Covid on board- the Aussie experience

[Sailnsurf]

We have aNZ Tasssie Sydney cruise coming up next February and must make a decision whether or not to go ahead next month when the full fare is payable. My wife does not have the best immune system so the risk of covid is areal consideration. It is some while since cruising reopened in Aus so I would be interested in the experience of cruisers about how covid controls and the level of contraction of covid affected their cruise.

[Aus Traveller]

We were on an 'early cruise' - 26th June on the Coral Princess then a P&O one on 27th August. Most of the passengers wore masks on board as required and all the staff did. We quickly got used to wearing a mask. There was no indication of COVID on board. Only you can made the decision with regard to your wife's health.

[cruiser3775]

It's not just wearing a mask that helps. Wear a fitted N95 type mask, not one of those pleated blue things with gaps around the sides.  Take it off by the straps, not the body of the mask. Use hand sanitiser frequently.  Restrict prolonged close contact in indoor situations - crowded lifts, the buffet at peak times, crowded entertainment.   If you feel uneasy in dining situations, utilise the free room service often and eat at non-peak times.  

Maybe that's not the optimal experience of cruising, but only you can decide whether it is worth it.  You could catch Covid while staying at home, too.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We're on our fourth cruise on Coral Princess since the restart. Most people are wearing masks around the ship. Quite a few have bought P2 masks onboard with them (including us), the rest are using the surgical masks supplied by Princess. The crew sanitize surfaces regularly. I haven't heard of any Covid cases on this cruise.

[arxcards]

We were on the first cruise back on P&O on 31st May. I felt that there was covid aboard, and it turns out some friends tested positive a couple of days after returning home. We tested negative, but followed what we would consider as hygienic cruise habits, which also seem to apply to covid.

 

We also cruised on Coral Princess in August, and much less coughing.

 

Generally, most people do the right thing most of the time, but you still have to rely on your own personal protection. It is your own mask that is your last line of defences. Come February, there is no guarantee that masks will still be mandated, but there is always personal choice.

 

There were a few affected cruises in July with elevated case numbers aboard. As with land based infections, the number of infections on cruise ships has come way down. Each ship reports numbers for any potentially infectious disease to the state authority the day before arrival. For the past month +, all ships have been reported as "green status", referring to little or zero positive covid tests aboard. While the risk of exposure is minimal, it only takes on, and that all comes down to personal choice.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Make sure you take a supply of good quality masks onboard with you - KN95 /P2 are best. There are a couple of companies that manufacture them in Australia - we buy ours from PPE Tech online.

[NSWP]

49 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We're on our fourth cruise on Coral Princess since the restart. Most people are wearing masks around the ship. Quite a few have bought P2 masks onboard with them (including us), the rest are using the surgical masks supplied by Princess. The crew sanitize surfaces regularly. I haven't heard of any Covid cases on this cruise.

Julie...One way of finding out the number of cases is to patrol the corridors on each deck and see how many tables are placed against cabin doors (for the food drop.)  I saw a couple on last Coral cruise I was on with you and others, 13 Sept to 22 Sept. Young Mic (MicCanberra) also said he saw a few.

Yep, mask up people, protect yourself and others.

 

Sailnsurf, to answer your question, personal decision as to whether you go. But if it assists you I am a Coeliac with a very low immune system, I often catch whatever is going around. Touch wood on my recent Coral Princess cruise, 13 Sept to 22 Sept, I caught nothing, I hope.

Edited October 3, 2022 by NSWP

[OzKiwiJJ]

I've been keeping my eye out for the tables against doors but haven't seen any so far. 

[NSWP]

20 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I've been keeping my eye out for the tables against doors but haven't seen any so far. 

Very good news Julie.

[ekka49]

4 hours ago, arxcards said:

We were on the first cruise back on P&O on 31st May. I felt that there was covid aboard, and it turns out some friends tested positive a couple of days after returning home. We tested negative, but followed what we would consider as hygienic cruise habits, which also seem to apply to covid.

 

We also cruised on Coral Princess in August, and much less coughing.

 

Generally, most people do the right thing most of the time, but you still have to rely on your own personal protection. It is your own mask that is your last line of defences. Come February, there is no guarantee that masks will still be mandated, but there is always personal choice.

 

There were a few affected cruises in July with elevated case numbers aboard. As with land based infections, the number of infections on cruise ships has come way down. Each ship reports numbers for any potentially infectious disease to the state authority the day before arrival. For the past month +, all ships have been reported as "green status", referring to little or zero positive covid tests aboard. While the risk of exposure is minimal, it only takes on, and that all comes down to personal choice.

I still wear masks at the shops. Will continue to mask up as long as I need to.

[Matkai]

With masks no longer required in Australia on planes, public transport, cruise ports and the removal of mandatory quarantine if  you test positive from the 14 October - I assume that masks are not mandated on cruise ships out of Australia and will be optional / personal choice? 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Matkai

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, Matkai said:

With masks no longer required in Australia on planes, public transport, cruise ports and the removal of mandatory quarantine if  you test positive from the 14 October - I assume that masks are not mandated on cruise ships out of Australia and will be optional / personal choice? 

Masks and testing should continue here.

[bazzaw]

1 hour ago, Matkai said:

With masks no longer required in Australia on planes, public transport, cruise ports and the removal of mandatory quarantine if  you test positive from the 14 October - I assume that masks are not mandated on cruise ships out of Australia and will be optional / personal choice? 

Not the case, I am afraid to say! The paranoia will disappear here soon but not just yet. At least we are back to some sanity now ashore. 

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Matkai said:

With masks no longer required in Australia on planes, public transport, cruise ports and the removal of mandatory quarantine if  you test positive from the 14 October - I assume that masks are not mandated on cruise ships out of Australia and will be optional / personal choice? 

No, they are still mandatory in most indoor public areas of the ship, and will remain that way at least until the emperor sees some successful arrivals into Fremantle.

 

Also wait and see what happens over the next couple of weeks as most of the Transpacific cruises arrive.

[Balsam12]

I have said this in another thread, but the testing (as it currently stands) is a complete waste of time.

 

Unless there is a requirement to have a supervised covid test, there is nothing to stop people testing positive and still boarding the ship. I can produce "evidence" of a negative RAT for any date you like, whether in the past or the future. 

There are people out there that will fly to a port to join a cruise, test positive, and still board the ship as they don't want to waste the money they paid in airfares.

Why even bother with the testing requirement?

As for masks, everything I read indicates that the longer the cruise goes, the less people are wearing masks. If you're really concerned about covid, wear your mask. Knowing that it takes a few days after being infected before you show symptoms, by day three or four of a seven day cruise, the masks are irrelevant anyway.

Having said that, the prospect of wearing a mask during boarding, and in some areas of the ship doesn't bother me at all. Unless I go to the theatre, I'll never have to wear one for more than 10 minutes as I'm usually seated when inside anyway, so it's only when walking from one bar to another when I will need one.

[MicCanberra]

Rules have always been made knowing that the majority will abide by them and a minority of people will not. I prefer to be doing the right thing knowing that I am doing my best for the community.

[OzKiwiJJ]

14 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Rules have always been made knowing that the majority will abide by them and a minority of people will not. I prefer to be doing the right thing knowing that I am doing my best for the community.

Ditto!

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Rules have always been made knowing that the majority will abide by them and a minority of people will not. I prefer to be doing the right thing knowing that I am doing my best for the community.

Ditto ditto.

 

And that has been the Australian way on land as well.

[Hogbay]

6 hours ago, Balsam12 said:

I have said this in another thread, but the testing (as it currently stands) is a complete waste of time.

 

Unless there is a requirement to have a supervised covid test, there is nothing to stop people testing positive and still boarding the ship. I can produce "evidence" of a negative RAT for any date you like, whether in the past or the future. 

There are people out there that will fly to a port to join a cruise, test positive, and still board the ship as they don't want to waste the money they paid in airfares.

Why even bother with the testing requirement?

As for masks, everything I read indicates that the longer the cruise goes, the less people are wearing masks. If you're really concerned about covid, wear your mask. Knowing that it takes a few days after being infected before you show symptoms, by day three or four of a seven day cruise, the masks are irrelevant anyway.

Having said that, the prospect of wearing a mask during boarding, and in some areas of the ship doesn't bother me at all. Unless I go to the theatre, I'll never have to wear one for more than 10 minutes as I'm usually seated when inside anyway, so it's only when walking from one bar to another when I will need one.

"The Testing " is only to protect the cruise company from been sued .They are following guidelines set by the Government and you are signing a statdec . Now you have been told of the risk and agreed to it .

https://www.shine.com.au/media-centre/media-releases/passengers-launch-class-action-over-ruby-princess-debacle

[MMDown Under]

When I flew recently, all the passengers I saw wore masks.  My daughter will be flying today so I'll ask her to do a straw pole.  All the people in theatres I attended wore masks.  As far as I'm concerned, it is for the greater good.  I know, when someone close to me sneezes or coughs, I'm glad i have a mask on.  

[arxcards]

7 hours ago, Hogbay said:

"The Testing " is only to protect the cruise company from been sued .They are following guidelines set by the Government and you are signing a statdec . Now you have been told of the risk and agreed to it .

https://www.shine.com.au/media-centre/media-releases/passengers-launch-class-action-over-ruby-princess-debacle

The government currently requires vaccination and testing as part of conditional cruising protocols. If the cruise line doesn't want to test as required, they will not be allowed to cruise.

 

While being informed and accepting the risk, you could still sue if they were negligent with their responsibilities. As with the Ruby class action, it would be a tough nut to crack.

[Sailnsurf]

15 hours ago, arxcards said:

No, they are still mandatory in most indoor public areas of the ship, and will remain that way at least until the emperor sees some successful arrivals into Fremantle.

 

Also wait and see what happens over the next couple of weeks as most of the Transpacific cruises arrive.

Thanks to all for their responses. Having followed the HAL board for some time to get a sense of the covid experience elsewhere I get a sense that the Aussie experience has been better. But I agree the arrival of the Transpacific ships will give further insight. 

[arxcards]

Just now, Sailnsurf said:

Thanks to all for their responses. Having followed the HAL board for some time to get a sense of the covid experience elsewhere I get a sense that the Aussie experience has been better. But I agree the arrival of the Transpacific ships will give further insight. 

I will be keeping a bit of a checklist. Specific numbers of infections will likely be unknown, but they will have a NSW health colour code when they arrive.

Carnival Splendor - had a healthy crossing, even to the point that masks weren't required for the last part of the trip.

 

Majestic Princess arrives on 20th October. There has been positive tests, and would currently be code yellow if the numbers mentioned are accurate.

[Matkai]

Will be interesting to see if masks are actually required as RCL has just announced that crew will not have to wear masks as of 1st of October (hoping that is for all of their ships) and with NSW, VIC and QLD already thinking about relaxing the vaccination requirements for cruises, and all other COVID mandates being removed (testing, masks, quarantine) from around Australia for all other modes of transport, venues and events - it seems silly to still maintain COVID mandates and restrictions for cruises only.  

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/three-aussie-states-review-cruise-health-rules-as-they-are-abandoned-around-the-world/

[arxcards]

2 minutes ago, Matkai said:

Will be interesting to see if masks are actually required as RCL has just announced that crew will not have to wear masks as of 1st of October (hoping that is for all of their ships) and with NSW, VIC and QLD already thinking about relaxing the vaccination requirements for cruises, and all other COVID mandates being removed (testing, masks, quarantine) from around Australia for all other modes of transport, venues and events - it seems silly to still maintain COVID mandates and restrictions for cruises only.  

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/three-aussie-states-review-cruise-health-rules-as-they-are-abandoned-around-the-world/

The article is nearly 6 weeks old. These rules are continually under review, and the response will be determined by the health of the first few transpacific ships as they arrive. 

 

The US has only recently lifted much of their protocols, but not everything for longer cruises. We regularly do longer cruises than their routine 7 nighters.

 

No, the mandates are not silly. It isn't about you or me, but the operational security of a ship that is sailing with limited medical facilities. For short cruises, that risk has passed - ships are close to the coast, and healthy boarding will result in no strain on medical facilities. They could remove protocols for them now, but then, would travel insurance follow suit?