Was just notified The Edge

[cruiseerf]

That the following precautions are being taken.... "These temporary safety precautions will remain in place for a projected period of 30 days and will be reviewed daily.  Until further notice, any person, regardless of nationality, who has traveled to, from or through mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy, Iran, or South Korea 15 days prior to embarkation, will be unable to board our ships.  This includes traveling on connecting flights through these areas or coming in to contact with people who have traveled to, from or through mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy, Iran, or South Korea. The CDC characterizes contact with an individual as coming within six feet (2M) of a person."    And the message from Celebrity states that this is being done for Passengers and Crew Safety.   

 

 I would take note of Italy though, because we are on the re-positioning and Rome is were our Edge cruise Ends?  So why would Celebrity allow the Ship, Passengers and Crew to exit in Italy and provision with all this contamination and the travel notice above??????

 

Me thinks one of the following is going to happen if the Virus continues to wreak travel havoc, which it will: 

 

1) We will be bumped to another port.....and skip Italy.......Perhaps Athens or Barcelona? 

 

OR 

 

2)  Celebrity will cancel some of the transatlantic's opting to keep the ships "Closer to home" where they have more control.....Keep in mind that Europe is in it's virus infancy and just leaving the containment stages........if all the ports close like happened in Asia......Celebrity will have to bring the ships home anyway.....AND if one of the ships gets quarantined in Europe, they will have far less control then if it was quarantined in America where they are headquartered etc.  I feel for what RF and LLP must be going through these days........

 

Neither of these decisions is great......I just hope they would notify us sooner rather then later as the rebooking of airfares with all these cancelled flights these days is going to be a bear for those of us who made independent travel arrangements.   

 

We are still excited to go and cruise and will make the best of whatever Celebrity does.......Time shall tell.  

 

Wishing everyone Safe travels.  

 

 

[Pushka]

That notice has been around for a while and my bet is that the TAs won't happen. Many of the Edge cruises are Rome - Rome with multiple stops in Italy. Ours is. And quite simply they can't go there according to their own policy next month and by the time we go in July, Greece et al will be in a similar position. 

[Bo1953]

CLIA has published the regulations under which most lines are following is as follows:

 

"Deny boarding to all persons who have travelled from, visited or transited via airports in South Korea, Iran, China, including Hong Kong and Macau, and any municipality in Italy subject to lockdown (quarantine) measures by the Italian Government, as designated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, within 14 days prior to embarkation."

 

As such, ANY port subject to the above (or creep as it were) will have to worry about being subject to boarding denial or quarantine before boarding, currently.

 

Keep an eye on CLIA's website if one is desiring the most updated info on which ports will be a no go, changed or cancelled... and as is most desirable, keep reading X's website for its' most up to date info for ports, changes, cancellations and etc. on this dire situation, for the most accurate information, to be sure.

 

In good health and bon voyage

[Rosmerta]

So how will US West Coast ports be handled? Despite such strong Pacific Rim ties, West Coast officials are just now pulling their heads out of the sand, reactive rather than proactive. In Italy, armed guards are surrounding the affected villages; do you think anything like that is being considered anywhere in the US? I expect the US to be hit harder than Europe based on the complacency so far shown. What would it serve to bring ships to the US?

[az_tchr]

12 hours ago, Rosmerta said:

So how will US West Coast ports be handled? Despite such strong Pacific Rim ties, West Coast officials are just now pulling their heads out of the sand, reactive rather than proactive. In Italy, armed guards are surrounding the affected villages; do you think anything like that is being considered anywhere in the US? I expect the US to be hit harder than Europe based on the complacency so far shown. What would it serve to bring ships to the US?

Cargo shipping was controlled long ago. Crews are either screened or not allowed ashore. Since many do not have US visas not a big deal.

Cruising on the West Coast is pretty much Princess out of LA. Alaska cruises out of Seattle and a few misc out of SFO.  Seattle would be a biggie as they have multiple be the and terminals.

Impossible to predict the future but this summer not looking good for cruising.

[cruiseerf]

From an Environmental point of view, the USA has far less protective laws then Europe.  Europe is Very tough to deal with for employment and environment....Even for foreign registered ships.   I believe it will come down to Cancellation costs$ VS European bookings $....The European bookings are quite "Soft"for this season and the question is do they need 4 ships there?  or maximize the revenue with 2 or 3 ships......I am sure the number crunchers are burning the midnight oil.  During the 9/11 aftermath, they pulled many ships back to the Caribbean and were able to fill them as Americans like being closer to home in times of fear.....Economic/Political/Health....triple whammy here.... At this point, I believe cruiselines are getting more cancellations then bookings and the next 4-8 weeks are going to be eye opening.......This situation is a real tough one.......

 

Safe Sails to all.    

[Fogfog]

On 3/5/2020 at 8:07 AM, Rosmerta said:

So how will US West Coast ports be handled? Despite such strong Pacific Rim ties, West Coast officials are just now pulling their heads out of the sand, reactive rather than proactive. In Italy, armed guards are surrounding the affected villages; do you think anything like that is being considered anywhere in the US? I expect the US to be hit harder than Europe based on the complacency so far shown. What would it serve to bring ships to the US?

A friend on a world cruise with Oceania reports ALL asian ports were cancelled a couple weeks ago... last I heard from him they were in NZ. No idea how many ports of the original itinerary they will make now

 

Before POTUS closed the border to folks from the EU (which is now considered the new epicenter of Wuhan virus/covid 19)... Carnival had moved port stops from Italy to France/Spain. 

MSC had already cancelled some sailings altogether

Edited March 12, 2020 by Fogfog

[az_tchr]

On 3/5/2020 at 4:19 AM, cruiseerf said:

That the following precautions are being taken.... "These temporary safety precautions will remain in place for a projected period of 30 days and will be reviewed daily.  Until further notice, any person, regardless of nationality, who has traveled to, from or through mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy, Iran, or South Korea 15 days prior to embarkation, will be unable to board our ships.  This includes traveling on connecting flights through these areas or coming in to contact with people who have traveled to, from or through mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy, Iran, or South Korea. The CDC characterizes contact with an individual as coming within six feet (2M) of a person."    And the message from Celebrity states that this is being done for Passengers and Crew Safety.   

 

 I would take note of Italy though, because we are on the re-positioning and Rome is were our Edge cruise Ends?  So why would Celebrity allow the Ship, Passengers and Crew to exit in Italy and provision with all this contamination and the travel notice above??????

 

Me thinks one of the following is going to happen if the Virus continues to wreak travel havoc, which it will: 

 

1) We will be bumped to another port.....and skip Italy.......Perhaps Athens or Barcelona? 

 

OR 

 

2)  Celebrity will cancel some of the transatlantic's opting to keep the ships "Closer to home" where they have more control.....Keep in mind that Europe is in it's virus infancy and just leaving the containment stages........if all the ports close like happened in Asia......Celebrity will have to bring the ships home anyway.....AND if one of the ships gets quarantined in Europe, they will have far less control then if it was quarantined in America where they are headquartered etc.  I feel for what RF and LLP must be going through these days........

 

Neither of these decisions is great......I just hope they would notify us sooner rather then later as the rebooking of airfares with all these cancelled flights these days is going to be a bear for those of us who made independent travel arrangements.   

 

We are still excited to go and cruise and will make the best of whatever Celebrity does.......Time shall tell.  

 

Wishing everyone Safe travels.  

 

 

Suggest you look at your roll call. This notice came out a while ago.

Obviously Edge is not going to Italy.

Edited March 12, 2020 by az_tchr

[Yvie]

We were on the February 23 - March 1 sailing on Edge. When we boarded, all they did was look at our passport photo page. I asked if they were flipping through the passport to check for stamps to see what countries people had recently traveled to. They said no, they were just asking if anyone had traveled to those countries recently. So it was all based on the honors system, nothing was actually being checked. I hope they are being stricter now than they were then.

[Presto2]

3 hours ago, sgmn said:

The head of WHO has declared Europe the epicentre of the global pandemic, according to BBC news 

 

Perhaps its the use of the EU rather than Europe as the EU is not necessarily the whole of Europe -- if you get my drift.

 

It is fact though as sgmn notes and all over the British press