[Split] Sue and Garry Aurora cruise - Covid Discussion

[towny44]

We noticed that although the Captain had asked everyone to wear the masks provided inside the ship only about 20% had heeded his request.

Off load the ones refusing to comply. Peasants

We have to begin getting back to pre covid normality soon, even it means periodic waves of covid recurring.

[Stephen]

I agree John, but if the Captain says otherwise because of Covid cases rising onboard then people should comply. He’s not doing it for fun but to trying to limit the spread.

[allatc]

Masks and testing. Two reasons why I am in no hurry to resume cruising

[towny44]

I agree John, but if the Captain says otherwise because of Covid cases rising onboard then people should comply. He’s not doing it for fun but to trying to limit the spread.

If I was totally convinced that mask wearing would reduce the spread of covid, then there might be a justification for it.

[oldbluefox]

The crew must wonder why they are required to wear masks all day when the passengers don't/won't comply. I always thought the mask was there as much to protect others as oneself and reduces the spread of the virus by cutting down on the spread of the virus whenever we speak or cough.

As one lady on our cruise put it when the Captain requested everybody to wear masks, "If everybody did as they were told we wouldn't be in this bl***y mess!" Must say I agreed with her.

[Stephen]

After my recent experience I might agree on that point John, but then again I’m not a Captain who I assume is required to conform to set guide lines based on the evidence of Covid numbers that are reported to him. If people refuse to adhere to his advise then on their heads be it.

You can lead a horse to water but…..

[oldbluefox]

After my recent experience I might agree on that point John, but then again I’m not a Captain who I assume is required to conform to set guide lines based on the evidence of Covid numbers that are reported to him. If people refuse to adhere to his advise then on their heads be it.

You can lead a horse to water but…..

If it was they who do not conform who suffered the consequences I would agree but, as you well know, those who do conform also get caught out. Much as I found the last minute testing a stress I could do without at least I felt those who were boarding had all had negative lateral flow tests. We can no longer say that.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Oddly with twice as many passengers we didn't have a reported outbreak on Iona. I'm sure there must have been cases aboard but we never hit the mask instruction threshold. And that was with trust on people's self declaration of testing before boarding.. Maybe it's because there's also twice as much space. Or maybe the shorter duration cruise allows less time for spread.

[towny44]

Oddly with twice as many passengers we didn't have a reported outbreak on Iona. I'm sure there must have been cases aboard but we never hit the mask instruction threshold. And that was with trust on people's self declaration of testing before boarding.. Maybe it's because there's also twice as much space. Or maybe the shorter duration cruise allows less time for spread.

I suspect it is mainly down to only being a 7 day cruise.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I think you're right. Whatever it is we survived.

I see Princess are removing pretty much all Covid requirements, including vaccination. That's very bold, considering their experience at the beginning.

[towny44]

I think you're right. Whatever it is we survived.

I see Princess are removing pretty much all Covid requirements, including vaccination. That's very bold, considering their experience at the beginning.

It's also pandering to the idiotic fringe who refused to see sense and opt to remain unvaccinated.

[david63]

I think you're right. Whatever it is we survived.

I see Princess are removing pretty much all Covid requirements, including vaccination. That's very bold, considering their experience at the beginning.

It's also pandering to the idiotic fringe who refused to see sense and opt to remain unvaccinated.

It's one thing for the cruise line to remove the need to be vaccinated but another for the requirements of the ports of call. If a port of call requires passengers to be vaccinated that will override the cruise line's requirement - so in practise nothing much may change.

[towny44]

I think you're right. Whatever it is we survived.

I see Princess are removing pretty much all Covid requirements, including vaccination. That's very bold, considering their experience at the beginning.

It's also pandering to the idiotic fringe who refused to see sense and opt to remain unvaccinated.

It's one thing for the cruise line to remove the need to be vaccinated but another for the requirements of the ports of call. If a port of call requires passengers to be vaccinated that will override the cruise line's requirement - so in practise nothing much may change.

But most countries now allow non vax passengers, as long as they test negative.

[Gill W]

If I was totally convinced that mask wearing would reduce the spread of covid, then there might be a justification for it.

If everyone (and I mean everyone) wore good quality masks, and wore them correctly, and used other methods of infection prevention such as social distancing and ventilation - then there'd be a strong likelihood that the measures taken would reduce the spread of Covid.

But that's simply never going to happen, especially at this stage of the pandemic.

It's now been very nearly 3 years since I last went on a cruise, and to be honest, I don't really miss cruising that much. However, we have a cruise booked for next August with Saga, as we want to see if cruising is still something we want to do, even if only occasionally.

Therefore, I'm keeping an eye on developments in the cruising world. It seems as if most cruise lines are changing their protocols in the same way as P&O. That is no testing required for shorter cruises, probably because any infections onboard pose less risk to the cruise line, as all the passengers can be shuffled off at the end of the 7/14 days.

I'm not a great Facebook user, but I have starter to follow some P&O cruises groups. The general pattern is that there's very little comment regarding Covid on the Iona/Azura/Britannia type groups. But there's much more Covid mentions on the Aurora and Arcadia groups, which typically do longer cruises. Quite a few people describe how isolation on the cruises has affected them. It seems that most people do the right thing and declare their symptoms, but there's also a feeling that many don't say anything, and there's been many comments about people who are coughing and generally sounding ill as they roam the ship, potentially spreading Covid as they go. It seems that, on these cruises, the captain requests mask wearing a few days into the cruise, the majority ignore the request, Covid spreads, and the captain makes mask wearing compulsory by week 2.

A lot of people who catch Covid comment that they have avoided Covid for 2.5 years, only to catch it on their first post-Covid cruise. It suggests that, as we already know, Covid enjoys a closed community like a cruise ship in which to spread.

I've got mixed feelings about my cruise next year. Will the effort involved in trying not to catch Covid exceed my actual enjoyment of the cruise. Even if I make the effort to try to avoid Covid, I could still catch it. Yet I've heard of people who didn't do anything special, and managed to not catch it. It suggests that there's also a degree of luck involved!

I've been enjoying other sorts of holidays, and my desire to cruise hasn't really come back. I'll give it a shot next year, but suspect my best cruising days are behind me now.

[david63]

If everyone (and I mean everyone) wore good quality masks

What is "A good quality mask"? On the few occasions that I now wear a mask I wear the same type as NHS staff wear on the basis that they probably know what is required from a mask.

I've got mixed feelings about my cruise next year. Will the effort involved in trying not to catch Covid exceed my actual enjoyment of the cruise. Even if I make the effort to try to avoid Covid, I could still catch it. Yet I've heard of people who didn't do anything special, and managed to not catch it. It suggests that there's also a degree of luck involved!

I suspect that you will not enjoy the cruise because you are starting off with the mindset that it is not Covid safe and you will be worrying about it all the time. If you adopt the mindset that many, myself included, have adopted and put Covid at the back of your mind and enjoy the cruise then you will be a lot better off.

[barney]

I think that there is nobody that we know who hasn’t had Covid now.
A few have had it more than once.
We have one friend who is very badly affected by it and her life is now quite different to pre covid.
Everyone else has been ok.
Our friend who is still poorly did have respiratory problems and is excessively overweight, which probably made a difference.
When people originally said that we had to learn to live with it, I was a bit cynical.
I now totally agree with that.
I refuse to be a hostage to a virus.

[Gill W]

If everyone (and I mean everyone) wore good quality masks

What is "A good quality mask"? On the few occasions that I now wear a mask I wear the same type as NHS staff wear on the basis that they probably know what is required from a mask.

I've got mixed feelings about my cruise next year. Will the effort involved in trying not to catch Covid exceed my actual enjoyment of the cruise. Even if I make the effort to try to avoid Covid, I could still catch it. Yet I've heard of people who didn't do anything special, and managed to not catch it. It suggests that there's also a degree of luck involved!

I suspect that you will not enjoy the cruise because you are starting off with the mindset that it is not Covid safe and you will be worrying about it all the time. If you adopt the mindset that many, myself included, have adopted and put Covid at the back of your mind and enjoy the cruise then you will be a lot better off.

Masks FFP2 or FFP3. They are more fitted to the face.

The thing with cruises is that, if you catch it, you are confined to your cabin, which will quickly take the fun out of the cruise. It's not so much about being Covid safe ( not that anywhere is truly covid safe), but the consequences of catching covid whilst on the ship that is my concern.

I've been enjoying holidays in this country, where Covid is the last thing on my mind - and if I was unfortunate to catch it while away, I could come home, rather than being shut in a cabin for a week or more.

[david63]

if you catch it, you are confined to your cabin

As you are with Norovirus

[Gill W]

As you are with Norovirus

I would say the current Covid risk is greater than Norovirus.

The most recent ONS figures say that 1 in 60 people in England are infected with Covid. I don’t know the figure for Norovirus, but I suspect that it’s fewer people currently infected. .

Norovirus is spread by touching surfaces, and the cruiselines have tried and tested procedures for cleaning in the event of a Noro outbreak. Whereas Covid is airborne, and the advice for passengers to wear masks is often luke warm - and it also needs passengers to wear masks correctly.

Also, with Noro, people typically stay in their cabins for a few days. With Covid, they have to stay isolated until they test negative. I’ve seen peoples reports where they have been in isolation for almost two weeks (on longer cruises).

[towny44]

I suspect Gill, that from your posts, it will be some time before you feel safe to go cruising again. We have only done one post Covid cruise so far, that was 14 nights on Britannia in June, there were some cases of Covid on board, and the captain did request that mask wearing should increase, but we were not really aware of any problems, and the cruise felt as normal as pre covid.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We were very Covid conscious when we set off on our recent cruise and most certainly didn't want to catch it but, rightly or wrongly, were much more relaxed within hours. The cruise felt very normal, with Covid precautions being discrete, and we survived. Unless there is another major up tick in cases, I don't think it will be a significant concern for us by next year, especially as we'll have had jab number 5 by then, possibly one of the new generation which includes cover for the latest variants.

[Gill W]

I suspect Gill, that from your posts, it will be some time before you feel safe to go cruising again. We have only done one post Covid cruise so far, that was 14 nights on Britannia in June, there were some cases of Covid on board, and the captain did request that mask wearing should increase, but we were not really aware of any problems, and the cruise felt as normal as pre covid.

It’s not really about feeling ‘safe’, at least not for me. It’s about evaluating and mitigating risk.

As I said, I’ve got a cruise booked for next year, which I wouldn’t have booked if I didn’t think it was ‘safe’.

I’ve been really enjoying my U.K. land based holidays and activities, and barely have to think about Covid, But I evaluate a ship as a higher risk environment, and I think I will have to make more effort with mitigations when I go on the cruise. So I’m wondering if I think it’ll be worth the effort, or will I prefer to stick to the lower effort that’s required for my U.K. holidays

We were very Covid conscious when we set off on our recent cruise and most certainly didn't want to catch it but, rightly or wrongly, were much more relaxed within hours. The cruise felt very normal, with Covid precautions being discrete, and we survived. Unless there is another major up tick in cases, I don't think it will be a significant concern for us by next year, especially as we'll have had jab number 5 by then, possibly one of the new generation which includes cover for the latest variants.

I totally get when you are saying - I’m sure it’s really easy just to relax into the holiday. Also, as you say, it will also depend on the course of the pandemic.

[Manoverboard]

In spite of being very careful we caught Covid, the reaction for me was quite bad and getting it again is not on my ' To Do ' list. We will not be cruising again any time soon because we believe the risk is far greater than anything else we opt to do. Having witnessed first hand the Noro pandemic on Oriana it is obvious that the aging Cruise Ships are a breeding ground for viruses.

[Stephen]

I hear you Moby.

Although I have been clear for over two weeks now I am still getting tired easily, especially after doing the smallest of chores. As for the cough, that is still a bl**dy nuisance. But I’m not going let it rule my life, hence the two cruises booked on Ventura for 2023 and 24.

As for our Aurora cruise in July, that was probably our last cruise on the plague ship for us.

[oldbluefox]

I take the view that you're just as much at risk in the supermarket, the cinema, on public transport, the pub, the restaurant or any public space where people gather or have touched surfaces as you are on a ship.
The main difference being that on a ship there are cleaners constantly going round cleaning handrails and surfaces which may have been touched by somebody with the virus.
I was quite happy on Aurora with the precautions taken. I believe P&O took every precaution possible and the rest was up to the passengers. As ever not everybody was willing to comply but we took our own precautions anyway.
We could have been unlucky and contracted Covid but what's to say we didn't pick up the virus on the way down, at a service station, at the restaurant where we ate the night before or in the hotel, or on the way home after the cruise? Who knows it may have been caught in one of the ports we visited.

I hope Stephen soon feels better. For weeks after Covid I felt tired and weary although I was on medication for other matters aside from Covid which may have contributed.