Wehwalt

5 minutes ago, ger_77 said:

As I sit here looking out at the 3 or 4 feet of snow in our back yard, I'm just going to imagine I'm on the Volendam, getting ready to sail away.  I have a glass of wine in my hand as I do for every time we cruise, so "Cheers everyone"!  Social distancing can sure put a crimp in your glass clinking!  LOL

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

But you are enjoying the wine without either paying a corkage fee. Here's to that.

21 hours ago, vicd1969 said:

HAL's typically smaller ship size actually will help it get underway better than the other mainstream lines with their 4000+ passenger ships. I would imagine it'll be hard in the near future to fill in the Oasis-class ships to break-even passenger levels.

It would not surprise me if limits were put on the number of passengers by governments. Let's say ... 2,000?

33 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Exactly, which is why I posted above -- 'under control' is not the same as eradication.

 

At some point I think cruise ships will restart (as will most other things) as I do not think we are going to eradicate COVID-19 and not see any more cases. But that's not certain, of course...

I expect very limited cruising for the rest of the year. Even if they flatten the curve, there will be an expectation that the virus will return in the fall. We saw in Alaska that there was protest against the Westerdam going there and it isn't going there. I don't think we're going to be as welcome a lot of places as we once were. Plus persuading people to get back on ships when the trips could turn into voyages of the damned overnight is going to be an issue.

That Hawaii question may be out of date. A lot of the sugar cane acreage was abandoned in 2017 as uncompetitive, and much of the pineapple acreage is gone.

Good luck on your voyage home, Kathi!

7 hours ago, kennystwin said:

I could see  a waiver of PVSA for scheduled cruises impacted by the current port closures. But a repeal, No! Yes, it would allow HAL to cruise Seattle to Alaska bypassing Victoria, but it would also allow any foreign flagged vessel access to the US market with minimal regulation. We would be swamped with older ships doing cruises to nowhere/booze cruises/gambling junkets from any coastal city. I imagine they could even compete with US firms running passenger ferries. No thanks.

I don't say a full repeal. I suspect Congress could be clever enough to modify it in a way to avoid the ills you mention, if it wanted to.

On another note, someone mentioned NYC. I'd like to see more cruises out of Baltimore. There's a demand, evidenced by RCCI being able to fill the Grandeur of the Seas out of there despite cookie cutter itineraries.

On 3/15/2020 at 1:50 PM, tailspintom said:

Many deseases have been named after the places they originated or where they were prevalent. West Nile desease, Rocky mountain spotted fever, MERS, Lyme desease, Ebola and the list goes on.

Legionnaire's Disease had its first big outbreak at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia.

I had a similar view on Martinique.

1 hour ago, bay guy said:

I wonder if Miss Dolly will also have to disembark since she lives on the ship full time?

 

And give up her reserved seat in the Showroom.

1 minute ago, FlorenceItaly said:

Just an FYI from the Celebrity board

Update - We are on Celebrity Eclipse. As of midnight we were still denied entry to Chile. The new change is we will go to the port at Valparaíso Chile and anchor there. We will refuel and load of necessary provisions which will be brought to the ship. We will then continue on to dock in San Diego, Ca. . Many people on the ship were hoping for this to happen.
Captain Leo said it will take 24 hours in Valparaíso to get everything done and 10 days to San Diego.

We are so happy and relieved. Our flight from Santiago to San Diego had been canceled as had many others.

Thank you, that is wonderful news at a time of uncertainty. May you arrive home safe and happy.

I guess you get all your pillow gifts for the rest of the cruise. Of course, the baggage is already an issue ... 

1 hour ago, AFNavigator said:

Sailing around South America must have been a financial decision or canal availability.  The new Panama Canal locks, completed in 2016, can easily fit the Koningsdam with more than 50' in width and 200' in length to spare.

 

Even the largest cruise ship in the world, RCL's Symphony of the Seas, could fit through those locks.  It couldn't make the canal transit through because it is too tall to fit under the bridge on the west end of the canal.

The Bridge of the Americas? Didn't realize that. 

Pacific Princess World Cruise was also headed to Fremantle last I checked. They have been at sea since March 3.

12 minutes ago, Petronillus said:

 

We are all potential "passengers in question" and thus, by your own reckoning, it's the business of all of us. I think it's a valid cause for reflection.

(snip)

Having the potential for being in that situation does not place you in that situation. When you are, than you have a dog in the fight. Until then you do not, and you are kibbitzing on the subject of whether HAL should carry someone else, which is their concern, and HAL's.

27 minutes ago, Wehwalt said:

Of course I do ... but a letter is usual.

Actually, he said that the port had been closed to us overnight and that they had sought explanations from authorities who could not be located. I was hoping for a fuller statement, but that may be me as a lawyer rather than as a passenger.

7 minutes ago, ZSandy25 said:

I think you know why it was cancelled....the Capt. explained it in his announcement. 

Of course I do ... but a letter is usual.

I was only on for the final eleven, but I thought they did a good job, generally, keeping us informed. Putting the Q&A on the stateroom TV might have been nice. A letter explaining why Antigua was canceled would also have been nice. But as I said, in general a good job. 

I don't see how this is anyone's business except the cruise line and the passengers in question. The cruise line permits them to embark..

Shows you shouldn’t dillydally about getting off the ship.

I was on Koningsdam. The captain said last night they will still go around South America only without passengers.

I think given the uncertainty, if they can get into Darwin, they may settle for Darwin.

From my balcony on Koningsdam, that glow on the horizon has gotten real big. 

HAL is very protective and especially so on the GWV. Better a disembarkation without quarantine in a safe country with transportation options than an uncertain voyage. Safety even if inconvenient. That’s HAL. 

18 minutes ago, richwmn said:

Unfortunately we have no way of knowing the negotiations that took place to get all the cruise lines to take a 30 day pause. It may be, as Kazu stated, that all the cruise lines had to get passengers off as quickly as possible. However, Rotterdam is not discharging passengers until the 27th, and that would have given Amsterdam time to get a lot closer to the USA.

 

Perhaps they considered that but no place with sufficient facilities would guarantee permission so far in advance in these times. 

39 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

On Kathy’s (Scrapnana) new thread announcing the cancellation, there are some passengers asking if they can stay on until FLL.  They say they will do dishes, etc. If need be.  I don’t know if that will be permitted or not.  If it were, I would think that is what the ship would have done to get the passengers home.

With the agreement to suspend cruising for 30 days, I would think there can be no passengers on board, sadly.

Agreed. And if the world cruise kept going while all others stopped it would look bad.

Good morning, I am on Koningsdam and according to the Navigator app, we are at 24.45 North and 75.90 West. So I think we are going to Half Moon Cay.