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PRINCESS SHIPS & CORONA VIRUS


mcrcruiser
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I was supposed to be on the 3/7 sailing of the Royal Princess.  As I reflect on what happened there is one thing I wish Princess had done differently.....

 

On Friday they were aware of the confirmed coronavirus cases on the Grand.  The CDC then discovered that a crew member from the Grand had been transferred to the Royal.  Princess told them they had been onboard for over two weeks with no sign of illness.  So the CDC released the ship to sail on Saturday.  If I were Jan Swartz I immediately would have figured out a way to test that crew member for the virus even thought the CDC cleared the ship.  Why risk it?  Well that didn’t happened and on Saturday everything changed.

 

The Carnival Panorama arrived into Long Beach port on Saturday with a sick passenger. The CDC would not let anybody disembark until that passenger was tested.  They then asked Princess to test the crew member. But there was not enough time to get them tested and get the results prior to sailing. So Princess canceled our cruise late Saturday afternoon.  That was a huge loss for Princess and they inconvenienced and disappointed an entire terminal full of people who had eagerly been waiting to board.  If they had taken the initiative to perform the test on their own on Friday then they could have given the results to the CDC.  The crew member tested negative so we would have sailed.

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4 hours ago, arabrab said:

A day late and a dollar short as my dad would have said. 

I am sure you would’ve done it much better, given your eagle-eyed hindsight and obvious political neutrality. 

Edited by Wehwalt
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I think Princess are doing the best they can.  Nothing like this has happened before.  I think they are being great with there refunds and free future cruises.  Yes people are being inconvenienced by having there cruises cancelled at such short notice, but that is because Princess are trying to run cruises as normal if they can, and waiting right to the last minute with the chance of not cancelling. 

 

I would do away with self serve buffet though.

 

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Just a word of caution for anyone with any kind of Respiratory issue please do not use lysol spray! My pulmonologist says not to use it ,he says it gets in your lungs!When I used to work and a coworker came in hacking I would spray the place down when they left .  I thought I was doing a good thing 😞

 

Edited by Reader0108598
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9 hours ago, h20luvr said:

The article is biased from extremely liberal news site Politico.  Stop politicizing coronavirus to attack current administration    

 

I have no idea what article you are talking about.....the world media is talking about COVID-19 and DENIAL is not a river in the Egypt (maybe DC).....I cannot believe how sensitive and touchy people are who do not want to accept that COVID-19 is going to change the way we live for awhile in the US!!!!

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3 hours ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

Cancel all cruising, effective immediately.

 

I agree....at least for the next 2 months at least because now the cruise lines are putting passengers on ships and they have no idea if they are super carries or not.......they are gambling with 1000's of people's lives and their practices are going against what is being suggested by the experts to not allow large gatherings of people to prevent the spread of COVID-19....and cruise ships meet the criteria of a large gathering!!!  As a matter of Princess basically brought the disease to the USA!

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6 hours ago, howlingfun said:

To get new bookings they could offer the $1 booking deposit.  I haven't seen that since Thanksgiving.

 I don't see anyone booking anything until this is over. Also the cruise fare would have to be dirt cheap as the $1 deposit is only a delay of the overall final payment. The fear of getting the virus isn't the reason for not booking a cruise. Look how many are still going on their cruise even though they can get a refund of some sort. It's the uncertainty of closed ports and quarantine that has everyone unnerved. This isn't going away anytime soon. It's just heating up and the fact that Florida has now been hit doesn't instill confidence that the warm weather will kill it off.  I honestly thought that Florida and the Caribbean would be the safest itinerary and would be the least effected by Corona but now itineraries are being canceled there.

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3 hours ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

Cancel all cruising, effective immediately.

There is talk of closing down the MTA here in NY. If they can shut down the very core of transportation that's a necessity for NYC business and residents, They can shut down leisure travel.

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1 minute ago, Iamcruzin said:

 I honestly thought that Florida and the Caribbean would be the safest itinerary and would be the least effected by Corona but now itineraries are being canceled there.

 

Yes, you would think they would have taken better precautions at the Princess Terminal at Port Everglades but it can happen anywhere, Cambodia today with Viking:

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50700622/samples-from-62-people-onboard-viking-river-cruise-in-kg-cham-off-for-covid-19-tests

 

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1 minute ago, Mikey0368 said:

 

MGM Resorts in Las Vegas have closed their buffets.

I can't believe none of the cruise lines haven't done that from the start. They used to do it during a norovirus break out.  I don't know if they still do it now.

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6 hours ago, spingal said:

I was supposed to be on the 3/7 sailing of the Royal Princess.  As I reflect on what happened there is one thing I wish Princess had done differently.....

 

On Friday they were aware of the confirmed coronavirus cases on the Grand.  The CDC then discovered that a crew member from the Grand had been transferred to the Royal.  Princess told them they had been onboard for over two weeks with no sign of illness.  So the CDC released the ship to sail on Saturday.  If I were Jan Swartz I immediately would have figured out a way to test that crew member for the virus even thought the CDC cleared the ship.  Why risk it?  Well that didn’t happened and on Saturday everything changed.

 

The Carnival Panorama arrived into Long Beach port on Saturday with a sick passenger. The CDC would not let anybody disembark until that passenger was tested.  They then asked Princess to test the crew member. But there was not enough time to get them tested and get the results prior to sailing. So Princess canceled our cruise late Saturday afternoon.  That was a huge loss for Princess and they inconvenienced and disappointed an entire terminal full of people who had eagerly been waiting to board.  If they had taken the initiative to perform the test on their own on Friday then they could have given the results to the CDC.  The crew member tested negative so we would have sailed.

 

The problem was Princess didn't HAVE one of the tests, even if they had wanted to test the crew member before they were ordered to.   If they had a test right when ordered to do so, they could have cruised, but left late.   They had to wait for the CDC to get a test to them to preform it.

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24 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

 I don't see anyone booking anything until this is over. Also the cruise fare would have to be dirt cheap as the $1 deposit is only a delay of the overall final payment. The fear of getting the virus isn't the reason for not booking a cruise. Look how many are still going on their cruise even though they can get a refund of some sort. It's the uncertainty of closed ports and quarantine that has everyone unnerved. This isn't going away anytime soon. It's just heating up and the fact that Florida has now been hit doesn't instill confidence that the warm weather will kill it off.  I honestly thought that Florida and the Caribbean would be the safest itinerary and would be the least effected by Corona but now itineraries are being canceled there.

I don’t think any of us know what the final fall out of this will be. If it can be handled relatively quickly then the cruise industry might make a come back and cruising might return to a similar state to what it was before but I can easily visualize a situation where a longer time frame to get things under control could result in a drastically altered cruise industry. How long can the lines go on maintaining ships that aren’t running cruises and bringing in $$$ ? I can see a scenario where a number of ships are mothballed and where, once this passes, we actually have fewer operating companies and fewer ships out there and higher prices for those who want to cruise. 

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3 minutes ago, sunshine 229 said:

I don’t think any of us know what the final fall out of this will be. If it can be handled relatively quickly then the cruise industry might make a come back and cruising might return to a similar state to what it was before but I can easily visualize a situation where a longer time frame to get things under control could result in a drastically altered cruise industry. How long can the lines go on maintaining ships that aren’t running cruises and bringing in $$$ ? I can see a scenario where a number of ships are mothballed and where, once this passes, we actually have fewer operating companies and fewer ships out there and higher prices for those who want to cruise. 

This is where having those mega passenger ships in your fleet will hurt. Thankfully Princess and Celebrity aren't there yet. However they attract an older crowd who seem to be the target for the virus.

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26 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

This is where having those mega passenger ships in your fleet will hurt. Thankfully Princess and Celebrity aren't there yet. However they attract an older crowd who seem to be the target for the virus.

Yeah but we bounce back ...lol True I like the older ships not crazy about the new ones! Oh thanks Princess for not considering your older customer when you did not put stairs in for the pool on the Sky!  So much for me relaxing in a pool on vacation...Not!

 

 

 

 

Edited by Reader0108598
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15 minutes ago, Reader0108598 said:

Yeah but we bounce back ...lol True I like the older ships not crazy about the new ones! Oh thanks Princess for not considering your older customer when you did not put stairs in for the pool on the Sky!  So much for me relaxing in a pool on vacation...Not!

 

 

 

 

I'll be 60 in December so I'm on the cusp of the the Corona target. Thankfully I never smoked so I don't have a compromised respiratory system. My comment about the older demographic was to point out that their target audience might be put off from cruising for a while.  I think this ordeal has been a real education and has taught me to look at things differently like taking along a months supply of daily medication for a 7 day cruise and  looking at insurance policies differently.

Edited by Iamcruzin
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4 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

I'll be 60 in December so I'm on the cusp of the the Corona target. Thankfully I never smoked so I don't have a compromised respiratory system. My comment about the older demographic was to point out that their target audience might be put off from cruising for a while.  I think this ordeal has been a real education and has taught me to look at things differently like taking along a months supply of daily medication for a 7 day cruise and  looking at insurance policies differently.


I’m right there with you, although my DH is a bit older.  We are both in good health and were surprised to see they said elderly people (saying 60 and above) should reconsider cruising at this time.  Who are they calling elderly?  Dang!  We never really thought of ourselves as elderly!  There is a huge difference between the health between some 60 year olds.  I’m glad they clarified that statement a bit ... probably everyone in the travel  industry encouraged them to further refine their position on that.  
Of interest, someone I met with yesterday had friends with a cruise booked out of Italy this November.  They actually got a phone call from the cruiseline asking them all about their health status, including what meds they took.. I think she said it was Princess but I can’t be sure.  Wow?  Really?  Wonder if they are looking at the feasibility of cruising in that area, even though it is eight months away?  
Lots of changes, that’s for sure!  
Another friend just flew from North Carolina to New Orleans this morning ... said the flights were over half empty.  The airlines, along with the cruiselines are bleeding money right now. I’m sure the large and small independent travel agencies are also taking a big hit.  Sad to see!  

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3 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:


I’m right there with you, although my DH is a bit older.  We are both in good health and were surprised to see they said elderly people (saying 60 and above) should reconsider cruising at this time.  Who are they calling elderly?  Dang!  We never really thought of ourselves as elderly!  There is a huge difference between the health between some 60 year olds.  I’m glad they clarified that statement a bit ... probably everyone in the travel  industry encouraged them to further refine their position on that.  
Of interest, someone I met with yesterday had friends with a cruise booked out of Italy this November.  They actually got a phone call from the cruiseline asking them all about their health status, including what meds they took.. I think she said it was Princess but I can’t be sure.  Wow?  Really?  Wonder if they are looking at the feasibility of cruising in that area, even though it is eight months away?  
Lots of changes, that’s for sure!  
Another friend just flew from North Carolina to New Orleans this morning ... said the flights were over half empty.  The airlines, along with the cruiselines are bleeding money right now. I’m sure the large and small independent travel agencies are also taking a big hit.  Sad to see!  

My wife has been telling me that the Long Island Railroad has been empty. Those who can work from home are probably doing so in lieu of commuting  to Manhattan.

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5 hours ago, Wehwalt said:

I am sure you would’ve done it much better, given your eagle-eyed hindsight and obvious political neutrality. 

What does political neutrality have to do with accepting that both the CDC and the Secretary of Health have said that mistakes were made in the test development/rollout? 

 

And, just as I don't know you, you don't know me. The decisions people (companies, governments, the CDC,...) make to build stuff* on their own rather than buying existing tech often come back to bite them. Sometimes it is a big win...but often not. In this case, it was a serious mistake that put us weeks behind in testing. That is not politics -- it is the truth. There were testing systems that were already developed and proven. We wanted to build our own. It didn't work and is still not working well. Symptomatic people are still not being tested, while tests are magically being made available to politicians.

 

* As many companies/orgs that have tried to build their own payroll systems have found out. I think the LA school system took about a year to get pay straightened out after their fiasco.

 

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25 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:


I’m right there with you, although my DH is a bit older.  We are both in good health and were surprised to see they said elderly people (saying 60 and above) should reconsider cruising at this time.  Who are they calling elderly?  Dang!  We never really thought of ourselves as elderly!  There is a huge difference between the health between some 60 year olds.  I’m glad they clarified that statement a bit ... probably everyone in the travel  industry encouraged them to further refine their position on that.  
Of interest, someone I met with yesterday had friends with a cruise booked out of Italy this November.  They actually got a phone call from the cruiseline asking them all about their health status, including what meds they took.. I think she said it was Princess but I can’t be sure.  Wow?  Really?  Wonder if they are looking at the feasibility of cruising in that area, even though it is eight months away?  
Lots of changes, that’s for sure!  
Another friend just flew from North Carolina to New Orleans this morning ... said the flights were over half empty.  The airlines, along with the cruiselines are bleeding money right now. I’m sure the large and small independent travel agencies are also taking a big hit.  Sad to see!  

I know right !! I am 61... so insulted!! JK hubby is 72 .... you are as old as you feel we are staying put for now! He would be fine but I have Respiratory issues 😞 I just canceled our 40 th anniversary trip for May 😞

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