Why Only Princess.....?

[weberman]

I read that Viking Cruises and Viking River Cruises are suspending operations for the same time frame. I am usually optimistic but for some reason, I am on the the pessimistic side about this. I think the suspension will go on longer than currently planned. I hope I am wrong! I think all the various shutdowns are more of a protection against lawsuits. FOLLOW THE MONEY!

[ellie1145]

7 hours ago, PurpleHays said:

I have a chronic, non-infectious cough. Does that mean I should never go on vacation? You shouldn't judge what you don't know. Some blood pressure medications have coughing as a side effect. Allergies cause coughing. Dry air (and inversely, humid air) causes coughing. Many things cause coughing. Don't be judgemental.

 

(hops off nurse soap box, runs and hides)

Please do not think I meant you, or any of the things you say I meant.
 

Neither was my comment in any way judgemental. That is your take on it. Where do I say people with chronic , non infectious coughs or allergies should not cruise????? I was talking about people who are ill. In this current situation we all have a duty of care to each other. Families need to protect their older members. As our Prime Minister said yesterday in his speech, families ARE going to lose older loved ones. It’s a fact. 

 

I was only using that term as a cough is, of course, a key symptom of Coronavirus, and as such would be a real worry if we were cruising now. In normal circumstances it would be disregarded. Hearing someone cough close to me is a worry now even if I’m in a supermarket!

 

If you read my post I do not in any way criticise those with a cough, nor do I imply that anyone with a cough should not cruise. That is ridiculous. What I said was that if WE were to go on our cruise we (and my family) would be very worried and concerned if we heard people all around us coughing, or for that matter sneezing. But, please, if you have hay fever or an allergy don’t imagine I’m targeting you and saying nobody who sneezes should cruise!

 

I am well aware of chronic non- infectious cough as I suffer from that myself and have been aware in many situations that I may sound as if I’m highly infectious when I’m actually not. So believe me, I don’t want to stop cruising or to stop you cruising. I know from experience that this condition is very debilitating and highly irritating to myself and others (my kids say they can always find me in a shop or supermarket as no matter where I am they can hear me!). At times I could scream in frustration at my constant cough. I’m lucky that I have been seen by experts at the wonderful Brompton Hospital here in the U.K., a centre of excellence and world renown. 

 

But just as Norovirus is a factor on ships, so, too are chest infections, and with the current outbreak of Coronavirus everyone is hyper aware that one of the most dangerous things about it is pneumonia. It was a generalised term, hacking cough, and anyone who has been cruising in the winter will know that chest infections are very rife onboard cruise ships, let alone with Coronavirus in the equation. Many of us have returned home from a cruise with bronchitis. 
 

Lets hope we can BOTH carry on cruising. We’ve done over 60 and are totally hooked on cruising being the only Vacation we love.

 

But we are relieved that our government has given this advisory as hopefully we will get a refund of our cruise and the flight and hotels we had booked. At the moment we would not feel that being on a cruise ship was the relaxing experience we have enjoyed previously.

Edited March 13, 2020 by ellie1145

[hpeabody]

Hello from on board the little forgotten Pacific Princess World Cruise 2020 in the middle of the Indian Ocean.  The last day were set foot on land was March 3rd.  WE ARE FINE AND SAFE AND UNAFFECTED BY CORONA VIRUS.  There is a lot of disappointment as this cruise cruise can never be replicated.  There are many shattered dreams and expectations lost for good. We were a day out from Colombo, Sri Lanka where we took on fuel and provisions and did a big u-turn last night, we are being taken directly back to Australia, estimated arrival in Fremantle March 21st.  There has been nothing said about how they will get us home or about compensation for abruptly ending our cruise that was to end on May 11th, almost 2 months away.  Most of what Princess has put out there is out there does not apply to us. We are not mentioned at all.  I wish they would have decided to keep us on on the ship, instead we are being sent out there into the public in the midst of this only to be isolated at home.  I feel we are better off as we are, but Princess has other ideas. 

 

The ship, the staff and crew and my fellow passengers have been great!

[bluesea321]

8 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

Hello from on board the little forgotten Pacific Princess World Cruise 2020 in the middle of the Indian Ocean....

 

Thank you for your post and best of luck for the rest of your trip.  Please keep up the feedback, it is appreciated.  🙂

Edited March 13, 2020 by bluesea321

[PurpleHays]

17 hours ago, Outerdog said:

 

You know you're one of those people, then.

 

Stop trying to be offended.

Oh, but if you knew how little I was offended, you'd laugh. I was trying to make a point that a cough isn't necessarily contagious.   As a healthcare provider, I give lots of leeway to others, but not to comments that sound judgemental, and that one did. 

[ellie1145]

7 minutes ago, PurpleHays said:

Oh, but if you knew how little I was offended, you'd laugh. I was trying to make a point that a cough isn't necessarily contagious.   As a healthcare provider, I give lots of leeway to others, but not to comments that sound judgemental, and that one did. 

I’m afraid that is one of the greatest downsides of the written word. There is no opportunity to see hear the writer’s intonation and you cannot see their faces to see their  expressions. The written word is unyielding and there is so much scope for it being misconstrued.

 

I did not mean to sound judgemental, that was your perception. 

 

I hope that both you and I will enjoy many more cruises once all this is over. 
 

I am just relieved that the choice to cruise or not has been taken out of our hands as I know that had we embarked on our May cruise we would have been very anxious - especially if we heard a cough or a sneeze (Contagious or not!)! 🤭
 

 

[PurpleHays]

19 hours ago, ellie1145 said:

I’m afraid that is one of the greatest downsides of the written word. There is no opportunity to see hear the writer’s intonation and you cannot see their faces to see their  expressions. The written word is unyielding and there is so much scope for it being misconstrued.

 

I did not mean to sound judgemental, that was your perception. 

 

I hope that both you and I will enjoy many more cruises once all this is over. 
 

I am just relieved that the choice to cruise or not has been taken out of our hands as I know that had we embarked on our May cruise we would have been very anxious - especially if we heard a cough or a sneeze (Contagious or not!)! 🤭
 

 

We really would benefit from a sarcasm font, wouldn't we?

[gmjc2]

Best wishes go out to the World cruisers who are left in limbo! How awful. We are sad because we had to cancel our Transatlantic and UK vacation next week!

Princess has updated the policy. Our May 16th Alaska is now likely to be cancelled because of the Canadian port ban but even if it is not, we now have until May 14 th to cancel and receive our money back in the form of a future cruise. Untill today it would have been March 31 st we had to decide!!!

 

Maureen.

[John99]

Add more cruise ships to the list of cruise lines having trouble being quarantined or denied permission to disembark. 

 

CNN – 3/14/2020

Two (2) ships are quarantined off the coast of Chile.

Silver Explorer

Azamara Pursuit

 

Also, the Bahamas government is not allowing the MS Braemar cruise ship, which has five coronavirus cases on board, to dock.

[ellie1145]

6 hours ago, PurpleHays said:

We really would benefit from a sarcasm font, wouldn't we?

 

 

Only if you are a sarcastic person. 
 

And I’m not.

 

I have reached out to you to apologise and try to explain that I meant no ill. Sarcasm has no place as far as I’m concerned.

 

Our world, and both our countries, stand on the brink of an enormous human tragedy, the scale of which we have never seen in our lifetime.
 

As I think back to my worries about having to cancel our cruise I feel ashamed to have been so concerned about something so trivial.
 

Perhaps I could share something I read yesterday and which put the whole cancelled cruise scenario into perspective. I warn you now it’s pretty horrific.

 

“Coronavirus patients are conscious as they die, and beg to say goodbye to loved ones, according to a doctor on Italy’s frontline.

Dr. Francesca Cortellaro, from the San Carlo Borromeo Hospital in Milan, described the haunting final moments of those on their death beds, as the European country battles the worst outbreak outside of China.

“You know what’s most dramatic? Seeing patients dying alone, listening to them as they beg you to say goodbye to their children and grandchildren,” Dr. Cortellaro told the Italian paper Il Giornale, according to Sky News.

“When they are about to die, they sense it,” she added.

“They are lucid, they do not go into narcolepsy. It is as if they were drowning, but with time to understand it.”

Most of the more than 15,000 infected in Italy are elderly people — and often their only way to say goodbye to their loved ones is via a video phone call.

“I pulled out the phone and called her on video,” Cortellaro said of one dying grandmother’s request to see her granddaughter.

“They said goodbye. Soon after she was gone.”

 

Compared to dying alone, away from those you hold most dear, or to know that a loved one is dying and you cannot be there to hold their hand and comfort them as they leave this world, a cancelled cruise is nothing.

 

 

 

[kkmiausa]

i am so so afraid and wish I had faith.  Cancelled cruises seems so trivial now. Please prepare and have supplies and isolate until a treatment is approved. They are out there!

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Golden Princess is testing passengers in New Zealand:

 

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12316776

[debsjc]

BBC news just mentioned a ship with positive cases off the Bahamas, but no cruise line name

[ellie1145]

38 minutes ago, debsjc said:

BBC news just mentioned a ship with positive cases off the Bahamas, but no cruise line name

It’s Fred Olsen’s Braemar with 5 cases confirmed. With so many elderly and infirm people on board their ships I hope they are able to swiftly evacuate those who are, at the moment, not ill. Otherwise it could be a repeat of the Diamond disaster, or worse. 

 

Undoubtedly those on board will be quarantined on their return.

Edited March 15, 2020 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

5 hours ago, ellie1145 said:

It’s Fred Olsen’s Braemar with 5 cases confirmed. With so many elderly and infirm people on board their ships I hope they are able to swiftly evacuate those who are, at the moment, not ill. Otherwise it could be a repeat of the Diamond disaster, or worse. 

 

Undoubtedly those on board will be quarantined on their return.

Looks like if nobody will accept them so they can fly home, their only option is to sail across the Atlantic. The captain has already advised that he is prepared to do that, although it could take 10 days. Poor people. Some reports say they are not quarantined but moving freely about the ship! 🙀

[debsjc]

31 minutes ago, ellie1145 said:

Looks like if nobody will accept them so they can fly home, their only option is to sail across the Atlantic. The captain has already advised that he is prepared to do that, although it could take 10 days. Poor people. Some reports say they are not quarantined but moving freely about the ship! 🙀

 

Oh my goodness 10 days is too long to keep them on board. I hope something else can be arranged

[kkmiausa]

We in Miami got the news that an MSC ship had a woman positive for Covid on the March 8th return,  she found out after she got off, however, the ship finished another leg of the trip with hundred or more that were on her voyage and returned to the Port of Miami today.  No screening at all. All left to go home and 3500 people to fly back to wherever they came from. This is unbelievable. 

[Charles4515]

23 hours ago, ellie1145 said:

Looks like if nobody will accept them so they can fly home, their only option is to sail across the Atlantic. The captain has already advised that he is prepared to do that, although it could take 10 days. Poor people. Some reports say they are not quarantined but moving freely about the ship! 🙀

 

Cuba will let Braemar dock. Passengers will fly home from there.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Charles4515

[ellie1145]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Cuba will let Braemar dock. Passengers will fly home from there.

What a relief for them all. Hope they all get home soon.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

15 hours ago, kkmiausa said:

We in Miami got the news that an MSC ship had a woman positive for Covid on the March 8th return,  she found out after she got off, however, the ship finished another leg of the trip with hundred or more that were on her voyage and returned to the Port of Miami today.  No screening at all. All left to go home and 3500 people to fly back to wherever they came from. This is unbelievable. 

 

I wonder how cruisers and the cruise industry in general are going to be looked upon in 6 months.  All the cavalier last minute comments, for a final hurrah luxury vacation, from passengers and the cruise lines alike.  The entitlement that medial supplies, resources, and staffing will save them if anything goes wrong, has put the general public at risk.