MSC: Corona Virus and Cruising

[GazZebo]

cruise coming up from Venice but in July, problem is none of us want to go now -

Booked from UK which don't have Venice down as a no go (yet)

Flights are from Spain to Venice and Spain which may have North of Italy as no-go if it doesnt already.. so flight may be

cancelled

 

If we did go and pass all the health checks, would any of the ports allow cruise passengers off at all?

More checks on ports of call - too much hassle?... one of the party is 80 years old the rest of us middle aged and their kids.

Plus on return we would self-isolate at home anyway just in case... but again too much hassle.

 

grrr

 

 

[ziggyuk]

4 hours ago, CruisingFox27 said:

I noticed on the now closed coronavirus thread a post stating that UAE & Oman are denying embarkation to passengers who have been to Singapore. We're currently on Splendida and have been to Singapore, twice,  we're due to go to Oman and UAE next week. We've not received any information to say that we're not still going there. 

 

I have been trying to find more information on for you but can't find anything, even on the UK Gov website there is no extra information on UAE, for Oman does say:

Travellers who have been to China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore or Iran within the previous 14 days may be subject to health monitoring on arrival and mandatory follow-up measures aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus.

I cant say it's not true but I just cant find anything to back it up.

[ziggyuk]

14 minutes ago, GazZebo said:

cruise coming up from Venice but in July, problem is none of us want to go now -

Booked from UK which don't have Venice down as a no go (yet)

Flights are from Spain to Venice and Spain which may have North of Italy as no-go if it doesnt already.. so flight may be

cancelled

 

If we did go and pass all the health checks, would any of the ports allow cruise passengers off at all?

More checks on ports of call - too much hassle?... one of the party is 80 years old the rest of us middle aged and their kids.

Plus on return we would self-isolate at home anyway just in case... but again too much hassle.

 

grrr

 

I assume if you are not travelling until July you would only be down a deposit if you cancelled?

 

The flights would also be a loss but if they get cancelled you will be offered alternatives flights or a refund, even if north Italy does not become a no-fly, all the airlines are saying there will be severe cancellations due to lack of demand, there is a high chance one of your flights will be affected and you will be offered a refund.

 

I would hang in there until final payment (assuming you are not paid in full) and make a decision then, so much can change in the meantime.

[CruisingFox27]

5 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

I have been trying to find more information on for you but can't find anything, even on the UK Gov website there is no extra information on UAE, for Oman does say:

Travellers who have been to China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore or Iran within the previous 14 days may be subject to health monitoring on arrival and mandatory follow-up measures aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus.

I cant say it's not true but I just cant find anything to back it up.

 

Hopefully no further changes then, we're being screened everywhere so it could just be the same process. 

 

The Captain has just announced that we will not now be going to Colombo, Sri Lanka tomorrow 🙁 They are no longer accepting cruise ships .

[Urbee]

What ship are you on?

[SirWolf]

35 minutes ago, CruisingFox27 said:

The Captain has just announced that we will not now be going to Colombo, Sri Lanka tomorrow 🙁

 

 

Noooo!!! Not another port!

We are booked on MSC Bellissima Grand Voyage (29 nights) from Dubai to Yokohama , embarking March 17th.

MSC revised the itinerary already and replaced 

3 ports.

[Beardface]

Seaside has been waiting in Ocho Rios for about an hour to get cleared...

[CruisingFox27]

Afraid so Sir Wolf. Our itinerary is in tatters! We're Splendida repo, Shanghai embarking changed to Singapore, no Japan, HK, India and now Sri Lanka. We have a sea day nowinstead, ahead of a revised 3 days as India was cancelled. 

Edited March 2, 2020 by CruisingFox27

[SirWolf]

2 minutes ago, CruisingFox27 said:

Afraid so Sir Wolf. Our itinerary is in tatters! We're Splendida repo, Shanghai embarking changed to Singapore, no Japan, HK, India and now Sri Lanka.

I appreciate your information.

The itinerary of MSC Bellissima has been revised and 3 ports have been replaced.

China (mainland), Hong Kong and Taiwan are

no longer on the route. They are replaced by

Sir Bani Ya Is (UAE) , Laem Chabang, Bangkok

(Thailand) and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).

Disembarking is in Yokohama (Japan)!?!

I am speechless if we don’t go to Sri Lanka and

maybe other ports if the situation worsens in

the next 2 weeks.

[cruiser man 60]

Does the Splendida have many Italians on board as some countries in Caribbean have been stopping them disembarking whist allowing other nationalities off!

[resistk]

Sun Princess has now been denied clearence for Mauritius as well and headed for Australia:

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8063217/Sun-Princess-cruise-passengers-heckled-protesters-Reunion-Island-coronavirus-fears.html

[MANDMTRAVEL]

19 hours ago, LAOkie said:

I’m in the US - I called MSC to discuss my options for my upcoming May 11th cruise, which has 3 stops in Italy (Genoa, Florence, and Naples). They informed me that they are treating this cruise as “business as usual”, which surprised me seeing as how the entire country of Italy is under a Level 3 warning (reconsider travel), with Milan and Venice as a Level 4 (do not travel under any circumstances). 
 

It does sound like they are allowing Med cruisers scheduled for March/April departures to postpone or choose a different itinerary with no fees. (Was told this by MSC and also saw this on the CC website). 
 

No word yet for my May cruise, but I was told to call back Tuesday/Wednesday and they should have an update for me, so we’ll see. 

Thanks, I was on hold today for over an hour and got disconected. 😞 We are to travel on June so I will wait a couple of days to give them a call.

[monsterbari]

I am so glad to find this thread. Reside in US, cruising out of Venice on MSC June 28th. US under Level 4 travel restriction to Veneto but I see flights still scheduled (haven't purchased yet). I have excellent travel insurance which even covers quarantine. I can rebook for October but I understand that will be cooler and rainier. I simply do not know what to do.

Thanks for listening

[ziggyuk]

9 minutes ago, monsterbari said:

I am so glad to find this thread. Reside in US, cruising out of Venice on MSC June 28th. US under Level 4 travel restriction to Veneto but I see flights still scheduled (haven't purchased yet). I have excellent travel insurance which even covers quarantine. I can rebook for October but I understand that will be cooler and rainier. I simply do not know what to do.

Thanks for listening

 

As your government is advising against travel, I would have thought you would be traveling with a void travel insurance policy if you go ahead with the trip against government advice. If your government is advising against travel, you should have a valid insurance claim to recover all your costs.

I posted earlier (post #3), this is one of the difficulties, different governments are giving different advice, in the UK, our government consider Venice to be perfectly safe and are not advising against travel, for a UK resident, they can't claim on insurance as it is still considered safe.

[8420PR]

If you want certainty, then cancel or postpone.  

 

However if I was in your position I would just wait and see.  The situation is changing so frequently it is very difficult to predict what the situation will be in June/July.   Personally I would expect more localised epidemics, similar to what we have seen in China, Singapore, Korea and Italy, but who knows where.  It could well be that we see the current epidemic in Italy is resolved, in a similar way that many parts of China are getting back to normal life, or given the pool of the virus in the general population it could get worse before it gets better.

 

I have a feeling that temperature checks on embarking passengers will become a normal thing.

 

[sfvoyage]

4 hours ago, CruisingFox27 said:

 

 

The Captain has just announced that we will not now be going to Colombo, Sri Lanka tomorrow 🙁 They are no longer accepting cruise ships .

Are they not accepting any cruise ship, or has your ship recently visited Southeast Asia or North Asia?

[cruiser man 60]

Apparently other cruise ships such as Celebrity , Marella and Seabourn are still sailing to Sri Lanka.

[ziggyuk]

2 hours ago, 8420PR said:

If you want certainty, then cancel or postpone.  

 

However if I was in your position I would just wait and see.  The situation is changing so frequently it is very difficult to predict what the situation will be in June/July.   Personally I would expect more localised epidemics, similar to what we have seen in China, Singapore, Korea and Italy, but who knows where.  It could well be that we see the current epidemic in Italy is resolved, in a similar way that many parts of China are getting back to normal life, or given the pool of the virus in the general population it could get worse before it gets better.

 

I have a feeling that temperature checks on embarking passengers will become a normal thing.

 

 

I certainly agree with waiting to see what happens but final payment will be approaching and I'm not sure how the insurance would react if you made final payment on a trip with a no-fly in place. They could argue you increased their liability unreasonably.

 

I honestly don't know how the insurance company would view this, it's just my thoughts.

Edited March 2, 2020 by ziggyuk

[Beardface]

42 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

I certainly agree with waiting to see what happens but final payment will be approaching and I'm not sure how the insurance would react if you made final payment on a trip with a no-fly in place. They could argue you increased their liability unreasonably.

 

I honestly don't know how the insurance company would view this, it's just my thoughts.

 

Put it this way.

 

The guests who were turned away from the Seaside the past couple weeks had their tickets refunded in full and MSC footed the bill to get them on a flight back home.

 

I'd pay and play by ear.  MSC seems to be doing their customers right during this whole ordeal.

[travelberlin]

3 hours ago, monsterbari said:

I am so glad to find this thread. Reside in US, cruising out of Venice on MSC June 28th. US under Level 4 travel restriction to Veneto but I see flights still scheduled (haven't purchased yet). I have excellent travel insurance which even covers quarantine. I can rebook for October but I understand that will be cooler and rainier. I simply do not know what to do.

Thanks for listening

Until when can you rebook? October is not a bad time for the Mediterranean. It is cooler but this can make it more pleasant. Also the cities are not so full from tourists.

 

[ziggyuk]

14 minutes ago, Beardface said:

 

Put it this way.

 

The guests who were turned away from the Seaside the past couple weeks had their tickets refunded in full and MSC footed the bill to get them on a flight back home.

 

I'd pay and play by ear.  MSC seems to be doing their customers right during this whole ordeal.

 

No necessarily, please see post #2 here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2738743-has-anyone-been-denied-boarding/?tab=comments#comment-59533587

 

[cruiser man 60]

16 hours ago, CruisingFox27 said:

I noticed on the now closed coronavirus thread a post stating that UAE & Oman are denying embarkation to passengers who have been to Singapore. We're currently on Splendida and have been to Singapore, twice,  we're due to go to Oman and UAE next week. We've not received any information to say that we're not still going there. 

It was on MSC website but specifically mentioned Bellissima and Lirica sailings I think.

Now reported on the MSC Uk passengers Facebook page that all Italian passport holders will be denied boarding on all Caribbean cruises due to measures introduced by the Caribbean islands, they will be given full refund plus 20% Future cruise discount.

 

 

[travelberlin]

1 hour ago, cruiser man 60 said:

It was on MSC website but specifically mentioned Bellissima and Lirica sailings I think.

Now reported on the MSC Uk passengers Facebook page that all Italian passport holders will be denied boarding on all Caribbean cruises due to measures introduced by the Caribbean islands, they will be given full refund plus 20% Future cruise discount.

 

 

As sad as this is, it is probably the right thing to do in all MSC ships who are cruising in other areas including those Grand Voyages who are going to Italy. Chinese, Italians and Iranis pose an increased  risk to other passengers and small islands now on cruise ships.

[8420PR]

4 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

I certainly agree with waiting to see what happens but final payment will be approaching and I'm not sure how the insurance would react if you made final payment on a trip with a no-fly in place. They could argue you increased their liability unreasonably.

 

I honestly don't know how the insurance company would view this, it's just my thoughts.

Yes, if it's coming up to final payment deadline and no other expenses (e.g. airfare) are non-refundable then I would also consider cancelling (and probably would).  March cruises are going for bargain basement prices, and especially for European cruises I expect the prices to stay low for the rest of the year.   The only exception could be if you are in the Yacht Club, where you run the risk of no rooms being available.

[rols]

16 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

I have been trying to find more information on for you but can't find anything, even on the UK Gov website there is no extra information on UAE, for Oman does say:

Travellers who have been to China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore or Iran within the previous 14 days may be subject to health monitoring on arrival and mandatory follow-up measures aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus.

I cant say it's not true but I just cant find anything to back it up.

Try this https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/international-travel-document-news/1580226297.htm. It's about as up-to-date as anything I can find.