Viv0828

Tom Selleck

we are planning a trip to the caribbean. we will fly or take a ferry between the islands we  visit. 

to us, getting to the ports and seeing the islands is more important than cruise ship ammenities.

to each, their own!

before dh had lasik, he absolutely loved his RX goggles that he bought used at a dive shop. great investment.

12 minutes ago, momofmeg said:

Look it is your decision if you take a cruise or go to Italy or go to Korea or go to China or somewhere else that  we find out there is a bad infection  Which as you say changes day to day.   I guess you can wall your self into your home and never leave your home if you so choose. but guess what you will still die of something one day.  Goodbye.

we all will die one day as you said - but hopefully not at 50 or 60. we all need to make decisions we can live with. good luck!

22 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

Sorry, I had you confused with momofmeg.  You have my apologies.

3 hours ago, momofmeg said:

then teach then if it is your family or friends. I am 65 years old and I can and I am not that smart. If I can learn anyone can learn.

you can inform yourself all you want - problem is what you learned yesterday might become totally innacurate today. it takes a lot of time and effort to try and ferret out accurate info.

we were supposed to be on the westerdam right now for 28 days and then we had a 3 week china land tour booked. maybe next spring?

in april we will probably visit some of the caribbean islands we have missed (by air not sea) and then drive through the southern USA instead of our asia trip.

we are hoping to do a family cruise through new england and eastern canada in june. if it doesn't work out we will probabaly fly/drive there. not gonna worry about it now.

we have a good friend in switzerland near the italian border who we are hoping to see in july. if things are reasonably "normal" in her area in july, we will go.

i guess you just gotta be flexible.

1 hour ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

Sorry, I had you confused with momofmeg.  You have my apologies.

no prob. lotsa peeps on here!

6 minutes ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

Kind of a completely different point than the one you have been trying to push.

not sure what point i was trying to "push" other than doing your research.

4 hours ago, K32682 said:

It didn't fail as far as the Japanese health authorities were concerned.  They is no evidence they considered alternative quarantine sites to deal with the outbreak.  Instead to protect their own people they forced crew and cruisers, most of whom weren't Japanese, to spend two-weeks in circumstances that facilitated the spread of the virus.    

if the object of the quarantine was only to keep the japanese safe, why were the passengers kept apart?

i think it might have been an experiment to see of isolating folks actually stopped the spread of the virus??

just a thought.

1 minute ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

Avoiding that ship because of that quarantine is superstition, not science.

that may be true but i wouldn't go on that ship - too big!

1 hour ago, momofmeg said:

WE will be protected. Knowledge is power and everyone should do research. If they don't, their bad.

not everyone knows how to do research.

and some of the news stories are misleading or proven inaccurate at a later date.

just be careful!

On 2/17/2020 at 4:36 AM, drsheryl said:

I'm debating cancelling my cruise.  So far, I have only paid a $500 deposit.  I have a solo cabin booked.  I don't want to be quarantined for 2 wks in a solo cabin.  The virus seems to be spreading even with the quarantine.  My flights are booked for Rome.  I can just do an Italy trip.  Thoughts?

i heard italy has some coronavirus. don't know what they plan to do. just keep well informed as your departure date gets closer. dh heard about it on the al jazeera app. 

we were booked on the westerdam starting feb 15 for 28 days and then a land trip for 3 weeks in china. everything was cancelled and refunded, thank goodness. we are thinking the middle east, turkey, georgia, armenia and azerbajian in april. gonna hold off a bit and see what develops. 

in late june we are doing a cruise in eastern canada with family. then we will visit friends in europe and travel with them around europe but unsure where.

we generally don't book too far in advance. in fact, it wasn't till cruise #3 that we even knew what final payment date was cuz we had booked past that date.

56 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Two months' pay is more than  "an extra few hundred bucks". It is thousands.

if 2 months pay really was thousands, the cruiselines would be way more open about their pay scales. i'll bet ya it is in the low hundreds plus maybe a few hundred more in grats. i'd love to see a published salary scale for room stewards and kitchen help.

26 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

ormally, when a crew member signs off the ship at the end of contract, that is the end of their pay until they sign back on a ship.  Princess, contractually, owes them nothing, since that is the amount of "paid vacation" they are entitled to.  So, these folks are getting two months pay over and above what any other Princess crew gets.

wow. The generosity of some of the folks here is underwhelming. The crew spends several weeks doing biohazard duty (probably not even mentioned in their contract) so send them home with an extra few hundred bucks and all is done. 

3 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

No, paid vacation is whatever is agreed upon in your collective bargaining agreement, since nearly all crew are union.

i'll bet those collective bargainers never thought of a situation like this - i certainly would not have. i don't think there is anything in their agreement preventing princess from doing more than what was agreed upon. 

i wonder what is happening with the crew and how they are feeling? have not seen any info about them.

28 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

Being sympathetic to crew is not been taken kindly on this board.

Princess has offered two months of contractual minimum base pay and contractually guaranteed minimum gratuity (this is NOT same as what typical crew receive per week actually in usual course)

We have seen some posters expecting crew to be "grateful" for "generosity" shown by Princess!!!

after seeing the effects of quarantining passengers in tight quarters i would hope that princess management would come up with a better plan for the crew.

i wonder if part of the problem contributing to the rapid spread of the virus was that sick crew members still had to work. if that is true, we pretty much know how the virus spread? 

i have sympathy for the passengers but i really feel for the crew - many of whom are the ages of the passenger's grandchildren. i hope princess will pay for any medical care the crew might need.

1 minute ago, hal2008 said:

SItuation of exploited amd mistreated crew is pretty bad.

Just google to hear pleas in their own words.

interesting that 99% of the stories on the news and posts on here are about the passengers and not the crew.

not judging, just commenting.

slightly off topic.

if you are on the feb 29 or later sailing, princess has canceled all their early spring diamond princess sailings.

"Based on the prolonged quarantine period, and the anticipated time to prepare the ship to return to service, we unfortunately must cancel additional Diamond Princess voyages through the April 20 voyage. We are preparing Diamond Princess to return to service April 29, 2020 for the start of Japan's annual Golden Week celebrations."

perhaps HAL will follow with the westerdam??

31 minutes ago, Level six said:

It's okay, it's just money.  I would rather lose money than get stuck overseas and/or be sick.  It all worked out for us.  

amen!! smart decision!

maybe you can postpone your SE Asia trip.

we have a 3 week china trip on hold  - hopefully this fall or next spring. i am really concerned about the gal that arranged the trip and her family. they are confined to their home in chengdu.

1 hour ago, Farts said:

Worst comes to worst, I would rather end up on the vent in the states with family than by myself in Japan. That's just me. 

me too. 

3 hours ago, gatour said:

The Japanese ports have been closed to cruiseships for a couple of weeks and remain closed.  Thanks for the info but this is old information

if that is so and it's old news, what is going to happen with the feb 29 cruise of the westerdam that was going to primarily japanese ports? if the cruise happens, where will it go?

21 minutes ago, Mandalay1903 said:

I had read that Prime Minister Abe closed the Japan ports to international cruise ships on around February 4th or 5th after Westerdam was booted from Taiwan.  Is this a new news story that dh saw--if so I'd sure like to see it. Can you send a link?  Thanks!

dh reads usa today on twitter. no idea how to find it - sorry. if it is true, i am sureit will be all over the media soon.

and btw, cnbc has been having a series of corona virus reports at 4pm pst daily for half an hour. very interesting.

dh read in usa today online that japan will be closing all its ports to cruise ships.

if that is true (??), the next few westerdam voyages will not be happening. 

and hope all current pasengers get home safe and healthy.