Marlena Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 I want to thank @smokeybanditfor keeping us in the loop and updated for this experience. Sad it had to be your family affected but nice to hear first hand about being a part of a possible contact etc. Bob_KY, SebagoSue and Snotarni 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 We're still awaiting details on if the Bahamas will allow a close contact to leave on a commercial flight without 14 days quarantined. If not RC is flying us on their dime Pattycruise, WAAAYTOOO and SebagoSue 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 Another negative test overnight. Rc is flying us home due to strict Bahamas quarantine rules for close contacts. Just waiting on those details WAAAYTOOO, Pattycruise and PPPJJ-GCVAB 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12thman Posted July 31, 2021 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 1 hour ago, smokeybandit said: Another negative test overnight. Rc is flying us home due to strict Bahamas quarantine rules for close contacts. Just waiting on those details Hopefully you can get a refund or credit for the unused portion of your air fare. Private jet will be a nice way to end your trip at least. Hope it doesn't take too long to line up transportation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 1 hour ago, smokeybandit said: Another negative test overnight. Rc is flying us home due to strict Bahamas quarantine rules for close contacts. Just waiting on those details Really sorry to hear that your cruise got interrupted at the end.....but now that it's over anyway, a private ride home sounds pretty awesome !!! Be safe and good luck on your trip home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 We've already been told we'll get a prorated refund. We just got our flight time, so we'll literally be the last ones off. Pattycruise, Baked Alaska and WAAAYTOOO 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 14 minutes ago, smokeybandit said: We've already been told we'll get a prorated refund. We just got our flight time, so we'll literally be the last ones off. How many other families is Royal having to make these special arrangements for ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said: How many other families is Royal having to make these special arrangements for ? We know of at least 3 others, could be more WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffB Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 1 hour ago, smokeybandit said: We know of at least 3 others, could be more Glad to hear RCL has come through to make this doable ...... and glad negative tests! In retrospect and in the likelihood that person zero on this sailing was infected traveling to the cruise and not while on it,, is there any doubt why RCL is now requiring guests to get tested before being allowed to board? While it's accurate to say that there's an incubation period of 3-5d from SARS2 initially infecting respiratory system tissues, this is going to catch some leakers, not all, some but that's still a good thing. If this keeps happening, I would expect RCL to implement a pool sampling protocol similar to that used for crew members (required by the CSO). What this entails is the collection of random samples (the number being mathematically dictated by the size of the sampled pool) to catch more leakers, esp. asymptomatic ones. A certain number of samples are tested. One positive will prompt a test of the entire sample. Testing is relatively inexpensive with the cost of, for example, BinaxNOW under $10 wholesale, maybe lower now. Stopping revenue sailings, something that for now is up to the companies themselves but I have no doubt they would do it if necessary, would be way more costly on a number of levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlmondFarmer Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 1 hour ago, JeffB said: I would expect RCL to implement a pool sampling protocol similar to that used for crew members Is this the “pass around the spit cup” method? cdixon22, cruisellama, JeffB and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisellama Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 Covid must hang around in a cloud for unsuspecting victims who unwittingly walk through it and become infected. This was all predicted by Star Trek. AlmondFarmer, jticarruthers, SebagoSue and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 We were the last ones off the ship. Had a limo van when we expected an ambulance. Driven right to the plane. I'll write something up when i get home summarizing the experience Traveler, Jax, WAAAYTOOO and 9 others 9 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 Safe travels home @smokeybandit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswallow Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 It'd be kinda nice if we kept some sort of summary someplace of the situation for each sailings we've become aware of -- positive tests, any details about the passengers themselves, like vaccination status, age, symptoms if any, whether they were getting off the ship in the next day or two, or if they were B2B, etc. Because so far it's been rather minimal it seems. If any, just a couple. Mostly always asymptomatic. I think the information would be useful to be showing just how much of a mostly non-issue it usually is and to see if over time it stays roughly the same or if there's patterns matching land experiences with COVID cases, etc. Right now we seem to end up with overzealous thread deletions in some forums (not sure here, but it's really high up on my nerves on Cruise Critic right now, to the point I'm minimizing things I contribute there overall right now) and we just lose the information completely. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLH Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 2 hours ago, smokeybandit said: We were the last ones off the ship. Had a limo van when we expected an ambulance. Driven right to the plane. I'll write something up when i get home summarizing the experience Thank you for posting and getting the right story! Baked Alaska 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee23 Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 I'm not sure how long RCL can keep this up. Not sure what will happen first: we collectively learn to live with COVID and stop testing healthy people, or they stop doing anything more than 4 night cruises. jticarruthers, ChrisK2793, Baked Alaska and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffB Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 Define the "healthy" guest that you won't test. This has been a problem with COVID since day one. Asymptomatic transmission. It's well documented it's happening - we can argue viral load and all that but in the end, the lines have to deal with this. An outbreak is an outbreak and they don't want any of that or have a COVID + disembarked guest be patient zero in a community he passes through that then results in an outbreak. It seems that for now, they have protocols and plans in place with shore based agencies to take care of business. It's working. I agree there is probably a cost threshold for doing this that a line may not wish to cross. At that point, they'll probably be able to do a risk assessment and determine which ships and itineraries are the most risky and those will be cancelled. That is absolutely the worst outcome. I just don't see that happening but I'm a glass half full kind of guy and I'm constantly looking for data that backs up my optimism that cruising has successfully restarted and will continue to expand. There are plenty of pessimists. I'm not one of them. Shari 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 (No offense JeffB but I'm writing a JeffB-length post here) It all started Thursday night after the debarkation round of testing. All three in my group were negative, but about 10:30pm got a call from the ship's doctor saying our son was identified as a close contact for a boy in Adventure Ocean who tested positive. We never really asked for details on when or what they defined as a close contact since I figured we'd never get that detail as I'm sure they'd cite privacy. (Adventure Ocean follows strict masking and 6-foot social distancing rules as well as avoiding shared toys/supplies so I really doubt it was a 15 minute close contact, but we know the pressure cruise lines are under.) The medical staff will only call you with results that late if they're positive (not that that stopped me from waiting up until after midnight for the first one). The next morning we got a letter saying "dear guest" saying "guest" was quarantined. This step in the process is the one RC needs to work on. The letter didn't specify who (aka, just our son or all 3 of us?) had to quarantine (ended up just being our son) and had no "for more information contact XYZ" info on the letter. While the letter did list all the free services we'd have during quarantine (room service, internet, movies, phone calls) it didn't do a good job of outlining really what to expect. In my comments to RC I'm going to urge they have guest services call those people directly and lay things out for them instead of just a form letter, especially since the letter said staff would check up on us throughout the day and no one really did. So we called the nurses station for some info, and the doctor called us back saying our son was indeed negative but they (I'm not sure who "they" is but I got the inkling it wasn't solely ship management) wanted another PCR test 24 hours later. Which meant 10:30pm again. By afternoon (Friday) we get a call that guest services wanted our passports, vax cards and health insurance info. We never really got details on who wanted this, but we think it was the Bahamas government. Because a bit later, the guest services manager called and finally we got a good line of communication going. Despite the negative tests, the Bahamas didn't want to let our son take a commercial flight home since he didn't fulfill the country's unvaccinated quarantine window (14 days, tell me that wouldn't suck). Apparently RC tried to get a waiver for us, but as of later Friday, the guest services guy was prepping us for a private flight home. The 2nd test Friday night came and went negative (and I'm going to assume all 4 other contacts were negative too, based on a talk with our pilots) and we got one more call from guest services that they'd have updated flight info by 8am this morning. We got that call and they were still working out the details of the flight, but were prepping for it to be a late afternoon/evening flight and we'd move to the Hilton for a few hours. Somehow that got moved up and by 9am we got our 1pm fllight time and were just instructed to hang out in the room until noon. At noon guest services walked us down and we were off the ship. They had a limo van (aka, party van) for us right off the ship, drove us right to the plane, got on the plane, flew right to our home airport and had the town car waiting for us at the GA terminal to take us home. Apparently whatever deal they had set up required actual door to door delivery, so I got dropped off at the parking lot to get our car, and our wife and son got the town car ride home. So count me as the "I'm not an actor but a true story" for anyone that has concerns about booking a cruise due to fear of being covid-stranded (even if you aren't the one testing positive), RC has you covered. I can't compliment RC enough for how efficient they were with getting us (and apparently 4 other groups for a total of 20 people in the "contact tracing kid" bucket) out of there and thus avoiding having to stay another 10-11 days for the Bahamas unvaccinated quarantine period. griffinjam22, cruisellama, Zurc and 25 others 18 6 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted July 31, 2021 Report Share Posted July 31, 2021 29 minutes ago, smokeybandit said: but I can't compliment RC enough for how efficient they were with getting us (and apparently 4 other groups for a total of 20 people in the "contact tracing kid" bucket) out of there and thus avoiding having to stay another 10-11 days for the Bahamas unvaccinated quarantine period. Wow..effectively door to door service. I have been trying to follow how different cruise lines have been handling positive cases and it appears the Royal brands have been doing a good job compared to the other lines. CrznTxn, WAAAYTOOO and cruisellama 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlena Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 Thank you for giving all the details of your story. It definitely is comforting knowing your family was well taken care of. However I worry RC will not offer the same amount of coverage by the time we cruise end of Nov. Seems like all of this must cost them a fortune! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 How big an aircraft was it, @smokeybandit? Private or small commercial ? cruisellama 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 8 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: How big an aircraft was it, @smokeybandit? Private or small commercial ? A 6 passenger lear jet that can convert to an air ambulance. Jax, Shari, WAAAYTOOO and 8 others 4 1 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisellama Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 18 minutes ago, smokeybandit said: A 6 passenger lear jet that can convert to an air ambulance. $$ WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 9 minutes ago, cruisellama said: $$ RC probably shelled out upwards of a half million today. cdixon22, Pattycruise, Shari and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockerDom31 Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 @smokeybandit Wow - I’m sorry that your vacation had to end this way and I hope you and your family are safe and healthy! Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope RC will take your comments seriously about someone from the ship’s management speaking to you instead of just dropping off a form letter. I’m sure your mind was racing a hundred miles a second when you read the letter and I think this kind of situation deserves a personal conversation. Shari 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 13 minutes ago, RockerDom31 said: @smokeybandit Wow - I’m sorry that your vacation had to end this way and I hope you and your family are safe and healthy! Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope RC will take your comments seriously about someone from the ship’s management speaking to you instead of just dropping off a form letter. I’m sure your mind was racing a hundred miles a second when you read the letter and I think this kind of situation deserves a personal conversation. We were told we'd get a follow up call after today about our flight experience so I'll mention it then. I don't know how much traction it'd get in the normal post-cruise survey they send out. Shari 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisellama Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 23 minutes ago, smokeybandit said: RC probably shelled out upwards of a half million today. Would be great if you're able to get your feedback to the right levels. Hopefully - some of the buzz will reach them. Valuable experience and great to have 1st hand experience shared in this forum. RCL did a first rate job.. Baked Alaska 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee23 Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 Wow, I guess my reply wasn't liked... I'm not sure why anything that is critical of the way things are unfolding is getting deleted. This is directly relevant to cruising, and a huge area of uncertainty as the rest of us continue to consider booking. I consider the idea that an unvaccinated child, who is a loosely defined close contact but otherwise healthy, at low risk, and *PCR negative*, could trigger a response like this to be absolute overkill and will prompt me to cancel our remaining cruises for 2021 if it remains business as usual. I also question how it can possibly remain business as usual, and wonder if guests will eventually be left to take the 14 day quarantine period in a foreign country on their own. Moreover, I hold we need to begin mentally preparing ourselves for the long view where we treat people as healthy unless they, well... Need medical intervention. The current protocol *are not working* if this is the end result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordell1 Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 27 minutes ago, LizzyBee23 said: Wow, I guess my reply wasn't liked... I'm not sure why anything that is critical of the way things are unfolding is getting deleted. This is directly relevant to cruising, and a huge area of uncertainty as the rest of us continue to consider booking. I consider the idea that an unvaccinated child, who is a loosely defined close contact but otherwise healthy, at low risk, and *PCR negative*, could trigger a response like this to be absolute overkill and will prompt me to cancel our remaining cruises for 2021 if it remains business as usual. I also question how it can possibly remain business as usual, and wonder if guests will eventually be left to take the 14 day quarantine period in a foreign country on their own. Moreover, I hold we need to begin mentally preparing ourselves for the long view where we treat people as healthy unless they, well... Need medical intervention. The current protocol *are not working* if this is the end result. Keep in mind that this cruise started and ended in a foreign country where the vaccine is not as available as in the US. The steps taken were in keeping with their laws. The results may have been very different has the cruise left from the US. mianmike and LizzyBee23 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 13 minutes ago, wordell1 said: The results may have been very different has the cruise left from the US. Agreed. The Bahamas played a big part in how things went down like they did with the close contacts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswallow Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 1 hour ago, smokeybandit said: RC probably shelled out upwards of a half million today. Divide by 5, and I'd still think it was an over-estimate. You know they have some deal involving that aircraft service. And a LearJet can be had one-off for about $3500 to $4000/flying hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 16 minutes ago, dswallow said: Divide by 5, and I'd still think it was an over-estimate. You know they have some deal involving that aircraft service. And a LearJet can be had one-off for about $3500 to $4000/flying hour. These all technically were medivac flights though. I figure that adds some extra expense. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 9 hours ago, LizzyBee23 said: I consider the idea that an unvaccinated child, who is a loosely defined close contact but otherwise healthy, at low risk, and *PCR negative*, could trigger a response like this to be absolute overkill 100% correct I mean why should we worry about or test children or healthy looking people just to see if they have the virus but are not showing any symptoms! its not as if a healthy person or child carrying any virus can pass it on to others who may not be vaccinated! Yes the above is sarcasm!!!!! Also if some are not being tested then those that are would probably complain, say they are being victimised and contact their lawyers ctigerk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmaccullen Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 Was the flight operated by Phoenix Air? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee23 Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 1 hour ago, Ray said: 100% correct I mean why should we worry about or test children or healthy looking people just to see if they have the virus but are not showing any symptoms! its not as if a healthy person or child carrying any virus can pass it on to others who may not be vaccinated! Yes the above is sarcasm!!!!! Also if some are not being tested then those that are would probably complain, say they are being victimised and contact their lawyers We now have evidence that vaccines don't stop transmission by enough to get rid of COVID. In light of that, I do not understand how anyone can support a notional return to sailing that includes testing healthy people (vaccinated or otherwise). If you hold that passengers present a health risk to the ports they visit (which may be true), then we shouldn't be visiting those ports without rigorous PCR testing regardless of vaccination status. Otherwise testing like this offers a sense of security where there is none, and comes at a high cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 52 minutes ago, Cmaccullen said: Was the flight operated by Phoenix Air? jet ICU, which apparently has RC's contract for the Bahamas cruises Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisK2793 Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 Now that Carnival is up and running, I’ll be curious to see if they keep getting cruises with people testing positive since they require all adults to be vaccinated to cruise ….. are they required to do the same testing of everyone during the cruise since they’re technically considered to be fully vaccinated other than children on the ship? Baked Alaska and cruisellama 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevendom57 Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 @smokeybanditWhat type of insurance did you have for this trip? Was it through RC, through someone else or none? I wonder if you would have gotten the same treatment if you had self-insured. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 13 minutes ago, stevendom57 said: @smokeybanditWhat type of insurance did you have for this trip? Was it through RC, through someone else or none? I wonder if you would have gotten the same treatment if you had self-insured. This was covered under RC's default coverage, not their separate policy. I did have travel insurance which would have covered the same. Baked Alaska, stevendom57, Zurc and 2 others 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseGus Posted August 1, 2021 Report Share Posted August 1, 2021 4 hours ago, ChrisK2793 said: Now that Carnival is up and running, I’ll be curious to see if they keep getting cruises with people testing positive since they require all adults to be vaccinated to cruise ….. are they required to do the same testing of everyone during the cruise since they’re technically considered to be fully vaccinated other than children on the ship? I believe that Carnival is only testing the <5% of children before that board. I occasionally sail with them so i have sorta keep my ear to what gets posted. I do know that their sailing pictures show no masks on any passenger indoors. ChrisK2793 and cruisellama 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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