Am I the only one who is still thinking about going on my cruise?

[Danny61231]

So, are my family and I the only ones still thinking about going on our cruise? We are scheduled to sail on the Meraviglia on March 22nd out of Miami going to Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel,  and Ocean Cay. Our groups will consist of my wife and I (both mid 30's) 2 children (6 and 3) and my inlaws (62 and 65). All of us are in pretty good health and we DIDN'T take out any insurance on this trip.

 

So here's where we're at, we booked this trip 1 year out and have REALLY been looking forward to it. We could reschedule with no penalty but would most likely be out A LOT of money in airfare and hotels. 

 

Vice President Pence on Saturday stated that people should still travel and cruise unless you are elderly with underlying health issues while the Department of Travel issued an advisory of no cruise travel on Sunday.... why the difference? 

 

Sorry for the long post and it's more of a rant than anything but I'm just curious what other people are planning to do about upcoming Caribbean sailings....

[slei15]

We still have every intention of going this weekend!

[mlbdude]

I am still thinking about going this weekend.  However, my 8 year old is T1D and is in a risk category.  Our issue is not so much the CV but the lack of plan around a quarantine.  Otherwise, life is a risk!

[mef_57]

I had intended to continue with my Dubai to Venice cruise in April, but this will will tell.  I would just ship in Split (or stop before Venice) because work would put me into quarantine for 2 weeks upon my return from Italy.  New work HR policies to be published this week. I am not currently essential staff, but once it reaches Ottawa, since I work in a hospital, I will be brought in if essential staff gets wiped out. I see the writing on the wall, but not ready to throw in the towel (quite) yet.  Even if I go, however, I will drop my one ship organized land tour as it is a long bus ride to Jerusalem and back. Last time I did one of those I contracted H1N1 and pneumonia.  I'll avoid close quarters on a bus for 10 hours, thank you very much.

 

[J Bug]

I think there will be a lot of folks who still cruise. The ones canceling are the ones talking about it, right? 😉

 

We are on the fence. But, my DH has COPD (thanks to Army tours in Afghanistan), and one of my children has an autoimmune disease. But, I'm concerned with the possibility of quarantine more than the virus. I have a tween, people. He is not that pleasant.

 

Plus, as of now, Italy will be scrapped and that's one of the main reasons we choose this itinerary. 

[electro]

have an NCL caribbean cruise 29 March and B2B MSC cruises May 17 and 24 in Northern Europe. I plan on going on all of them unless the cruise line or airlines cancel.

[Preziosa]

We are on the Meraviglia the 5 th of April. We booked 1 year ago. We are travel the hole Way from Denmark for doing This Cruise. We have cruised on Meraviglia before, so We are looking forward to Be back. Maybe We Will have No problem with finding a Sun bed.

[bigblue1952]

We have a cruise booked in the Med on April 18th out of Barcelona and still plan to go.  We are hoping the cruise will not be cancelled.

[Jembeccatoo]

 We’re still going out of Miami on April 25th. No thoughts of canceling at this time.

[SSelinger]

We are nervous to go on 3/21 on seaside because several of us have underlying health issues and my husband is 83 which puts him in a high risk category. Did MSC give the option to rebook because when I called they offered nothing.  

[potsie57]

We are still planning to board the MSC Divina this Friday.  We will take all the precautions.  We have a balcony room and sit outside on deck most of the time.  I work in Health Care so I could just as soon get sick at work and not on a cruise....Life is a Journey!!!

[Safe77]

Scheduled to sail on the Divina out of Miami and Friday, 3/13 and am hoping my wife will still be on board 😆with my desire to board the ship as planned. The way I look at it, fewer people (due to cancellations) means less exposure for us. My only concern is the possibility of an extended quarantine.

[puglady12]

I’m on the Seaside right now.  We’re having fun! They are making everyone use hand sanitizer. They temperature checked every single person.  So far so good. Tonight is our first stop in Puerto Rico but running late due to bad weather.  Other than that it seems very normal and a nice break from all the bad news going on in the world.  
It’s me, hubby and our two girls, 18 and 11. 

Edited March 9, 2020 by puglady12

[sidari]

Ours is still on for now in April, it would be helpful if MSC would fix their site so we can actually see our booking!

[Cullyman15]

1 hour ago, Danny61231 said:

So, are my family and I the only ones still thinking about going on our cruise? We are scheduled to sail on the Meraviglia on March 22nd out of Miami going to Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel,  and Ocean Cay. Our groups will consist of my wife and I (both mid 30's) 2 children (6 and 3) and my inlaws (62 and 65). All of us are in pretty good health and we DIDN'T take out any insurance on this trip.

 

So here's where we're at, we booked this trip 1 year out and have REALLY been looking forward to it. We could reschedule with no penalty but would most likely be out A LOT of money in airfare and hotels. 

 

Vice President Pence on Saturday stated that people should still travel and cruise unless you are elderly with underlying health issues while the Department of Travel issued an advisory of no cruise travel on Sunday.... why the difference? 

 

Sorry for the long post and it's more of a rant than anything but I'm just curious what other people are planning to do about upcoming Caribbean sailings....

Trying to convince my wife to sail on the 22nd, looks like a cruise ship might be the safest place to be with all these precautions in place now.

[Jembeccatoo]

59 minutes ago, SSelinger said:

We are nervous to go on 3/21 on seaside because several of us have underlying health issues and my husband is 83 which puts him in a high risk category. Did MSC give the option to rebook because when I called they offered nothing.  

 

MSC has posted on their website they will offer FCC if you wish to cancel. You can cancel up to 2 days before your cruise and must rebook to travel by December 2021.

[shackman61]

We are scheduled for this Friday on the Divina and we are so stressed out right now.  Personally, I am not in fear of getting the virus, I am in fear of the unknown quarantine if someone on the ship does come down with it.  When the government starts sending you to military bases, who pays for that?  We do not have travel insurance, so the costs due to a quarantine do come into play.  The wife and I will be making our decision by tomorrow.  May have to have an extra cocktail tonight just to get through the stress.

[mamaneedsavacay]

We're booked on the Mera this Sunday. We have until Friday at 5pm to avail ourselves of this new FCC. I still bought new swimsuits this afternoon in optimism, but the truth is, the situation is changing daily. I hope we will go.

 

Agree with all who said the real threat is the quarantine, not the virus, as we are young with no underlying conditions. If I was in a risk group, I would say no.

 

We are watching for any more quarantines this week.

[bombcat9]

We leave Sunday on Meraviglia.  As of right now, my family of four (two 41 year old adults and two kids 12, 10) are still going.  My parents, age 70 and 71 got a FCC.  I agree with other posters.  I'm more concerned about getting quarantined with two kids in a small room.  The mixed messages from the Tr*@p administration and the CDC is frustrating.  We will take all the precautions that we can and enjoy the ship which I'm sure will be seriously under capacity.

 

Also, totally off topic in relation to the virus.  This will be our 4th MSC cruise and our 20+ cruise overall.  There are pros and cons to MSC just like with every other cruise line. We have been pleasantly surprised with the style, service and value.  Their kids programs are the best at sea (not including Disney of course).  I believe MSC is/will do the best they can with the rapidly changing updates.  There are many people on here bashing MSC for their slow response.  I think they fail to realize that before MSC can start offering future cruise credits and the abundance of extra calls, paperwork, processes that go along with it, they have to get protocols in place, people trained to handle the volume, etcetera.  Were they slower than most others?  Yes.  However, they aren't even close to the magnitude of Carnival Corp. or Royal Caribbean.  I think we can cut them some slack.  

[lifeasme123]

We will be on Mera this Sunday.  THe ship will be cleaner than say our local grocery store.  Today I went to Publix and they do not have wipes for the shopping cart.  An employee said they have to ration/hide them because customers were taking the entire container.  😠 

 

We have a booking on Seaside on April 4 and intend to be on that as well.  

[cellfree]

March 29 Mera - still going. 

[George C]

We just got back a few weeks ago no issues. But wouldn’t travel without insurance for both cruise and flights, luckily also wouldn’t book a small cabin, if stuck I rather be in a suite.

[Talex831]

Nope, come hell or high water, flu or corona, we are sailing Seaside on April 4th. Unless the ship doesn't sail, we are there.

[JP82]

April 19th Preziosa Hamburg-Southampton Mini Cruise. Still fully intend to go.

[bildoug]

Anchors aweigh!! Leaving on Divina on “Friday the 13th” and cannot wait after all the anticipation!! Considered all the options, pros and cons and, for us, no reason to postpone. It will be a great cruise, in fact, if the ship is “clean” we may have less of a chance of getting the flu than if I took public transportation.