Zaandam and Rotterdam Situation (merged topics starting March 22, 2020)

[Himself]

3 minutes ago, cat shepard said:

Joining in with my prayers and well wishes. Boy, I wish I lived near the port, somI could stand in my balcony and welcome them home.

Yhat would be great!

[summer slope]

So hope this occurs.  I'm watching the port cams and will stand and cheer very loudly when they enter the port.

[AV8rix]

Little early for the port cams.  At the moment they're both bearing southbound off the coast of Dade County.

Edited April 2, 2020 by Av8rix

[cat shepard]

4 minutes ago, summer slope said:

So hope this occurs.  I'm watching the port cams and will stand and cheer very loudly when they enter the port.

I will join you, though I am a few hours North. Truly socially distant.

[sansterre]

33 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

I'm only suggesting that a repeat of yesterday where everything was rehashed multiple times including the same pro/anti statements at least once an hour might be better avoided today.

 

It tends to bury the actual 'news', so it would be great to add anything spotted on a webcam of course, and any public confirmations of what is happening, but on the flip side it would be more than wonderful if we didn't just get the same combination of 20/20 hindsight and 'Monday morning quarterbacking' today when we should be so close to getting the actual plan and the final decisions... 🙂  (I can always hope)

Thank you;  I understand.  And I notice there is another Holland America thread for news of the day (April 2, 2020) in Port Everglades.

[Mark_T]

Sadly that one is heading south already...

[1ANGELCAT]

This thread is for those that WATCH  HAL ships and SUPPORT them  !

 

[ljmandelbaum]

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

Being unloaded into a self-declared 'hot-spot' which has not yet even been subject to a 'safer-at-home' order isn't the passengers' first choice either.

 
Broward county has been under a safer at home order. Florida is now also under one. 
 

 

I hope they let both ships in to dock and get everyone home safely  

[lvz2cruz]

35 minutes ago, DFD1 said:

My guess is that the political pressure has become intense in the last 24 hours....to the extent that the Broward County Commission, having required a plan to be presented, will allow the ships to dock this afternoon.

 

Having said that, the difficulty of managing the situation once the ships are docked is a very real and pressing challenge for a lot of professionals from several jurisdictions in and around Port Everglades.

 

This is a tough situation.....new territory for everyone involved.

I've followed several stories online and it's always interesting to read to comments.  i would say well over 90% of the comments are against letting the ship dock.  Here on CC we love cruising and want this to end well and NOW and maybe have more empathy because we know it could be us or someone we love onboard.  Much of our country does not cruise and see it as "rich entitled people on a luxury cruise" who now want US to bail them out.  If you think comments on here are bad, you would be appalled.

I would think public opinion is more against them docking.   There were several people on here who were against it early on.

I think the politicians are getting more pressure to not let it dock. 

Praying this ends well and soon.

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

10 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

I went back to that FOX interview by Neil Cavuto this morning with Governor Ron DeSantis and this is what he (the Governor) said verbatim: 

 

Please pay attention to the beginning sentence, beginning with the second "safely"

 

"The County (Broward) is working on a plan to be able to get the Floridians back safely, safely uhm, expatriate the foreign nationals so that they're not mixing with our community. I've offered (Florida) National Guard support to be able to help in that effort".

 

"They're, we were concerned about a deluge in the hospitals, but I think it turned out that there will probably be some who will need to go, but it's very, very manageable and the local hospital system thinks that they can handle it, so I actually think that they're gonna be able to deal with this, uhm, in a way that makes sense."

 

"And obviously, once we found out that there were American citizens, and Floridians especially, on board, you know, we wanted to find a way to make it work."  

 

Thanks for posting this. It's the last sentence that got my attention. What a patriot! (And how did he not know there were American citizens on board--did he think everyone on HOLLAND America is Dutch?????)

 

[DFD1]

It is interesting to read your post and seen the changes in his attitude in the last 24 to 48 hours. He puts a lot of nuance into his remarks, but what I sift out is his support of the docking.

 

 

[TYinPalmSprings]

Urgency and priority is to save the people FIRST, as they are the victims not only of the virus, but of the cruise lines and governments who are playing the shell game with their lives. Carnival Corp (and it's subsidiaries HAL, Princess et al) and all other lines with ships not registered in the US, need to be slapped with huge fines, and if they cannot pay then we should confiscate their ships and/or take business control of their operations. I guess the lines think it's okay for them to do what they do to maximize their profit, yet they rely Florida and the US Gov to regularly foot the huge bill and potential medical risks for their ships, not to mention the impact to the places they port. The cruise lines are placing the lives of its passengers at great peril on a regular basis by cheapening out and finding the most lenient and low tax countries to register their ships.  THIS MUST STOP NOW. Going forward, before they are allowed to sail from the US or dock here, Carnival/RCCL and others  they should be required to foot the bill for this PAY IT and need to present to the US government a sound plan for handling their related situations starting immediately. There also needs to be huge bill sent to the the Bahamas, Panama, The Netherlands, Liberia and every other country who has their flag flown on these ships. They undercut laws, regulations and taxes to get whatever benefit they do from the dubious honor of flying their flag on these ships. so they should be held liable financially and criminally. The gravy train is over.

[DFD1]

7 minutes ago, lvz2cruz said:

I've followed several stories online and it's always interesting to read to comments.  i would say well over 90% of the comments are against letting the ship dock.  Here on CC we love cruising and want this to end well and NOW and maybe have more empathy because we know it could be us or someone we love onboard.  Much of our country does not cruise and see it as "rich entitled people on a luxury cruise" who now want US to bail them out.  If you think comments on here are bad, you would be appalled.

I would think public opinion is more against them docking.   There were several people on here who were against it early on.

I think the politicians are getting more pressure to not let it dock. 

Praying this ends well and soon.

 

 

That is sad, but understandable. Few in the general public have any particular interest in cruising or ships. For those of us, relatively few in the great scheme of things, who are involved in the cruising industry,  it is a different matter.

 

 

[RocketMan275]

12 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Is it appropriate for me to say that I think God has been finally successful in getting the message to his brain that he ought to trust what his God given intellect is telling him and not his "gut" as he makes decisions?  

No, interjecting politics isn't appropriate.

[MarLieb]

7 minutes ago, lvz2cruz said:

I've followed several stories online and it's always interesting to read to comments.  i would say well over 90% of the comments are against letting the ship dock.  Here on CC we love cruising and want this to end well and NOW and maybe have more empathy because we know it could be us or someone we love onboard.  Much of our country does not cruise and see it as "rich entitled people on a luxury cruise" who now want US to bail them out.  If you think comments on here are bad, you would be appalled.

I would think public opinion is more against them docking.   There were several people on here who were against it early on.

I think the politicians are getting more pressure to not let it dock. 

Praying this ends well and soon.

 

 

 

Yes, I think you are exactly right.  

[RocketMan275]

9 hours ago, TinkBellaMom said:

I am kind of confused as to why the ship would come to FLL.  If it was a SA cruise, does it have a large amount of people from that area where it would make sense to at least stay there until they are allowed to dock?  And why not make sure you were going to be allowed to disembark before making the trip to FLL?

I believe this cruise originated in FLL with multiple stops/segments along the way?

It really doesn't matter where/when this cruise originated.  People need help.  

[3rdGenCunarder]

27 minutes ago, sansterre said:

Thank you;  I understand.  And I notice there is another Holland America thread for news of the day (April 2, 2020) in Port Everglades.

 

That's the fleet report, which shows where the ships are. Rich does this every day (thank you, Rich!) It isn't meant as a continuation of this thread.

[LMaxwell]

[DFD1]

1 minute ago, LMaxwell said:

That's a really important first step.

[LMaxwell]

4 minutes ago, DFD1 said:

That's a really important first step.

 

The commissions position has been consistent from the start; Holland America (Carnival Corp) to develop a plan that satisfies the Unified Commands requests and concerns.  

 

Now that the ships are close to port Holland has the ability to provide real time, up to date information; not a forward projection, best guess, etc.  My understanding is Broward County is waiting for those facts so that they can be sure Carnival Corp is properly meeting all requirements for staffing, PPE, transfers, etc.  

[JVilleGal]

Both ships are currently just off of Fort Lauderdale... 

[Copper10-8]

Just now, clojacks said:

Well, the hosts have shut down ANOTHER thread on this topic......

 

 

It's not shut down; it has been merged and is now here

[CCHelp]

2 minutes ago, clojacks said:

Well, the hosts have shut down ANOTHER thread on this topic......

 

All 3 pending topics about Zaandam and Rotterdam were merged here.  No topics were shut down.  As it seems there will be newsworthy events today, which passengers and crew on these two ships, as well as their families, may be interested in following, please try to help us keep discussion on topic.  We do thank you very much.

[Tampa Girl]

According to NBC News, 8:45 a.m. this morning, a deal has been reached and the two ships will be allowed to dock.

 

"

A Holland America cruise ship with sick passengers and its sister ship will be allowed to dock in Florida, sources tell NBC News.

It was expected that the Broward County Commission in Fort Lauderdale would vote on whether to allow the Zaandam and Rotterdam ships to dock, but sources say a deal has been reached and that officials are finalizing details.

 

It's unclear if the ships will be allowed to come to shore or if passengers will be ferried to land."

[Copper10-8]

Now moving at 10.1 kts (Zaandam) and 10.2 kts (Rotterdam) in a westbound direction with Zaanie in the lead

 

https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9156527