Seabourn and the current issues surrounding the Corona Virus

[SLSD]

44 minutes ago, oceanviewer21 said:

Chance for Richard Branson to get some more publicity?

I don't follow the doings of Branson, but was surprised that this couple publicly asked for his help.  I thought it was interesting that they were asking Branson for help instead of the British government.  

[cuddles115]

What does this have to do with Seabourn? Last I looked, Branson did his own thing with his own ship (The  Scarlet Lady).

[SLSD]

2 minutes ago, cuddles115 said:

What does this have to do with Seabourn? Last I looked, Branson did his own thing with his own ship (The  Scarlet Lady).

It only has to do with Seabourn with regards to hard decisions being made to cancel or not cancel cruises due to the  corona virus.  The virus has wreaked havoc on several cruise ships--to the extent that some Brits  aboard a Princess cruise line ship have been desperate enough to ask Branson for help.  None of us want to see a Seabourn ship in this kind of situation.  

Edited February 15, 2020 by SLSD

[oceanviewer21]

Because the UK has not done anything and the US has and because he just loves publicity. He might just send one of his planes to rescue Brits and knowing him he might personally meet and greet them. At least that was probably the thought the beleaguered passengers had.

[SLSD]

50 minutes ago, oceanviewer21 said:

Because the UK has not done anything and the US has and because he just loves publicity. He might just send one of his planes to rescue Brits and knowing him he might personally meet and greet them. At least that was probably the thought the beleaguered passengers had.

I'm sure these long suffering people would welcome him even if he was doing it just for publicity.  That's the real point--they are feeling desperate.  None of us want this to happen on a Seabourn ship.  

[SLSD]

If you find yourself wondering what all the hoopla is about this new virus, this article explains:  https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/14/805289669/how-covid-19-kills-the-new-coronavirus-disease-can-take-a-deadly-turn?utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR1LU725tuvTXoNQu5dFpqMCnlOgsGUj7Fm2TLVLF2cfaZfNZSrmuw-8Tuo

 

[ab21au]

18 hours ago, SLSD said:

They reported that planes are being sent for the Americans which will take them back to the United States.

I had heard the Australian gov were considering the same for Australians on the ship. 

[SLSD]

5 hours ago, ab21au said:

I had heard the Australian gov were considering the same for Australians on the ship. 

And I've seen a report that most other countries (except for the UK) are sending planes for their citizens (including Hong Kong). 

[Paulchili]

Singapore may well be the next closed port.

We have friends on the Majestic Princess from Sydney to Singapore, due to arrive in Singapore 3/2.

They were just informed that the cruise will end in Perth on 2/22 and segment from Perth to Singapore is cancelled.

Not sure if this is Singapore's or Princesses' decision.

[pgintct]

February 29th sailing has been canceled.  You will all be receiving an email. Full refund to credit card as well as 50% FCC.

[Videopark]

On 1/29/2020 at 5:12 PM, clarky said:

my husband has bought face masks and I have bought hand sanitizer and wipes and I intend to wipe down the tray table and seat as best I can on the plane.

 

Be sure to check what your sanitizer will kill - Alcohol cannot get through it, which is why alcohol-based hand sanitizers do not kill norovirus. “It's resistant to many common disinfectants,” Hall said. CDC recommends using bleach to kill it, including chlorine bleach or hydrogen peroxide. You should use a chlorine bleach solution with a concentration of 1000 to 5000 ppm (5 to 25 tablespoons of household bleach [5% to 8%] per gallon of water) or other disinfectant registered as effective against norovirus by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

[3418ahl]

2 hours ago, pgintct said:

February 29th sailing has been canceled.  You will all be receiving an email. Full refund to credit card as well as 50% FCC.

My guess is that this bodes ill for our cruise on March 14, which is the relocation cruise.

[rols]

4 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Singapore may well be the next closed port.

We have friends on the Majestic Princess from Sydney to Singapore, due to arrive in Singapore 3/2.

They were just informed that the cruise will end in Perth on 2/22 and segment from Perth to Singapore is cancelled.

Not sure if this is Singapore's or Princesses' decision.

Princess’ decision. 

[Paulchili]

11 minutes ago, rols said:

Princess’ decision. 

Most likely - they probably have itineraries from there to other Asian ports that they cannot visit?

Good to know that Singapore is not "closed" at this point.

[rols]

1 minute ago, Paulchili said:

Most likely - they probably have itineraries from there to other Asian ports that they cannot visit?

Good to know that Singapore is not "closed" at this point.

Could be that. I think the overwhelming concern by cruise lines is that if the virus spread continues in Singapore that other countries in the region will stop accepting ships which have called here. That's what happened to the Westerdam, the initial call in HK stopped it being accepted anywhere until 2 weeks later. A few other ships have been turned away by Vietnam and Malaysian ports recently because of China or HK visits.

There may also be fears that passengers may catch the virus pre-cruise in Singapore and bring it on board however that is still a very, remote possibility. The biggest concern seems to be having a ship which starts in a port which is fine but which becomes a 'cannot sail from' during the course of the cruise. You end up with a ship floating about full of people you can't disembark, you're still entertaining and feeding them and will probably have to refund their cruises anyway. Better not take the risk and stay away from Asia entirely. 

There was a Straits Times article yesterday https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/cruise-lines-skipping-singapore-cancelling-asian-sailings-amid-port-closures-and about this which is worth skimming.  The port authority in there has again stated that Singapore remains open to any travellers who satisfy entry requirements which here are still only no mainland China visits within 14 days. 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Just noticed in the video of the Americans being evacuated from the cruise ship in Japan that they gave the passengers the kind of masks with exhale valves!!!  These do nothing to stop contamination coming out of the mask.  These types of masks are specifically for protecting the wearer, not those around the wearer!

 

And there were 14 people on the flight with known infection.  They were supposedly “isolated” on the plane.

 

If this is the best our US disease control folks can do, we are in trouble....

[frantic36]

For those curious about happening re Sojourn as regard itinerary changes. From my friend onboard.

 

Hong Kong in late March is cancelled and a friend due to embark there is now embarking in Singapore. Mombasa is cancelled due to civil unrest and the ship is now scheduled to overnight in the Seychelles and the Maldives. Passengers were given $150 OBC as compensation.

 

We are due to visit Polynesian Islands in May ie Fiji, Samoa and New Caledonia and there is no word on changes in those ports as yet and hopefully that won't happen. French Polynesia is Tahiti, Marquesa Islands etc and we aren't going there.

 

Julie

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Here is the video, I hope it plays:

https://youtu.be/Em6HpwybJG8

[HappyFeet13]

We are on Sojourn 4-29 Polynesian Pathways 30-day cruise fm Sydney to SF.  Problem is that Soujourn is coming to Sydney from Asia. Wonder if Sydney will let it dock, coming from there?   Must be a nightmare for Seabourne, rearranging ports, trying to figure out how to reroute a world cruise. If you are on same cruise, we have a Roll Call set up...check in there, too. 

[ael123]

3 hours ago, frantic36 said:

For those curious about happening re Sojourn as regard itinerary changes. From my friend onboard.

 

Hong Kong in late March is cancelled and a friend due to embark there is now embarking in Singapore. Mombasa is cancelled due to civil unrest and the ship is now scheduled to overnight in the Seychelles and the Maldives. Passengers were given $150 OBC as compensation.

 

We are due to visit Polynesian Islands in May ie Fiji, Samoa and New Caledonia and there is no word on changes in those ports as yet and hopefully that won't happen. French Polynesia is Tahiti, Marquesa Islands etc and we aren't going there.

 

Julie

 

     We are on Sojourn Singapore (3/22)  to Sydney (4/29). We have been worrying about the same thing as many other guests. What if someone gets the Corona Virus while in Singapore or along the way? Does that mean we will all be quarantined? We received notification that there will be an itinerary change but have not been told what the change will be. I am hoping they will avoid Asia altogether but I guess that is doubtful. We were offered at our option to cancel and rebook another cruise with the stipulation that the new cruise is 100% nonrefundable and must have the same base rate. I called Seabourn to see what options that would afford me because I have no way of knowing the "base rate" and they referred us to ICON which is the company through which we booked the cruise originally. I sent an email to ICON and hope to have a response within a few days.  I would like to know what the new itinerary will be before making a decision as to whether to cancel and rebook. Also I need to determine whether my return airfare from Sydney which is non-refundable could still be used with the new itinerary. This has been an extremely difficult situation for all the passengers not knowing what will happen next. I appreciate that Seabourn is willing to do a cancel and rebook. At this point I only wish I had the information needed to decide if this option will work for us.  If anyone hears what itinerary changes there will be for Sojourn please let us know. I am aware the ship will not stop in Hong Kong however, Singapore has as many if not more cases than Hong Kong. Other countries such as Thailand have cases as well. AT present these are all stops for Sojourn. 

[frantic36]

3 minutes ago, ael123 said:

This has been an extremely difficult situation for all the passengers not knowing what will happen next.

 

I do understand your concern and hope there are answers for you soon in this fluid situation. I am keeping in touch with friends but things seem to not change and then suddenly overnight there is change. 

 

I am not sure what will happen with Singapore though as of today as per roll post it does seem to be stabilising. We are heading out now to check out QM2 who was diverted from Asia to Australia. There does seem lots of ships heading our way but I'm not willing to speculate re Sojourn.

 

Julie

[rols]

22 minutes ago, ael123 said:

 

     We are on Sojourn Singapore (3/22)  to Sydney (4/29). We have been worrying about the same thing as many other guests. What if someone gets the Corona Virus while in Singapore or along the way?

.....

If anyone hears what itinerary changes there will be for Sojourn please let us know. I am aware the ship will not stop in Hong Kong however, Singapore has as many if not more cases than Hong Kong. Other countries such as Thailand have cases as well. AT present these are all stops for Sojourn. 

So there's a few things here.

Currently I'd say if anyone on any ship gets COVID-19 from anywhere everyone on that ship is going into some kind of quarantine. I hope the Japan experience has taught everyone there are good ways and bad ways of doing that. 

You can certainly push cruises out later in the year to avoid Asia, however as the weeks and months go by you cannot say whether the disease will fizzle out or will spread to Europe or other places so just avoiding Asia may not in the end help you. 

The way COVID-19 is dealt with will likely change over time. If there is a vaccine (>6 months), treatment or a better understanding of the spread and mortality rate of the disease wholescale quarantines (on ships and off) may stop. 

I think the concern that Singapore has numerically more cases than other countries in the region is a little overblown. The number of cases in each country outside China is so small as to be comparatively insignificant. It is likely that many cases have not been reported because they were so mild people didn't even know they had it and I think it's fair to say that out of the countries in the region Singapore has been the most aggressive in detection, isolation and reporting and (this is my opinion only) probably has a higher count of detection because of that. Either way the current detected infection rate in the asian populations which have been living with this for a month is at most 0.001% or 1 in 10,000. That is still a very low number. 

 

 Nobody can say what is going to happen next. All the cruise lines are even more paranoid than the passengers are about two things

1) someone getting on with the disease and turning the ship into the next Diamond Princess

2) stopping at a port which later becomes proscribed causing the ship not to be able to dock anywhere for weeks and probably having to refund the passengers. 

Given 1) and 2) if Seabourn thinks there's any risk they are going to keep cancelling cruises. It's cheaper to have the ship sit idle than crew it, fill it full of people and then have it turn into a plague ship or a floating pariah. However they aren't going to make that decision until pretty last minute based on the recent spread or not of the disease. This may mean the best choice people with upcoming cruises have is to wait until close to sailing to make a choice. If I had one booked right now, and I don't, I'd be waiting to see (possibly hopefully) if it got cancelled and if it didn't assume the paranoid cruise line is very confident about sailing it. 

 

 

[PZetz]

1 hour ago, ael123 said:

 

     We are on Sojourn Singapore (3/22)  to Sydney (4/29). We have been worrying about the same thing as many other guests. What if someone gets the Corona Virus while in Singapore or along the way? Does that mean we will all be quarantined? We received notification that there will be an itinerary change but have not been told what the change will be. I am hoping they will avoid Asia altogether but I guess that is doubtful. We were offered at our option to cancel and rebook another cruise with the stipulation that the new cruise is 100% nonrefundable and must have the same base rate. I called Seabourn to see what options that would afford me because I have no way of knowing the "base rate" and they referred us to ICON which is the company through which we booked the cruise originally. I sent an email to ICON and hope to have a response within a few days.  I would like to know what the new itinerary will be before making a decision as to whether to cancel and rebook. Also I need to determine whether my return airfare from Sydney which is non-refundable could still be used with the new itinerary. This has been an extremely difficult situation for all the passengers not knowing what will happen next. I appreciate that Seabourn is willing to do a cancel and rebook. At this point I only wish I had the information needed to decide if this option will work for us.  If anyone hears what itinerary changes there will be for Sojourn please let us know. I am aware the ship will not stop in Hong Kong however, Singapore has as many if not more cases than Hong Kong. Other countries such as Thailand have cases as well. AT present these are all stops for Sojourn. 

Just noticed these revised itinerary maps for Sojourn on the Seabourn website...the detailed written itinerary has not been updated, however. Interesting.....

[Astride]

On ‎2‎/‎15‎/‎2020 at 8:42 AM, SLSD said:

I've been following a couple who are quarantined on the Princess Diamond on Facebook.  Their names are David Abel and Sally Abel.  David is doing several videos a day.  They have now been tested for the virus and are awaiting results.  It is a very tense situation for them and for all the others on the ship---especially the crew who have kept working and have been more exposed than the passengers to the virus.  I think this is the sort of situation the other cruise lines are trying to prevent.  There is talk now that even when these unfortunate people are allowed off the ship, there were will further quarantines.  They reported that planes are being sent for the Americans which will take them back to the United States.  Nothing of this sort has been done for those from the UK---and some are unhappy about that.  

 

[westmount]

We are on the Sojourn currently, and I guess those making plans have a different view from those in the middle of it all. It’s been a week since we left Capetown, and so far, the only inspection was in Richards Bay on the way out of the country, where health inspectors came on board to review the passengers. 
  Up to now, the biggest problem that has faced us was a 24 hour internet outage, which caused everything g to go on the fritz, and the cancelation of Mombasa for safety issues. Doesn’t seem too many people got upset about an extra day in Zanzibar, the Seychelles and Male in its place. 
  While everyone is concerned about Singapore, it’s only because many are departing from there and if any changes are needed, lead time would be a nice thing. 
 Other than that, lessons from Japan and Holland America should be helpful in decision making, and hopefully the virus, or any virus stays away from any and all other ships. Passengers are being extra careful washing hands etc, but I’m still surprised that self service buffets are continuing, as life as normal is maybe reassuring, but maybe time for a change for the better.

regards from the Sojourn