to back on the same ship then you only had a test at the start of your first cruise therefore this isn't affected.

 

I hope your wife is fully recovered. The problem with Covid is that whilst it is most likely to have caused the infection of 14 other people, unless those 14 other people were solely in contact with your wife and did not leave the same house, there will have been other contact points (shops, transport, places of work, the petrol station, the postman etc. etc.) which could also be to blame. Maybe not in all cases but in a few of those 14 with somewhat co-incidental timing.

 

A very long way of saying, this is why the trial is interested in results which it has a degree of control over.

 

We now know for sure that one of the delegates test positive for covid on the Sunday before the course started, trapped by a FB post on Sunday afternoon. She and the other attendees were all in the same hotel meeting room for 5 days, so it’s virtually certain that’s how it was passed on, others caught it on their return back to their homes.
 

My wife has virtually recover, still has cough and fatigue symptoms, but on the mend, downside is my sister who in immunosuppressed has caught it, plus 2 of my grandchildren and my nephews wife.
 

Numbers are rapidly rising and I think personally P&O have made an an error in lifting testing at this point of rising numbers, which has concerned the NHS who have announced today that overs 50s will be offered a further booster in the early autumn. I appreciate it would be difficult to track, but guests are asked to complete a health form prior to going on the cruise, why not one to be completed within 48-72 hours of return. That how testing or trials are usually conducted, you have quantifiable measurements at beginning and end, it seems to be that this trial is only measured on cases onboard a cruise up to 7 days, those who catch it on day 5 onwards are likely not to be counted. 
 

 

[Happy afloat]

Is it possible that they are looking at abandoning testing due to an insignificant number of people testing positive pre-boarding? Does anyone have any information regarding numbers refused boarding?

Apologies if this has already been covered, just picked up this  thread. 

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

why not one to be completed within 48-72 hours of return

Because the responses would not be representative. 

You could not  guarantee that everyone would respond.

I guess that everyone who got Covid might reply, but the other 95% (?) would probably ignore the questionnaire. 

[zap99]

38 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Because the responses would not be representative. 

You could not  guarantee that everyone would respond.

I guess that everyone who got Covid might reply, but the other 95% (?) would probably ignore the questionnaire. 

It seems that most things you buy are followed with a questionnaire. We just delete most.

[wowzz]

18 minutes ago, zap99 said:

It seems that most things you buy are followed with a questionnaire. We just delete most.

We do the same,  unless something was really good,  or really bad.

[Snow Hill]

7 hours ago, wowzz said:

Because the responses would not be representative. 

You could not  guarantee that everyone would respond.

I guess that everyone who got Covid might reply, but the other 95% (?) would probably ignore the questionnaire. 

Thus the trial P&O is conducting is not valid, it’s more about removing a barrier to cruising and too hell with the consequences. 

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Snow Hill said:

Thus the trial P&O is conducting is not valid, it’s more about removing a barrier to cruising and too hell with the consequences. 

I suppose you could argue that at least P&O are having a trial, whereas NCL are not even having a trial at all !

[david63]

Why should anyone have to test/report any illness upon returning from a cruise (unless of course it is a reportable condition). You do not have to inform the cruise company if, for example, you have Norovirus upon your return.

[terrierjohn]

58 minutes ago, david63 said:

Why should anyone have to test/report any illness upon returning from a cruise (unless of course it is a reportable condition). You do not have to inform the cruise company if, for example, you have Norovirus upon your return.

No, but many would probably report this to various social media sites.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

Thus the trial P&O is conducting is not valid, it’s more about removing a barrier to cruising and too hell with the consequences. 

The trial is for P&O to establish if there would be a detrimental impact on the covid levels on board. 

 

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

NCL to remove requirement for pre cruise test on August 1st. I suspect other cruise lines will soon follow.

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

NCL to remove requirement for pre cruise test on August 1st. I suspect other cruise lines will soon follow.

See my post #61.

Thanks for adding the date, which I forgot to include.

[Snow Hill]

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

The trial is for P&O to establish if there would be a detrimental impact on the covid levels on board. 

 

Cruise companies may get away with washing their hands of responsibility on short cruises but on those longer cruises they could get seriously caught out if they have an outbreak, will the medical team and others be able to cope with say 300-400 passengers going down with the virus.
 

[molecrochip]

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

The trial is for P&O to establish if there would be a detrimental impact on the covid levels on board. 

 

12 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

Thus the trial P&O is conducting is not valid, it’s more about removing a barrier to cruising and too hell with the consequences. 

@Snow Hill, you seem to misunderstand the purpose of the trial. It is not looking at whether removing pre-boarding testing increases the incidence of Covid full stop (i.e. during and post cruise). The trial is only concerned with whether the removal of testing increases Covid during the course of the cruise.

 

Very much a valid trial. They have their control data and are now in their trial phase gathering comparative data. They do not need post cruising data as a comparative as that's not part of their control data.