Moparop

We are cruising Norway (stops in Bergen, Alesund, Stavanger, and Geiranger) with a group of 16 ranging in ages from 1-77, including a 3 year old and 4 teenagers. Any suggestions of things that the whole crew would enjoy? We are cruising on Celebrity and it looks like the excursions on the ship will not accommodate the baby. It also looks like just grabbing a bunch of cabs to get somewhere will be hard as the little ones need to be in car seats. 
 

thanks for any ideas! My kids are in the teen group but I don’t want to ditch the family of little ones every day. 

8 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

There was no programming for 12 year olds on the Encore. They hung with the teens outside the club.

. 

I remember you saying that programming was for 13+. I was hoping that they had made adjustments since that first sailing.

2 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

It's too bad that NCL is not adjusting clubs for 12yos. It is kind of not fair for them not to have a place to hangout together even though they met all requirements. I know there may not be enough for a separate club, but changing from 13-17 to 12-17 is not too difficult.

This is why i asked. Other cruisers don't want dozens of 12 year olds running amok on the ship.

2 minutes ago, razor7_us said:

What ship are they sailing on?  Depending on the ship, there are plenty of activities for 12 year olds.  

They will be on the Gem doing Western Caribbean. When the trip was booked, the grandparents had planned that they would hang a bunch in the club, not thinking of it being closed because 10-11 were not onboard.

My daughter and her cousin are cruising next month with their grandparents. They are both 12 years old and fully vaccinated. My understanding is that all of the Splash Academy is closed due to kids <12 being allowed on the ship. I think Entourage is still happening, but is it still 13-17? Is there any programming for the 12 year olds on the ship? Just trying to manage expectations for my kid!

I know on the current cruises, there is no Splash Academy open right now. Not sure what they are doing with 12 year olds on the whole.

2 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

When I talked to the teen club folks, they said 13+. Grand can talk to them Onboard. By then they will have it figured out…. Maybe. 

Thanks for update. We are better off knowing this issue before getting on the ship and being surprised. I'll talk to the kiddo and the grands. Hopefully it gets figured out sooner rather than later!

16 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Need some mommy and daddy time on the cruise? Send the kids down to the Entourage Teen Club on Deck 5. (This is a fully vaccinated cruise, so there are no guppies or Splash Academy members onboard). remember to register and attend the first night where friendships

are made. 

12 year olds can be fully vaccinated and thus allowed on the ship. Are they going to be allowed into Entourage or are they out of luck because the Splash Academy is closed? My daughter is cruising with her grandparents later this fall.

33 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

 

TK 3441 landed in AMS about an hour ago.

there was a health screening for those folks when they got off the plane. Just heard from my parents again!

2 hours ago, Laminator said:

More issues for the PAX!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/plane-evacuating-cruise-passengers-re-routed-after-turkey-denies-landing-permission/ar-BB10dywH?ocid=spartandhp

 

 

Thanks for the post. I’m pretty sure my parents were on that flight and I hadn’t heard anything from them in almost 24 hours. This explains why. 

My parents are US citizens who are still in Cambodia, but got a call today from their county health department saying that they had been notified that my parents were recently in China and wanted to followup on potential Coronavirus exposure or being positive. Since my parents are in the hotel in Phnom Penh, they are not at home and have been tested but it does look like local health departments in the US are contacting cruise guests. 

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

If it helps, the 400+ passengers that were held back when the one woman tested positive have all tested negative.

 

 That’s over 35% of the passengers on the ship.  

 

I saw comments about what sort of testing was done at the hotel in Cambodia. It was a nasal swab. My parents are the ones in the hotel and described what was done. It was far more than a temperature check at the hotel. That’s the test the 400+ people had and all came back negative. 

4 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

 

"On 13 February, the ship was allowed to dock in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.[14] Malaysia reported on 15 February that an 83-year-old US citizen who disembarked Westerdam and flew into Malaysia on 14 February had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.[15] In a second test, requested both by the Holland America Line and Cambodian authorities, the woman tested again positive.["

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Westerdam#cite_note-16

 

This is simply unfortunate. At this stage, there's no point laying blame anywhere. Let's hope that it works out.

 

Can you ask your parents whether the test are laboratory tests (samples taken)? Does Phnom Penh have the facilities to test all 1,500 remaining passengers?

 

 

they specifically mentioned being swabbed. That’s about all I know. 

1 minute ago, fragilek said:

 Wishing them all the best. Do you know if they have been contacted by HAL or any official from Cambodia with instructions for containment/protection.  In fact have they even officially been told anything.

Everyone in the hotel has been given a full health check and had a CV19 test performed. They were told this morning that they could not leave their rooms until the check was done. At the check, they were given masks to wear and told to have it on at all times. That’s what I know at this time. 

My parents and others are a (multiple?) hotels in Cambodia. They spent a day at the Phnom Penh airport in a holding area on the 15th with other passengers and were taken from there to the hotel. 

6 minutes ago, fragilek said:

Thank you for that info-  If your parents are caught up in this I hope that they can be safely transported home soon. Does that mean no-one has got any further than Kula Lumpur, are you aware if any further measures are being taken to keep them and those around them as safe as possible until results are confirmed one way or the other.  for example masks issued, told to stay in hotel  room etc.

Ive been following the Westerdam hashtag pretty closely on Twitter. There’s definitely a group that has flown commercial out of Kula Lumpur on the 14th and perhaps early on the 15th.
 

My parents got to Phnom Penh around 10am and spent the day trying to get on a charter flight or even a commercial flight on their own money and were turned down at every corner. Their statement was that there were “lots of people still at the hotel”.  I’m betting there are even more still sitting in Kula Lumpur. 

Based on what my parents are saying the flights from Cambodia to Malaysia were all chartered flights. Multiple of them got canceled yesterday leaving some on the ship and some in hotels in Phnom Penh. Passengers were kept in a holding area even until Kula Lumpur so there hasn’t been nearly the chance to spread the virus that some are suggesting. 

Just now, AncientWanderer said:

 

The bolding there is mine.

I've lost track.  Didn't the Westerdam have one port stop -- a day somewhere in Taiwan -- or am I mistaken about that?

there was one port stop in Taiwan. 

55 minutes ago, AllureOfVacation said:

Hello from the Westerdam

 

Rumours say we are among the last 190 passengers on the ship. I can tell you it is quiet!
 

The last buses for todays charter flights left some hours ago.

 

The dining room will not be very crowded today

You are better off than my parents! They departed Westerdam at 6am or so and are still in the Phnom Pehn airport. They’ve had all of their flights to Kula Lumpur get canceled. My dad tried going rouge and booking his own tickets in Korean air home but he can’t get to a ticketing agent to talk to someone. Someone local from HAL told him that he will likely be sleeping in the airport tonight. 

51 minutes ago, Moparop said:

This is what my dad (who is on Westerdam) just said:

 

 we just heard from the captain to sit tight and be ready to go when we receive our individual travel information delivered to our room. We are just arriving in Cambodia.

Quoting myself here. Based on what HAL has said, my dad and I are trying to figure out to do with their flights from Bangkok to Seoul to home on Delta. Cancel? No show? Try to catch the connector in Seoul?

This is what my dad (who is on Westerdam) just said:

 we just heard from the captain to sit tight and be ready to go when we receive our individual travel information delivered to our room. We are just arriving in Cambodia.

Another Westerdam related update:

my parents are on the ship and I just called Delta to rearrange their flights. I was honest with the agent and said they had been in HK on 1-31 and 2-1 before boarding the ship. Delta checked specifically to see if there would be issues with them flying through Korea and there were none. They are able to fly home the day they get off the ship, with a layover in Korea, straight to their destination city. 

I’m wondering if they are arriving “next week” to have the ship sailing through the entire 14 day incubation period of the virus. So the goal would be to go somewhere far enough away but not too far. 

Per my parents who are on Westerdam, all passengers were required to surrender their passports to prove that none of them had been to mainland China. If that is true they will arrive at a port next week. 

Today’s update, as seen on Facebook