Congress to investigate Carnival Corporation’s handling of COVID-19 on its cruise ships

[taxatty]

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article242434451.html? 

 

Not surprising at this point, especially with Carnival refusing to follow the CDC's requirements for offloading the remaining crew.

Edited May 1, 2020 by taxatty

[mnocket]

Congressional investigations are, for the most part, a waste of time.  This is nothing more than a political show intended to give Representatives a forum for a news soundbite of them wagging their fingers at the naughty, naughty cruise line.  Nothing substantive will come from this committee.  Meaningful action will only come from the government's regulatory organizations.

[chipmaster]

1 hour ago, mnocket said:

Congressional investigations are, for the most part, a waste of time.  This is nothing more than a political show intended to give Representatives a forum for a news soundbite of them wagging their fingers at the naughty, naughty cruise line.  Nothing substantive will come from this committee.  Meaningful action will only come from the government's regulatory organizations.

 

This is a rather unflattering view making the rounds now https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/cruise-ships-set-sail-knowing-the-deadly-risk-to-passengers-and-crew/ar-BB13tPcs

 

[npcl]

1 hour ago, chipmaster said:

 

This is a rather unflattering view making the rounds now https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/cruise-ships-set-sail-knowing-the-deadly-risk-to-passengers-and-crew/ar-BB13tPcs

 

The Doctor's testimony in the article certainly does not look good for Princess.

 

In public hearings that began April 22, the ship’s senior physician, Ilse Von Watzdorf, was asked why she didn’t update the ship’s medical log books to show that some ill people aboard the ship had been swabbed for possible Covid-19. “I did not have enough hours, I think” to update records, she testified.

Dr. Von Watzdorf said she wasn’t sure why ship officers told shore officials it had no crew displaying possible Covid-19 symptoms before docking in Sydney. She also said the cruise company didn’t brief her on the Diamond Princess Covid-19 outbreak, which she followed on social media.

Edited May 1, 2020 by npcl

[ElkGroveCruiser]

Just now, npcl said:

The Doctor's testimony in the article certainly does not look good for Princess.

It's an online news article....it can hardly be called "testimony".  At best it qualifies as opinion.

[bluesea321]

9 minutes ago, ElkGroveCruiser said:

It's an online news article....it can hardly be called "testimony"....

 

Perhaps not from that source however ABC/Australia and many other local news sources have carried the same information.  There is an official criminal inquiry:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-22/coronavirus-ruby-princess-doctor-speaks-at-inquiry/12173202

[DaveSJ711]

1 hour ago, chipmaster said:

 

This is a rather unflattering view making the rounds now https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/cruise-ships-set-sail-knowing-the-deadly-risk-to-passengers-and-crew/ar-BB13tPcs

 

 

"Rather unflattering" -- the understatement of the year.

[joejoe 59]

22 minutes ago, ElkGroveCruiser said:

It's an online news article....it can hardly be called "testimony".  At best it qualifies as opinion.

No not just online news, I saw her say these things on the news here in Australia before the Ruby left our country. 

 

[npcl]

1 hour ago, ElkGroveCruiser said:

It's an online news article....it can hardly be called "testimony".  At best it qualifies as opinion.

They were referencing her testimony in a hearing, as it states in the article.  Comments in a hearing as part of a criminal investigation is usually considered to be testimony

 

Edited May 1, 2020 by npcl

[resistk]

Wall Street Journal now taking up story; this looks bad for CCL and all the rest:

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cruise-ships-set-sail-knowing-the-deadly-risk-to-passengers-and-crew-11588346502

 

[EscapeFromConnecticut]

2 hours ago, npcl said:

They were referencing her testimony in a hearing, as it states in the article.  Comments in a hearing as part of a criminal investigation is usually considered to be testimony

 

 

 

npcl - Exactly right.
           Isn't it amazing the straws that some folks will clutch at when they don't like the facts in front of them. I've been watching a little group of CC posters getting relentless about it: The Washington Post is no good so they don't believe that report, Bloomberg News is biased so they can skip over that, the CDC is just the evil Nanny State so it can be ignored, legitimate medical researchers and immunologists just hate the cruise lines so let's forget them to, trial lawyers are sharks and Congress is unfair and and and and. At the end of the day, they'd have us believe that John Heald, Richard Fain and Breitbart are the only legitimate news sources around.

[lderochi]

It’s why I quit a couple of Princess Facebook pages. Any criticism of Princess and how they and/or Carnival Corp. has handled this situation results is a torrent of defense. A small portion of it in the form of respectful disagreement. A much larger portion in the form of unhinged delusion and the firm belief that the CEO of Princess considers passengers as important as her family. I opined that Princess sees us as revenue generators, not cherished family members, and . . . damn. 

[frugaltravel]

49 minutes ago, resistk said:

Wall Street Journal now taking up story; this looks bad for CCL and all the rest:

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cruise-ships-set-sail-knowing-the-deadly-risk-to-passengers-and-crew-11588346502

 

Without a subscription someone can only read a paragraph or two.

[lderochi]

This is not good for Carnival and others - it’s a very long and thorough article. Do you not get a certain number of free articles per month? I was able to see all of it. 

[npcl]

29 minutes ago, frugaltravel said:

Without a subscription someone can only read a paragraph or two.

click on the MSN link in post 7.  Same article

[HappyInVan]

OMG, half the state's infections and almost all the deaths!

 

"Health authorities on Australia’s island state of Tasmania concluded Wednesday that returning Ruby Princess passengers likely triggered a hospital outbreak and 114 local Covid-19 cases. Twelve people died, including three passengers, and thousands were quarantined, authorities said, prompting the closing of two hospitals because of infections among staff and patients."

[Geoffa30]

It’s a shame that similar tracing hasn’t been done for airlines, theme parks, sporting events et al. The virus was everywhere months ago. It’s not just cruise ships that have caused the spread. They are somewhat of an easy target.

[4cats4me]

50 minutes ago, Geoffa30 said:

It’s a shame that similar tracing hasn’t been done for airlines, theme parks, sporting events et al. The virus was everywhere months ago. It’s not just cruise ships that have caused the spread. They are somewhat of an easy target.

 

somehow, the airlines got omitted from the WSJ article, yet they are complicit in the spread of Covid as well.  

[HappyInVan]

1 hour ago, Geoffa30 said:

It’s a shame that similar tracing hasn’t been done for airlines, theme parks, sporting events et al. The virus was everywhere months ago. It’s not just cruise ships that have caused the spread. They are somewhat of an easy target.

 

 

I've never heard of a flight that infected a third of the pax.

[Geoffa30]

43 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

 

 

I've never heard of a flight that infected a third of the pax.

Possibly because on a flight there is insufficient time for someone to start exhibiting symptoms. However who knows how many people might have contracted it from infected passengers on a short flight before going on their merry way spreading it far and wide in the community.

[Geoffa30]

1 hour ago, 4cats4me said:

 

somehow, the airlines got omitted from the WSJ article, yet they are complicit in the spread of Covid as well.  

Most definitely. Airlines are the sole source of the initial cases outside of China but no one mentions that.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Geoffa30 said:

Possibly because on a flight there is insufficient time for someone to start exhibiting symptoms. However who knows how many people might have contracted it from infected passengers on a short flight before going on their merry way spreading it far and wide in the community.

And of course we don't know how often there was a cruise ship passenger who first contacted the virus on their flight to the cruise and then spread it in the cruise.

[resistk]

Cruise ships were a vector, that is a fact, repeated exposure over long periods of time as opposed to a few hours on a airplane.  Infected crew being a problem too.  Airlines of course are getting a free pass though and are still flying without reasonable precautions for passengers.  Like the cruise industry, their obliviousness will unfortunately cause a reset in the entire travel sector.

[resistk]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

And of course we don't know how often there was a cruise ship passenger who first contacted the virus on their flight to the cruise and then spread it in the cruise.

 

That is the old Norovirus arguments the cruise lines like to make; however in this case I think the WSJ article nailed the lines on several issues including putting profits over safety and using incredibley bad judgment which hasd cost them billions of dollars.  Heads should roll at the upper level of the lines.

[spyro1952]

12 hours ago, resistk said:

Wall Street Journal now taking up story; this looks bad for CCL and all the rest:

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cruise-ships-set-sail-knowing-the-deadly-risk-to-passengers-and-crew-11588346502

 

I read that article this morning and it could be the nail in the coffin.