Italy quarantine effect?

[az_tchr]

The Italian government today put the country in a quarantine. The CLIA statement also changed to state passengers from any area in quarantine within 14 days will not be allowed to board.

What effect does this have on cruising in the Mediterranean?  Will changes in itinerary be made quickly or will it be wait and see?

[Jim_Iain]

Depending on the date of your cruise the timing of when Celebrity makes a decision may vary.   I suspect you will see the port changed and fairly rapidly.   

 

We have friends that were booked on Constellation from Dubai to Rome  on April 1.    Last week they changed disembarkation from Rome to Barcelona.  Yesterday after both India and UAE put bans on cruise ship docking the cruise was cancelled.      The decision to cancel was less than 1/2 a day.

[Cruising89143]

I think it’s going to be a moving target for all cruise lines. We were scheduled to cruise out of Barcelona next month and canceled three weeks ago as we had three ports of call in Italy. I fear more countries are going to clamp down on cruise ship visits over the coming weeks. Fortunately the cruise line refunded us 100% with no penalties even though we were in the 50% penalty phase. We were unsure of what to do three weeks ago but now know that we made to correct decision.

[Pushka]

The reality is that as this virus spreads through a population the Health Authorities don't have the resources to deal with their own people's needs, let alone a bunch of people from a cruise ship and in peak season, that can be over 10000 extra people on any given day. It's just an awful situation for everyone. And I haven't dared look at my superannuation Policy, chances are we won't be able to afford these Cruise holidays anymore anyway. 

Edited March 9, 2020 by Pushka

[CHOPPERTESTER]

I have a colleague on a 14 Nt Barcelona to Athens cruise mid April who has 5 Italian stops. I told him there are lots of other nice stops between Barcelona and Athens like Corsica, Palma de Mallorca, Malta (Valletta & Gozo), and a few Greek stops they could change itinerary to. As long as Catalonia stays open.

[Denny01]

I understand there being other ports outside Italy, but there is a limit for all the cruise ships that are now not calling on all the Italian ports of call. 

 

Den

Edited March 9, 2020 by Denny01

[dani negreanu]

3 minutes ago, CHOPPERTESTER said:

Malta (Valletta

 

Don't count on Valletta....😨

[24acorns]

18 minutes ago, CHOPPERTESTER said:

I have a colleague on a 14 Nt Barcelona to Athens cruise mid April who has 5 Italian stops. I told him there are lots of other nice stops between Barcelona and Athens like Corsica, Palma de Mallorca, Malta (Valletta & Gozo), and a few Greek stops they could change itinerary to. As long as Catalonia stays open.

Valletta refused an MSC ship last week. The doctors treatenef to strike if it were allowed to dock!!

Admittedly it is an Italian owned line may be different for other lines, however I would not bank on it.

[Pushka]

44 minutes ago, CHOPPERTESTER said:

I have a colleague on a 14 Nt Barcelona to Athens cruise mid April who has 5 Italian stops. I told him there are lots of other nice stops between Barcelona and Athens like Corsica, Palma de Mallorca, Malta (Valletta & Gozo), and a few Greek stops they could change itinerary to. As long as Catalonia stays open.

I think Malta is definitely out. Our cruise is mostly Italy. If I'd wanted a western Med cruise (have already done several) then that is what I would have booked in the first place. 

[CHOPPERTESTER]

1 hour ago, 24acorns said:

Valletta refused an MSC ship last week. The doctors treatenef to strike if it were allowed to dock!!

Admittedly it is an Italian owned line may be different for other lines, however I would not bank on it.

That's understandable since MSC is an Italian cruise line (like Costa). Happened in the Caribbean in Jamaica and Cayman Islands as well. Too bad I would trade Messina for Valletta any day.

[cruiseerf]

So lets Summarize.......USA CDC has advised passengers not to travel on cruise ships.  Canada has the same advisory issued.  Several Molecular biologists were on the news today saying "Cruises are floating Petrie dishes".   Now Italy, Whole country is closed....nobody in or out.....Italian cases top 9000.   France, Spain and Germany are experiencing severe increases of cases day by day, according to Johns Hopkins tracker.  Death toll worldwide has broken 4000.....which is not bad considering 36,500 people died in traffic accidents alone in USA last year.   That said, the Spanish flu started mild and went on to kill 50-100 million people, which started off as a regular virus which changed and morphed become super deadly.   

 

IMHO, Most of the Med is going to close to cruiseships and the cruiselines are really in a pickle..... Celebrity has The constellation heading empty to Cadiz for it's edgeification....and then Silhouette, Edge, Reflection and Infinity are due to cross over.....Thats 5 ships in Europe where nobody may be able to get on or off at any ports for the next few months at least......Talk about a "Soft Season".......I think Celebrity needs to announce their plans ASAP as I believe they are going to cut capacity in Europe and keep more ships closer to the USA....."For those of us Waiting to hear".....I wish they would communicate intentions sooner rather then later.  

 

Safe sails to all!   

[Denny01]

3 hours ago, CHOPPERTESTER said:

That's understandable since MSC is an Italian cruise line (like Costa). Happened in the Caribbean in Jamaica and Cayman Islands as well. Too bad I would trade Messina for Valletta any day.

Edit: Oops, I misunderstood your post that you thought Messina was better than Valletta.....that’s what happens after a nice Irish Whisky Manhattan! 

Den

Edited March 10, 2020 by Denny01
Dumb Response!!

[Pushka]

I think the Australian Government may be considering a Do Not Travel to Italy in the next few hours. That means we simply can't go there and our Insurance will pay any costs. 

[Saab4444]

4 hours ago, CHOPPERTESTER said:

That's understandable since MSC is an Italian cruise line (like Costa). Happened in the Caribbean in Jamaica and Cayman Islands as well. Too bad I would trade Messina for Valletta any day.

MSC is a Swiss owned and based cruise line that claims to be Italian style.

[Saab4444]

1 hour ago, cruiseerf said:

So lets Summarize.......USA CDC has advised passengers not to travel on cruise ships.  Canada has the same advisory issued.  Several Molecular biologists were on the news today saying "Cruises are floating Petrie dishes".   Now Italy, Whole country is closed....nobody in or out.....Italian cases top 9000.   France, Spain and Germany are experiencing severe increases of cases day by day, according to Johns Hopkins tracker.  Death toll worldwide has broken 4000.....which is not bad considering 36,500 people died in traffic accidents alone in USA last year.   That said, the Spanish flu started mild and went on to kill 50-100 million people, which started off as a regular virus which changed and morphed become super deadly.   

 

IMHO, Most of the Med is going to close to cruiseships and the cruiselines are really in a pickle..... Celebrity has The constellation heading empty to Cadiz for it's edgeification....and then Silhouette, Edge, Reflection and Infinity are due to cross over.....Thats 5 ships in Europe where nobody may be able to get on or off at any ports for the next few months at least......Talk about a "Soft Season".......I think Celebrity needs to announce their plans ASAP as I believe they are going to cut capacity in Europe and keep more ships closer to the USA....."For those of us Waiting to hear".....I wish they would communicate intentions sooner rather then later.  

 

Safe sails to all!   

Silhouette, Reflection and Apex for the start are not based in the Med, so far most of Northern Europe‘s ports are not affected at all. Not different to the situation in the US with the Princess ships disasters and other interruptions in the past days.

Edited March 10, 2020 by Saab4444

[Pushka]

26 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

Silhouette, Reflection and Apex for the start are not based in the Med, so far most of Northern Europe‘s ports are not affected at all. Not different to the situation in the US with the Princess ships disasters and other interruptions in the past days.

And Italy is integral to The Edge cruise itineraries 

[goofysmom99]

I don't think the Baltic countries have chimed in yet because it's still winter.  Come the season in May, I have doubts they'll want cruise ships any more than the rest of the world.  

[upwarduk]

2 hours ago, cruiseerf said:

.I think Celebrity needs to announce their plans ASAP as I believe they are going to cut capacity in Europe and keep more ships closer to the USA....."For those of us Waiting to hear".....I wish they would communicate intentions sooner rather then later.  

 

Couldn’t agree more.

I’m already thinking about cancelling my pre booked excursions for our Silhouette cruise which visits 4 Italian ports. Unfortunately, it’s scheduled for August 1st, so I’m out of the ‘cancel for any reason’ which is for cruises up to July 31st.

[little britain]

X has changed screening to include European countries.

 

We have also increased secondary health screening requirements. The following guests will need to undergo extra screenings at the cruise terminal:

• Any person who reports feeling unwell or displays flu-like symptoms. 

• Any person who has traveled to, from, or through France, Germany, Spain or Thailand in the 20 days prior to embarkation. 

• Any person who is uncertain about contact with individuals who have traveled in the 20 days prior to embarkation to, from, or through mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, Japan, or Taiwan, Thailand. 

 

[downsmead]

As the list of countries grows, it becomes almost impossible to say for certain that you have not been in contact with individuals who have traveled to, from, or through.   It seems that they may have to apply secondary screening to a large number of people.

[Pushka]

And now it's 20 days not 14. 

[dani negreanu]

3 hours ago, Pushka said:

And Italy is integral to The Edge cruise itineraries 

 

38 minutes ago, Pushka said:

And now it's 20 days not 14. 

 

Again, looking for the "sad" button....😨

 

Israel just imposed a mandatory 14 days quarantine for everyone returning to the country.

 

We have a late September cruise return from Rome, including Valletta (which was one of the reasons we booked the cruise), Italy and Greek ports. I'm beginning to fear it will be a "no go".

 

 

[Pushka]

7 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

 

Again, looking for the "sad" button....😨

 

Israel just imposed a mandatory 14 days quarantine for everyone returning to the country.

 

We have a late September cruise return from Rome, including Valletta (which was one of the reasons we booked the cruise), Italy and Greek ports. I'm beginning to fear it will be a "no go".

 

 

The Israel embargo is significant for Viking Nile cruises as well that have the Israel extensions. Most of the Celebrity ones are only current for 30 days - just a week before the TA starts but so much can happen in 4 weeks. And not good I'd say. 

[terrydtx]

We are booked on Viking Ocean cruise from Venice to Athens in September. At this time we have no plans to cancel and hope this virus tampers down by the end of the summer. VO has a cancel for any reason up to 24 hours before departure policy which covers this cruise, we would get a FCC. We also have until Mid June to cancel for a full cash refund less a $100pp cancellation fee, so plenty of time to see how all of this plays out. Our cruise has been sold out for the last 15 months, but now there are 14 cabins available so some have cancelled already.

[terrydtx]

27 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We are booked on Viking Ocean cruise from Venice to Athens in September. At this time we have no plans to cancel and hope this virus tampers down by the end of the summer. VO has a cancel for any reason up to 24 hours before departure policy which covers this cruise, we would get a FCC. We also have until Mid June to cancel for a full cash refund less a $100pp cancellation fee, so plenty of time to see how all of this plays out. Our cruise has been sold out for the last 15 months, but now there are 14 cabins available so some have cancelled already.

Actually I was wrong we have until Mid May to get a full cash refund if we cancel, that is 120 days out.