Norwegian Spirit

[casofilia]

We have just woken to a beautifully calm and clear morning here in Cape Town with a glassy sea as far as we can see.

 

Now we are waiting for the news of what is going to happen in the next 24 hours.

[casofilia]

Guest Services and the Internet desk are still besieged with passengers.

 

We have our Luggage Tags, colour coded and bus number coded.  But #1 with debarkation time of 7am.  Straight to the airport after a health check and Immigration!!

[sueplay]

Casofilia - I can't thank you enough for these updates.  So very much appreciated.  You are the best and I wish you (and everyone) well on your journey home.  My Aunt's plans are in place as of this morning through the Airlines.  whew. 

[casofilia]

We are sitting in Cape Town airport waiting for our flight so are on our way.   As ar a lot of other travellers so safe journey home to all of you.  

I hope those still on the Spirit have as easy at transfer as we did.

 

Ka Kite Ane

 

Mike & Pauline

[room with a view]

3 hours ago, casofilia said:

We are sitting in Cape Town airport waiting for our flight so are on our way.   As ar a lot of other travellers so safe journey home to all of you.  

I hope those still on the Spirit have as easy at transfer as we did.

 

Ka Kite Ane

 

Mike & Pauline

Thank you for all your updates.

Hope to see you on the Spirit when all of this is over.

Take care

[BigRedFan]

Safe travels home!  I hope that some of the Spirit's "cruise that never was"  will opt for the December 2021 sailing on the Jade where we can reconnect.

Genzi

[casofilia]

 

The departure from Cape Town, painless.  We are now in Changi waiting for our flight to Auckland in 13 hours or so.

 

Hope everyone else has a smooth a time as we have had so far.

 

Mike

[casofilia]

I'm glad that we did transfer our flight from the 24th to the 22nd even if it did increase the cost by an arm and a leg!!

 

The lead in today's Straits Times has the the following first paragraph :-  Singapore will significantly tighten its borders from 11.59pm today, with all short term visitors no longer allowed to enter OR TRANSIT through the country .....

 

We will beat that having arrived at 6am and departing before midnight.

 

We hope that no one is caught by this.

 

[Markanddonna]

Please let us know when you arrive home and try to eventually report on your experience. Best wishes and prayers!

[bluesea777]

According to Marine Traffic, Spirit has left Cape Town a few hours ago and is enroute to … Bridgetown Barbados, ETA April 7th. That's 14 days.

 

 

[casofilia]

We arrived home at 6pm yesterday.   Our daughter had done shopping for us and it was all in the car she delivered to the airport.  No contact as her husband had taken their car to drive her home again.   We had a 4 hour drive to get home, slowly, as we were both tired from 36 hours travelling from Cape Town with little real sleep.

Glad we got home when we did, if we had taken the flight on the 24th who know what would have happened.   Singapore was closing to transits after we left.  NZ was saying that people had to self isolate in the city they arrived at!!!!

We are thinking of those who did not get out of Cape Town and now have another 14 days at sea!!!!   I wonder how many pax were left on board as the ship departed Cape Town.  I hope they were moved into suites.

[room with a view]

15 hours ago, casofilia said:

We arrived home at 6pm yesterday.   Our daughter had done shopping for us and it was all in the car she delivered to the airport.  No contact as her husband had taken their car to drive her home again.   We had a 4 hour drive to get home, slowly, as we were both tired from 36 hours travelling from Cape Town with little real sleep.

Glad we got home when we did, if we had taken the flight on the 24th who know what would have happened.   Singapore was closing to transits after we left.  NZ was saying that people had to self isolate in the city they arrived at!!!!

We are thinking of those who did not get out of Cape Town and now have another 14 days at sea!!!!   I wonder how many pax were left on board as the ship departed Cape Town.  I hope they were moved into suites.

So glad you are home and that your daughter and son in law had your arrival/food/transport organised.

I think we met on the Spirit either last Christmas/ New Year or the one before that. We are booked on the Spirit late September ..Athens to Athens. If it goes ahead.

Take care

[goldie099]

Interesting that the ship is headed to Barbados, as it's scheduled to sail Greek Isles itineraries all summer long. I'm not convinced those summer cruises are going to happen (I was booked on the July 19 sailing and cancelled, but that's a whole other story). If there's any hope, Spirit will have to do a transatlantic sailing that's not even on the schedule...The first sailing you can book online is April 19 RT Athens with, as of yet, no news on how the ship will even get there.

[hamrag]

2 minutes ago, goldie099 said:

If there's any hope, Spirit will have to do a transatlantic sailing that's not even on the schedule...The first sailing you can book online is April 19 RT Athens with, as of yet, no news on how the ship will even get there.

 

Not happening, best you can hope for will be a variant of Caribbean cruises post-hurricane season! 

[IrieBajan54]

On 3/24/2020 at 12:41 PM, bluesea777 said:

According to Marine Traffic, Spirit has left Cape Town a few hours ago and is enroute to … Bridgetown Barbados, ETA April 7th. That's 14 days.

 

 

.

Wow! Another ship to Barbados. There are many ships in Bridgetown already. I wonder if it is a good idea for an island that has only one hospital for its people to allow crew members to come ashore? 

 

“Because of that spirited partnership we have been able to be in a position where those ships that are now forced to go through a period of down time for a month or two are saying to us ‘we would like to do that down time in Barbados, would you accommodate us?’ and the answer is yes,” said Symmonds.

“Each one of them that is anchored out there without any passengers on board, but with crew, and if we have 20 or 15 such ships and the average one is carrying 1,000 crew then you have between 15,000 and 20,000 people who need to be fed, watered, provided with some form of entertainment, relaxation and recreation,” he said.

Symmonds gave the assurance officials were still maintaining the “strictest levels of diligence” and surveillance at the Port. “We will continue to maintain that because we have to make sure that we protect our citizens as best as we possibly can.”

 

https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/03/19/ships-docked/