Are you afraid of the coronavirus in your next cruise?

[sfaaa]

4 hours ago, richstowe said:

It is the ultimate medical boogeyman . It has the mortality rate about that of the flu at 1% . How many cruises have been cancelled because of the flu ? Nothing but fear mongering BUT incredible , amazing monumental fear mongering . It's impact is due to this unwarranted fear . You and the vast majority of the world share this fear . 

It really doesn't matter what the mortality rate is from coronavirus. Although most will survive COVID-19, no one enjoys getting sick, feeling miserable and passing this highly contagious virus to others. If being fearful would make people be more aware of COVID-19 and take extra precautions to prevent it from spreading, it can only be a good thing.

[That sinking feeling]

Except of course he was accused of over-estimating to which he replied its better to do that than under estimate.

 

And he was talking hypothetically about what COULD happen.

 

Make of that what you will.

[yorkshirephil]

There are a lot of cancellations, we cancelled our MSC Far East 30 night cruise yesterday, within hours we had texts and emails offering the cruise for half the price, and with tips included which were not part of our deal. We are not overly concerned about getting the virus but are concerned about what MSC or one of the governments may do. Being stuck on a ship in a warm climate is one thing, being stuck in the cabin is another.

[Christine13020]

14 hours ago, sfaaa said:

It really doesn't matter what the mortality rate is from coronavirus. Although most will survive COVID-19, no one enjoys getting sick, feeling miserable and passing this highly contagious virus to others. If being fearful would make people be more aware of COVID-19 and take extra precautions to prevent it from spreading, it can only be a good thing.

I agree. I’m sick of people skipping the washing stations in the buffet and the cruise lines not enforcing their own health rules. Or people going to the dining room coughing and sneezing obviously under the weather. They should stay in their cabin and order in and wear a mask in common areas to stop the spread of their germs. That is how I got sick on my last cruise, 2 women at the next table coughing on me. I said before and I’ll say it again, if I see things like that I reporting it to the captain. I think some of the nay sayers on these boards work in the cruise/travel industry  and are scared of losing business but maybe this will force the industry to do better in health and safety.

Edited February 21, 2020 by Christine13020
Grammer

[2wheelin]

1 hour ago, Christine13020 said:

I agree. I’m sick of people skipping the washing stations in the buffet and the cruise lines not enforcing their own health rules. Or people going to the dining room coughing and sneezing obviously under the weather. They should stay in their cabin and order in and wear a mask in common areas to stop the spread of their germs. That is how I got sick on my last cruise, 2 women at the next table coughing on me. I said before and I’ll say it again, if I see things like that I reporting it to the captain. I think some of the nay sayers on these boards work in the cruise/travel industry  and are scared of losing business but maybe this will force the industry to do better in health and safety.

Yes, absolutely, people should be more careful. But everyone who coughs (maybe from allergies) should stay in their cabin? What is the lab test you used to verify the two women infected you and you didn’t pick it up elsewhere—even before getting on the ship, which is most common.

[davekathy]

46 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

Yes, absolutely, people should be more careful. But everyone who coughs (maybe from allergies) should stay in their cabin? What is the lab test you used to verify the two women infected you and you didn’t pick it up elsewhere—even before getting on the ship, which is most common.

Our March/April cruise is in the Caribbean on the Summit. My wife has allergies which causes her to sneeze (like most others). I can only imagine what the chicken little's are going to be thinking and the dirty looks. 🙄

 

• Quote

Edited February 21, 2020 by davekathy

[Christine13020]

8 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

Yes, absolutely, people should be more careful. But everyone who coughs (maybe from allergies) should stay in their cabin? What is the lab test you used to verify the two women infected you and you didn’t pick it up elsewhere—even before getting on the ship, which is most common.

Lol- I’m not an idiot. They were very frank with me that they had infection/fever. They should have stayed in their cabin. I came down with same symptoms shortly after contact.

[KnowTheScore]

Coronavirus is now significantly affecting Italy

 

https://www.france24.com/en/20200221-10-italian-towns-in-lockdown-over-coronavirus-fears

 

 

"Authorities in northern Italy on Friday ordered the closure of schools, bars and other public spaces in 10 towns following a flurry of new coronavirus cases.

 

Five doctors and 10 other people tested positive for the virus in Lombardy, after apparently frequenting the same bar and group of friends, with two other cases in Veneto, authorities said at a press conference.

 

Over 50,000 people have been asked to stay at home in the areas concerned, while all public activities such as carnival celebrations, church masses and sporting events have been banned for up to a week"

 

 

[dogs4fun]

22 minutes ago, KnowTheScore said:

Coronavirus is now significantly affecting Italy

This may affect Med cruises shortly. I'm keeping my eye on developments in Italy as we have a TA to Rome planned in April with an extended stay in Rome upon arrival.  

[Christine13020]

Story about Diamond Princess 
 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/world/asia/coronavirus-japan-cruise-ship.html?referringSource=articleShare

[KnowTheScore]

1 hour ago, dogs4fun said:

This may affect Med cruises shortly. I'm keeping my eye on developments in Italy as we have a TA to Rome planned in April with an extended stay in Rome upon arrival.  

 

Civitavecchia is the main cruise port for visits to Rome.   That port already denied initial permission for passengers on the Costa Smerelda ship to disembark for a period of I believe 12 hours simply because the ship had people on-board with symptoms of cold/flu, symptoms which I see on every cruise I take.     This was before these latest town shut downs in Italy.  How likely do you think it is that there will be people on your cruise with similar symptoms? 

 

 

[dogs4fun]

5 minutes ago, KnowTheScore said:

Civitavecchia is the main cruise port for visits to Rome.   That port already denied initial permission for passengers on the Costa Smerelda ship to disembark for a period of I believe 12 hours simply because the ship had people on-board with symptoms of cold/flu, symptoms which I see on every cruise I take.     This was before these latest town shut downs in Italy.  How likely do you think it is that there will be people on your cruise with similar symptoms? 

Yes, we are aware that the port of Civitavecchia serves cruise passengers visiting Rome - we have been many times.

Although I am quite sure that there will be passengers on our TA with cold symptoms, I am assuming that it is highly unlikely that there will be problems with coronavirus fears on our particular cruise as it commences in Ft. Lauderdale and ends in Rome.  MSC & Costa ships are still disgorging their passengers in Civi & Naples - the Smeralda incident was, thus far, a "one off" & is scheduled to again dock in Civi on February 27th. This is why we are closely following developments - hopefully there will not be an uptick in USA infections in the near future or an uptick in port closures in Italy. However, if there appears to be conditions of mass hysteria with Italy not allowing cruise passengers to disembark we will cancel our cruise and (hopefully) fly into Rome.

[babs135]

I have a hiatus hernia and occasionally after a period of discomfort I cough which seems to relieve my aches. Unfortunately when I say I cough I mean really cough. If it was an Olympic sport I would definitely win gold. I wonder what would have happened if I'd had a coughing fit on our recent cruise?

[KnowTheScore]

33 minutes ago, babs135 said:

I have a hiatus hernia and occasionally after a period of discomfort I cough which seems to relieve my aches. Unfortunately when I say I cough I mean really cough. If it was an Olympic sport I would definitely win gold. I wonder what would have happened if I'd had a coughing fit on our recent cruise?

 

It's a good point babs and one that sufferers of other conditions have raised.  People with say COPD or other ailments that regularly see them coughing.    I don't think you need to worry.   I think most cruise lines now are operating similar precautions which are that people will be screened during embarkation for fever symptoms and the like and would continue to be screened at varying intervals throughout the cruise.

Edited February 22, 2020 by KnowTheScore

[LeDemonBlond]

At this point, following the news and seeing how this virus plays out. We have a European Cruise this summer and final payment due at the end of March so I have some time before committing.  

[ptjenn]

We just cancelled our caribbean cruise late March.  Not worried about contracting coronavirus but concerned about the cruise lines being on such high alert. If they even suspect someone may have the virus I cannot put myself, my husband, and my 2 year old quaratined in a room for days just to hear it was a false alarm. Not to mention cruise ports rejecting the stop as you cruise about the sea. It was a very very hard decision. If it were just myself and my husband we would have still gone. We asked ourself the hard question : would our work be understanding if we were stuck on the boat idling in the ocean and could not return to work as scheduled no!  Would our two year old be OK sitting in a room for days absolutely no.

 

So we are not fearful of the virus, nor contracting it. The fear lies in the unknown. Can I really relax not knowing that tomorrow all passengers are ordered to their cabin.  We have cruised during the swine flu. During the ebola - flying into the mediterrrean. We saw Sicilian port authorities in HAZMAT suits. So if someone says we are paranoid we are not.

 

It depends on your situation and every passenger needs to evaluate the unknowns with everyone on high alert right now. 

[richstowe]

If the last two posts are any indication of popular sentiment , the cruise industry and in fact the entire travel industry, are in BIG trouble . 

[KnowTheScore]

13 minutes ago, ptjenn said:

We just cancelled our caribbean cruise late March.  Not worried about contracting coronavirus but concerned about the cruise lines being on such high alert. If they even suspect someone may have the virus I cannot put myself, my husband, and my 2 year old quaratined in a room for days just to hear it was a false alarm. Not to mention cruise ports rejecting the stop as you cruise about the sea. It was a very very hard decision. If it were just myself and my husband we would have still gone. We asked ourself the hard question : would our work be understanding if we were stuck on the boat idling in the ocean and could not return to work as scheduled no!  Would our two year old be OK sitting in a room for days absolutely no.

 

So we are not fearful of the virus, nor contracting it. The fear lies in the unknown. Can I really relax not knowing that tomorrow all passengers are ordered to their cabin.  We have cruised during the swine flu. During the ebola - flying into the mediterrrean. We saw Sicilian port authorities in HAZMAT suits. So if someone says we are paranoid we are not.

 

It depends on your situation and every passenger needs to evaluate the unknowns with everyone on high alert right now. 

 

I don't think you are paranoid in the least, just eminently sensible and assessing the situation in accordance with your personal circumstances as we all must.   I like you am cancelling cruises.

 

[KnowTheScore]

15 minutes ago, richstowe said:

If the last two posts are any indication of popular sentiment , the cruise industry and in fact the entire travel industry, are in BIG trouble . 

 

They already are and they already know it.   Royal Caribbean already announced an earnings shortfall.

 

"Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd on Thursday said it had cancelled 18 cruises in Southeast Asia and joined larger rival Carnival Corp in warning that its full-year earnings would be hit by the coronavirus outbreak."

 

"Last week, Royal Caribbean said it canceled eight cruises out of China through March 4 and warned of a 25 cent impact to its first quarter earnings."

 

"The company said the 18 canceled cruises would cut its full-year earnings per share by 65 cents, warning that cancelling all its remaining sailings in Asia through the end of April, would reduce its earnings per share by another 55 cents in 2020."

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/13/reuters-america-royal-caribbean-cancels-18-cruises-warns-coronavirus-hit-to-yearly-profit.html

 

 

Bear in mind those profit warnings are based on the cruise line itself cancelling cruises in Asia.  What of the myriad of people cancelling other cruises at the current time?   There's no doubt at all that COVID-19 is going to very seriously impact the profits of all cruise lines imho.  Accordingly I already ditched my Carnival shares when they were at the recent high.  

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by KnowTheScore

[KnowTheScore]

You can read Carnival's announcement in relation to financial impact here:

 

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/CCL/carnival-update-on-financial-impact-of-coronavirus-ields3qewuftf43.html

[navybankerteacher]

On 2/20/2020 at 2:46 PM, richstowe said:

It is the ultimate medical boogeyman . It has the mortality rate about that of the flu at 1% . How many cruises have been cancelled because of the flu ? Nothing but fear mongering BUT incredible , amazing monumental fear mongering . It's impact is due to this unwarranted fear . You and the vast majority of the world share this fear . 

The mortality rate is not really the bottom line.  Even if it has just a 1% rate, if the number infected is twenty times as high - which could ultimately be the case as there is no vaccine (and may be none for a period of years) - the death toll would be twenty times as great as that from the flu - which is largely containable.

[ilikeanswers]

On 2/21/2020 at 6:46 AM, richstowe said:

It is the ultimate medical boogeyman . It has the mortality rate about that of the flu at 1% . How many cruises have been cancelled because of the flu ? Nothing but fear mongering BUT incredible , amazing monumental fear mongering . It's impact is due to this unwarranted fear . You and the vast majority of the world share this fear . 

 

Coronavirus Is Bad. Comparing It to the Flu Is Worse

[ptjenn]

The biggest concern and question for any future cruisers, could you handle being quarantined for 14 days. If one person on the boat out of thousands tests positive there is a high likelyhood that they may quarartine everyone. This is why we cancelled. They don't know enough about the virus incubation period. In cases of flu or norovirus only the person and/or cabin members are quarartined for a few days NOT the whole ship for 2 weeks.

 

Our situation is unique in that we are traveling with a 2.5 yr old, and that very very slim possibility would be a nightmare, and I may never want to cruise again if that were to happen.

[AlyssaJames]

After the utter failure of the Diamond Princess quarantine, it seems unlikely they’d try that a second time. 

[Toofarfromthesea]

2 hours ago, AlyssaJames said:

After the utter failure of the Diamond Princess quarantine, it seems unlikely they’d try that a second time. 

 

Did it fail?  Has there been a widespread outbreak in Japan?  Keeping their people safe was the primary purpose of that quarantine.  The well being of the quarantined passengers and stopping the spread on the ship, was very much a secondary priority.

 

One thing the coronavirus will reveal is the relative competence of government's around the world.