karma459

20 minutes ago, d-train said:

Not only that, but doesn't HIPPA apply to medical type offices?

Plus there is probably an added clause in the contract you signed off on to share info.

And since we are in a pandemic emergency time, contact tracing procedures supercedes anything related to HIPPA privacy law. Either way, the contact tracers are not employees with any of your personal doctors offices or health insurance company. Totally separate entities. Contact tracers are not under the HIPPA umbrella of privacy.

 

Now if you tested positive at your doctor's office, and they (and insurance company reps) started to phone your neighbors, family and friends, to warm them, that would be a HIPPA violation.

this is incorrect. 

HIPPA laws cover well beyond information from your doctor's office or practitioners.

For example, I work for a global software company. One of our customers is a US based insurance provider. We do not handle patient information in any way, however we are bound by HIPPA laws and as such, we must all take mandatory, annual compliance training and certification. Basically any entity that can be defined as a "third party" that in anyway interacts with another party that directly or indirectly has access to protected identifying or medical information is bound to HIPPA policies and guidelines.

HIPPA laws protect US Citizens or those doing business as a US based company. So, US Citizen, Legal Aliens, etc, passengers would be protected under HIPPA, but not necessarily non- US based Carnival employees. 

As I understand it, the most Carnival *could* do is inform you that you have been identified as "close contact" to an infected person. They can give no identifying information, including if that were another passenger, on-shore personnel, terminal personnel, or on-board crew. 

I don't think they will, and neither do the airlines, ride shares, trains, buses, cabs, etc that you may have used as means of transportation to/from port. 

Of all the potential places of contact/transmission from the time an individual walks out their front door until the time they step back into it, I'd say the possibility of definitively determining where/how you "became" infected is pretty close to zero. It's a risk you take! 

we have always done MTD, and asked for (and received) a "table for 2".. approx 6 inches away from the adjacent "table for 2"..😉.  thinking of the layout of MTD, I expect they would have to reduce to 1/3 dining room seating to meet the current "6 foot" guideline... it would be like a spiderweb of "available" tables when you think about a 360 degree radius of 6 feet between each occupied seat.. glad I don't have the geometry assignment! 🙂 

I would assume they would convert all Early/Late seating to restrict to tables within a single "group".. i.e. they will have large tables, but they will be reserved for larger families/groups traveling together. Makes me a little sad to think of being sat at a 6-8 top with just 2 people, but that's likely what they will need to do.

I also think about the increased inefficiencies towards the serving staff.. before they may be assigned multiple tables within relatively small "group"... those poor folks may still have the same overall table "count".. but will have to travel further distances between them.. it will certainly make their job more difficult, and would likely result in perceived "slower service"... I hope people are kind to them.

I have had 1 cancelled by Carnival, and have a 10/27 booked on Magic. I would like it to sail, but as we learn more daily I have mixed feelings about taking this trip should it sail. I felt much better about my (now cancelled) August trip. New information about the virus and potential long term impacts, how it can be spread, etc. changes my thinking. 

I fully expect my October cruise to be cancelled sometime late next month by Carnival. Especially with folks here in the US not able to get our act together enough to knock this latest spike back down to a more manageable level. Early 2021 is looking iffy at this point, IMO - Flu season + Covid outbreak feels very frightening and disruptive to me. 

I was just able to cancel online successfully, and got the generic "we have received your selection and are processing it" message back within minutes. Could've been a glitch - might want to try it again. Good Luck! 

I have searched and read topics across the forum, but I am still unsure about the policy, so I thought I'd ask. 

I have $500 OBC as part of a promotion on the Carnival website when I booked early May for a 8/27 Elation sailing which is obviously now cancelled. If I choose to take whatever "rebook" offer instead of going the refund path, I assume I will lose the $500 OBC from the previous booking, and will only have OBC based on whatever promotion may be offered on a new booking (in addition to any OBC provided as part of the rebooking, if offered).

IOW: any OBC given as part of a promotion is only available in that particular booking. If booking is cancelled (or if I voluntarily change my booking), that promotion is null and doesn't carry forward.. do I understand it correctly?

On 6/18/2020 at 3:27 PM, HaveWeMetYet said:

I did not realize how profitable the summer months are for the cruise lines. Nothing but cash burn until next summer for Carnival. Reduced capacity sailings are still losses just not as bad as no sailing.

what is interesting to me is with their FY beginning 12/1, in Q1 FY2020 they still booked losses.. that would be Dec/Jan/Feb, first outbreaks were reported in China on 12/31/19... which tells me January/February revenue loss REALLY impacted the overall number, even though the US markets should've been generally "stable". I wonder if that means European/APAC markets are really supported by the revenue from US sailings during those "low revenue" quarters.

I could be looking at it wrong though.. I'm sure someone smarter than I will correct me. 🙂

6 hours ago, JT1962 said:

The company expects all of its ships to reach “paused status” by the end of the third quarter, reducing monthly cash burn for ship operations to $250 million. Currently 62 ships are in this status.”

This is the most telling statement I've seen to date, directly from the source,  and if they were going to continue to pause sailing, their earning call would be the place they would need to communicate it.

Q3 ends in September, which means my 8.27 Elation cruise is now very likely cancelled (birthday cruise every year).. I got a great deal, <$900 in a balcony + $500 OBC. I'm going to  hate to lose that. My late October cruise might be less confirmed than I thought before this announcement (booked at the same time 7 days Eastern <$1200 in a balcony, also with $500 OBC). Unlikely we will see those deals again in the next year. 

Bummer.