Would you cruise in August

[davekathy]

8 minutes ago, surfone said:

We figure it's a 50 percent chance our September cruise will sail out of Boston.  

At least your glass is half full.🥃

[JoeFan]

On 4/17/2020 at 3:40 PM, Pratique said:

Too many hurricanes.

I hear that. But that is the only time we can go.

We got stuck with Dorian on Harmony last year. We were on the good side, so we got an extra 4 days of cruising. They extended our dining and drink packages. So all good.

[JoeFan]

On 4/17/2020 at 8:06 PM, JT1962 said:

 

I would think the 14 day before you can return to work rule was fairly common. It’s actually a CDC recommendation that was issued before they put their no sail order in for Cruises

“Passengers who return from a cruise ship or river cruise voyage are advised to stay home for 14 days, monitor their health, and practice social distancing.

CDC has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for cruise ship travel.”

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/returning-cruise-voyages.html
 

 

 

I have Symphony booked on 8/29. I was all go if they are sailing. But if this rule is in effect, then no as the kids need to get back to school.

[sellwingri]

If Royal says it’s safe to cruise, I’ll cruise.  They tend to be overly cautious and will continue to do so to avoid lawsuits.

[Cruise a holic]

22 hours ago, sellwingri said:

If Royal says it’s safe to cruise, I’ll cruise.  They tend to be overly cautious and will continue to do so to avoid lawsuits.

I will not trust what the cruise lines say now.  We must use our own judgement based on facts.  The crew of the ships are still not allowed to leave the ships- I feel so sorry for them, they do not have Covid and aren't allowed to go home.  Many are American and Canadian citizens-

[atgood]

2 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

The crew of the ships are still not allowed to leave the ships

Which members of the crew are you referring too?   The RCI crew members that I know (mostly sports staff, but a few others too) had the option to stay on the ship or debark.  They chose to stay on the ship as they felt it was the safest place for them to be right now.  

[time4u2go]

30 minutes ago, atgood said:

Which members of the crew are you referring too?   The RCI crew members that I know (mostly sports staff, but a few others too) had the option to stay on the ship or debark.  They chose to stay on the ship as they felt it was the safest place for them to be right now.  

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-american-cruise-ship-passengers-stuck-at-sea-over-covid-19-concerns/

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/30/no-end-in-sight-100000-crew-on-cruise-ships-stranded-at-sea-coronavirus

 

https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/04/24/coronavirus-impact-many-cruise-ship-crew-members-still-stuck-at-sea/

 

Not sure how many are Royal Caribbean crew specifically.

Edited April 30, 2020 by time4u2go

[jean87510]

On 4/27/2020 at 8:59 PM, B-52 said:

Yes, I saw this somewhere the other day...what they say makes sense, to a point, and I want to believe them...

BUT>>>

Come here to the NY/NJ metro area..the hospitals are busting at the seams, temporary hospitals are set up in convention centers, hotels and tents in the closed public parks.
Hospitals have refrigerated trunks in the parking lot to act as morgues.I

If a Loved one is admitted, you may never see them again....no visitors. They die alone.

My Daughter is a NP in Cardiology....but currently it's all hands on deck treating the Covid-19 cases on ventilators. Nurses, therapists, etc are burned out...professionals are coming in from other parts of the country. Many have rented campers and placed them in their driveways to live as opposed to going into their own homes.

THIS IS REAL!!!    You cannot compare its numbers to other Flu pandemics (In our Lifetime)
Sweden did not go into lock down....keep in mind the entire country is as ;large as Michigan and still has significant numbers.

I do believe there is much going on than meets the eye, and I want to believe many testimonies given by health care experts throughout the world....

But this is unprecedented...Never in  my lifetime has the USA gone thru anything like this before.

Cruising may slowly resume, in some parts of the country, but you can forget about anything from Bayonne for a while.  The governors of NY/NJ will not open the ports.

I live in south Jersey and it is not like that here. I have a local hospital down the street that ER parking lot has maybe 6 cars? Im a nurse and was laid off along with other health care workers. I volunteered and tried to get work at these north Jersey centers but myself and others were not needed. 84% of the deaths are from nursing homes in my county. Our esteemed governor sent covid patients to the nursing homes rather then the ship that the government sent. There are quite a few of us healthcare professionals who have to collect unemployment because of this. We cannot get work. Only places that were hiring nurses were nursing homes that wouldn't supply masks in the beginning.  Our largest trauma hospital ER is slow. No one will come in. I have friends that work there as well as my son.

Sorry to hear its like that up the turnpike but its not like that down here.

[Cruise a holic]

21 hours ago, atgood said:

Which members of the crew are you referring too?   The RCI crew members that I know (mostly sports staff, but a few others too) had the option to stay on the ship or debark.  They chose to stay on the ship as they felt it was the safest place for them to be right now.  

An american entertainer was complaining on the News that he wants to get off, is healthy and isn't allowed to disembark.  Sorry, do not recall his name-

[Cruise a holic]

11 hours ago, jean87510 said:

I live in south Jersey and it is not like that here. I have a local hospital down the street that ER parking lot has maybe 6 cars? Im a nurse and was laid off along with other health care workers. I volunteered and tried to get work at these north Jersey centers but myself and others were not needed. 84% of the deaths are from nursing homes in my county. Our esteemed governor sent covid patients to the nursing homes rather then the ship that the government sent. There are quite a few of us healthcare professionals who have to collect unemployment because of this. We cannot get work. Only places that were hiring nurses were nursing homes that wouldn't supply masks in the beginning.  Our largest trauma hospital ER is slow. No one will come in. I have friends that work there as well as my son.

Sorry to hear its like that up the turnpike but its not like that down here.

Look at the maps   It is in south jersey- we have friends living near great adventure and they say it is also a problem in their neighborhoods.

[jean87510]

12 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Look at the maps   It is in south jersey- we have friends living near great adventure and they say it is also a problem in their neighborhoods.

That's not really south Jersey near great adventure. Im talking about salem, camden, Gloucester county... Im not saying it isn't here. We don't have the amount that is north.

[livingonthebeach]

21 hours ago, time4u2go said:

Not sure how many are Royal Caribbean crew specifically.

 

Here's another article published yesterday by a Miami maritime attorney firm regarding the 100,000 crew members stuck at sea.

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2020/04/articles/disease/100000-crew-members-stranded-on-cruise-ships-as-cruise-lines-refuse-to-agree-to-pay-for-repatriation-expenses/

[pink845]

Ditto, as someone posted not a snow ball's chance in hell would I be getting on ANY ship in AUGUST 2020.   You can only really trust yourself.  All it takes is one person to be infected.  Case in point - Diamond Princess!!.   We should all just take a breath.  Follow the social distancing guidelines.  Play by the rules as they have done in New Zealand and starve this virus to death and we can then all enjoy cruising as we have all done gloriously in the past.   And, I missed my cruise to New Zealand, so 2023 New Zealand here we come!

[livingonthebeach]

Would I cruise this August?  Sure -- on a floating Tiki Hut out to the sandbar.  This one allows for Social Distancing -- mask and gloves optional.  

 

[mbardsley]

We are booked on our 5 day out of Galveston, #18 for us on the 25th, we are going

[Cruise a holic]

28 minutes ago, mbardsley said:

We are booked on our 5 day out of Galveston, #18 for us on the 25th, we are going

What month and year?

[Wilda]

Nope.  Too many variables for either one of us to get on a cruise ship.

[A&L_Ont]

On 4/28/2020 at 1:01 AM, Coralc said:

You can request a refund Andrew. The airlines have been trying to take advantage of customers and were recently reminded by the DOT: 

DOT clarifies flight refund rules

The US Department of Transportation has today issued an enforcement notice, reminding airlines that they need to refund passengers in the event that their flights are cancelled, or there are significant schedule changes. As the enforcement notice states:

• The DOT has seen an increase in consumer complaints related to flight refunds
• Customers are entitled to a cash refund when the airline cancels a scheduled flight or makes a significant schedule change and the passenger chooses not to accept the alternative offered
• This applies for flights operated by US and foreign airlines to, within, or from the United States
• Because this is an unprecedented situation, the DOT will exercise enforcement discretion, and will give airlines the opportunity to become compliant before taking further action

Thanks for the share of this information Coralc. Lisa clarified to me that the flight changed by more than three hours. Now knowing this I will call and ask for a refund.
 

 As it stands now Canada does not have a refund policy that I am aware of, so it will be nice to get money back from Delta. I still have more flight credit with Delta, from flights for March we cancelled in February, but the plan is to use them in March of next year.  

Edited May 2, 2020 by A&L_Ont

[mbardsley]

4 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

What month and year?

Aug 2020, it was before issues, but will be there if we can.

[B-52]

On 4/30/2020 at 8:42 PM, jean87510 said:

I live in south Jersey and it is not like that here. I have a local hospital down the street that ER parking lot has maybe 6 cars? Im a nurse and was laid off along with other health care workers. I volunteered and tried to get work at these north Jersey centers but myself and others were not needed. 84% of the deaths are from nursing homes in my county. Our esteemed governor sent covid patients to the nursing homes rather then the ship that the government sent. There are quite a few of us healthcare professionals who have to collect unemployment because of this. We cannot get work. Only places that were hiring nurses were nursing homes that wouldn't supply masks in the beginning.  Our largest trauma hospital ER is slow. No one will come in. I have friends that work there as well as my son.

Sorry to hear its like that up the turnpike but its not like that down here.

Yes, it is worse in NY, and the northern section that borders NY....cruising will resume in the parts of the country long before Port Liberty in Bayonne, and NY for Norwegian and Carnival 

 

We live along the Jersey Shore...the beaches and boardwalks are closed to the public not because it's unsafe, but because they do not want people from the north coming here.
There is one town that shut off the water so people would not come too their summer homes.

[deliver42]

Living in Florida, I wouldn't cruise in August or September. They are the 2 highest hurricane months. It's not so much about getting caught in one on the ship because they change course to avoid them, but I'd rather be home in case of one.

[luvabargain]

I have a cruise booked at the end of August.  If it leaves, I leave.

[CFIGuy]

I just canceled my August cruise.  Not writing it fully off, but I didn’t want to make another full payment, and wait for another FCC or refund.  

 

If cruising starts back up in June/July, something tells me that getting a semi last minute cabin shouldn’t be too difficult.

 

The larger issue is what countries will be willing to open their borders to cruise ships.  From the US, I could see Mexico and the Bahamas reopen first, given how much of their economy is tourism based, and how much of that is cruise based

[atgood]

We plan on cruising in August and then again in October as long as wearing masks isn’t mandatory after embarkation.   
 

Yesterday, I found something interesting.  It appears there is a vast difference between the CDC’s reported USA death numbers due to Covid-19 and its running estimate.  The CDC’s weekly report lists the USA deaths from Covid-19 at 37,308 (updated May 1 based on National Vital Statistics data as of April 25).  https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

 

However, the CDC’s most recent USA Covid-19 estimated deaths was being reported at around 64,000 as recently as early Saturday.  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html

Until yesterday, I did not know the CDC was reporting two different numbers.  So which is the more accurate USA death number?  37,308 reported or 64,000 estimated?  The 64k number includes a Covid-19 probable case or death as defined by one of the following:

• Meeting clinical criteria AND epidemiologic evidence with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19
• Meeting presumptive laboratory evidence AND either clinical criteria OR epidemiologic evidence
• Meeting vital records criteria with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID19

which means the CDC is including unconfirmed Covid-19 cases in its 64k estimate and it’s not likely to be accurate.  This is in addition to the fact that Covid-19 has many of the same symptoms (see pic) as the flu.  The fact regarding the similarity in symptoms makes it difficult (if not impossible) to accurately attribute a death to Covid-19 without a positive test result. The 37,308 number is based on actual National Vital Statistics data.

 

Hopefully, things return to normal in small steps. 

 

[time4u2go]

7 minutes ago, atgood said:

We plan on cruising in August and then again in October as long as wearing masks isn’t mandatory after embarkation.   
 

Yesterday, I found something interesting.  It appears there is a vast difference between the CDC’s reported USA death numbers due to Covid-19 and its running estimate.  The CDC’s weekly report lists the USA deaths from Covid-19 at 37,308 (updated May 1 based on National Vital Statistics data as of April 25).  https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

 

However, the CDC’s most recent USA Covid-19 estimated deaths was being reported at around 64,000 as recently as early Saturday.  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html

Until yesterday, I did not know the CDC was reporting two different numbers.  So which is the more accurate USA death number?  37,308 reported or 64,000 estimated?  The 64k number includes a Covid-19 probable case or death as defined by one of the following:

• Meeting clinical criteria AND epidemiologic evidence with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19
• Meeting presumptive laboratory evidence AND either clinical criteria OR epidemiologic evidence
• Meeting vital records criteria with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID19

which means the CDC is including unconfirmed Covid-19 cases in its 64k estimate and it’s not likely to be accurate.  This is in addition to the fact that Covid-19 has many of the same symptoms (see pic) as the flu.  The fact regarding the similarity in symptoms makes it difficult (if not impossible) to accurately attribute a death to Covid-19 without a positive test result. The 37,308 number is based on actual National Vital Statistics data.

 

Hopefully, things return to normal in small steps. 

 

...

 

There's a paragraph in the link you provided entitled "Why these numbers are different" that explains at least some of the discrepancy.