sndral

Coast Guard has released video of the helicopter rescue https://www.businessinsider.com/video-footage-cruise-ship-passenger-rescued-after-falling-overboard-2022-11

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/man-rescued-carnival-cruise-gulf-of-mexico/index.html
Updated article giving more details including the name of the vessel that spotted him.

48 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

The fact that he survived after the fall and in the gulf for 12+ hours is incredible. 

According to CNN he was transferred from another vessel to a coast guard helicopter - https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/man-rescued-carnival-cruise-gulf-of-mexico/index.html so it sounds like an unnamed ship initially found & rescued him, to me it’s unclear how long he spent in the gulf, but it’s still remarkable that he survived the fall & that a vessel happened to find him.

4 hours ago, friendswithdave said:

I expect the ship's response would be the same regardless of how the tour was sponsored. I don't see reason here to discriminate against a land-based tour where roads are literally washed out. 

The ship leaving by a certain time such as the case here where there was a deadline for transmitting the Panama Canal or as a PP posted due to tidal limitations at a port then yes, the ship will leave irrespective of whether the late passengers are on a ship’s tour or a private one. Likewise delivering documents & the like to shore. My understanding was that w/ ship sponsored tours, the ship will wait for late returning tours absent unusual circumstances (indeed that happened on one of my ship sponsored tours - our bus made it back an hour after scheduled departure & the ship was waiting for us.)

The difference in this case would be on what happens after the ship leaves - I assume (but don’t know) that HAL is paying the Marriott Hotel bill of those 41 people & will arrange & pay for their transit to rejoin the ship as well as dealing w/ the paperwork involved. My understanding is those on a private tour would be on their own & have to pay their own expenses to get back to the ship.
I’m not a terribly experienced cruiser, though, & would be interested to know whether I’m correct in my assumptions about the differences in handling ship v. private tours in these situations.

I find that if I dance as I listen to music I can log a lot of steps - to break up walking in your cabin maybe try some dancing too. 🙂

3 hours ago, Crazy For Cats said:

I think it’s too soon to know for certain.

Yes, from what I’ve read it seems to be ultimately the Captains call on each specific sailing. My sense is that it’ll be much like Noro always has been, when there’s an outbreak onboard sanitation protocols are increased/imposed, w/ Noro’s fomite transmission that’s things like increased surface/hand sanitizing. W/ Covid I guess for the near future it’ll be when levels reach a certain number transmission reduction protocols, including masks to protect people from airborne transmission, will happen.

4 hours ago, Roz said:

From the HAL website:

 

All onboard purchases and services are charged to your account by using your stateroom keycard. Cash is not accepted for individual transactions, e.g. bars, the shops, spa, shore excursions. Cash is accepted in our casinos.

 

Registering a credit card(s) (Visa®, Mastercard®, American Express®, and Discover®) as part of your pre-cruise check-in process activates your keycard. The day you board, Holland America Line places an initial hold on your credit card for $60 per person per cruise day ($30.00 per person per day for cruises longer than 25 days). Once you’ve spent the initial hold amount, we will authorize your card for the total of your onboard purchases to date plus an additional $60 per person per day for the remainder of your cruise. Please note that there may be multiple authorizations throughout your cruise, and that some banks may keep the hold in place for up to 30 days. Please keep in mind to change your settings for your credit card to ‘World’ prior to the start of your cruise, even if your cruise is within Europe.

 

If you do not want to use a credit card, on the day of boarding, you will need to visit Guest Services and deposit $60 cash per person per cruise day (applies to all guests 18 years of age and over). Any excess deposit will be refunded to you at the end of the cruise. Traveler's checks may be cashed at Guest Services. Personal checks are not accepted on board.

 

At the end of your cruise, you will receive a final statement, and your card will be charged only for the actual amount of your purchases. Refunds for purchases of onboard products and services will be credited to your onboard account whether purchased prior to or during your cruise. The final amount billed may take up to 24-hours following disembarkation. For questions about how long the hold remains in effect or how your available credit is affected, please contact your card issuer.

Thank you for posting this, it’s helpful to someone such as myself researching various lines longer cruises. It’s interesting that the cc hold for a 24 day cruise is $1440 pp compared to the cc hold of $900 pp for a 30 day cruise. I am curious if any have had the hold on unspent funds take as long as 30 days to be removed.

I assume you’re currently on AA1960 @ 7a.m. from SFO to CLT - here’s how it’s performed lately https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/aa1960 it usually arrives half an hour early w/ an on time departure, even the couple of days where it was almost an hour late departing, it still made it to CLT in time to make your connection to FCO.

Likewise AA720 CLT to FCO looks like it’s been departing pretty much on time & arriving early morning in Rome https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/aa720

Routing through Dallas on AA1198 leaving SFO at 6 a.m., if there’s a problem w/ that flight in SFO you could take AA2598 at 8 a.m. - if there’s room, and still make it to Dallas in time to catch AA240 to FCO.

At this late date I personally wouldn’t mess w/ changing flights unless I could leave Oct. 1 or Sept. 30. I’ve stayed at the airport Hilton in Rome & walked back to the terminal to catch my cruise line transfer the next day & found it to be very convenient, I also saw lots of folks arriving that day.

Good luck.

“How do you arrest a ship?”

By initiating an action in rem, which is about all I remember from a semester of admiralty many years ago 🙂

On 3/19/2021 at 11:34 AM, tommui987 said:

...

You should be aware that some locations where there are bridges, there is no way of getting around unless you use the bridges. The bridges have steps. If you have "wheelies" on your luggage, you will not be able to wheel your luggage but will have to carry it across the bridges!

On my most recent visit to Venice a few years ago I was surprised to see that some of the bridges had ramps over them making wheeling suitcases over them easier & I suspect to cut down on the damage to the steps that clunking suitcase wheels cause, unlike my first Venetian visit when I don’t recall seeing any ramps. That said, many bridges still were steps only, so best to pack w/ that obstacle in mind.

On 3/20/2021 at 3:28 PM, Storylady said:

...You will love your Venice to Barcelona cruise. We have done most of the ports. In fact, we have a 19 day cruise planned on the Westerdam from Athens to Venice to Barcelona in the fall.
...As for getting to your hotel from the airport, arrange a water taxi to pick you up at the airport and take you to the hotel. We had a friend who wanted to save money and he hauled his suitcases up and over 20 bridges in Venice to get to his hotel.

OP is doing Barcelona to Venice, so will be arriving via ship at the port. So the first logistical issue is how to get from the ship to their Venetian hotel. Next is how to get from their hotel to the airport when it’s time to depart. If you don’t want to take a very expensive private water taxi, it’s worthwhile IMO to spend some time studying a map of Venice & what transportation options are available when deciding on your hotel in Venice. When I cruised in & out of Venice a few years ago I personally eliminated some lovely sounding hotels, including the one I’d previously spent a week at on a non cruise vacation and opted to stay at a hotel on the Riva Degli Schiavoni because it was easy to get to/from the airport & to/from the port on the Alilaguna blue line - the blue line San Zaccharia stop was close to the hotel. It worked quite well, I loved the easy walk to San Marco, while touristy I was there in the fall so it wasn’t too crowded, and I was pleasantly surprised at my ‘standard’ view from my room - see below 🙂

For those still looking to schedule, this site scans for available appointments at various pharmacies. https://www.vaccinespotter.org/

6 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

Yes, I saw that. So the CDC is just looking out for the welfare of the passengers!  Touching.  Re the clueless passenger who pulled down her mask, I was thinking the same thing.  It might be a stretch to attribute that scene to the CDC, but that scene certainly did not help anything.   

I expect that the CDC is looking at the research and based their decision on studies like this one https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339572058_COVID-19_outbreak_on_the_Diamond_Princess_cruise_ship_estimating_the_epidemic_potential_and_effectiveness_of_public_health_countermeasures .

The study concluded that the best thing for passengers is to get them off the ship ASAP, because although ship board quarantine lowered the R0 compared to not quarantining, the R0 even in quarantine was higher than it would have been if they’d been off the ship. I assume the CDC has access to not yet published data identifying high risk categories for spread and that information is driving decisions - at least I hope so.

4 hours ago, Travelnplane said:

Wonder why they chose Miami which is packed with cruise ships where at least the Crew is still on board over a rather empty Port Everglades with the two HAL ships

Most likely because Zaandam/Rotterdam filled 14 hospital beds in the PE area and may need more since they will still have sick/positive people on board. The Miami Officials’ statements mentioned that they had availabile medical care in Miami.

32 minutes ago, bluesea321 said:

 

They are not supposed to be going into the open world, everyone of them is supposed to go home into a 14 day self quarantine in place as a condition of being allowed to dock.  The Mayor of Fort Lauderdale explained this today during a news conference and will be enforced in Florida but who knows in other states.  That is my concern.

According to one of the articles linked at least one of the charters is going to the West Coast and the passengers on that charter will then go regular commercial air to their destinations. Another post mentioned someone on board going on a charter to SFO and thereafter commercial. I wonder if the fine folks in Florida had the decency to give Governor Newsome a courtesy call letting CA know that the protocols FL thought necessary to protect Floridians were not needed to protect Californians, maybe the 5 hour flight deactivates the virus? At least California’s arrangements to isolate/quarantine all Grand Princess passengers protected the rest of the country and commercial air travel.

My hope is that w/ the use of masks and self isolating once home the repatriated passengers will not contribute to the crisis on their way home or in their own communities once they arrive.

4 hours ago, chamima said:

...

Fresh air is good for everyone and the virus isn't magically waiting in the air. 

Actually, unfortunately, the latest research as well as the choir outbreak in Wa. suggests that although we don’t know for sure, there may be airborne transmission. https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-can-spread-as-an-aerosol.html 

Hope for the best, but also assume the worst when it comes to protecting yourself given how much is not known about transmission IMO.

15 minutes ago, the_thunderbird said:

 

The Canadians are probably all or close to all foreign, not foreign nationals (a Canadian foreign national would be a full time resident of the US). 

 

I've been following this thread out of personal interest, I'm the Commander of a Canadian military unit that was tasked with assisting Canadian repatriation from cruise ships in early March, and a previous cruiser. Such an interesting and tragic situation here.  

 

The (Canadian) passengers on these two boats are going to be in a very difficult situation when they dock. Many likely don't have travel insurance right now, unless purchased with this specific travel package and it included an extension provision. In the first week of March near all Canadian insurers removed international leisure travel because of Covid-19. Additionally, I suspect support from the Government of Canada will be somewhat minimal, albeit not totally non-existent. The Travel Advisory for cruise ships was posted three or four days before the Zandaam left. Canada offers minimal consulate services to those that travel contrary to an advisory; this one was also very, very well published in the media because of the significant Government efforts to repatriate Canadians from cruises going on during the first week of March. 

 

That said there's likely enough passengers here for an Air Canada Bridge flight or too, Florida still has some minimal services to Canada. Hopefully a swift return is ahead, and an uneventful isolation on their return. 

 

 

Interesting. The travel advisory against cruise travel in the USA issued 3/8, the day after Zaandam left Buenos Aires. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/08/coronavirus-state-department-cruise-ship-travel/4998017002/

38 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

At least the passengers off our two ships have been quarantined for many days, which is more than what the TSA officials can expect from their land-based passengers.

We learned from the Diamond Princess that ‘quarantine’ on a ship even confined to cabin did not work and resulted in exponential growth of COVID-19 positives, thus the fact that the passengers on Zaandam and now Rotterdam have not been on land is worth nothing because they have been exposed during their entire ‘quarantine’ onboard. 

I’m personally tired of the ‘check everyone’s temperature’ routine since the data now shows (see cite up thread) that 25% are asymptomatic transmitters of the virus, plus people infect others for an average of 2 days before they become symptomatic.

Ideally those who are carriers need to be identified and isolated rather than risk further spread of the infection, IMO, and the only reliable way to do that is to test.

2 hours ago, capriccio said:

 

According to the Port Everglades update: There are 1,243 passengers aboard the Zaandam, including 305 U.S. citizens and 247 Canadians. There are 49 Florida residents on board, including several Broward County residents.

 

https://www.porteverglades.net/zaandam-update/

 

 

And according to this article there are currently a total of 2500 passengers and crew on the Zaandam and Rotterdam. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-30/sick-crew-keeps-cruise-ship-running-risking-spread-of-virus

This article has details about some of the cases from the prior cruise - https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/13/coronavirus-tracing-grand-princess-outbreak-gene-detectives-see-link-to-seattle-case/

Interesting article regarding passengers choosing not to be tested  https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEN0qPv-qPtBHbPkvKChqWfYqGAgEKg8IACoHCAowhK-LAjD4ySww69W0BQ?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

Last report I read said there were 19 from the ship (up from 2) currently in Monterey at Asilomar CA state conference grounds.

ETA link & it looks like there are now 21 at Asilomar https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/18/21-passengers-now-at-asilomar-showing-mild-symptoms-of-covid-19/

Officials won’t confirm it - but it appears they’ve chosen to house COVID-19 positives not needing hospital care from the ship at Asilomar. They’ve fenced off part of the grounds.

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

And I have seen nothing that says they will not be in quarantine at two bases in California or in bases in Texas and Georgia.

 

The other posts about at-home quarantining have to do with local cases, not the the passengers from the Grand.

CA Governor Newsom said at his press conference yesterday that some passengers will be housed in hotels/motels they’ve rented https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/california-governor-newsom-updates-on-coronavirus-mcas-miramar-expected-to-receive-cruise-passengers/509-060f6520-c5ea-42ba-97b7-4be119d5f9de

I posted that they were using the Asilomar state conference site/hotel in Monterey for up to 24 passengers last night when someone sent me a text about it. https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2020/03/10/grand-princess-evacuees-coronavirus-headed-monterey-county-covid-19-california-cruis-ship/5016334002/

 https://www.montereycountyweekly.com/blogs/news_blog/several-grand-princess-cruise-ship-passengers-to-be-quarantined-at/article_e082fc1e-6328-11ea-8048-4b9bca392020.html

Looks like some will do their quarantine in Monterey County CA. For those who don’t know, Asilomar is a state owned conference ground. I’ve stayed there for two conferences. I’ve also stayed as a public visitor reserving rooms. I’m not sure how they’ll keep them segregated unless they intend to post guards at their doors - it is an open sprawling facility. Asilomar has a dinning Hall, but I don’t think they have room service, so I’m not sure how they’ll get meals to the people in quarantine. Asilomar is sited amongst pines and has a walking path through dunes to nearby Asilomar Beach but the rooms are rustic and fairly spartan, and, except for a cottage or two, no TVs. 

Reports U.K. is arranging flight https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/18/britain-to-evacuate-citizens-from-coronavirus-hit-cruise-ship-diamond-princess

27 minutes ago, Pushka said:

There haven’t been any figures released on those people who have recovered have there? That would be very (hopefully) reassuring information to have. And as we haven’t heard of any deaths then hopefully that means that everyone will have eventually recovered. It will also be interesting to know of those who were testing positive, had no symptoms at all. 

Some of the news articles last night had the numbers: 1219 total tested w/ 355 positive (29%); of the positive tests 73 were asymptomatic (20% of positives-asymptomatic.)

edited to add link to article where I saw the numbers https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/16/coronavirus-70-more-cases-on-japan-cruise-ship-as-china-infections-pass-68000

Hong Kong is also chartering aircraft to bring it’s citizens home, where they’ll undergo additional quarantine according to this article https://www.scmp.com/print/news/hong-kong/society/article/3050816/coronavirus-hong-kong-arrange-chartered-flights-bring-home