Oceania Cruisers -- How are things where YOU live?

[CCHelp]

Greetings, Oceania Cruisers ~ If an effort to give our members a place where we can discuss how things are where YOU are related to the Coronavirus, hosts are starting these threads so we can chat during the crisis. Let's talk about creative ways our families and neighbors are coping and helping one another out; share ideas for parents who are at home 24/7 with their school age children; you get the idea.....  Our only request is that we AVOID turning this into a political or health debate thread.  This is a stressful time for everyone.  Let's practice some kindness and make Cruise Critic a place members want to visit in this difficult time.

[LHT28]

We are just staying home as much as possibly

We are  seniors so we can stay put

They have virtual tours of places for people to check out  online

 

Most non essential stores/ rec centres/theatres are closed

Groceries stores are open but just starting to get stock  as the hoarders cleaned every thing out

Most are practising social distancing  when out  some still do not get it yet

Only take out or drive through eating places open

cable tv has opened some movie channels  for free

 

Government is advising people to stay home to stop the spread

 

Stay safe  all

[sunlover12]

It's shelter in place here.  Only essential businesses can stay open although it has not been clearly defined as to what an essential business is. I work part time in a very small office and this is the busiest time of year for us, by far.  As I sit here now, I don't know if I'm allowed to go to work or not.

 

Schools are closed and people buying more than what they'll need for a week at the grocery stores. Theaters and entertainment venues are closed.  At one time in my DH's career, we lived in a country that had supply chain problems.  It was a common occurrence to see empty shelves at the grocery stores and I never thought I would see that here. Different reason though. The weather has been getting warmer and spring is in the air. Many families are out walking and it's been a nice thing to see.  Restaurants are open for take-out business. We have been supporting our small, local restaurants by doing this. 

[cruiseaholic78]

Here a contribution from the other side of the pond, The Netherlands to be precise.

A colleague of mine was unfortunately confronted with this terrible sickness as his Father in law was the first person to die here, he was 86 however this really bought home the danger to all of us.

The colleague was sent home as soon as the man was quarantined and our company took action sending colleagues home who had been in direct contact with him. At the time we all thought “wow” thats a bit much, in the meantime we all think how right they were, our team was then divided into two who worked on alternate days at home and at the office. Since then and seeing I am in the “danger zone” I am only working from home, getting used to that.

NL is in semi lockdown schools restaurants pubs hairdressers etc are closed to a meeting of more than 3 people together anywhere is forbidden and all to  work from home if possible further all keep 1.5 metres distance from each other.

The supermarkets have introduced early shopping between 07:00-08:00 for people over 70.

Personally we are in semi lockdown only going to supermarkets when absolutely necessary cancelled all further appointments, face time with kids and grandkids luckily the weather is fantastic at the moment so are outside in the garden as much as possible.

Cruise wise seem to be paying the most for wasted insurance premiums TK-SF in May was cancelled, we replaced this with an Alaska cruise in June, this will not happen but has not been cancelled yet by Regent. Presume they are hoping we will do so ourselves. Our consolation cruise with Oceania for the FCC was booked with Riviera in September we have chosen to cancel this ourselves now we still can.

I am ashamed to say in the scope of things that I really miss my planning and looking forward to the next cruise but realize that up to now how lucky we all are.

Needless to say I hope we will all stay safe and be able to return to cruising in the future.

Keep posting.

Rosalyn

[HilsTas]

9 hours ago, CC Help Michell said:

Greetings, Oceania Cruisers ~ If an effort to give our members a place where we can discuss how things are where YOU are related to the Coronavirus, hosts are starting these threads so we can chat during the crisis. Let's talk about creative ways our families and neighbors are coping and helping one another out; share ideas for parents who are at home 24/7 with their school age children; you get the idea.....  Our only request is that we AVOID turning this into a political or health debate thread.  This is a stressful time for everyone.  Let's practice some kindness and make Cruise Critic a place members want to visit in this difficult time.

 

Getting back on topic......

 

Everyone who can is encouraged to work from home, Schools are still open but all restaurants etc closed.   Businesses are being creative with home deliveries, supermarkets are settling down after the first mad rush of people to stock up.

Social isolation and handwashing are the go

Everyone who can stay at home is encouraged to do so and parties / gatherings of people of minimal numbers are banned.  Eg - weddings can still happen with 5 people only.

The government has introduced an additional welfare support payment over and above regular payments for all social welfare recipients including the newly unemployed.

 

Weather-wise lovely warm autumn /fall days so it's lovely for both of us to go for walks together.  And great to get into the basement and finally start to finish unpacking and dispose of all the stuff that we don't want or need.

 

Wishing everyone well and stay safe.

[no fuss travel]

Essential services are defined as police, fire, nurses, doctors, grocery store, drug store (pharmacies), liquor store, post office, government workers (though many of them are working from home), ferries, truck drivers to get food to us.

all schools and universities are closed but are completing the term online. No final exams allowed to be written at the universities,  grade 12 students marks will be based on their marks prior to schools being closed. All others will be promoted to the next grade.

vancouver and Victoria ports closed to cruise ships till July 1 at the earliest

anyone over the age of 65 has been asked to self isolate. People are being asked to stay home. All play grounds, pools etc have been closed. On the ferries people are asked to stay in their cars  

border between US and Canada has been closed. They have closed down all immigration (custom offices)for boaters and most public moorage has now been shut down so that boaters cannot travel.

hotels are closing, all conventions cancelled as well as any entertainment. Take out restaurants are allowed as long as the customer does not enter the premise

all National and provincial parks are closed. Campsites are closed.  If you are travelling outside of B.C. you must self isolate for 14 days when you arrive home. You may leave your house even to purchase groceries. You have to arrange for someone else. To leave them on your door step

no visitors to hospitals or senior nursing homes allowed

I think that just about covers it. We are trying to find humour where we can and most people are now staying home to reduce the chance of getting sick. People are decluttering their houses,spring cleaning,gardening, doing chores they were saving for a time when they had nothing to do

 

 

 

 

[firsttimers68]

We are on lockdown here in Cyprus. I have to carry passport and printed form stating where I am going and am allowed out for 3 hours maximum per trip. i.e. shopping, dog walking. No more than 2 people together also. We are just getting on with it and trying to help one another in any way we can. It is a terrible time but it has brought out the best in many people. 

[CruiseLibra]

Here in the San Francisco Bay area as in other places, we are in "shelter at home" status. Because of early identification of the virus in our area this is our second week under this sequestration. As elsewhere, people are making the best of it, helping each other. Many are using meal delivery services like DoorDash and GrubHub to help keep our local restaurants in business.  Critical retail business like grocery and pharmacy stores remain open. And, all have early hour shopping dedicated for shoppers who are 65+ or health compromised.  In many ways all of this has brought out the best in people. Our motto is Stay Save, Stay Home. We are all in this together.  

[Holiday 24/7]

We are in lockdown in the UK - only grocery, pharmacy and essential services still open.  Supermarkets only letting small amount of people in at a time and then it's one out one in.  Huge queues to get food and most shelves empty when you get in!  Hoping it will get a bit better on the food front now that we are in a more rigid lockdown and limits to what you can buy are now in place.  We are allowed out for one exercise session a day (running, walking) but must stay apart from others.  If you cannot work from home then people are still being allowed to go to work but they must follow the social segregation rules!  Let's hope that this will slow the tide to help our NHS cope and save lives.  Everyone stay safe - and ditto CruiseLibra "we are all in this together"

[Pigin]

15 hours ago, Holiday 24/7 said:

We are in lockdown in the UK - only grocery, pharmacy and essential services still open.  Supermarkets only letting small amount of people in at a time and then it's one out one in.  Huge queues to get food and most shelves empty when you get in!  Hoping it will get a bit better on the food front now that we are in a more rigid lockdown and limits to what you can buy are now in place.  We are allowed out for one exercise session a day (running, walking) but must stay apart from others.  If you cannot work from home then people are still being allowed to go to work but they must follow the social segregation rules!  Let's hope that this will slow the tide to help our NHS cope and save lives.  Everyone stay safe - and ditto CruiseLibra "we are all in this together"

We are also saying a huge thank you to our NHS workers for their commitment to saving lives.  Last night at 8pm people stood on their doorsteps and balconies clapping, cheering and whistling to show support and solidarity.  The government want retired NHS staff and others to volunteer to help out, the request was for 250,000 people.  In a little over 24hrs more than 600,000 put their name forward.  In these challenging times its nice to know that there are good and decent people out there.  

[deadzone1003]

We live in San Francisco, just above Chinatown.  We are in "shelter at home", but allowed to go shopping for food, visit medical facilities or doctors, and we are allowed to go out for exercise.  Most people are very considerate and keep spacing from you except for 1 type of person - the mobile phone user who holds the phone in front of them while they are talking - it seems they are used to walking in the middle of the sidewalk for their own safety - in our minds they are just a little better than people who would be coughing and sneezing at you.

We were on the Oceania Nautica from Cape Town to Singapore (we ended up disembarking at Dubai), but we had to fly in and out of Hong Kong at end of January and beginning of March, fortunately, it was before their caseload started going up because of their returning citizens.  We had our masks (and even N95 mask for Hong Kong, but never really was necessary).  It did prep us for our return.  In San Francisco, our caseload is still under 300 and unlikely to rise much as "shelter at home" is working and social distancing is the norm, but we can't be like this forever.    

For those without hope, there is a doctor in Monroe, New York who has developed an outpatient procedure of treating coronavirus with hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and azithromycin for patients in the high risk category or who have difficulty breathing.  What this does is reducing the number of people who have to be hospitalized and people who will need ventilators.  You really don't want the virus to advance to the stage where you need an icu bed or a ventilator.  If we could treat coronavirus in an outpatient setting, we basically have reduced it to another strain of influenza, but one that can be deadly to older patients with underlying conditions, yet this will allow us to get back to work.  Hope that doctor is right. 

[marylovestotravel]

You have to be careful of taking unproven remedies. As in the sad case of the couple who poisoned themselves with chloroquine phosphate, with the man dying!

 

I think we would all like a magical pill but we need to have the science to prove it. Otherwise it is witch-doctoring. 

[deadzone1003]

2 hours ago, marylovestotravel said:

You have to be careful of taking unproven remedies. As in the sad case of the couple who poisoned themselves with chloroquine phosphate, with the man dying!

 

I think we would all like a magical pill but we need to have the science to prove it. Otherwise it is witch-doctoring. 

That incident in Arizona was this couple who did not take prescribed medications nor otc drugs, but "fish tank cleaner".  Currently, they are using various combinations of the above drugs throughout the world, even in New York City, granted all of this is off-label, but I have yet to hear anyone dying except for an 86-year old man in France who had an advanced stage of the coronavirus.  There is no vaccine, no cure, not even a recognized treatment for coronavirus right now.  If you have difficulty breathing because of the coronavirus, you are just 1 step from needing a ventilator.  WHO states that people requiring ventilators have about a 50% chance of survival.  I'm not asking anyone to take the drug without the advice of your doctor.  If you do, you have a fool for a patient.  You have to realize those above mentioned drugs are not vaccines or cures, but just drugs for treatment of the virus.  All they do is give your immune system a chance to do its job by preventing the virus from replicating itself.  As someone said, you go to war with the weapons you have.

[DaKa2002]

North Texas here, just north of Dallas-Ft Worth.  We are senior citizens, so the lock down and various restrictions tend to not be as hard on us as many others, except for our investments.  The virus activity is just getting underway, with numbers increasing every day; I do not think this will be over anytime soon.  Hunkered down, watching movies on TV and internet streaming, reading books we read many years ago and kept because we enjoyed them, and we have started Spring cleaning early; we will have a significant amount to share, sell, give away as this comes to an end.  We shop during the restricted shopping hours provided by a few grocery stores, and make a weekly run to our favorite deli for take out (to help them stay afloat). I exercise each family dog once a day, usually early in the morning, and my DW and I take a late evening walk in the neighborhood while always keeping our distance from others.  We contact family and friends afar by internet messages,  pictures, and telephone calls.

To say the least, I would rather be sailing again on the Marina or Insignia to far off lands to explore!

[halfapair]

I live about 30 miles SE of Seattle. The Seattle area has had quite an outbreak and unfortunately it has hit senior care centers particularly hard. My husband is retired and I am able to work from home, so we are doing OK.

We only go out to go to the grocery store or take a drive.

We miss the grandkids. We have a 2 year old granddaughter and a 4 month old grandson. If the weather were better we could spend time in the backyard with them, but since it's cold & rainy we can't really visit.

 

[deadzone1003]

10 hours ago, halfapair said:

I live about 30 miles SE of Seattle. The Seattle area has had quite an outbreak and unfortunately it has hit senior care centers particularly hard. My husband is retired and I am able to work from home, so we are doing OK.

We only go out to go to the grocery store or take a drive.

We miss the grandkids. We have a 2 year old granddaughter and a 4 month old grandson. If the weather were better we could spend time in the backyard with them, but since it's cold & rainy we can't really visit.

 

Recommend you and your kids set up a Skype IDs on yours/their computer as well as the mobile phones.  My grandkids are 3000 miles away and we see them 3-5 times a week on Skype.  Not as good as in person, but much better than a phone.  (My preference is the computer with a big monitor).    

[ORV]

4 hours ago, deadzone1003 said:

Recommend you and your kids set up a Skype IDs on yours/their computer as well as the mobile phones.  My grandkids are 3000 miles away and we see them 3-5 times a week on Skype.  Not as good as in person, but much better than a phone.  (My preference is the computer with a big monitor).    

You can do groups with Zoom, which is what you see a lot on the news, you can also use Alexa Echo Show, which we've done with friends we usually see on the weekends but haven't in a while. 

[Parapara]

We are in complete lockdown in New Zealand. It started midnight on Wednesday 25th and will last four weeks. We have to stay in our ‘ bubble’ of household members only.Only essential services open. People have to work from home. Schools closed. We should have stopped overseas visitors coming in a couple of weeks sooner, but other than that the Govt. has done well.

[bbwex]

Zoom is easy to set up, and then you can really see who you are talking to as more than one person can fit into the camera's lens around a computer.  You do need a computer with a camera and hopefully a microphone, though the latter can be easily obtained and does not have to be anything special.  They have a free account available, though your sessions are limited in time and scope of number of people online.

 

We are in Pittsburgh, PA and have been under an essential business only order for over two weeks. The number of cases is rapidly increasing here, though most people seem to be going along with the limited going out.  The hoarding seems to have passed, and a trip to Costco yesterday was easy -- the place was restocked and not very busy, at least when we were there.  If you do go out, the streets are eerily quiet. 

[cherylandmikem]

It's just amazing how people all over the planet are doing similar things, with minor variations to the theme of self protection.  In Southern California, there are so many variables affecting areas that may be only 10-15 miles apart.  We live about 35 miles north of downtown Los Angeles in a valley (not the San Fernando Valley) generally and lightly affected so far, but face the same kind of government implemented restrictions and precautions as the highly affected parts of the south eastern corner of the State.  This is very much for the benefit of all of us.

 

My wife fell and sprained her wrist while out walking a couple of days ago.  Getting into the urgent care center involved going through three check points and masking up just to get an x-ray.  Responsive prayer has a whole new perspective during a Zoom religious service.

 

Wishing everyone the best and hoping for all of you to come out the other side together and whole.

 

Cheryl and Mike

[Hawaiidan]

On 3/29/2020 at 10:39 PM, Parapara said:

We are in complete lockdown in New Zealand. It started midnight on Wednesday 25th and will last four weeks. We have to stay in our ‘ bubble’ of household members only.Only essential services open. People have to work from home. Schools closed. We should have stopped overseas visitors coming in a couple of weeks sooner, but other than that the Govt. has done well.

Same here in So. Calif..Palm Springs and all of Riverside county  has now passed a law that all persons outside the home must wear masks at all times  No gathering outside the home except for family members who reside in that home...  $500 fine  6 mos jail  for violation. 

 This week April 6-12   We are asked NOT to leave out home for any reason as the peak infection  is expected at this time.     All but a few are obeying.    It appears that infections are at their peak  and may begin to decline by next week. 

[sailfar]

We are in Wisconsin.  We are 23rd state in number of cases in the  50 United States of America with a lower numbers per population ratio.  Our governor shut our state down early.  Today many people were forced to go out and vote, and stood in long lines exposing themselves to others, Pole workers were in short supply and since they tend to be older volunteer workers, many polling places were not open.  Fortunately, we were able to vote early by absentee ballot in our smaller township area.  However, many people in Milwaukee, did not receive their absentee ballot they requested 3 weeks ago, and were forced to vote in person. Our state houses and state supreme court refused to stop our election.  Our cases are surely going to escalate in the coming weeks.  While our area has few cases, we have an ageing population that will now be greater at danger as more people were out and about today and bringing the disease home.  This disease spreads rapidly among the elderly,  Our major county nursing home has 12 covid cases and 2 deaths so far.  It is exponentially spreading each day. All of our currently active cases in our county are related to this nursing home.  Why is this important to cruise critic:  If retired people die off at too high a rate, the cruise lines are going to surely go bankrupt.  We are all in this together.  Time to work together!

[kathy9]

Good Morning,

We live in the most southern area of New Jersey. We are blessed to both be retired with an adequate retirement income. Our area is a summer resort and normally very quiet in the winter. We have had about 100 cases of covid-19 in our county (Cape May County). All the hotels , motels, campgrounds and even short term rental have been halted to keep people coming from the major cities (NYC/Philly) to the area. There has been a lot of animosity here between the locals and the second home owners on social media after the local freeholders/mayors told them not to come to their beach houses and to shelter in place where they are. All the playgrounds, golf and even the beaches/boardwalks have been closed. Some restaurants are trying to stay open to do take-out. Hopefully by the summer things will be back to normal here and the locals and visitors will exist in harmony again. 

Stay safe everyone!

Kathy

Edited April 8, 2020 by kathy9

[Balto Bob]

Greetings all.  In Baltimore Maryland , we are under a shelter in place "order'.  Basically, we have our groceries delivered (about 20% higher in cost).  We had booked our first Oceania cruise for January of 2021, so we are hoping it will go as planned.  Best wishes to all.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Bob-in-Balto

[Condocat]

Our development in NC has decided to hang Christmas lights to celebrate Easter and as a symbol of support to our healthcare community!  With approx 800 homes it should be very uplifting and fun especially for the children as well as the adults in making this happen.