Tamerton

17 minutes ago, npcl said:

Cruise lines operate on fairly narrow margins, they have lots of debt.  If there is any substantial reduction in the number of cruisers for a year  they will be in trouble.  Keep in mind that even during the recession fares came down, but the ships basically sailed full. You get ships going at 70 or 80 percent of capacity for a year and the cruise lines will pretty much hope for a very large line of credit.  Take a look at the numbers in the 10k and 10q filings for CCL, NCLH and RCL. They pretty much need steady cash flow.

I think you could park a ship for say 4 months with very few costs involved and the bottom dollar may be better than sailing half empty ships.

13 minutes ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

Also booked for March 15th.  We're nervous about the virus, the closing of ports prophylactically, the risk of quarantine and the fact that we will no longer feel comfortable going in to the pool, hot tub, spa, etc.  We're going to the Caribbean, so we expect it to be hot and sweaty.  

 

In 30 days, if the virus has "silently" spread, then I think there will be reports of illness on other ships and in other areas.  If not, then I think we'll go saying a prayer, crossing our fingers and avoiding any virus breading grounds like the pool/spa.  

If it gets worse and the cruise goes ahead, which I don’t think it would, we will cancel and do something else. We’re fit and healthy and I think there is a lot of panic mongering by the media.

I think a ship would be easy to fumigate, you could get everyone off, lock it up and us an antiviral agent.

Staff can go in a few days later and wipe the ship clean. Soft furnishings would be taken care of that way.

We're booked for the 15th March and not worried of the disease just worried we may get stuck in quarantine.

I also think the most dangerous place for infection would be the queues before boarding when no one is screened and everyone is in a hurry to get on the ship.

On 2/8/2020 at 10:27 AM, npcl said:

I read it but disagree with it.  That is why I said nope. That would not follow normal protocol for isolation.  Which would imply that he thinks passengers are still intermingling when he made that statement.  Unless something happens that makes officials think that isolation was broken.  As the Japanese minister of health said the quarantine will end on the 19th and there are no expectations of it being extended.  So who do want to believe the Executive Director of WHO who may have answered it in a different context then is captured by the person that wrote the article, or the Japanese Minister of Health who has final decision authority. A single statement taken out of context can be very misleading.  I would believe the article if we can see the full context of his statement.

 

As long as isolation is not broken it will end on the 19th, except for those that are in the same cabin as someone that develops symptoms between now and then.

 

After 48 hours before it ends you will see the Japanese start a screening protocol of all passengers to make sure that none have developed symptoms prior to departure.  Probably a final screen taken before being escorted out of quarantine.

 

Now the Executive Director of WHO is correct IF he was talking about individual cabins as I mentioned above where one develops symptoms, but not the majority of the passengers.

I think you are forgetting about the crew here. How are they managed? They seem to be moving about the ship and they live in very close quarters. If one of them tests positive then the ship could be quarantined for a long time even though there are no passengers.

The horse has bolted. This disease is out of control, I'm glad we're in a hot sunny country and hopefully it will help contain it.

13 minutes ago, Te Aroha said:

That was exactly my point, if one passenger was responsible that was bad enough but if others have now tested positive, how many more have possibly been infected. A very sad situation for all concerned. How can they trace all contacts.... not possible. They will have to test everyone.

 

My hygiene comment was more about transmission, as many seem to think that washing hands will protect against this infection. I am not saying that hygiene is not important but a sneeze in a lift or at the theater you cannot protect yourself from that.

 

As Princess continues to cancel future cruises on this ship the longer this looks like it could drag on for the passengers and crew. 

 

 

 

Princess has just cancelled the 7 March cruise.

7 minutes ago, V_icki_e said:

I have spoken to 3 Princess reps this morning regarding M009 for 15th March ... each one advised it would be my choice to cancel as the cruise was still slated for departure. I was told I'd lose 50% and the other 50% would be refunded via the same way I paid originally. I asked about FCC and there is none on offer as the cruise isn't cancelled ... yet.  

Perhaps I misunderstood. I will wait a bit longer to see what happens.

20 minutes ago, Pushka said:

Will you get a full refund as well?

Yes

We are booked on the 15 March Diamond Princess cruise and they are offering a 50% cruise credit if we cancel now.

It looks like they will cancel a few future cruises.

Should we take it or hang on in case of a better offer?

1 hour ago, elliair said:

This is why we don't cruise unless we have a balcony.  No one is getting off that ship until they've been quarantined.  I swear the crud I caught on the Star Princess to Hawaii laid me out for almost a month.  I'm going out on a limb here, but this virus is far worse than anything we have seen in our life time.  Some of us who have upcoming cruises may not make it on the ship.  There's no stopping this coronovirus.  A vaccine is many months away.

You are going out on a limb. That is an irresponsible thing to say and and uneducated one. If you don't know the facts don't say anything!!

Scaremongering at its finest.

Thanks for all the tips, some really good ones.

Here's my tip,

It says in the RC Terms and Conditions That each cabin can bring on board in your luggage 2 bottles of wine. I've done this before with no problems. it's in the bit about alcohol.:)