Washington State Governor announcement ?

[joeyancho]

Cities/ states that are already having trouble dealing with the outbreak dont want a situation of  a cruise ship showing up with an outbreak.  Denial of porting privilege is the answer. Once one city does that other cities will follow suit.  That will lead to an immediate collapse of the cruise industry.  All those FCC will be worthless when the companies fill for bankruptcy/ reorganization.  If you can cancel and get some of your money back, that is the way to go. 

[pootsien2]

The covid 19 virus testing is increasing as it becomes available. The reason there are more people testing positive. Only those with symptoms of it or exposed to someone already diagnosed with it are being tested right now. Still most serious or fatal cases have been from nursing homes. The governor cancelled large gatherings of 250 people or more until at least the end of March because we have huge stadiums in Seattle for soccer,football,baseball and indoor arenas for concerts and conventions. I hope that I will be able to leave our state in April to fly to NYC for my cruise, but I don't know...yet!

[sr71_1]

3 hours ago, kdmbluerzr said:

Following.  We have an Alaska cruise but not until end of July on the Jewel, Seward to Vancouver. Hoping we are far enough out things will resolve and stabilize before then. Have no plans to cancel, keepin' fingers crossed. Good luck everyone. Stay safe and healthy! 

we are on the jewel in june - seward to vancouver.     while i woke up feeling positive about this ...  our group started cancelling   ... as of now all have cancelled except us 😞 .        

Edited March 11, 2020 by sr71_1

[dmdiver]

I am hoping for improvement, as we've had this trip booked for over a year.

[Tom O]

Booked ours over a year ago as well Alaska hope for the best.

[coastcat]

Update: The Port of Seattle just cancelled the first two port calls of the season:

https://www.portseattle.org/news/port-cancels-first-two-sailings-seattle-cruise-season

Edited to note that these are port stops. The first departure originating from Seattle is HAL Eurodam on April 15 and, at this time, has not been cancelled. The first NCL sailing is April 25 (Joy). 

Edited March 11, 2020 by coastcat

[zqvol]

5 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

It started in a nursing home but ts 273 cases now.

Fortunately no one knows how many cases there are but I would not be surprised if the number was over 20,000 in the Seattle area. There are 273 cases that have tested positive, but for over 80% of the patients their symptoms are so mild that they think nothing of it and just go about their business.

[rj42]

The more important player is Canada, because if they block ships, none of the Seattle ships have a foreign port to do their mandatory stop. Still, if Seattle isn't allowing baseball games, concerts, or even large church services, they're unlikely to allow cruise ships with thousands of passengers, especially coming from other areas of possible contamination.

 

Every infection and death in the Seattle area originated from a man returning from Wuhan to Seatac and using some shuttle or bus to get home. And if you go there, you don't know if the person sitting next to you on a plane, shuttle, or ship caught the virus from someone who visited Italy or China or anywhere else. Personally, I'd rather stay home and keep a safe personal space from any strangers than risk having lungs filled with pus and fluid, or having an emergency tracheotomy performed on me, or even worse, infecting someone I care about. 

 

If you want a Northwest cruise, the WA state ferries make a nice option, with several options to get to Victoria, and the BC ferries visit many beautiful spots, including the Sunshine Coast. If you really want to cruise to Alaska, Bellingham WA has a stop for the Alaska State Marine System ferries, which visit all up the Alaska coast, with no required Canada stop. 

[njhorseman]

56 minutes ago, zqvol said:

Fortunately no one knows how many cases there are but I would not be surprised if the number was over 20,000 in the Seattle area. There are 273 cases that have tested positive, but for over 80% of the patients their symptoms are so mild that they think nothing of it and just go about their business.

Your scientific source for the statement that 80% of the patients just go about their business because their symptoms are so mild? 

 

But even if that were correct and the 273 reported cases represent only 20% of actual Covid-19 infected individuals, it would mean that 1,365 people in the Seattle have Covid-19, not the 20,000 you've stated.

[Ms BumbleBee]

I feel like I am on a roller coaster for this cruise.  We are scheduled for mid May out of Seattle - if the cruise still goes on and they change the port it is not easy to switch flight with the airlines cancelling flights as well.  I am still in a holding pattern but it does not look that good for us.

 

And I also want to say my trip is not as important as the health of others.

[ukbecky]

56 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Your scientific source for the statement that 80% of the patients just go about their business because their symptoms are so mild? 

 

 

While no one can say for sure what someone does when they're mildly ill, the 80% is according to the World Health Organization

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/17/806729340/new-world-health-organization-data-confirms-around-80-of-cases-are-mild

[njhorseman]

27 minutes ago, ukbecky said:

 

While no one can say for sure what someone does when they're mildly ill, the 80% is according to the World Health Organization

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/17/806729340/new-world-health-organization-data-confirms-around-80-of-cases-are-mild

That article is dated February 17, more than three weeks ago, and is based on data from China that I wouldn't rely on as accurate given their government's "sweep it under the rug" early response to what is now a pandemic. The disease was virtually non-existent  in Western countries at that time. Further, the article you cite does not say what the poster I was responding to claimed...that those in the 80% "just go about their business" . In fact the article's definition of "mild" includes "that flu-like feeling of being hit by a truck." If you've ever actually had the flu, not one of countless other viral infections, you would know what that "hit by a truck feeling" is like and I can assure you that when you feel that way you most definitely will not be going about your business.

 

 In reality we'll only know the real answer from retrospective studies that will be done in the future, after the crisis has passed. 

 

Regardless, as I said in my earlier post, even if the 80% estimate were correct, it doesn't mathematically support the 20,000 cases in the Seattle area claimed by the poster.

Edited March 12, 2020 by njhorseman

[erdoran]

Read the following article

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/its-just-everywhere-already-how-delays-in-testing-set-back-the-u-s-coronavirus-response/

 

There was a flu study going on, and the scientists IN SPITE OF the government tested numerous samples for Coronavirus and found “many” positives retrospectively—but then were shut down BY THE GOVERNMENT.  Before they were shut down they proved there were numerous cases before the second “official” case.  There’s also commentary about genetic relationships, if not in this article then in another one I read.  That supports comments that have been made since the first nursing home outbreak about how Covid-19 has been in Washington for several weeks, undetected.

 

It doesn’t matter how many thousand cases exist now (or don’t); they will exist in the foreseeable future.  

 

 

[kdmbluerzr]

20 hours ago, sr71_1 said:

we are on the jewel in june - seward to vancouver.     while i woke up feeling positive about this ...  our group started cancelling   ... as of now all have cancelled except us 😞 .        

Sorry. We are hoping our cruise on the Jewel being the end of July, we are out far enough all systems will be a go by then. At this time, we don't plan to cancel until early July if that's what has to be. Stay positive. Stay healthy. 

[BirdTravels]

On 3/11/2020 at 12:11 PM, ziggyuk said:

When you consider that Hong Kong shut it's cruise port with only 21 confirmed cases and even today they only have 126 cases, I think Seattle's closure is overdue.

Says the person from England. If business can operate safely (and cruising is a business) then they should continue to serve their customers. 

[TxStacey]

Currently booked on the Joy departing Seattle June 20th.  At this point I would rather NCL cancel my cruise so I can book another summer vacation.  The final payment was due at the beginning of February so my money will have been tied up with them for several months.  Unfortunately I do not have a lot of flexibility of when I can take vacation, so it will have to be June no matter what.  My dilemma is do I take a 50% loss(2000.00) and book a beach vacation or sweat it out and hope for the best.  I haven't even mentioned my flights and the cost to change them (American Air).  What would you do?

[ziggyuk]

14 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Says the person from England [sic]. If business can operate safely (and cruising is a business) then they should continue to serve their customers. 

 

Yes I do, and so should our ports be closed, I have no interest in your vested interest.

[Named-Tawny]

3 hours ago, TxStacey said:

Currently booked on the Joy departing Seattle June 20th.  At this point I would rather NCL cancel my cruise so I can book another summer vacation.  The final payment was due at the beginning of February so my money will have been tied up with them for several months.  Unfortunately I do not have a lot of flexibility of when I can take vacation, so it will have to be June no matter what.  My dilemma is do I take a 50% loss(2000.00) and book a beach vacation or sweat it out and hope for the best.  I haven't even mentioned my flights and the cost to change them (American Air).  What would you do?

 

Why would you be taking a 50% loss?  I thought they were offering full credit?

Personally, I'd stick with it - if COVID is still a thing in June, then a resort probably isn't going to be that appealing either. =/

[e3c1f4]

Not Washington but the Maryland governor just announced the temporary closure of the Baltimore port, so it looks like some other US ports are following

[TxStacey]

31 minutes ago, Named-Tawny said:

 

Why would you be taking a 50% loss?  I thought they were offering full credit?

Personally, I'd stick with it - if COVID is still a thing in June, then a resort probably isn't going to be that appealing either. =/

If I cancel now, I would get 50% "cash" back and could book something in Florida for example..  If I wait and cancel in June, then I will get a FCC for 100%, but I still wouldn't have a summer vacation this year, as I need to take it in June.  It's a gamble either way.