Cruising choices with an active Pandemic

Tamerton said:
From the ABC web site

”The Japanese Government put the ship on a mandatory quarantine period that is due to finish on February 19.

But passengers who have been in close contact with confirmed cases will have the clock reset and have to wait another 14 days from their last interaction with the infected person.”
Click to expand...
Now that crew are testing positive I wonder how that will work. They simply cannot hold the ship for more than 14 days or there will be a revolt.
Post automatically merged:

tgh said:
Westerdam has just been refused docking in Thailand !
Click to expand...
There aren’t any positive cases. They did disembark from HK though. Like I said, when/if Singapore hits the list there will be huge impact. And I don’t understand why Japan is allowing future cruises to be redirected there. Makes nonsense.
 
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tgh said:
Westerdam has just been refused docking in Thailand !
Click to expand...

ABC says they docked? Where did you see they hadn't?

www.abc.net.au

Westerdam cruise ship refused entry to Thailand amid coronavirus fears

Passengers on board Holland America's Westerdam cruise ship will remain stuck at sea, after Thailand's health minister refuses permission for them to land in his country.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

www.cruiseindustrynews.com

Westerdam Cleared for Thailand Disembarkation

Holland America’s Westerdam has received permission to disembark passengers in Thailand. The Westerdam has set course for Laem Chabang, where the current cru
www.cruiseindustrynews.com www.cruiseindustrynews.com
 
Advice by SS about new embarkation rules.
Alla same across the industry as they seem to mirror the CLIA statement already released
Imo , too little, too late.

  • Guests who have traveled from, visited, or transited through airports in China, including Hong Kong and Macau, within 15 days of their voyage embarkation, regardless of nationality, will not be allowed to board any of our vessels. The standard incubation period recognized by the WHO and US CDC for this virus is 14 days.
  • Guests who are denied boarding will be issued a refund
  • For all guests, we will continue standard pre-boarding health reporting and evaluation. Any guests who appear symptomatic are subject to pre-boarding medical evaluations including but not limited to temperature checks as deemed necessary.
  • Any guest who exhibits symptoms of any respiratory illness while on board will be subject to additional screening at our onboard Medical Center and may be subject to potential quarantine and disembarkation.
  • We have implemented additional cleaning and disinfection protocols on board all voyages. These protocols will be enforced in addition to our already rigorous sanitization standards in place.
  • Our crew members who have traveled from, visited or transited via airports in China, including Hong Kong and Macau within 15 days will not be allowed on board our ships.
  • Singapore and the Philippines are not currently allowing Chinese nationals to disembark at their ports. Guests with a Chinese passport who are traveling on voyages that disembark in one of these regions will not be allowed on board our ships. If additional port restrictions are put into place we may have to modify this policy as needed.
  • Guests who are denied boarding due to this will be issued a refund.
  • The above measures will remain in effect until further notice and are subject to change at any time as we evaluate the situation and continue to consult with local health authorities as well as the WHO and US CDC.
 
Latest from a passenger on the Silver spirit in Bangkok.
It must be absolute chaos, imagine what is happening to cattle class cruisers who are disgorged wherever the ship can touch land….brrrrr

Copied from cruise critic SS boards.. 7 hours ago...

I thought we were doing good. On Saturday they said Bangkok would let us in and they’re making airline reservations for everyone.. got call that we were booked bkk to dxb to lax to hnl on February 11. Its a long ways to go but it’s Emirates business class at it gets us out of Asia. Captain announced everyone would have tickets by dinner time Sunday. With still no tickets on Monday we made multiple trips To reception and were told that home office was sending them soon. They said be ready for the 10 pm bus to the airport. Now its 10 pm and our next big decision is do we sit by the gangway with suitcases or go to bed. Crew is great, home office keeps screwing it up.

people at next table at dinner were told all is good and Silversea took them to the airport this morning but brought them back in the afternoon when the airline said their reservation was not good..
some people are gone but always someone at reception trying to get answers like us.
Spirit leaving tomorrow afternoon don’t know what we are doing. They are so positive when we talk to them and then it doesn’t happen.
Saturday seemed like they had it handled and we were going home, Sunday still optimistic but starting to doubt, Monday sucks.
looks like we are not going to the airport after all just to bed now with no airplane tickets at all.
I can book my own tomorrow but they keep saying they will be here soon.
I think I’ll sleep in the room and give up on listening to Silversea.
 
tgh said:
Latest from a passenger on the Silver spirit in Bangkok.
It must be absolute chaos, imagine what is happening to cattle class cruisers who are disgorged wherever the ship can touch land….brrrrr

Copied from cruise critic SS boards.. 7 hours ago...

I thought we were doing good. On Saturday they said Bangkok would let us in and they’re making airline reservations for everyone.. got call that we were booked bkk to dxb to lax to hnl on February 11. Its a long ways to go but it’s Emirates business class at it gets us out of Asia. Captain announced everyone would have tickets by dinner time Sunday. With still no tickets on Monday we made multiple trips To reception and were told that home office was sending them soon. They said be ready for the 10 pm bus to the airport. Now its 10 pm and our next big decision is do we sit by the gangway with suitcases or go to bed. Crew is great, home office keeps screwing it up.

people at next table at dinner were told all is good and Silversea took them to the airport this morning but brought them back in the afternoon when the airline said their reservation was not good..
some people are gone but always someone at reception trying to get answers like us.
Spirit leaving tomorrow afternoon don’t know what we are doing. They are so positive when we talk to them and then it doesn’t happen.
Saturday seemed like they had it handled and we were going home, Sunday still optimistic but starting to doubt, Monday sucks.
looks like we are not going to the airport after all just to bed now with no airplane tickets at all.
I can book my own tomorrow but they keep saying they will be here soon.
I think I’ll sleep in the room and give up on listening to Silversea.
Click to expand...
This is Silverseas? Gosh, I know its a rapidly moving issue but to get to the airport and find the tickets aren’t valid?
 
From this image taken moments ago, it looks like she is continuing to steam towards Bangkok and (just guessing) a day away
1581380004158.png
 
As expected Silversea have extended the cancellation without penalty to embarkation - 90 days instead of the present 120 .
We booked ss air as it was a good price , and there is a $700 aud penalty if/or when we cancel that.
There is also a $250 processing fee for cancellations.
We are good with all this so will wait for the extra 30 days and revisit .
I assume if it is all still chaos they will extend the offer.
They have our money of course, in fact they have most of the next years cruise fares across the whole line all prepaid….
They incentivise early payment and as the money is earning nothing anyway, it's a no brainer for most folks
 
Yes we have 4 sectors booked on Silversea over the next 15 months.all fully paid.
 
In more cheerful news, Anthem of the Seas has been cleared for novel coronavirus and has set sail to Bermuda (original itinerary Bahamas).
 
Follow up to post #105 from the Silver Spirit……..chaos reigns supreme it seems

Well at 1030 last night we gave up getting our tickets and catching the bus Then the couple we travel with called and said they just got their tickets and there was an 1130 bus. So I went down to reception and they said they were downloading them any minute. A half hour later they said they had printed and gave me the sheet. The sheet had a 9am flight to Dubai and then on to London. Turns out it was someone else’s tickets. 10 minutes later I was told that they had mine but it was too late to get the bus.
I went back to the room and waved goodbye to our friends from our balcony as they went down the gangplank.
went back down to reception and discussed options since the ship was leaving. Told them that we would just book our own return to Honolulu in the morning..
so at midnight We give up and go to bed. At 1am they phone and and have us booked on a 9am flight and the 430 am bus, we agreed to that and am now sitting in the business lounge in Seoul waiting for our Honolulu flight home.
we will beat our friends who left last night by 12 hours.

the home office was absolutely atrocious at handling this and the crew on board were spectacular.

happy half way home and all is good.
 
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Japan Times reported this online - The government is planning to allow elderly passengers as well as those with chronic illnesses to leave the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship soon, possibly on Tuesday. Sorry I can't manage to link to the article.

ABC RN this morning reported 'another' Australian from Diamond Princess has the virus but it was unclear if that person is part of the group of 66 and the ABC is slow, or if it's a new case.

Meanwhile ABC online reported one Aussie is whiling away her quarantine searching the Princess website for her next cruise :D An Aussie family of 4 in an inside cabin, the Tans, remain cheerful (good on them for their resilience). No laundry is being done for pax - at the end of a 14 day cruise I wouldn't usually have many clean clothes left but I suppose people have plenty of time for handwashing laundry and I believe many more Diamond cabins have bathtubs than usual for a cruise ship (after the ship was specially refitted for Japan cruising), so I hope washing powder is being distributed!

In another AFF thread there's a report from HK that the virus has been spread through 'pipes' in an apartment building which would terrify me if I was stuck on Diamond Princess :eek:
 
It never rains but it pours..

As Princess Cruises grapples with concerns of coronavirus onboard a ship in Japan, another one of its ships, the Caribbean Princess, was forced to turn around due to a norovirus outbreak.

At least 299 passengers and 22 crew members onboard the ship operated by California-based Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. have become sick, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Health Ministry of Trinidad & Tobago said in a statement it denied the ship entry as a precautionary measure given the outbreak.

Norovirus is a stomach bug that hits about 19 million to 21 million Americans each year, according to the CDC. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping.

The Caribbean Princess ship, which was on a 14-day Caribbean voyage that departed on Feb. 2, is heading back to Port Everglades, Florida, according to a statement provided to USA TODAY by Princess Cruise spokesperson Negin Kamali. It is scheduled to arrive Thursday morning.

www.usatoday.com

Princess cruise ship forced to turn around after over 300 sickened with norovirus

Coronavirus isn't the only virus causing concern on cruise ships right now. Norovirus has forced Princess Cruises' Caribbean Princess to turn around.
www.usatoday.com
 
More contagion..

Just a quick update, not specifically HAL but the situation in general. I am on the Crystal Serenity and we (along with 4 other ships) have just been denied entry to Tonga. At least 3 of the ships are westbound with the last significant stop being in Papeete. It is apparent that panic is spreading
 
If Sapphire Princess is next I will not be surprised. I was onboard January 7-21, Singapore to Singapore via Vietnam and Cambodia amongst other places. There was no form to sign before boarding to confirm no pre-boarding illness. I never saw any crew cleaning handrails or elevator buttons during the cruise. On port days, pax and crew mixed ashore cheek by jowl with many Chinese tourists who were in Vietnam and Cambodia for lunar New Year. (The global emergency was declared the day after I got home). I got ill twice while onboard, once with a respiratory thing that many other pax had, and once with vomiting and diarrhoea that again I had heard other pax complaining about during the cruise. Washing hands is no guarantee against getting sick, I was washing mine at least once per hour and using hand sanitiser and still got sick. Every day the Princess Patter carried the info that if you went to the ship's medical centre you would be charged for both the consultation and any medication - it seemed to me like they printed that every day to deter people from seeking medical advice. It seems wrong to me for a cruise line to treat the medical centre as an income source like they do the spa and the shops. It's not people's choice to get sick, and it shouldn't be seen as their fault either.

There are a lot of things Princess could do differently to control infections on their ships, including being more pax-friendly about illness, eg not charging for medical help, and about giving partial or total refunds if people are sick and should be quarantined in their cabin. I came off Sapphire Princess wondering if I ever want to do another cruise at all, and all the current news about the novel coronavirus isn't making me think I do.
 
Medical facilities are challenging on cruise ships.
The ships tend to carry a lot of "wellness challenged" passengers and free medicine would need a whole deck and hundreds of staff.
Otoh , most travel insurance with attached cruise package covers medical on board.

You need to book a cruise on one of the higher end lines Anna… chalk and cheese….
 

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