Princess Cruises
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Cruising post covid a viable risk option ? Sadly NO .!!he risk v benefit
I have just returned yesterday from a Princess UK cruise.... My wife and I have always been keen cruisers.... some 20 in all, and many on our favourite cruise line Princess.... This post is a personal and objective cruise experience report, prompted by our desire to 'test the cruise water' post covid, to see if it would be a viable future option , which in the last 14 years or so has given us many magical memories and experiences. The cruise experience has changed, as we felt had the enthusiasm and engagement of our fellow passengers... General observations - crew and staff, dining experiences and accomodation - as we remembered and loved... The company has cut costs by reducing passenger experiences - lower standard and variety of on board activities and lower standard guest performers - altho the stage shows with ship cast were excellent.... Passengers get less benefits for their cruise levels and restaurant drinks were much more expensive... Now my main reason for the review..... post covid, are the health issues a concern... well, sadly ..yes. I'll explain.. and the reason we would not risk any future cruises . Cruise ships have always been 'contagion containers'... with 2-3-4,000 passengers in close proximity, catching various viruses has always been a lottery, and the ship takes no responsibility and any suffering passenger stands a bad chance of having to quarantine and lose part of the holiday... it's all weighted against the passenger.... Now bearing that in mind, now cruising means that all passengers need proof of a negative covid test, and a vaccination pass, before boarding, and all staff and crew are tested regularly, so no reasons with what we know of how covid spreads, that this should be an issue on board.... again, sadly not so. Many passengers suffered bad 'cold' like symptoms, my wife suffered a severe chill.... again typical of a cruise 'contagion container'.... Both of us are in our 70's, very fit, never had covid, and very informed (I was a career research analyst and have spent much time researching covid) so we know how it is caught and how it is not caught... The point.... For the last 5 days of the cruise, I developed severe typical cold like symptoms and fought hard to complete our intensive excursion package - our priority.... About a couple of days before disembarkation, I was aware of a loss of taste and smell .. but still thought I had extreme cold symptoms. Arriving home yesterday, I on a whim did a covid test... and yes.... tested positive. So angry as this could only have happened on board the ship... So despite all precautions, you can still catch covid on board, with all the potential implications... A word to the wise.. hope readers thinking of cruising may want to weight up the risk v benefits.. We have and intend to just focus on trips that will not put us at risk of covid from such mass indoor gathering situations... You may think the same.... but at least you have a 'horse's mouth' experience to draw on .. Good luck..!!