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Caribbean Cruise Nov 12 and Amber Cove


kelly3399
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The November 12, 2015 QM2 cruise to the Caribbean shows a port stop in Amber Cove. I do not see that port on previous cruises or on the 2016 cruises for QM2.

We have booked this cruise and am curious about this situation. Does anyone know what is going on with this port? Thanks, Kelly

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The November 12, 2015 QM2 cruise to the Caribbean shows a port stop in Amber Cove. I do not see that port on previous cruises or on the 2016 cruises for QM2.

We have booked this cruise and am curious about this situation. Does anyone know what is going on with this port? Thanks, Kelly

The QM2 will be at the Amber Cove port on January 22, 2016 as the first stop after Port Lauderdale on the 2016 WC.

 

Bob

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Amber Cove is a new Carnival (corp.) owned port at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

 

A recent Carnival press release, with photos, about Amber Cove is here:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carnival-corporation-expands-presence-in-caribbean-with-85-million-port-in-dominican-republic-with-six-of-its-global-brands-adding-amber-cove-to-worlds-most-popular-cruising-region-300037882.html

 

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Edited by Underwatr
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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a heads-up for those who might be unaware of this...

 

"Passengers [visiting Amber Cove] should seek advice from a recognised travel medicine clinic or their own medical practitioner with regard to their personal itinerary including tours and pre/post voyage travel as malaria advice/prophylaxis may be recommended." -quoted from https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/before-you-sail/vaccinations

 

And the CDC issued this travel health alert for the Dominican Republic a couple of weeks ago:

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/cdc-travel-alert-take-antimalarials-when-traveling-to-the-dominican-republic-10540/

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ut oh.....we're on that cruise as well and that doesn't sound good. Maybe this port isn't as "ready for prime time players" as Cunard had hoped it would be. If there's going to be all kind of health alerts, we won't be going very far afield....maybe not even getting off. Too bad! Will continue to watch and see.......

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It seems unusual to undergo malaria prophylaxis for a one-day port visit, especially when (I assume) the ship would be leaving before nightfall. Usually inoculations are less of an issue for one-day port calls, IME.

 

The mosquitoes that transmit Chikungunya are active during the day but I didn't think so about malaria.

Edited by Underwatr
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The Dominican Republic is a fairly popular holiday destination for Brits and other Europeans. As far as I know it is not advised that they have malaria inoculations before they go. In fact., an English friend of mine worked there for about 18 months and I am sure she would have mentioned it.

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The Dominican Republic is a fairly popular holiday destination for Brits and other Europeans. As far as I know it is not advised that they have malaria inoculations before they go. In fact., an English friend of mine worked there for about 18 months and I am sure she would have mentioned it.

 

If your English friend lived in the cities of Santiago and/or Santo Domingo, where there is no risk of malaria -unlike the rest of the Dominican Republic- according to NaTHNaC, she might not have needed antimalarial tablets.

BTW, there is currently no vaccine/inoculation that offers protection against malaria.

 

But I'm certainly no expert on malaria. Expert information can be found on the following sites: The UK's National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) information page on travel to the Dominican Republic here: http://www.nathnac.org/ds/c_pages/country_page_DO.htm and the CDC's page about malaria here: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2016/infectious-diseases-related-to-travel/malaria

 

Travel/tour plans and medical histories vary on an individual basis, so I think that at the very least, it's worth having a discussion with one's doctor about medical preparations (if any) for this port stop in the Dominican Republic. I try to schedule a check-up with both my dentist and my GP before taking a long vacation outside the country anyway :)

 

Salacia

Edited by Salacia
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  • 3 months later...

From the webcam, the QM2 is in port. Both Cunard's website and the sea-scanner website say the ship is at sea. Is this Amber Cove or Tortola? I think Tortola was supposed to be yesterday 20th November.

 

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Edited by Ray66
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It seems unusual to undergo malaria prophylaxis for a one-day port visit, especially when (I assume) the ship would be leaving before nightfall. Usually inoculations are less of an issue for one-day port calls, IME.

 

The mosquitoes that transmit Chikungunya are active during the day but I didn't think so about malaria.

 

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/watch/chikungunya-caribbean

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I just took a look at the ship's webcam. Now (11:14 ship's time) it shows the ship is at sea. Itinerary says next port stop is Amber Cove. :confused:

 

The QM2 has left port now and yes, Amber Cove is tomorrow the 22nd. I had just wondered why the webcam was showing still in port when I posted.

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I travel extensively for work in malarian Sub saharan Africa (mainly Malawi and Zambia) and do take anti-malarial when I am there. But precautions such as spraying with a deet repellant and covering up are as important. Also while I do use nets when I am in rural areas where power is intermittent the best repellent is moving air so with aircon there is no problem. A few years ago I was in Borneo at a conference in the rainforest and all the Europeans were on anti malarial and none of the Australians were becuase we had aircon. If I know the power may fail and the fan stop (basic Accomodation in rural areas) then I use a mosquito net but otherwise (eg when I'm in European standard accomodation in capital cities) I don't bother.

I wouldn't bother for one day taking anti malarials due to side effects and relatively low risk for one day.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I travel extensively for work in malarian Sub saharan Africa (mainly Malawi and Zambia) and do take anti-malarial when I am there. But precautions such as spraying with a deet repellant and covering up are as important. Also while I do use nets when I am in rural areas where power is intermittent the best repellent is moving air so with aircon there is no problem. A few years ago I was in Borneo at a conference in the rainforest and all the Europeans were on anti malarial and none of the Australians were becuase we had aircon. If I know the power may fail and the fan stop (basic Accomodation in rural areas) then I use a mosquito net but otherwise (eg when I'm in European standard accomodation in capital cities) I don't bother.

I wouldn't bother for one day taking anti malarials due to side effects and relatively low risk for one day.

 

The itinerary was changed for the cruise under discussion, which is not that odd. So just to mention that what that literary shows as being a short port stop might be more lengthy for a variety of reasons; how to prepare for such a possibility varies - but best not to assume you'll only be in any one port for one day. Ship happens.

 

BTW, recent news on the chikungunya virus indicates a more serious complication if infected . See http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/news/2015/11/chikungunya-may-lead-to-severe-brain-infection.

 

We're not going to stop travelling because of those disease carrying mosquitoes are we! They want us to be afraid - but we will not cower in the face of those insects! ;):) - Cheers and happy sails, -Salacia

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