Swine flu updates from Cruise Critic

[MrPete]

If you want to sit on the beach, you might consider renting a car and heading up to Bahia Honda State Park at Mile Marker 37. Beautiful secluded beaches.

 

If you prefer, you can also juat spend all day wandering around Key West. It's a truly unique city.

 

One of things that has always been the highlight of visiting Key West was the drive itself, down all those bridges over all those Keys. Bahia Honda happens to be one of the stops we always made, including jumping off that old tressel bridge before they removed the first portion. I was always intrigued in the history of this railroad, in fact, was one of the first things I looked up when I discovered ASK JEEVES back in the 90's. I'm wondering if any of that tressel bridge remains, as it's probably 20 years since we've been back.

 

 

We decided to do a post cruise visit on our first cruise after our honeymoon. As usual, we enjoyed the ride, but were pretty bored as it was off season (April), besides coming off such an extreme high on the cruise itself.

 

ANd yet, I can't think that we've ever ever toured "downtown".

[melissa@cruisecritic]

Hi everyone,

 

Many of you have said you are having a hard time finding the latest news -- and snippets from Laura from onboard Carnival Splendor -- on this thread as it's now over 40 pages long!

 

To make things easier, I'll be posting every new news headline, as soon as it is published, on a new thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=976925. Check there often for the latest information! We'll also use that space to highlight Laura's insights live from Carnival Splendor, which has now been diverted to San Francisco with no Mexico port stops at all.

 

This thread remains open, so continue to share and chat! I'll continue reading it, and answering your questions where I can :)

[chiliman321]

RCI suspends Mexican ports of call

 

 

 

 

http://cruisereport.org/forums/index.php?topic=360.0

[peterc6]

We canb't be too careful now can we! Purell is good stuff!

[Kurbanfan]

RCI suspends Mexican ports of call

 

 

 

 

http://cruisereport.org/forums/index.php?topic=360.0

 

A day late dollar short:D

[Sherman793]

I am not a patient person. RCI already has their itinerary changes posted. I am waiting on Carnival to tell me where we are going on Saturday! GEEZ! 5:00 is like a hundred hours from now!! :(

[pricewc]

Since I'm supposed to be in Cozumel on May 13th, what do you all think about Carnival changing to Half Moon Cay? I looked through all the cruises and no other boats are schedule for Half Moon that day and it is not far from Nassau.

[Grits53]

I have a question which may have already been answered earlier in this thread. I don't have time to go back through all of it, so I hope it will be answered again. I have researched and could not find anything that said there have been confirmed cases of swine flu in Cozumel or near Progreso. Have I missed something? I am interested, since I was in Progreso on April 20 and Cozumel on April 21. We did the excursion to Uxmal from Progreso.

[SeldomCruiser09]

I am not a patient person. RCI already has their itinerary changes posted. I am waiting on Carnival to tell me where we are going on Saturday! GEEZ! 5:00 is like a hundred hours from now!! :(

 

Agreed -I sail on the Liberty 5/02. I feel like there is a little "mini-me" pacing back & fourth inside my head..

[Host Carolyn]

Since I'm supposed to be in Cozumel on May 13th, what do you all think about Carnival changing to Half Moon Cay? I looked through all the cruises and no other boats are schedule for Half Moon that day and it is not far from Nassau.

 

I love Half Moon Cay, was there on Fantasy in 2006.. very nice private island beach, lots to do, good drinks.. IMHO not a bad substitution at all.

[pricewc]

I love Half Moon Cay, was there on Fantasy in 2006.. very nice private island beach, lots to do, good drinks.. IMHO not a bad substitution at all.

 

I love it also, I just want to avoid nassau.

[tycruiser]

I love Half Moon Cay, was there on Fantasy in 2006.. very nice private island beach, lots to do, good drinks.. IMHO not a bad substitution at all.

 

I loved it too. It is a far improvement over Cozumel and I would have been more prone to choose it over CZ. It is clean, nice beaches, nice facilities, safe, no beggars...unless you are big into diving which is the big thing in Cozumel, I think you would enjoy this place 10 times more

[kwbound]

I have a question which may have already been answered earlier in this thread. I don't have time to go back through all of it, so I hope it will be answered again. I have researched and could not find anything that said there have been confirmed cases of swine flu in Cozumel or near Progreso. Have I missed something? I am interested, since I was in Progreso on April 20 and Cozumel on April 21. We did the excursion to Uxmal from Progreso.

 

 

I haven't seen anything about any cases in those regions. We have a land vacation to Cozumel planned for July and right now we are still planning on going. You may check on those port-of-call boards and see if there is any updated info.

 

I hope you are not feeling bad.

[pricewc]

I love it also, I just want to avoid nassau.

 

I found a website that shows all port schedules for the future, I found that the Day of May 13th, Nassau is scheduled for 3 ships. Does anyone know how many ships can dock in Nassau at once? (www.cruisett.com)

 

I also found out that Half Moon Cay does not have any ships scheduled for May 13th.

 

My cruise is only 4 days so we are limited to places that can be a substitute for Cozumel.

[MIAguy22]

I was in Nassau on Sensation on Saturday, and there were 4 ships there. Sensation, Glory, Disney Wonder, and MSC Orchestra.

[poobears]

I have a question which may have already been answered earlier in this thread. I don't have time to go back through all of it, so I hope it will be answered again. I have researched and could not find anything that said there have been confirmed cases of swine flu in Cozumel or near Progreso. Have I missed something? I am interested, since I was in Progreso on April 20 and Cozumel on April 21. We did the excursion to Uxmal from Progreso.

 

 

This has a short incubation period, I'm sure you'd already be feeling ill if you got anything. Carnival and the other lines are just playing it safe and staying away from MX entirely.

[Traveler353]

My brother lives in Mexico. I talked to him last night and he said that his employees in Coz have told him that the flu has not shown its ugly face there. Also where he lives, San Miguel, 150 miles north of Mexico City, no flu there.

[tycruiser]

Other than Cuba and a few other countries ceasing air travel to Mexico, regular flights in and out of Mexico (with a bulk from ground 0, Mexico City), and road borders waving people through, it seems strange that the only commerce impacted are the cruise lines. Seems kinda strange, doesn't it?

[poobears]

I think it's because a cruise ship would be the perfect hot spot for this virus to explode. On a plane you are on a few hours with people. On a ship you are on in very close quarters, eating, drinking etc for longer periods of time so the virus would have the perfect opportunity to spread quickly. Can you image the impact of a cruiseship full of "hosts" if it wasn't caught before debark.

 

 

Of course avoiding ports isn't a guarantee of anything, someone could be sick and not know it before they get on the cruise. But it cuts down on the odds if you just avoid MX all together.

[dsmitty308]

I am sure some of the people complaining the most about not going to Mexican ports would be the first to get an ambulance chasing lawyer to sue Carnival if they did continue to go to Mexico and these people got sick!!!!!

 

Am I wrong? NOT!!!!

 

Smitty

[sea57]

great..any information will be most helpful!

[Anjanu]

I'll admit, I am a little concerned about my upcoming cruise in June although I'm not going to Mexico. I don't plan to cancel unless there's a call for all cruises to be canceled.:eek: Which is unlikely.

As was mentioned, the thought of the possibility of someone being on the ship that is ill and doesn't know it. That would be devastating but still a possibility.

Yeah, I do watch a lot of sci-fi movies. :rolleyes:

[Cherylbo]

Good link. It is everything I had also read & watched on the news rolled into one article.

As usual though, our government is acting too slowly. They should have closed the border last week. Now it's too late. It's here & in Houston where I live. Since Houston is known for reaching out to others, as it did with Katrina, I'm sure we will be taking more sick people that cross the border.

 

I agree completely

[melissa@cruisecritic]

Laura has just checked in and tells me that Carnival Splendor has requested permission from the Port of Long Beach to make a stop tomorrow morning en route to San Francisco (now the ship's only port call, added in lieu of three canceled Mexico stops). This is in response to passenger dissatisfaction with the itinerary change. The captain said that only those who wish to debark permanently will be allowed off the ship, and that he is awaiting final approval for the stop.

 

"No other information was offered up at this time," Laura says, "except he did thank everyone who provided positive feedback regarding the decision not to stop in Mexico. People seem to understand that this isn't Carnival's fault, but they want to know why the 'little guy' is the one that is going to be the loser in this."

 

The cruise is scheduled to end in Long Beach, the port for Los Angeles, on May 3.

[geospyder]

From what I've read in this thread the Splendor is now scheduled to port in San Francisco on Friday? Can someone confirm this and what the times are that the ship would be in port? It's close enought that my daughter might swing over to see it since we are booked on the July 19 sailing.