Anyone else considering not cruising/traveling for the time being? ?

[gwilli]

We are thinking we may cancel and take the loss on our May cruise from Venice. We don’t want to be quarantined either on the ship or when we come home. Even if they change the itinerary if they don’t have Corona under control. I think HAL will look out for all of us and theirselves. 

[iancal]

HAL’s performance on the Westerdam fiasco would certainly give me concern....from a decision making process through to the customer communications. 
 

Hopefully there will be an improvement in both.

[Oceansaway17]

On 3/3/2020 at 9:02 PM, TiogaCruiser said:

I’m on right before you, and I’m going.

Often I get an inside but this time I have an OV I’ve been wanting to try. 
 

Just in case I’ll pack a few DVDs and fill my iPad with extra books and videos. If we were to be isolated or quarantined I highly doubt they would be lending DVDs. 

you have the right idea

I am wondering how many folks now feel at least having a balcony means that it won't feel like a cave.  

and I have always felt that books and puzzles can be like having a friend with you.  

 

time will tell when all of this settles down.  But yea balconies have a plus and I wish I had more booked than interior.

 

but honestly the thought process is now thinking not keeping the Princess ship near San Fran isolated and keeping everyone in a "petri like existence' but rather getting them off and then isolating them.  What Diamond Princess did might in the end been the wrong thing and killed more people.

[SempreMare]

11 hours ago, doone said:

Unfortunately i am postponing a land tour to Italy I had scheduled for May of this year.  I have planned this trip for 5 years, but with this virus in Italy, I don’t want to have limitations on my trip such as things closed down, not able to go here or there or being quarantined, so pushing it off by a year.  Thank god i have travel insurance

Did you have cancel for any reason (CFAR) travel insurance? 

[cruiseing marly]

8 hours ago, iancal said:

HAL’s performance on the Westerdam fiasco would certainly give me concern....from a decision making process through to the customer communications. 
 

Hopefully there will be an improvement in both.

Were you booked on one of the westerdam cruises. I thought they did a pretty good with our cancelation . I didn’t think they caused any of the fiasco. The virus is going to cost the travel industry 100's of billion's dollars. Lets just hope it is controlled soon.

[iancal]

No.  I believe their decision to embark/disembark in Hong Kong placed their bottom line ahead of passenger health and safety.

Their corporate communications post Hong Kong were somewhat less than straightforward.  Especially when the claimed no incidence of CV even though they did not have the ability to actually test for it.

 

Our neighbours at the resort where we are currently staying have a Viking cruise booked two months  or so out.  They told us that they had a note from Viking yesterday.  Viking has offered them an out.  Keep their booking OR cancel with business days.  If they cancel the entire cost of their cruise will be credited to any other  Viking cruise  that they book within 12 months.

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by iancal

[CruiseMGM]

12 hours ago, doone said:

Unfortunately i am postponing a land tour to Italy I had scheduled for May of this year.  I have planned this trip for 5 years, but with this virus in Italy, I don’t want to have limitations on my trip such as things closed down, not able to go here or there or being quarantined, so pushing it off by a year.  Thank god i have travel insurance

 

I'm afraid we're "joining your boat" today, doone. Our land trip was to be to Milan in June, a DIY we set up because we had "free" tickets on an airline ("free" is a misnomer for this particular airline, they cost us a whole heckuva lot of money in taxes and fees!). I've been worried about the trip since the virus spread to Italy (we're mid-60's and hubby has some heart issues), and after reading today's numbers from Italy (see below), I logged into my airline account and found out I could cancel with minimal out of pocket. Discussed with my better half and pulled the plug. Wrote the owner of our VRBO to cancel, waiting for a response. Some non-refundable purchases, but ending up out of pocket only about $525...... we hope. We can live with that. Hoping our August Norway cruise on the Veendam isn't affected, but watching that too.

Best wishes and good luck to all.

 

From today's update at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

There were 769 new cases of Coronavirus in Italy today, and 41 new deaths. That totals out as follows:

3296 active cases

 .. 1790 of the active cases are currently hospitalized

 ..    and 331 of the hospitalized cases are in ICU

562 resolved cases

..   414  have recovered

..   and 148 (26%) have died

[kazu]

7 hours ago, iancal said:

HAL’s performance on the Westerdam fiasco would certainly give me concern....from a decision making process through to the customer communications. 
 

Hopefully there will be an improvement in both.

 

What did HAL do wrong?  Have you read the reports from people on board?  The crew were fabulous and they weren’t quarantined.

they had the run of the ship.  the refusal by ports was not HAL’s fault.  It’s called panic demic.

I’m not sure what you are getting at?

[kazu]

12 minutes ago, CruiseMGM said:

From today's update at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

There were 769 new cases of Coronavirus in Italy today, and 41 new deaths. That totals out as follows:

3296 active cases

 .. 1790 of the active cases are currently hospitalized

 ..    and 331 of the hospitalized cases are in ICU

562 resolved cases

..   414  have recovered

..   and 148 (26%) have died

 

And this could all be well resolved shortly with the self quarantine Italy is doing.

Most of us won’t be the for nearly 2 months.  A lot can happen between now and then.

Don’t burn the panic demic stream.  There is no reason right now.

 

I’m more worried about travelling to the U.S. since no one has been tested 

[iancal]

No criticism of the on board staff.  They did a fabulous job by all accounts.  The staff and the customers got stuck big time with HALs less than prudent decision to stop in HK. The HAl press releases post HK were misleading at best.  One or two were frankly incredulous.

Edited March 5, 2020 by iancal

[Andi Land]

For anyone interested, Johns Hopkins has developed an interactive map of all the Coronavirus cases. It shows all the confirmed cases and deaths. It’s really fascinating to look at. I admit I’ve wasted quite a bit of time clicking on all the links/info. 
 

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

[TiogaCruiser]

6 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

you have the right idea

I am wondering how many folks now feel at least having a balcony means that it won't feel like a cave.  

and I have always felt that books and puzzles can be like having a friend with you.  

 

time will tell when all of this settles down.  But yea balconies have a plus and I wish I had more booked than interior.

 

but honestly the thought process is now thinking not keeping the Princess ship near San Fran isolated and keeping everyone in a "petri like existence' but rather getting them off and then isolating them.  What Diamond Princess did might in the end been the wrong thing and killed more people.

I like the idea of a puzzle. And I’ll leave it unopened for someone else if I don’t use it 

[MAVIP]

On 3/6/2020 at 4:08 AM, TiogaCruiser said:

I like the idea of a puzzle. And I’ll leave it unopened for someone else if I don’t use it 

Pity that cardboard puzzles will not fit on the desk in the staterooms 😉 , but I definitely put Sudoku and soms other kinds of puzzlebooks on packing and shopping lists. Thanks.

[iancal]

We have two weeks of travel left in Mexico.  When we get home I won’t be doing any firm planning or research on the next trip.  No one knows where this situation is going.  It is far too early to even second guess.  The level of preparedness and the comments from some nation’s leaders to this situation alone give us reason for concern.

Edited March 7, 2020 by iancal

[TiogaCruiser]

4 hours ago, MAVIP said:

Pity that cardboard puzzles will not fit on the desk in the staterooms 😉 , but I definitely put Sudoku and soms other kinds of puzzlebooks on packing and shopping lists. Thanks.

Ah- but they would fit on the floor with a pillow case or something under them as a draw sheet. The floor is one of my favorite places (I layout and cut material there) and I used to spend much time there until we swapped the carpet for tile.

[MAVIP]

15 minutes ago, TiogaCruiser said:

Ah- but they would fit on the floor with a pillow case or something under them as a draw sheet. The floor is one of my favorite places (I layout and cut material there) and I used to spend much time there until we swapped the carpet for tile.

Maybe the stewards will help you finishing the puzzle by removing the pieces with the vacuumcleaner? 🙂