Celebrity Travel Advisory Important update

[tomcruiser1234]

However we do know that 4 people have since died who were on the Diamond Princess  Japan certainly has very good medical services. There are also many people who have not been released. 
 

Is the fatality rate going to be as high as 2 percent of those who contacted the virus on the ship, let’s hope not. However folks keep comparing this virus to the common flu, but it appears to be much much more lethal. 
 

panic...no...highly concerned....absolutely.  I am not terrified of the common flu at all
 

 

[Pushka]

1 minute ago, tomcruiser1234 said:

However we do know that 4 people have since died who were on the Diamond Princess  Japan certainly has very good medical services. There are also many people who have not been released. 
 

Is the fatality rate going to be as high as 2 percent of those who contacted the virus on the ship, let’s hope not. However folks keep comparing this virus to the common flu, but it appears to be much much more lethal. 
 

panic...no...highly concerned....absolutely.  I am not terrified of the common flu at all
 

 

And each of those people were in their ‘80s. Both my and my husbands parents had all died before they even hit that age. It’s all in context. 

[tomcruiser1234]

Pushka,

 

you made a good point in that we do not always know the true infection  rate of those who contacted the virus so hopefully the mortality rate is less. However less than the common flu...I think not.  I have never seen Any, Any, Any.... did I say any common flu get this much attention from the CDC. 
 

That was point I was trying to make 😏

 

 

[Bo1953]

7 hours ago, gerryincork said:

We are regular Celebrity cruisers and we booked our first Caribbean cruise a year ago with Celebrity. We live in Ireland so it is a very expensive vacation for us. We have paid in full but now we are contemplating the cruise with trepidation because of the Coronavirus. We cannot see how we can possibly enjoy a cruise with the potential health risks involved especially as we need to take a number of flights to get to Miami. Celebrity are saying if we cancel or defer to another date that we lose all our money. In these exceptional circumstances I really feel this is very harsh and not very pro customer. We have travel insurance but it will not cover this situation. Any thoughts?

This topic has been discussed in the forum, yet I see you are relatively new here and Welcome.

 

Here goes...

 

It is up to you to decide what, if any risk (financial and health) you are willing to take in this case.

 

The T & C's for your booking dictate this, as well as for many others who are beyond final payment and have similar concerns.

 

Not sure of your travel insurance coverage in Ireland, yet here in the U.S. if the insurance was issued before 20 Jan 2020, you are covered, please check with your insurer to determine if it is the same timeline.

 

X is very 'pro-customer' if the sailing is cancelled, so be on the lookout at the website to see if there are any issues or changes with your sailing, it is the best source for this, currently.

 

As a last comment, if you take your sailing you will enjoy it, if not there is nothing anyone can really say except you exercised your best judgement in this case and remember if X cancels or curtails the sailing, you will be protected to the degree they determine.

 

Check the website or check around the forum to see what others have been offered for this situation, thus far. Please know what has been offered in the past may not replicate the future in terms of compensation and cancellation offers.

 

bon voyage

[az_tchr]

7 hours ago, gerryincork said:

We are regular Celebrity cruisers and we booked our first Caribbean cruise a year ago with Celebrity. We live in Ireland so it is a very expensive vacation for us. We have paid in full but now we are contemplating the cruise with trepidation because of the Coronavirus. We cannot see how we can possibly enjoy a cruise with the potential health risks involved especially as we need to take a number of flights to get to Miami. Celebrity are saying if we cancel or defer to another date that we lose all our money. In these exceptional circumstances I really feel this is very harsh and not very pro customer. We have travel insurance but it will not cover this situation. Any thoughts?

Wow. I understand you are a bit nervous. Unfortunately neither Celebrity or any other cruise line, car rental company, airline or hotel can guarantee your "safety".

You failed to share the date or destination of your cruise but will share the following:

DW and I fly to Florida then rent a car for a few days in Florida before cruising 14 days to Southampton. Then another car followed by a cruise to Norway. Fly to Edinburgh and rent a car for 6 weeks in Scotland and Ireland before flying back to Arizona.

If it is not safe Celebrity will cancel and we will attempt to cancel what we can.  At this point you have little risk flying to the US. If paranoid about flying simply wear a mask, gloves and wipe down the area about your seat. Same for cabin surfaces. Not Celebrity's fault and they are mire proactive than any other cruise company.

[az_tchr]

Sadly I agree. This is likely to get worse before it gets better. Glad I am not the Olympics organizing group.

[Scottygirl1]

My reason for cancelling our two upcoming cruises (and UK/Europe holiday) is more to protect a financial loss.  We can't insure for either a pandemic or epidemic (check small print on travel insurance) and specifically we can't now insure for Corona Virus.  We'd be mad to outlay thousands of dollars at the risk of being held up in some country due to the virus.  Forget the fear of actually getting the virus, what about the cost of being stuck somewhere and no insurance to cover that?  It's a no brainer for us.  

[clskinsfan]

30 minutes ago, tomcruiser1234 said:

Pushka,

 

you made a good point in that we do not always know the true infection  rate of those who contacted the virus so hopefully the mortality rate is less. However less than the common flu...I think not.  I have never seen Any, Any, Any.... did I say any common flu get this much attention from the CDC. 
 

That was point I was trying to make 😏

 

 

 

Exactly. Nor do countries shut down cities and implode their own economies from the flu.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

There is no guarantee of safety anywhere.  I could fall in my home alone and break my hip. We could be going to the mall and get into a car accident.  Could catch the flu at the doctors office while waiting to be seen. We're going to a play on Sunday and could come in contact with someone who had a relative who recently returned from China.  Everything we have to do and enjoy doing comes with a risk. I wouldn't knowingly put my self at extreme risk nor would I live my life bunkered down in my home.

[Pushka]

4 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

 

Exactly. Nor do countries shut down cities and implode their own economies from the flu.

And the reason for the difference is that there is no vaccine. 

[clskinsfan]

6 minutes ago, Pushka said:

And the reason for the difference is that there is no vaccine. 

No. The reason for the difference is 25% of those hospitalized with this virus end up in intensive care and 2% die from it.

Edited February 26, 2020 by clskinsfan

[cruise kitty]

We're on the first Alaska cruise of the season in May, final payment is made, & we have no plans to back out.  My only concern is that with the ship  (Solstice) is doing its TA from Aus. to Vancouver with many stops on the way is that there's a possible "domino effect"  that could happen, ie, one port deciding in an abundance of caution to refuse entry, culminating in a ship that doesn't make it to Vancouver on time, but that's just a fleeting thought.  Can't plan for every single possible outcome,  we fly out in about 80 days for a week pre cruise in Vancouver & I"m keeping fingers crossed that we won't run into any problems.

 

Next May our cruise is scheduled to end in Venice, hopefully no changes will need to be made to our fantastic itinerary :)

[Carole2313]

No, don’t cancel.  We are booked on Solstice Auckland to Sydney and the TP after that for a total of 28 days on the ship.  Just be prepared by wiping down surfaces in your cabin and on the plane and wash your hands!

[ralphd]

46 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

This topic has been discussed in the forum, yet I see you are relatively new here and Welcome.

 

Here goes...

 

It is up to you to decide what, if any risk (financial and health) you are willing to take in this case.

 

The T & C's for your booking dictate this, as well as for many others who are beyond final payment and have similar concerns.

 

Not sure of your travel insurance coverage in Ireland, yet here in the U.S. if the insurance was issued before 20 Jan 2020, you are covered, please check with your insurer to determine if it is the same timeline.

 

X is very 'pro-customer' if the sailing is cancelled, so be on the lookout at the website to see if there are any issues or changes with your sailing, it is the best source for this, currently.

 

As a last comment, if you take your sailing you will enjoy it, if not there is nothing anyone can really say except you exercised your best judgement in this case and remember if X cancels or curtails the sailing, you will be protected to the degree they determine.

 

Check the website or check around the forum to see what others have been offered for this situation, thus far. Please know what has been offered in the past may not replicate the future in terms of compensation and cancellation offers.

 

bon voyage

 

Agree!

[Pushka]

9 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

No. The reason for the difference is 25% of those hospitalized with this virus end up in intensive care and 2% die from it.

2% of those who have been tested. And the elderly are very much disproportionately represented. We don’t actually know how many people have contracted it because of what has happened in China and symptoms so mild they never seek treatment. Of all the people in Australia who have tested positive, I did not read of any who needed any intensive care and the original 11 from Wuhan have been released. 

[Pushka]

It is still summer down under and no active flu - yet. The only cases of Covid here are those cases brought in from Wuhan prior to our clamp down, and who have now been released, and more recently, the passengers from Princess Diamond who are in isolation. 7 of those tested positive and are in one of our large Public hospitals. Currently we have no local cases.  

[Germancruiser]

No cruise line ever could garantie a 100% safety for it´s passengers. No ship is unsinkable. There remains, whatever precautions we take,  a little risk. I could cross the street and be run over by a big red bus... !

I quite understand people who do not want to loose money, while stuck somewhere in the world.

The virus is in Italy now and has arrived in Germany with three new cases - all related to recent holidays in Italy.

 

 

[The_Big_M]

How long can you wait to use the cancellation insurance? Maybe wait until the cut off date?

[az_tchr]

8 hours ago, Ellie_daisy said:

 

My husband’s family is insisting on us cancelling our upcoming April cruise from Australia to NZ b/c of the virus.

I personally think it is silly. If it was an Asian cruise, I would cancel no problem, but not ours.

 

Would any of you cancel this cruise?

 

We do have a cancellation insurance but we will not get all of the $$ back. It is 3 business class tickets from Canada to NZ and back. + 11 night cruise + hotels. I personally don’t see a reason to panic. Yet at least.

 

 

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Crazy to cancel now since you are past final payment date (for us in the US). Would simply wait and see. If the virus has a significant presence by late March X will cancel and you get your $$ back and a FCC. Nothing to be lost by waiting to see what happens for a month.

[ccp1740]

In the unlikely event that it would be necessary to quarantine the ship for 14 days, how would Celebrity handle things like personal hygiene (will the bathrooms be cleaned, clean towels, etc), passenger laundry, passenger medication (do we need to carry an additional 14 day supply) and meals (diabetic, food allergies, etc)? Will enough medical personnel be available to care for the sick? What about missed flights? These circumstances go beyond the normal. Is Celebrity prepared and trained in advance to handle the Corona Virus should an outbreak occur? What assurances do we have? 

[Ellie_daisy]

Thank you everyone! I read the messages to my husband and looks like he is convinced to keep the trip going 🤞


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[clskinsfan]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

2% of those who have been tested. And the elderly are very much disproportionately represented. We don’t actually know how many people have contracted it because of what has happened in China and symptoms so mild they never seek treatment. Of all the people in Australia who have tested positive, I did not read of any who needed any intensive care and the original 11 from Wuhan have been released. 

The doctor who was the whistleblower about this virus died from it. Go to this site and analyze the numbers. 8% of the closed cases have died from this virus. There are currently almost 9000 people in critical condition around the world from it. You are being dangerously dismissive of a very serious situation:

 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

[4774Papa]

8 hours ago, Ellie_daisy said:

 

My husband’s family is insisting on us cancelling our upcoming April cruise from Australia to NZ b/c of the virus.

I personally think it is silly. If it was an Asian cruise, I would cancel no problem, but not ours.

 

Would any of you cancel this cruise?

 

We do have a cancellation insurance but we will not get all of the $$ back. It is 3 business class tickets from Canada to NZ and back. + 11 night cruise + hotels. I personally don’t see a reason to panic. Yet at least.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Agree with you about canceling, but it is a personal decision.

[Pushka]

26 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

The doctor who was the whistleblower about this virus died from it. Go to this site and analyze the numbers. 8% of the closed cases have died from this virus. There are currently almost 9000 people in critical condition around the world from it. You are being dangerously dismissive of a very serious situation:

 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Hardly matters what I think though, does it! I’m not going into full panic mode when so much is unknown as yet. 

[CruiserN1]

Limiting travel at this point is largely for show, so that people don't panic and so they feel like the authorities are doing something.  More and more mathematical models and infectious disease specialists are admitting that stopping the spread of this virus is nearly impossible.  What should be talked about more is that the vast majority of people who contract the virus will be fine. The mortality rate among known cases is around 3%. It's likely lower than that in reality because many people have had a mild case or no symptoms and so were never diagnosed. I'm  truly sorry for those who have lost a loved one. For relatively young and healthy people, this illness is no worse than influenza. I cruise Saturday on Equinox and will take reasonable precautions but am not worried.