Coronavirus: Did I miss something?

[jonikal]

While checking other expedition cruise blogs reacting to the corona virus and its effect on reservations and itinerary changes, there doesn't seem to be similar concern to address these issues by either Hurtigurten or its passengers.

Or perhaps there is info out there but nobody is posting? Is Hurtigruten still accepting passengers for their coastal voyages and are they available to non-residents?  While there's plenty of interest in menus and dining facilities on various new ships,  the world-wide crisis that the corona virus pandemic is causing, is virtually ignored.  Quite curious.

[SarniaLo]

People currently cannot travel into Norway, most ports and airports are virtually shut down so currently it's not possible for a foreign passenger to board a Hurtigruten ship, but the ships are still running as a local public transport service.

I follow some Hurtigruten passengers FB groups and I have to say I'm extremely impressed by the level of professionalism and communication shown by Hurtigruten at that time. When the travel restriction was put in place by the government, with very little notice, Hurtigruten had 11 ships full of passengers from all around the world and 24 hours to get them back home before the airports started to shut down. They got the ships to the nearest port with a major airport and managed to find a solution for everybody. They have put in place a generous rebooking offer : https://presse.hurtigruten.no/pressreleases/hurtigruten-introduces-risk-free-rebookings-2981318, and I believe they are proactively reaching out to all their passengers travelling in the upcoming week/months with this offer. Possibly why people are not so much worried, because information is forthcoming.

The expedition ships in Antarctica were still running but some of the latest journeys have been cancelled also because of travel restriction by Antarctica and Chile. The new Fridtjof Nansen is on her first showcase journeys, which are more or less going on, but with some itineraries disruption, maybe the ship with the most uncertainties at the moment.

Edited March 16, 2020 by SarniaLo

[clo]

1 hour ago, SarniaLo said:

but the ships are still running as a local public transport service.

And cargo.

 

We were to embark on 4/3 but now not. And as you wrote they have been wonderful. Maybe next spring.

[jonikal]

2 hours ago, SarniaLo said:

People currently cannot travel into Norway, most ports and airports are virtually shut down so currently it's not possible for a foreign passenger to board a Hurtigruten ship, but the ships are still running as a local public transport service.

I follow some Hurtigruten passengers FB groups and I have to say I'm extremely impressed by the level of professionalism and communication shown by Hurtigruten at that time. When the travel restriction was put in place by the government, with very little notice, Hurtigruten had 11 ships full of passengers from all around the world and 24 hours to get them back home before the airports started to shut down. They got the ships to the nearest port with a major airport and managed to find a solution for everybody. They have put in place a generous rebooking offer : https://presse.hurtigruten.no/pressreleases/hurtigruten-introduces-risk-free-rebookings-2981318, and I believe they are proactively reaching out to all their passengers travelling in the upcoming week/months with this offer. Possibly why people are not so much worried, because information is forthcoming.

The expedition ships in Antarctica were still running but some of the latest journeys have been cancelled also because of travel restriction by Antarctica and Chile. The new Fridtjof Nansen is on her first showcase journeys, which are more or less going on, but with some itineraries disruption, maybe the ship with the most uncertainties at the moment.

 

 

Thanks SarniaLo for an excellent explanation as to why we may not have seen many comments about the effects of the corona virus on Hurtigruten operations.  They are obviously doing an excellent job communicating with passengers who have bookings that could be affected.  That is a big improvement from some experiences we have had with them in the past - I think you are aware of my postings when things really didn't go very well. They have clearly learned the importance of improving their communications with passengers in a timely manner, something that was lacking in the past.  Hopefully this virus will soon be history and we get back to "normal" whatever that is.  

[hallasm]

11 hours ago, clo said:

We were to embark on 4/3 but now not. And as you wrote they have been wonderful. Maybe next spring.

Just cancelled my June journey with MS Lofoten  - impressed with their communication.

Unfortunately 2020 will be the last year for MS Lofoten in coastal service. Might still be possible for a midnight sun journey this year - time will show.

[grayjay]

Yesterday I read something about the Roald Amundsen being among the ships that are not allowed to dock in any of the Chilean ports. Might be a rumour regarding the Hurtigruten ships but it certainly is true about 4 cruise ships, among them Celebrity Eclipse, Holland America's Zaandam and Azamara Pursuit not allowed to dock in Valparaiso or San Antonio to debark passengers. These ships seem to be forced to re-route directly to Miami or San Diego with all their passengers still on board.

[SarniaLo]

RA is currently at anchor outside Punta Arenas. Passengers are still on board but not allowed to disembark, so Hurtigruten is trying to find an solution for them. Fram is currently in the Falklands and Hurtigruten may be trying to arrange for passengers to be flown back from there, since they are not allowed in Montevideo which was the original ending of the trip. Maybe RA will join them?

Midnatsol was allowed to disembark passengers in Ushuaia on March 15th but the following cruise was cancelled.

And apparently Fridtjof Nansen has just disembarked passengers in Portsmouth and will now cease operations.

Edited March 17, 2020 by SarniaLo

[HokiePoq]

Reading the above I realize just how blessed we are to be at home.  We traveled as far as Miami to fly down to Buenos Aires for the March 15 Mindasol voyage.   Argentina imposed their fourteen day quarantine the very day we were to fly to BA.   We had just cancelled due to extreme pressure from our son....who turned out to be right.  He did not want us quarantined overseas.   Shortly after we cancelled, the whole trip was cancelled as everyone would have been sent to quarantine. We have a travel credit from the cruise and a credit for the land portion from our agency.   Will have to work something out with the airline I am afraid, which is likely a loss since the policy is use it within a year of issue.  I doubt we can find anything by July if travel is even possible by then.   Rebooking is problematic as we had a special and price is double what we paid.

[clo]

6 hours ago, hallasm said:

Just cancelled my June journey with MS Lofoten  - impressed with their communication.

Unfortunately 2020 will be the last year for MS Lofoten in coastal service. Might still be possible for a midnight sun journey this year - time will show.

We were to be on the Lofoten also. We hated Iceland in December so we'll likely do a spring trip. Our plan had been to fly to Oslo, take the train to Bergen, then the NB coastal to Kirkenes, then fly to Paris for a few days and home. Ixnay.

[Homerody]

It's noted in another thread on CC - but on 18 Mar Hurtigruten announced new cancellations and a new cancellation/future voucher policy.

 

The new cancellation policy is much better than the one they offered a few days ago.  But that is another topic for elsewhere.