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CARNIVAL CORONA VIRUS THREAD


sapphire_407
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I'm leaving Sunday on a cruise out of Tampa and am not worried, however as time goes by and it gets worse I might get nervous.  Everyone cruising soon should expect this email.  

 

 

GUEST HEALTH ADVISORY - CORONAVIRUS

 
 

 

 


 

January 30, 2020

 

 

 

 

Dear Carnival Guest, 

Our highest responsibilities include the health and safety of our guests and crew. We are closely monitoring the spread of the Coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. Although the risks to our guests and crew are low, our medical experts are coordinating closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to implement any recommended screening, prevention and control measures for our ships.
 
In accordance with guidance received from Cruise Lines International Association, and with the health and safety of guests and crew in mind, cruise lines, including ours, will also be implementing travel restrictions. Accordingly, all guests who have traveled to China in the last 14 days prior to their embarkation day will not be allowed to sail.   
 
If you have been to China in the last 14 days prior to your embarkation day, please contact Guest Services at 1-800-CARNIVAL so we can discuss your situation and handle as appropriate.  If you are booked through a travel advisor, please have them contact us on your behalf as soon as possible.
 
We sincerely regret any disappointment this may cause and ask for your understanding.

Edited by Host Carolyn
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6 hours ago, sapphire_407 said:

 

 

 


If you have been to China in the last 14 days prior to your embarkation day,


How would Carnival even know this??  They don’t have access to APIS, or similar,  do they?

 

It seems they are relying on the honor system - like back when one had to fill out the hand written health form....even if you had the sniffles, you likely weren’t going to risk being denied boarding by checking “yes”.

 

This virus, like others is avoided by hand washing, not touching eyes/nose and avoiding contact with someone who is sick.

 

This is Carnival’s attempt to quell fear, based on the media blitz that is happening, but in reality, this virus is just as common/dangerous as the flu, noro, SARS, et al.

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38 minutes ago, emceejay said:


How would Carnival even know this??  They don’t have access to APIS, or similar,  do they?

 

It seems they are relying on the honor system - like back when one had to fill out the hand written health form....even if you had the sniffles, you likely weren’t going to risk being denied boarding by checking “yes”.

 

This virus, like others is avoided by hand washing, not touching eyes/nose and avoiding contact with someone who is sick.

 

This is Carnival’s attempt to quell fear, based on the media blitz that is happening, but in reality, this virus is just as common/dangerous as the flu, noro, SARS, et al.

If you have been to China then you used your passport. Homeland Security requires them to submit a final passenger manifest at least 60 minutes prior to departure.They will know if you have traveled there. 

 

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That's right - I forgot about the manifest submission.

 

 

However, I thought that was primarily used for terrorism suspects.  

 

CBP/Homeland Security is currently screening passengers at 5 airports in the US.

 

Has it been confirmed they are actively screening cruise ship manifests?

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That's right - I forgot about the manifest submission.

However, I thought that was primarily used for terrorism suspects. 

 

Not entirely the case!  Had a friend of a friend who was ready to embark with her husband, Homeland Security came and arrested him for outstanding warrants in Florida, he spent the cruise time in jail and she had to go ahead and go on the cruise!!! They wouldn't even let her get off the boat!

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3 hours ago, WashCoCruisers said:

That's right - I forgot about the manifest submission.

However, I thought that was primarily used for terrorism suspects. 

 

Not entirely the case!  Had a friend of a friend who was ready to embark with her husband, Homeland Security came and arrested him for outstanding warrants in Florida, he spent the cruise time in jail and she had to go ahead and go on the cruise!!! They wouldn't even let her get off the boat!

I don't know how they could justify detaining the wife ?

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11 hours ago, Bookbug53 said:

If you have been to China then you used your passport. Homeland Security requires them to submit a final passenger manifest at least 60 minutes prior to departure.They will know if you have traveled there. 

 

If you returned from China, there should be dated stamps on your passport.  Theoretically, Carnival's embarkation staff could examine your passport.  This is probably not practical though, since it would be time consuming and it is unlikely the Carnival staff has been trained to do this.  Also, not everyone uses a passport for boarding.

 

I would think that anyone who violates this would expose themselves to a large civil liability should someone on the ship contract the virus.

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43 minutes ago, TomCruise48 said:

If you returned from China, there should be dated stamps on your passport.  Theoretically, Carnival's embarkation staff could examine your passport.  This is probably not practical though, since it would be time consuming and it is unlikely the Carnival staff has been trained to do this.  Also, not everyone uses a passport for boarding.

 

I would think that anyone who violates this would expose themselves to a large civil liability should someone on the ship contract the virus.

I don’t think civil liability is an issue. It’s impossible to prove who you got the virus from.  With a couple thousand people on the ship, can you prove no one else was a carrier?

 

Best way to enforce it is a to have a CDC form people have to sign that has a penalty for making false statements on the form.

 

They can also have their own form, and have it as part of your cruise contract, and states that if they find out you lied on the form, they quarantine you and leave you behind at next port.

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13 hours ago, emceejay said:


How would Carnival even know this??  They don’t have access to APIS, or similar,  do they?

 

It seems they are relying on the honor system - like back when one had to fill out the hand written health form....even if you had the sniffles, you likely weren’t going to risk being denied boarding by checking “yes”.

 

This virus, like others is avoided by hand washing, not touching eyes/nose and avoiding contact with someone who is sick.

 

This is Carnival’s attempt to quell fear, based on the media blitz that is happening, but in reality, this virus is just as common/dangerous as the flu, noro, SARS, et al.

 

Its simple actually. If you've been to China you must have a PASSPORT. On that passport it'll show the dates that you were there. If you've been in China over the last 14 days they will see that. Short of demanding everyone produce a passport, it should take care of itself.

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26 minutes ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

They can also have their own form, and have it as part of your cruise contract, and states that if they find out you lied on the form, they quarantine you and leave you behind at next port.

Don't think that Carnival would want to expose themselves to the liability of forcing a possibly infected passenger to disembark at the next port mid cruise.  In 2014 during the height of the Ebola scare, a Dallas healthcare lab worker who had handled a blood sample from an infected patient voluntarily quarantined herself on the Carnival Magic.  Both Belize and Mexico refused to allow the ship to make scheduled calls at their ports.  The passenger ultimately tested negative.

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13 hours ago, emceejay said:


How would Carnival even know this??  They don’t have access to APIS, or similar,  do they?

 

It seems they are relying on the honor system - like back when one had to fill out the hand written health form....even if you had the sniffles, you likely weren’t going to risk being denied boarding by checking “yes”.

 

This virus, like others is avoided by hand washing, not touching eyes/nose and avoiding contact with someone who is sick.

 

This is Carnival’s attempt to quell fear, based on the media blitz that is happening, but in reality, this virus is just as common/dangerous as the flu, noro, SARS, et al.

Not nearly as bad as SARS but certainly worse than the cold and influenza.  This on a ship would spread like wildfire.  Good on Carnival being proactive 🙂

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5 minutes ago, glrounds said:

 

Its simple actually. If you've been to China you must have a PASSPORT. On that passport it'll show the dates that you were there. If you've been in China over the last 14 days they will see that. Short of demanding everyone produce a passport, it should take care of itself.

Theoretically possible, but not so practical.  I looked at one of my old passports to see how it was stamped.  The immigration officers don't pay a lot of attention to where they place the stamp.  Entry and exit stamps may not even be on the same page and the exit stamp may be on a page before the entry stamp.  Each country, and each airport within a country, seem to have their own style of stamp.  It would take a lot of training for someone to recognize all of the different stamps from China and then locate the stamp that shows re-entry to the US.  This would be very time consuming and greatly slow down embarkation.  They may be able to train a few individuals at each port and then do a random check on a small number of passengers.

 

People can also board most domestic cruises with a birth certificate,  passport card, or state enhanced driver's license that would not show travel to China.

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DH and I are going on a Holland America cruise on Feb. 5th and received this notification from HAL this morning. We are not worried since we've never been to China.

 

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION: 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 start of this cruise will not be permitted to board the ship. This does not apply to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. If this applies to you or your client, please contact us at 1-800-577-1729 (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 Holland America Line 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.

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12 hours ago, TomCruise48 said:

 

People can also board most domestic cruises with a birth certificate,  passport card, or state enhanced driver's license that would not show travel to China.

 

Carnival could easily require a passport to board all ships.  No passport, no cruise!

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13 hours ago, B and B Rookie Cannucks said:

Not nearly as bad as SARS but certainly worse than the cold and influenza.  This on a ship would spread like wildfire.  Good on Carnival being proactive 🙂

Worse than influenza - that's a bit of a stretch. While the Wuhan virus is just getting started, claimed deaths is just a little over 200 so we don't know truly how deadly it can be. The U.S. Center for Disease Control estimates 61,000 deaths from the flu (in the U.S.) in the 2017-18 season, 34,000 in the 2018-2019 season and currently projects 10,000-25,000 for the 2019-2020 season.

 

Canada averages about 3,500 deaths per year from the flu.

 

Get your flu shots folks. I've been getting mine every year since 1973 (age 17) and have never had the flu (that I know of). I'm still kicking on all 8 cylinders (at age 64) and no strange appendages growing from my body.

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There is a lot of misinformation circulating about this virus, including attempts to minimize its danger. I am not sure that excluding persons travelling in mainland China is totally effective in preventing the spread of the virus. It is already been reported in North America and many countries in Europe. Hopefully a vaccine will be manufactured soon to lessen the effect on all people. In the mean time I suggest a World Health Organization website for the latest information:

 

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 

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20 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

 

Carnival could easily require a passport to board all ships.  No passport, no cruise!


no. They really couldn’t. Passport return times are 6-8 weeks. Carnival sails roughly 12 million people a year. So that would be about 2 million people that they sold cruises to under the information that a passport wasn’t required (for us passengers on caribbean cruises) that could not get one in time to sail. That’s a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. They can certainly change it for the future but not in time to be useful here.

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3 hours ago, sanger727 said:


no. They really couldn’t. Passport return times are 6-8 weeks. Carnival sails roughly 12 million people a year. So that would be about 2 million people that they sold cruises to under the information that a passport wasn’t required (for us passengers on caribbean cruises) that could not get one in time to sail. That’s a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. They can certainly change it for the future but not in time to be useful here.

It is another good reason to make that change to require them for cruises.....easy everybody, just a thought 

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5 hours ago, Moviela said:

There is a lot of misinformation circulating about this virus, including attempts to minimize its danger. I am not sure that excluding persons travelling in mainland China is totally effective in preventing the spread of the virus. It is already been reported in North America and many countries in Europe. Hopefully a vaccine will be manufactured soon to lessen the effect on all people. In the mean time I suggest a World Health Organization website for the latest information:

 

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 

Vaccines take years, only in the movies do they come out overnight.  Saw in the network news another confirmed case in Boston (read this one), in typical over the top network fashion, they ended with a mention 4 army bases in middle America could be used to quarantine people, true folly.  

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33 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Vaccines take years, only in the movies do they come out overnight.  Saw in the network news another confirmed case in Boston (read this one), in typical over the top network fashion, they ended with a mention 4 army bases in middle America could be used to quarantine people, true folly.  

I saw that there was a new case in Boston on the news. It was a person who had returned from China.

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