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2 minutes ago, sunlover33 said:

No info whatsoever for people who have cruises where ports are closed, I really have no interest in seeing Sri Lanka from the deck only. Very disappointed if this is the best Azamara can do and before people jump on my post to say this is four weeks away, seriously! are the numbers worldwide rising or falling at the moment? 

I agree, we are due to fly out a week on Sunday, various reports say that 2/3 ports are refusing to let cruise ships dock or not allow passengers ashore. So, to my mind Azamara seem to be saying that they are totally confident that their cruises can go ahead as planned and that they can ensure the health of everyone onboard! I wish them luck!

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5 minutes ago, Bloodaxe said:

 

How are people supposed to know were everyone they come into contact with has been in the last 15 days 


Exactly, we stood next to a couple who we deemed were Italian in the supermarket on Monday. How do I know how long they have been here, are they on holiday, do they live here, how are we to know? 

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We are due to fly from the UK to Singapore in April to spend a few days there prior to embarking on a Azamara ship.It has been reckoned that 80% of the UK population will get some form of the Coronavirus . Where does that leave us ? We could get on the ship perfectly well then develop symptoms of the virus, we could get as far the airport in Dubai only to be tested and then put in quarantine over there. There are many more variables . Why are Azamara procrastinating at the expense of their customers , we all know what happened to the passengers on the Diamond Princess. 

Edited by chromered7
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2 minutes ago, chromered7 said:

We are due to fly from the UK to Singapore in April to spend a few days there prior to embarking on a Azamara ship.It has been reckoned that 80% of the UK population will get some form of the Coronavirus . Where does that leave us ? We could get on the ship perfectly well then develop symptoms of the virus, we could get as far the airport in Dubai only to be tested and then put in quarantine over there. There are many more variables . Why are Azamara procrastinating at the expense of their customers , we all know what happened to the passengers on the Diamond Princess. 

Perhaps what needs to happen is travel agents calling and threatening to steer customers away from any future bookings on AzamaraPerhaps what needs to happen is travel agents calling and threatening to steer customers away from any future bookings on Azamara

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33 minutes ago, momof3runners said:

1. Regardless of nationality, we will deny boarding to:

  • Any person who has traveled from, to or through mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy, Iran, or South Korea, within 15 days of boarding.
  • Any person who has come in contact with anyone with 15-day prior travel to mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy, Iran, or South Korea. The CDC characterizes contact with an individual as coming within six feet (2M) of a person
  • Our cruise leaves out of Civitavecchia Italy May 4. How does anyone board in Italy?
  • Clarification would be nice.

We are on your same Civitavecchia sailing, and have the same questions.

 

Perhaps a key sentence in Azamara's statement is this:   These temporary safety precautions will remain in place for a projected period of 30 days and will be reviewed daily for revision as conditions warrant.

 

The uncertainty is very unpleasant for all of us, but it appears Azamara is trying to tough it out over the next few weeks since the Covid-19 problem is so dynamic day-to-day.   If they adopted a generous cancellation policy right now, I suspect they would suffer bookoo cancellations right now (my wife and I certainly would).   Whereas if they can string things along for a few weeks, perhaps Covid-19 will stabilize or even retreat, and the May cruises can keep their bookings (and their profits).

 

Based on a quick scan of their ships' schedules, it appears April 23 may be a key deadline for Azamara -- on that date Quest is scheduled to depart Greece, with debarkation planned for May 2 in Venice.   Changing debarkation would have a major logistical impact on both guests and Azamara.   If the Covid-19 Italy embargo is still in place by early- to mid-April it seems something major will have to give -- either cancel the April 23 cruise or change its debarkation.    The next scheduled embarkation I see for Quest is May 9 from Venice -- again, obviously an impossibility with the current policy.  (I don't know where Quest is from May 2 though 9, maybe I missed it.)

 

Our ship, Pursuit is likewise scheduled to embark Barcelona on April 26, with debarkation May 4 in Civitavecchia.   Then we are all supposed to board, stepping foot from embargoed Italian soil.

 

That's all of course just fwiw, from my worm's eye view.   In the absence of anything definitive, my wife and I have reconciled ourselves in the meantime to just watching the news each day.   We appreciate the postings on this board to help us keep up to date.

 

 

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2 hours ago, sunlover33 said:

No info whatsoever for people who have cruises where ports are closed, I really have no interest in seeing Sri Lanka from the deck only. Very disappointed if this is the best Azamara can do and before people jump on my post to say this is four weeks away, seriously! are the numbers worldwide rising or falling at the moment? 

I am shocked and so angry . I really thought they would have given us the opportunity to cancel even if they were not cancelling themselves.  
If I have to go on this cruise and not be able to step

ashore in Sri Lanka I’ll be gutted! 😡

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While other cruise lines change their cancellation policies :

https://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/5151/

 

With cruises booked on 17 and 28 March, all we get is :

https://www.azamara.com/en-au/travel-advisory

 

We will not allow you to board if you have come from . . . listed places.

We will deny boarding if you are obviously very unwell.

On board we will not permit you to serve yourself, maintaining the usual first 24 hour precautions for the entire voyage.

No changes to itinerary required . . . ???

The port of Doha is definitely closed to cruise ships and Bahrain refused docking to two ships a couple of days ago.

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Surely they would have to notify us beforehand of port changes.  It’s not like we cannot read these for ourselves. We are due to have two stops in Sri Lanka.  They are not accepting cruise ships.
 Are they misleading us to get us onboard to then change ports of call!!!!

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As most of the cruise industry is American owned the lack of urgency in offering a satisfactory cancellation process was probably due to the low numbers of coronavirus cases in the US. This has now changed in the last 24 hours and will be dramatically increasing like an inverted pyramid going forward. Most cruise company shares were hit with 15% drops on the stock market today taking average losses to 35% in 9 trading days. With the Grand Princess in a form of quarantine off the coast of California the cruise industry will come under intense scrutiny with recommendations to suspend most cruises for a period of time. This may push the weakest into chapter 11.

The aviation industry is the main transmission tool of the virus but the cruise industry is the incubator. During March governments will take the cancellation of cruises out of the owners hands.

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22 minutes ago, difranco said:

The aviation industry is the main transmission tool of the virus but the cruise industry is the incubator.

Very succinctly put, difranco - you should copyright this! I wonder what the media industry is - perhaps the magnifying glass. Not quite sure about the politicians!

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2 hours ago, mwf7501 said:

We are on your same Civitavecchia sailing, and have the same questions.

 

Perhaps a key sentence in Azamara's statement is this:   These temporary safety precautions will remain in place for a projected period of 30 days and will be reviewed daily for revision as conditions warrant.

 

The uncertainty is very unpleasant for all of us, but it appears Azamara is trying to tough it out over the next few weeks since the Covid-19 problem is so dynamic day-to-day.   If they adopted a generous cancellation policy right now, I suspect they would suffer bookoo cancellations right now (my wife and I certainly would).   Whereas if they can string things along for a few weeks, perhaps Covid-19 will stabilize or even retreat, and the May cruises can keep their bookings (and their profits).

 

Based on a quick scan of their ships' schedules, it appears April 23 may be a key deadline for Azamara -- on that date Quest is scheduled to depart Greece, with debarkation planned for May 2 in Venice.   Changing debarkation would have a major logistical impact on both guests and Azamara.   If the Covid-19 Italy embargo is still in place by early- to mid-April it seems something major will have to give -- either cancel the April 23 cruise or change its debarkation.    The next scheduled embarkation I see for Quest is May 9 from Venice -- again, obviously an impossibility with the current policy.  (I don't know where Quest is from May 2 though 9, maybe I missed it.)

 

Our ship, Pursuit is likewise scheduled to embark Barcelona on April 26, with debarkation May 4 in Civitavecchia.   Then we are all supposed to board, stepping foot from embargoed Italian soil.

 

That's all of course just fwiw, from my worm's eye view.   In the absence of anything definitive, my wife and I have reconciled ourselves in the meantime to just watching the news each day.   We appreciate the postings on this board to help us keep up to date.

 

 

We are on the sailing April 23 from Athens. Whilst we are disembarking in Venice, it doesn’t make us feel very comfortable knowing that Azamara will disembark passengers into a city that is one of the cities affected by the Covid-19.
The next Quest cruise 2-9 May is a chartered cruise Venice to Venice (or it was, because we were originally on a b2b when the cancelled our second cruise for the chartered cruise.)

The cruise after is Venice to Nice. 
So, are Azamara are going to embark all those passengers in Venice??  I doubt it very much!! 

 

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While Azamara is committed to doing all possible to maintain the health and well-beingof guests and crew at the forefront of all we do. 

 

It seems that Azamara really don’t care about their passengers and crew otherwise they would not be sailing into or out of any Italian port!!! 

 

 

Edited by DRJVH
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Bearing in mind where Italy were 7-10 days ago and how this virus is mushrooming, the number of sufferers in France and Spain may also be very elevated by the time of our April cruises.

 

i would assume Azamara are taking this into consideration when planning how or if there is a Mediterranean season this year.

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I still think a European Easter Holiday travel ban is likely. This may be in the form of an EU directive which will be beyond the control of cruise companies and passengers.

If the virus continues at the current rate of explosion, most of Europe will be on lockdown within 4 weeks. Look at the Italian transmission rates of 3838 recorded cases and 148 deaths up to midnight 5th March. Check the figures this time tomorrow night on https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ and this will give you a good idea on multiplication rates and a broader view of the issue in other European countries. 

(thanks to Vgroom for the website tip-off).

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2 hours ago, DRJVH said:

While Azamara is committed to doing all possible to maintain the health and well-beingof guests and crew at the forefront of all we do. 

 

It seems that Azamara really don’t care about their passengers and crew otherwise they would not be sailing into or out of any Italian port!!! 

 

 

by refusing to relax their cancellation policies, as other lines have done, Azamara has proven they don't care about their passengers welfare.  I will never sail with them again. 

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2 hours ago, Spursgirl said:

Bearing in mind where Italy were 7-10 days ago and how this virus is mushrooming, the number of sufferers in France and Spain may also be very elevated by the time of our April cruises.

 

i would assume Azamara are taking this into consideration when planning how or if there is a Mediterranean season this year.

Or cruising into and thru Indonesia with disembarkation in Singapore on 4/11.   We are booked on the 3/24 Journey sailing from Sydney to Singapore. .   Azamara is moving full steam ahead with zero changes and no refunds or FCC.      Singapore. Is threatening six months in jail if they discover you are unable to accurately account your exact whereabouts during the past six months.    We are booked on this cruise and Azamara is giving us zero options .....sail with us or lose your entire cruise fare.   This goes against CDC recommendations, (discouraging any Cruise  in, out, or thru Asia)  Their own parent company RCCL’s decision to pull all ships from Singapore and lifting of cancellation penalties by every other cruise line; defies logic on the part of Azamara.   Their horrific customer service and lack of concern for their passengers and crew borders on criminal and is at the very least, dangerous, reckless, and negligent.  .    I have never experienced such horrendous customer service and total lack of concern for passengers and crew .....never again RCCL Celebrity, or Azamara  ....our cruise line of choice since 2003.    Appallingly negligent behavior.    Guessing that their repeat passengers will abandon them In the future due to this fiasco of reckless mismanagement.  

Edited by katiebeth
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