China Cruises Cancelled?

[cassie55]

2 minutes ago, ppcox said:

We just have a big fat very polite NO upgrade no nothing I understand their rationale in normal circumstances.

Except the prices for this cruise have fallen so far the standard responses don't feel just.

 

Unfortunately I'm not surprised.  We've been very loyal to NCL but even after almost 20 cruises (most 14 days) they obviously don't care.  It's making us think twice about using them in the future.

[ppcox]

10 minutes ago, chankahon said:

Pressure is mounting on the Hong Kong government to deny entry for more mainland Chinese residents (now they do only for Hubei residents). Such further restrictions may expand to other non-local residents and eventually force NCL to act further. That might happen in less than a week.

 

Reported cases in Hong Kong is relatively subdued but the general mood is downbeat. Both theme parks are shut down indefinitely, schools won't reopen for another 3 weeks and many commuters may be allowed to home office after holiday ends on Tuesday. More radical measures are definitely on their way.

 

HKU scientists are predicting actual cases in Wuhan alone are in the 40,000s. Major outbreaks in Chongqing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou (and possibly Hong Kong too). Such outbreaks could peak in March to April and get under control by June. Any travel plans to China and Hong Kong prior to August may not materialize. 

 

Before switching your destination, there is one basic fact to keep in mind: reporting of confirmed virus cases is entirely based on the availability of such virus test kits and effective screening of patients. Places that are not reporting cases are not necessarily virus-free. 

 

In fact Hong Kong and Taiwan are not seeing the bulk of Chinese tourists this spring. Instead, many have headed to Thailand (in particular Pattaya and Bangkok), Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia. People in some of these places are not as resourceful or experienced in handling an outbreak. The situation is no doubt grim and NCL might have no choice but act soon.

What a depressing picture

[cassie55]

32 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

I  just read that Medjet has suspended operations and flights out of four areas because of the coronavirus outbreak, including China. So, if you choose to travel to China on a cruise, you will have to rely upon the Chinese health care system for your care. 

 

Just renewed my MedJet policy this morning and got this on their web site:

MEDJET SERVICES ALERT

 

Due to government imposed travel restrictions resulting from the Coronavirus, 
MEDJETASSIST and MEDJETHORIZON services are currently suspended in the following countries:

• China
• Hong Kong
• Taiwan
• Macau

 

1. Services to additional countries may be restricted in the future.

I wouldn't be worried about the Hong Kong healthcare system. My husband was treated as an outpatient for 2 days about 5 or 6 years ago. The care was second to none. Very impressive. And so low cost we didn't even claim from our insurance. 

[ziggyuk]

 

It is really harsh but in fairness cruises often drop after final payment and all they normally offer is a small OBC.

I realise these drops are exceptional but they are running a business and need to sell rooms, hence the drastic reductions.

I feel the pain but it could have gone the other way and prices increased, I doubt anyone would be queuing up to pay the extra.

[drsel]

My very close friends who are platinum plus have given up Norwegian, because on their last Cruise from Hawaii, the food was terrible and they didn't get any seafood

[casofilia]

@ppcox

 

We just have a big fat very polite NO upgrade no nothing I understand their rationale in normal circumstances.

Except the prices for this cruise have fallen so far the standard responses don't feel just.

 

Sorry to hear that, my guess is that there have been too many requests.

[Markanddonna]

34 minutes ago, cassie55 said:

I wouldn't be worried about the Hong Kong healthcare system. My husband was treated as an outpatient for 2 days about 5 or 6 years ago. The care was second to none. Very impressive. And so low cost we didn't even claim from our insurance. 

In normal times, I wouldn't have much concern about care in Hong Kong, but based on what we are hearing, it seems the system is overwhelmed and people on the ground seem to think the situation is far worse than China is reporting. No surprise there!

 

[cassie55]

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said:

In normal times, I wouldn't have much concern about care in Hong Kong, but based on what we are hearing, it seems the system is overwhelmed and people on the ground seem to think the situation is far worse than China is reporting. No surprise there!

 

In China maybe but not Hong Kong. There's only 8 cases and the streets are pretty much empty. Even at the weekend for Chinese new year no one was out. And the school holidays have been extended for two weeks. 

[Markanddonna]

The business world is starting to be very proactive. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/27/coronavirus-us-companies-suspend-operations-restrict-travel-as-outbreak-spreads.htm

 

I suppose I'm more concerned since I recently (November) was on a cruise in Europe where 1/3 of the passengers were  a tour group from mainland China- that was about 2,000 passengers!  I'm not going to give details as to the name of the ship, because this could have been an isolated situation, and wouldn't be fair to the company. It isn't a secret that the middle and upper middle class Chinese love to travel around the world. I'm thinking all travel from China should be banned at this time if the Chinese government is serious about getting this under control. They had restrictions on the sale and consumption of wild animals in markets during SARS but slowly lifted the ban of this dangerous practice.

 

[casofilia]

T think that many of the cruises we have done in the last couple of years have had a fair number of Chinese passengers and a couple have had fairly sizable groups.   As said they are more affluent and now travel "wise".

In NZ it has led to some unfortunate occurrences, accidents as they use offshore drivers, "forced" spending in very specific shops, and so on.

[FLAHAM]

U.S Center for Disease Control (CDC) advised all U.S. citizens on Monday to avoid all nonessential travel to China. 

[jaja]

7 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

I  just read that Medjet has suspended operations and flights out of four areas because of the coronavirus outbreak, including China. So, if you choose to travel to China on a cruise, you will have to rely upon the Chinese health care system for your care. 

 

Just renewed my MedJet policy this morning and got this on their web site:

MEDJET SERVICES ALERT

 

Due to government imposed travel restrictions resulting from the Coronavirus, 
MEDJETASSIST and MEDJETHORIZON services are currently suspended in the following countries:

• China
• Hong Kong
• Taiwan
• Macau

 

1. Services to additional countries may be restricted in the future.

WOW...very interesting.....

[Markanddonna]

The problem is that China isn't restricting travel of their citizens to other countries. They banned some travel within China but leaves the rest of the world so vulnerable.

[drsel]

Airports around the world are screening passengers who arrive from any chinese airport

[Lou33]

5 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

The problem is that China isn't restricting travel of their citizens to other countries. They banned some travel within China but leaves the rest of the world so vulnerable.

 

It's not the Chinese citizens who are spreading the virus to other countries.   It is mostly because people from other countries had visited Wuhan and then they brought the virus back home.   I imagine that there may be millions of other foreign nationals from almost every country in the world all across China right now.  Would you suggest that they should not be allowed to leave China as well?

 

China has the area of about the size of the United States but with almost five times as many people.  They already took the unprecedented step of isolating Wuhan and the surrounding province.  

 

Can you imagine if there was a virus outbreak in the United States, and the government tried to restrict travel?  To compare what China has already done, that would be like if there was a virus outbreak in Chicago, and the US shut down the airport, all highways, and blocked everybody in Illinois from leaving the state.  But what you seem to be suggesting would also restrict people in Boston, Miami, or Seattle from leaving the country just because they are Americans.  

Edited January 28, 2020 by Lou33

[onetimearoundtheworld]

9 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

The problem is that China isn't restricting travel of their citizens to other countries. They banned some travel within China but leaves the rest of the world so vulnerable.

 

China has implement regulations and actions that put more burden on their own people than any western country would have ever even considered.

Apart from that, the virus luckily so far is extremely mild and the media panic completely baffling. Look at the figures comparing it to other diseases, especially the seasonal flu.

 

[Markanddonna]

But, the western countries aren't the ones where the problems have originated, at least in modern times.  Restricting nonessential travel overseas seems to be a logical step. None of us know how this will play out. 

[ziggyuk]

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said:

But, the western countries aren't the ones where the problems have originated, at least in modern times.  Restricting nonessential travel overseas seems to be a logical step. None of us know how this will play out. 

 

Which is exactly what they have done, Wuhan and the surrounding provinces are on complete shutdown with army controlled roadblocks and no travel permitted.

 

The only people who may be allowed to leave a overseas nationals, most countries are trying to make preparations to evacuate 1000's nationals back to their homes, the UK alone have 300 brits in Wuhan. I have not seen figures for North Americans needing evacuation.

Edited January 28, 2020 by ziggyuk

[Lou33]

8 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

But, the western countries aren't the ones where the problems have originated, at least in modern times.  Restricting nonessential travel overseas seems to be a logical step. None of us know how this will play out. 

 

A virus outbreak can start anywhere.  My point was that if one were to occur in the United States, a nationwide international travel ban would never happen.  But you seem to think that China should stop all Chinese citizens within their borders from leaving the country.  Please don't blame the spread of the virus on the Chinese people.  Again, it is spread predominately by foreign nationals who visit Wuhan, and they bring the virus back home.  

Edited January 28, 2020 by Lou33

[sfaaa]

7 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Which is exactly what they have done, Wuhan and the surrounding provinces are on complete shutdown with army controlled roadblocks and no travel permitted.

 

The only people who may be allowed to leave a overseas nationals, most countries are trying to make preparations to evacuate 1000's nationals back to their homes, the UK alone have 300 brits in Wuhan. I have not seen figures for North Americans needing evacuation.

Too little too late. There are reports 5 millions Wuhan residents left the infected area and went elsewhere before the lockdown. No telling how many were infected or carrying the virus.

[ziggyuk]

 

Breaking News in the UK

 

The British Foreign Office have advised against all but essential travel to Mainland China (eg Hong Kong is still open), as a result British Airways have just announced all flights in and out of mainland China have been canceled and existing customers in China will be evacuated via Hong Kong, Japan or Korea.

 

While other airlines have not made announcements it is likely they will follow as insurance kicks in when the government advises against travel and demand will fall rapidly since the government's advice.

[Edinburghgirl1]

Surely insurance will not kick in though if you are sailing from Hong Kong like we are tomorrow. UK government is not saying dint go to Hong Kong! In fact there are more confirmed cases in Thailand and they are not saying don’t go there! 

[ziggyuk]

1 hour ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

Surely insurance will not kick in though if you are sailing from Hong Kong like we are tomorrow. UK government is not saying dint go to Hong Kong! In fact there are more confirmed cases in Thailand and they are not saying don’t go there! 

 

Correct, As I said in bold above "Mainland China" and wrote "(eg Hong Kong is still open)" in brackets.

 

Hong Kong is also one of BA's evacuation routes from China.

 

For your case, I can't see Hong Kong's situation changing anytime soon, but obviously keep an eye on the Foreign Office website. We have family on the ground in Hong Kong as you will note from my profile picture, we do have first hand knowledge of both the virus and troubles.

 

Insurance will only click in if the area you fly to has a no travel warning, even then it will depend on the cover provided by the policy.

It can have the opposite effect if you travel against Government advice, you could find your policy limited or possible even void.

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by ziggyuk

[AlanTBT]

We are due to pay our cruise balance this Friday for our 22nd May Hong Hong/Shanghai/China/Japan cruise. This morning the UK Governement issued their updated travel advice to 'only essential travel'. I have checked with our insurance company and this means if we go ahead and make the final payment then we are not covered for any cancellation (including our own illness). I have spoken to the agent today and they have put the final payment date back by 4 weeks. Hopefully in that time either, NCL will have made alternative arrangements for the cruise or the spread of the outbreak will be better understood and the travel advice relaxed. Sadly I fully expect neither to occur.

[ziggyuk]

21 minutes ago, AlanTBT said:

We are due to pay our cruise balance this Friday for our 22nd May Hong Hong/Shanghai/China/Japan cruise. This morning the UK Governement issued their updated travel advice to 'only essential travel'. I have checked with our insurance company and this means if we go ahead and make the final payment then we are not covered for any cancellation (including our own illness). I have spoken to the agent today and they have put the final payment date back by 4 weeks. Hopefully in that time either, NCL will have made alternative arrangements for the cruise or the spread of the outbreak will be better understood and the travel advice relaxed. Sadly I fully expect neither to occur.

 

That was good to put the payment date back, I would suspect they would simply change the itinerary replacing the Shanghai port with a non Chinese port.

It looks like Taiwan is not included within the UK government no travel advice.