Majestic Princess - 800 COVID passengers

[Kendhni]

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/cruise-ship-m ... 46498.html
I really hope the media are not going to start over sensationalising about this the way they do with norovirus.
The Carnival spokesperson did say "all cases were asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic" which is actually pretty good at this point.

[david63]

I also think that this may be more to do with it being Australia/new Zealand than anything else. It is inevitable that there are going to be some serious Covid outbreaks in that part of the world due to the fact that they closed down for two years and therefore have not built up the protections that other countries have.

I have said for a long time that when they open their boarders they will see a significant rise in the number of Covid cases.

Our youngest granddaughter in NZ has had Covid four times despite the fact that she is vaccinated.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Well the story is in the Guardian. Never been known to sensationalise.... cough.

[oldbluefox]

Well the story is in the Guardian. Never been known to sensationalise.... cough.

Wash your mouth out Merv!!

[Mervyn and Trish]

I'm sorry, I know.

BBC left wing subseversiive rubbish.

Mail right wing trash.

The Guardian, unbiased, impartial first class journalism.

[Kendhni]

I also think that this may be more to do with it being Australia/new Zealand than anything else. It is inevitable that there are going to be some serious Covid outbreaks in that part of the world due to the fact that they closed down for two years and therefore have not built up the protections that other countries have.

I have said for a long time that when they open their boarders they will see a significant rise in the number of Covid cases.

Agreed, that is to be expected as new variants arrive in any country.

Our youngest granddaughter in NZ has had Covid four times despite the fact that she is vaccinated.

The vaccine does not really prevent you from getting COVID it helps to build up the antibodies so that when you do get it the body recognises it quicker and the symptoms are less harsh, or even non-existent (outside of a test).

[Gill W]

The only thing different with the Majestic Princess is that it's got into the media

Lots of ships have had outbreaks. On Cruise Critic people reported large outbreaks of several 100's of passengers on Arcadia for example.

Nothing new or different is happening. Covid is still air borne and it still spreads where people live closely together.

What I can't understand is why the UK papers picked it up, when everyone wants to pretend it's over

[towny44]

The only thing different with the Majestic Princess is that it's got into the media

Lots of ships have had outbreaks. On Cruise Critic people reported large outbreaks of several 100's of passengers on Arcadia for example.

Nothing new or different is happening. Covid is still air borne and it still spreads where people live closely together.

What I can't understand is why the UK papers picked it up, when everyone wants to pretend it's over

Not really pretence Gill, more like a slow realisation that life has to resume sometime, in the hope that covid severity has reduced to an acceptable level.

[Gill W]

Not really pretence Gill, more like a slow realisation that life has to resume sometime, in the hope that covid severity has reduced to an acceptable level.

Not sure about a slow realisation - people have been living like it’s 2019 for more than a year now.

ONS says 1 in 40 in England are infected, but I doubt many are aware of that, it seems most
people tell themselves that their illness is ‘not Covid’!

It just seems odd to me, the level of denial!

[david63]

ONS says 1 in 40 in England are infected,

Perhaps the ONS should start publishing data for all other illnesses/conditions. How about for a start 1,000 new cancer cases a day - and I know which I would prefer to take my chances with.

Yes Covid is here, and it is here to stay so let's get on with our lives and stop worrying about it all the time. Some/most people are taking what they consider appropriate measures to try and limit infection but there is no way that we can prevent anybody contracting Covid as we cannot prevent anybody contracting any other condition.

We have preventative measures (vaccination) and we have treatments - what more do you want?

[barney]

It appears that it’s predominantly local spikes of covid.
The town that Mrs B’s shop is in had a spike about a month ago.
Loads of people said they’d had it.
Mrs B dodged it we think, but then she didn’t test so we’ll never know.

[Gill W]

ONS says 1 in 40 in England are infected,

Perhaps the ONS should start publishing data for all other illnesses/conditions. How about for a start 1,000 new cancer cases a day - and I know which I would prefer to take my chances with.

Yes Covid is here, and it is here to stay so let's get on with our lives and stop worrying about it all the time. Some/most people are taking what they consider appropriate measures to try and limit infection but there is no way that we can prevent anybody contracting Covid as we cannot prevent anybody contracting any other condition.

We have preventative measures (vaccination) and we have treatments - what more do you want?

Eh? I don't WANT anything

I'm merely stating that, in my view, some people are happy to pretend Covid has gone away.

[oldbluefox]

Where do people on Cruise Critic get their information to say that several 100's on Arcadia had contracted Covid? We were on Aurora earlier in the year and whilst we were aware that some had contracted Covid nobody actually gave numbers. Do these people know figures for sure or is it a case of making them up?

ONS report that infections continued to decrease, hospital admissions continue to decrease, ICU/HDU admissions decreased, deaths decreased and antibody levels remain high. In such circumstances there is room for optimism tinged with the usual personal care precautions. As we know Covid is airborne but can also be contracted by touching infected surfaces therefore we still use hand gel and wash hands on a regular basis but it's life pretty well as normal now.

Gill is right, Covid has not gone away but it's time now to live with it which is a different kettle of fish altogether to pretending it's gone away.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulation ... stinsights

[Mervyn and Trish]

Some people never believed Covid existed in the first place and yes some think it's gone away. But I think the majority accept it's something we now have to live with.

At first it was an unknown and a big killer. Now we have vaccines and treatments and while I still don't want it if I can avoid it I accept I'm unlikely to dodge it forever.

David is right. We need to see it in context. To date 211,000 people have died of Covid in the UK since the pandemic began and that number now only rises slowly. 167,000 people die of Cancer in the UK every year.

[towny44]

No Gill is not right to assume that many people think that covid has gone away, we know that it is still around, just like colds, flu, pneumonia, measles, mumps and lots more besides. But we now have effective vaccines which are being improved and like flu and all the others above will continue to be tweaked to remain effective and provide the necessary protection for us to live our lives as normally as possible once more.
Gill,'s regular contributions to this debate are far too black and white, and as a result seem to be intended to keep us going with a host of precautions which in the above circumstances appear to be no longer necessary.

[ChrisR42]

I agree that Covid-19 should now be treated as a routine infection. Unfortunately P&O can’t agree because of the risk to vulnerable passengers. After testing positive we were forced to self isolate for 10 days of our last Arcadia cruise. This was excruciating as we both only had very minor symptoms but missed the majority of our holiday.

I don’t know how many other people were infected but I can confirm that the corridor were were moved to was full, with food trays outside all the doors (didn’t look for any red dots). We are hesitant to risk cruising again just yet but fortunately have nothing booked until next October.

[towny44]

I agree that Covid-19 should now be treated as a routine infection. Unfortunately P&O can’t agree because of the risk to vulnerable passengers. After testing positive we were forced to self isolate for 10 days of our last Arcadia cruise. This was excruciating as we both only had very minor symptoms but missed the majority of our holiday.

I don’t know how many other people were infected but I can confirm that the corridor were were moved to was full, with food trays outside all the doors (didn’t look for any red dots). We are hesitant to risk cruising again just yet but fortunately have nothing booked until next October.

Out of interest how did you come to be tested, did you go to the medical centre with an ailment, or did you test yourself and voluntarily hand yourselves over to the medics?

[ChrisR42]

My husband had to attend the medical centre with another problem and was routinely tested. I was tested because his result was positive.

Also, according to the coach driver, 8 of the 33 expected passengers had to travel home by taxi because they were still infectious.

[oldbluefox]

I was quite surprised on our cruise how few passengers were wearing masks. I felt, as a courtesy to the crew who were wearing them, we should do the same.
It was amusing when in the lifts people kept saying 'We should be wearing ours but keep forgetting them'. Of course you did!
And when the Captain announced there was an outbreak of Covid on the ship we overheard one woman telling her mother 'If they'd all done as they were told we wouldn't be in this bl***y mess!!'.
Taking those precautions does not automatically prevent you from catching it but I believe it reduces the risk.......and have your boosters. Apparently there's a high percentage of over 65s now contracting Covid who have not had the latest vaccination.

Sorry about your spoiled holiday ChrisR42. Hope you're better now.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Well this is ironic as this discussion continues. I tested positive for Covid this morning. So far not feeling too bad. Runny nose, sore throat and occasional cough, but no temperature. No worse than a cold so fingers crossed the 5 jabs will keep it that way. The most dangerous thing I've done in weeks is hug my daughter on Friday, who then tested positive on Sunday so she must have been incubating it when we saw her.

[Onelife]

Well this is ironic as this discussion continues. I tested positive for Covid this morning. So far not feeling too bad. Runny nose, sore throat and occasional cough, but no temperature. No worse than a cold so fingers crossed the 5 jabs will keep it that way. The most dangerous thing I've done in weeks is hug my daughter on Friday, who then tested positive on Sunday so she must have been incubating it when we saw her.

Lets hope it’ll be no more than a handkerchief job…Keep smiling!

[ChrisR42]

Thank you oldbluefox. We were gutted at the time but have managed to put it behind us. I was actually never ill. Just as well we were tested as we would have gone gaily round the ship passing on the infection!!

[Gill W]

Where do people on Cruise Critic get their information to say that several 100's on Arcadia had contracted Covid? We were on Aurora earlier in the year and whilst we were aware that some had contracted Covid nobody actually gave numbers. Do these people know figures for sure or is it a case of making them up?

The information came from various regular posters on Cruise Critic.

As they had tested positive for Covid, at the end of the cruise they all had to wait until all the other passengers left, and then the Covid group left the ship. Therefore, they were able to see all the Covid sufferers together in the queues to leave the ship and made their estimates from what they actually saw.

As the people reporting this were long standing members of Cruise Critic, who had not been controversial in the past, and there was more than one person reporting the phenomenon, I thought it was a reasonable indicator of what had happened

No Gill is not right to assume that many people think that covid has gone away, we know that it is still around, just like colds, flu, pneumonia, measles, mumps and lots more besides. But we now have effective vaccines which are being improved and like flu and all the others above will continue to be tweaked to remain effective and provide the necessary protection for us to live our lives as normally as possible once more.
Gill,'s regular contributions to this debate are far too black and white, and as a result seem to be intended to keep us going with a host of precautions which in the above circumstances appear to be no longer necessary.

Oh John, where to start with this !

You can only speak for yourself. You can't speak for every person in the UK.

From my observations, it does indeed seem that many people think that Covid has gone away. It seems strange, be it does seem to be the case.

I'm not sure who this 'we' is that you talk of - but if you know that Covid hasn't gone away, then I wasn't talking about you, so not sure why you felt the need to say it was still around.

It's extremely amusing that you feel the need to tell me that my posts about this subject are back and white, when your own post was full of black and white statements! My contributions are no more or less regular than anybody elses

Then you go off into a complete fantasy about me wanting people to take precautions. I made no comment about 'precautions'. Not for the firt time you've made an erroneous assumption about what my opinion is

Well this is ironic as this discussion continues. I tested positive for Covid this morning. So far not feeling too bad. Runny nose, sore throat and occasional cough, but no temperature. No worse than a cold so fingers crossed the 5 jabs will keep it that way. The most dangerous thing I've done in weeks is hug my daughter on Friday, who then tested positive on Sunday so she must have been incubating it when we saw her.

Hop you make a good recovery from the acute stage of the illness and suffer no long term effects afterwards.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Thanks Gill. As I qualify as vulnerable following my health adventures of 2020/21 I had a special PCR kit they sent me that I've done and posted and I've also uploaded the LFT. One or both should result in drugs arriving. But at the moment cold/flu capsules and cough medicine are controlling the symptoms so I'm optimistic the vaccines are doing their job.

[oldbluefox]

Sounds like man flu to me and you're after the sympathy vote!!!
Hope you're soon feeling better.