CanonGraceCruiser

We have many crooners on our party and we would love to know the songs in advance..... Anyone know where to find or what songs are available? Past cruises the pickings have been slim and from another era. 🙂

Although I am not THAT worried, I don't entirely trust the Chinese government. A few things that have me mildly uneasy:
 

1. The Wuhan Institute of Virology was reportedly studying the novel bat coronavirus and was cited for safety concerns in 2017. The rumors are that it started there. 

2. Here in the US, in the last few weeks, we have seen an uptick of flu and reportedly many hospitals have long lines as a result. Here. In the US. If there are long lines of people with respiratory symptoms (as reported in the NYT) then how do we know for sure it's the flu? How can they know FOR SURE that it's the flu when people are not yet tested?

3. I ask #2, because a mere year ago my father almost died from a form of Coronavirus. (Different strains) Still, for a week, they thought it was the flu and went down that route for a few weeks until the flu test results came back. Rapid had come back negative but they didn't buy it. Took them a while to name the coronavirus. My point is flu and coronavirus can present very similarly.

4. As recently as a week ago, a friend's cousins newly back from China became ill. He went to the doctor and the doc had no means with which to test him (at that time). Sent him to self quarantine in a hotel. I believe they can test now but begs the question as to what is being reported as fact relative to # of cases.

5. I read elsewhere that there is an estimated 1.5M cases in China and not what they are reporting. This makes sense if you are tracking the chaos in Wuhan right now. Of course, not verified and possibly a rumor. But if you read the stories coming out of Wuhan or the Diamond, it's concerning how quickly it spreads.

6. I have a few Chinese friends and many Chinese acquaintances as we live in a neighborhood with many Chinese nationals. They, more than me, are alarmed beyond belief. They believe this was unleashed by the Chinese government and they essentially sealed off the city and now the country because of this as much as anything else. The thing I keep hearing about is how easily it spreads from people who are asymptomatic.  They have cancelled all kinds of activities in town--from Lunar NY to other events. Some have pulled kids from school.

Why do I mention all this?

Because I think the next week or so will be very telling. If it is going to spread to the States, we will hear of it in the coming week based on the timing. People from China are still arriving but much less so than before, and screened. Two weeks ago that was not the case. If it is going to hit here, we should know soon.

But we should not be so smug to think that we know so much better than the people who got sick the first time around. We are sitting ducks just like them and it's up to all of us to protect ourselves and our families. Take precautions. Reasonable ones. No need to be paranoid, but an ounce of vigilance is not so bad. WASH YOUR HANDS!

Glad the cruise lines are taking precautions and think we are sticking to our cruise regardless. But my eyes and ears are open in the meantime.

Just to close this out. I was initially worried about being quarantined more than getting sick. The way things are going, we are probably safer on a screened cruise than in the NYC area. However, after they did not quarantine the Anthem, I feel a little safer. I was much more fearful of being quarantined than being sick. 

But we will continue to monitor the situation. 

 

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

The decision is RCL's  ;however  good PR  like what Norwegian is doing can go a long way  for it's future business 

This may cost them a lot of money--but the goodwill will take them far.

3 hours ago, sellwingri said:

Absolutely nothing.  It’s not my fault.  I’m just telling the poster what will happen.  They won’t even let those of us who can’t sail on Anthem today (hopefully tomorrow but we don’t know yet) because of the potential Coronavirus, cancel the cruise.

As I said in my OP, we are cruising with family for Thanksgiving so we can easily accept the cruise credit and apply it toward that sailing. We have yet to book that trip.

....and quite frankly, coming from NYC, not sure how much of a lie it would be to say we've come across Chinese nationals. I was on the subway yesterday with someone hacking a cough right next to me. I wouldn't even have to lie...

22 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We’re on Harmony in a CLS on Sunday. Highly doubt we’ll get “stuck” onboard, but I can think of worse places to be “stuck” for two weeks.

I thought that too. Then I read about conditions on the Diamond. That doesn't like fun. No water, delayed food and lousy quality. People hacking across the hall. And literally being stuck in your room with your family members for an indefinite period of time, using shampoo to wash your clothes. These are but a few of the stories I read about in the Diamond right now.

4 hours ago, cruisinfanatic said:

If you are worried abut this, you shouldn't even go to the grocery store

Right. Except for when was the last time that the shopper on Aisle 9 caused the entire supermarket to be quarantined??

Again. Not that worried about getting sick. Much more worried that the gazillion flu cases that everyone keeps bringing up will cause a brouhaha and get us quarantined.

I should mention that part of the decision making is the fact that I am immunocompromised....So that's not helping!

Still--I usually do just fine on cruises though and I take precautions. Still..... I can get over the norovirus and I get the flu shot but a different coronavirus knocked me out last year and it knocked my dad out, too.

2 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

My wife works for NYU hospital. She is in administration and her office is in Bellevue Hospital. The first case to hit NY was at Bellevue. My wife went to work as usual. It took 2 to 3 days before they found out it was negative. Where are you going to keep all of these travelers coming from air and sea for 3 days?

Keep them in the ship? 😞

 Look, I don't claim to have a good answer. Truly. I worry it's all over NY already. A friend's cousin came from China last week, and took ill. Went to the doctor and was told there was no means with which to test him and advised him to self quarantine. Our friend's cousin said he was pretty sure no one was alerted etc. He is still sick.

I am curious--does your wife know if there is any uptick in cold/flu patients coming in?

Sigh. So we are leaving on the Symphony next weekend, out of Florida. Part of me thinks: warm air, out of the NY area (thanks Anthem!) and no Chinese nationals etc so it's probably ok. 

Another part of me thinks, even if no coronavirus situation, someone might get the flu and get us all quarantined.

And then there is the small voice that says to tell them we were in contact with Chinese nationals (not true but maybe true--have been all over NY). If we can cancel, I can use the credit for later this year to cruise again. We have a place to go in Miami--and we have a cruise with our family at the end of the year.

My biggest fear is not getting the virus: my biggest fear is getting stuck on board. Between now and Feb 22, just wondering how much will change.

Thoughts?

Wondering if we should be going on the Symphony next week. Thoughts?

Just now, Iamcruzin said:

What would you suggest they do? How many travelers are coming and going via the largest airports in the US? How many are traveling in Manhattan? You can’t shut down NYC.

Look. I realize it sounds extreme, but I would have suggested keeping the passengers on the boat until they could confirm whether or not the virus is in the ship.

Putting it another way.....

Why are we quarantining people arriving from China? Because they have been in close quarters near the virus. These passengers, by virtue of circumstance of the past two weeks, are no different now.

For everyone talking about bats, let's not forget that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was investigating the bat novel coronavirus before this all went down.

But sure, it was the market.....and we should believe it because the very honest Chinese government said so.

7 minutes ago, kidless said:

I’m not so sure government & big business don’t always do the right thing! Sometimes they care more about their bottom line then people so they take risks! 

I would agree 10000%. The pressure on RC must be tremendous. If they had quarantined the Anthem, there would have been thousands of cancellations. But by giving the air of normalcy, and letting passengers off, they avoided that.....

......and that is a short term gamble that, for our sake, I hope pays off.

Because if their reckless actions unleash the virus here and a bunch of people die, they are done. The lawsuits alone will kill them not to mention popular opinion.

This is very bad.

OMG. They are letting the other passengers off the ship.

Wow. What a gamble they are taking with the NY/NJ area. So if those Chinese nationals are sick, they likely spread it. Plus crew is likely to be infected.

Highly irresponsible.

Does anyone have any information about disembarkation from the Anthem if you are not Chinese? Are they letting all people off?