Seabourn and the current issues surrounding the Corona Virus

[Mark56]

Public service announcement. Get your flu shots. It won’t protect you from getting the corona virus but it will help keep you from getting the flu and your cruise ship staff and other guests won’t freak out thinking you have corona when it’s only the flu.

[ael123]

Please provide update on Seabourn Encore April 17th sailing. It was to depart from Singapore but SB has pulled out of Singapore. Where is the ship embarking on April 17th... Columbo??? I had a B2B (38 days) scheduled on Sojourn. It is now Australia/NewZealand. I don't want to spend more than 20 days in Australia. So I am cancelling and rebooking. The big problem I have is the Seabourn website has not been updated to reflect the new itineraries. So when looking for an alternate cruise all I am finding are cruises out of Singapore and I know that Seabourn has taken their ships out of Singapore. I don't know how to find updated itineraries. If anyone is on the Encore April 17 please let me know the new itinerary. Thanks.

 

[rols]

15 minutes ago, ael123 said:

Please provide update on Seabourn Encore April 17th sailing. It was to depart from Singapore but SB has pulled out of Singapore. Where is the ship embarking on April 17th... Columbo??? I had a B2B (38 days) scheduled on Sojourn. It is now Australia/NewZealand. I don't want to spend more than 20 days in Australia. So I am cancelling and rebooking. The big problem I have is the Seabourn website has not been updated to reflect the new itineraries. So when looking for an alternate cruise all I am finding are cruises out of Singapore and I know that Seabourn has taken their ships out of Singapore. I don't know how to find updated itineraries. If anyone is on the Encore April 17 please let me know the new itinerary. Thanks.

There is no update at this point for Encore in April. Seabourn has just gotten around to dealing with mid-March. At this point Seabourn hasn't "taken their ships out of Singapore", they've cancelled all Asian ports for Ovation (and Sojourn) from now until April and haven't said what they are going to do next. 

I suggest watching the Seabourn press site here https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/news.html which they keep pretty current. Given how fast things are changing, with a breakout in Italy and a dreadful spread in Iran which is suffering really badly, I don't see them settling on itineraries for mid-April for at least another 2 if not more weeks. 

[Isklaar]

So, UK cases now increased by 4. All of those had been passengers on the Princess ship. 

219 cases now announced in Italy. We had been planning a trip to Lugano and Lake Como at Easter. I realise that Easter is six weeks away and goodness knows what will happen between now and then, but we've put the idea firmly in the bin. Looking at a UK break instead, although anywhere decent will be a zoo over Easter. 

 

So six weeks to Easter, many cruise ships will be returning to the Med around that time. Lots of those would be calling at Venice or using it as an embark/disembark port.  And Rome too. Or that would have been the plan.

I wouldn't like to take any guesses as to what will be happening in the cruise industry between now and then.

Seabourn's programme includes Venice beginning in mid May but Rome is featured a few weeks before then. 

We're hoping to fit in a shorter Mediterranean cruise on Seabourn at some point this year but this situation is so fluid that we won't be booking well in advance. 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Isklaar

[Isklaar]

I've just read a report on a reliable source that stated there are 165 cases in Italy, not 219 which was announced earlier today. No idea which is correct but just wanted to update.

[plane7c]

I am following worldometers.info      Countries with coronavirus cases are listed.

Saturday there were 28 countries

Sunday 33 countries

Monday 37  countries

 

Italy had 229 cases plus 72 new ones 

 

2/24  Quote giving opinions from WHO and others:

The tipping point-after which our ability to prevent a global pandemic ends-seems a lot closer after the past 24 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

[Flamin_June]

Worldometers website has live updates and is reporting 229 for Italy. Also new cases in Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait, anongst others.

It is ironic that just as SB redo Ovations itinerary to sail around the Persian Gulf, Straits of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, the spike in Iran threatens to leak into neighboring Persian Gulf States. There is a lot of movement of people to and from Iran in the region.

I's ironic also that they have pulled Ovation out of Singapore, just at the time when SGP's containment actions appear to be taking efect. New cases stabilising there now: 1, 0, 1 in last three days. I would be much happier boarding Ovation after transiting through Changi than Bandanaraike right now.

[Isklaar]

6 minutes ago, Flamin_June said:

Worldometers website has live updates and is reporting 229 for Italy. Also new cases in Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait, anongst others.

It is ironic that just as SB redo Ovations itinerary to sail around the Persian Gulf, Straits of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, the spike in Iran threatens to leak into neighboring Persian Gulf States. There is a lot of movement of people to and from Iran in the region.

I's ironic also that they have pulled Ovation out of Singapore, just at the time when SGP's containment actions appear to be taking efect. New cases stabilising there now: 1, 0, 1 in last three days. I would be much happier boarding Ovation after transiting through Changi than Bandanaraike right now.

 

I'll check Worldometers as my source from now on. 

 

On the topic of movement in that region, we had a conversation about Qatar and the U.A.E yesterday evening.We hadn't heard about any cases in that area. There are lots of migrant workers travelling between those countries and India and  Sri Lanka. Both destinations included in Seabourn's plans for the next few weeks.  As well as UAE and Oman. I think I saw a changed itinerary to include Doha too, I'm not sure if Qatar is a new destination for Seabourn. 

 

[plane7c]

27 minutes ago, Isklaar said:

On the topic of movement in that region, we had a conversation about Qatar and the U.A.E yesterday evening.We hadn't heard about any cases in that area. There are lots of migrant workers travelling between those countries and India and  Sri Lanka. Both destinations included in Seabourn's plans for the next few weeks.  As well as UAE and Oman. I think I saw a changed itinerary to include Doha too, I'm not sure if Qatar is a new destination for Seabourn. 

 

Worldometers.info     lists UAE  with cases

also  Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait 

Edited February 24, 2020 by plane7c
typo

[jozi]

59 minutes ago, Isklaar said:

 

I'll check Worldometers as my source from now on. 

 

On the topic of movement in that region, we had a conversation about Qatar and the U.A.E yesterday evening.We hadn't heard about any cases in that area. There are lots of migrant workers travelling between those countries and India and  Sri Lanka. Both destinations included in Seabourn's plans for the next few weeks.  As well as UAE and Oman. I think I saw a changed itinerary to include Doha too, I'm not sure if Qatar is a new destination for Seabourn. 

 

It's not. We stopped in Doha in 2018 on spring Dubai-Athens.

[Isklaar]

30 minutes ago, jozi said:

It's not. We stopped in Doha in 2018 on spring Dubai-Athens.

 

Thanks. I haven't spent time in  Doha for over a decade, although I've been through the airport several times.

 There was a massive amount of development when I visited, and I'm aware that it's ongoing.

Interesting to know that SB is using the port. Worth it for a trip to the amazing Museum of Islamic Art which had only recently opened at the time of my last trip. 

[jozi]

33 minutes ago, Isklaar said:

 

Thanks. I haven't spent time in  Doha for over a decade, although I've been through the airport several times.

 There was a massive amount of development when I visited, and I'm aware that it's ongoing.

Interesting to know that SB is using the port. Worth it for a trip to the amazing Museum of Islamic Art which had only recently opened at the time of my last trip. 

Yes, a lot of prep for FIFA in 2022. I’ve heard a lot of the tall buildings are empty. We did a ship- sponsored tour to the market (Typical middle eastern market( though the area may have been recently developed to look traditional) which included a falcon veterinary establishment, to the fancy island for expats only,  and the museum. Museum is stunning space and was the highlight for us. 

[galeforce9]

2 hours ago, jozi said:

It's not. We stopped in Doha in 2018 on spring Dubai-Athens.

And we did in 2015 

[cruising kirby]

The Seabourn website is showing an itinerary change for the Encore 17 April departure.  No longer Singapore (as anticipated), now Colombo.

[SLSD]

Watching the news just now:  Global markets are reeling due to the virus.  The DOW in the US is down 1,000 points today.  The commentators were attributing all of this to the corona virus and fears about certain important sectors of the market.  Cruise lines were mentioned in the mix.  

Edited February 24, 2020 by SLSD

[cuddles115]

3 minutes ago, SLSD said:

Watching the news just now:  Global markets are reeling due to the virus.  The DOW in the US is down 1,000 points today.  The commentators were attributing all of this to the corona virus and fears about certain important sectors of the market.  Cruise lines were mentioned in the mix.  

The smart people buy today on the dip. The WHO, which is very conservative and non-alarming, speaks of a possible pandemic in view of the positive findings in Iran, Korea and Italy. They are unable to find a common source in these countries. Two weeks ago, we were stunned by the news in China, et al.  I hope that two weeks from now we all are not as fearful as we are today. Especially when there are  "whispers" of "Virus X" causing a pandemic.

[teamflames]

2 hours ago, cruising kirby said:

The Seabourn website is showing an itinerary change for the Encore 17 April departure.  No longer Singapore (as anticipated), now Colombo.

Really! So same as Ovation , I am really surprised I thought given it was in Australia it would do a reverse of Sojourn and leave from Fremantle 

[MPCakes]

The Encore is now scheduled to end in Darwin instead of Bali on April 7th.  No Komodo Island either.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Over on the Celebrity boards they are saying Celebrity won’t board anyone that has been to Venice and its environs in the last 15 days.  Don’t shoot the messenger please....

[rols]

3 hours ago, Ragnar Danneskjold said:

Over on the Celebrity boards they are saying Celebrity won’t board anyone that has been to Venice and its environs in the last 15 days.  Don’t shoot the messenger please....

It's actually on Celebrity's website https://www.celebritycruises.com/travel-alert. Clear and simple and anybody denied boarding gets a full refund which is *good* policy to stop people trying to hide fevers. Seems to me to be quite sensible measures. 

[dalliowner]

10 hours ago, cruising kirby said:

The Seabourn website is showing an itinerary change for the Encore 17 April departure.  No longer Singapore (as anticipated), now Colombo.

 In the UK it still shows going from Singapore, I am sure you are correct but Seabourn should really control their websites better

[rols]

1 hour ago, dalliowner said:

 In the UK it still shows going from Singapore, I am sure you are correct but Seabourn should really control their websites better

I'm not seeing this either and I was fairly sure I get the US site. Would have expected them to put it on the announcement page too. 

[teamflames]

1 hour ago, dalliowner said:

 In the UK it still shows going from Singapore, I am sure you are correct but Seabourn should really control their websites better

The Australian website shows changes on the map and says to call the office about itinerary changes. When you select the cruise it still has the old itinerary. I called the number and was told that Colombo is definitely the new embarkation point but that their systems were not yet updated. We will be formally notified by the end of the week.

[Paulchili]

10 hours ago, MPCakes said:

The Encore is now scheduled to end in Darwin instead of Bali on April 7th.  No Komodo Island either.

What is the source of that news - we are on that cruise and have not heard anything.

[DrHedgehog]

41 minutes ago, teamflames said:

The Australian website shows changes on the map and says to call the office about itinerary changes. When you select the cruise it still has the old itinerary. I called the number and was told that Colombo is definitely the new embarkation point but that their systems were not yet updated. We will be formally notified by the end of the week.

Thanks for the update!

 

did they mention anything on refund / board credit for those who do not want to accept the changes?

 

I am on Encore cruise for 10 days from Benoa to Singapore in April and wonder, if it is still good to go. Likely, not anymore.