Princess just cancelled sailings for 60 days.

[graphicguy]

NCL is cancelling public gatherings?  Why?  A cruise ship is a public gathering....as is a shopping mall, or Costco (where people are flocking for TP and bottled water), or a church.

 

Personally, if I were NCL, I would offer Princess bookings a special rate to convert to an NCL cruise.  I think that would be a marketing coup!

[DZcreature]

I sure hope NCL does not shut down. I have been looking forward to the cruise I am going on in 2 1/2 weeks for a whole year. I feel like this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. It is basically a bad cold. Not worth shutting down the globe. I do agree with people who are older and immunocompromised being informed about the virus, so that they can make smart decisions about their own health, but sending everyone into a panic is ridiculous.

[BillDz]

15 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

It does?  Carnival is still sailing.  Royal is still sailing.  Viking (mostly European river boats) and Princess (which has had the worst PR and infectious spread) have cancelled.  

 

 

Some are sailing. And some have stopped. NCL has not yet announced that it will NOT follow suit. So the outcome remains uncertain, and many of us have invested significant money in that outcome. If you're not interested in that, feel free to ignore the issue.

[graphicguy]

I do have a significant investment.  I sail in two weeks.  A few stopped sailing (Princess and Viking).  And, the reasons they stopped are obvious.  Most are STILL sailing.  I’m not worried.  If Carnival is sailing, and Royal is sailing, I’m confident NCL will continue to sail.  No sense in spreading the already sizable amount of FUD that’s already out there.

Edited March 12, 2020 by graphicguy

[krittykat]

14 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

My guess everything will be fine by then.  The real question is how long will it take for the airlines, cruise companies, hotels, etc to recover from this?

That is the 64 million dollar question - my guess is a long time. Hate to say it, I dont think this will be over in a few months - but we may adapt and normalize to it.

[wampuscat7]

14 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

NCL is cancelling public gatherings?  Why?  A cruise ship is a public gathering....as is a shopping mall, or Costco (where people are flocking for TP and bottled water), or a church.

 

Personally, if I were NCL, I would offer Princess bookings a special rate to convert to an NCL cruise.  I think that would be a marketing coup!

Church services have been canceled in a lot of places. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/us/coronavirus-kentucky-churches-cancel.html

 

The government is not, at this point, causing businesses to close. But large conferences and public gatherings are being canceled widely across the country.

 

I have no doubt NCL will continue to cruise as long as there is profitability involved. But they are taking steps to mitigate risks. 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by wampuscat7

[KateQ22003]

14 minutes ago, DZcreature said:

I sure hope NCL does not shut down. I have been looking forward to the cruise I am going on in 2 1/2 weeks for a whole year. I feel like this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. It is basically a bad cold. Not worth shutting down the globe. I do agree with people who are older and immunocompromised being informed about the virus, so that they can make smart decisions about their own health, but sending everyone into a panic is ridiculous.

It is not "basically a bad cold". Have you not been listening to the CDC? 

[graphicguy]

Church services aren’t cancelled in any church I’m within driving distance of.

[mianmike]

18 minutes ago, DZcreature said:

I sure hope NCL does not shut down. I have been looking forward to the cruise I am going on in 2 1/2 weeks for a whole year. I feel like this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. It is basically a bad cold. Not worth shutting down the globe. I do agree with people who are older and immunocompromised being informed about the virus, so that they can make smart decisions about their own health, but sending everyone into a panic is ridiculous.

 

A bad cold? Please read up from reputable sources. This is much worse than a cold. It's these dismissive posts that are so very disconcerting.  That's how pandemics spread, through ignorance and apathy.

[DZcreature]

5 minutes ago, KateQ22003 said:

It is not "basically a bad cold". Have you not been listening to the CDC? 

 

I have been listening and the symptoms are the same as a cold or flu. If it wasn't over hyped, no one would even be getting tested specifically for the COVID-19 virus.

 

I want the decision to cruise to be mine, and hope I still get to decide.

[jennmaybe]

Well, 2 cases were confirmed in the county where I live in North Carolina this morning.  We also received an email from my company CEO, stating that we are now being required to work from home until further notice. They are implementing that for all 4 of our offices across the US and our home office on Bermuda.

[ray98]

23 minutes ago, DZcreature said:

I feel like this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. It is basically a bad cold. Not worth shutting down the globe.

 

While I don't put much stock in some of the mortality rates pushed out by the WHO which are over 3%, even the low end rates are still around 1%.

 

A 'bad cold' is not fatal to 1 out of every 100 infected.

[Montanagirlalways]

1 hour ago, DZcreature said:

 

I have been listening and the symptoms are the same as a cold or flu. If it wasn't over hyped, no one would even be getting tested specifically for the COVID-19 virus.

 

I want the decision to cruise to be mine, and hope I still get to decide.

ok TYPHOID creature

[ray98]

5 minutes ago, DZcreature said:

 

I have been listening and the symptoms are the same as a cold or flu. If it wasn't over hyped, no one would even be getting tested specifically for the COVID-19 virus.

 

I want the decision to cruise to be mine, and hope I still get to decide.

 

The scare isn't due to the symptoms, it is over the mortality rate.

[ColeThornton]

Just now, ray98 said:

 

 

 

A 'bad cold' is not fatal to 1 out of every 100 infected.

 

I agree Ray but I also don't think this is the Bubonic Plague, Cholera, Ebola and a stubbed toe mixed together that the sensationalist media would have some people believe.   The vast majority of people survive this.

[DZcreature]

1 minute ago, Montanagirlalways said:

ok TYPHOID creature

I have been wanting to change my user name for a long time. All the cute names I wanted were already taken. I didn't think I would ever want to comment when I made the name, so it didn't seem to matter, but sometimes I like to give my opinion.

[luv2kroooz]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Not sure why this is posted in the NCL forums.  Shouldn't it be posted in the Princess threads?

It already is posted there. Also, active discussions about Princess action on Carnival, Royal, Norwegian and Holland message boards, which seems very normal and expected to me.

[ray98]

1 minute ago, ColeThornton said:

 

I agree Ray but I also don't think this is the Bubonic Plague, Cholera, Ebola and a stubbed toe mixed together that the sensationalist media would have some people believe.   The vast majority of people survive this.

 

I agree with that but it still has the potential to be very deadly.  It shares many characteristics with the flu which has been averaging nearly 40m cases a year in the US.  If COVID-19 spreads to that extent that is 400k dead using the 'best' numbers out there.

 

No matter if you believe it is being hyped or not, that is a serious illness.  It may not be worthy of all out panic but it sure isn't a 'bad cold'.

[wampuscat7]

5 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Church services aren’t cancelled in any church I’m within driving distance of.

 

That could very well be true in Ohio. There has been very little known spread there. 

 

Meanwhile in places where cruises leave from, things are being canceled or restricted. (Miami-Dade County https://www.foxnews.com/us/miami-dade-state-of-emergency-coronavirus,Seattle https://time.com/5801431/seattle-closes-schools-coronavirus/, Houston https://www.khou.com/article/news/latest-coronavirus-updates-houston-texas-march-10-2020/285-1700bfab-1e04-4de4-a02f-ad4cb38e6ac3, the whole state of California https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/12/coronavirus-gov-newsom-says-cancel-gatherings-over-250-statewide/, New York https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/nyregion/coronavirus-new-york-update.html)

 

I'm not saying it's right or wrong for an individual to cruise. I'm saying that like it or not, health officials who are far smarter and knowledgeable than most are advising steps to increase social distancing and mitigation of risks to the community as a whole. 

 

Believe me, I'm sad. I am/was supposed to cruise in 10 days. 

 

[MikeBTN]

45 minutes ago, js said:

 

Yet my son who plays college ball, although games suspended for this week, maybe next, and school closed, still has practices, all sports teams still practicing and still on campus....ggggrrrrr

The SEC just cancelled all sports through at least March 30. I expect others to do the same.

[js]

1 minute ago, MikeBTN said:

The SEC just cancelled all sports through at least March 30. I expect others to do the same.

 

Thank you.  Did this just happen?  He had practice today at 12 so they are still there.

With sports canceled, hoping the coaches need to cancel practice too, but not sure what guidelines are put in place

for that.  Thanks so much!

[DZcreature]

I certainly would like the deaths caused by this virus to be prevented. I hope the precautions that are already in place help.

 

For now, we are leaning towards cancelling because my very healthy husband is considered elderly (65).

 

If we go on the cruise, we plan on being very vigilant about washing our hands, sanitizing the room, and keeping our distance from people. We also discussed not eating any meals in the buffet. At this point the cruise vacation, for me, may be safer than going to work. I do not have the option to work from home. 

[ColeThornton]

Just now, js said:

 

Thank you.  Did this just happen?  He had practice today at 12 so they are still there.

With sports canceled, hoping the coaches need to cancel practice too, but not sure what guidelines are put in place

for that.  Thanks so much!

 

 

I would be surprised if the teams stopped practicing.   I can see games being cancelled because of the fan crowds but practice...nah...let them keep going.

 

(Yea, I know...Mom thinks differently.  lol)

[MikeBTN]

2 minutes ago, js said:

 

Thank you.  Did this just happen?  He had practice today at 12 so they are still there.

With sports canceled, hoping the coaches need to cancel practice too, but not sure what guidelines are put in place

for that.  Thanks so much!

The SEC Commissioner is here in Nashville for what was supposed to be the SEC Basketball tournament. They cancelled that this morning. He was on TV and made that announcement, I happened to have it on at the time.

[jennmaybe]

The ACC tournament was also canceled a short while ago.