Email from Princess saying all guests will self test for covid on 2nd full day of our cruise

[korky1]

Just received an email re our 13 night cruise which we board tomorrow.   It states that due to the increased number of covid cases and variants circulating in Australia we will all receive a covid test kit in our cabin on the second day of the cruise with instructions .

 

I have conducted a negative test today.   I  would certainly be volunteering to take a test if I develop any symptoms whilst on board.  In fact, I have packed ample test kits for this purpose. 

 

It just doesn't sit well with me to be told to take a test if I am feeling 100% fine.  Don't get me wrong, I will do the test as if that is what they require,  then so be it.

 

I wonder if this happening on Carnival and P&O also or only on Princess?

[OzKiwiJJ]

That's very sensible. It should catch any cases that have developed since embarkation and slow the spread. Ideally tests should be done every second day until this current Covid wave subsides.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, korky1 said:

Just received an email re our 13 night cruise which we board tomorrow.   It states that due to the increased number of covid cases and variants circulating in Australia we will all receive a covid test kit in our cabin on the second day of the cruise with instructions .

 

I have conducted a negative test today.   I  would certainly be volunteering to take a test if I develop any symptoms whilst on board.  In fact, I have packed ample test kits for this purpose. 

 

It just doesn't sit well with me to be told to take a test if I am feeling 100% fine.  Don't get me wrong, I will do the test as if that is what they require,  then so be it.

 

I wonder if this happening on Carnival and P&O also or only on Princess?

It also won't sit well with others that feel OK, yet could be asymptomatic and sitting at the next table at dinner tomorrow night.

 

I haven't heard of whether this is Princess only, Majestic only or for cruises over a certain length. I am guessing Princess only. Interesting that Ovation arrives into Sydney as tier 2 this morning, yet hardly a whimper from the media. I think Majestic won't be so fortunate tomorrow, so they need to take extra steps if they want to overcome the bias.

[Tripmode33]

10 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That's very sensible. It should catch any cases that have developed since embarkation and slow the spread. Ideally tests should be done every second day until this current Covid wave subsides.

I'm not sure it will be very effective. The second day testing onboard, on Grand anyway, relies on full guest honesty in reporting results of that rat test.  You are told to phone a number if it's positive. No need to report result of this self administered test if it's negative - just bin it.  Hopefully all guests report accurately to stop spread.

[voluntr57]

We're on this cruise too and haven't received that email. Even checked junk folder.

[kaseyoz]

10 hours ago, arxcards said:

It also won't sit well with others that feel OK, yet could be asymptomatic and sitting at the next table at dinner tomorrow night.

 

I haven't heard of whether this is Princess only, Majestic only or for cruises over a certain length. I am guessing Princess only. Interesting that Ovation arrives into Sydney as tier 2 this morning, yet hardly a whimper from the media. I think Majestic won't be so fortunate tomorrow, so they need to take extra steps if they want to overcome the bias.

I was on that ovation cruise. Our f group has lots of posts of folk testing positive but after the mess of disembarkation with queues all around the ship, no staff, no announcements, walk off waiting two hours, i would not be surprised if the number soars.

what an utter mess it was. 

[MicCanberra]

I think the requirements are sensible and shows the cruise lines doing duty of care even if some pax do not.

[highflier01]

13 hours ago, korky1 said:

Just received an email re our 13 night cruise which we board tomorrow.   It states that due to the increased number of covid cases and variants circulating in Australia we will all receive a covid test kit in our cabin on the second day of the cruise with instructions .

 

I have conducted a negative test today.   I  would certainly be volunteering to take a test if I develop any symptoms whilst on board.  In fact, I have packed ample test kits for this purpose. 

 

It just doesn't sit well with me to be told to take a test if I am feeling 100% fine.  Don't get me wrong, I will do the test as if that is what they require,  then so be it.

 

I wonder if this happening on Carnival and P&O also or only on Princess?

Was on 11 day cruise to NZ on Carnival Luminosa recently and all pax did a RAT on second day, so not just Princess.

[arxcards]

52 minutes ago, kaseyoz said:

I was on that ovation cruise. Our f group has lots of posts of folk testing positive but after the mess of disembarkation with queues all around the ship, no staff, no announcements, walk off waiting two hours, i would not be surprised if the number soars.

what an utter mess it was. 

It is all a mess Karon, and some proper communication would be useful.

 

It doesn't seem to matter what level of infections are on the ship, borderforce and NSW health send the same number of staff and don't provide any extra resources to expedite what is a slow and painful process when there are a number of cases aboard.

 

I don't expect they will be able to announce what they don't know, as it is all out of the ship's hands until the officials have cleared the ship. All the same, they should be able to set expectations the day before by advising what delays are likely, and even allowing passengers to hang in their cabins a bit longer. Even then, the walk-off queues will start to form when the ship is tying up. With expected delays, there are plenty that have to rush-off to the airport etc, so more people hang on to their luggage and all want to be among the first off. Even if they know the queue is 2 hours long, they will still stand in it, much like they do for embarkation.

[boeckli]

13 hours ago, arxcards said:

I haven't heard of whether this is Princess only, Majestic only or for cruises over a certain length. I am guessing Princess only.

 

Just read that pax on Westerdam had to do a day 2 RAT on their current cruise which started on Tuesday, so possibly a Carnival directive?

[OzKiwiJJ]

6 hours ago, Tripmode33 said:

I'm not sure it will be very effective. The second day testing onboard, on Grand anyway, relies on full guest honesty in reporting results of that rat test.  You are told to phone a number if it's positive. No need to report result of this self administered test if it's negative - just bin it.  Hopefully all guests report accurately to stop spread.

They should be requiring a photo of the negative RAT that then gets shown to the cabin steward by a certain time. The ship's medallion system should be able to register that people have tested negative, the medical centre will know who reported positive, and security can chase down the rest. 

[arxcards]

36 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

They should be requiring a photo of the negative RAT that then gets shown to the cabin steward by a certain time. The ship's medallion system should be able to register that people have tested negative, the medical centre will know who reported positive, and security can chase down the rest. 

Why even a photo. Just showing a negative strip to your steward shouldn't be a health issue. 

[windsor26]

We were on the Majestic and the test everyone had to take found my DH as Positive but he had no symptoms  and then after isolation on the next time we were needed to test I was positive so only had 2 days of isolation.   Also no symptoms   It is obvious they testing everyone is an excellent idea and we had to show our cabin steward the test results so no cheating

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Why even a photo. Just showing a negative strip to your steward shouldn't be a health issue. 

Because the results on the strips are only valid between 10-15 minutes of being activated so there could be a problem if you can't get hold of your steward in that time. 

[arxcards]

8 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Because the results on the strips are only valid between 10-15 minutes of being activated so there could be a problem if you can't get hold of your steward in that time. 

I just looked at our post cruise RATs from 5 weeks ago. Mine is still negative, Barb's is still positive. An extra few minutes would have to be better than the same rat being photographed by everyone in the cabin.

[chezzyr]

26 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I just looked at our post cruise RATs from 5 weeks ago. Mine is still negative, Barb's is still positive. An extra few minutes would have to be better than the same rat being photographed by everyone in the cabin.

None of the RATs I have ever done have changed with time

[MicCanberra]

I have never checked my rat after the initial test as it has been binned. No thoughts at all of possibly reusing them as a substitute. Perhaps we are different, but if we have covid, we want to know.

[arxcards]

33 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I have never checked my rat after the initial test as it has been binned. No thoughts at all of possibly reusing them as a substitute. Perhaps we are different, but if we have covid, we want to know.

That is a strange allegation. They were put aside in case our employers needed proof for our leave entitlement, then forgotten about. They got binned last night.

[Tripmode33]

11 hours ago, arxcards said:

I just looked at our post cruise RATs from 5 weeks ago. Mine is still negative, Barb's is still positive. An extra few minutes would have to be better than the same rat being photographed by everyone in the cabin.

Our experience has been results haven't changed over time.

The RATs provided to our cabins have had individual number codes on front so couldn't be photographed for multiple passengers.  But as mentioned previously, on Grand they didn't request a photo or you to show anyone the negative, just bin. Only want to know if you're positive.

[NSWP]

16 minutes ago, arxcards said:

That is a strange allegation. They were put aside in case our employers needed proof for our leave entitlement, then forgotten about. They got binned last night.

But you could have sold them on E Bay Geoff. Some shonky pax would have bought them, lol.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The RATs we use at home state result not valid after 15 minutes on the instruction sheet, and the guy that did my RAT on Princess also said to take a photo immediately as it might not stay the same after 15 minutes. We always bin them as soon as we've finished with them.

[Aus Traveller]

Each time we have done a RAT test, when I have looked at it a considerable time later, the result is the same. Is it valid? If it hasn't changed, it would be.

[arxcards]

36 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The RATs we use at home state result not valid after 15 minutes on the instruction sheet, and the guy that did my RAT on Princess also said to take a photo immediately as it might not stay the same after 15 minutes. We always bin them as soon as we've finished with them.

I think the 15 minutes refers to the test itself. If you don't get a control line within 15 minutes, it is an invalid test

[icat2000]

Maybe they testing second day because some people have been active with the red marker on their test prior to boarding.  😄

Edited December 9, 2022 by icat2000

[nnps]

38 minutes ago, CU64 said:

I can also pass on a cold and flu. Shall we get a test for all those?

Colds and flu aren't in the same category