Ruby Princess police investigation

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, lyndarra said:

I have the TV on (muted) watching the Morning Show and that video has been shown 3 or 4 times in the last 20 minutes.

The video does give a false impression of partying with the crew, but maybe it also shows that you can have fun on a cruise.

[Blackduck59]

I find it a little troubling that some people seem to think that seasoned detectives would not be able to understand what is actually happening in the video. Their job is to find the truth. I doubt that a video as shown on the Australian equivalent of fox news will really sway the investigation.

[lyndarra]

1 minute ago, Aus Traveller said:

The video does give a false impression of partying with the crew, but maybe it also shows that you can have fun on a cruise.

I've never been a fan of those parades and napkin waving but then I'm a grumpy old man. Does that excuse me as a party pooper?

[SeaDog-46]

Shopping with my Princess ban.

[lyndarra]

1 hour ago, SeaDog-46 said:

Shopping with my Princess ban.

Brilliant!

[The_Big_M]

2 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

I find it a little troubling that some people seem to think that seasoned detectives would not be able to understand what is actually happening in the video. Their job is to find the truth. I doubt that a video as shown on the Australian equivalent of fox news will really sway the investigation.

 

The thing is, despite their obvious bias here, they're not the equivalent of Fox news. 

 

They are viewed as mainstream, and not with any general biases. This appears to be more the case of attacking an opportunistic target, less so than has been evident from the Commissioner with his speculative marks that patient zero was a crew member in the kitchen, or just his mission to evict the ships.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, lyndarra said:

I've never been a fan of those parades and napkin waving but then I'm a grumpy old man. Does that excuse me as a party pooper?

I hate the napkin waving, and that only appeared on Princess a few years ago - there was no napkin waving on our first cruise in Dec 2014, just applause.

 

But it is nice to be able show appreciation to the galley crew and chefs whom we don't see normally.

Edited April 17, 2020 by OzKiwiJJ

[OzKiwiJJ]

If patient zero had been a crew member then there would have been hundreds of crew cases by the end of the cruise, and relatively few passenger cases. Crew quarters are far more crowded than the passenger areas of the ship.

 

Logically the fact that there were more passenger infections than crew infection at the end of the cruise seems to indicate the infection started with one or more passengers infecting other passengers and then spread through to the crew.

[By The Bay]

On 4/15/2020 at 8:42 AM, BRANDEE said:

Do any of you know if the police are contacting Americans?  A passenger from Florida was contacted and is getting a call tomorrow from Australian police regarding this matter.  Sound right??

Update on ABC (Australia) today. For the full article, click here.

 

"Thousands of passengers who sailed on the last two voyages of the stricken Ruby Princess cruise ship will be questioned, as NSW Police investigate the massive coronavirus outbreak linked to the vessel.

 

An electronic survey will be sent to more than 5,500 Australian and international passengers who sailed on the Ruby Princess between February 24 to March 8; and March 8 to March 19."

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, By The Bay said:

Update on ABC (Australia) today. For the full article, click here.

 

"Thousands of passengers who sailed on the last two voyages of the stricken Ruby Princess cruise ship will be questioned, as NSW Police investigate the massive coronavirus outbreak linked to the vessel.

 

An electronic survey will be sent to more than 5,500 Australian and international passengers who sailed on the Ruby Princess between February 24 to March 8; and March 8 to March 19."

In the ABC article, a Canadian passenger Eva Pallai, said she later learned from media reports that a female passenger on a previous voyage of the Ruby Princess was taken off the ship and had died of coronavirus. No. She has got it mixed up somewhere. It was a female passenger on her cruise who died of coronavirus after leaving the ship in an ambulance soon after it docked in Sydney. Miss Pallai makes quite a point that they were not told there was coronavirus on the previous cruise. This was for a good reason - there wasn't.

 

The article refers to 900 cases of coronavirus. All other sources state either '600 nationally' (that would be plus some overseas) or 'around 700'. I think the ABC has their numbers mixed up. The 900 would be the number of international passengers on the ship.

 

It is difficult for people to follow what is going on if the news media get their facts and their numbers wrong.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Aus Traveller

[nnps]

6 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

In the ABC article, a Canadian passenger Eva Pallai, said she later learned from media reports that a female passenger on a previous voyage of the Ruby Princess was taken off the ship and had died of coronavirus. No. She has got it mixed up somewhere. It was a female passenger on her cruise who died of coronavirus after leaving the ship in an ambulance soon after it docked in Sydney. Miss Pallai makes quite a point that they were not told there was coronavirus on the previous cruise. This was for a good reason - there wasn't.

One wonders why the ABC reporter did not correct Ms Pallai's assertions. My greatest disappointment has been the way that the ABC has slipped to the same shoddy reporting and sensationalism that I have come to expect from the commercial media.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I don't know why they are bothering surveying the passengers. They will get everything from "no they didn't tell us anything (including washing hands and coughing into upper arms), no we didn't receive anything written, they were really horrible to us and they rushed us off the ship in Sydney" through to "yes, we were told about washing hands and using sanitizers, we were told not to cough into our hands, yes there were public health notices in the Patters regularly (see photo below from my Ruby cruise in December), the crew were wonderful, no the disembarkation wasn't rushed, yes we got a notice about self isolation)".

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

8 minutes ago, nnps said:

One wonders why the ABC reporter did not correct Ms Pallai's assertions. My greatest disappointment has been the way that the ABC has slipped to the same shoddy reporting and sensationalism that I have come to expect from the commercial media.

Perhaps because that reporter didn't know the facts. But, I agree, the ABC seems to be doing a bit too much sensationalist reporting lately, although they may just be picking up news feeds from elsewhere and passing them on without checking the facts.

[DiamondFour]

7 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I don't know why they are bothering surveying the passengers. They will get everything from "no they didn't tell us anything (including washing hands and coughing into upper arms), no we didn't receive anything written, they were really horrible to us and they rushed us off the ship in Sydney" through to "yes, we were told about washing hands and using sanitizers, we were told not to cough into our hands, yes there were public health notices in the Patters regularly (see photo below from my Ruby cruise in December), the crew were wonderful, no the disembarkation wasn't rushed, yes we got a notice about self isolation)".

 

The only reason I can think of that they would want to interview all passengers (who would not be privy to private patient medical information) would be to delay this as long as possible. Chances are the evidence is already clear that Ruby Princess did not lie to authorities and reported back truthfully and honestly. This is not the result the police will be looking for and certainly not what the government wants as it does not fit their narrative that the NSW Health Department, Border Force and every other agency acted appropriately.

 

By interviewing each passenger with even useless information they just want to delay it as long as possible so that when things are back to normal (maybe in September), the police can release their findings and the public will not be focused on it or angry at Princess. It also affords them to sweep under the carpet any government mistakes.

[BRANDEE]

No survey sent to me , husband, brother, sister in law.  BTW..how many passengers got off the Ruby with confimed covid..3..33...600  The number changes with each story.  And to the poster who suggested that older people have poor hygiene habits and that is why the Ruby passengers got sick...pretty insulting!

[ilikeanswers]

9 minutes ago, DiamondFour said:

The only reason I can think of that they would want to interview all passengers (who would not be privy to private patient medical information) would be to delay this as long as possible.

 

I just saw an interview with the man in charge of the investigation and he made it very clear the investigation will be four months if not shorter. He doesn't believe a longer investigation would be of any use and has no intention of prolonging the investigation. 

[Aus Traveller]

13 minutes ago, BRANDEE said:

No survey sent to me , husband, brother, sister in law.  BTW..how many passengers got off the Ruby with confimed covid..3..33...600  The number changes with each story.  And to the poster who suggested that older people have poor hygiene habits and that is why the Ruby passengers got sick...pretty insulting!

As far as I can ascertain, 662 Australian passengers were later found to have COVID. I haven't seen any precise figures for overseas passengers, but the total has been mentioned as 'around 700'. 

 

Brandee, you have said previously that you tested positive and that your husband had symptoms but didn't have a test. Is that correct? What about your brother and sister-in-law? Are they OK?

 

What was your impression of the way Princess handled health matters on the ship?

[Shiprobbo]

I sailed on Ruby Princess on 8th February on a 3-night cruise.

 

On boarding, we received in our cabin two letters, the first being the standard 'Guest Stateroom Health Advisory' that has been given out on Princess ships for the past few years. The second was a specific 'Health Advisory - Coronavirus'. This second document gave specific information with regards the Princess response, and also reiterated the need for taking measures to reduce the potential spread of any infection.

 

Now, while I understand that a lot changed in the month between 8th February and 8th March, I cannot believe that if Princess were going to the effort of giving out the information in February, they would not have done so in March. I suggest that those who 'didn't get the information', probably threw it away without looking at it.

 

Anyway, copies of what we received on 8th February are attached for anyone who is interested.

 

Cheers,

[Porky55]

We were on 24 /2 - 8/3 cruise and no survey yet, will keep any eye on our email ....... 👀

[Porky55]

4 minutes ago, Shiprobbo said:

On boarding, we received in our cabin two letters, the first being the standard 'Guest Stateroom Health Advisory' that has been given out on Princess ships for the past few years. The second was a specific 'Health Advisory - Coronavirus'. T

Yep - we had these as well, 24th Feb departure -  so they would have been in cabins on the cruise departing 8th March.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, BRANDEE said:

And to the poster who suggested that older people have poor hygiene habits and that is why the Ruby passengers got sick...pretty insulting!

Oops, that was me and I do apologise. I thought I'd put "some" in front of that part of my post. Unfortunately though, it is true. I've seen many instances of poor hygiene on cruises and, sadly, they are often older folk - mind you, I'm no spring chicken. Two of the worst I've seen recently were:

-The man who came and sat next to my husband on the promenade deck of Sea Princess, and who then proceed to cough a very nasty, thick cough without even attempting to cover his mouth. The loungers we were sitting on were in a bank of six and very close together. Two days later my husband came down with a cold, spent two days in our cabin and several days after that only going to places that weren't crowded and being very careful not to cough on anyone.

- on the same cruise, while waiting for trivia to start, I watched in horror as a woman several rows in front of us coughed heavily into both hands. She then brushed them together and carried on chatting to her friends. We made sure we kept well away from her on that cruise.

There were plenty of other examples too. It was a 35 night cruise and the majority of passengers were retirees. I'd say that cold probably passed to a good third or more of the passengers during the cruise.

Edited April 17, 2020 by OzKiwiJJ

[BRANDEE]

17 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

As far as I can ascertain, 662 Australian passengers were later found to have COVID. I haven't seen any precise figures for overseas passengers, but the total has been mentioned as 'around 700'. 

 

Brandee, you have said previously that you tested positive and that your husband had symptoms but didn't have a test. Is that correct? What about your brother and sister-in-law? Are they OK?

 

What was your impression of the way Princess handled health matters on the ship?

Neither my husband nor I..brother or sister in law have been tested.  When we returned testing in NY was very limited.  You needed to be a health care worker or serious ill.  My husband on Mar 20 started with temperature for 10 days, no congestion..his doctor was sure it was covid due to the amount of days of temp 101/102, plus fatigue.  March 30, I became very fatigued to the point of having trouble moving but no temperature and again, doctor said I could not be tested. By brother on March 22 had chills for two days and his wife coughing now for four weeks.They live in NYC.   My husband developed congestion April1 and is still coughing but now very loose and the doctor said it could last for 6 weeks.  Now we are trying to get tested for antibody in our blood, but that test is not available.  Remember NYC is dealing with 600/700 dying per day.  We live 10 minutes over city limits in suburbs but our little town has over 400 cases and 4 deaths.  It is mind boggling. Testing for seriously ill patients in hospitals and health care workers and first responders is first.  We are registered with a blood bank for testing and blood plasma donation as soon as the test is made available.

 

Regarding health matters on the ship.  First this is our 30+ cruise.  It was one of the cleanest ever.  Constant cleaning.  Constant reminder to cover sneezes, coughs.  No one got into dinner without purell and they were pretty strict about it and I never heard anyone complain..which I have seen before.  We were told to report to doctor if temperature, stomach ailments,or flu like symptoms,  etc. Never was told that there were people confined to room for flu..but you are never told that. We were reminded to us our own bathroom if possible..but I have heard this on princess my last two/three years. The patter also reminded people to wash hands.  Bars of soap was always available and hand towels constantly changed in the evening.  I also brought with me two canisters of wipes and five hand sanitizers that were always in pocket.  I rewiped my room after it was cleaned..also did that in hotel for the week prior cruise and on plane ride..tour buses..

 

As we sailed we watched in horror on tv, what was going on in the outside world and everyone was commenting how safe we were on this germ free ship. We filled out an additional health for on day three for wellington,,that is what we were told.  There were new added questions asking about travels to more southeast Asia countries and west coast of US.  When Princess first announced suspended travel we waited one whole day before the captain told us we were going to continue to Mar 21.  Two days later that changed and we turned around and went through the Cook Strait??.  After that we constantly received paper work from Australian Border Force and Australian Department of Health on our travel restrictions and all about covid and how to protect ourselves.  I still have all the flyers ..6 different ones.

 

Most passengers were afraid about getting off the ship and into the world of germs.  We honestly felt safe on board.  There was very limited people coughing or sneezing..something you always see after 5/7 days on a ship.  Were there a few shitheads..of course..like getting your food at the buffet and eating as you walked around.  We only shared our table at anytime twice.  Lovely Aussie couples and we all felt safe and concerned about going home. Australians were told to use Napier as last foreign port so they were asked to isolate for 10 more days once they got home.  International passengers were told to self isolate 14 once back home. 

 

What everyone was very surprised there was no temperature taking when we arrived at ship on March 8th, especially since it was delayed in leaving due to someone ill before and a total new cleaning being done on board. Even more shocked when we disembarked and no one again checked temperatures..Everyone was positive we were going to be checked getting off. I sat 10 hours at the airport with mostly passengers from our cruise ship and also the Ovation of the sea.  

 

Our travel agent told us how strict Australia would be regarding perscriptions and also health..absolutely nothing was ever asked for.I was actually very upset, I was expecting to feel "protected" by the Australian strict rules.  

 

If someone came off the prior cruise with covid than I would like to sue the health department for allowing us to board.  If someone was "just" sick..lets be real..that happens and I'm an adult and everyone knows that when you travel people do get sick sometimes.  

[By The Bay]

1 hour ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

I just saw an interview with the man in charge of the investigation and he made it very clear the investigation will be four months if not shorter. He doesn't believe a longer investigation would be of any use and has no intention of prolonging the investigation. 

There are three investigations into the Ruby Princess that I know of.

 

1.The NSW Police Inquiry. I have read that it will take from 3 to longer than 6 months depending on the reporter.

2. The Special Commission of Inquiry by Leading barrister Bret Walker SC. Time frame, 3-4 months.

3. The State Coroner will also be investigating. Time-frame not mentioned.

 

My bet is that the Special Commission of Inquiry will report first.

[Pushka]

Interesting article  I don't know the accuracy. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-carnival-cruise-coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR1d4n7ryPsKY7Lav_lAkjP7r4BkNFCS8anFCMOPRj2fapkYJSgaAML3V3g

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, BRANDEE said:

No survey sent to me , husband, brother, sister in law.  BTW..how many passengers got off the Ruby with confimed covid..3..33...600  The number changes with each story. 

They probably haven't sent the surveys out yet. Please let us know if and when you receive one.🙂