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

[Nymich]

Carnival Rep said they have 200 test kits and that they would check temperatures upon disembarking and to the charter flights to UK, Canada and West Coast of the US.   South Florida residents they will drive them home unless they have their own car and they could drive themselves home.

[Nymich]

4 Doctors on Zaandam and 2 on Rotterdam that they said will stay onboard even after people disembark "but they may be moved to another ship if we have problems on one of our other ships".

[LMaxwell]

"I am almost proceeding under the assumption that those ships are presumed to be infested" - Commissioner Geller 

[Copper10-8]

Current Carnival rep at the Broward County Commision

 

https://gcaptain.com/carnival-corp-names-navy-vice-admiral-to-new-chief-maritime-officer-position/ 

[BlackJack2]

Has Galveston, TX been mentioned as a possible disembarkation port?  

Houston hospitals are just up the freeway and Lackland AFB (for quarantine) is three and a half hours away by bus.

[LMaxwell]

2 minutes ago, BlackJack2 said:

Has Galveston, TX been mentioned as a possible disembarkation port?  

Houston hospitals are just up the freeway and Lackland AFB (for quarantine) is three and a half hours away by bus.

On cruisemapper.com it shows the ships heading in a northwest direction up the western side of Cuba, so they may be considering this as a potentiality. 

[MarLieb]

2 hours ago, bob brown said:

To all the NIMBY's out there....try...just try to imagine it was YOUR loved ones aboard the stricken ship's...

If that doesn't change your attitude, I feel truly sorry for you.

 

I think everyone wants the crew and guests off safely, however, there are some "backyards" that simply can't handle this right now.  Certainly NYC is one of those places.  FL may be one, too.  It's unfortunate that it has come to a point where resources are being rationed and if you give to some, you must take from others.  All of these governors know their citizens must come first.  It appears a low percentage of guests on these ships are US citizens.  I haven't read through this entire thread, but I would love to hear what the countries of the majority of these guests are doing to help their citizenry.  Not sure how DeSantis was left holding the bag here.

[Tampa Girl]

5 minutes ago, BlackJack2 said:

Has Galveston, TX been mentioned as a possible disembarkation port?  

Houston hospitals are just up the freeway and Lackland AFB (for quarantine) is three and a half hours away by bus.

 

Also, don't forget Tampa, which has excellent hospitals, an excellent airport, and a large and well equipped MacDill AFT, which is the Central Command headquarters for the U.S.

[Nymich]

"Higher attack rate" with the crew according to Burke from CCL.  He wants them to recover onboard and if need be request medevac.

[garycarla]

I just read a few hundred posts.  And almost ashamed to be part of the human race based on some comments.

 

So many suggestions are just plain stupid. Keep in mind that every single ACTION has implications.  

 

So many think that "option A" will solve everything have not thought through what other impacts there are.

 

Bottom line, there is NOT a good answer.  The final answer(s) will be full of compromises.  And it will leave many folks unhappy with what takes place.

 

This post from someone else shared should be required reading before posting. https://www.porteverglades.net/zaandam-update/

 

[DaveSJ711]

18 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

"I am almost proceeding under the assumption that those ships are presumed to be infested" - Commissioner Geller 

 

Did he use the word "infected" or "infested"? 

 

Edited March 31, 2020 by DaveSJ711

[1ANGELCAT]

3 minutes ago, MarLieb said:

 

I think everyone wants the crew and guests off safely, however, there are some "backyards" that simply can't handle this right now.  Certainly NYC is one of those places.  FL may be one, too.  It's unfortunate that it has come to a point where resources are being rationed and if you give to some, you must take from others.  All of these governors know their citizens must come first.  It appears a low percentage of guests on these ships are US citizens.  I haven't read through this entire thread, but I would love to hear what the countries of the majority of these guests are doing to help their citizenry.  Not sure how DeSantis was left holding the bag here.

What about the ones that are RESIDENTS of Broward and Florida .!

[3rdGenCunarder]

5 minutes ago, Nymich said:

"Higher attack rate" with the crew according to Burke from CCL.  He wants them to recover onboard and if need be request medevac.

 

If they could disembark the passengers, they could use passenger cabins to spread out the crew. 

[LMaxwell]

Just now, DaveSJ711 said:

 

Did he use the word "infected" or "infested"?

 

Almost certain he used the word infested; referencing that COVID is pervasive in the vessels (an assumption) 

[rafinmd]

1 minute ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

If they could disembark the passengers, they could use passenger cabins to spread out the crew. 

I would hope that would have already started on the Zaandam after they moved people to the Rotterdam.

 

Roy

[LMaxwell]

The commissioner is not impressed by Princess bringing in a ship w sick crew and requesting medevac without informing the port first 

[DaveSJ711]

21 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

Almost certain he used the word infested; referencing that COVID is pervasive in the vessels (an assumption) 

 

"Infested" typically refers to ants, rats, and vermin.  What a despicable statement if he used that word.

Edited March 31, 2020 by DaveSJ711

[sansterre]

Broward County Commission taking a ten minute recess.

[secondchance]

Why, shucks guys, has and is Florida sending home all the sick people who are not residents of Florida or even of our great nation??  I am ashamed to say I was raised in Florida after following this post since day 1!  I am retired in east Texas now, over 70, bring them to Galveston and we will take care of them.  Texas Strong.

[sndral]

2 hours ago, capriccio said:

 

According to the Port Everglades update: There are 1,243 passengers aboard the Zaandam, including 305 U.S. citizens and 247 Canadians. There are 49 Florida residents on board, including several Broward County residents.

 

https://www.porteverglades.net/zaandam-update/

 

 

And according to this article there are currently a total of 2500 passengers and crew on the Zaandam and Rotterdam. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-30/sick-crew-keeps-cruise-ship-running-risking-spread-of-virus

[sansterre]

In general, commissioners seem sympathetic to the plights of the HAL ships.

But still, they act as thought Broward County has no COVID-19.  They want to make sure 

the passengers and crew do not infect their community.

On March 18, DH and I arrived in San Diego.  We believed (who knew for sure?) we were on a healthy ship at the time (Eurodam) and couldn't get out of San Diego fast enough!  And I self-distanced our entire way home as much as possible on two flights and at three airports.

The point is:  these people want to go home.  They don't want to hang around an hot-spot area of COVID-19.

Edited March 31, 2020 by sansterre

[Nymich]

CDC Rep was in favor of getting those who are well off the ship.  They are to be provided masks to wear until they are home.  Commissioners are on a short break as they have heard from Coast Guard, Carnival and the CDC.

Now the hard part...... will it happen and how?  Oakland used tents and it was a BIG production. They had Cali people get off first in that case.

 

It is so easy to say get them off and very hard to do.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Nymich

[mamaofami]

Someone a while back suggested the ship go to NYC because they had good resources. Evidently they don’t realize that the city is overloaded and overwhelmed with so many cases now. Thankfully, they have a wonderful governor, but it’s not the place for the Zandam. Florida should take them in .

[sansterre]

45 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

Current Carnival rep at the Broward County Commision

 

https://gcaptain.com/carnival-corp-names-navy-vice-admiral-to-new-chief-maritime-officer-position/ 

Doing an ok job.  He couldn't remember when Zaandam began cruise - March 8th he thought.  

We all know it was March 9th.  But he is handling streams of repetitive questions from the many County Commissioners well.

[npcl]

Why doesn't HAL do the following:

 

1. Request permission to offload only those that need advanced medical care

2. Agree to obtain and test every passenger and crew (Abbott's 20 minute test using office level equipment is now available with production of 50,000 per day.  Since this a very visible crisis HAL could probably get some of those or even better some of the antibody blood tests).

3. Based upon the result of those blood tests. For those that are not positive.  The local could go home to self quarantine. For those from other countries HAL could either charter planes or get those countries to send planes for their residents.  It would require those countries to be will to accept the planes.  Those from elsewhere in the US might as well fly home if they test negative.  The airports and planes are basically empty so odd of infecting someone else is low even if they had a false negative.  Then follow the directions of whatever state they are traveling to (probably notify the local health department in their home location)

4. Those that are ill with mild or moderate symptoms would need to remain on the ship, after all they don't have to worry about getting infected, they already are.  That number should be low enough that they can be adequately cared for (figuring around 200 passengers and crew).  Unlike the diamond where thousands were having to be feed, the crew could take care of a much smaller number, by following safety guidelines, and with the medical staff.

5. If any turn into serious they would get removed to land when needed, though if the ship had or could get ventilators (I would expect that each ship would or should have 1) so they might actually get as good of care on the ship.

 

This would minimize land based resources/hospitals. Get most off the ships. Have HAL take direct action to help resolve the problem.