If we test positive on the ship...

[reallyitsmema]

5 minutes ago, tmoore4075 said:

I can guarantee you there were plenty of people on my Quantum sailing the week of June 20th who had covid (judging by the coughing) and weren't reporting it. A lot of it is on the honor system. We didn't test positive until the night we got home, which means we were probably passing it around the ship without knowing it. I tested negative a couple days before when I had a scratchy throat. There is no clear answer for you. People who say #'s on ships are low, no...reported #'s are low. Again, I was negative on day 5 and then flew home and tested on which was day 7 and was positive. So I had it on the ship but am not included in their numbers and neither are any people who ignored their symptoms. Cases everywhere seem to be going up everywhere. So enjoy the trip and try to relax and take the precautions you feel comfortable with. I agree with taking some at-home tests with you and then make your decision. Had I tested positive on the ship at the time, I probably would have said something but looking back now and hearing some of the horror stories of people dealing with quarantine and getting off the ship, I'm not sure. To be fair, some people had great experiences too but I always expect the worst. All these rules that cruise lines put in, won't do much if everyone isn't following them. So if you get it and feel like following the rules, just remember there will be plenty of people who won't be. 

 

You just have to ignore the constant statements that the numbers are low or if you get sick, it is just like a cold.  I tested positive on Quantum more than 7 weeks ago and I am still not back to normal.  I quarantined on the ship and then continued in a hotel in Seattle before finally flying home to the east coast.  My DH tested negative on the ship by home test in our cabin and by antigen test in medical but ended up positive 7 days after getting home.  He did not stay with me in Seattle and flew home on our scheduled flight.  My quarantine wasn't a nightmare but I didn't like being stuck by myself, so far from home, at least I only had a domestic flight home.

 

Many on my rollcall also tested positive but did not report to medical.  Many flew home with symptoms.  If people continue to not follow the guidelines, the spread will continue.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Eh, disagree.  You're at the supermarket for a short time, and you're not sitting down /lingering near people.  On a cruise you're more contained, and you're more likely to stay near people for 15 minutes +.  That's why Covid went through the schools -- students sit in small classrooms for 90 minutes at a time; it's a recipe for catching the virus.  

Maybe not a supermarket, but if you go to a restaurant, the movies, sporting events, and some workplaces, the amount of possible exposure is similar in my opinion.  

[volk904]

I would not let the worry ruin your vacation.  Since you are on the Symphony you don’t have to deal with and Canada required quarantine.  
no doubt there is omicron cases on every cruise but the know numbers are not that high. As posted there is probably people who self test and don’t turn themselves in. If you do test positive by the ship they will put you in a quarantine cabin. Your cabin mates will be tested if negative they stay in your cabin. If you are in a quarantine cabin Royal will provide room service for meals and drink no extra charge.  If you are flying home you will need to complete your quarantine at a hotel or you can drive home. Royal will pay toward hotel. It was $250 per day in Vancouver.  Just get travel insurance and don’t worry about it.  Final note if you do test positive make sure to get a doc from the ships Med on when you tested positive for Ins purposes.   

 

[MommaBear55]

On 7/11/2022 at 1:13 PM, HelenaCruiser2012 said:

Thanks Tlbecker1, so if positive on the ship can we disembark with everyone else and go about our lives then??  Not that we would but we could even get on a plane?

You could get on a plane, but should you?

[rrraydon]

On 7/11/2022 at 3:28 PM, Quirky Cruiser said:

We traveled on the Harmony last month and my youngest son tested positive on the re-entry test for unvaccinated children on our last sea day. He was completely asymptomatic. If you test positive on the ship, as of today's policies (I will say this because I think they are very fluid at this point) you would be quarantined in a different location on the ship. You do not disembark with the regular passengers. You are escorted off the ship with the rest of your party onto the dock along with the rest of the isolated passengers and family members. Immigration is on the dock and they do have a list of people, but they don't ask anything (or at least in our case) about how you are traveling home. Royal will provide you with a letter that explains what they will cover as far as lodging, transportation, meals, etc and how you will be reimbursed. We lived within driving distance, so we were escorted to the parking garage, but nobody really follows you once you are off the ship. At that point, it is up to you to figure out what you will do and when you will travel. I guess it would be the honor system. Also, we have cruised many times in the past and while we used to have to put our information as to how we were traveling to and from the port, we didn't have to on this last cruise. Try to take a deep breath and realize that Covid is everywhere now and not just on cruise ships. You have just as good of a chance catching it at the supermarket. It's just a risk you have to assume, but don't let it ruin your cruise thinking about it. September is two months away and honestly, lots can happen in that timeframe...

Yesssss......

[Ashland]

What happens if you're in a foreign country doing a few pre-cruise days and you test positive on the proctored test just before you board? 

 

How do you notify RCI and what happens then?

[mek]

On 7/11/2022 at 2:01 PM, Tatka said:

 

Trust me, there is nothing stressful about cruising now. Maybe this test to get on cruise. Have a great cruise. Don't think about Covid. Just keep reasonable precautions.

Unless a person lives close enough to drive to the cruise port - everything, IMO, is stressful about cruising.  Getting a test 2 days prior to departure is a PITA - especially if you like to go 2 days early.

Flying is a mess.

After you have jumped through all of the hoops to get on board, there is the nagging possibility of testing positive on the ship and being forced to leave a nice cabin and balcony and quarantined to an OV cabin.

Then if you do test positive on a cruise, you have to figure out how to get home w/o possibly infecting other people.

Fully vaccinated including 2 boosters - not at all concerned about getting Covid , but I am concerned about having a crappy vacation.

Edited July 13, 2022 by mek

[Tatka]

14 minutes ago, mek said:

Unless a person lives close enough to drive to the cruise port - everything, IMO, is stressful about cruising.  Getting a test 2 days prior to departure is a PITA - especially if you like to go 2 days early.

Flying is a mess.

After you have jumped through all of the hoops to get on board, there is the nagging possibility of testing positive on the ship and being forced to leave a nice cabin and balcony and quarantined to an OV cabin.

Then if you do test positive on a cruise, you have to figure out how to get home w/o possibly infecting other people.

Fully vaccinated including 2 boosters - not at all concerned about getting Covid , but I am concerned about having a crappy vacation.

Who will test you on the ship?
There is no testing unless you request it.

 

When I responded I meant time on the ship.

 

Flying of course could be a problem. That’s why we drive. Even to Florida.

We did go through pre cruise tests on  6 out of 7 cruises after restart. If I had to fly I’d take proctored test with me.

[Jasukkie]

From my experience catching Covid onboard Oasis, Royal does not want you to report for testing. They certainly will not hunt you down. They also will not follow your progress once you leave. We did take advantage of the hotel and meals offer so as not to spread it further. It took two months but they did follow through with reimbursement.

 

[ace2542]

16 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

Many on my rollcall also tested positive but did not report to medical.  Many flew home with symptoms.  If people continue to not follow the guidelines, the spread will continue.

Maybe you should have snitched on the people on the roll if being positive was discussed whilst onboard the ship. I can't believe the onboard meetup was not contact traced

[ace2542]

4 hours ago, Jasukkie said:

From my experience catching Covid onboard Oasis, Royal does not want you to report for testing. They certainly will not hunt you down. They also will not follow your progress once you leave. We did take advantage of the hotel and meals offer so as not to spread it further. It took two months but they did follow through with reimbursement.

 

They are not even that fussy about the testing. My experiene is of NCL. I did not fake our tests but they had no way of known the English tests where genuine. Then again I suppose that sort of thing would be very hard to check upon with european GDPR regulations and time difference.

[mek]

10 hours ago, Tatka said:

Who will test you on the ship?
There is no testing unless you request it.

 

When I responded I meant time on the ship.

 

Flying of course could be a problem. That’s why we drive. Even to Florida.

We did go through pre cruise tests on  6 out of 7 cruises after restart. If I had to fly I’d take proctored test with me.

Well, I plan to take some of the test kits I got from the government with us and if we feel unwell and test positive we will remain in our cabin - we can sit on our balcony when the room is serviced - but there is the problem - will we be reported if someone realizes we haven't left for several days?

I'm not the least bit worried about Covid on the ship - I simply do not want to be sent to a quarantine cabin.  I can be responsible and remain in my cabin, if necessary.

 

Also, my husband is disabled and can't sit in a car for the amount of time it would take us to drive 1,000 miles to Ft Lauderdale and honestly, I have no desire to do that either.

Edited July 13, 2022 by mek

[reallyitsmema]

11 minutes ago, mek said:

Well, I plan to take some of the test kits I got from the government with us and if we feel unwell and test positive we will remain in our cabin - we can sit on our balcony when the room is serviced - but there is the problem - will we be reported if someone realizes we haven't left for several days?

I'm not the least bit worried about Covid on the ship - I simply do not want to be sent to a quarantine cabin.  I can be responsible and remain in my cabin, if necessary.

 

Also, my husband is disabled and can't sit in a car for the amount of time it would take us to drive 1,000 miles to Ft Lauderdale and honestly, I have no desire to do that either.

 

I was allowed to quarantine in my suite because I tested positive towards the end of my cruise.  They would not allow my husband to stay with me unless he was going to quarantine with me for the required 5 days.  Since he was testing negative and was going to fly home without me, they provided a balcony cabin for him to stay in.

 

If you are in an accessible cabin because of your husband's disability, they would most likely allow you to stay there.  They told me I was moving at first but I told them I could not go to an inside cabin.  

 

As far as driving instead of quarantining, that is a personal choice.  We looked into it but we were sailing from Seattle and driving back to the Boston area would have taken almost five days.  I was too sick to do that and I wanted my husband to stay negative if at all possible.  Had we been sailing from Florida, we likely would have driven home.  

 

If you do end up positive and try to self quarantine, it will really depend on the cabin steward and whether they turn you in or not.

[Sunshine3601]

48 minutes ago, mek said:

Well, I plan to take some of the test kits I got from the government with us and if we feel unwell and test positive we will remain in our cabin - we can sit on our balcony when the room is serviced - but there is the problem - will we be reported if someone realizes we haven't left for several days?

I'm not the least bit worried about Covid on the ship - I simply do not want to be sent to a quarantine cabin.  I can be responsible and remain in my cabin, if necessary.

 

Also, my husband is disabled and can't sit in a car for the amount of time it would take us to drive 1,000 miles to Ft Lauderdale and honestly, I have no desire to do that either.

Reports are that room stewards are to report people that do not leave their cabin for extended period of time.   

Plus if you do test positive, why would want to possibly expose steward to clean your room.   The poor crew doesn't want to go into quarantine for a week either.

On one of recent cruises may DH would be at casino late at night and sleep in.  One day I was bringing him something to eat as he was having a lazy sea day napping and listening to his music on balcony and room steward asked me several times if he was OK.  

[mil76]

13 hours ago, Ashland said:

What happens if you're in a foreign country doing a few pre-cruise days and you test positive on the proctored test just before you board? 

 

How do you notify RCI and what happens then?

 

The short answer is you are on your own. 

 

Last month we did a week in Europe prior to our Baltic cruise out of Copenhagen.  We tested prior to boarding and both my wife and I were positive.  We called Royal to let them know, and they immediately cancelled our cruise, and that was basically it as far as any support from them.  We did get our refund within a week, so I think their goal was to cut ties as quickly as possible.  If you are expecting support from Royal if you get Covid, the key is to get on the boat before you test positive.

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, mil76 said:

 

The short answer is you are on your own. 

 

Last month we did a week in Europe prior to our Baltic cruise out of Copenhagen.  We tested prior to boarding and both my wife and I were positive.  We called Royal to let them know, and they immediately cancelled our cruise, and that was basically it as far as any support from them.  We did get our refund within a week, so I think their goal was to cut ties as quickly as possible.  If you are expecting support from Royal if you get Covid, the key is to get on the boat before you test positive.

What % was your refund?  How hard was it to then change your flight home and when did you fly home?

I'm not expecting any help from RCI if I test positive just before boarding. 

[mil76]

27 minutes ago, Ashland said:

What % was your refund?  How hard was it to then change your flight home and when did you fly home?

I'm not expecting any help from RCI if I test positive just before boarding. 

Full refund.  Originally they tried to keep our deposit, but the wife got that cleared up.  We had to go across the bridge to Malmo Sweden to quarantine since we couldn't find a hotel room in Copenhagen last minute.  Our sons went on the cruise without us since they had Covid while at college weeks before and tested negative, so after our quarantine (and testing negative) we flew to Santorini for 5 days and then flew back to meet them in Stockholm for the original flights back.  Booked insurance for the trip since I had a feeling something like this would happen, so we should get reimbursed for the quarantine part of the trip.  Our policy also said it would cover changes to the flights, but we decided to salvage a vacation out of the nightmare so didn't need to go down that path.  This is the only time I have ever done insurance on a trip in my life, but with this new super-contagious variant and the requirement to test negative to board, it was well worth it.

[Ashland]

1 hour ago, mil76 said:

Full refund.  Originally they tried to keep our deposit, but the wife got that cleared up.  We had to go across the bridge to Malmo Sweden to quarantine since we couldn't find a hotel room in Copenhagen last minute.  Our sons went on the cruise without us since they had Covid while at college weeks before and tested negative, so after our quarantine (and testing negative) we flew to Santorini for 5 days and then flew back to meet them in Stockholm for the original flights back.  Booked insurance for the trip since I had a feeling something like this would happen, so we should get reimbursed for the quarantine part of the trip.  Our policy also said it would cover changes to the flights, but we decided to salvage a vacation out of the nightmare so didn't need to go down that path.  This is the only time I have ever done insurance on a trip in my life, but with this new super-contagious variant and the requirement to test negative to board, it was well worth it.

Thanks...sounds like actually everything worked out well in the long run.

[ReneeFLL]

8 hours ago, mek said:

Well, I plan to take some of the test kits I got from the government with us and if we feel unwell and test positive we will remain in our cabin - we can sit on our balcony when the room is serviced - but there is the problem - will we be reported if someone realizes we haven't left for several days?

I'm not the least bit worried about Covid on the ship - I simply do not want to be sent to a quarantine cabin.  I can be responsible and remain in my cabin, if necessary.

 

Also, my husband is disabled and can't sit in a car for the amount of time it would take us to drive 1,000 miles to Ft Lauderdale and honestly, I have no desire to do that either.

There's a possibility that you could spread it to the cabin attendant and others. Do you only care about yourself and not others knowing you have covid? How do you plan on getting food? If in quarantine they give you free room service and free internet. If you go out for food do you plan on wearing a properly fitting N95 mask? Since you live in Florida and are retired taking a replacement cruise wouldn't be that hard.

[mek]

2 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

There's a possibility that you could spread it to the cabin attendant and others. Do you only care about yourself and not others knowing you have covid? How do you plan on getting food? If in quarantine they give you free room service and free internet. If you go out for food do you plan on wearing a properly fitting N95 mask? Since you live in Florida and are retired taking a replacement cruise wouldn't be that hard.

No - I live in Cincinnati,  OH.  If I lived in Florida I probably wouldn't be as stressed out about this October cruise.

[mek]

2 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

There's a possibility that you could spread it to the cabin attendant and others. Do you only care about yourself and not others knowing you have covid? How do you plan on getting food? If in quarantine they give you free room service and free internet. If you go out for food do you plan on wearing a properly fitting N95 mask? Since you live in Florida and are retired taking a replacement cruise wouldn't be that hard.

Yes I do care about others and probably should just give up on this topic because my opinions on where Covid is now compared to where it was two years ago will only get me in hot water.

I have to make final payment by Friday - for a cruise I originally booked in the fall of 2019 with a NRD and the money is long gone - not sure I want to throw more money at a cruise that has this many obstacles.

I'm not sure it's worth the stress.  There are  many more options for travel that don't require people to jump through so many hoops.