Ultimate World Cruise 245 days and all the parts. Ongoing review, questions, opinion

[Jim Avery]

The world is collectively losing its mind.  Why toilet paper?  Has there been any indication the virus will make it disappear?  Got an email from CVS this morning, sale items for their cardholders.  One of the items, Quilted Northern, is what we use.  Went up there to get one packet, some mouthwash, several other drugstore items.  Toilet paper and tissue aisle picked clean.  How much can you use?  I can say this. After two world cruises, there are lots of places in this world that never heard of toilet paper.  A bucket and ladle,  sometimes a hose, often nothing at all. 😱  So suddenly we have to have a room full of tp or the world will end?  All thoughts of panic aside, the obsession with TP makes no sense at all.

[Cienfuegos]

There is an element of the surreal.

 

Corona virus apparently produces diarrhea, but the threat of enforced 14 day home stays may alarm / scare some folks.

 

Here in South Florida, toilet paper, paper towels, bottled water, Lysol, etc have been picked clean. Corona beer, however, is one a buy one, get one free deal.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Dang, the disaster preppers were right.  I need to look up how to make a tin foil hat.

[Jim Avery]

14 minutes ago, Ragnar Danneskjold said:

Dang, the disaster preppers were right.  I need to look up how to make a tin foil hat.

 

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[Jukebo1x]

Andy, so be thankful you are all in your bubble. 
Within the latest hour, in Illinois:  The governor, has closed Seating in bars & restaurants. 
You can still get food “to go”, but I don’t know about booze. 
Just too weird. 
I guess I too need one of those foil hats

[vandrefalk]

I started following this thread when Jim Avery was on board (Hi Jim!) and stayed with it as your stories are amazing!  Magical Mystery Tour indeed!  I am delighted at the attitude almost all of you show and your ability to weather these strange times!  Will follow your adventures with interest.

Jim agree with you about the TP.  While I've never used a lot of hand sanitizer and seldom know where it is in the store -- now it's easy!  Just look for the empty shelves😃

Vandrefalk

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Guns stores reporting runs on ammo too.  Glad I always keep plenty on hand.

 

(PS - May become valuable for bartering.  Say, one box of 357 mag for $10,000 of Viking transferable FCC.)

 

(PPS - You want the revolver too?  That’ll cost you a WC.)

Edited March 15, 2020 by Ragnar Danneskjold

[vnb2003]

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

The world is collectively losing its mind.  Why toilet paper?  Has there been any indication the virus will make it disappear?  Got an email from CVS this morning, sale items for their cardholders.  One of the items, Quilted Northern, is what we use.  Went up there to get one packet, some mouthwash, several other drugstore items.  Toilet paper and tissue aisle picked clean.  How much can you use?  I can say this. After two world cruises, there are lots of places in this world that never heard of toilet paper.  A bucket and ladle,  sometimes a hose, often nothing at all. 😱  So suddenly we have to have a room full of tp or the world will end?  All thoughts of panic aside, the obsession with TP makes no sense at all.

Jim,

those people know that most of our paper! comes from China :(

this is the reason we have bidet in our bathrooms ;) ...

On the serious note, healthy and I presume younger people could be carriers of the virus, hence an isolation suggestion. The long  lasting food/goods are in the high demand as the result of this.

Unfortunately this is not a panic but a reality. We can’t compare this to malaria because we have meds for it. The same thing with the flu.

Again unfortunately, many viruses and bacteria got immune to the vaccines and antibiotics. It’s very difficult to find a cure to a “new” virus or it’s unusual mutation.

 

P.S. Always followed your posts with pleasure :)

[Jim Avery]

12 minutes ago, vnb2003 said:

Jim,

those people know that most of our paper! comes from China 😞

this is the reason we have bidet in our bathrooms 😉 ...

On the serious note, healthy and I presume younger people could be carriers of the virus, hence an isolation suggestion. The long  lasting food/goods are in the high demand as the result of this.

Unfortunately this is not a panic but a reality. We can’t compare this to malaria because we have meds for it. The same thing with the flu.

Again unfortunately, many viruses and bacteria got immune to the vaccines and antibiotics. It’s very difficult to find a cure to a “new” virus or it’s unusual mutation.

 

P.S. Always followed your posts with pleasure 🙂

I really hope a wake up call comes from all of this.  Having to be dependent on China for 80% of our meds, along with TP, etc. etc. is insanity.  If we go back to making our own stuff it will be a win overall.  And those clowns buying 500 rolls of TP?  Best I can figure that would do for us for a couple of years at least.  If this is still going on that long down the road, well  there will be bigger issues to deal with than TP.  Thanks for the kind words.  I hope we all get back to cruising sooner rather than later.

[vnb2003]

58 minutes ago, vandrefalk said:

I started following this thread when Jim Avery was on board (Hi Jim!) and stayed with it as your stories are amazing!  Magical Mystery Tour indeed!  I am delighted at the attitude almost all of you show and your ability to weather these strange times!  Will follow your adventures with interest.

Jim agree with you about the TP.  While I've never used a lot of hand sanitizer and seldom know where it is in the store -- now it's easy!  Just look for the empty shelves😃

Vandrefalk

Haha... I follow Jim since inaugural Viking WC. Never missed his posts 😀. Then comes  Andy 😀

Edited March 15, 2020 by vnb2003

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

TP $1,000 FCC a roll!

 

Futures limit down after the Fed announcement today...

 

Better make that $2,000 a roll.

[vnb2003]

22 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

I really hope a wake up call comes from all of this.  Having to be dependent on China for 80% of our meds, along with TP, etc. etc. is insanity.  If we go back to making our own stuff it will be a win overall.  And those clowns buying 500 rolls of TP?  Best I can figure that would do for us for a couple of years at least.  If this is still going on that long down the road, well  there will be bigger issues to deal with than TP.  Thanks for the kind words.  I hope we all get back to cruising sooner rather than later.

I agree with you to bring our business back to US. Unfortunately it not very popular 
 

We were on the last leg of the first part of 2019-2020 WC. Unfortunately we missed each other.

i really hope our cruising paths will meet again  🥂 

 

[Twitchly]

I sort of get the logic behind TP hoarding. Being concerned about getting stuck under house quarantine for a couple weeks, etc.

But I really don’t get hoarding bottled water. What is THAT about? Are people afraid the water supply will suddenly dry up or something?

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, vnb2003 said:

Haha... I follow Jim since inaugural Viking WC. Never missed his posts 😀. Then comes  Andy 😀

And we miss our home on Viking Sun.  Hope we can return sooner. 🍸

[vnb2003]

1 minute ago, Jim Avery said:

And we miss our home on Viking Sun.  Hope we can return sooner. 🍸

Im with you 🍸 

[vnb2003]

25 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

I sort of get the logic behind TP hoarding. Being concerned about getting stuck under house quarantine for a couple weeks, etc.

But I really don’t get hoarding bottled water. What is THAT about? Are people afraid the water supply will suddenly dry up or something?

Remember that we unfortunately get a lot of chemicals from out of country (mainly China and India).  People are afraid that we will hit the point of untreated water...and that means you could use bottled water only
sorry if this a bad news

[Cienfuegos]

1 hour ago, vnb2003 said:

Remember that we unfortunately get a lot of chemicals from out of country (mainly China and India).  People are afraid that we will hit the point of untreated water...and that means you could use bottled water only
sorry if this a bad news

 

Here in south Florida, many supermarket shelves have been picked clean. Also meat from the butcher counters.  I noticed this afternoon that bbq tank propane refills are in short supply.  Two providers now have sold out signs on their tanks.

 

My guess is people are falling into hurricane prep mode, even though there is no expectation that electric power or water will cease.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

A buddy went to his local costco when it opened this morning and they had pallets of TP.  One 30-pack per customer limit.

 

( Sorry dear moderator, can’t find a cruise-related way to bring this up...)

[Jim Avery]

14 minutes ago, Ragnar Danneskjold said:

A buddy went to his local costco when it opened this morning and they had pallets of TP.  One 30-pack per customer limit.

 

( Sorry dear moderator, can’t find a cruise-related way to bring this up...)

How about this.  TP?  We've been to public toilets in Viet Nam.  We don't need no steenkin' TP....😎

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I think the New York Times makes a good TP substitute.  Washington Post works well too.

[tsakishuman]

This thread has gone off the rails. Used to be informative. Moving on

[Jim Avery]

12 minutes ago, tsakishuman said:

This thread has gone off the rails. Used to be informative. Moving on

You are right,  sorry.

[Insanityx4]

We are now home from the Viking Sun, after 50 hours since departing the ship from Bali, through Dubai, to San Francisco. We are sick with colds, not the Coronavirus. Thank goodness.

Things are changing quickly here as in other parts of the US and the world. We old folks in California, age 65 yrs. plus, have been banned from leaving home indefinitely, along with many other restrictions and school closures. You cruisers on the ship are in a very good place. We met so many wonderful people while on board, stay safe and enjoy they mystery!

Edited March 16, 2020 by Insanityx4

[Heidi13]

12 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

The world is collectively losing its mind.  Why toilet paper?  Has there been any indication the virus will make it disappear?  Got an email from CVS this morning, sale items for their cardholders.  One of the items, Quilted Northern, is what we use.  Went up there to get one packet, some mouthwash, several other drugstore items.  Toilet paper and tissue aisle picked clean.  How much can you use?  I can say this. After two world cruises, there are lots of places in this world that never heard of toilet paper.  A bucket and ladle,  sometimes a hose, often nothing at all. 😱  So suddenly we have to have a room full of tp or the world will end?  All thoughts of panic aside, the obsession with TP makes no sense at all.

Jim - saw a sketch that explained the run on loo-roll perfectly.

 

1 person in a crowd coughs, which causes at least 100 to sh.t themselves.😁

[Heidi13]

14 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

I haven't checked in here very often of late, so was wondering... is there a definite plan for the Sun's remaining itinerary?  

The definite plan since departure Bali hasn't changed in that we are steaming for "Somewhere", which currently is Muscat.

 

However, with this crazy world we are living in, the plans can change every minutes, sometimes even by the second. My belief is that we will eventually arrive in London, whether we can disembark is a different discussion and one that is many weeks away.

 

In the interim, we have just under 50 sea days remaining, so enjoying lots of this 🍻🍹🥂🍷🍸🍺 and even some of this🥩🥓