Covid outbreak on the Ruby

[caribill]

9 hours ago, portiemom said:

 I actually pushed the close door button and said sorry this one is full as people were rushing over.

 

What? Is this true?

 

You found a "close door" button that actually worked on a Princess elevator?

[caribill]

5 hours ago, dog said:

 I agree after observing the spread on the Diamond in Tokyo with all quarantined for 2 weeks , tells us keeping positive cases on-board is not controlling the spread.
 

 

As I remember it, there was very little spread among the quarantined Diamond Princess passengers.

 

What happened is that the passengers were not all tested when first placed in quarantine. Day by day they tested some more passengers for the first time and in doing so found cases of Covid-19.  It was not like they tested everyone initially and then found later negative passengers turned into positive ones.

 

The only spread between cabins I remember is when two couples in adjoining balcony cabins visited each other with one couple infecting the other.

[IJustWantToGo36]

22 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

As I remember it, there was very little spread among the quarantined Diamond Princess passengers.

 

What happened is that the passengers were not all tested when first placed in quarantine. Day by day they tested some more passengers for the first time and in doing so found cases of Covid-19.  It was not like they tested everyone initially and then found later negative passengers turned into positive ones.

 

The only spread between cabins I remember is when two couples in adjoining balcony cabins visited each other with one couple infecting the other.

IS this recent on Diamond or back in 2020?

[MissP22]

12 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Only in certain parts of the country. 

I'll take my chances thank you.

[dog]

9 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

In isolation. Not wandering around the ship. And their close contacts are tested daily and not allowed to leave their cabins unmasked, nor eat or drink outside their cabin. And yet new passengers who haven’t been tested for as many as six days and may have flown to San Francisco and just stood in line talking to each other on Sunday for hours while boarding the ship are running around unmasked.
 

In transits are the least of the issues. 

That is good to know how things are working now.

 

take care.

[dickinson]

4 hours ago, IJustWantToGo36 said:

IS this recent on Diamond or back in 2020?

 

2020

[dickinson]

@Optotronics I think it is deplorable that Princess has not checked on you!  They should have been testing your wife to see if she ultimately caught it from you.  They also should be testing you too.  Just because five days pass from the beginning of quarantine does not mean you are no longer contagious.  With no testing of you it means you COULD (not necessarily would be) still be contagious as you fly home.

 

I wish you well and a speedy recovery.

[FritzG]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

What? Is this true?

 

You found a "close door" button that actually worked on a Princess elevator?

They worked on Enchanted, and once there were 8 people in the elevator I quickly closed the door if it stopped on another floor.  

 

[justafem]

On 3/29/2022 at 3:47 PM, Daniel A said:

I'm just curious.  How many of the people on any cruise ship's quarantine quarters starved to death?  Is it really necessary to break the Covid rules so one can be Spiderman or a Mutant Ninja Turtle?  After you've left the Covid passageway, how many people can you infect after your visit?

 

You would be much more of a hero if you were to rappel from a helicopter and winch up your loved one to get them out of the horrid conditions they're suffering under... 🪂  🚁  🥰 

Well, when we were quarantined on the Grand princess Feb 2020 cruise, we ALL lost weight.  

 

I'm completely empathizing with the people currently quarantined.  In fact, I'm a bit, well, tight, remembering our ordeal.   

[Sunwanabe]

6 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

It seriously is hard on the crew right now. 

If customers are not getting the expected service due to staffing that's a major problem. Or is this the new normal? Pay and accept. 

[USCcruisecrazy]

13 hours ago, paradiselivin1 said:

Good lord ~ let it go. As if there are no morons where you live. 

Besides, many, if not most, of those are migrants from the North or Midwest!!

[DeeniEncinitas]

6 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

They are sailing the Regatta out of LA this year. I booked a September sailing but there are many earlier ones. 

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

we were on the Riviera out of Miami doing a 20 day cruise 2/19-3/8. 
Denise

[Level six]

6 minutes ago, Sunwanabe said:

If customers are not getting the expected service due to staffing that's a major problem. Or is this the new normal? Pay and accept. 

They were definitely short staffed on the Majestic at the beginning of March. I will give them one more chance, maybe.....then I will decide if Princess deserves my money or not.  I will not pay and accept. 

[USCcruisecrazy]

1 hour ago, dickinson said:

 

2020

Things have drastically changed since 2020.  Cruise lines like all others have a better understanding of the virus.  Besides the fact that each new strain has gotten weaker even if more communicable. Plus people have the option for vaccines and treatments (in the rarer cases that still exist of hospitalization) are available.  Cruising has adapted and will continue to change as seen best for the majority of their customers.  There will always be a few that are fearful...wonder how many feared the flu and Noro and the other diseases that travel the seven seas!!

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by USCcruisecrazy

[RNRcruisers]

I love Princess but it is very disappointing reading this thread. I don't understand why they have dropped the mask mandate, no sense at all. And my biggest worry when we took our January cruise was if we were to contract covid on the cruise - I see that was a valid worry. Back then the omicrom variant was rampant and that made cruising risky but at least there were a lot of precautions, most cruisers were following them, and we felt relatively safe on the cruise. This is a whole new story going on now.

[DeeniEncinitas]

7 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

It seriously is hard on the crew right now. 

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

Our steward was wonderful. They were always out by 8 am with their stuff ready to start cleaning. I asked Hector “I don’t see another person helping you?” He said oh no it is just me and. I said how many rooms do you do! 17!!!!

OMG🥲 Such a hard worker. Our favorite Bartender way up by Tradewinds (OUTSIDE FRESH AIR AND AWAY FROM PEOPLE) I told him about our steward and he said they are way short staff!! He holds down 3 other areas also by himself!

I felt so bad for the staff!!

A person a women (in charge of the housekeeping)we saw actually yelling at our steward for not being fast enough outside our cabin when we came back from breakfast! My husband said enough!! He’s working too damn hard and you get in and help! You are not a good person if character to hold a position like this!!

We complained with front office and so what do they do? Send flowers!

[JimmyVWine]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

As I remember it, there was very little spread among the quarantined Diamond Princess passengers.

 

What happened is that the passengers were not all tested when first placed in quarantine. Day by day they tested some more passengers for the first time and in doing so found cases of Covid-19.  It was not like they tested everyone initially and then found later negative passengers turned into positive ones.

 

The only spread between cabins I remember is when two couples in adjoining balcony cabins visited each other with one couple infecting the other.

This is correct.  There was a very extensive study of the Diamond event done after-the-fact (it can be found online) that concluded, among other things, that room-to-room ventilation systems did NOT spread the virus and there were no known instances of crew-to-passenger interaction with the crew delivering things to  people confined to their cabins that caused a spread.  Back in the early days of Covid, these types of pathways were rumored to be problematic, but proved not to be.

[capriccio]

We had a discussion with our MDR wait staff about restaffing the ships on our early January CB cruise. They explained some of the challenges in bringing more staff on board. 

• many former staff have found other jobs
• many former staff live in countries where vaccination distribution is not as robust as in the US
• the hiring process by contracting companies takes time
• all cruise lines are facing the same hiring challenges and competing for the same personnel
• once hired there is a training period that varies in length depending upon the position
• the cruise line's covid quarantine requirements for new staff on board

This wasn't an excuse for a lack of staff on that ship because the CB had an overabundance of staff since it was sailing at 33% capacity and had 100 more staff than passengers (1080 to less than 980).

 

[Sunwanabe]

6 minutes ago, capriccio said:

We had a discussion with our MDR wait staff about restaffing the ships on our early January CB cruise. They explained some of the challenges in bringing more staff on board. 

• many former staff have found other jobs
• many former staff live in countries where vaccination distribution is not as robust as in the US
• the hiring process by contracting companies takes time
• all cruise lines are facing the same hiring challenges and competing for the same personnel
• once hired there is a training period that varies in length depending upon the position
• the cruise line's covid quarantine requirements for new staff on board

This wasn't an excuse for a lack of staff on that ship because the CB had an overabundance of staff since it was sailing at 33% capacity and had 100 more staff than passengers (1080 to less than 980).

 

Like many industries, labour shortages. I guess we'll see how bad it becomes as capacity increases along with more complaints. 

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

There will always be a few that are fearful...wonder how many feared the flu and Noro and the other diseases that travel the seven seas!!

 

Yes!! We've cruised 25+ times and I caught a "cold" on every single cruise. Mask wearing is my new normal.

[dog]

12 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Yes!! We've cruised 25+ times and I caught a "cold" on every single cruise. Mask wearing is my new normal.

Sorry to hear that.

 

30+ cruises for me, never sick.  Masks next cruise to keep it that way, I hope.

[Level six]

21 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Yes!! We've cruised 25+ times and I caught a "cold" on every single cruise. Mask wearing is my new normal.

Same here, 30+ and sick every single time with a cold except in November 2021 on the Grand for 15 days.  Masked the whole time and only 600 passengers!  I will always mask on a cruise from now on in the theater

 

[arizonaperson]

1 hour ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

Our steward was wonderful. They were always out by 8 am with their stuff ready to start cleaning. I asked Hector “I don’t see another person helping you?” He said oh no it is just me and. I said how many rooms do you do! 17!!!!

OMG🥲 Such a hard worker. Our favorite Bartender way up by Tradewinds (OUTSIDE FRESH AIR AND AWAY FROM PEOPLE) I told him about our steward and he said they are way short staff!! He holds down 3 other areas also by himself!

I felt so bad for the staff!!

A person a women (in charge of the housekeeping)we saw actually yelling at our steward for not being fast enough outside our cabin when we came back from breakfast! My husband said enough!! He’s working too damn hard and you get in and help! You are not a good person if character to hold a position like this!!

We complained with front office and so what do they do? Send flowers!

Pre Covid cabin stewards had 17 cabins on average. Usually an assistant sometimes.

 Yelling / raised voice in the hallway though by someone in charge definitely not good and glad you called them out on it ,they should’ve kept that private. 

 Not sure what your Crew/passenger load was , but that sounds pretty normal as far as cabin attendants. Some passengers are not having twice daily service either. Yes most of the crew on Princess work extremely hard.

Edited March 31, 2022 by arizonaperson
Oops

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, FritzG said:

They worked on Enchanted, and once there were 8 people in the elevator I quickly closed the door if it stopped on another floor.  

 

That's why they have chimes and lights so you'll know which elevator is coming next. 😂

[jovisoul]

We were on the Ruby 2/25 to 3/12. We had to have a negative test 2 days prior to boarding. Then we had a test at the dock before we were allowed to board and then had another one two days later. I am surprised they were so laxed for the return sailing to SF. They did drop the mask mandate on 3/1, but the casino required masks all the time and there was no smoking in the casino the whole 15 days.