B2B and rat test

[Suzi66]

6 hours ago, elquincey said:

We were in isolation but I think they did testing in Two70 but I could be wrong ….. the medical centre was inundated by covid cases by then. We’re fine now but were disembarked with no information or assistance…. we live in Perth. Not a great experience ……. we won’t book any more b2b until they stop the testing.

This is pretty much what happened to us, only we were in Vancouver when hubby tested positive on the last day of our first cruise of a B2B2B.  No information or assistance.  We had to isolate for 10 days and then find our own way home even though the next 2 cruises were how we planned on getting to Australia.  We are still waiting for our refunds for the cruises and the promised money to help cover costs for our quarantine.  This was September.  Somehow I doubt we will see it this year.  

[elquincey]

1 hour ago, Suzi66 said:

This is pretty much what happened to us, only we were in Vancouver when hubby tested positive on the last day of our first cruise of a B2B2B.  No information or assistance.  We had to isolate for 10 days and then find our own way home even though the next 2 cruises were how we planned on getting to Australia.  We are still waiting for our refunds for the cruises and the promised money to help cover costs for our quarantine.  This was September.  Somehow I doubt we will see it this year.  

You poor things!! We have some b2b cruises in October/November next year, the first one being a transatlantic from Barcelona to Florida for which we would presently need a supervised rat before we can board followed by 2 Caribbean cruises ….. we won’t be going if this isn’t changed after our recent experience.

Ive managed to get refunds by contacting RCCL’s  head office in Miami. Still waiting for credits for our days in isolation and paperwork from them stating we were disembarked and why so that we can claim for extra costs on our travel insurance.

Edited December 21, 2022 by elquincey

[lexmiller]

I have been following the roll calls for the Celebrity Eclipse very closely, and have corresponded with several of the passengers who are on board now (via another social site).  It has been for a fact confirmed, that for the B2B passengers for the Dec 9 cruise, that B2B MONITORED mandatory testing, was conducted by the crew.  Same exact thing for the B2B passengers staying onboard for the Dec 20 cruise on Eclipse - MONITORED mandatory testing done by the ship's crew.  If positive - you are given two choices - get off and receive a FCC for the next cruise, OR, go into forced isolation for 5 days on board - meaning, you are not forced to get off, you are allowed to stay on board and continue on with your next leg.  It has been reported very specifically, that a cash refund for those 5 days onboard in forced isolation will be given.  I think it's not fair that to get on the ship in the first place, that only a self-test is required, not MONITORED - but, if you are B2B, for the next leg, you must submit to monitored testing.

[arxcards]

22 minutes ago, lexmiller said:

I have been following the roll calls for the Celebrity Eclipse very closely, and have corresponded with several of the passengers who are on board now (via another social site).  It has been for a fact confirmed, that for the B2B passengers for the Dec 9 cruise, that B2B MONITORED mandatory testing, was conducted by the crew.  Same exact thing for the B2B passengers staying onboard for the Dec 20 cruise on Eclipse - MONITORED mandatory testing done by the ship's crew.  If positive - you are given two choices - get off and receive a FCC for the next cruise, OR, go into forced isolation for 5 days on board - meaning, you are not forced to get off, you are allowed to stay on board and continue on with your next leg.  It has been reported very specifically, that a cash refund for those 5 days onboard in forced isolation will be given.  I think it's not fair that to get on the ship in the first place, that only a self-test is required, not MONITORED - but, if you are B2B, for the next leg, you must submit to monitored testing.

This will be pretty consistent for Eclipse, as she is mostly doing international cruises out of Australia. When B2Bing has an international cruise followed by an Australian domestic cruise they effectively disembark everybody and luggage, including the B2B'ers, to "arrive" into Australia. If you are covid positive during such turnarounds, local protocols don't allow you to board/reboard the ship.

[Hogbay]

[Hogbay]

No phone call can leave cabin .🙂

[lexmiller]

5 hours ago, arxcards said:

This will be pretty consistent for Eclipse, as she is mostly doing international cruises out of Australia. When B2Bing has an international cruise followed by an Australian domestic cruise they effectively disembark everybody and luggage, including the B2B'ers, to "arrive" into Australia. If you are covid positive during such turnarounds, local protocols don't allow you to board/reboard the ship.

Thanks for your reply!  Interesting what you're saying, because for the Dec 20 Eclipse cruise, the B2Bers were tested on Dec 20!!!, and had already settled into their new cabins (for those that had to switch cabins for their next cruise, often happens that you can't book the same cabin for both cruises), so were given the option to leave for a FCC or could stay onboard......so as such, if what you're saying is the case about local protocols, if not tested until after they'd reboarded onto the next cruise, then they could in fact stay on........very interesting!

[traveldayz]

On 12/20/2022 at 2:47 PM, traveldayz said:

This is our last day of a South Pacific cruise, so we have to get off the ship for 2 hours tomorrow. We have been given transit passes which we have to show along with our passports to expedite our embarkation for the next cruise. No mention of a RAT requirement.

We are now on the second cruise. No RAT required (on the Majestic Princess). Easy turnaround day - just had to show our transit passes and then passport through customs to get back on the ship.  Luggage was left in our cabin, and was in our new cabin on reboarding. Masks are still compulsory indoors on this cruise unless actively eating or drinking. 

[arxcards]

4 hours ago, lexmiller said:

Thanks for your reply!  Interesting what you're saying, because for the Dec 20 Eclipse cruise, the B2Bers were tested on Dec 20!!!, and had already settled into their new cabins (for those that had to switch cabins for their next cruise, often happens that you can't book the same cabin for both cruises), so were given the option to leave for a FCC or could stay onboard......so as such, if what you're saying is the case about local protocols, if not tested until after they'd reboarded onto the next cruise, then they could in fact stay on........very interesting!

Yes, although the protocols require that test to be done within the 24hrs prior to embarking of the 2nd cruise. The next international followed by domestic for Eclipse is on 28th Feb, and hopefully these technicalities are all a thing of the past by then anyway.

[lexmiller]

14 hours ago, arxcards said:

Yes, although the protocols require that test to be done within the 24hrs prior to embarking of the 2nd cruise. The next international followed by domestic for Eclipse is on 28th Feb, and hopefully these technicalities are all a thing of the past by then anyway.

Trying to figure this out (not sure if I mentioned that we have 4 Eclipse cruises booked for the spring so the specter of B2B testing has us VERY concerned), as to why Celebrity's (thus, RCCL) testing for B2B is so different from Princess, as per @traveldayzfirst person account above......to wit, that Celebrity's B2B testing is MONITORED by crew, but Princess isn't testing at all - or, and this was mentioned earlier, that Princess passed out self-tests to the appropriate cabins and the cabin stewards returned later to collect the results - and thus, NOT monitored.  So how is this being driven, who is making the rules and what are they based on, as you mentioned, international vs domestic perhaps......not sure I am grasping this.........??  Thank you for any more light you can shed!

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, lexmiller said:

Trying to figure this out (not sure if I mentioned that we have 4 Eclipse cruises booked for the spring so the specter of B2B testing has us VERY concerned), as to why Celebrity's (thus, RCCL) testing for B2B is so different from Princess, as per @traveldayzfirst person account above......to wit, that Celebrity's B2B testing is MONITORED by crew, but Princess isn't testing at all - or, and this was mentioned earlier, that Princess passed out self-tests to the appropriate cabins and the cabin stewards returned later to collect the results - and thus, NOT monitored.  So how is this being driven, who is making the rules and what are they based on, as you mentioned, international vs domestic perhaps......not sure I am grasping this.........??  Thank you for any more light you can shed!

Yes, clear as mud.

The Princess testing, as far as I can tell, is not being done for B2B but for screening all passengers on the 2nd sea day on their longer cruises. Just for Princess alone, there are 3 ships operating here and they all seem to be doing it their own way. 

 

There are also different responses from the various lines, depending on whether elevated levels of covid have already been confirmed while aboard. For the one occasion this occurred on Eclipse, Australian authorities required everyone aboard to be tested before arrival into Sydney.

 

I would hope this has all settled down by the time you cruise on Eclipse. Covid numbers in Sydney are starting to decline, and that lowers the chance of passengers to embark with it.

[Suzi66]

On 12/23/2022 at 7:36 AM, lexmiller said:

Trying to figure this out (not sure if I mentioned that we have 4 Eclipse cruises booked for the spring so the specter of B2B testing has us VERY concerned), as to why Celebrity's (thus, RCCL) testing for B2B is so different from Princess, as per @traveldayzfirst person account above......to wit, that Celebrity's B2B testing is MONITORED by crew, but Princess isn't testing at all - or, and this was mentioned earlier, that Princess passed out self-tests to the appropriate cabins and the cabin stewards returned later to collect the results - and thus, NOT monitored.  So how is this being driven, who is making the rules and what are they based on, as you mentioned, international vs domestic perhaps......not sure I am grasping this.........??  Thank you for any more light you can shed!

I am boarding for a B2B on Jan 2 and our turn around day is Jan 14.  I can let you know what happened.

[cruiselvr04]

I know a lot can change between now and then but we have a B4B booked for Australia starting in February of 2024.  We will be canceling if testing doesn’t stop.  I could take 5 days of isolation but getting kicked off the ship and missing 12, 16, 18 night cruise is not okay.  Having to pay for a hotel that long and getting to the next embarkation port would ruin the trip.  I’m hoping this changes by the time we make final payment.  We really want to come over!  

[lexmiller]

On 12/29/2022 at 9:58 PM, cruiselvr04 said:

I know a lot can change between now and then but we have a B4B booked for Australia starting in February of 2024.  We will be canceling if testing doesn’t stop.  I could take 5 days of isolation but getting kicked off the ship and missing 12, 16, 18 night cruise is not okay.  Having to pay for a hotel that long and getting to the next embarkation port would ruin the trip.  I’m hoping this changes by the time we make final payment.  We really want to come over!  

Our B4B on Eclipse is THIS spring, 2023, and boy oh boy do we regret it!!  We were originally scheduled for spring of 2020, and now we wish we'd not rescheduled the trip at all.  B2B testing is "so yesterday" on other itineraries, but Australia and NZ are still insisting on it.  The latest posts I've read on another social platform, are that if you self report or get caught in the B2B testing dragnet, on an Australian itinerary, you are in covid jail for 5 days, in your cabin onboard - not forced off the ship.  However, if the cruise has NZ ports, you are in covid jail for 7 days, onboard.  Just today, and I am seeking clarification on this, a covid positive passenger posted that he was put off the ship in the Bay of Islands, in NZ, not allowed to stay on board and isolate.   This was the first I'd heard of this, on a recent Eclipse cruise, of being put off the ship - would love confirmation and clarification on this.  

[Suzi66]

20 hours ago, lexmiller said:

Our B4B on Eclipse is THIS spring, 2023, and boy oh boy do we regret it!!  We were originally scheduled for spring of 2020, and now we wish we'd not rescheduled the trip at all.  B2B testing is "so yesterday" on other itineraries, but Australia and NZ are still insisting on it.  The latest posts I've read on another social platform, are that if you self report or get caught in the B2B testing dragnet, on an Australian itinerary, you are in covid jail for 5 days, in your cabin onboard - not forced off the ship.  However, if the cruise has NZ ports, you are in covid jail for 7 days, onboard.  Just today, and I am seeking clarification on this, a covid positive passenger posted that he was put off the ship in the Bay of Islands, in NZ, not allowed to stay on board and isolate.   This was the first I'd heard of this, on a recent Eclipse cruise, of being put off the ship - would love confirmation and clarification on this.  

I wonder if he was a NZ citizen and this prevented him from coming to Australia and then flying back to NZ potentially infecting those he was flying internationally with.

[LittleFish1976]

20 hours ago, lexmiller said:

Our B4B on Eclipse is THIS spring, 2023, and boy oh boy do we regret it!!  We were originally scheduled for spring of 2020, and now we wish we'd not rescheduled the trip at all.  B2B testing is "so yesterday" on other itineraries, but Australia and NZ are still insisting on it.  The latest posts I've read on another social platform, are that if you self report or get caught in the B2B testing dragnet, on an Australian itinerary, you are in covid jail for 5 days, in your cabin onboard - not forced off the ship.  However, if the cruise has NZ ports, you are in covid jail for 7 days, onboard.  Just today, and I am seeking clarification on this, a covid positive passenger posted that he was put off the ship in the Bay of Islands, in NZ, not allowed to stay on board and isolate.   This was the first I'd heard of this, on a recent Eclipse cruise, of being put off the ship - would love confirmation and clarification on this.  

 

Sounds like you might prefer to change your itinerary. Australia and New Zealand will hopefully continue to have these protections in place for the foreseeable future.

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Suzi66 said:

I wonder if he was a NZ citizen and this prevented him from coming to Australia and then flying back to NZ potentially infecting those he was flying internationally with.

I had given it the same thought, as Bay of Islands was the final NZ port before returning to Australia. They can also debark you in any suitable port if they feel you need extra medical treatment that can only be provided ashore.

[Aus Traveller]

9 hours ago, arxcards said:

I had given it the same thought, as Bay of Islands was the final NZ port before returning to Australia. They can also debark you in any suitable port if they feel you need extra medical treatment that can only be provided ashore.

I feel it is likely you are correct - that the passenger was disembarked because he was considered too ill to remain on the ship. That can happen from any number of medical conditions. On a recent cruise to the Pacific islands, an Australian friend of ours was disembarked on Noumea because the doctor on board felt he needed hospital treatment. He recovered from COVID and has since flown home.

[Flojoe8]

On 12/22/2022 at 9:30 AM, Hogbay said:

No phone call can leave cabin .🙂

No mention of a lunch for us. Received paperwork today. Re Covid testing and having to pack bags and get  off ship etc.