Corona Virus.. anyone worried??

[pmck]

Good Morning,

 

My family and I are booked for a May, 2020 cruise out of Puerto Rico. Every day more and more stories are on the news about the Corona Virus.

I'm trying not to over react, but it is a little scary.  What do you think?  I'm thinking that maybe the screening process getting on the ship will be more comprehensive.

My husband thinks that we won't have any issues, but we still have to get through 69 days and who knows what can happen in that time..

 

 

[OnTheJourney]

Good morning to you pmck!  I agree totally and, yes, admit to a certain degree of apprehension. Given that there appears to be no evidence of containment yet to prevent an increasingly pendemic situation, it is a scary and somewhat unpredictable event. If I didn't have cruises booked already, I probably wouldn't add any additional right now. I can surely foresee longer boarding / screening times. Best thing to do is to keep a lookout for any cases that might appear down that way - so far I don't see anything in the Caribbean area other than the one case in the Dominican Republic. I like this site to keep track of it .  As you said, you still have a good amount of time to go yet - much can happen (either way, of course) relative to new cases, level of containment, status of potential vaccine development and dispersal, etc. Look forward to your cruise, but with an eye towards taking special precautions - a few days' worth of extra meds, sanitizing supplies, etc. We're 'all in the same boat' so-to-speak, (no pun intended...) but would really hate to wind up in a quarantined or otherwise significantly delayed scenario. We're planning on packing a few extra books. 

Edited March 2, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[okiedrifters]

8 minutes ago, pmck said:

Good Morning,

 

My family and I are booked for a May, 2020 cruise out of Puerto Rico. Every day more and more stories are on the news about the Corona Virus.

I'm trying not to over react, but it is a little scary.  What do you think?  I'm thinking that maybe the screening process getting on the ship will be more comprehensive.

My husband thinks that we won't have any issues, but we still have to get through 69 days and who knows what can happen in that time..

 

 

Good morning! Agreed, it is certainly concerning and that being said, hubby, myself and 2 teenagers are “staying calm and carrying on”.  We sail from Barcelona mid June and presently, (unless the US State Dept says “no go”) we plan to go forward with our cruise, and continue to do the processes to prevent any infectious disease as we always do. 
 

Our plan may change in the next coming weeks if it continues to spread through Europe.  And, if that happens, the choice will probably be removed from us. Flights may cancel, cruise may cancel, etc. 

 

For now, we are “a go”, but know the decision could be made for us. 
 

Best of luck in making your decision.

 

 

 

 

 

[Snit13]

I find it difficult to worry about things over which I have no control.  It appears the greatest minds in the world of research and medicine are closely monitoring the situation.  If only China had been honest and told the other countries in the world what the situation was in their country we wouldn't be in this situation.  I fortunately can afford to boycott known Chinese made products and plan to do so.  I have put all clothing with "Made in China" back on the rack for years as I believe in jobs for Americans.  Not comfortable with what I recently heard that most if not all of our medicine is now made in China.  That really scares me.  I have 3 cruises booked and have no intentions of canceling any of them.  I do plan to be more diligent on what I touch and to wash hands more frequently and never put my knife, fork, spoon down on a table top.  Always get extra napkin to sit it on when no plate is available.  Also avoid ship buffet.

[JeffT237]

We have 2 cruises booked, in May Seattle to Alaska and in January Miami to the eastern Caribbean.  At this point I'm mildly concerned with our May cruise especially with the news of the 2 deaths and possible outbreak in the Kirkland area of Washington state.  Most of my concern is the reaction from the travel industry and things that are out of my control.  I think the industry is reacting as events unfold and trying to stay ahead of this but the Coronavirus is still so new and the authorities are still trying to figure out the proper response.  An example would be from that cruise last week where a ship was denied docking in Jamaica and the Cayman Island because 1 crew member had been diagnosed with the flu.  It's probably only a matter of time where a passenger at the airport or cruise terminal gets denied boarding because their pulse ox is low that morning due to their COPD history or they sneeze or cough due to allergies and they get denied.  That's what concerns me, you'd be at the discretion of the person screening you and who knows that person's qualifications.  If you're sick you should be denied but I don't blame the industry from being overly conservative right now.  Again these are things that I can't control.  

 

We have no plans to cancel at this time and we're both looking forward to our upcoming cruises. So we'll just continue to keep an eye on it and make the best decision for us at the time of travel,  control the things we can control and not watch too much media coverage (spoiler alert the media tends to overhype pretty much every thing they cover).

[royal girl]

We are a bit worried for our August cruise to Bermuda.  But we have until May 1 to make any decisions, either cancel or move to another date.

[HalfHand]

www.worldometer.com is another good site to track stuff.

 

If I were a betting man, I'd say you won't be going anywhere come May. Keep an eye on Washington state, how they handle it with quarantines and etc is going to be pretty much how the rest of the nation will be handled.

 

Bottom line, it's already in the wild. Current cases being reported are mostly from known sources but there is speculation that it has been out in Washington state for 1 to 6 weeks. The high school kid had it for almost a week while in school.

[MalteseMama2]

We leave this weekend to fly to San Juan & board Freedom. We are not worried but plan to take every precaution. Last March we both had norovirus. After reviewing our personal protocols we realized we had been putting our silverware on the table surface in WJ. Seems like a no-brained now, but we always get an extra napkin for that & sanatize hand immediately before eating. We will be extra cautious and enjoy our cruise!

[Balsam12]

Am I worried about it?

 

From the view of being worried about actually contracting the virus, absolutely not. The number of people contracting it on cruise ships is extremely low, and for most people, it's not going to kill you anyway. If I had immune system issues, or were elderly, or had very young children, I would probably be more concerned. As a relatively fit and healthy adult, at worst I would be ill for a while.

 

From the view of it impacting on my cruise, maybe mildly concerned. Our cruise is in 25 days. It is from Sydney, Australia to New Zealand on Radiance. The ship has not been to any countries of concern for at least a month, as the stop in Bali last week was cancelled. Australia and New Zealand don't have major concerns about the virus. Worst case scenario, we sail and are denied disembarkation at NZ ports, so we have an 11 night sightseeing cruise (with a beverage package). Not what we paid for, but still a cruise and a lot of fun.

If we were cruising in some other parts of the world, my concern would definitely be higher, especially if this is declared as a "pandemic", which would mean travel insurance cover is null and void if the cruise is cancelled.

[goneclear]

You are right to be concerned. I too have a cruise booked in April and so far will go.

Wish I did not have one booked at this time of uncertainty. 

I certainly would not be booking another cruise until this has passed.

Our Newspapers are reporting today that there is a case in st Barts and French St Marteen.

Health Ministers of Several Caribbean islands met in Barbados yesterday to discuss measures

for the COVID 19.

One Head line today states. "Emergency talks as COVID 19 Hits region". 

Nothing shocking as it was expected to. Hopefully all the islands have the resources to handle it effectively. 

[2chiefs]

4 minutes ago, Balsam12 said:

Am I worried about it?

 

From the view of being worried about actually contracting the virus, absolutely not. The number of people contracting it on cruise ships is extremely low, and for most people, it's not going to kill you anyway. If I had immune system issues, or were elderly, or had very young children, I would probably be more concerned. As a relatively fit and healthy adult, at worst I would be ill for a while.

 

From the view of it impacting on my cruise, maybe mildly concerned. Our cruise is in 25 days. It is from Sydney, Australia to New Zealand on Radiance. The ship has not been to any countries of concern for at least a month, as the stop in Bali last week was cancelled. Australia and New Zealand don't have major concerns about the virus. Worst case scenario, we sail and are denied disembarkation at NZ ports, so we have an 11 night sightseeing cruise (with a beverage package). Not what we paid for, but still a cruise and a lot of fun.

If we were cruising in some other parts of the world, my concern would definitely be higher, especially if this is declared as a "pandemic", which would mean travel insurance cover is null and void if the cruise is cancelled.

Thank you for posting this.

I think this is the best answer to the OP's question. We have 4 cruises booked and have no plans on changing any of them. 10,000 people have already died from the common flu this year and people aren't panicking about that. I'm not saying to take this lightly but I can't see living in fear and not enjoying life either. 

T

 

[welshrich]

We have a b2b in April going through the Panama Canal, as long as the flight is still going we are going.  We are always vigilant onboard about hygiene so this will just make us more aware.   

[Mapleleafforever]

My only concern is how much Royal will be jacking up cruise prices and gratuities to make up for the lost revenue due to cancellations. 

[pmck]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

Good morning to you pmck!  I agree totally and, yes, admit to a certain degree of apprehension. Given that there appears to be no evidence of containment yet to prevent an increasingly pendemic situation, it is a scary and somewhat unpredictable event. If I didn't have cruises booked already, I probably wouldn't add any additional right now. I can surely foresee longer boarding / screening times. Best thing to do is to keep a lookout for any cases that might appear down that way - so far I don't see anything in the Caribbean area other than the one case in the Dominican Republic. I like this site to keep track of it .  As you said, you still have a good amount of time to go yet - much can happen (either way, of course) relative to new cases, level of containment, status of potential vaccine development and dispersal, etc. Look forward to your cruise, but with an eye towards taking special precautions - a few days' worth of extra meds, sanitizing supplies, etc. We're 'all in the same boat' so-to-speak, (no pun intended...) but would really hate to wind up in a quarantined or otherwise significantly delayed scenario. We're planning on packing a few extra books. 

You know the saying that says something about not worrying about things that you can't change?  Well, this is one of those I guess. Although another poster just said there are some cases turning up in the Caribbean (French side of St. Maarten and possibly Barbados) We will just have to wait to see. The decision may not be ours to make.  Fingers crossed, we are so looking forward to this cruise!!

[stevea36]

Based on the number of cases and deaths that have been reported I would be more concerned about catching the Flu on a ship than Covid-19.    Most Doctors are stating that the % of deaths reported due to this virus is higher than the flu mainly due to the fact that most cases of Covid-19 have been mild and not even reported to authorities..

 

 

[grouchomarx]

We sailed on the 23rd. There was literally NO extra screening, no health questions asked whatsoever. It was business as usual.  I was surprised.  

[Borat]

2 minutes ago, grouchomarx said:

We sailed on the 23rd. There was literally NO extra screening, no health questions asked whatsoever. It was business as usual.  I was surprised.  

@CruiseFamilyP

[Snit13]

1 hour ago, MalteseMama2 said:

We leave this weekend to fly to San Juan & board Freedom. We are not worried but plan to take every precaution. Last March we both had norovirus. After reviewing our personal protocols we realized we had been putting our silverware on the table surface in WJ. Seems like a no-brained now, but we always get an extra napkin for that & sanatize hand immediately before eating. We will be extra cautious and enjoy our cruise!

Whether at home restaurant or on cruise ship have been putting silverware on napkin or plate and agree a no-brainer.  37 cruises to date and never had norovirus, either lucky or careful, so glad.

[Laurba99]

We go in about 30 days--I  have two questions--I have travel insurance that is really good but I didn't purchase the "Cancel for any reason" extra because it wasn't on my radar and it covered work and illness.. So if the cruise line cancels the sailing for some reason what happens-is it in the cruise contract that they have to either refund us or give us credit for a new future sailing??

 

thanks! We def still hope/plan to go.

[Limoncat]

We are set to sail on the Liberty on the 15th. I am getting nervous, but no plans to cancel yet. If it was refundable we would probably postpone.

[goldfish65]

No. Media sensationalism.

[CruiseFamilyP]

17 minutes ago, Borat said:

@CruiseFamilyP

This almost makes me more nervous haha! I'd rather go through an extra step to avoid any bad situations for myself or others onboard! 

[jknc]

If I’m older with underlying health concerns, cruising to Asia or Mediterranean, I’m definitely concerned. 
 

If I’m cruising to Alaska, Scandinavia, Mexico, Caribbean I’m drunk on excitement for vacation.

Note: I’m not a doctor. 

Cheers. 

[The Grumpus]

2 hours ago, Balsam12 said:

Am I worried about it?

 

From the view of being worried about actually contracting the virus, absolutely not. The number of people contracting it on cruise ships is extremely low, and for most people, it's not going to kill you anyway. If I had immune system issues, or were elderly, or had very young children, I would probably be more concerned. As a relatively fit and healthy adult, at worst I would be ill for a while.

 

From the view of it impacting on my cruise, maybe mildly concerned. Our cruise is in 25 days. It is from Sydney, Australia to New Zealand on Radiance. The ship has not been to any countries of concern for at least a month, as the stop in Bali last week was cancelled. Australia and New Zealand don't have major concerns about the virus. Worst case scenario, we sail and are denied disembarkation at NZ ports, so we have an 11 night sightseeing cruise (with a beverage package). Not what we paid for, but still a cruise and a lot of fun.

If we were cruising in some other parts of the world, my concern would definitely be higher, especially if this is declared as a "pandemic", which would mean travel insurance cover is null and void if the cruise is cancelled.

Don't get too overconfident there, it's not just the old and immune deficient people dying from this virus.  It has taken the lives of fit and healthy people too, just in a lower percentage.  Maybe at worst you'll be ill for a while but also potentially be unknowingly sharing it with your family, acquaintances & co-workers.  That being said, the answer isn't we all hide in our basements until it blows over either.  We still have to live our lives. 

[Oceansaway17]

Well the danger of things brewing back in Dec and Jan is over. Now that the world is activated and taking action, I feel things will resolve and get better.

Once awareness and action increases then I feel solutions will follow.

 

And listen to various outlets to gather information.

Most people who get Coronavirus get better.

This whole virus scare will remind folks to ALWAYS show care when ill and wash hands more and stay home. Also get window seat on airplane too.

 

Thousands of folks including kids have died from regular flu and that does not get talked about.  Think about!!!!!!!

 

Happy sailing all. Hopefully my May cruise out of Barcelona still goes to Italy so I can see Cinque Terre.