Grand Princess Delayed Disembarkation

[Relaxing Robbies]

Grand Princess has returned to Melbourne this morning with an unspecified number of covid positive passengers (including my husband). We arrived early this morning, but it is now 9.40am and the ship has not yet received clearance. We are comfortably quarantined in our cabin to be disembarked last, but most passengers are crowded into the public spaces waiting impatiently to disembark.I guess a few more of them will be picking up an unwelcome souvenir.

 

Edit - we just received clearance and disembarkation is starting now.

Edited November 16, 2022 by Relaxing Robbies
new info

[MMDown Under]

27 minutes ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Grand Princess has returned to Melbourne this morning with an unspecified number of covid positive passengers (including my husband). We arrived early this morning, but it is now 9.40am and the ship has not yet received clearance. We are comfortably quarantined in our cabin to be disembarked last, but most passengers are crowded into the public spaces waiting impatiently to disembark.I guess a few more of them will be picking up an unwelcome souvenir.

 

Edit - we just received clearance and disembarkation is starting now.

Why is Grand Princess allowing passengers to wait in crowded conditions in public spaces waiting impatiently to disembark?  Why not put an announcement on saying an announcement will be made when  the ship receives clearance and disembarkation is to start. What happened to avoiding crowds common sense?

[arxcards]

27 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Why is Grand Princess allowing passengers to wait in crowded conditions in public spaces waiting impatiently to disembark?  Why not put an announcement on saying an announcement will be made when  the ship receives clearance and disembarkation is to start. What happened to avoiding crowds common sense?

When there are delays, lots of passengers are running late for their booked shuttle or flights home and will crowd into lines to disembark ASAP. No amount of announcements will change that.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Grand Princess has returned to Melbourne this morning with an unspecified number of covid positive passengers (including my husband). We arrived early this morning, but it is now 9.40am and the ship has not yet received clearance. We are comfortably quarantined in our cabin to be disembarked last, but most passengers are crowded into the public spaces waiting impatiently to disembark.I guess a few more of them will be picking up an unwelcome souvenir.

 

Edit - we just received clearance and disembarkation is starting now.

Take care. Look after your hubby, but I hope you doesn't share it with you.

[adelaidefc]

1 minute ago, arxcards said:

When there are delays, lots of passengers are running late for their booked shuttle or flights home and will crowd into lines to disembark ASAP. No amount of announcements will change that.

 

I guess they could still tell the majority to wait in their rooms until clearance is granted. But I imagine they'd still want the rooms cleared so they could start turning them over to embark the next sailing. 

 

Let's be honest, the cruise lines are only doing any Covid protocols at all reluctantly, and most are simple 'hygiene theatre' that do little to reduce risk but comfort the masses. They really don't care if people are catching Covid waiting in a stuffy crowd to disembark, they're all getting off the ship anyway.  

[MMDown Under]

35 minutes ago, adelaidefc said:

 

I guess they could still tell the majority to wait in their rooms until clearance is granted. But I imagine they'd still want the rooms cleared so they could start turning them over to embark the next sailing. 

 

Let's be honest, the cruise lines are only doing any Covid protocols at all reluctantly, and most are simple 'hygiene theatre' that do little to reduce risk but comfort the masses. They really don't care if people are catching Covid waiting in a stuffy crowd to disembark, they're all getting off the ship anyway.  

They should care!  Word of mouth from friends is the worst enemy of the future of cruising in Australia.    Not the Media, which gets the blame!  I can't tell you how many people are following my " brave" inaugural cruise!

[NSWP]

Oh dear, what Covid Tier was Grand Princess.  It was only a short cruise was it not? 

[aussielozzie18]

The are still iso passengers on board at midday according to the angry posts from those currently venting on the Princess social media groups.

[sewgood]

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

Oh dear, what Covid Tier was Grand Princess.  It was only a short cruise was it not? 

Hi Les,

We had friends on this cruise and it was your standard one to New Zealand, I think 13 nights.

They said that hardly anyone was wearing masks at embarkation and by the time that they reached New Zealand they were told (I think officially by Princess) that 280 cases were onboard including 40 crew. Still the number of passengers wearing masks did not increase it was only after the Majestic incident that they were told they had to wear masks inside that people followed the mask directive.

They were all given P2/N95 masks to wear for disembarkation.

[Relaxing Robbies]

After many delays we were allowed to leave our cabin and disembark around 2.45pm. Princess did deliver some lunch to us about 1.30pm, but the promised tea and coffee never turned up. Our breakfast order was also delivered minus the requested coffee, so my coffee deprived, covid positive husband was not very good company. Not really acceptable to keep people confined in their cabins with no access to drinks except tap water.

 

Disembarkation was interesting. We did not go through any passport control or customs at all. Should have bought extra duty free because nobody checked at all what we had. We collected our luggage, and then they loaded it on a small truck and transported it to the other end of Station Pier. We boarded a very crowded bus full of covid positive passengers and their companions, and were driven to the land end of the pier. There we got off the bus, collected our luggage again, and were told  our transport options. Basically, phone a taxi, phone a friend to collect us, or board a provided bus to Southern Cross Station or the airport. So much for Princess providing safe transport home. We did not want to wait hours for a taxi, so we boarded the bus to Southern Cross and caught the train home. We were provided with N95 masks and told to wear them until we got home. Fortunately it was before peak hour and the train was not too busy, but it just didn’t feel right exposing the general public to covid positive cruise passengers. I guess that is what it means to be “living with covid” now that there are no compulsory isolation rules. Horrifying.

[adelaidefc]

17 minutes ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Basically, phone a taxi, phone a friend to collect us, or board a provided bus to Southern Cross Station or the airport. So much for Princess providing safe transport home. We did not want to wait hours for a taxi, so we boarded the bus to Southern Cross and caught the train home. We were provided with N95 masks and told to wear them until we got home. Fortunately it was before peak hour and the train was not too busy, but it just didn’t feel right exposing the general public to covid positive cruise passengers. I guess that is what it means to be “living with covid” now that there are no compulsory isolation rules. Horrifying.

Wow. Thanks for the detailed description. I'd been wondering how confirmed positive cases were handled at disembarkation. That's all just completely unnecessary chicanery. They may as well not even bother to be honest. And to be fair, I actually mean that. It's not like an airline makes special arrangements for positive passengers at their arrival terminal.

 

The eastern seaboard cruise protocols clearly state that positive cases can't use taxi, rideshare or public transport, and that the line is responsible for getting them home or putting them up in a hotel.

Realistically this was never going to be achievable or acceptable to most, so this strange in-between is just irritating theatre.

[arxcards]

7 hours ago, adelaidefc said:

Wow. Thanks for the detailed description. I'd been wondering how confirmed positive cases were handled at disembarkation. That's all just completely unnecessary chicanery. They may as well not even bother to be honest. And to be fair, I actually mean that. It's not like an airline makes special arrangements for positive passengers at their arrival terminal.

 

The eastern seaboard cruise protocols clearly state that positive cases can't use taxi, rideshare or public transport, and that the line is responsible for getting them home or putting them up in a hotel.

Realistically this was never going to be achievable or acceptable to most, so this strange in-between is just irritating theatre.

Those protocols have shifted a bit, particularly with states that no longer require you to isolate after testing positive. But yes, it is treading a fine line, and Princess needs to do better than that.

[arxcards]

19 hours ago, NSWP said:

Oh dear, what Covid Tier was Grand Princess.  It was only a short cruise was it not? 

I believe she was at tier 2 at one stage, and the numbers I heard of "up near 300" are consistent with what was posted here earlier. With passengers coming out of iso before arriving back to Melbourne, the numbers apparently dipped back below tier 2, and a pre-disembark RAT was avoided. By the sounds of yesterday it might be just as well, as they would have struggled to cope with extra numbers at Station Pier.

 

Sad to say, but after the events of the past couple of weeks, some unpopular pollies and health officials should be applauded for shutting everything down for a couple of years.

[Relaxing Robbies]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

I believe she was at tier 2 at one stage, and the numbers I heard of "up near 300" are consistent with what was posted here earlier. With passengers coming out of iso before arriving back to Melbourne, the numbers apparently dipped back below tier 2, and a pre-disembark RAT was avoided. By the sounds of yesterday it might be just as well, as they would have struggled to cope with extra numbers at Station Pier.

 

Sad to say, but after the events of the past couple of weeks, some unpopular pollies and health officials should be applauded for shutting everything down for a couple of years.

I think your information is correct. I was at medical getting tested at 4.30 Wednesday afternoon and they said that many passengers were being released from isolation at 5pm as their 5 days would be up.

 

Their testing was interesting. The swab might have just made it into my nose for a couple of seconds.  When I returned to our cabin I told my husband that there was no way that test would be positive because it was not done properly. Maybe deliberate to avoid getting an increase in positive passenger numbers???

 

Anyway, good news is that I have tested myself properly this morning and I am still negative despite having been isolated in a cabin with my positive husband.

[arxcards]

4 minutes ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Anyway, good news is that I have tested myself properly this morning and I am still negative despite having been isolated in a cabin with my positive husband.

Great news.

Glad you are immune to your husband. 

[possum52]

Channel 7 Melbourne had a segment on last night's 6pm news about the Grand docking and hundreds of people stranded in their cabins etc etc. They spoke to a few people about their onboard experiences. One who said she was still covid positive was quite negative about the cruise and ship - it was a nightmare she said. Interestingly she was just wearing a surgical mask and not a N95 or P2 mask and was wearing a jacket with the name of a law firm on it which made me smile. The lead into the segment said some passengers had been forced to isolate in their tiny cabins for 8 days and weren't provided with supplies.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

14 minutes ago, possum52 said:

Channel 7 Melbourne had a segment on last night's 6pm news about the Grand docking and hundreds of people stranded in their cabins etc etc. They spoke to a few people about their onboard experiences. One who said she was still covid positive was quite negative about the cruise and ship - it was a nightmare she said. Interestingly she was just wearing a surgical mask and not a N95 or P2 mask and was wearing a jacket with the name of a law firm on it which made me smile. The lead into the segment said some passengers had been forced to isolate in their tiny cabins for 8 days and weren't provided with supplies.

 

What did they expect? That they'd all get moved into suites for isolation? They chose to book those cabins!

 

However it does seem that Grand wasn't doing a good job of handling the service of some things to people in isolation. That would be hard to cope with especially meals. We were so lucky on Coral, we had excellent service. 

 

Again we've had another clear example of what happens when masks aren't mandated right from the start of a cruise. Too many people don't realise how much Covid is circulating in the community. It's only when they go into a closed environment like a cruise ship that reality strikes. 

[icat2000]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

 

Sad to say, but after the events of the past couple of weeks, some unpopular pollies and health officials should be applauded for shutting everything down for a couple of years.

Not.  Learn to live with it We live with the flu. 10 lockdowns I lived through in the State of Victoria. Those lockdowns have destroyed the CBD in Melbourne. Its not recovering. So many empty shops, office buildings. 

Edited November 18, 2022 by icat2000

[arxcards]

26 minutes ago, possum52 said:

Channel 7 Melbourne had a segment on last night's 6pm news about the Grand docking and hundreds of people stranded in their cabins etc etc. They spoke to a few people about their onboard experiences. One who said she was still covid positive was quite negative about the cruise and ship - it was a nightmare she said. Interestingly she was just wearing a surgical mask and not a N95 or P2 mask and was wearing a jacket with the name of a law firm on it which made me smile. The lead into the segment said some passengers had been forced to isolate in their tiny cabins for 8 days and weren't provided with supplies.

 

One gets the feeling that Melbourne news has been missing out their opportunity, as Brisbane, Sydney & Perth news have all had their crack at similar versions of the same story over the past 5 months. They must still be disappointed though, as the other ports have had tier 2 and 3 numbers to add more hyperbole to the story.

 

As long as we keep spreading it, they will keep reporting it. Will be interesting if channel 9 gives Virgin a free pass next year, seeing as they have just given away "$1 million" worth of their cruises.

 

I expect the "law firm lady" got upset when she went back and read the fine print on her passage contract.

[MMDown Under]

5 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

Not.  Learn to live with it We live with the flu. 10 lockdowns I lived through in the State of Victoria. Those lockdowns have destroyed the CBD in Melbourne. Its not recovering. So many empty shops, office buildings. 

The CBDs are relatively empty because workers have discovered they like working from home.  They save time and money, despite prices going up.  They have enhanced quality of life.  

[icat2000]

1 minute ago, MMDown Under said:

The CBDs are relatively empty because workers have discovered they like working from home.  They save time and money, despite prices going up.  They have enhanced quality of life.  

I'm public servant we have a hybrid arrangement. Some days WFH some days office. However, i'm talking about lots of empty buildings where no desks or fitout. Lots of shops empty. Personally, Melbourne is dirty horrible cold city. Nothing appealing about it.

[arxcards]

1 minute ago, icat2000 said:

Not.  Learn to live with it We live with the flu. 10 lockdowns I lived through in the State of Victoria. Those lockdowns are destroyed the CBD in Melbourne. 

Sorry, I wasn't clear about it, but was purely referring to the shutdown of cruising for 2+ years.

I don't see any merit on most of the city/state-based lockdowns that occurred.

[icat2000]

7 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Sorry, I wasn't clear about it, but was purely referring to the shutdown of cruising for 2+ years.

I don't see any merit on most of the city/state-based lockdowns that occurred.

Totally agree. I think its been a bit of disaster. Only winner been the workers (if I could WFH full time I would) 🙂

 

I think big cities need to start having a converstation about repurposing some of these empty offices into housing accommodation as that we the greatest need is.

 

The ship has sailed about getting workers back into the CBDs fulltime. It aint going to happen. 

Edited November 18, 2022 by icat2000

[Relaxing Robbies]

It was interesting to see the difference in protocols between Coral and Grand.  Initial positive cases were moved to cabins on Deck 12, but they soon ran out of iso cabins and left people in their original cabins, including inside cabins. Those unfortunate people in inside cabins probably suffered greatly. 

 

No information sheet was provided re how to order food or other supplies. We rang room service and enquired about food and what we could order. Originally they did not mention that we could order from the MDR menu, so gave very limited choices.

They were completely overrun due to the number of cases. Orders were a lottery,you never knew what would actually arrive. Coffee and hot water arrived in large insulated jugs, but there once there were no cups provided. Cereal arrived, but no bowls to eat it from. Cereal ordered for 2 people, but only 1 provided.

 

When we found out we could order from MDR menu, we ordered 3 courses and tea and coffee. The first 2 corses arrived on one tray, fairly promptly. They were hot and good. We assumed that the missing desserts and drinks would arrive later, but had to ring room service an hour later to enquire where they were. They had no idea, so said to reorder. The reorder arrived with only 1 dessert which was not what we ordered anyway. The whole experience was very frustrating.

 

They did not put tables outside cabins for deliveries, so they would knock on the door and hand you a heavy tray full of food and you were expected to somehow hold open the door and take the heavy tray from the deliverer - a very difficult task.

 

When cases started to increase and we were instructed to wear masks, we were given 1 surgical mask per person. The captain’s instructions were to change them every 3 or 4 days - completely useless. They later instructed everyone to wear KN95 masks, but cabin stewards did not have any to distribute. Fortunately we had brought our own supply of surgical masks and a KN95 each from home.

 

The captain’s announcements did not mention that onboard testing and treatment for Covid was free. There were  many  passengers coughing that seemed like good candidates for testing. We took our own Rats from home and did use them when my husband showed symptoms.

 

Our cruise was less enjoyable than previous cruises because we could see the trainwreck that was coming. We did not go to any shows in the theatre for the 2nd half of the cruise because too many passengers were showing signs of illness. We avoided crowds as much as possible. It was a different experience, but we still had a good time and enjoyed the company of 3 different groups of friends we had met on previous cruises. We will still cruise on Princess in the future, but are now more wary. They have had a lot of time to learn and get things right, but they seem to be doing only the minimum that is required, not what is necessary to look after their guests properly. This will cause many to lose confidence in cruising Princess, and will probably hurt them long term.

 

[MMDown Under]

13 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

Totally agree. I think its been a bit of disaster. Only winner been the workers (if I could WFH full time I would) 🙂

 

I think big cities need to start having a converstation about repurposing some of these empty offices into housing accommodation as that we the greatest need is.

 

The ship has sailed about getting workers back into the CBDs fulltime. It aint going to happen. 

Converting empty office buildings into affordable housing accommodation is an excellent idea. The city needs people to have life and a soul.