Sapphire princess in vancouver

[mncbabu_yahoo]

Excited to sail in sapphire princess in north bound inside passage cruise to Alaska today. It is a very nice afternoon in vancouver. However the ship is not started at 4.00 pm..I don't know what is causing the delay...How to find out when will ship starts?

[TM]

No one here will know.  Ask the captain, LOL.  Or you might inquire at Guest Services.  But be assured that the ship will most likely make up any lost time to your first port and you will not miss anything.

[memoak]

They may still have some people coming from the airport or they may still be loading supplies 

[Motherload90274]

I’m on the same cruise. I was wondering if they were waiting for the cargo ship to move out of the way. It’s getting hot up here on Lido deck, so I’m glad we’re finally moving!

[Auntiejo]

Just saw her on the Canada Place webcam….on the move! We take the same journey 2 weeks from today. Can’t wait! Have an awesome trip.

[mahasamatman]

The water level is generally the controlling factor. It wouldn't do to hit the Lion's Gate bridge or get caught in the passage.

[VJV2024]

I'm sailing on this same ship July 13 with 9 family members.  Youngest is 5 yrs old.  My daughter-in-law is following a Sapphire group on Facebook.  She is concerned about the number of people who are saying they got Covid.  I understand that this is always a possibility but my question is... is Princess taking the best precautions? 

[cr8tiv1]

32 minutes ago, VJV2024 said:

I'm sailing on this same ship July 13 with 9 family members.  Youngest is 5 yrs old.  My daughter-in-law is following a Sapphire group on Facebook.  She is concerned about the number of people who are saying they got Covid.  I understand that this is always a possibility but my question is... is Princess taking the best precautions? 

 

Having caught covid on a cruise, I have taken the responsibility upon myself to prevent another episode.  Princess can only do so much.  It is an airborne virus (Princess....could have a non-smoking casino...but I digress).  

 

I still wear a mask.  I still carry around alcohol spray that I use after looking at a menu.  I try to stay away from (coughing) crowds.  I am getting another booster.  I carry tests and Paxlovid.

 

On my last cruise, my table mates (breakfast/lunch/dinner) caught covid.  I did not. 

 

The best thing a passenger can do is self isolate if they have covid.  Unfortunately, Covid is here to stay just like Noro, the Flu, and common cold.  The threat is not enough to keep me away from cruising.

 

 

[VJV2024]

I agree.  I'm a retired nurse and know what precautions to take.  I do the same thing with menus.  We will all carry hand sanitizer.  However, back in 2012 on Princess you couldn't walk into the buffet line without a crew member putting gel on your hands. 

[memoak]

One of us seems to get covid about once every 4 cruises. We are both vaccinated about 7 times which keeps symptoms to a minimum.but there is no way to totally prevent it.  We do test once a week on a long cruise but only use masks in the casino if we decide to play a slot in the smoking side

[Serious Cruisers]

Same vaccinated to the max. Careful as I can be got covid last 3 cruises (they were all over 10 day sailings) mostly at the end portion of the cruise! Just in time to recover at home

[cr8tiv1]

4 minutes ago, Serious Cruisers said:

Same vaccinated to the max. Careful as I can be got covid last 3 cruises (they were all over 10 day sailings) mostly at the end portion of the cruise! Just in time to recover at home

 

Agree, it takes several days to incubate (although new variant comes on very quickly).  There seems to be more incidents when the voyage is longer (more time to infect more people). Short voyages...you take the virus home with you.

[Serious Cruisers]

29 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Agree, it takes several days to incubate (although new variant comes on very quickly).  There seems to be more incidents when the voyage is longer (more time to infect more people). Short voyages...you take the virus home with you.

Totally agree!

[VJV2024]

I went and got a Covid booster today for my cruise on July 13. 

[meldal]

My husband, sister-in-law and I were on the Sapphire Princess Alaska (southbound cruise) sailing from Whittier to Vancouver - June 1st through June 8th.  Many passengers were not using the hand-washing stations in the buffet nor the many hand sanitizers stationed throughout the ship.  As the cruise went on, the number of people coughing kept increasing (many coughing without bothering to cover their mouths properly) and I noticed more people wearing masks.

 

On disembarkation morning, we were jammed into the Wheel House bar to wait for our turn to disembark the ship.   As our wait progressed - more people came into the bar - with more and more people coughing - continuous coughing (no exaggeration).

 

Needless to say, my husband and I came down with covid (for the first time) upon our return home - we have gotten all the recommended vaccinations (including an updated booster 3 weeks prior to the cruise).  We tried to keep our distance from other passengers and washed our hands repeated - however, the ship was at capacity.  

 

Princess cannot 100% control a sick person getting onto the ship.  However, they can do a better job of making sure the food areas are more sanitary.  For example, serving all of the food at the buffet, serving all of the drinks, cleaning/disinfecting all of the tables, and insisting all of the passengers wash/sanitize their hands before they enter the food areas of the buffet or any other dining venue.

 

 

 

 

[sunviking90]

I agree. It’s personal responsibility at this point. The ships don’t really talk about it anymore, but on our last cruise they seemed more concerned with prevention of Norovirus. There’s a lot of that out there too. Wash hands, don’t eat with your fingers, or lick them 🤮. I assume my hands are dirty at all times until I get back to my stateroom and wash them, meaning I keep them away from my face, and don’t touch my food with them.

We’ve been on probably 15 cruises since the restart, and I only caught Covid once. Vaxxed to the max, so I had very mild symptoms.

We don’t hang out in the Piazza, bars, etc and tend to keep to ourselves. We usually travel as a couple only, so that helps. 
I will say that travelling in a large group obviously increases the odds of getting sick as all those people are in contact with many other people. 

[ChemistBabe]

We definitely caught COVID on our recent Alaska cruise.  (Flew home Saturday, tested positive Monday.). Maybe we got it on the airplane, but cruise is most likely.  In any case, definitely on the trip!

 

My first thought was that we shouldn't have taken the trip.

 

However, my husband has had it twice already, got it at work both times!

[Edweena]

On 6/19/2024 at 8:19 AM, VJV2024 said:

I'm sailing on this same ship July 13 with 9 family members.  Youngest is 5 yrs old.  My daughter-in-law is following a Sapphire group on Facebook.  She is concerned about the number of people who are saying they got Covid.  I understand that this is always a possibility but my question is... is Princess taking the best precautions? 

We were on the Sapphire in April for a 32 day cruise roundtrip from Los Angeles to South Pacific.  We had a GI outbreak not quite midway through.  I can assure you the captain Todd Mcbain wasted no time putting safety measures into place.  He was very transparent and kept us up to date daily.  By acting as quickly and thoroughly as he did the outbreak was kept down to barely over 100 people out of 3,600 including crew.   Crew would serve you at buffet, no salt, pepper, catsup or that kind of stuff at your table but it never felt like deprivation or uncomfortable at any point.  Those that did get it were quarantined to their cabin for only usually a day or two, but they had a small table outside their door for food delivery.  If you just keep washing your hands and try and avoid handrails and doorknobs you should be fine.  Handwashing is the single best way to avoid the crud.   

 

The captain and crew on that ship were all around amazing in everything.   

[VJV2024]

Today I sent an email to Princess to be sure they were doing the same things you mentioned above.  I’m going to find that Tom McBain.  Thanks for sharing 

[dockman]

Do they still isolate covid positive folks in separate areas?  

[memoak]

20 minutes ago, dockman said:

Do they still isolate covid positive folks in separate areas?  

No. I had Covid last year on the Emerald you stay in your own cabin if your cabin mates are not positive they can go about the ship as usual   You get room service and booze delivery. It is a drag but better than right after the restart when they sent you to the quarantine deck

[Edweena]

17 minutes ago, dockman said:

Do they still isolate covid positive folks in separate areas?  

I don’t know.  We didn’t have any Covid but it might depend on the captain.  Although I know they have to report to the CDC I think if there is an outbreak of any kind involving a certain number of guests.  I don’t know what that number is.  But our Captain was all around amazing.  His transparency was what built complete trust and confidence.  And he had a lot to deal with.  We had an 85 year old basically drown while snorkeling on a very remote island in Fiji.  It was handled with out most knowing but he came on daily to advise us and blow by blow updates on what was going on.  Guest was med vac to Fiji hospital and captain shared his correspondence with said guest after the guest…… who survived 👏👏👏🙏👏 letters from home.  Best captain I have ever seen.  

[Edweena]

50 minutes ago, VJV2024 said:

Today I sent an email to Princess to be sure they were doing the same things you mentioned above.  I’m going to find that Tom McBain.  Thanks for sharing 

I don’t know their COVID protocol but for GI it was great.  It was a long cruise of 32 days with 23 sea days  but they stuck with it and nipped it.  No one stayed away from dining or dancing or ship activities.  It didn’t hinder once we were made aware we knew also how to go in to protection mode.  Have a great sail.  

[NavyVeteran]

38 minutes ago, dockman said:

Do they still isolate covid positive folks in separate areas?  

No. DW and I both got COVID last year on a Canada cruise on the Caribbean Princess. DW was sick and spent the night in infirmary. Other than that, we were both isolated in our cabin with food and beverage service deliveries. I was allowed to leave the cabin only with an escort.

[cr8tiv1]

Last summer, I asked to be isolated in another cabin since my cabin mate tested negative.  I was moved from a suite to a balcony cabin on a deck with other isolates.  I was fine and well taken care of.  I was escorted behind the scenes with two crew.  One carried my personal belongings, the other wiped everything I may have touched and more.

 

Just got another booster.  I've lost count on how many.  Pharmacist says it is no longer required/recommended/mandated.  I gave her my vac cards.  She laughed.  They stopped doing those last year.  She also told me that I didn't have to carry them around with me (but I will) when I travel.

 

New vaccine will be treated like the flu shot.  Once a year.