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3 hours ago, TiogaCruiser said:

On Volendam now. Will check Lido later and report back.

Thanks! Admittedly, I'm a hot tub snob - I like having them, more or less, to myself, which is why I usually pay up for the thermal spa pass. That being said, if the community ones byt he Lido pool aren't that crowded, I don't mind giving them a go!

Hi, we are booked on the Volendam later this year, which will be our first cruise on Holland America. We generally love to get the thermal spa pass on NCL ships, due to their hot tubs in their spas. We were wondering if anyone can report whether Volendam's spa has hot tubs that are for the exclusive use of spa guests or thermal spa pass holders?

Thanks!

On 8/19/2022 at 12:27 PM, Ben2travel said:

Ok, I did a little research and found a Washington Post article (dated 7/13/21) which said the following:

 

The ban applies to ships of more than 25,000 tons. The massive cruise ships that have sailed into Venice’s harbor can be nearly four times that weight.

 

According the the StarClipper website, the Star Flyer is 2,298 tons, so we should be fine.

Thanks!

On 8/19/2022 at 1:35 PM, donaldsc said:

Have you ever been on a Clipper  cruise before.  We are doing our 1st Star Flyer cruise but in the Greek Islands.  If you  have done a Clipper Cruise before, do you have any thoughts you can pass on about the ship.

 

DON

I have, and loved it. We did a 4-night - Athens - Santorini - Mykonos - Hydra - Athens. It was incredible! Be sure to get up and on deck on the sail into the caldera at Santorini.

Hey Don,

I've done a short SC Greek Isles 4-night sailing roundtrip from Athens in 2016. The three ports we visited were Santorini, Mykonos, and Hydra. We did not take any Clipper tours, preferring to do our own thing. It helped that we had been to most of the ports of call before. In Santorini, we rented a car and drove around. Mykonos is easily done by foot, plus an early ferry ride to Delos. In Hydra, we booked our own private tour with Harriet's Horses in Hydra and did some walking ourselves independently afterwards. I probably would not try to organize things while onboard. There aren't that many passengers on the ship (fewer than 200, in these COVID times, I think it's likely you'll have fewer than 100 on your ship). In the past, I would generally try to plan my own days taking public transportation - in Greece, it's relatively easy to do, at least pre-COVID, with the help of the Greece CC ports of call boards. Nowadays, if I was going on SC, I would probably still try to do my own thing, but I would be open to taking Clipper tours, for places where I have not been before and where I don't feel taking public transportation. 

Hope you enjoy you SC sailing! The first time, waking up, being low on the water, entering the caldera below Fira/Santorini, is truly something special!

Cheers. 

I'm not on this cruise, but I am wondering where you will be embarking, as I know all the major cruise ships cannot board in Venice proper anymore, so most are embarking in Trieste or Ravenna nowadays. I was wondering if the Star Flyer might be small enough to be exempted and allowed to embark in Venice proper? I would strongly consider a Star Clippers sailing over other cruise lines if they are able to embark in Venice proper, as the sail into and out of Venice are spectacular. Let me know?

Thanks!

12 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

 I think Oakland is a logical choice.  So many of these passengers on San Francisco based sailings are from the area.   For those that test negative, I wonder if there is any room in their policies for some self imposed quarantines at home.  It’s already in the community spread phase in California anyway....not that more is better but seems like the cat is already out of the bag.  

The cat is out of the bag, but slowing the spread through self-quarantine/social distancing is important. We would rather have 100 cases hitting our hospitals today and 100 in 2 weeks, than 200 today. 

It looks like the ship is back doing its rectancle/square holding pattern.... 

1 minute ago, HappyInVan said:

Guys,

 

Let's get a grip on ourselves. The highest priority is to provide support for the families of those on board.

 

Are there useful links from the DP saga?

Let's have just one post linking each government announcement.

What are the useful government sites.

Yes, what's the ship's position and destination.

 

Besides the useful stuff, let's not demoralize the families about why there won't be enough cots/rooms/hangers for the quarantine. The government will announce what their plan is. Then, the media will have their say.

 

Does anyone have personal experience that would shed light on the situation?

 

Respectfully Yours

 

 

 

 

Understood, HappyinVan. I won't speculate any further. 

6 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.

That's a good question. I assume that since air force transport planes used to fly out of Travis, that they could use a huge hangar, but they also need to get cots/beds together. It's a massive task, no matter where the ship goes, but it has to go somewhere. If it stays out in the ocean, it's probably going to become worse than the Diamond Princess... it would be really sad if the best we can do is mirror Japan's response with the Diamond Princess

3 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

Plus it is fairly near (50 miles) to Travis Air Force Base, where they sent some of the passengers from the Diamond Princess. 

I agree with this; I think it would make sense to dock in Alameda (assuming they can dock in Alameda, which I think, is likely) and then bus everyone to Travis. Admittedly, it's a massive task. 3,500 passengers and crew, maybe 100 per bus, so 35-40 buses up I-80 to Travis AFB in the middle of the night (around 2am). You could probably get everyone there by 7am tomorrrow. You would need to spend all night preparing Travis to receive them.

5 minutes ago, ChiCruiser758 said:

 

I have been tracking marinetraffic.com, and based on their information, the ship appears to have left its previous roughly circular course, and seems to be heading directly toward the entrance to the San Francisco Bay. This would suggest a docking somewhere in the SF Bay Area.

Yeah, it looks that way to me, too. I think they realize speed is of the essence and the closest deepwater port is San Francisco. I wonder if they are thinking of docking in Alameda.

6 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

Because they were not sure anyone was infected on the ship at all. Now they know and will test everyone.

This is reactive thinking.... we need to be proactive, if we want to save lives.

1 minute ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

Probably b/c they want to avoid accidentally contaminating other people while doing tests...if testers have to don protective gear on and off, over and over...that will take forever to do 3500...

 

But I don't know how they are getting tests done...and if there's a way for people to self-administer tests and leave them to be taken (and if we'd trust them to do them correctly)...

You're probably right in that they don't have enough staff on ship trained properly as to administer a brand new test, but basically shows that we need to get the ship to a secure port asap so that we can get medical and CDC staff aboard to control the outbreak.

6 minutes ago, lostchild said:

 

The test could detect asymptomatic carriers I think.   Also because Pence said they will test everyone and so they have to test everyone...

"All passengers and crew will be tested for the coronavirus," Pence said. "Those that need to be quarantined will be quarantined. Those that require additional medical attention will receive it."

Time is of the essence. They cannot wait until next week to get tested. We know this is a disease that can go from mild to serious to death in a matter of days. It's infuriating to me that we aren't moving faster.

4 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

They are going to test EVERY SINGLE PERSON on the ship. 

My question is: Why hasn't that been done already? Speed is of the essence. There has already been at least one death  from the coronavirus among past passengers who got off the ship 14 days ago. A few days early could save lives among those who are on the ship now because we can get them supportive health care earlier. Time matters.

3 minutes ago, Mackenzie1 said:

Dr. Sanjay Gupta just said on CNN that only 46 people onboard the Grand were actually tested of the thousands onboard. Apparently, there aren’t as many test kits available as we thought there were, but who knows. 

Exactly. If we had a million test kits available, don't you think they would have enough to test a few thousand on the Grand Princess? Why only test those with symptoms when we know that people can be asymptomatic and spread the virus?

8 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

Pence said The US will have over 1 million of them on Monday. With many millions coming over the next 2 weeks. 

He also said last week, that they would have over 1 million today. That has not proven out.... at this point, Pence's word is not particularly reliable.... correction: It was other administration officials who said they would have over 1 million today... and yesterday, Pence moved that goal back to next week.

1 hour ago, clskinsfan said:

I would guess there are quite a lot of non symptomatic people walking around the country that were on the previous cruise. I hope the CDC plans on testing every single passenger from that cruise as well. Then they would need to track down everyone that was positive met with over the past 2 weeks. Just a monumental task that is ahead for them.

Frankly, it's an impossible task - 2,500 people x 20'ish people (if we are lucky) that they have met in the last 14 days, and I really doubt that the CDC has the staff to do it.... not all are going to be sick, but tracking everyone down, at this point, is pretty much impossible.

1 hour ago, clskinsfan said:

Every single person on the ship will be tested. Those infected will be removed and hospitalized. Much better policy than what the Japanese were forced to do with lack of test kits. 

I think this assumes we have enough test kits.... which, frankly, we might not..... 

3 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Thank you.  Bit of travel then if Grand Princess is heading there? 

They can make it in 20 hours or so, if they go roughly 20 knots'ish.... If the Grand Princess just starts now, they probably get there tomorrow night...

3 minutes ago, NSWP said:

How far is Point Mugu from San Francisco? 

Far. I'm not using google maps, but roughly 600km. 

Hey Guys,

I was wondering if anyone knows whether the thermal spa on the POA is any good? I typically get the Thermal Spa Pass on every NCL cruise I have been on, and generally, have not been disappointed. I just booked a POA cruise and don't see an option to buy a Thermal Spa Pass on my account, so I'm wondering if they have one, and if they do, whether it's any good?

On 9/12/2019 at 10:37 AM, RedwingHockeyFan said:

Depends on how much vacation time the wife has

This. But all else being equal, two cruises. It is often said "less is more". In this case, I disagree: more is more. 

Generally, I like NCL better than Princess: better thermal spa, better entertainment... but some family members of mine (they are platinum on both Princess and NCL) had a terrible experience on the Epic so we avoid that ship pretty much at all costs...