P&O Testing

[Jill85]

Just received an email saying that for our Aurora cruise going on the 26th August 2022 we are required to take a lateral flow test within two days of departure but do not need to provide a test certificate only to confirm a negative result as part of the pre-boarding health declaration.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Jill85

[Plugtheleak]

I just got a similar email about our cruise next month on Ventura. Strange they don't require any proof. Same situation with insurance just got asked did we have it? Could have lied but we didn't.

Seems P&O are very trusting.

[FangedRose]

Seems that P&O have realised that their previous policy of requiring a negative test certificate is useless in preventing covid from getting on board. As the certificate states "you likely do not have Covid at the time the test was taken" . You could have contracted it two or three days before, but not produced enough antibodies to register  Or, you could contract it on the journey down from a service station. Or, unscrupulous passengers could get somebody else to do the test for them.  The test certificates are a waste of time and money.  All of the 400 or 500 passengers who were in isolation at the end of Arcadia J212 yesterday all produced a negative test certificate before boarding.

[Yorkypete]

We have had an e-mail from P&O to inform us that we only need a lateral flow test done  two days prior to embarkation with a negative result. There will be no need to produce a test certificate but will be asked to confirm the test has been taken with a negative result. Good news?

[Billish]

Already geing discussed here

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2845326-po-lateral-flow-before-you-go/page/18/#comments

 

[tring]

1 hour ago, FangedRose said:

All of the 400 or 500 passengers who were in isolation at the end of Arcadia J212 yesterday all produced a negative test certificate before boarding.

 

 Were there really that number of people isolating - was it announced on the ship?  That must be about a quarter of all passengers on Arcadia, when she is full occupancy?  I must have missed comments about that.

Edited July 20, 2022 by tring

[FangedRose]

15 minutes ago, tring said:

 

 Were there really that number of people isolating - was it announced on the ship?  That must be about a quarter of all passengers on Arcadia, when she is full occupancy?  I must have missed comments about that.

Well, it is a bit of a guesstimate. But, the queue for disembarkation of isolation passengers stretched the length of the ship. They ran out of isolation balcony cabins, those already in balcony cabins stayed put, only those in sea view and inside were offered them, by Friday (four days before Southampton) there were none left. On my stretch of cabins (maybe 17) five or six were in isolation, and that's only the ones I glimpsed when putting my food tray out.  We were being ticked off a list as we disembarked, and the list covered five sides of A4 paper, in normal 12 point font. One quarter of the baggage hall was solely for covid passengers (we had been given yellow tags to put on our cases).

[tring]

6 minutes ago, FangedRose said:

Well, it is a bit of a guesstimate. But, the queue for disembarkation of isolation passengers stretched the length of the ship. They ran out of isolation balcony cabins, those already in balcony cabins stayed put, only those in sea view and inside were offered them, by Friday (four days before Southampton) there were none left. On my stretch of cabins (maybe 17) five or six were in isolation, and that's only the ones I glimpsed when putting my food tray out.  We were being ticked off a list as we disembarked, and the list covered five sides of A4 paper, in normal 12 point font. One quarter of the baggage hall was solely for covid passengers (we had been given yellow tags to put on our cases).

 

Thanks for the reply.  Oh dear, very bad news, and that would presumably not cover people who did not declare that they were feeling ill!  I have seen the other thread now.

 

[Bin man]

Were all these people tested on declaration of symptoms or were they put into isolation incase of developing covid ?

[FangedRose]

8 minutes ago, Bin man said:

Were all these people tested on declaration of symptoms or were they put into isolation incase of developing covid ?

If you reported symptoms you were told to stay in your cabin until a test could be done. I did my own test, but a nurse came and did their own test and confirmed the result. If one person in a cabin was positive everyone in the cabin was in put in isolation.

Edited July 20, 2022 by FangedRose

[Bin man]

Thankyou for quick reply .I wonder if herd immunity will ever come into it and let everyone just mingle 

[FangedRose]

5 minutes ago, Bin man said:

Thankyou for quick reply .I wonder if herd immunity will ever come into it and let everyone just mingle 

Well, unless you self reported that is what happened. There was no proactive "Track and Tracing", or pouncing on chronic coughers in the theatre etc. Totally relied on people being altruistic. 

[davecttr]

9 minutes ago, Bin man said:

Thankyou for quick reply .I wonder if herd immunity will ever come into it and let everyone just mingle 

I read recently that apparently with the latest version of Covid you can be reinfected 4 weeks after the initial infection. If this is true herd immunity won't work 😱

[tring]

26 minutes ago, davecttr said:

I read recently that apparently with the latest version of Covid you can be reinfected 4 weeks after the initial infection. If this is true herd immunity won't work 😱

 

I was thinking similar, though did not realise you could get it again within 4 weeks!  We have been away for most of a month and have missed a lot of that sort of thing.

 

At least, in general, people do not seem to be getting particularly ill with it, though some really vulnerable people will of course.  We still need to know what will happen as winter approaches though. 

 

 

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, Bin man said:

Thankyou for quick reply .I wonder if herd immunity will ever come into it and let everyone just mingle 

Maybe if it ever stops mutating... I know a couple of people who have had it three times so far...

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Maybe if it ever stops mutating... I know a couple of people who have had it three times so far...

That's just greedy.😉

[Triggertravel]

4 to 500 people in isolation on Arcadia s recent cruise????? Really  I’ve just come of that cruise . Could I please ask Where are people getting there information from  cos there was certainly no suggestion of that amount of cases as bars and both restaurants were pretty full . All entertainment venues and bars pretty full. I’ve certainly learnt that there is a hell of a lot mis leading information and scare mongering from people with zero facts . That I have read whilst being on this cruise. I have spoken to certain crew members about certain situations and believe me you couldn’t be further away from the truth with your facts and figures ?? I think they used to call it lazy journalism 

[Ardennais]

33 minutes ago, Triggertravel said:

4 to 500 people in isolation on Arcadia s recent cruise????? Really  I’ve just come of that cruise . Could I please ask Where are people getting there information from  cos there was certainly no suggestion of that amount of cases as bars and both restaurants were pretty full . All entertainment venues and bars pretty full. I’ve certainly learnt that there is a hell of a lot mis leading information and scare mongering from people with zero facts . That I have read whilst being on this cruise. I have spoken to certain crew members about certain situations and believe me you couldn’t be further away from the truth with your facts and figures ?? I think they used to call it lazy journalism 

Well FangedRose was also on the cruise so can’t be accused of having zero facts’.

 

It does show though that the ships are pretty good at keeping things quiet!
 

I didn’t hear of a single case on Enchanted Princess last month, but there could have been dozens for all I know. I wouldn’t have known of the significance of yellow labels on luggage. I suppose if you’re one of the unfortunate passengers who test positive, you have more an idea of what’s going on, but then again, perhaps not! 

[Mollag]

48 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Well FangedRose was also on the cruise so can’t be accused of having zero facts’.

 

It does show though that the ships are pretty good at keeping things quiet!
 

I didn’t hear of a single case on Enchanted Princess last month, but there could have been dozens for all I know. I wouldn’t have known of the significance of yellow labels on luggage. I suppose if you’re one of the unfortunate passengers who test positive, you have more an idea of what’s going on, but then again, perhaps not! 

It was exactly the same on Aurora in March nobody was told there was a problem but then a couple of hundred had to be offloaded to QV in Barbados, a day or two later I think it was Aruba we were in and initially the port health authority wouldn’t let anyone disembark because and I quote our marvellous Captain on one of the announcements we actually heard ‘ due to the worldwide increase in cases’ as we watched pax from Britannia get of as normal. Then 15 minutes later we were of to Barbados for ‘operational reasons’ but 30 minutes later it was all okay and everyone who wasn’t in isolation could go ashore couldn’t possibly think how this situation could change so much so quickly. Like Fanged Rose says unless you’re in isolation nobody else onboard is aware of any problem and people openly heard telling others we know we’ve got it but we’re not telling them as there was no compulsory testing after we had arrived in Barbados first time round can’t think why they never tested anymore🤷‍♂️

[FangedRose]

1 hour ago, Triggertravel said:

4 to 500 people in isolation on Arcadia s recent cruise????? Really  I’ve just come of that cruise . Could I please ask Where are people getting there information from  cos there was certainly no suggestion of that amount of cases as bars and both restaurants were pretty full . All entertainment venues and bars pretty full. I’ve certainly learnt that there is a hell of a lot mis leading information and scare mongering from people with zero facts . That I have read whilst being on this cruise. I have spoken to certain crew members about certain situations and believe me you couldn’t be further away from the truth with your facts and figures ?? I think they used to call it lazy journalism 

In phone calls with tablemates I was told that the MDR was deserted. The Palladium had blocked a third of the seats and there were still spare places, the daily programme (which we still got delivered), was very sparse with a lot of activities cut.  In general the ship was very quiet. Did you walk down the cabin corridors and counted how many tables were outside rooms? Each table indicated a covid cabin, and that did not include the isolation cabins behind the aft lifts on every floor which were full. Some had to isolate in inside cabins.

 

If you had seen the queue stretching from the Palladium to the doors of the mdr at 7.05am yesterday (we had been told not to leave cabins before 7am) wearing ship issues ffp3 masks you would have seen how many of us there were.

[Megabear2]

I believe that ships are not announcing cases anymore.  None were announced on Regal Princess 2 July sailing yet I was shown 50-60 suitcases awaiting passengers in Rome who were to be quarantined in hotels.  The cruise lines were a bit like King Canute with Omicron with a relentless tide they couldn't hold back and passengers who really didn't give a damn and just want to party.

 

As long as the cruise lines continue to play fair with those incapacitated and quarantined and more importantly nobody dies they'll gradually go their merry way and life will move on for them.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Megabear2

[jeanlyon]

So as I understand it, you don't even need to take a test, you just need to tell them you took a test and were negative?

[Britboys]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

So as I understand it, you don't even need to take a test, you just need to tell them you took a test and were negative?

This is the relevant section of the email I received Jean.

[Billish]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

So as I understand it, you don't even need to take a test, you just need to tell them you took a test and were negative?

In a nutshell, yes.

But, in all honesty, given that covid is now endemic,  P&O,  plus Norwegian, are just being practical. 

[jeanlyon]

Agree.  I think it's a sensible move frankly.