Might my cruising days be over?

[ATC cruiser]

 
I don't think it is the same thing at all.
 
Traveling by plane is often necessary -- we fly for business, for family obligations, etc. Traveling by cruise ship is a vacation, pure and simple. 
 
If there is a carer along, that is also another consideration that eases the cruise line's burden -- however, in a situation such as with COVID-19, I'm not sure it would help as one of the major concerns is the high rate of severe cases and mortality in those over 70.
 

Most, if not all, people traveling on business are under the age of 70. Most people over the age of 70 are traveling for pleasure, it is absolutely a fair comparison. I was an air traffic controller for over 33 years. I can’t tell you how many flights I worked in my career that had a medical emergency on board that needed to either divert or requested priority handling. One of the questions that we asked the flight crew was the age of the passenger. I have no exact figures, but the majority were under seventy. This whole discussion is fairly irrelevant, because nobody is cruising until this virus is no longer a problem. That letter does nothing other than trying to cover the behinds of the cruise line.

[Charles4515]

That letter does nothing other than trying to cover the behinds of the cruise line.

Definitely. The cruise lines kept sending ships out after the Diamond Princess fiasco. They should have temporarily stopped right then. The age requirement was to justify them continue sending ships out.


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[cruisemom42]

Given the responses here -- what would you suggest cruise lines do on long voyages that range far from home (like the world voyages) where many of the cruise passengers were (or claimed to be) unable to get themselves home from a far distant port when the cruise had to end unexpectedly?

 

One could say this is a one-off issue but it isn't really. World cruises are several months' duration, and some might have to end prematurely for other reasons -- ship becomes inoperable, natural disasters occur (earthquake/tsunami), disease outbreaks, social unrest (e.g., the "Arab spring" a few years ago that took a fair number of countries off the table), global terrorism, and of course even illness or medical mishap of an individual cruiser that may have to be offloaded from the ship. 

 

Cruise lines do not bear responsibility, in the majority of scenarios listed above, to do anything other than find a place to end the cruise and allow passengers to safely disembark. But when people read the sort of thing published in the article I cited above, they immediately sympathize with the "poor elderly passengers dumped by cruise ship".

 

[Charles4515]

Given the responses here -- what would you suggest cruise lines do on long voyages that range far from home (like the world voyages) where many of the cruise passengers were (or claimed to be) unable to get themselves home from a far distant port when the cruise had to end unexpectedly?
 
One could say this is a one-off issue but it isn't really. World cruises are several months' duration, and some might have to end prematurely for other reasons -- ship becomes inoperable, natural disasters occur (earthquake/tsunami), disease outbreaks, social unrest (e.g., the "Arab spring" a few years ago that took a fair number of countries off the table), global terrorism, and of course even illness or medical mishap of an individual cruiser that may have to be offloaded from the ship. 
 
Cruise lines do not bear responsibility, in the majority of scenarios listed above, to do anything other than find a place to end the cruise and allow passengers to safely disembark. But when people read the sort of thing published in the article I cited above, they immediately sympathize with the "poor elderly passengers dumped by cruise ship".
 

There is not going to be any world cruises without the elderly passengers. So either eliminate them or carry on after the pandemic is over. When there are anti viral drugs and a vaccine I think they will probably carry on if the cruise lines recover.


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[drsel]

Senior citizens are the biggest and most loyal and faithful customers of Cruise lines.

Edited March 22, 2020 by drsel

[drsel]

Also their best brand ambassadors
 

5 minutes ago, drsel said:

Senior citizens are the biggest and most loyal and faithful customers of Cruise lines

Edited March 22, 2020 by drsel

[cruisemom42]

30 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

There is not going to be any world cruises without the elderly passengers. So either eliminate them or carry on after the pandemic is over. When there are anti viral drugs and a vaccine I think they will probably carry on if the cruise lines recover.

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10 minutes ago, drsel said:

Senior citizens are the biggest and most loyal and faithful customers of Cruise lines.

 

I understand this; however it does not answer my question of who is responsible for ensuring the elderly seniors -- the ones who say that they cannot or will not fly -- make it home when emergencies do happen?

[drsel]

Nobody but themselves

[drsel]

They should always travel with their children to look after them

[Pyrate13]

7 minutes ago, drsel said:

Nobody but themselves

Bingo!

[navybankerteacher]

17 minutes ago, drsel said:

Nobody but themselves

A radical concept in this day of someone else always being responsible.

[drsel]

On my last few Cruises, I saw many very aged Cruisers travelling with their 50-60 year old son or daughter

[ldubs]

On 3/21/2020 at 6:37 AM, Markanddonna said:

It seems likely that the cruise lines may impose some restrictions on people over age 70. I'm going to be turning 70 in a few months and my over 70 DH has COPD which is well controlled when not traveling. To be honest, he picks up a virus on almost every cruise, and it goes right to his lungs as an infection.  That means antibiotics and a month long recuperation.

 

I am super healthy but his doctor probably wouldn't write him a letter to cruise. So, it looks like MANY people who are frequent cruisers won't be able to cruise in the next several years because either they or their travel partner won't meet the requirements.

 

To be honest, I am grateful for being able to travel around the world in the past ten years, and if this ends, it ends. I likely will be able to take a flight and do land travel. The coronavirus issue has changed my attitude on many things and travel is one of the most obvious. 

 

Like others have already said, it is likely the physician statement will not be around after this crises.  

 

While I am considered at increased risk because of my age I am in pretty decent health -- for an old guy. 😀

 

I think we may be reconsidering how we will use cruises in the future.  I suspect they will not be as large a part of our travels as they have been in the past.   

 

So for us, I expect we will be doing less cruising.  Going forward I suspect we will only take a cruise that is an add-on to a land trip.  

[lenquixote66]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

See if he is related to Billy K., who was in my graduating class. Does he know two brothers Ron G,, a year ahead of him, and Bill G., a year behind him. Those would be 2 of my younger brothers.

I will.

How are things re the virus where you live ? 

[clo]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

When there are anti viral drugs and a vaccine

"IF"

[Markanddonna]

I seems the cruiser's country is becoming increasingly responsible. Many people jumped on the super bargain rates for some I These cruisers and travelers who now find themselves trapped in a ship or in a country closing the borders in 24 hours. most of us said "no way!!!!" to those bargains, but many hopped on with rose colored glasses. Now our military has to go to the rescue.

[Lois R]

As adults, shouldn't we be responsible for ourselves? Or is that not a logical way of thinking?

[Markanddonna]

Most are responsible, but the taxpayers pay for the weak minded and fools. 

[rkacruiser]

7 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

There is not going to be any world cruises without the elderly passengers. So either eliminate them or carry on after the pandemic is over

 

My opinion:  future world cruises, including those planned for 2021, are an endangered "species" at this moment.  

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I will.

How are things re the virus where you live ? 

We now have a couple of cases, the first was about a week ago at the county nursing home.

 

Things are definitely strange here. We rely on tourism as our number one industry, but the county leaders are telling people to stay away. The Town of Fallsburg has gone as far as saying they will not inspect bungalow colonies and camps, so no permits will be issued.

 

Shelve in stores are empty. I know since I have tried that you cannot find lysol type wipes or facial tissues.

[lenquixote66]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

We now have a couple of cases, the first was about a week ago at the county nursing home.

 

Things are definitely strange here. We rely on tourism as our number one industry, but the county leaders are telling people to stay away. The Town of Fallsburg has gone as far as saying they will not inspect bungalow colonies and camps, so no permits will be issued.

 

Shelve in stores are empty. I know since I have tried that you cannot find lysol type wipes or facial tissues.

One of my daughters and her husband have a house in Delaware County and I believe they only had one person living there who tested positive.

[drsel]

15 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

One of my daughters and her husband have a house in Delaware County and I believe they only had one person living there who tested positive.

How did you friend and his wife get infected

[lenquixote66]

I have no idea.He is in a hospital and I cannot communicate with him.His wife is self quarantined and our conversations have been about how they are feeling and nothing else.She is a health care worked and could have gotten the disease from her job.

[Markanddonna]

The CDC just discovered the coronavirus survived  for 17 days on surfaces on the two infected Princess cruise ships. This doesn't bode well for future cruise travel. Once again, it will be a long time before we will be On a cruise ship.

[drsel]

Wow that's really scary