Coronavirus

[2wheelin]

3 hours ago, KnowTheScore said:

 

 

This statement is completely incorrect.   The area has absolutely nothing to do with the likelihood of many ports being missed off the itinerary.  To suggest this means you believe that certain areas of the world are free from Influenza, or ordinary cold or all the other ILI's (Influenza like illnesses).

 

That is patently not the case.   Colds and Influenza and ILIs are all over the globe and kill people in significant numbers everywhere.

 

The protocols being implemented by numerous ports simply seek to determine if anyone on the ship has ordinary cold/flu symptoms and if they do the port will refuse permission for people to disembark UNTIL the affected people can be cleared of having Coronavirus.

 

The area has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this likely adverse impact to a cruise.    Cold/Flu symptoms are everywhere, on every cruise ship around the globe.

OK. I shouldn’t have said “in this area”. I should have said anywhere other than SE Asia. “Completely incorrect”—-meaning the exact opposite is true as you predict and ports will be closed to every cruise ship around the globe. Read the rest of my original post.

Did your sick email friend get tested for coronavirus? Was he positive?

[KnowTheScore]

15 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

 

You said "The likelihood of missing all your ports is slim in that area."

 

I simply make the point that the likelihood of missing lots of ports is exactly the same all across the globe because ports will be missed if anyone gets ordinary cold/flu symptoms and that will happen anywhere in the world.

 

 You also said:

"Ships may turn away individuals but ports will do everything they can to get ships docked if safe for their inhabitants. It is a huge financial loss to turn a ship away."

 

It would be a catastrophic mistake to let infected people ashore and start an outbreak in that town/city.  Any port authority that did this would come under massive criticism, possibly be sued and lots of people lose their jobs.   An outbreak would also probably shut a town/city down as it has done in Wuhan.   So no I don't think financial profits are a consideration here.  Ports understand the deadly nature of what they are dealing with and that's precisely why they have implemented special protocols to refuse ships entry if there are any people with cold/flu symptoms.

 

 

Quote

 

Did your sick email friend get tested for coronavirus? Was he positive?

 

No he's not getting tested.  He's not on a cruise, just at home and was off work last week with his condition.  This is how the vast majority of ordinary people will act.  They won't go running off to their GPs to declare they have a cold or flu, they will just stay home as usual and be ill and work through it.  Hence nobody has the foggiest idea in truth how many actual cases of Coronavirus there are across the world.  On a cruise ship it's different.  On a cruise ship if you have cold/flu symptoms in the current environment, you're going to get isolated and tested and whilst that happens ports will be missed simple as.

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by KnowTheScore

[Aplmac]

GASTRO, was the reason this time --

Barbados denies entry to Caribbean Princess

 

https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/02/08/barbados-denies-entry-to-mv-caribbean-princess-cruise-ship/?fbclid=IwAR0SkArQyrB1NgexiD3sPdoAlYHbHiS7i1tUXsxbzUWaQjOkVDd9K7T7Ljs

 

[2wheelin]

1 hour ago, KnowTheScore said:

 

"Ships may turn away individuals but ports will do everything they can to get ships docked if safe for their inhabitants. It is a huge financial loss to turn aship away."

 

It would be a catastrophic mistake to let infected people ashore and start anoutbreak in that town/city.  Any port authority that did this would come under massive criticism, possibly be sued and lots of people lose their jobs.   An outbreak would also probably shut a town/city down as it has done in Wuhan.   So no I don't think financial profits are a consideration here.  Portsunderstand the deadly nature of what they are dealing with and that's precisely why they have implemented special protocols to refuse ships entry if there are any people with cold/flu symptoms.

 

Did you see where I said “if safe for their inhabitants”? I never implied they would knowingly let coronavirus infected people ashore. 

Believe it or not, finances are always a consideration. They may not win out but are a consideration. 

1 hour ago, KnowTheScore said:

No he's not getting tested.  He's not on a cruise, just at home and was off work last week with his condition.  This is how the vast majority of ordinary people will act.  They won't go running off to their GPs to declare they have a cold or flu, they will just stay home as usual and be ill and work through it.  Hence nobody has the foggiest idea in truth how many actual cases of Coronavirus there are across the world.  On a cruise ship it's different.  On a cruise ship if you have cold/flu symptoms in the current environment, you're going to get isolated and tested and whilst that happens ports will be missed simple as.

Following your logic, all cruise ships have many people with symptoms—if people have symptoms, ports will be closed—thus all ports will be closed to all ships, leaving them all floating around in the ocean?

 

[ilikeanswers]

9 hours ago, Christine13020 said:

already got surgical masks to take with me

 

If you going to mask it you really should get an N95 mask. Surgical masks provide limited protection and you have to change them every two hours to be effective against viruses.

Edited February 9, 2020 by ilikeanswers

[KnowTheScore]

11 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

 

Following your logic, all cruise ships have many people with symptoms—if people have symptoms, ports will be closed—thus all ports will be closed to all ships, leaving them all floating around in the ocean?

 

 

 

In essence yes but the cruise industry will be hugely keen for that not to happen because they will lose $millions.

 

The port authorities like Gibraltar for example have issued new protocols requiring that captains declare whether anyone on board has cold/flu symptoms.  So it comes down to whether the captain's truthfully answer that question.  If the answer is Yes, Gibraltar refuse permission to disembark according to their protocol.

 

In the statement I received via email from a cruise line it states that they will isolate people with cold/flu symptoms IF they report to the medical centre.   Therein lies the subtle difference.   What do you read in-between those lines?

 

Does it mean that if people are coughing and spluttering around the ship but don't choose to report to the medical centre, that they are going to ignore those people and NOT report them to the port authorities on the basis that "well, we didn't know because they didn't report to the medical centre"?

 

Doesn't take much nouse to see where that is going imho.

 

As you say there will be people on every cruise with cold/flu symptoms.  Unquestionably.   So yes, IF captains dutifully inform the ports of that situation then yes ports will be missed in significant numbers.   If they don't then potential Coronavirus victims will both roam the ship freely and go ashore and infect people there.

 

[Aplmac]

3,600 passengers are finally free to disembark

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51433079

[KnowTheScore]

Good news for  those passengers.

 

This part of the article is slightly worrying:

 

"Meanwhile, concerns were growing about the whereabouts of Chinese lawyer and blogger Chen Qiushi, who had posted online videos including of conditions inside hospitals and people queuing up for masks in Wuhan, in Hubei province. Mr Chen, whose content was being widely shared, has been missing since Thursday.

There are unconfirmed reports that he may have been forced into quarantine. In an interview with the BBC last week, he said he was not sure how long he would be allowed to continue to report on the outbreak, saying: "The censorship is so strict, people's accounts are being closed down if they share my content"."

[Jacob Cavalier]

I have a forthcoming Caribbean cruise booked due to leave in a month. I have emailed the cruise line asking about missing ports if people have symptoms of a cold which is of course inevitable in a ship containing thousands of people. And the risk of this causing a whole ship quarantine or being stuck at sea. Wondering if they will reply...

I am quite concerned about this. I can’t see how a minor cold can be distinguished from Coronavirus without testing.

[Avelinnne]

On 1/30/2020 at 1:11 PM, Myskoogie said:

Is anyone here not going to cruise in the next few months or canceling their cruise?  My BF wants to cancel our Miami Eastern Caribbean cruise at the end of February because he is concerned about the coronavirus.  Any thoughts?

My husband does too but if we cancel we will lose our cruise fare since it is now less than 120 days to sailing🥺

Edited February 19, 2020 by Avelinnne
Missed a word

[KnowTheScore]

On ‎2‎/‎18‎/‎2020 at 11:23 PM, Jacob Cavalier said:

I have a forthcoming Caribbean cruise booked due to leave in a month. I have emailed the cruise line asking about missing ports if people have symptoms of a cold which is of course inevitable in a ship containing thousands of people. And the risk of this causing a whole ship quarantine or being stuck at sea. Wondering if they will reply...

.

 

I did the same and predictably got a non-committal response.

 

You will likely get the same.  Cruise lines will be reluctant to admit to passengers that their cruises may be impacted if people report with cold/flu symptoms.  It's a money loser for them.

 

You should also be sure to ask if they will compensate you for any ports missed due specifically to Coronavirus protocols.  Again I predict they will no compensate you.  

 

There's no getting away from the fact that the value proposition for cruising has currently dropped and at present it seems that the cruise lines are leaving all cost risk with the customer instead of sharing the pain.  i.e. You are still expected to fork out £000s for your ticket even though the cruise lines know that some ships have been turned away from ports just because people had cold/flu symptoms.    Consequently I' voting with my feet and cancelling cruises I have book this year and potentially next year too.

 

 

[royal girl]

The thought has, of course, crossed our minds too.  I called my TA and we could either move the cruise date or pay a 15% penalty if we cancel before May 1.   Our cruise to Bermuda is in August.    Over the last couple days, I think I changed my mind more that I still want to go.  We'll be monitoring the situation and I'm sure RCI will make changes if they think it's necessary.  But as of right now, we're going and that excitement has started to come back! 

 

PS:  a co-worker has a RCI cruise planned for July and she has not even thought about cancelling.

[Jacob Cavalier]

Well I got a standard response repeating the information I had already been given and no answer to the very specific questions I asked which were ignored. They made a statement about being overwhelmed with queries and not having time to reply. I have emailed back to say they have not answered my queries and I am still awaiting a response