Corona virus RCI policy

[Chiliburn]

Just got this

[bearette]

Not surpised, MSC and NCL have already instituted similiar policies.

[gilboman]

19 minutes ago, bearette said:

You barely squeezed in, Australia just banned all flights from China (and Hong Kong) and anyone from entering the country.  I hope they give a refund, but in the meantime I would look into what you want to do in Australia and get your flight home sorted.

They most certainly didn't include hong kong ? You do know hong kong is not considered mainland china right?

 

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/health-safety/queenslands-premier-demands-government-ban-china-flights-after-tenth-australian-case-confirmed/news-story/6006599d9ddfef68bcc01890a2f0156a

 

"Travellers from Hong Kong, which has a border with mainland China, are not included in the ban. Australians can still travel to Hong Kong but they should exercise a “high degree of caution,” the Smart Traveller website advised"

 

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by gilboman

[The Grumpus]

3 hours ago, RJHNorthyorks said:

RCI do not appear to have informed TAs or passengers. We are feeling very disappointed and are now left with finding alternative accommodation for 2 weeks in Sydney. We do not know how or when compensation will be paid.

RCI issued a press release on Jan 31 which was picked up by most news agencies and cruise blogs.  Lately, that seems to be their method of getting the information out, and at least the popular way they expect affected customers to find out about changes.

 

You should get a full refund though, according to the release.  The times I received a refund from RCI, it's taken anywhere from 3 days or so to 3 weeks. 

[ARandomTraveler]

They’ve sent emails to passengers on Asian cruises to warn them that they’ll be denied boarding if they visit or fly through mainland China or Hong Kong. Your travel agent may have gotten a message and not passed it on to you??

[bearette]

3 minutes ago, gilboman said:

They most certainly didn't include hong kong ? You do know hong kong is not considered mainland china right?

 

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/health-safety/queenslands-premier-demands-government-ban-china-flights-after-tenth-australian-case-confirmed/news-story/6006599d9ddfef68bcc01890a2f0156a

 

"Travellers from Hong Kong, which has a border with mainland China, are not included in the ban. Australians can still travel to Hong Kong but they should exercise a “high degree of caution,” the Smart Traveller website advised"

 

 

Don't be rude- you are not helping the original poster. My mom taught me if I can't say anything nice...

 

To the original poster, sorry you got caught in the middle and I hope you get everything sorted in a way that allows you to salvage your holiday.

[Chiliburn]

8 minutes ago, gilboman said:

They most certainly didn't include hong kong ? You do know hong kong is not considered mainland china right?

 

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/health-safety/queenslands-premier-demands-government-ban-china-flights-after-tenth-australian-case-confirmed/news-story/6006599d9ddfef68bcc01890a2f0156a

 

"Travellers from Hong Kong, which has a border with mainland China, are not included in the ban. Australians can still travel to Hong Kong but they should exercise a “high degree of caution,” the Smart Traveller website advised"

 

 

The email I got included Hong Kong 

[RJHNorthyorks]

27 minutes ago, bearette said:

You barely squeezed in, Australia just banned all flights from China (and Hong Kong) and anyone from entering the country.  I hope they give a refund, but in the meantime I would look into what you want to do in Australia and get your flight home sorted.

Australia hasn’t banned flights from Hong Kong only Chinese citizens or people who have been in China. We were on a flight last night from HK where 50 people were disembarked. It took 2 hours to find and take their luggage off..

 

coming into Australia a couple of hours ago we had no visible checks re our coming from HK. 

[gilboman]

8 minutes ago, bearette said:

Don't be rude- you are not helping the original poster. My mom taught me if I can't say anything nice...

 

To the original poster, sorry you got caught in the middle and I hope you get everything sorted in a way that allows you to salvage your holiday.

umm how was i rude? 

or do you consider correcting someone when they're wrong and then providing the correct response is rude? 

 

or did you misread something?  or you thought the quote from article was worded poorly?

Edited February 2, 2020 by gilboman

[RJHNorthyorks]

10 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

They’ve sent emails to passengers on Asian cruises to warn them that they’ll be denied boarding if they visit or fly through mainland China or Hong Kong. Your travel agent may have gotten a message and not passed it on to you??

We have literally received an email about 1 hour 15 minutes ago. Our travel agent ( American ) says she and other TAs were not informed and there is no reason to doubt this. She is generally highly efficient.
I am also in communication with a nice bloke called Jason who is dealing with their Twitter feed today. He had no idea this was happening and just asked me to forward the RCI email to him.

which ever way you look at this the communication is dire.

 

 

 

 

[ARandomTraveler]

25 minutes ago, RJHNorthyorks said:

We have literally received an email about 1 hour 15 minutes ago. Our travel agent ( American ) says she and other TAs were not informed and there is no reason to doubt this. She is generally highly efficient.
I am also in communication with a nice bloke called Jason who is dealing with their Twitter feed today. He had no idea this was happening and just asked me to forward the RCI email to him.

which ever way you look at this the communication is dire.

 

 

 

 

Sounds like Royal Caribbean has a disjointed communications policy. They should have let Australian cruisers know when they let Asian cruisers know. There’s been talk on the Asian port board that they’ve been getting that email all week.

[ubarpants]

2 hours ago, M-H-B said:

I’m wondering also how they will know how you got to Sydney? Are they expecting people to self report/be honest or in this sort of situation do they get some access to immigration info?

 

I'm curious about this too; they didn't even stamp our passports on our last Hong Kong layover (and we left the airport!) so it may not be easy for them to tell, and I'm not sure a cruise line would get ready access to a governmental system like immigration data.

[mochuck]

2 hours ago, M-H-B said:

I’m wondering also how they will know how you got to Sydney? Are they expecting people to self report/be honest or in this sort of situation do they get some access to immigration info?

Where you have travelled to and from is recorded on your passport.

[mochuck]

4 minutes ago, ubarpants said:

 

I'm curious about this too; they didn't even stamp our passports on our last Hong Kong layover (and we left the airport!) so it may not be easy for them to tell, and I'm not sure a cruise line would get ready access to a governmental system like immigration data.

Most passports these days have a chip in them that record your movements. 

[mochuck]

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

The email I got included Hong Kong 

Australia hasn't included Hong Kong but Royal Caribbean has.

[banzaii]

7 minutes ago, mochuck said:

Australia hasn't included Hong Kong but Royal Caribbean has.

I suspect this is down to the land border between HK and China.  Which people might use to circumvent the travel restrictions.

[mochuck]

2 minutes ago, banzaii said:

I suspect this is down to the land border between HK and China.  Which people might use to circumvent the travel restrictions.

But they can't circumvent them. All of their movements are recorded in their passports.

[Chiliburn]

12 minutes ago, mochuck said:

Australia hasn't included Hong Kong but Royal Caribbean has.

Correct.

some pacific islands have imposed a self quarantine 

[banzaii]

3 minutes ago, mochuck said:

But they can't circumvent them. All of their movements are recorded in their passports.

OK.  Why do you think HK has been included by RCCL?

Edited February 2, 2020 by banzaii

[mochuck]

3 minutes ago, banzaii said:

OK.  Why do you think HK has been included by RCCL?

I have no idea. It is certainly not in line with US's or Australia" policy.  I also think its very unfair to people who have transited through HK airport on their way to Australia.

[mochuck]

10 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Correct.

some pacific islands have imposed a self quarantine 

I can understand that after the horrific experience Samoa had with the measles outbreak recently. Some of these islands have very little in the way of infrastructure.

[banzaii]

1 minute ago, mochuck said:

I have no idea. It is certainly not in line with US's or Australia" policy.  I also think its very unfair to people who have transited through HK airport on their way to Australia.

Exactly, this appears to be totally inconsistent with current practice.

[Esilef]

To be honest I would turn up to the port on Wednesday and see what they have to say, if no one can get their communications right then it’s not your fault. Did you depart the airport in Hong Kong?  Have you been unwell ? Could you visit a doctor in Australia and mention that you have been via Hong Kong and get a clearance certificate?

 

As others have said Hong Kong has imposed very strict policies themselves.

 

 

[kernow]

RCL seemed to change their policy for Hong Kong late on Thursday after the WHO anouncment of a global emergency. We are due to go on Quantum 15/02 from Singapore, originally ending in Hong Kong. In the early hours of Friday morning we received an email from RCL saying the cruise had changed and we would now be returning to Singapore instead of Hong Kong. In the email it stated the new policy that anyone who had been to China or Hong Kong would be denied boarding. It also gave the option for anyone to cancel with 100% future cruise credit (many seem to have been able to get actual cash refunds).

 

I know this doesn't help OP but I think they are just trying to be as safe as possible. We are still going on the cruise (have changed our flights) and I feel better knowing they are being careful. It also included details of extra measures onboard such as extra sanitising and two daily announcements from the captain.

 

OP sorry that this has happened to you but if you began your journey before late on Thursday (UK time) no one could have told you. Failing all else will your insurance not cover you for any extra costs?

[mayleeman]

Even the cheapest mask can help remind people not to touch their faces and mouths. Try wearing one for a few hours and you become aware of how often you do it.