hissingsid Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 Covid on board, Covid on shore……head for Liverpool…..Covid there….who would want to cruise these days, at least it seems to have kicked the Norovirus into touch so every cloud…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finlo Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 Norovirus is currently doing the rounds on island. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newsdesk Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, hissingsid said: Covid on board, Covid on shore……head for Liverpool…..Covid there….who would want to cruise these days, at least it seems to have kicked the Norovirus into touch so every cloud…. Covid is just a convenient excuse. It didn’t seem to have stopped them enjoying the sights of Liverpool. More likely Bus Vannin couldn’t provide reassurances over the transfers as they had no cover so they decided to go elsewhere. The press release in the other thread on Bus Vannin says as much if you read between the lines. Edited July 3, 2022 by Newsdesk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 1 hour ago, Newsdesk said: Covid is just a convenient excuse. It didn’t seem to have stopped them enjoying the sights of Liverpool. More likely Bus Vannin couldn’t provide reassurances over the transfers as they had no cover so they decided to go elsewhere. The press release in the other thread on Bus Vannin says as much if you read between the lines. Pail Moulton tweeted a second message from the ship (not sure which one) which said something like "we can't drive buses, guide tours and the testing requirements are too complex, so we've decided to cancel and go to Liverpool." 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Mexico Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 Moulton had another interview on this, he put up today. As ever there seems to be no concept in the Isle of Man Government that when things change unexpectedly, the people affected might like to know what is going on. To some extent Callister's belated and confused Facebook post on Friday afternoon at least attempts to pass on some information. Clearly there are two factors here: the perpetual shortage of bus drivers and demanding that the cruise passengers take a Covid test before they got off the boat. It would be interesting to know whether Tours were asked to help with the first and who made any decision about the second and how it was communicated to the cruise company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newsdesk Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 15 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said: and demanding that the cruise passengers take a Covid test before they got off the boat. And why on earth was that asked for either when you can walk through Ronldsway with Covid with absolutely no requirement to be tested. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said: Moulton had another interview on this, he put up today. As ever there seems to be no concept in the Isle of Man Government that when things change unexpectedly, the people affected might like to know what is going on. To some extent Callister's belated and confused Facebook post on Friday afternoon at least attempts to pass on some information. Clearly there are two factors here: the perpetual shortage of bus drivers and demanding that the cruise passengers take a Covid test before they got off the boat. It would be interesting to know whether Tours were asked to help with the first and who made any decision about the second and how it was communicated to the cruise company. Yes, I heard the chap on Mannin Line and good on David Ashton (!) getting back to him, but it looks like we couldn't organise a docking in a flotilla. ETA he also drives buses for BV, but has his own tours business! It's all getting a bit opaque, I think the term is. Are the zero hours contracts creating thus problem where drivers have much more lucrative things to do than drive cruisers around in BV buses? Don't blame him at all, but it all seems a bit peculiar. Edited July 3, 2022 by Gladys 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbnuts Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 4 hours ago, hissingsid said: Covid on board, Covid on shore……head for Liverpool…..Covid there….who would want to cruise these days, at least it seems to have kicked the Norovirus into touch so every cloud…. My sister and brother in law just got of a cruise on Thursday and are down with Covid . Sure they caught it on board . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Mexico Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 30 minutes ago, Gladys said: ETA he also drives buses for BV, but has his own tours business! It's all getting a bit opaque, I think the term is. Are the zero hours contracts creating thus problem where drivers have much more lucrative things to do than drive cruisers around in BV buses? In that particular case he would actually have less cause for complaint than most because he hadn't been booked directly by the cruise company - it was a deal done for individual passengers. (The cruise companies put such an enormous mark-up on their tours that you can often get an individual tour for not much more than than going on the communal one). So it wouldn't have been known to inform him. As to also driving for Bus Vannin, I suspect that all bus and coach companies have quite a few similar people who are happy to pick up a bit of extra work now and again. Presumably they would know they couldn't rely on him for cruise bookings. The problem with BV is that they came to rely too much on them and rather than taking on full-timers, just recruited more on zero-hours. Once other more reliable and better-paid employment came along, those people just stopped working for them. Covid clearly made this problem even worse, but the basic problem was a structural one of their own making. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 33 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said: In that particular case he would actually have less cause for complaint than most because he hadn't been booked directly by the cruise company - it was a deal done for individual passengers. (The cruise companies put such an enormous mark-up on their tours that you can often get an individual tour for not much more than than going on the communal one). So it wouldn't have been known to inform him. As to also driving for Bus Vannin, I suspect that all bus and coach companies have quite a few similar people who are happy to pick up a bit of extra work now and again. Presumably they would know they couldn't rely on him for cruise bookings. The problem with BV is that they came to rely too much on them and rather than taking on full-timers, just recruited more on zero-hours. Once other more reliable and better-paid employment came along, those people just stopped working for them. Covid clearly made this problem even worse, but the basic problem was a structural one of their own making. That was my point really. The communication aspect is a different point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newsdesk Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 45 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said: The problem with BV is that they came to rely too much on them and rather than taking on full-timers, just recruited more on zero-hours. Once other more reliable and better-paid employment came along, those people just stopped working for them. Flexible hours mean that you work for the people who pay the most money. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0bserver Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 (edited) It's probably a good thing the ships didn't call. We claim to be some type of climate/eco utopia... cruise ships aren't exactly environmentally friendly. ETA: Some interesting stats for anyone who is interested. Yes we're not getting levels like Barcelona or Venice, but even the odd one is bad news. https://www.geekyexplorer.com/cruise-ship-pollution/#:~:text=Every single day%2C cruise ships,as 3%2C6 MILLION cars. Edited July 3, 2022 by 0bserver 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Mexico Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 3 minutes ago, offshoremanxman said: I don’t get that either. Who insisted on Covid tests before they left the boat? Everyone here has had covid and as you say there is no requirement to test at Gatwick before you get on the plane so who the hell insisted on covid tests before coming ashore? I think it’s bullshit to try to pretend it was anything other than Bus Vannin being shit and couldn’t guarantee services they’d been contracted to provide. Apparently they all had a great time in Liverpool. Moulton was getting his info off a friend who was a passenger on the ship, so it reflects what they were told. But Callister's Facebook post (which seems to be at least semi-official) said: In addition the Isle of Man authorities were officially notified of a medical situation onboard Seven Seas Voyager due to a relatively large number of cases of Covid and discussions were held to consider on the back of this, what additional mitigations could be considered, including requesting passengers take a test within the previous 24 hours before arrival. So clearly someone, somewhere in government came up with the idea. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banker Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 16 hours ago, Numbnuts said: My sister and brother in law just got of a cruise on Thursday and are down with Covid . Sure they caught it on board . Not sure why anyone is testing anymore unless they are very ill? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbnuts Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 59 minutes ago, Banker said: Not sure why anyone is testing anymore unless they are very ill? Work requirements mean they have too. But generally would agree. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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