Captain_Morgan

Port of Miami apparently waiving port fees for those ships 'stuck' there....looks even more like a parking garage than usual!

Thinking the car lot opposite the QE2 terminal will get a run for its money in the coming days!!

10 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I suppose it could be worse, could be stuck on the Braemar off the Bahamas with no port agreeable to take them!

Or the Golden Princess currently headed back to Melbourne from NZ with 3 pax  in quarantine onboard awaiting test results

14 hours ago, nini said:

You do not need to agree. It is a fact; at least for other cruise lines and for physicians.

It may only be a policy now; but law later. My only intent is to give people a heads up.

 

Careful, if you continue to post anything remotely contrary to the fragile beliefs of the delicate flowers on this board you'll be labeled a 'troll'...best to just sit quietly in the corner and watch the children play with their crayons while sipping their kool-aid

9 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Trump has just stopped all Brits travelling to the States as well as Europe.

Where have you heard/read that?

on the company site at the bottom of the page:

We have decided to cancel Oceana’s current cruise to Spain & Portugal. This is due to port restrictions being imposed on cruise ships. Oceana’s upcoming cruises are under review.

3 minutes ago, BestGuessed said:

I have looked at the website and at present I can’t see anything about what is happening to us on board Oceana. We have just had an announcement from the entertainment manager to say there is a sail away party about to happen on top deck and info about tonight’s shows. He made a flippant comment about sailing to Shangri La and the Islands of Atlantis which is neither appropriate or funny. We have no idea what they have planned for us now which is very unnerving in my opinion. Nothing from the Captain himself during the last 24 hours. 

I would hazard a guess that you're headed back to Southampton either direct or via another brief stop (Channel Islands maybe?) as I can't think of any ports along the way that will be open or worth visiting given the current climate in the countries in your current area.

I think its also important to consider which ports/countries are still open as opposed to waiting for P&O to make cancellations official.

Off the top of my head, affected ports/countries in the P&O network are:

- Spain (closed)

- Portugal (closed to non Portuguese nationals)

- Italy (closed)

- Malta (open but all arrivals subject to mandatory 14 day quarantine)

- France (open)

- Greece (open)

- Croatia (open)

- UK (open)

- Norway (some ports closed, could be all)

- Caribbean islands (currently open)

Again this is just off the top of my head given its a fluid situation but based on the list I don't see many options available based on current itineraries and when you consider all of the major players are suspending service for at least 30 days and as such there's going to be a vast parking lot of ships in a variety of ports.

4 minutes ago, NoFlyGuy said:

 

That's what she said.

I expect there will be posts on the Facebook Oceana group from passengers coming up soon as well.

Apologies....i misread your post as when i see PM the first thing that came to mind was dear Boris 🤣 and as such i guess i utuned out a bit thereafter

54 minutes ago, NoFlyGuy said:

She's coming back to Southampton as well after Gib - wonder if her next cruise will be cancelled as well.

 

With Ventura due back soon there will be 3 European based ships with nowhere to go.

 

The PM has said she will get off there but has to now go home for 2 weeks before joining Iona. They are obviously taking no chances of transmission between ships.

 

We advised her to bring back plenty of bog roll and hand sanitiser from the stores! 

Is the return to Southampton official?  Not doubting your source, but it seems a little worrying that information about onward plans are being shared through unofficial channels.  Add to the fact the next scheduled cruise is meant to be the repositioning to Malta for the fly Med season so is that now in jeopardy too?  I can only imagine the glass windows in Carnival House are well and truly fogged over due to the steam pouring out of everyone's ears in there trying to figure this out 

1 minute ago, Jim Avery said:

Why not?  They borrowed a bunch from the Chinese.  All we are doing is speculating, speculating, speculating.  The world wide panic to close everything will affect more important industries than cruising.  As much as I love cruising, I realize major changes are taking place.  Just hang on and hope for less panic.

Fair comment,  but I would think if the industry in general were to receive an offer of a bail out, I would see them going to the 'American' brands before they went to 'European' brands despite the clientele (i.e. majority American passengers) or ability to repay.

Viking has very little presence in the North American market as compared to RCCL, NCL, CCL, etc. whereas they've been working with the Chinese more closely for a longer amount of time, specifically within the river sector.

All of that said, i think it would be hard to stomach for the collective to see companies not paying taxes in the country being given favorable loans / bail outs, but that's another discussion for another time...

In fairness to the company I’m sure they’re scrambling to find some where to go as well given ports are closing at a rapid pace.  Under normal circumstances I’m sure it would be much easier to call ahead and ask if there’s room to dock on short notice but these are far from normal circumstances. 

39 minutes ago, DGHOC said:

Folks beware of the troll.

Most folk aren't responding to him as he is on their ignored list so they don't see his posts. Such a good idea that CC provides this facility.

Look back at his posting history and all will become clear. He is anti Viking, his posts will confirm this, he regularly pops up to spread dissent and worry.

Make your own minds up about Viking and don't let his poisonous negativity influence you.

Have a good day all!

again with the simplest form of trying to turn people away from reading a contrary or differing opinion....label someone as a ‘troll’...how very mature!

sadly, this seems to be one of the few boards within CC whereby grown up, intelligent conversations are drowned out by gushing fanfare for a cruise line which, like all the others takes our money and offers a service.  the company execs don’t know you, don’t care whether you love them and all that they do or if you see things differently, and they’re not going to reward you for being the most loyal on CC.

as has been said, the use of the ignore function is there and is no doubt being used by those who are afraid of differing views or anything that might seem remotely realistic in fear that it might somehow tarnish their otherwise rosy view from the same tinted glasses...
 

If reality is considered ‘poisonous negativity’ I shudder to think that CC is somehow an escape....

8 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

 

Or, they might get a no interest loan from Uncle Sam to tide them over...

So a company based in Switzerland with ships flagged in Norway would get a loan from the US gov't?? 🙄

Interesting to hear/read the expert opinions of those claiming Viking will come out of this unscathed based on little to no factual information....if we all based our opinions on hopes and dreams the world would be a different place!

There's no doubt the Italian shipyards are closed or barely operating out of an abundance of caution, which of course means delays and massive cost overruns.  Add to the fact that Moody's has downgraded Viking's credit status (public  information) and I don't think the outlook is all rainbows and unicorns.....just saying

17 minutes ago, Dascruiseguy said:

Also the Viking Co. in not publically traded and have indicated that they are well positioned to absorb losses and to not have to answer to share-holders... Stay tuned!

They might not be publicly traded, but they have investors as clearly stated in the Forbes article, "He (Hagen) is borrowing cash furiously (the company’s debt is $2.5 billion) to build more ships, and has also raised equity capital from the Canadian pension board and the U.S. private equity firm TPG."

And lets not forget that the ships are being built in Italy, which as we know is hardest hit outside of Asia and Iran...

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

How much loss can Viking afford to absorb? What good is a 24 month 125% FCC if they become insolvent? I would take the cash and run unless your travel insurance covers you if Viking becomes insolvent or permanently suspends operations. We are not canceling our September cruise yet, but we have some bog decisions to make over the next few months. I hope the summer months tampers down this virus threat.

As always on this thread, this is the unpopular question but i think this latest move goes a long way to bring that prospect into reality.  Are they on the verge of going bust?  I doubt it, but as I and others have said in other threads there's  no way that the bottom line absorbs so much loss, refunds, FCC, etc. without showing cracks.  Speculation abounds as to the influence of the Chinese investors and i'm sure those others who own percentage of the company are not too pleased at the thought of the numbers going in the wrong direction!  

I'm not too convinced either that the summer months will magically make this virus disappear as it seems to be thriving in warm climates in SE Asia so unless things change rapidly this could be a long term hurt on not only Viking but the entire industry.

Just heard something fleeting on the news as i was surfing channels where they specifically said one person disembarked and flew home and then tested positive upon reaching home.

Not sure if this is a situation of a local CA resident or neighboring state who's not being sent to one of the AF bases, but it doesn't bode well if people are walking around with a virus just waiting to kick off...suffice it to say i think the original number of 19 crew and 2 passengers is going to grow exponentially in the coming days/weeks

As it relates to WC's I've read in other threads that Crystal has terminated theirs in Fremantle and offering appropriate compensation, and Viking has apparently closed their ship in Bali to those already booked and issued refunds.

No mention of where Crystal is planning on cruising, but Viking are apparently still headed to the UK with an apparent hope to make calls in Oman, Egypt, Jordan and Greece.

That's a big step for Crystal to just end their WC like that as opposed to continuing onto who knows where with the chance of having ports closed all along the way...I've read as well that P&O's Arcadia is not as yet confirmed where they're going from Australia as there's been some speculation that they will simply steam all the way back to Southampton with only a technical stop for refueling and provisions.

1 hour ago, chipmaster said:

No harm, its the American way and some lawyer is working it for the settlement, LOL

 

Surprised only a million, must be a newbie lawyer

The lawyer is the couple's daughter...

So Viking will take a big hit if that is enforced across ALL brands and not just those sailing to/from US ports

26 minutes ago, Pushka said:

Not Ocean but a River but not good for Viking passengers who are currently being detained in isolation in Cambodia

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-11/coronavirus-updates-italy-lockdown-markets-testing/12043876

Rest assured there will be cases reported on river cruises in Europe as well across all brands as its inevitable at this stage given the spread rate, which as this story proves Viking is not impervious to the virus...

A bit surprising that they're still cruising in Asia with all thats happening there, especially given their demographic....

2 minutes ago, Cruising Is Bliss said:

 

All 21 were the very first off and they left in ambulances.

 

OK, they mentioned on the  news last night that the crew were left onboard in isolation....but it still doesn't change the fact that those who tested positive were free to roam the ship for a duration of time prior to being confirmed as positive and then isolated...

2 hours ago, em-sk said:

 

In the case of Canada it was a government charter of a specially configured aircraft.  It flew non-stop from Oakland airport to Trenton (a Canadian Air force base) where the Canadian would be housed in quarantine for 14 days. 

 

Not certain about staffing on this specific flight, the previous flights had Health Canada doctors on board supported by Canadian Forces Medics handling the in-flight service and taking temperatures.   

Interestingly enough however, of the 19 crew who tested positive i believe 4 were Canadian and like the rest of the approx. 1200 crew are being left onboard and isolated there.

Not  criticizing the Canadian gov't but surely there would be less issue with landing and repatriating a Canadian crew member as compared to another foreign national?  Also, there's still the big unknown and otherwise unmentioned elephant in the room here with respect to the results of those passengers who've been disembarked and waiting for test results.  Sure they're already in isolation, but what happens to the ship and the conversation when the numbers of infected jumps from 2 passengers to many more??  Hard to believe that with 19 crew testing positive (approx 1.5% of the crew population onboard) that there won't be more cases of passengers testing positive, especially if 2 were waiters if i'm not mistaken and if 4 were Canadian i guarantee they would have been in a passenger facing role (i.e. pursers, photographers, boutique staff, etc)....just some food for thought

so the official response is that the onboard medical team checked for a cough and fever when the crew member joined...how reassuring is that? 🙄

add to the fact they're claiming the crew member in question had no contact with affected crew or pax on the Grand...bit of a wild assumption given they only know for sure 19 crew and 2 pax tested positive out of several thousand total...🤔