krempert

19 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I keep asking the same question regarding cruising and travel.  For those that say they will simply wait I wonder how many years they are prepared to wait?  Please understand that I do not question their decision but wonder about the commitment to wait for many years (if not forever) until things return to anything like the old norms.  I have lived long enough to have seen travel norms change and we have simply "rolled with the waves."  I believe we are now seeing another major change in norms and it has changed cruising forever!  The cruise lines have become very risk adverse (who can blame them) so rather then dealing with illness onboard it seems that many lines toss off the ill passengers at any port of convenience.  I have posted elsewhere that this is also an issue with River Cruises, land Tour Groups, etc.  About the only folks who keep some control our we independent land travelers but that also comes with its own challenges.

 

If a cruiser gets Omicron onboard a long cruise they might expect to simply be quarantined onboard for a few days until they are symptom-free and test negative on an antigen test (a PCR test might show them positive for several months).  But some lines prefer to avoid that situation by simply tossing those folks ashore (at the next port) where they are quarantined in a hotel.   Consider the long history of cruise lines and Norovirus!  How many of those folks were tossed off ships to quarantine at a local hotel?   Is Omicron more serious than Noro or Influenza? 

 

DW and I love cruising and have several future cruises on the horizon.  But I am starting to wonder if we should simply stick to independent land-trips.  We are comfortable flying to most places of the world, renting/leasing a car, and just doing our own thing.  As much as we love to cruise we are now starting to wonder whether it is worth the risk.  And I am not talking about the risk of COVID or getting sick but the risk of having to deal with the cruise lines and their constantly changing protocols.

 

Hank 

 

 

2 hours ago, HAL-Pals said:

I too am sorry to hear about these  turn of events.

We are currently on the Koningsdam 17 day Circle Hawaii cruise, but I can answer your questions about HAL’s  COVID protocol once you test positive aboard ship.  We were on a 27 day transatlantic cruise  on the Eurodam from Venice to FLL (10/18-11/14) and I tested positive on the fifth day during mandatory at sea testing. I was the only  passenger out of 1150 and I was asymptomatic. My husband was negative. I was quickly moved to a COVID a isolation area of the ship with all my luggage while my husband remained quarantined in our veranda stateroom so he could continue to be tested over the next three days.  My new room was also a veranda stateroom just like we had.  I remained isolated there for three days until we got to Livorno, Italy.  I and the only crew member who tested positive but was also asymptomatic were taken (by ambulance haha…no flashing lights or sirens ) to a “COVID” hotel about 45 minutes from Florence. My husband arrived separately by taxi. We each were assigned separate rooms since he was negative but had to quarantine for three more days. After that he could come and go as he pleased.

 

my experience was a positive one, even though I had to remain isolated at the hotel for 19 more days — so a total of 22 days. (Italy has the strictest isolation policy in Europe.)  HAL was amazing in the support they provided: daily checkin calls from Seattles Family Assistance Dept.  All medical and hotel and food expenses fully covered  by HAL — both on the ship and at the hotel. 
 

Because  of the length of isolation ( I continued  to test positive 2 more times) we were not able to rejoin the ship in Barcelona or Lisbon.  So HAL arranged our flight back to San Diego and flew us Business Class from Florence.  Then they reimbursed us in FCCs for the 22 days of the cruise we missed. We did spend four lovely days in Florence before we flew back, but that part was at our own expense. 

 

I just wanted to share a firsthand experience because there seem to be a  lot of assumptions or misinformation or lack of knowledge about HALs policy.  Ours could not have been more positive. In fact , I made a 3 minute video about my experience and posted it on my YouTube travel channel (“mimi murray”). It is called “ Isolated in Italy”.  I invite you to view it.  
 

As for our current cruise on the Koningsdam, there have so many changes in the itinerary, we lost track of the notifications.  But who cares. We are enjoying an experience that is important to us.

 

Can you elaborate a little on the Koningsdam itinerary changes? We’re scheduled on a 35-day South Seas on the Zuiderdam and curious how HAL handles the itinerary changes. 
 

Outstanding CC thread and YouTube video! You are definitely a positive person through the 22 day quarantine experience. Did you have HAL’s Platinum insurance?

My DW would have made my life miserable in that situation 😂

12 hours ago, Hlitner said:

DW and I love cruising and have several future cruises on the horizon.  But I am starting to wonder if we should simply stick to independent land-trips.  We are comfortable flying to most places of the world, renting/leasing a car, and just doing our own thing.  As much as we love to cruise we are now starting to wonder whether it is worth the risk.

My DW and I always enjoyed independent excursions while cruising from port to port, but independent land travel may be a better alternative! 

Does anyone know of a car rental agency serving the Fort de France cruise port? 

We rented from Enterprise in 2015, but appears closed now and past Cruise Critics said that Budget isn’t available any longer. Someone on TripAdvisor said that “Leader” car rental will drop off at cruise dock and referred me to BelleMartinique, but it’s in French only.

We really enjoyed our day trip in Martinique in 2015 and want to drive the island again on March 12, 2019.

Thanks for all suggestions.

I recommend that you take the Red Hook ferry boat to Cruz bay on St John’s island and take the Lind Point trail to “Honeymoon Beach”!:cool:

Is it possible to drive from Fort de France on the N2 to St Pierre and back to FDF on the N3 in 6 hours?

I want to take the beautiful drive along the coast to St Pierre, up to Le Morne Rouge to see Mt Pelee and drive down the N3 to the Balata Garden and back to Fort de France. Google maps shows that it's a couple of hours, but based on prior reviews, the road sounds longer!

My wife and I arrive on 12/23 on the Celebrity Summit and I have an Enterprise rent-a-car reserved in downtown Fort de France from 8:30-4:30pm.

Thanks, Ken

P.s., if it's possible, do you have any other suggested stops on this route?

Ken, check out Coutesy car rental at the cruise port!