CDC protocols withdrawn

[GonzoWCS]

10 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

You absolutely get to pack up your things if you test positive.  You will isolate in a balcony room. You will have full range of all dining room options sent to your cabin. Adult beverages if desired. Princess  protocols are stricter than other lines and they have required masking indoors far longer than any other line. The passenger culture is much more amendable to actually following the rules. There are threads here with multiple first person accounts of what happens that clearly demonstrate Princess treats you well should you test positive while on their ships. 
 

If you want to see what happens with vaccination only just read the NCL, Celebrity and RCI news and forums. A complete disaster, cancelled & terminated cruises. 

Yes

[voljeep]

It's now time to abandon all testing of passengers - pre-cruise, during cruise, and post cruise.

 

protect yourself - make adult decisions - let others do the same

 

well, what about the crew - well what about them ?? - let the cruise lines protect them with vaccines, just like we did - double vax and boosted ...

 

so over all this "testing" bs  - what about the 2 days between testing... ah, nevermind - you're either with me or against me - and I really don't care which way you are.

 

you protect yourself if you wish, and I'll do the same - adults

[ebeluga]

10 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

You absolutely get to pack up your things if you test positive.  You will isolate in a balcony room. You will have full range of all dining room options sent to your cabin. Adult beverages if desired. Princess  protocols are stricter than other lines and they have required masking indoors far longer than any other line. The passenger culture is much more amendable to actually following the rules. There are threads here with multiple first person accounts of what happens that clearly demonstrate Princess treats you well should you test positive while on their ships. 
 

If you want to see what happens with vaccination only just read the NCL, Celebrity and RCI news and forums. A complete disaster, cancelled & terminated cruises. 

I cancelled my three Celebrity cruises after reading the threads that got a glimpse of people's sentiment about the protocols that are designed to protect the pax and crew.

[voljeep]

Just now, ebeluga said:

I cancelled my three Celebrity cruises after reading the threads that got a glimpse of people's sentiment about the protocols that are designed to protect the pax and crew.

Solid - you made an adult decision based on your unique situation and comfort level ...

[ChangeOrder]

28 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

I may be wrong, but I think on a B2B you're not tested in the terminal, you are tested the night before the end of the first segement of the B2B so you would still be on board the ship when the results come in.  Maybe somebody who has actually done B2Bs could confirm or deny my impression.
 

The previous posts were trying to figure that out too. Seems the results were mixed between testing the night before and testing outside in the terminal day-of. I haven't done a B2B in Covid times yet, so I have no idea how it will be in a few months. Frankly with how often things have changed over the past two years, I think we're all guessing at this point 😄

 

[USCcruisecrazy]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

It's now time to abandon all testing of passengers - pre-cruise, during cruise, and post cruise.

 

protect yourself - make adult decisions - let others do the same

 

well, what about the crew - well what about them ?? - let the cruise lines protect them with vaccines, just like we did - double vax and boosted ...

 

so over all this "testing" bs  - what about the 2 days between testing... ah, nevermind - you're either with me or against me - and I really don't care which way you are.

 

you protect yourself if you wish, and I'll do the same - adults

That's the real point...the 2 day time delay.  Daughter and Son in Law tested negative on a Thursday before Christmas and then tested positive the next day.  A few days later, wife and Mother in Law tested positive and I was negative.  Next day I had COVID.  Testing is just a feel good endeavor, but just like masks, it makes little difference in the spread of this virus, especially the Omicron variant. I'm 100% with you...make adult decisions.  Still stumped about someone that is vaccinated caring about what other's status is...and when all are vaccinated on the ship, should be no need for tests or masks unless you are obviously sick...no different than if you get Noro while on board.

[PrincessLuver]

On 1/18/2022 at 4:16 PM, mellon1 said:

 

Totally agree about getting back to normal and no more testing.  Just make everyone be vaccinated who is on the ship and that's it.  It is stressful to think about B2B2B2.... and having to possibly leave after looking forward to it all year, let alone to not being able to pack your stuff up if you do test positive.  

Masking, testing, social distancing, vaccinations is the normal now thanks to people who do not care........

[HaveDogWillTravel]

12 hours ago, ChangeOrder said:

The previous posts were trying to figure that out too. Seems the results were mixed between testing the night before and testing outside in the terminal day-of. I haven't done a B2B in Covid times yet, so I have no idea how it will be in a few months. Frankly with how often things have changed over the past two years, I think we're all guessing at this point 😄

 

Hi ChangeOrder hope you’re doing well. I’ve done a B2B on Ruby and was tested the last sea day. I personally know one other person who had the same experience on a different ship. I read the posts really carefully prior to my Nov B2B and was confident I’d be tested prior to getting off the ship as so many folks posted that is what happened to them. But you are correct that past practice may not predict future performance. My experience has been that Princess treats their passengers and crew well. Take care. 

[caribill]

16 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I may be wrong, but I think on a B2B you're not tested in the terminal, you are tested the night before the end of the first segement of the B2B so you would still be on board the ship when the results come in.  Maybe somebody who has actually done B2Bs could confirm or deny my impression.
 

 

Other threads have described different test procedures for B2B passengers. So what happened last week on one ship may not be what happens this week on the same ship or another one.

 

Different procedures described:

a) Meet the day before the end of the cruise and get tested on board.

b) Meet the morning of disembarkation and get tested on board.

c) Get tested on shore the morning of disembarkation

 

 

[caribill]

13 hours ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

Testing is just a feel good endeavor, but just like masks, it makes little difference in the spread of this virus, especially the Omicron variant. I'm 100% with you...make adult decisions.  Still stumped about someone that is vaccinated caring about what other's status is...and when all are vaccinated on the ship, should be no need for tests or masks unless you are obviously sick..

 

a) Testing two days before the cruise is not as valuable as testing the day of the cruise, but it will find some people who have an active case of Covid and should not cruise.

 

b) Even those who tested negative two days before the cruise (or even the day of the cruise) may have Covid but not enough to be detected yet.

 

c) People can have symptomless Covid and still be contagious. Thus the need for testing.

 

d) People who develop symptoms can be contagious a couple of days before the symptoms appear, thus the need for testing.

 

e) Even vaccinated people can catch (and spread) the virus, but will likely have a less serious case of it than if not having been vaccinated. Thus the need for testing.

[pris993]

Life goes on... glad CDC trusts the cruise lines to handle moving forward.  This is a step in the right direction.  We all have a choice if we do not like what is going on don't go.  Very simple.  I want less travel restrictions and controls not more. 

[Ride-The-Waves]

On 1/21/2022 at 12:28 PM, pris993 said:

Life goes on... glad CDC trusts the cruise lines to handle moving forward.  This is a step in the right direction.  We all have a choice if we do not like what is going on don't go.  Very simple.  I want less travel restrictions and controls not more. 

Wear your seatbelt!

[USCcruisecrazy]

On 1/21/2022 at 3:54 AM, caribill said:

 

a) Testing two days before the cruise is not as valuable as testing the day of the cruise, but it will find some people who have an active case of Covid and should not cruise.

 

b) Even those who tested negative two days before the cruise (or even the day of the cruise) may have Covid but not enough to be detected yet.

 

c) People can have symptomless Covid and still be contagious. Thus the need for testing.

 

d) People who develop symptoms can be contagious a couple of days before the symptoms appear, thus the need for testing.

 

e) Even vaccinated people can catch (and spread) the virus, but will likely have a less serious case of it than if not having been vaccinated. Thus the need for testing.

I agree 100% with everything you said...except for the need for testing.  Testing is a waste of funds.  Testing is a snap shot of 1 moment in time.  ROE should be you must be vaccinated (so it's very unlikely you die from COVID) and unless you are showing signs/symptoms of any illness (not just potentially COVID) come on board.  If you show symptoms while on board, you test and if needed quarantine.   

[caribill]

2 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

 

IMO, the other way to really sail safely is to require pax to be vax, masked and tested. As the CDC rightly pointed out, cruising is a high risk activity. 

 

Being on land in the USA is also a high risk activity. In our area, positivity rates from Covid testing are around 37%.

 

On some Princess cruises, 100% of the passengers were tested during the cruise with positivity rates 2% or less.

[caribill]

2 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

 

That's why ships don't bother to test close contacts. It would lower the positivity rate, but add more infected to the numbers reported to port authorities.

 

 

 

Also since once someone is exposed it takes several days for any infection to be detected by the testing, testing close contacts would be unlikely to detect anything unless the testing took place several days after exposure. By then the cruise may have ended.

[ebeluga]

Wearing a seat belt does not guarantee that one does not get injured or prevent death 100% of time in accidents but it does not mean it is not an effective safety measure and therefore should abandon it although some people may seem to think so.

[smbt1]

On 1/24/2022 at 4:49 AM, USCcruisecrazy said:

I agree 100% with everything you said...except for the need for testing.  Testing is a waste of funds.  Testing is a snap shot of 1 moment in time.  ROE should be you must be vaccinated (so it's very unlikely you die from COVID) and unless you are showing signs/symptoms of any illness (not just potentially COVID) come on board.  If you show symptoms while on board, you test and if needed quarantine.   

While testing is only at that point it serves 2 very valuable purposes when it comes to cruising.

 

1. it identifies and removes a percentage of active cases. Reducing the number of potential initial sources of spread on board ship.

 

2. It helps to estimate the number of undetected cases that might have made it on board. 

Edited January 25, 2022 by smbt1

[USCcruisecrazy]

18 minutes ago, smbt1 said:

While testing is only at that point it serves 2 very valuable purposes when it comes to cruising.

 

1. it identifies and removes a percentage of active cases. Reducing the number of potential initial sources of spread on board ship.

 

2. It helps to estimate the number of undetected cases that might have made it on board. 

Yes, I agree it can eliminate a few potential cases.  But, if safety is the biggest concern, then do the 10 minute tests at the dock prior to boarding the ship.  That would eliminate even more.  Problem is that if you had to wait until then for assurance of boarding, many more people would just sit out...it's too risky.  So, the cruise lines have instituted something that sounds great but in reality only marginally decreases the chance of covid getting on board.  And since the science tends to show Omicron (98% of all cases in the US) spreads regardless of masking or not unless it's a fitted N-95, if even 1 person comes on board with the virus although they tested negative, the spread will be inevitable.  

[smbt1]

34 minutes ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

Yes, I agree it can eliminate a few potential cases.  But, if safety is the biggest concern, then do the 10 minute tests at the dock prior to boarding the ship.  That would eliminate even more.  Problem is that if you had to wait until then for assurance of boarding, many more people would just sit out...it's too risky.  So, the cruise lines have instituted something that sounds great but in reality only marginally decreases the chance of covid getting on board.  And since the science tends to show Omicron (98% of all cases in the US) spreads regardless of masking or not unless it's a fitted N-95, if even 1 person comes on board with the virus although they tested negative, the spread will be inevitable.  

The process for Hawaii worked well. Some were caught during the tests up to 48 hours before. Some caught during testing at pier before boarding.

Restrictions reduced after testing on day 3.

 

No word if there were any positives on day 3. But if so the number was apparently pretty low.

 

There certainly were some on the protest and at the pier.

 

The two additional testing cycle that were required by Hawaii probably cost the cruise line between 30 to 50 dollars per passenger.

 

Would like to see a link to that study or data source. Data I have seen indicates that even with Omicron, where the size of virus dose needed for infection is much smaller than that previous strains, good masking practices are still effective in reducing spread. While they can not guarantee that anyone one person will not catch it, they still do impact R0 in an environment vs unmasked. After all the goal of the cruise lines are to keep spread to an containable level, not prevent every case, but instead to keep the number of cases as low as possible.

Edited January 25, 2022 by smbt1

[USCcruisecrazy]

1 minute ago, smbt1 said:

The process for Hawaii worked well. Some were caught during the tests up to 48 hours before. Some caught during testing at pier before boarding.

Restrictions reduced after testing on day 3.

 

No word if there were any positives on day 3. But if so the number was apparently pretty low.

 

There certainly were some on the protest and at the pier.

 

The two additional testing cycle that were required by Hawaii probably cost the cruise line between 30 to 50 dollars per passenger.

So, the Hawaii cruise required testing at the Port?  If so, I can see much more value in that even though the stress to the cruise passenger must have been pretty high.

[USCcruisecrazy]

3 minutes ago, smbt1 said:

The process for Hawaii worked well. Some were caught during the tests up to 48 hours before. Some caught during testing at pier before boarding.

Restrictions reduced after testing on day 3.

 

No word if there were any positives on day 3. But if so the number was apparently pretty low.

 

There certainly were some on the protest and at the pier.

 

The two additional testing cycle that were required by Hawaii probably cost the cruise line between 30 to 50 dollars per passenger.

 My initial objection was to testing 48 hours out and thinking that was a sufficient way to mitigate the spread on a ship.  I find the 48 hours a waste of funds, but a test before walking onto the ship may prove valuable and could also be a great way to eliminate mask usage in all or most instances.

Edited January 25, 2022 by USCcruisecrazy

[smbt1]

2 minutes ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

So, the Hawaii cruise required testing at the Port?  If so, I can see much more value in that even though the stress to the cruise passenger must have been pretty high.

the requirements were testing up to 2 days before, testing at port, testing on board on day 3, 2 days before arriving at Hawaii.

[USCcruisecrazy]

4 minutes ago, smbt1 said:

the requirements were testing up to 2 days before, testing at port, testing on board on day 3, 2 days before arriving at Hawaii.

Interesting that they used a different process.  I guess 2 days out would help alleviate stress by the cruiser, but not sure of the actual value since you tested at the port before getting on board.  Did you have any port calls during those days before Hawaii?  If not, if everyone tested negative all 3 times, did they allow less strict masking since it would seem by day 3 no positives could have snuck on board.  Just curious.  Thanks. 

[smbt1]

6 minutes ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

Interesting that they used a different process.  I guess 2 days out would help alleviate stress by the cruiser, but not sure of the actual value since you tested at the port before getting on board.  Did you have any port calls during those days before Hawaii?  If not, if everyone tested negative all 3 times, did they allow less strict masking since it would seem by day 3 no positives could have snuck on board.  Just curious.  Thanks. 

Yes test all 3.  During the first 3 days no ordering at the bars, waiter or app ordering only, distancing in entertainment venues with every other row or group of seats marked off, etc.

 

After test on day 3 bars opened, seating restrictions removed.

 

Masking, including sip and cover announcements remained the same.

 

No port stops until Hawaii on day 5. Everyone had to complete hawaii healthy travels form online before ship reached Hawaii.

 

Testing at pier added after first Hawaii cruise, probably due to number of cases found during on board testing. Since en both Princess and HAL cruises have added testing a pier for Hawaii cruises. The first cruise did not.

[USCcruisecrazy]

1 minute ago, smbt1 said:

Yes test all 3.  During the first 3 days no ordering at the bars, waiter or app ordering only, distancing in entertainment venues with every other row or group of seats marked off, etc.

 

After test on day 3 bars opened, seating restrictions removed.

 

Masking, including sip and cover announcements remained the same.

 

No port stops until Hawaii on day 5. Everyone had to complete hawaii healthy travels form online before ship reached Hawaii.

 

Testing at pier added after first Hawaii cruise, probably due to number of cases found during on board testing. Since en both Princess and HAL cruises have added testing a pier for Hawaii cruises. The first cruise did not.

Thanks for that info.  I find it very interesting.  I'm curious if Princess would institute the day of testing and perhaps eliminate the 2 days out.  that may help limit the virus getting on board and help loosen some of the on board restrictions if found to be effective.