Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth was set to port in Bali on November 28, but was denied entry by authorities in Bali due to the level of COVID transmission on the ship.
Cunard said in a statement: “Unfortunately, due to the ongoing rise in community transmission across Australia and this being reflected on various cruise lines, we’re unable to visit Indonesia at this time.
“This has followed ongoing conversations with the respective authorities in Bali, and we understand and respect the current circumstances we’re operating in.
“In light of this, we will sail into Fremantle in the coming days as planned.”
While the exact amount of cases onboard is not known, the ship has capacity for 2081 guests and around 1000 crew, and the West Australian government says it was informed that around 10-15% of those onboard have COVID.
If accurate and the ship is sailing at full capacity, this would suggest around 300 to 450 cases onboard. Western Australia has recorded approximately 10,500 cases over the past week.
It has been confirmed by Cunard that 95% of those older than 12 on the cruise are vaccinated, there is free rapid antigen testing for all guests and positive cases are being made to isolate for five days.
Majestic Princess, Quantum of the Seas, Coral Princess and Grand Princess have all recently reported outbreaks of more than 200 cases onboard.
While COVID transmission is trending upwards across Australia, fatality rates are steeply declining. In August the fatality rate was around 80 deaths per day, but now that is down to less than 10 per day.
Having recently spent almost a month on Queen Elizabeth we are not surprised at these figures. However, by being diligent with our mask wearing..( and wearing them properly, not as a “chin-strap) and having the 4th ‘jab’ we did not get the virus. Complacency was rife on the ship… objectors reminded us of people who railed against wearing seat belts! Need I say more!!!