For Amsterdam WC passengers getting off/getting home and beyond

[SharonN]

I almost feel guilty posting about our trip home after reading about the length of other's travels. We got home about 2 am this morning and it was a very long day but the only delay we had was waiting an hour for the Car Rental Shuttle at LAX. It was a surprisingly easy exit from the ship just after 8 Sunday morning and a quick ride to the airport. Luckily our first flight was at 2 so it was only a few hours at the airport before our flight to Melbourne where we had about a 2 hr layover and then a direct flightto LAX.  There were no lines at LAX and it was very quick getting thru and to baggage claim. We missed the first Alamo shuttle by seconds and another one didn't come for about an hour while all the other companies kept coming around and around. It only took a few minutes to get the car once we got to the facility and we were on our way in a downpour of rain. We had thought about spending the night in LA but John thought he got enough sleep on the plane so we headed home with a few stops for food and leg stretches. I think we spent about 7 hours at airports (not counting LAX), 16 hours in the air, maybe 2 at LAX with the car, and then 6 in the car. 

Hope everyone else gets home quickly and safely! 

Edited March 24, 2020 by SharonN

[puppycanducruise]

Glad to read all these accounts of people getting home safely after such an adventure.

[rafinmd]

Me too.  It's been way too stressful even for the ones who got off easiest.

 

Roy

[mame42]

Exhausted, but safely home for a two week quarantine.  More details tomorrow.  Dined on jambalaya, red wine, and dark chocolate, left in the fridge by a wonderful neighbor.

[puppycanducruise]

Good news!

[AD5ZA]

On 3/22/2020 at 5:47 AM, Krazy Kruizers said:

All you WC travelers.

 

If you can -- please keep us all updated on your travels to arrive home safely.

We departed the ship Sunday morning as scheduled, 8:00AM. Enjoyed the ride through the mostly residential part of Fremantle. Beautiful!.

 

The Perth airport was a breeze, almost deserted. Our flight to Melbourne wasn't until 2:00PM so we relaxed in the Qantas Business lounges until then. First in the domestic lounge and then in the international lounge when it opened at about noon. The Qantas people were helpful and cheerful. It was a pleasant experience and the lounges were amount the nicest I've ever seen. Food and drink, good and plentiful. 

 

Flight to Melbourne smoothe. Lounge good but not as good as Perth. Neither were the people.

 

Flight to LAX was uneventful. An oddity, we arrived in LAX before we departed Melbourne, time wise.

 

LAX was mostly deserted. Less than expected number of  travelers. No lines at security or immigration. American lounge adequate. Not nearly as good as Qantas in Australia.

Flight to Dallas 30-40 minutes quicker than scheduled due to strong tail winds.

DFW also mostly deserted. Couldn't find lounge or American Airline people to ask. Had coffee at McDonald's. Pretty good. Waited at the gate.

 

Flight to Ft Walton Beach, FL also uneventful and  arrived sooner than expected.

Arrived Ft Walton Beach exhausted but elated to be home at last. Unfortunately our luggage didn't make the trip with us. Hopefully the airline will find them.

 

In totality the trip home was very good. The  Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a wonderful aircraft.

 

looking back to the cruise, the first 60 days or so, were great. A very enjoyable cruise. Went to several bucket list places. Totally happy and satisfied about that part of the cruise. Then everything became unglued. A very stressful time.

Unfortunately in the future when I recall GWV 20,  I'm sure I'll remember the bad part more than the good part.

 

I'm very disappointed in HAL. As far as their stated greatest concern in this cluster was for the 'health, safety and wellbeing of their guests' and that there was no medical facilities available if needed by a guest if they returned home via the ship. If that was true they would not have subjected us to the exposure of a possible fatal illness. Of those of us who were expelled from the ship, how many will get coronavirus? How many will DIE? 

Airports and airplanes are germ factories and we were forced to endure that rather than the virus free safety of the ship.

 

Jim & Chom

Cabin 3346

Edited March 24, 2020 by AD5ZA
Add name and cabin

[durangoscots]

54 minutes ago, mame42 said:

Exhausted, but safely home for a two week quarantine.  More details tomorrow.  Dined on jambalaya, red wine, and dark chocolate, left in the fridge by a wonderful neighbor.

Now that is truly a good neighbor!!!!

 

[DAllenTCY]

I'm sorry what happened to you.....and the others onboard. 

 

Not just your ship.....there have been many disruptions and broken dreams....Princess, Cunard, NCL to mention a few.

 

However, blaming Holland America or the airlines that brought you home (and presumably took you to your departing ship) is unwarranted.

 

Now that you are home, look around you for some reality.

 

Millions of us are unemployed.

 

1/3 of my retirement savings (stocks) has evaporated.....and I'm not the only one.

 

At least 2 trillion dollars of government intervention are lingering due to political agendas.

 

The National Guard has been called up in New York, Washington state, and California.

 

What did you say was your issue?

 

David

 

P.S.  Grand Princess guests returned home to 14 days in confinement.  The last 200 or so will be released tomorrow and Wednesday.....and hoping to get flights home, too.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by DAllenTCY

[Himself]

I hope all of you get home safely.

[RuthC]

2 hours ago, SharonN said:

I almost feel guilty posting about our trip home after reading about the length of other's travels. We got home about 2 am this morning and it was a very long day but the only delay we had was waiting an hour for the Car Rental Shuttle at LAX.

So glad you checked in here, and thrilled you got home safely---almost easily. I've been wondering about you all day. 
Heard from Mary Ellen last night; she and DH were at home when she called. They were tired, but fine. 

You deserve a good rest now. 

[Scrapnana]

I have been home about an hour.  We were about three minutes from boarding when they announced there was no First Officer and they were looking for one.  They finally found one and we landed only about 10 minutes late.  There were only about 40 on the flight and most people had a row to themselves.

[Vict0riann]

Welcome home, Kathi.  Hope your freezer is well stocked, and you can relax for a bit now. 

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, Scrapnana said:

I have been home about an hour.  We were about three minutes from boarding when they announced there was no First Officer and they were looking for one.  They finally found one and we landed only about 10 minutes late.  There were only about 40 on the flight and most people had a row to themselves.

That is not what you want to hear when you are flying.  You want the best in the business, not one found off the street!

A row to yourself is like winning the lottery on a long haul flight.  Hope you stretched out and slept. 

Welcome Home. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

5 hours ago, Scrapnana said:

I have been home about an hour.  We were about three minutes from boarding when they announced there was no First Officer and they were looking for one.  They finally found one and we landed only about 10 minutes late.  There were only about 40 on the flight and most people had a row to themselves.

 

Kathi

 

Glad to hear that you are home safely.

 

 

[puppycanducruise]

Glad to hear you are finally home.

Rest well, stay healthy.

[prescottbob]

On 3/22/2020 at 11:39 AM, HappyInVan said:

 

Bob,

 

Is there any advise to self-isolate after your flights? 

Not that I’m aware of. We’ll be staying with my daughter’s family in Bradenton for 7-10 days prior to departing to northern Arizona via our Subaru Outback.

We’re currently ’hanging out’, aka, laying over in Atlanta which arrived from HNL @ 0530. We head out on our fourth and final flight 1030-ish since the earlier flight was cancelled with final arrival in Tampa @ noon—ish.

I added up the various flight times and ‘InAir’ time was approx 22.5 hours and probably around 16 hours of airport lay over times.

The biggest pain, of course, was to go thru the airport ‘security check-in / modified proctology exam dance’ three times (#2 in ‘OZ land’ and once again in Honolulu).

All the airlines fed us well which was a good thing since most if not all airport
bars and eateries were shut down.

Life is good and always filled with adventure, no?

Be well.

Bob

 

[mame42]

First of all, huge thanks to the staff and crew aboard ship who made a chaotic situation for a solo, slightly mobility challenged lady of a certain age seem much less worrisome, especially Henk, Kristen, and Glenn.  The same goes to those fellow passengers who gladly "adopted" me along the journey, lessening anxiety and helping the time go faster.

 

Total of almost 48 hours traveling time door to door, including the long day at Perth airport.  DFW seemed surreal a ghost town, like a scene from a film featuring a future dystopian society.  Some on the Sydney/Dallas flight found upon arrival that their flights onward had been cancelled.  Fortunately, for some unknown reason, my flight to Baton Rouge took off with 5 people aboard.

 

My lasting impression of the entire unprecedented, experience centers around the manner in which during the last week we all became a neighborhood.  Cliques dissolved and newbies and old hands embraced each other to share information or lighten the mood aboard.

 

Hope to see you all in 2022!

[Wehwalt]

10 hours ago, DAllenTCY said:

However, blaming Holland America or the airlines that brought you home (and presumably took you to your departing ship) is unwarranted.

 

Now that you are home, look around you for some reality.

 

 

I find a better approach to people who have been through a bad experience is to hear them out in an empathetic way. That is, after all, the purpose of this thread, to allow the world cruisers who have come home to share their experiences. I am sure that every one of them knows how fortunate they are compared to, say, kids starving in Africa. Let's hear them out good and bad.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by Wehwalt

[Himself]

8 hours ago, Scrapnana said:

I have been home about an hour.  We were about three minutes from boarding when they announced there was no First Officer and they were looking for one.  They finally found one and we landed only about 10 minutes late.  There were only about 40 on the flight and most people had a row to themselves.

 

 

 

Welcome home.  I am sotty your cruise was short circuited but am glad you are home.  Get a lot of rest and be safe.

[mustgo]

3 hours ago, prescottbob said:

Not that I’m aware of. We’ll be staying with my daughter’s family in Bradenton for 7-10 days prior to departing to northern Arizona via our Subaru Outback.

We’re currently ’hanging out’, aka, laying over in Atlanta which arrived from HNL @ 0530. We head out on our fourth and final flight 1030-ish since the earlier flight was cancelled with final arrival in Tampa @ noon—ish.

I added up the various flight times and ‘InAir’ time was approx 22.5 hours and probably around 16 hours of airport lay over times.

The biggest pain, of course, was to go thru the airport ‘security check-in / modified proctology exam dance’ three times (#2 in ‘OZ land’ and once again in Honolulu).

All the airlines fed us well which was a good thing since most if not all airport
bars and eateries were shut down.

Life is good and always filled with adventure, no?

Be well.

Bob

 

You should have been told to self-isolate for 14 days.  Those are the current restrictions.  Please do not ignore tham and spread your germs in Tampa.  We returned from Europe and were told to do just that.  We are now on day 8---6 more days to go.  Things are so messed up in the airports now, they sometimes forget to tell you.  that does not mean you do not have to do it.  We all must protect each other.  I do realize that you have been  on a ship and then traveling so probably did not get the message.  I am not intending to criticize you.  Glad you have safely returned.

[RuthC]

9 hours ago, Scrapnana said:

I have been home about an hour.  

Welcome home; glad you (finally) made it. Hopefully, by the time you read this you will have had a good rest. You deserved it (and a few more). 

[WCB]

Hi Linda and Dave,

 

So glad you are on your way home by now.  We are sitting at LAX for seven hours, waiting for an afternoon flight that had to be re-booked, since we had a morning flight.  The Sydney to LAX flight was delayed for three hours.  Will be hard to get used to the time change as it happened so fast to most all of us.

Best of luck....you will be fine!

 

Mary Ann & Bill

[RocketMan275]

22 hours ago, Scrapnana said:

My final flight will board within the hour.  By the time I get home I will have flown about 22 hours and spent an equal number in airports.

My sincerest sympathies.  Reminds me of some of my 'experiences'.  

[Snoop Sister]

ANA from Perth to Tokyo and from Tokyo to Houston was superb. Filled with Amsterdam passengers. 
Self quarantine for 14 days. Just me and the cats. 
Thanks for this board. Can keep up with friends. 

[Tampa Girl]

18 hours ago, AD5ZA said:

I'm very disappointed in HAL. As far as their stated greatest concern in this cluster was for the 'health, safety and wellbeing of their guests' and that there was no medical facilities available if needed by a guest if they returned home via the ship. If that was true they would not have subjected us to the exposure of a possible fatal illness. Of those of us who were expelled from the ship, how many will get coronavirus? How many will DIE? 

Airports and airplanes are germ factories and we were forced to endure that rather than the virus free safety of the ship.

 

Jim & Chom

Cabin 3346

 

Get real.  Just where do you think you would be sailing to if HAL kept you on the ship?  Are you not aware that the Zaandam is still trying to find a port for disembarkation of its passengers?  What port do you think would be open to you six weeks from now?  FLL is even trying to close.  The Amsterdam barely made it into Australia. 

 

Someone posted that it would have taken approximately 45 days to sail a straight run to FLL.  Where do you think the ship was going to get provisions, medical supplies and fuel along the way?  Right now the Amsterdam is due to refuel somewhere on the west coast of Africa. 

 

Sorry that you cruise did not end in the way that you expected, but to blame HAL for not allowing you to sail back to FLL, thereby subjecting the company, and you, to possible damage, is shortsightedand unfair.  Besides, you do have a 125% FCC or 100% cash back, I believe.  It seems to me that HAL has made every attempt to make you whole.