Italy now has Level 3 Travel Alert - 2/29

[AlyssaJames]

7 minutes ago, Azulann said:

Presser by Trump this afternoon said that  there are travel advisory to italy. And  all those coming from italy will need a  to be checked before  coming into US.

UConn ,my local private college are  cancelling the student programs in Rome. In the local case they are shutting down the  school they own in rome for  the rest of the school year. The students are coming home.

Reuter just reported that Italy now has 1,000 case of virus. Nien days ago they had handfull  confirmed.

Italy is also *testing* far more people than many other countries, including the US. Same with S. Korea.

[Pushka]

59 minutes ago, Orator said:

I have been on many Celebrity ships and have experienced missed ports and change in ports. Each time I've been treated more than fairly and am convinced that Celebrity really places the Heath and welfare of their employees and passengers as their top priority. I've been very critical of Celebrity in the past, but not about how they've responded when faced with difficult situations. Just keep calm and let the situation work itself out. That's what I plan to do.

I understand the situation changes rapidly but I don't think those whose embarkation port changed from Singapore to Dubai just a day or so prior to the cruise would agree, for those who can't book Celebrity air but have to make their own flight bookings (eg Australians) 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Pushka

[az_tchr]

40 minutes ago, CruiseMGM said:

Italy at level 3 per the State Department, but Lombardy and Veneto at level 4? A little bit confusing.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/italy-travel-advisory.html

 

 

 

 

The CDC has three levels. US State Department 4.  Different rating scales.  Different agencies. Yes it is confusing.

[villauk]

6 minutes ago, Pushka said:

I understand the situation changes rapidly but I don't think those whose embarkation port changed from Singapore to Dubai just a day or so prior to the cruise would agree, for those who can't book Celebrity air but have to make their own flight bookings (eg Australians) 

 

And now it’s gone to level 4, do not travel, then Venice will be totally off the cards. Personally, I see no point looking to change embarkation to Spain or France either as their cases are also rising.

[Pushka]

1 minute ago, villauk said:

 

And now it’s gone to level 4, do not travel, then Venice will be totally off the cards. Personally, I see no point looking to change embarkation to Spain or France either as their cases are also rising.

Agree. Just a matter of time. I don't think the TAs are going to happen this year. I've stated that a few times now. 

[villauk]

1 minute ago, Pushka said:

. I don't think the TAs are going to happen this year. I've stated that a few times now. 

 

Yes, so have I 😉.

[Pushka]

Just now, villauk said:

 

Yes, so have I 😉.

Great minds and all that! 😁

Interestingly Australia hasn't changed the rating for Italy other than avoid unnecessary travel up north. Maybe they are having a Sunday morning sleep in!

[bauermj]

6 hours ago, drakes2 said:

I was told this morning it was for all sailings out of Rome from May into end of June.  I would call back and ask to speak to resolutions department. Its possible not all Celebrity reps have complete information. 

I tried again to push back my final payment date to 60 days out (instead of due in six days from now for our June 13 cruise out of Rome). I was told that it was only applicable for sailings in May thru June 6th. I was also told that I would need to go through my TA, and that they possibly wouldn't honor it even if Celebrity did extend the dates.

[ocngypz]

2 minutes ago, bauermj said:

I tried again to push back my final payment date to 60 days out (instead of due in six days from now for our June 13 cruise out of Rome). I was told that it was only applicable for sailings in May thru June 6th. I was also told that I would need to go through my TA, and that they possibly wouldn't honor it even if Celebrity did extend the dates.

The decision for sailings through June 6th was made yesterday afternoon before the CDC update around 6pm eastern.  I suspect we'll see changes in the coming days.  What burned me was that finals were already paid for most of the May sailings!

 

[Hllb]

When do the first sailings from Italian ports start? 

[cruiserchuck]

8 minutes ago, Hllb said:

When do the first sailings from Italian ports start? 

 

The Edge is scheduled to sail from Civitavecchia roundtrip on May 4.  Constellation is scheduled to arrive there on April 16.  I believe it is going to be revolutionized after that cruise.

Edited March 1, 2020 by cruiserchuck

[Hllb]

1 minute ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

The Edge is scheduled to sail from Civitavecchia roundtrip on May 4.  Constellation is scheduled to arrive there on April 16.

Thanks! What about other cruise lines? Any earlier?

[Orator]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

Agree. Just a matter of time. I don't think the TAs are going to happen this year. I've stated that a few times now. 

I think that they may push them back to a later date. It would be a financial disaster if they cancelled the European season. Ship have the ability to move from an area of danger to an area of calm.

[cruiserchuck]

3 minutes ago, Hllb said:

Thanks! What about other cruise lines? Any earlier?

 

The Costa Smeralda was scheduled to depart from Savona Italy today, and from Civitavecchia on March 5.

[Hllb]

7 minutes ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

The Costa Smeralda was scheduled to depart from Savona Italy today, and from Civitavecchia on March 5.

I wonder if the one today went. MSC has one leaving Rome tomorrow but it’s not going to Venice. MSC, Costa, and Viking all have cruises leaving Venice this month but I didn’t see any statements on their mobile sites and could still book those cruises. 

[drakes2]

29 minutes ago, ocngypz said:

  I suspect we'll see changes in the coming days.  What burned me was that finals were already paid for most of the May sailings!

I made final payment yesterday for our Apex May 30th sailing from Italy.  If cruise is canceled they havent determined if it will be a refund or FCC.   At that point if I cant cancel my flight with Air Canada i will go through insurance. Don't think hotels in Rome and Barcelona will be an issue.

[travelpeon]

5 hours ago, cruise kitty said:

If Celebrity decides to apply the same restrictions to Seattle as they did N. Italy, then obviously we're in for a change.  

 

trying not to obsess, but being that I obsess over planning our travel, why would this be any different ??  

Keeping your immunity levels up is the best thing to help you stay healthy.  It can help to get plenty of rest and reduce stress.

 

6 hours ago, diamondintn said:

Jim, are the people of your neighborhood taking precautions such as wearing masks, staying home, school or business closures? 

I'm a few miles north of Jim and even closer to the hospital.  Today, I went out with friends to eat brunch at a popular outdoor cafe in Menlo Park, not far from where two Palo Alto students were sent home from school as a parent had come in contact with a COVID-19 positive person.  https://www.mv-voice.com/news/2020/02/28/as-third-coronavirus-case-comes-to-light-in-santa-clara-county-palo-alto-unified-alerted-to-parent-exposed-to-disease

 

I saw two people wearing masks at the entire cafe.  One also had facial hair which would have prevented proper sealing if it was an N95.  Their group was seated next to our table and an unmasked person asked if they were sick, possibly also joked? they were not feeling well. 

 

A stiff cold wind blew at my table.  You can guess I moved to a table further away as we have a cruise scheduled from NZ at the end of the month and expect health checks if we exhibit cold or flu symptoms.  I get chilly easily.  I'm also keeping my distance from people who might be sick and larger groups when possible.

 

They had laid down the masks, cone up, on a paper towel, sitting on the cafe table.  Neither of the mask wearers used hand sanitizer before eating though they might have washed their hands.  Both sat around after eating conversing with table mates unmasked.

 

I bet they didn't think I was paying that much attention to them.  I also noticed another table near ours with a solo diner looking at his phone and a girl who was removing her shoes inside the cafe.  Call me House or Monk. 

 

Our employers, as of Thursday before the second N. California unknown case which is local, have also cancelled all international business travel for three weeks, require self-quarantine if traveling to/through a Level 3/hot spot, and asked us to consider personal travel.  Mine has also stopped all future business travel bookings.  Employees have been requested to confirm that our remote network software is working from home under a few different conditions.

Edited March 1, 2020 by travelpeon

[travelpeon]

24 minutes ago, travelpeon said:

I'm a few miles north of Jim and even closer to the hospital.  Today, I went out with friends to eat brunch at a popular outdoor cafe in Menlo Park

 

Adding the cafe was very full with a 15-20 person line to order.  I also went to the bank around lunch and some Girl Scouts were selling cookies outside.  Downtown marketplaces looked busy.  

 

I will note that there was a lack of hand sanitizer at Target, drugstores, and office stores last weekend.  There was some giant pumps of sanitizer at Costco on the Friday before the weekend and good stock of TP at that point.  It probably looks picked over right now but seeing as many people are still out and about, we're all just preparing in case we need to stay home for a while.

Edited March 1, 2020 by travelpeon

[VitaminSea53]

7 hours ago, az_tchr said:

Probably, but if Celebrity did that they would destroy the company. FCC would do the same. There are times a company needs to do what is best for the future of the company in the long term.

IMHO no possible way they say sorry. 

I was happily surprised that Celebrity changed their cancellation penalty for the May 15 sailing out of Civitavecchia. We are in the 25% penalty window (would be $2000+) but they only charged a $200 penalty plus a $700 FCC. So bottom line they withheld $900 for us to cancel. They say the offer is good until March 15 (60 days before sailing). Celebrity gets credit for doing what is right in a bad situation. 

 

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[Hllb]

5 minutes ago, VitaminSea53 said:

I was happily surprised that Celebrity changed their cancellation penalty for the May 15 sailing out of Civitavecchia. We are in the 25% penalty window (would be $2000+) but they only charged a $200 penalty plus a $700 FCC. So bottom line they withheld $900 for us to cancel. They say the offer is good until March 15 (60 days before sailing). Celebrity gets credit for doing what is right in a bad situation. 

 

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I’ve only heard good things about how celebrity is handling this, so yay! I’ve never cruised with them before.

[az_tchr]

1 hour ago, bauermj said:

I tried again to push back my final payment date to 60 days out (instead of due in six days from now for our June 13 cruise out of Rome). I was told that it was only applicable for sailings in May thru June 6th. I was also told that I would need to go through my TA, and that they possibly wouldn't honor it even if Celebrity did extend the dates.

That makes no sense. Your TA does not set the payment dates. Celebrity does.  Should be no penalty up to about March 13th or 14th. In 2 weeks you should have lots more information to make the decision right for you.

[cruiserchuck]

2 minutes ago, az_tchr said:

That makes no sense. Your TA does not set the payment dates. Celebrity does.  Should be no penalty up to about March 13th or 14th. In 2 weeks you should have lots more information to make the decision right for you.

 

I am not sure how it applies here, but we have had earlier final payment dates when using certain TAs.  I believe we were told the earlier date was because we had a group rate fare.

[Hllb]

4 minutes ago, az_tchr said:

That makes no sense. Your TA does not set the payment dates. Celebrity does.  Should be no penalty up to about March 13th or 14th. In 2 weeks you should have lots more information to make the decision right for you.

This is interesting. I used a TA and my final payment date is at 102 days before cruise. Hmmm...

[wrk2cruise]

Many TA's impose an earlier final payment date to make sure that the payment is made before the cruise lines official date.   If you cancel before the cruise line's date you should receive a refund of everything except any NRD admin fees.

[az_tchr]

29 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Many TA's impose an earlier final payment date to make sure that the payment is made before the cruise lines official date.   If you cancel before the cruise line's date you should receive a refund of everything except any NRD admin fees.

Absolutely. The TA wants the money to the cruiselines maybe 2 days (max) ahead. But 10 days?