maizer

1 minute ago, caribill said:

 

Other countries such as Korea have managed to have sufficient test kits available.

The Korean President mobilized his entire cabinet, along with the police and military to pitch in with the crisis.

Although they still have mask shortages, it was refreshing to see them set goals and pursue them relentlessly.

Entire country was pretty much aligned

1 minute ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

As mentioned above, folks on the Royal thread for today's departure have indicated boarding has been delayed.

Honestly would you board knowing that its very likely a crew member or back to back passenger has it and you'll be quarantined?

44 minutes ago, wrongwaywatson said:

There is absolutely no reason to take The Grand out of commission.   The virus won't live on the ship without people and it will be easily decontaminated.  It is PEOPLE that are the problem, not the ship.

We have sailed on her 3 times, the last time on the 15 day SF to Hawaii and back cruise.  We love her!  We are booked to sail on her to Alaska 5/30 of this year.  

Completely agree. 

IIRC, the Grand has one less deck than other ships of similar class, but the same amount of amenities and entertainment space. So theoretically it would be a relatively less crowded ship in terms of person to entertainment space ratio.

We sailed on her 3 times and loved it!

Wasn't she also the flagship until the Royal Princess?

26 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

Are the trucks still there?

Not sure, to be honest. Someone else took that picture!

Seems like trucks and trailers full of provisions for what would have been the Grands next cruise is pulling up to the terminals in San Francisco.

Sigh. Wonder what will happen to all those food and supplies...

I know nothing about ships, is there a reason the ship is using fuel to go in circles rather than anchoring down?

4 minutes ago, lostchild said:

 

Or maybe they think the crew will mostly be under 30 years old while the passengers mostly be over 60, so most of the crew would survive an outbreak.

This is true. One small silver lining is hopefully they'll get a break from the non stop duties. I was previously on the Grand Princess when it had to turn back to port because of an open hatch. Crew was overjoyed at the downtime. Great ship, great crew.

2 minutes ago, JennAngel9 said:

Another prior Grand cruiser with COVID has turned up in Utah: https://health.utah.gov/featured-news/utah-health-officials-announce-first-case-of-covid-19.

Wow, who would have thought the Grand Princess patient zero, whoever that person is, would be the coronavirus 'super spreader'.

2 minutes ago, lostchild said:

 

To me, it seems wrong to treat the crew differently than the passengers.  To Princess, the crew are employees and passengers are customers, but to the United States, they should be just people on the ship.   Not sure how they could justify the difference in treatment.   I guess they could say that most of the passengers are Americans and most of the crew are not Americans...

Agree about treating them equally. However, if they spread out the 1100 employees across the 3500 total capacity ship, shut down ventilation, try to use balcony cabins only, perhaps being onboard would be adequate.

3 minutes ago, cscurlock said:

The question is does Travis AFB have the facilities to handle 3500+ people in separate rooms with food bathrooms etc.  I seriously doubt it.  They will do what they did in Japan and remove the people they know are sick and leave the rest on the ship for 14 days.  Not to mention trying to disinfect 30-40 buses after.  That would be a job.

Crew will stay, so 2499 ppl or so, which is still a lot

Honestly, where would the crew get masks? They're sold out everywhere in the entire world.

Those poor ladies in the live stream. Around 60 passengers were back to back, bad weather meant everyone was inside and a bit more packed together...

At least the Bay area has some of the finest medical facilities in the world.

It was almost surreal watching the stream, these nice ladies coughing, wondering if it will escalate...

I do feel bad for everyone on the Grand. We were on that ship for 3 cruises, in laws from both sides included, and everyone had a wonderful time.

Honestly if they do find 2~3 people with the virus, what is the best thing to do? Diamond Princess seemed to have made matter worse.

Just a heads up on the parking folks. Last time I sailed from SF, the nearest parking structure had cars wrapped around the block trying to enter. So I recommend either arriving early, or have a list of 3~4 potential parking structures just in case.

Living in SF, this is nice! Just thought I'd list my pros and cons

Pros: 

• New ship! - For the past few years we only had the Grand Princess, and while its a very fine ship we weren't going to sale on her for the 3rd or 4th time.
• Kids - I think Carnival is slightly better for families with kids

Kinda cons:

• Because San Francisco is right in the middle of the west coast, its really limited in terms of itinerary. Its 10+ day Alaska, Hawaii, or Mexico, but at least we'll have short term trips!

Well thats about it, can't wait till 2020!

I don't want to worry anyone onboard, but this is a serious breach of watertight integrity, which is why the ship has turned around for the closest port. It will not sail until this is fixed. The ship's pumps can keep up with any water inflow (and they are adjusting speed to minimize this), but even if the entire watertight compartment flooded (there are doors separating it from other compartments along the ship), the ship would not sink.

Well we just got a letter stating that "... a tender platform on the starboard side of the ship opened, for reasons yet unknown. The platform sustained damage such that it could not be closed. Although the [tender] platform is not part of the watertight integrity of vessel as a result of it opening the hull sustained minor localized damage which has been secured."

I'm guessing they're trying to keep us calm and assured, which is great. As for 'not part of the watertight integrity'... uhhhh

Watertight doors are manually dogged...once they are closed...they don't fail...I don't know if the compartment is watertight.

 

I'd be more concerned about pumping out ingested seawater...but I have no clue what the configuration is like for that on that ship.

The next watertight door is a manual dogged door much like what mrs and mrs posted a picture of. Unless someone goes and opens this, it won't fail.

Thanks. Well I guess it goes without saying hope those function as designed for the next few days!

We're on track to get back by 3pm on Monday. After the first couple of initial announcements, the cruise director in his cheerful voice is making all the latest news and announcements.

In light of the situation, what are the chances of the 'backup watertight doors' failing?

Also fwiw, there were some dockside security personnel issues in our last port Lahaina(a tender port), that caused us to leave 90 minutes later than scheduled. Likely nothing to do with our current situation i guess.

Welcome to Cruise Critic, although I'm sure you wish it was under better circumstances. I'm sure others will weigh in but I'm guessing that your options are somewhat limited since it is a weekend. It's usually helpful to write to: customerrelations@princesscruises.com or posting on the Princess Facebook page can sometimes get quick attention. It might just be that things are a bit disorganized right now but I would hope that they would simply fly folks to SFO if they are willing to bear the costs from that point on. In the meantime, you might want to keep checking in with Passenger Services, the Captain's Circle rep, or if possible, the Hotel GM. Good luck to you!

Thanks for the warm words! This is our 3rd cruise, so it won't affect how great I think the experience is :)

Unfortunately the front desk staff were quite adamant that they are gonna use the home address. Oh well, lets see what happens!

Also, we seem to be traveling extremely slow, but if 1 watertight door is whats keeping the water out, Im fine with that.

They are making flight arrangements so I doubt you will be heading back onboard.

You have not heard you are getting compensation?

You are onboard? Right?

I thought I read where someone posted earlier that everyone is getting a 50% refund and a future cruise credit as well?

Right, I was talking about situations where Princess for example books you tickets back to your home address of France, rather than San Francisco, where you are planning to stay for a few more months.

Theyre saying you'd have to refuse the tickets, and buy them yourself if you want to go to sf

Aboard the Grand right now, and its been interesting to say the least!

So far, there has been no word of whether the ship will be taking people back to San Fran. They seem to be trying to fly everyone back, unless someones heard otherwise.

Also, they say corporate is trying to book people flights back to their home address, even if its a foreign country. Already a lot of people are raising concerns, especially folks from Europe who were planning to continue traveling through(or stay in) America after this cruise. My parents in law are in a similar situation. Even though we wrote San Fran as our preferred airport of return on the cruise personalizer, they say their home address will be used.

The front desk folks are quite adamantly saying there is nothing they can do, that corporate will book flights back to the home address, and its up to us to refuse the flight, book another flight with our own money, and then ask corporate for compensation afterwards.

Anyone know if this is how things work? And if refunds will come through?

If nothing, I cant wait for the comedians act tonight and tomorrow :) And other than, you know, the ship taking in water, its been a pretty great cruise.