Jeffrey Lebowski
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Posts posted by Jeffrey Lebowski
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On 4/18/2020 at 7:18 AM, CaptainR said:
In anticipation of a possible additional inquiry I will affirm that I have absolutely no direct knowledge if a passenger was infected by COVID-19 when they where onboard the Riviera nor has Oceania provided any confirmation as to whether a passenger was infected during the February 26 cruise. Oceania only confirmed that CDC provided notification to Oceania that a passenger who sailed on the February 26 sailing has tested posted for COVID-19.
@CaptainRThanks for the Oceania e-mail as well as anticipating the possible additional inquiry. Most helpful!
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On 4/10/2020 at 11:39 AM, CaptainR said:
One small correction to your posting in that we were given the option of 100% refund or 150% FCC and not the 125% that has been posted. The future cruise desk was crowded with many passengers taking advantage of the 150% FCC to book a new cruise. We certainly were part of that crowd.
@CaptainRPlease share the official Oceania communication informing you that an individual was evacuated from the Riviera on 9 March (according to @CintiPam) prior to your 11 March sailing.
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@CintiPamYou've twice referenced the 26 February sailing of the Riviera where a single individual was COVID-19 test-positive and evacuated from the cruise. Please share the official Oceania communication regarding this event.
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I had posted to this string because the OP raised some points that I hadn't seen addressed in other strings. Like , our local, regional and Federal authorities were recommending that we not travel by air (it's hard to get from Seattle to Miami without flying) or embark on any cruise. By Monday 2 March, most major cruise lines had announced modifications in their cancellation policies. NCL/Oceania was notable for having not announced any changes. To provide further context for my initial comment on this string, on 5 March I sent the following e-mail to Oceania (via our TA):
Dear xxxxx:
As our contact person at Oceania, I am writing to you with the request that you forward my concerns to the appropriate person. I am requesting a timely response as we depart for Miami in a few days (Monday, 9 March 2020) for our planned Oceania cruise embarking on 11 March.
As a licensed physician as well as representing our party of seven, I am inquiring if Oceania will provide a full refund of our fares should we decide to cancel. Active cases of COVID-19 (“Coronavirus”) are spreading throughout the world. A confirmed case of COVID-19 infection has been reported in the Dominican Republic (one country of destination on our Oceania Itinerary). Three confirmed cases have been reported in St. Barts. Two of those individuals were found to be infected with COVID-19 while trying to fly out of St. Maarten. Thus, three countries of destination on our Oceania itinerary now have confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection. Moreover, today the St. Lucia news reports five confirmed cases in French Guiana. Many Caribbean islands do not have the capacity to test for COVID-19 nor quarantine infected residents. Thus, the number of active cases in and around the Caribbean is most likely higher than the reported numbers.
And as you know, several thousand cruise ship passengers travel to and from the Caribbean islands on a daily basis, which will enable the rapid and thorough spread of COVID-19 throughout the Caribbean.
And once Oceania passengers disembark from the ship, Oceania Cruises will be unable to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amongst its passengers.
By the date of our planned departure, several of the planned ports of call could be closed for excursion—either because Oceania determines the situation is unsafe or because the port refuses visits from our ship’s passengers.
Oceania Cruises protocol for excluding travel for passengers from “China, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Iran or any municipality in Italy under a quarantine order by the Italian Government” is no longer adequate. In fact, my wife and reside in Kirkland, WA—locus of the largest number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the US. Our local fire station is closed for quarantine; multiple schools and corporate buildings are closed; authorities recommend that individuals over 60 (five of the seven in our party) avoid crowds.
In short, we are becoming concerned that we will not have the cruise experience that we signed up for. No cruise line could guarantee the safety of its passengers in such circumstances. Moreover, no cruise company could guarantee that its passengers (whether guest or staff) will not become the vectors for transmission of COVID-19 throughout the ship, the ports visited, or even modes of transportation utilized to travel to the port of embarkation/disembarkation.
Thus, we are inquiring if our fares can be refunded should we decide in the next few days not to travel.
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Here's a twist related to this topic. Six family members and myself were scheduled to sail on the Riviera starting March 11th. I am a physician. During the preceding week, I was following the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 outbreak map. The Caribbean islands, including many of our scheduled ports of call, were starting to light up. Island news sites were also reporting positive tests and hospitalizations (in those countries that actually had testing capabilities; many of the scheduled ports did not have tests).
During the week prior to our scheduled departure, I emailed our Oceania TA several times for clarification about Oceania's plans to send out our cruise given the erupting pandemic. Finally on March 7th Oceania announced its FCC program, but we did not have the option to cancel for a refund. We elected to cancel for FCC for our safety and the safety of others. It would have been a really bad idea to travel from Kirkland (yes, that Kirkland) on a transcontinental flight followed by an 11 day cruise. On March 8th, both the CDC and the US State Department issued recommendations against cruise travel. 6 of the 7 in our party met the requirements to avoid such travel.
Riviera departed Miami on March 11th. On March 13th, Oceania halted operations. Those who had embarked on this cruise sat on the ship until it could dock in Miami on the 16th.
Those who chose to embark on this cruise were offered 100% cash refund or 125% FCC. Those who were smart enough to avoid getting on this ship were offered only 100% FCC.
I am among those smart enough to not set foot on that ship given the circumstances. In fact, the CDC recently announced that the Riviera carried COVID-19 test-positive individuals on the 2/26-3/11 cruise--which means that there was a very high likelihood that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was on the ship when it turned around a few hours later for our scheduled cruise. Why should I (and the rest of my party) not be eligible for the cash refund?
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My Feb. 26th cruise on Riviera
in Oceania Cruises
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@kitty9 To be clear, I'm not trying to challenge your statements but seek some clarification. In my opinion, Oceania's response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic was less than appropriate. Your above account of the 11 March Riviera sailing does not sound relaxing. Furthermore, the crew's actions you've described are an extremely incongruent response to a passenger having been airlifted a few days earlier due to a pre-existing heart condition. Were you on a B2B? I ask because I've read your comments about your experience on the 26 February Riviera cruise. And you've said something I haven't yet read on this or other threads. Could you please clarify your statement?--"They weren't playing any games once it was confirmed that COVID was on board." Others have asserted that Oceania did not admit to a confirmed case on the Riviera until the 19 March email--a few days after there were no passengers on the Riviera.