Coronavirus on Costa Smeralda in Civitavecchia?

[cruisequeen4ever]

4 hours ago, kathy49 said:

Hey it is 53F right now and I would take that rather than sit inside with a bunch of people......on flights etc.I have noted that covering your mouth when coughing etc. is a dying art!!

Me too; it’s SO inconsiderate! 

[dethman]

Looks like it was just the flu.  Passengers disembarking. 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/01/30/coronavirus-costa-cruise-ship-passengers-held-onboard-amid-tests/4618718002/

[GeezerCouple]

This just in from NYTimes:

BREAKING NEWS

The U.S. issued a "do not travel" to China advisory, its strongest warning reserved for the most dangerous situations, over the coronavirus outbreak.

[G.M.T.]

Costa Smeralda was due to be in La Spezia today, this port of call has been cancelled, Smeralda will stay in Civitavecchia today until 18:00 then proceed overnight to Savona.

 

Guests who were to embark / disembark in La Spezia will be transport by bus from / to Civitavecchia.

[Vald78]

Based on the press release, it seems Smeralda is departing from Civitavecchia today, one day late (still docked). I assume they will skip La Spezia in order to reach Savona in time (today morning)?

Edited January 31, 2020 by Vald78
Please ignore, missed the post above!

[MK_Cruiser1955]

It's a shame La Spezia is being missed out - easily the best stop on the entire cruise - although understandable as Savona is the official start / end of the cruise despite it operating as a bus stop service.

[Wiggster]

Well, I am due to embark on the Smeralda on Monday (3rd Feb), it is so nice of Costa to send an email advising everything is okay and to proceed as normal, I'm actually being heavily sarcastic not heard anything nor is there any news on their website.

 

Has anyone boarding tomorrow in Savona received any emails about what you can expect?

 

Where is my face mask, oh I don't have one 😲

 

 

[Bertie Doe]

3 hours ago, MK_Cruiser1955 said:

It's a shame La Spezia is being missed out - easily the best stop on the entire cruise -

 

My fave stop would be Civitavecchia for Rome. We were on Fortuna in Dec  2015 from Savona to Dubai. Savona was supposed to be the first stop but we skipped and flew straight to Rome. Spent the night in a B & B and spent all day Saturday sight-seeing.

We wanted to see the museum and Sistine chapel etc,. Problem is, when Fortuna arrived on the Sunday, all these places were shut. The Trivvi Fountain was under restoration but still drew the crowds.

[maryann2]

41 minutes ago, Wiggster said:

Well, I am due to embark on the Smeralda on Monday (3rd Feb), it is so nice of Costa to send an email advising everything is okay and to proceed as normal, I'm actually being heavily sarcastic not heard anything nor is there any news on their website.

 

Has anyone boarding tomorrow in Savona received any emails about what you can expect?

 

Where is my face mask, oh I don't have one 😲

 

 

Princess, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are denying boarding for guests who have been to or transited through Mainland China or Hong Kong within the past 15 days.  Possibly all cruise lines are now doing this?

[maryann2]

January 30, 2020

Royal Caribbean International has added further screening measures due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"After consultation with medical experts and public health authorities, we’ve decided that regardless of nationality, any guest or crewmember traveling from, to, or through mainland China or Hong Kong less than 15 days prior to their sailing will be unable to board any of our ships," the company said, in a letter sent to booked guests. 

"We regret to have to do this, but due to the recent increase of coronavirus cases around the world, this precaution will help avoid the spread of this virus. We take this very seriously and have a responsibility to maintain a safe and healthy environment onboard our ships, as well as in the ports we visit."

The company also said it tightened its secondary health screening requirements and the following guests will need to undergo extra screenings to ensure safety at the cruise terminal; guests or crewmembers that have been in contact with individuals that have traveled from, to, or through mainland China or Hong Kong in the last 15 days; Anyone that holds a Chinese or Hong Kong passport – regardless of when they were there last. Anyone that feels unwell or demonstrates flu-like symptom.

"While these measures are conservative, our responsibility is to reduce the spread of coronavirus, in an effort to keep our ships safe and to ensure you are able to enjoy your time with us," the company said.

 

[maryann2]

From Princess.

 

• We are due to board tomorrow and just received an email from Princess as follows - at last
• We feel happier now there should be no pax on board from mainland China. It helps considerably.

CORONAVIRUS TRAVEL ADVISORY

We are closely monitoring the Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) situation and wish to reassure you that the risk to our guests and crew is low and our medical experts are coordinating closely with global health authorities.

As a precautionary measure, any guest who has traveled from or through mainland China within 14 days of the beginning of this cruise will be denied boarding. This does not apply to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. If this applies to you or your client, please contact us at 1-800-774-6237 (North America) or your country s office to provide proof of such travel and we will process a full refund of all amounts paid to Princess Cruises for this voyage.

In addition, all guests will be subject to pre-boarding health reporting and screening at cruise check-in, in addition to other precautions being taken. The above is subject to change based on the interests of health and safety of our guests and crew and any other requirements imposed by local authorities.

[alicat58]

THIS was on FB -from the MSC boards

 

𝗠𝗦𝗖 𝗖𝗥𝗨𝗜𝗦𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗗𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗖 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗧𝗛 𝗠𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣𝗦 𝗚𝗟𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬

In light of the coronavirus outbreak in China, #MSCCruises is immediately taking further precautionary measures for the health and well-being of its guests and crew on all of its global fleet.

MSC Cruises has undertaken a series of actions since 24 January, and due to the latest coronavirus developments, today implemented additional public health measures across its fleet. While there are no cases of coronavirus on board any of MSC Cruises’ ships these measures are additional steps to secure the health and well-being of all guests and crew.

- Guests from all nationalities are required to fill out a pre-embarkation questionnaire to ensure no-one boards their ship who has travelled from mainland China or visited mainland China in the past 30 days. Anyone who has travelled from mainland China or visited mainland China in the past 30 days will be denied access to the ship;

- Mandatory non-touch thermal scans conducted for all guests and crew prior to embarkation for every cruise operated by the company anywhere in the world, and persons with signs or symptoms of illness such as fever (≥38 C°/100.4 F°) or feverishness, chills, cough or difficulty breathing will be denied embarkation;

- Elevated deep-sanitation on every ship in the line’s entire fleet;

- Guests who may have fever symptoms will be isolated in their cabin and the same measure applies for their close contacts, including guests staying in the same cabin and family members, as well as any crew member who may have served these guests.

These measures follow previous actions that were taken last week. Guests and crew who travelled last week from mainland China were already screened for symptoms upon embarkation, and were requested to report any symptoms of illness to the onboard medical centre.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus in China, MSC Cruises has been closely monitoring the public health and safety situation in each of the regions its ships sail. The company has been consulting with international and local health authorities to follow their advice and recommendations

[alicat58]

COSTA CRUISES FURTHER STRENGTHENS PRECAUTIONS ON BOARD ITS SHIPS Genoa, January 31, 2020 - Following the global alert level declared by the World Health Organization, Costa Cruises has decided to further strengthen the precautionary measures on its fleet in order to guarantee maximum safety for guests and crew. As of today, no guests, visitors or crew members of any nationality who have travelled from, to or through mainland China in the last 14 days will be allowed to board Costa ships. "Costa Cruises maintains close contact with international and local health authorities to ensure constant health monitoring and protection" - said Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises - "Our onboard medical teams are also continuously updated by our central medical services department and guarantee that procedures and screenings for ordinary and extraordinary prevention are applied on board all the ships in our fleet, depending on any developing international scenarios.”. Measures that the company has already been adopting for the past few weeks include the introduction of a medical form for embarking passengers and pre-boarding health screening, with temperature checks for persons whom, for any reason, appear or identify as symptomatic (respiratory or fever symptoms). Any reports or detection of symptoms of illness during pre-boarding screening can be managed by medical professionals to allow for informed decisions on a case-by-case basis whether a guest or crewmember will be unable to board. The safety and health of passengers is Costa Cruises' number one priority. On Costa Cruises' ships, precautionary measures are taken, such as the screening of guests and crew, if circumstances require it. In addition, all ships in the fleet are equipped with medical facilities with dedicated staff, available 24 hours a day, and can count on advice and support from professionals and external medical facilities. The cruise industry is one of the best equipped and experienced in the field of health protection. For further information: Costa Cruises Press Office Tel. +39 010 5483523 / 010 5483068 - costapressoffice@costa.it Gabriele Baroni – Communication Director – cell +39 349 7668013 - baroni@costa.it Davide Barbano – Media Relations Manager – cell +39 334 6525216 - barbano@costa.it Cristiano de Musso – Head of Communication – cell +39 334 6805095 demusso@costa.it w

 

Copied from Costa press centre on their website

[maryann2]

That's good news Riana. Thank you.

Strange that MSC says in the past 30 days and Costa and other lines say 15 days.

 

Also Royal is including Hong Kong.

[alicat58]

We are due on Smerelda on 29/2. I hope things have settled by then but this seems to be a more virulent pestilence than even SARS. It is quite scary. If we can't go then so be it we'll do something else in the week I have off. I have read some posts on other boards here on CC and I am amazed at the comments people make. It is actually both sad and sickening(pun not intended). Posting pictures of buckets full of Corona beer is certainly in my view in extremely bad taste (on X boards).

 

What will be will be.

 

Riana

[Wiggster]

Thanks @alicat58 for the reassuring Costa health guideline, to be fair after these last couple days on the Smeralda I think it would be fair to say it will be one of the cleanest ships at sea period...

 

The Smeralda cannot afford to have the bad publicity the bigger the ship the more it needs to be almost full to justify the heavy costs of running said ship.

 

I flew to Las Vegas a month after 9/11 the airport security was so tight it squeaked, 😀, I'm a diabetic and it was the first time I had to show my doctors letter when I travelled (for the injections, blood test equipment etc).

 

I was still going to go on Monday whatever happened but an email would be nice on this Sunday if there are any issues... 🤓

 

[greg2014]

Did all those passengers who planned to embark Costa Smeralda in Civitavecchia spend all the night in the port terminal ? As I remember it is not big and too primitive for spending there more than 2-3 hours waiting for embarkation.

Edited January 31, 2020 by greg2014

[Bertie Doe]

10 minutes ago, greg2014 said:

Did all those passengers who planned to embark Costa Smeralda in Civitavecchia spend all the night in the port terminal ?

My gut feeling is they didn't spend the night in the terminal, as I'm sure the media would have reported it. This article from 'Ship' gives some detail but no timeline. It mentions Costa Venezia being quarantined in Shenzhen Port and that 150 people had visited the Hubei Province. Let's hope for a happy ending there - https://www.ship-technology.com/news/costa-smeralda-passengers-deboard-coronavirus/ 

[Janet&Carl]

On 1/30/2020 at 9:49 PM, G.M.T. said:

The Costa Venezia which sailing Chinese cruises is be held in the Chinese port of Shenzhen with a suspected coronavirus case onboard, also 148 passengers from Wuahan (where the outbreak first occured) are being isolated for more medical checks.

 

Must be some cheap Chinese cruises going.☠️🙊⚕️

I have never been able to book one 😞 tried several times - from Australia the flights to China are plentiful and cheap 

[Bertie Doe]

Moderators could you please delete my above Trivvi Fountain post. The pic was a thumbnail before I clicked submit (LOL)  It's OT anyhoo. Regards Paul.

[alicat58]

@Wiggster I am wondering whether you will have an email from Costa unless you booked directly with them. If you booked through a TA I think Costa will let them know rather than you. Might be an idea to check. Problem trying to phone Costa UK is that they don't work weekends!

 

Looks as if it is all go at the moment so I hope you have a nice cruise.

 

Riana

[Vald78]

It would be nice to hear how the additional checks affect the embarkation in practice and whether there are any additional checks on board and for visiting passengers returning to the ship. In addition to restrictions related to travel to China, they have implemented health questionnaire and mandatory temperature scan, where 37.8 C is the upper limit for embarkation.

[dethman]

so who's on smeralda right now?  any port being cancelled yet?

[Plan B]

1 hour ago, dethman said:

so who's on smeralda right now?  any port being cancelled yet?

The ship or any of the passengers didn't have Coronavirus so I'm assuming that all is well and the schedule is being followed - no reason not to 

[dethman]

12 minutes ago, Plan B said:

The ship or any of the passengers didn't have Coronavirus so I'm assuming that all is well and the schedule is being followed - no reason not to 

Not from Costa, but was curious if any ports in Europe were prohibiting any cruise ships from entering like others in the Caribbean, South pacific, and Asia.