PRINCESS SHIPS & CORONA VIRUS

[Aus Traveller]

10 hours ago, samiam1 said:

 

Diamond Pricess was first week of February.  Princess already should have known at that point this was going to be a fleet wide problem. Grand Princess was first week of March. Ruby Princess embarked March 8, the same day the US State Department advised against cruising. You don't wait for WHO to declare a pandemic on March 12 to protect passengers.

All cruiselines waited until 12th March, some even later, to announce a pause in their cruises.

 

We disembarked from the Sea Princess on 8th March and did not feel we were at risk on that 14-day cruise to New Zealand. In Aust, the Sea Princess and the Ruby Princess both set off on cruises on 8th March, and the Golden on the 10th, but it was only on the Ruby that there was an infection that has now spread. The disembarkation was bungled by the New South Wales Health Department. They admit they made a mistake in allowing people to disembark before the tests for covid-19 came back. It was a crazy decision.

[Aus Traveller]

10 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Yep.  Process continued to transfer employees between ship AFTER they discovered the COVID-19 infection. 

From what I have read, no staff were transferred from the Diamond Princess after the infection was discovered. It was announced that staff from the Grand were transferred BEFORE the infection was discovered.

[Aus Traveller]

3 hours ago, subaru94 said:

Agree with you and why didn't they take all their temperatures, it would not have taking that long I think there is even a machine you can walk through that detects temperatures, that would have alerted authorities?

There is a machine that people can walk through to have temperatures taken. We walked through one of those during the swine flu outbreak in 2009. This would not have been immediately available at the cruise terminal in Sydney. The New South Wales Health Department have admitted they made an error in allowing people to disembark.

[Aus Traveller]

By the way, BBC is the British Broadcasting Commission, not the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC).

 

When I read the news reports quoting people who were on the Ruby Princess, I wonder what some of them were thinking was happening.

 

When they embarked on the 8th March, every one of them had to know that the covid-19 was a worldwide issue. Their cruise was cut short when Princess announced their shut-down of cruising because of the virus. Near the end of the cruise all passengers had to complete a form that asked if they had a high temperature, sore throat, cough etc. Anyone who has cruised before knows this is not normal procedure. They were all given written instructions that they had to self-isolate at home for 14 days - once again not normal procedure after a cruise.

 

Now several passengers are reported as saying they had no idea they could be at risk of contracting covid-19. Well, I have news for them. We are all at risk of contracting it, some more than others.

[BRANDEE]

Ovation of the Sea that docked Wednesday in Sydney,  one day before the Ruby, also had undetected corona virus passenger.  How come we only here about Ruby.  Both were botched by health officials.  No testing upon leaving. Scary!

[Aus Traveller]

51 minutes ago, BRANDEE said:

Ovation of the Sea that docked Wednesday in Sydney,  one day before the Ruby, also had undetected corona virus passenger.  How come we only here about Ruby.  Both were botched by health officials.  No testing upon leaving. Scary!

Voyager of the Seas and the Celebrity Solstice also had positive cases.

[The_Big_M]

1 hour ago, BRANDEE said:

Ovation of the Sea that docked Wednesday in Sydney,  one day before the Ruby, also had undetected corona virus passenger.  How come we only here about Ruby.  Both were botched by health officials.  No testing upon leaving. Scary!

 

All have been covered in the local media.

 

However Ruby has had by far the biggest number of cases infected onboard. Others are less than 10% of Ruby, so it's just a point of scale. Ruby is the most significant.

[Pushka]

Must be well over 150 positive tests from Ruby in Australia now. 17 today just in our state. Half of our infections have come from cruises. A quarter of those from Ruby. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Pushka

[Just_Westy]

The whole situation is quite dire regarding cruise ships and I hope all vessels are parked up for a few months ASAP given the health risks involved. Apparently the Navy is about to chase a cruise ship the Artania from Australian waters off the coast of Freemantle and we have more due to arrive  in NSW.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-26/passengers-on-artania-cruise-ship-off-wa-test-positive-covid-19/12091884

[caribill]

7 minutes ago, Just_Westy said:

The whole situation is quite dire regarding cruise ships and I hope all vessels are parked up for a few months ASAP given the health risks involved.

 

Cruise ships get the (bad) publicity because it is easy to count the instances when this occurs.

 

But if you look at the over 450,000 cases on land, hardly any can be traced to a cruise ship.

 

To some extent it is like norovirus on cruise ships. In the USA, over 20 million people a year catch the norovirus. But you hear the (bad) publicity when just 50 people have it on a cruise ship.

[Pushka]

3 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Cruise ships get the (bad) publicity because it is easy to count the instances when this occurs.

 

But if you look at the over 450,000 cases on land, hardly any can be traced to a cruise ship.

 

To some extent it is like norovirus on cruise ships. In the USA, over 20 million people a year catch the norovirus. But you hear the (bad) publicity when just 50 people have it on a cruise ship.

Half of the cases of Covid in our Australian state have been traced to cruise ships and 1/4 of those come from Ruby. 

[Just_Westy]

1 minute ago, caribill said:

 

 

 

But if you look at the over 450,000 cases on land, hardly any can be traced to a cruise ship.

 

 

 

I'd have to disagree we have over 130 right now linked to just the Ruby Princess and there are other cases here in Australia linked to ships that have been here before. The MSC Magnifica was allowed to refuel but sent on it's way with plenty of people onboard reporting respiratory issues. I think currently there are quite a few ships will ill people on them at sea looking to offload passsengers.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, Just_Westy said:

The whole situation is quite dire regarding cruise ships and I hope all vessels are parked up for a few months ASAP given the health risks involved. Apparently the Navy is about to chase a cruise ship the Artania from Australian waters off the coast of Freemantle and we have more due to arrive  in NSW.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-26/passengers-on-artania-cruise-ship-off-wa-test-positive-covid-19/12091884

I had the impression that the Navy might be used to evacuate any very ill passengers off the Artania. I would be very disappointed if the Western Australian government (or the Australian government) refused to meet their international obligations to give help to a ship in distress. There are seven (or is it ten) cases of the virus on the Artania and if any the condition of any of these people deteriorate, the medical centre on the ship would not be able to care for them adequately.

[Just_Westy]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I had the impression that the Navy might be used to evacuate any very ill passengers off the Artania. I would be very disappointed if the Western Australian government (or the Australian government) refused to meet their international obligations to give help to a ship in distress. There are seven (or is it ten) cases of the virus on the Artania and if any the condition of any of these people deteriorate, the medical centre on the ship would not be able to care for them adequately.

 

It's certainly an interesting story and I expect that WA would do the right thing regarding sick passengers but it appears they don't want to be resposible for the whole ship.

 

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-australia-demands-german-cruise-ship-leave-its-waters-immediately/a-52920202

 

 

"Its home port is actually Germany...This ship needs to leave immediately. I want the Commonwealth to make that happen," McGowan told reporters in Perth.

If the seven ill passengers need to disembark for treatment, they will need to go to a government facility, such as a defense force base, he added. The Australian and German governments could then arrange for them to fly home after their treatment. Passengers will not be allowed to disembark in Australia except in the case of a "life-threatening emergency."

[Aus Traveller]

3 minutes ago, Just_Westy said:

 

It's certainly an interesting story and I expect that WA would do the right thing regarding sick passengers but it appears they don't want to be resposible for the whole ship.

 

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-australia-demands-german-cruise-ship-leave-its-waters-immediately/a-52920202

"Its home port is actually Germany...This ship needs to leave immediately. I want the Commonwealth to make that happen," McGowan told reporters in Perth.

If the seven ill passengers need to disembark for treatment, they will need to go to a government facility, such as a defense force base, he added. The Australian and German governments could then arrange for them to fly home after their treatment. Passengers will not be allowed to disembark in Australia except in the case of a "life-threatening emergency."

The WA Premier makes it clear that he wants his government to have nothing to do with the passengers on the Artania. He is saying it is OK if the Commonwealth evacuates people in a "life-threatening emergency" off the ship and also takes responsibility for their treatment.

 

Germany is chartering plans to bring its people home from all around the world: Egypt, Morocco, South American countries.  

[samiam1]

Same scenario apparently on two Costa ships heading towards Florida, sick crews, passengers debarked with no tests:

 

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/2-costa-cruise-ships-toward-florida-sick-crew-members

[samiam1]

5 hours ago, Just_Westy said:

 

MSC Magnifica was allowed to refuel but sent on it's way with plenty of people onboard reporting respiratory issues. I think currently there are quite a few ships will ill people on them at sea looking to offload passsengers.

 

Cruise ships were a major vector dfor COVID spread, I suspect we do not know the half of it.  After Diamond princes everyone except apparently the cruise lines knew these ships were ideal pestilence spreaders and petri dishes, here's more proof:

 

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/2-costa-cruise-ships-toward-florida-sick-crew-members

 

[jimbo5544]

Not exactly the news I was expecting, this is not good.  
 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22664-cdc-defer-cruise-travel-inside-the-princess-outbreak.html

[jimbo5544]

Just to make it more confusing, here is Princess response.

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22674-princess-clarifies-covid-19-testing-on-cruise-ships-in-response-to-cdc-report.html 

[sparks1093]

Really not surprising. Of course none of us know how long all of this is going to last.

[jimbo5544]

2 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Really not surprising. Of course none of us know how long all of this is going to last.

True, we do not know.  What we do know now is what the CDC recommends (significantly worse than previous) and that some of the germs are alive 17 days (not known before). 

[Theosprey247]

I thought they found a dead virus.  Or did I read it wrong?

[jimbo5544]

Just now, Theosprey247 said:

I thought they found a dead virus.  Or did I read it wrong?

I got a C- in Biology....😎

[jimbo5544]

My reason for posting was their recommendation much more than the details.....

[sanger727]

6 minutes ago, Theosprey247 said:

I thought they found a dead virus.  Or did I read it wrong?

 

Yes, that's how I read it to. This whole thing is overblown. Surfaces were left uncleaned for the purpose of testing. And dead virus remains were found on them. Sounds like common sense. 

 

If a school had a known infected teacher and then they closed and asked the school not to clean the classroom the teacher was in so they could test it. And 3 weeks later they test it and find virus RNA. The conclusion is the CDC should recommend we don't have kids go to school anymore?

Edited March 26, 2020 by sanger727