Artquest

The Zaandam used this same strategy.  Results? With half the passengers of Eclipse, they had nine test positive before landing and four dead.  Not successful.

Having passengers confined to their cabins during a "flu-like" outbreak didn't work so well for the Zaandam, which was smaller than Eclipse, with fewer passengers. Knowing that, I'm not sure if I would have chosen quarantine in cabins for Eclipse.

We made at least four visits to the waiting room.  There were two groups treated differently by the staff.  The vast majority, those in all those chairs, had questions, mostly about medications, from what I heard. They talked to one of the staff and left. That’s what we were there for, too. Those in the interior waiting room who needed to actually see the doctor were the usual - hurt my foot, stomach ache, etc. Mostly a few at a time.

The captain and the cruise line made the choice to dock and send us home. We thought we were safe, so why not get back to our cities? Slinging around guilt towards the passengers seems misdirected. 

I heard from my brother today that he and his wife each got a mask and gloves as they were exiting the ship. My husband and I disembarked through a special wheel chair exit and got nothing. We would certainly have worn them.

That said, this was a lose/lose situation. I for one am happy to be home with my own doctor and medical facilities available if I need them. 

It looks like Eclipse is heading north. Anyone know where she’s going?

3 hours ago, FOXTROT said:

Confirmed cases 61 & presumptive 47. Thank you one & all for the best wishes.  

I’ve been looking for numbers. Can you give a link to your data?  TIA.

I, too, was on this cruise, and I as well was extraordinarily pissed when I got the email from Celebrity informing us that we might have been exposed to the virus.  But then as I considered the issues, I have come to a different conclusion.

The captain could have informed us all that there was illness on board, confined us to our cabins, and proceeded to seek a port where we could land. Of course, he had the example of the Zaandam to show that wasn’t very effective.

On the other hand, he could keep silent, get his passengers to port and home, while sacrificing his career and possibly opening up Celebrity to massive lawsuits. 

I believe that the captain chose the second option because he considered his first obligations were to his passengers. It was a lose/lose situation, but I feel he made the best decision he could. I for one am glad to be home.