Diamond Princess passenger "tested positive for Wuhan coronavirus"

[Pushka]

Australia is still developing their evac policy. I suspect the hang up is what they will do with the passengers when they arrive. Christmas Island for the Aussies from Hubei are being released today. I’m thinking they might thoroughly disinfect and isolate them there. There has been no talk that they will be isolated again but I think it should be done. 

[AlyssaJames]

 

[Paulchili]

48 minutes ago, AlyssaJames said:

 

It will be a very long flight but at least they are finally heading "home"

I wonder if the food will be an upgrade or downgrade from what they were getting on Diamond the last 2 weeks? Also, I am sure they don't have to worry about luggage fees and overweight charges  😊

All is well that ends well.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Paulchili

[OzKiwiJJ]

The potential for the virus spreading on those planes must be huge. It looks like they will be packed in like sardines, even worse than a commercial plane. Just as well they are going into further quarantine.

[Psoque]

10 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The potential for the virus spreading on those planes must be huge. It looks like they will be packed in like sardines, even worse than a commercial plane. Just as well they are going into further quarantine.

That was probably one of the reasons a mass evacuation was not planned until the political pressure and hysteria forced the hands of CDC and US government to do this.  Even though it may look like a good thing, this whole operation is putting more people at a much higher risk of contracting the disease than before.

[snowblower]

2 hours ago, milolii said:

Thank you. Hoping local Bay Area news will offer updates about Travis arrival.  Best wishes for all onboard. 

Other countries evacuating their citizens as well. Best wishes for them. Those of you who get updates, please report on their progress.  
 

 

 

 

 

Just an update provided @ 6:20 PM PST. The Diamond Princess flight was delayed for 6 hours this morning in Tokyo. The new ETA at Travis AFB in Fairfield CA is now scheduled to arrive at 10:47 PM PST this evening.  Some of the flight trackers show different information but i believe this information is accurate because the telemetry that is shown on the tracking site appears to be accurate for their position. 

[snowblower]

3 hours ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

 

He is there and if you read his tweets, he wholeheartedly believes the quarantine worked to keep the passengers safe.  If I am interpreting his tweets correctly, he believes if there has been spread on the Diamond after quarantine it's because passengers have acted badly and have not faithfully followed health and safety protocols. 

 

It will be interesting to continue to follow his twitter feed because even when he gets off the Diamond and books a flight home doesn't mean the authorities are going to let him fly on a plane or allow him into U.S. if they know he was on the Diamond.  He might be enjoying it now but it could cost him a small fortune in $$$ and time to get home.  I would have got on the plane today.....

[Cruising Is Bliss]

23 hours ago, SumoCitrus said:

 

 

Where are you getting your information? These 747s pressurize just like any other. There is no such altitude restriction.

Article I read didn't comment on why a 747 under these circumstances would be limited to a 28,000 foot ceiling (operational ceiling is 43,000 feet normally) beyond a general comment about air circulation for passengers in the cargo area. My guess would be safety issue because this plane has no passenger oxygen masks.

Airtracker currently shows Kalitta Air #585 evacuation flight to TAFB is over the ocean cruising at 27,000 feet at the halfway point.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Cruising Is Bliss

[cruisequeen4ever]

27 minutes ago, Cruising Is Bliss said:

Article I read didn't comment on why a 747 under these circumstances would be limited to a 28,000 foot ceiling (operational ceiling is 43,000 feet normally) beyond a general comment about air circulation for passengers in the cargo area. My guess would be safety issue because this plane has no passenger oxygen masks.

Airtracker currently shows Kalitta Air #585 evacuation flight to TAFB is over the ocean cruising at 27,000 feet at the halfway point.

I’ve wondered about that, too. I noticed the evac flights from Wuhan flew at the same altitude. 

[rich_cathybrock]

1 hour ago, Paulchili said:

It will be a very long flight but at least they are finally heading "home"

I wonder if the food will be an upgrade or downgrade from what they were getting on Diamond the last 2 weeks? Also, I am sure they don't have to worry about luggage fees and overweight charges  😊

All is well that ends well.

Hmmm...potential for evac in Japan w/bento boxes 3 x daily and no idea when or how I am supposed to get home, or meals prepared on a military base AND I can probably get my prescriptions renewed locally, stream Netflix, and be back home before St. Patrick's Day.  For me, it would have been a no-brainer.  I am staggered that some American pax opted NOT to take this flight.  What the heck could they be thinking?

 

[Pushka]

21 minutes ago, rich_cathybrock said:

Hmmm...potential for evac in Japan w/bento boxes 3 x daily and no idea when or how I am supposed to get home, or meals prepared on a military base AND I can probably get my prescriptions renewed locally, stream Netflix, and be back home before St. Patrick's Day.  For me, it would have been a no-brainer.  I am staggered that some American pax opted NOT to take this flight.  What the heck could they be thinking?

 

They must be thinking that come the final day, the 19th, they will disembark down the gangplank then make their way back home to USA. Or spend a few days touring Japan. My thoughts - neither will happen but hope I’m wrong for their sake. 

[PescadoAmarillo]

11 hours ago, Coral said:

They are in a PR nightmare right now. I hope they do the right thing.

The thing with Princess is that they quite often do the right thing; they just take their time doing it and create a lot of unnecessary stress for their guests along the way. The other thing is that what they say they will reimburse and what actually gets reimbursed are sometimes worlds apart.
 

The Princess experience is first rate when things are going well; they falter considerably when they are thrown curveballs. Unfortunately, they operate in an environment with countless external risks, and they seem to do everything in their power to resist incurring any ill effects when something goes wrong, instead passing them on to guests.  I understand their allegiance is to their shareholders rather than their guests, and most here would say that’s where it must be, but I can only imagine the amount of angst it has caused thousands of people who were told for weeks that if they cancel, they would incur the standard cancellation charges. I’m glad Princess has finally changed their minds on this, but much of the damage has already been done. 

[PescadoAmarillo]

1 hour ago, Cruising Is Bliss said:

My guess would be safety issue because this plane has no passenger oxygen masks.

Can I ask how you know this?  I have traveled on several cargo planes and always had oxygen masks, sometimes from a seat compartment around the shoulder area but on one plane they would actually drop (a long long way) down from the ceiling of the cargo compartment. 

[JennAngel9]

I read back several pages but couldn't find the link to the feed of "Matt who opted to stay behind"-- would someone mind sharing it or his relevant social media handle? 

 

Wishing everyone on board the Diamond Princess right now a safe trip home, however long it takes. 

[cruiserchuck]

5 minutes ago, JennAngel9 said:

I read back several pages but couldn't find the link to the feed of "Matt who opted to stay behind"-- would someone mind sharing it or his relevant social media handle? 

 

Wishing everyone on board the Diamond Princess right now a safe trip home, however long it takes. 

 

@mjswhitebread

 

He is busy arguing with folks who think he should have evacuated with the other passengers.

[JennAngel9]

22 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

@mjswhitebread

 

 

Thank you very much.  It's hard to find good up-to-date information.  I tried to follow the Dave & Sally (?) but don't have time for the 1h+ livestreams.

 

Edit: Having read his tweets, he seems excessively confident that the qualified good news the Diamond Princess relayed to everybody (largely involuntarily remaining) on board is evidence that Japan is going to let them all disperse off the ship as they please.  This strikes me as ridiculously optimistic-- on the other hand, I think it's reasonable to say you don't want to be on a bus/plane with hundreds of other people who may be exposed.  A terrible situation with no good choices, only relatively more or less risky ones.

Edited February 17, 2020 by JennAngel9

[rich_cathybrock]

Wow!  The # of confirmed passengers / crew who are positive for CoVid-19 just jumped to 710 on the Johns Hopkins dashboard.  I am praying this is just because they are getting test results back, but we they are nearing the 30% mark. Not sure why 355 are showing, but "Others" is the DP.  Ugh... 

[npcl]

11 minutes ago, rich_cathybrock said:

Wow!  The # of confirmed passengers / crew who are positive for CoVid-19 just jumped to 710 on the Johns Hopkins dashboard.  I am praying this is just because they are getting test results back, but we they are nearing the 30% mark. Not sure why 355 are showing, but "Others" is the DP.  Ugh... 

Since it is exactly double I suspect a data glitch.

[DaveSJ711]

1 hour ago, rich_cathybrock said:

Hmmm...potential for evac in Japan w/bento boxes 3 x daily and no idea when or how I am supposed to get home, or meals prepared on a military base AND I can probably get my prescriptions renewed locally, stream Netflix, and be back home before St. Patrick's Day.  For me, it would have been a no-brainer.  I am staggered that some American pax opted NOT to take this flight.  What the heck could they be thinking?

 

 

What were they thinking?  Perhaps they were thinking in the stress of the moment, for their own good

reasons, as opposed to the stress of being an armchair quarterback on this thread.

Edited February 17, 2020 by DaveSJ711

[Pushka]

Australians to be evacuated on Wednesday and put into a 14 day quarantine period on arrival back. 

[Grburkart]

1 hour ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

The thing with Princess is that they quite often do the right thing; they just take their time doing it and create a lot of unnecessary stress for their guests along the way. The other thing is that what they say they will reimburse and what actually gets reimbursed are sometimes worlds apart.
 

The Princess experience is first rate when things are going well; they falter considerably when they are thrown curveballs. Unfortunately, they operate in an environment with countless external risks, and they seem to do everything in their power to resist incurring any ill effects when something goes wrong, instead passing them on to guests.  I understand their allegiance is to their shareholders rather than their guests, and most here would say that’s where it must be, but I can only imagine the amount of angst it has caused thousands of people who were told for weeks that if they cancel, they would incur the standard cancellation charges. I’m glad Princess has finally changed their minds on this, but much of the damage has already been done. 

I’m wondering where the sense of entitlement comes from when people expect to be treated like royalty in an emergency situation. It’s not fair to run down a company that is as much a victim as the passengers are. 
 

Glenn

[OzKiwiJJ]

9 minutes ago, Pushka said:

Australians to be evacuated on Wednesday and put into a 14 day quarantine period on arrival back. 

Kiwis are being evacuated with them and flown on to NZ from Darwin.

[kopelo]

6 hours ago, em-sk said:

 

Not clear what will happen to those staying.

 

There was recent video taken by one of the American couples leaving the ship shown on the  Canadian Global TV Network.....

 

 

 

The type of mask seen in this video - the ones with the outward valve - are useless b/c if you use one of these, every single time you breathe out or cough, the valve opens and thus everything comes out in to the air next to you...

[caribill]

1 hour ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Can I ask how you know this?  I have traveled on several cargo planes and always had oxygen masks, sometimes from a seat compartment around the shoulder area but on one plane they would actually drop (a long long way) down from the ceiling of the cargo compartment. 

 

I do not see any place where O2 masks would drop down.

 

5 hours ago, AlyssaJames said:

 

On the bus to the airport:

 

 

[Grburkart]

14 hours ago, Coral said:

They are in a PR nightmare right now. I hope they do the right thing.

PR nightmare? I hardly think so. This whole situation with only one ship of many in quarantine isn’t the fault of Princess. In this particular instance with the Diamond, it’s at the behest of the Japanese Government. 
In my opinion, the gurus at Princess should be proud of what they’re doing. Don’t forget, Princess is still fully operational around the world. 
 

Glenn