PRINCESS SHIPS & CORONA VIRUS

[VK3DQ]

18 minutes ago, matadams4u said:

 

 

The issue with the Westerdam is not only finding a port but finding a safe port that would allow for safe transport to home countries.  

 

Turn her round and take her into Sydney Australia, she should be well past the quarantine period on arrival

 

Regards

John 

[cruiserchuck]

1 minute ago, Aus Traveller said:

I found this report interesting. It indicates that the crew as well as the passengers have been asked to remain in their cabins. We don't know if the crew are preparing and delivering meals, or if staff have been brought on board to do this.

 

The latest situation report - https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200209-sitrep-20-ncov.pdf?sfvrsn=6f80d1b9_4

 

The report also states:

 

"Close contacts of the infected passengers are asked to remain in quarantine for 14 days from last contact with a confirmed case. Thus, the quarantine period will be extended beyond the 19 February as appropriate only for close contacts of newly confirmed cases."

 

This is good news for most passengers.  However, it looks like folks sharing cabins with those people who recently tested positive will have their quarantine extended.

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, cruiserchuck said:

The report also states:

 

"Close contacts of the infected passengers are asked to remain in quarantine for 14 days from last contact with a confirmed case. Thus, the quarantine period will be extended beyond the 19 February as appropriate only for close contacts of newly confirmed cases."

 

This is good news for most passengers.  However, it looks like folks sharing cabins with those people who recently tested positive will have their quarantine extended.

I agree with you that that sounds logical and safe - as for the newly married woman whose husband has been taken to hospital with the virus.

[VK3DQ]

1 minute ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

The report also states:

 

"Close contacts of the infected passengers are asked to remain in quarantine for 14 days from last contact with a confirmed case. Thus, the quarantine period will be extended beyond the 19 February as appropriate only for close contacts of newly confirmed cases."

 

This is good news for most passengers.  However, it looks like folks sharing cabins with those people who recently tested positive will have their quarantine extended.

 

 

I doubt  that Practique would be granted until the entire ship was clear .. so all on board will have to wait until the last case is clear

 

Regards

John

[SunNFunCruzer]

10 minutes ago, VK3DQ said:

 

Turn her round and take her into Sydney Australia, she should be well past the quarantine period on arrival

 

Regards

John 

 

How do you handle Visas?  Not every passenger can easily transport through every country.  Just a thought.

[brisalta]

1 hour ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

This suggest there has been some genome sequencing

Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding

 

Thank you for posting a link to a reliable scientific source as opposed to the usual poor quality news articles.

[bluesea321]

21 minutes ago, VK3DQ said:

Just a word on quarantine, it's not there to protect those on the ship , but to protect those on shore from getting what is on the ship.. be clear about this there is no way that they can totally stop spread of infection on the ship.

 

That is right on the money and well said...

I just posted the following on the Diamond thread which adds to your second sentence.

"An article on the Wall Street Journal mentioned that a passenger who was removed from the ship and taken to a hospital isolation ward went through a negative-pressure room—an isolation technique to prevent the escape of contaminated air...  Rooms on ships are kept at a positive pressure, not negative, primarily due to fire code restrictions. This implies that every time a pax opens the front door to get food, exchange linens, etc., a certain volume of room air flows into the hallway. There is little that Princess or anyone can do about that but it creates additional risks for those outside the cabins since they are exposed to room air. The cabins may be the only place to quarantine pax on the ship but they are far from ideal."

[VK3DQ]

11 minutes ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

How do you handle Visas?  Not every passenger can easily transport through every country.  Just a thought.

I think they could be fast tracked back to the port of embarkation  which I think was Singapore and that is not yet on a do not travel alert

 

Regards  John 

[SunNFunCruzer]

Just now, VK3DQ said:

I think they could be fast tracked back to the port of embarkation  which I think was Singapore and that is not yet on a do not travel alert

 

Regards  John 

 

Sure, but in addition to the Visa issue is the fact that the on-board medical facilities are not hospitals. Patients will have a much better chance of recovering if they can be put in a proper hospital upon diagnosis.  And since all cruiselines know this, once someone on board is confirmed diagnosed with Coronavirus, it is foreseeable. If they ignore that fact, and try to sail somehwere, and there is an outbreak, in my opinion, they could have some liability, while now it seems like an act of God.

 

I'd imagine that that is one of the reasons why the Caribbean Princess ship is returning to FLA.  There is so much exposure to risk if they make a bad decision during a crisis.  Better safe than sorry.

[OzKiwiJJ]

39 minutes ago, VK3DQ said:

 

 

This is of coarse  all good fun  I dont  expect Diamond Princess to go up in smoke but those on board her will have to wait until at least 15 days after the last case of infection , this could turn out to be a long wait.

 

 

Passengers who were cabin mates of those passenger that have been diagnosed with the virus will probably have their quarantine time extended but all other passengers who have shown no symptoms during the quarantine will be allowed to depart on the 19th. The actual wording from a WHO document dated 9th Feb is below:

 

"As of 8 February, 64 individuals were found to have been infected with 2019-nCoV among passengers and crew members. All individuals testing positive were disembarked and admitted for medical care in infectious disease hospitals in the Yokohama area. Close contacts of the infected passengers are asked to remain in quarantine for 14 days from last contact with a confirmed case. Thus, the quarantine period will be extended beyond the 19 February as appropriate only for close contacts of newly confirmed cases."

[cruiserchuck]

1 minute ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Passengers who were cabin mates of those passenger that have been diagnosed with the virus will probably have their quarantine time extended but all other passengers who have shown no symptoms during the quarantine will be allowed to depart on the 19th. The actual wording from a WHO document dated 9th Feb is below:

 

"As of 8 February, 64 individuals were found to have been infected with 2019-nCoV among passengers and crew members. All individuals testing positive were disembarked and admitted for medical care in infectious disease hospitals in the Yokohama area. Close contacts of the infected passengers are asked to remain in quarantine for 14 days from last contact with a confirmed case. Thus, the quarantine period will be extended beyond the 19 February as appropriate only for close contacts of newly confirmed cases."

 

I would not be surprised if folks flying back to the United States are quarantined like those being returned from China.  As others have pointed out, the quarantine onboard has its issues.  The US has been strickter with quarantines than the WHO recommended.

[VK3DQ]

Hi

Now that airborne droplet transmission has been proved it would not be safe to continue with that arrangement (My thoughts) .... but who can tell

 

Regards

John 

[VK3DQ]

Hi Folks

 

BTW  We were on board MAASDAM prior to Christmas when she was refused Practique in Fiji due to the outbreak of measles in the pacific ,, that was" great fun" when only Golden Oldies were allowed on shore

 

Regards

John  

[VK3DQ]

4 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

I would not be surprised if folks flying back to the United States are quarantined like those being returned from China.  As others have pointed out, the quarantine onboard has its issues.  The US has been strickter with quarantines than the WHO recommended.

 

I agree here I suspect other countries will do similar things without warning 

Regards

John

[bluesea321]

33 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I found this report interesting. It indicates that the crew as well as the passengers have been asked to remain in their cabins. We don't know if the crew are preparing and delivering meals, or if staff have been brought on board to do this.

 

The latest situation report - https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200209-sitrep-20-ncov.pdf?sfvrsn=6f80d1b9_4

 

Very interesting indeed. Your link states " Close contacts of the infected passengers are asked to remain in quarantine for 14 days from last contact with a confirmed case. Thus, the quarantine period will be extended beyond the 19 February as appropriate only for close contacts of newly confirmed cases" which begs the question, will all 2,700 passengers stay honest and self report once that info is known throughout the ship?

[ColoradoMom!!]

3 hours ago, KL Smith said:

Trying to think about this logically,  you're not on the Star right now, so the earliest you could have been on it would be about a month ago, and since there is no reports of sickness that I am aware of ...

Ummmm, no, Nbist and I disembarked less than 2 weeks ago, and we’re just trying to be helpful.

 

Reports of illness? Yes there’s illness on every cruise, colds and various other things, but not enough to warrant an official report unless a certain % of passengers are diagnosed- which up to the current Corona Virus    notwithstanding- is usually Noro.  

Anyway, I am again sorry, as I said earlier,  that you and so many others have to make difficult decisions regarding what should be a much needed break and vacation!

 

Hope you have a wonderful time 

 

 

[Aus Traveller]

5 minutes ago, bluesea321 said:

 

Very interesting indeed. Your link states " Close contacts of the infected passengers are asked to remain in quarantine for 14 days from last contact with a confirmed case. Thus, the quarantine period will be extended beyond the 19 February as appropriate only for close contacts of newly confirmed cases" which begs the question, will all 2,700 passengers stay honest and self report once that info is known throughout the ship?

'Close contact' means if their cabin mate has been diagnosed with the virus, not that they chatted for a couple of minutes on the deck with another passenger.

[matadams4u]

39 minutes ago, VK3DQ said:

I think they could be fast tracked back to the port of embarkation  which I think was Singapore and that is not yet on a do not travel alert

 

Regards  John 

I hope I am wrong but things are not going well in Singapore with new cases.  I don’t know what the threshold is but the next few days will be something to watch to see if the new cases have been contained.  Companies are now restricting employee travel to Singapore and that is not a good sign.

[bluesea321]

Just now, Aus Traveller said:

'Close contact' means if their cabin mate has been diagnosed with the virus, not that they chatted for a couple of minutes on the deck with another passenger.

I agree but who said anything about chatting for a couple of minutes on the deck. That was not my point.

[barbaraanne]

47 minutes ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

Sure, but in addition to the Visa issue is the fact that the on-board medical facilities are not hospitals. Patients will have a much better chance of recovering if they can be put in a proper hospital upon diagnosis.  And since all cruiselines know this, once someone on board is confirmed diagnosed with Coronavirus, it is foreseeable. If they ignore that fact, and try to sail somehwere, and there is an outbreak, in my opinion, they could have some liability, while now it seems like an act of God.

 

I'd imagine that that is one of the reasons why the Caribbean Princess ship is returning to FLA.  There is so much exposure to risk if they make a bad decision during a crisis.  Better safe than sorry.

Where did you hear that the Caribbean Princess ship is returning to FL?  From where?  When?  We have decided to go ahead with our Sky Princess cruise to Eastern Caribbean Feb 22, but worry about ships returning to FL from Asia.  Will those people be quarantined?

[barbaraanne]

As far as which animal the virus originated from, I think the entire world would be safer if they banned those “wet markets” in China that sell live wild animals, or living ones of any kind that have been in close contact with other animal species and humans.  Where humans and animals have close contact is where these viruses make the species jump. Why does China put up with these animals like the pangolin to being captured and sold anyway?  

[SunNFunCruzer]

 

3 minutes ago, barbaraanne said:

Where did you hear that the Caribbean Princess ship is returning to FL?  From where?  When?  We have decided to go ahead with our Sky Princess cruise to Eastern Caribbean Feb 22, but worry about ships returning to FL from Asia.  Will those people be quarantined?

 

I posted a link above. It was to be a 14 day Caribbean cruise, but people have a stomach bug and it's been reported 2 ports (St. Kitts and Barbados) turned the ship away and Princess decided to bring the ship home early.  Ship should be back in FLA around 2/11 as opposed to 2/16.

 

Why are you worried about ships returning to FL from Asia?  Because you may have to share a hotel, taxi, airplane, or cruise terminal with them?

[zzzz8888]

60 additional coronavirus infections on board Diamond Princess, bringing the total to 130 now:

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-09/china-to-spend-10-billion-who-sends-team-to-asia-virus-update?srnd=premium

[barbaraanne]

7 minutes ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

 

I posted a link above. It was to be a 14 day Caribbean cruise, but people have a stomach bug and it's been reported 2 ports (St. Kitts and Barbados) turned the ship away and Princess decided to bring the ship home early.  Ship should be back in FLA around 2/11 as opposed to 2/16.

 

Why are you worried about ships returning to FL from Asia?  Because you may have to share a hotel, taxi, airplane, or cruise terminal with them?

I’m not particularly worried for myself, but I am just wondering what protocols will be in place for people returning by cruise ship from affected ports/countries, now that it is spreading outside of China?  Will people who have visited areas where there have been cases be allowed to disembark in the regular manner?  What if there are positive cases of Coronavirus on board?  How do we keep it from spreading?  

[Aus Traveller]

39 minutes ago, matadams4u said:

I hope I am wrong but things are not going well in Singapore with new cases.  I don’t know what the threshold is but the next few days will be something to watch to see if the new cases have been contained.  Companies are now restricting employee travel to Singapore and that is not a good sign.

I agree with what you say. Very soon Singapore could be considered to be as 'risky' as Hong Kong. In that case, would it be wise for the Westerdam to disembark passengers into Singapore.