wrp96

10 minutes ago, toad455 said:

Why weren't the construction workers told to get off the bridge? They were apparently on a break and the six that died were in their cars keeping warm.

 

Police officers were getting in their cars to go warn the construction workers when the bridge collapsed.  They just didn't have enough time.   

Rather than the fun Miami to LA switch example above (although I actually like the idea), a better example might be what happens with river cruises when the ships can't sail through certain points in the river.  They shift you to buses (just like is happening with Legend) to move you either to a hotel or a new ship.  Some lines will give you compensation, some won't - but if you look at the cruise contract, they don't have to do anything.   Even there though, that's a situation that is not completely unexpected for the river cruise lines, unlike this situation.  IMO, Carnival is doing a good job after being handed a terrible set of choices.  Will it be the best option for everyone? No but overall for the most passengers they are doing what they can to make sure they still get a good vacation.

8 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

We would take it.  Live 30 minutes from Baltimore port.  Easy, get up, have breakfast, finish packing, easy quick drive to port.

 

Add 4 hour drive to that and it makes it a LOT different.

 

And, we are booked on the April 15 TA, so will have to change flights to Norfolk, getting in late in the evening, so another hotel before the 4+ hour drive home

You might consider taking the train to the cruise so you don't have to change your return flight to Norfolk and can avoid a 4+ hour drive home.

23 hours ago, IMNiles said:

Oh my, this is a lot more water drama than I expected in December!  I guess this is the new normal.  I’m very sorry to hear about the situation with the Scenic Opal (though sadly it is not out of character for Scenic/Emerald in my experience) - glad to hear they were able to accommodate the reverse sailing on Jasper, anyway.  I get of course that they have less than zero control over the weather, but how they react in a situation like this is what makes all the difference.

 

I met some folks at the airport who were due to sail on AmaSonata out of Budapest tomorrow, but since she is still way upstream near Straubing that seems pretty unlikely, so I hope they had an alternate ship for them here.  I myself am due to board SS Maria Theresa tomorrow, and I am gratified to see that she is already here, and since we don’t have to pass beyond Vienna until Tuesday I hope that means the trips heading upstream this weekend will be able to make the full run.  I’m quite sure Uniworld will take good care of us in any case, and in the meantime I will continue to gorge myself on Goulash here in Budapest 🙂 

 

 

I was on AMASonata and they bussed us to Vienna from Straubing to ship swap with AMAVerde so that is what they will board.  AMAVerde is rafted together with the SS Maria Theresa so maybe you’ll see them when you board.  Hope you have a fantastic cruise.    
 

We looked at ours as an adventure - two trips for the price of one.   We are receiving 50% a future cruise from AMA, in addition to the wonderful care they took of us onboard and what they did to still give us a lovely vacation.  You can’t control the weather or the water levels, but you can control how you react to it.

We are upstream at Straubing on AMA waiting to hear what we will do.   Talking to our cruise manager it is very likely we will do the same as Avalon (they were rafted with us here in Straubing and in fact their luggage is still being loaded into trucks here).

15 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Happy to add it for you 🙂

I really need a few more detail though please?  Eastern?  Western?  Caribbean?  # of days.  thanks.

 

Hope you enjoy your first HAL cruise.  🤞 

Sorry about that.  7 nights  Southern Caribbean

Taking my first HAL cruise in a few weeks.  11/20/22 Nieuw Amsterdam

Glad to read your review.  I'll be taking my first HAL cruise on 11/20 on Nieuw Amsterdam and have similar cruising experience to you. I'll be on Celebrity Beyond the week before so it will be an interesting comparison.  

A timely question as I'm waiting for an assignment for the 11/20 Nieuw Amsterdam sailing.  I'm happy just to be onboard my first HAL cruise so trying not to be anxious about when my cabin will be assigned.

From friend onboard, passengers have been offered the equivalent of 1.5 days worth of their cruisefare as onboard credit.

Last I heard the ship is still stuck in Vancouver.

5 minutes ago, flcraigs5 said:

We are on the Monday sailing also. Not sure how it will work if  the Conquest is headed back to Port Canaveral and we are suppose to embark at Port Miami 😫

They’ve done sailings previously where they’ve dropped of passengers at port Canaveral in the morning and picked up passengers at Miami in the afternoon.  It may require a delayed embarkation but it’s still very possible. 

52 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Hawaii has no known cases...yet.  But the governor has just issued a state of emergency to get funds.  

 

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/03/05/hawaii-news/iges-state-of-emergency-declaration-follows-the-death-of-a-passenger-on-a-cruise-ship-that-visited-four-hawaiian-islands/

Hawaii may have no local cases but there is at least one case of a Japanese tourist being diagnosed upon return from Hawaii.  Officially it's in the numbers for Japan but he was symptomatic at least on the plane from Hawaii.

1 hour ago, AlyssaJames said:

I don’t know how this strange “infected crew from Diamond ended up all the way over on Grand” notion keeps persisting, but I think people aren’t taking into account that there are other confirmed cases all over CA that have nothing to do with this. A worker at LAX has tested positive (let that one sink in). SF is a huge, international city with lots of travel ties with Asia. This is Occam’s Razor territory.

 

I think the most likely explanation for their bad luck is Princess has more ships operating in areas of potential exposure, with a slightly older clientele. For example, I don’t think NCL has a single ship out of California, do they?

I agree with you that it's more likely location and demographic than cruise line.  Longer cruises (Hawaii, Japan, etc) tend to attract an older demographic, no matter the cruise line.  This virus tends to affect an older demographic.  So just based on that a longer cruise is more likely to have an issue pop up related to coronavirus than a short Caribbean cruise with lots of families and kids.  

This virus also hides.  People can spread this virus while being asymptomatic for days.  We most likely won't know where the infected passenger(s) got it, but can't assume it came from the ship with how fast and the way this virus is spreading.

26 minutes ago, Coral said:

When I had the flu - they did 2 nostril swabs. The first one for rapid test and the second one 30 minutes later (as I tested negative for the rapid) to test for several other things (including flu). I would have much preferred the throat but they said for the flu, nostril is how they test.

 

I have no clue about corona virus and am not a medical person. I can just say I hate nostril swabs. I wonder if it matters who is doing the tests also.

Nostril swabs are terrible no matter who is doing them. 

For flu, yes they do nostril swabs and it has to be deep, which seems similar to what I have seen illustrated for what they have to do to test for COVID19.

18 hours ago, Moparop said:

Quoting myself here. Based on what HAL has said, my dad and I are trying to figure out to do with their flights from Bangkok to Seoul to home on Delta. Cancel? No show? Try to catch the connector in Seoul?

If you miss the flight from Bangkok, any later flights on the itinerary will be cancelled so you'll need to contact Delta about changing the ticket. Or if HAL is flying them all the way home, contact Delta and see if they will be willing to refund the ticket.

41 minutes ago, kathy49 said:

why are cruise lines boarding people from mainland China?????

At the time the cruise left, a lot of the current restrictions weren't yet in place. The travel warnings weren't as strict, the warnings from WHO weren't as cautionary, etc.   The same people would be denied boarding today but this is a rapidly changing situation.  For example there people that left the US for Singapore transiting through Hong Kong this past weekend were okay to sail when they left and by the time they landed they weren't. 

I know it's the least of the passengers worries right now, but I can't help but thinking how the call to work about coming back from vacation two weeks late is going to go. Hopefully, they will be understanding but I could see somebody being put into a tight pinch if they have a bad boss.

1 minute ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I thought someone posted

this, but now I can’t find the post.  What happened with the impacted sailing, and subsequent one?  Was the cruise cut short?

The ship was late leaving Cozumel but did leave that night to head back to New Orleans.  It was supposed to sail from New Orleans last night, but didn't sail until this morning.  They moved their Cozumel stop from Tuesday to Friday.  That is the only change in the itinerary.  The aft dining room was completely shut down last night while it was worked on, so everyone was directed to the mid-ship dining room or the buffet for dinner.  Hopes are they will be able to reopen the aft dining room during the cruise.

On 12/4/2018 at 8:04 AM, floridaag said:

I was also happy to see they had a Global Entry line at Terminal 19 at Port Everglades 

I was glad to see it, but my friend in the regular line got through faster than we did in the GE line, as the GE line didn't move for over 10 minutes and when it did start moving they were alternating with the line next to us.  It looked like maybe the computer went down in that line.

28 minutes ago, Tatiana84 said:

I am constantly checking my emails and nothing. This was a pretty traumatic experience for me... never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would have to FLY!  I normally fly with anxiety prescription medication of which I had no time to obtain since I had to pack(fam of 4) and debarked in ten minutes. The flight was terrifying... but I’m glad we made it home, late but safe and sound. I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving and great stories to tell on your thanksgiving table!

Hopefully you never have to go through this again, but if you ever are, send someone down to medical to get you anti-anxiety meds.

3 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

what if you dont want to fly?

or afraid to fly?

 

In previous events, they made special arrangements for those that were truly unable to fly (e.g. medical reasons).  It usually involved having to wait for space on another cruise ship stopping in that port that was sailing back to the mainland. I know in previous events Carnival put people on RCCL and NCL ships that had availability.  I imagine NCL is doing the same.  But those people would definitely have to make sure NCL was aware of their issue, because the general expectation will be that you will be accommodated on those charter flights.

Question; Do most people change for dinner like they do on river cruises? I know there is no FORMAL NIGHT but is a change of clothes necessary.? As stated before we are trying to keep things uncomplicated and one change of clothes a day would be great. Don’t want to be the odd couple:o BTW. Our cruise is November 2018

Thanks:cool:

Some people changed for dinner. Some didn't. I usually did because it was hot when we were there and I didn't like feeling sweaty, but I don't think that will be an issue in November.

Sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home from Zurich after a fantastic Rhine cruise and post cruise in Switzerland on AmaKristina. I’m a gentle walker and there were times I had my own tours and they still offered them. On the post cruise, the extra excursions were worth it. And the hotels were wonderful. For my post cruise transfers, our post cruise guide literally met my car and helped me through check in all the way to security.

I will try to post more when I get home, if anyone has any questions.

Re: adapters. There are USB ports by the bed and European plugs. They do have a few adapters available at reception to borrow if you don’t have one. With the USB plugs I haven’t needed to pull out my own adapters.