Seaside being held up in Ocho Rios

[reedprincess]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Thank you Reed. I think of Costa and Carnival as inter-changeable since they are owned by the same company, but you are right, it's important to get the details correct. What is the climate on the island? Are most people open to accepting ships? 

 

Looks like Seaside is in Grand Cayman today. No word yet whether or not they have been let off the ship.

 

Aida is also a line owned by Carnival.  FWIW. Carnival Corporation owns a while heck of a lot of lines. And they're not interchangeable really, thankfully. No one would mistake Cunard for Carnival for Aida for Seabourn!  

 

As for the climate here in St Lucia. It varies. Most are as welcoming as always, buy there's some small segment of the population that's frightened, and somewhat ignorant, of the facts about the virus, and are clamoring for all airports and ship ports to be closed. It's a very small segment of the population thankfully, and currently there's zero chance of that happening.  Absolutely no violence or protests or anything of the sort - and our government is working on plans for possible quarantine situations here , and have implemented screenings at airports, bans on arrivals from some areas or mandatory self quarantine for those from some areas, etc. 

Meetings yesterday with multiple island governments and cruise line official (Carnival exec, MSC exec and Florida cruise association exec) to work on a plan to facilitate cruise ship visits, and a plan in case things go off the rails, etc. 

They're trying 

None of the islands are really equipped to deal with a full blown outbreak, so they definitely would take more drastic steps than larger more developed countries.  

In the meantime, ships keep coming and visitors keep enjoying!

 

In related cruise ship news: Aida Alura is being held in Norway while two German guests are being tested for covid-19. They apparently self reported that they had been in contact with someone before the cruise ho subsequently tested positive. They apparently have no symptoms, but went for testing anyways. No one has been allowed off the ship in port while awaiting test results (being done in Bergen)..

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by reedprincess

[BermudaBound2014]

@reedprincess I’m a stockholder for CCL, so for me they are all interchangeable;-), but I understand that from a cruise experience perspective, the products are very different. 
 

Thank you for sharing your perspective from St Lucia, it’s very interesting! Wishing you all the best!

[Beardface]

Everything appears to be back to normal with this sailing.  No delays today in Grand Cayman even with 4 ships in port.  Makes yesterday's delays with only us in Ocho Rios even more questionable.