NEXT CRUISE - ARE YOU KIDDING? Seriously.

[Greenpea2]

This will pass. Nobody knows when, but it will. Once it does and has for awhile, I will be booking a cruise.

[mjkacmom]

In regards to not being able to visit loved ones in the hospital, that goes for all loved ones, not just those who test positive for this virus. 

[Weluv2cruise2gether]

11 hours ago, lucymorgan said:

This may depend where in the world you are.  In Australia, most of our cases (so far) have been traced back to people arriving from overseas both on cruise ships and airplanes.  https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers

 

"The majority of Australian confirmed cases acquired their infection overseas, including on board cruise ships or associated with recent  travel to Europe or the Americas."

 

 

I realize this, but the point I was trying to make is that people can get sick with who knows what regardless of travel. So to only be saying you won’t cruise again because of fear of getting sick/dying, then you will never leave your home because you can get sick by just going to a movie, grocery store, doctors office, etc.

 

And also thank you for the information. It was really interesting!!

[Trimone]

58 minutes ago, scifimonkey said:

They are now producing rapid tests for CV19 which take less than 30mins. Maybe we will all have to undergo an enforced waiting time at boarding to be cleared of having CV19. Frankly if they took the test on arrival at the port they could probably have your results by the time you get through the registration process. I guess the only problem would be that your luggage would have to be held back pending clearance which might muck up the boarding process. 
Having said that it would be a pain if this had to happen on rejoining the ship at every port.

And if you were positive?  what would happen to all the other people in the queue you infected, it’s impossible 

[lucymorgan]

11 minutes ago, Weluv2cruise2gether said:

I realize this, but the point I was trying to make is that people can get sick with who knows what regardless of travel. So to only be saying you won’t cruise again because of fear of getting sick/dying, then you will never leave your home because you can get sick by just going to a movie, grocery store, doctors office, etc.

 

And also thank you for the information. It was really interesting!!

You are welcome.   Personally, I hope to cruise again when this is sorted out.   The information in my link  https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers)  has now been updated to include infections in Australia arising from cruise ships  😧

Edited March 29, 2020 by lucymorgan

[Sailorgrl7392]

8 minutes ago, Formula280SS said:

 

I hope using RED doesn't reflect a negative tone, just wanted to make it easier to separate my reply from your reply.  Thank you for you responses.

Interesting take. I didn't take it as a negative tone. just annoying/hard to add comments to response if you can't get creative 😀otherwise they become so long. i commented only on some things. i get where your coming from and while i agree changes need to be made i disagree on some points.

 

so while i think your coming from a good place this is the sad part. the maritime industry as a whole wants to make the most money and have the least amount of people in the least amount of time do the job. and when i say as a whole i'm talking about cruise ships to tankers to containerships and cargo ships. the navy makes 20 jobs out of one persons job in the commerical industry *if the number for the navy isn't right people please don't hang me i'm giving an exaggerated version* why is this? money. and i know you might be thinking well who cares this is a cruise forum, but it applies because the cruise industry is the same. cost cutting= money making. and i know you said theres a new norm now and i agree they have to make changes after/if they ever come back but to implement the ideas they need to hire more people and while it might be something they do, i think its unlikely because money. i hope maybe they take some of your ideas but unless they can do it for less people and for less money its unlikly. i know no bottom line but think about it when they come back they aren't going to be hiring more and more people they want to make lots of money. maybe they will be proactive at first it will soon drop off. who knows. 

 

So i don't like that people lie about the forms. i feel it puts so many people at risk. i had it happen on a princess cruise this past summer, someone i guess came on sick and it broke out into this flu thing. panama canal cruise in 2017 i came home feeling awful got really sick for a couple of days. it was scary. people shouldn't lie but sadly they do. the question is how do they make people not want to lie. unless they have people policing embarkation day of the cruise it's going to be hard. really hard. 

 

i'll be honest i hate the paper salt and pepper. pet peeve. why? because i hate the salt and pepper in the packet. though it wouldn't kill them to go back to the olden days when they did it for you. but cost cutting..... maybe they will bring it back and we can all be happy? 

 

"(non-compliance passengers should enjoy the welcomed upcoming port for departure if they can't be bother to wash their hands, cover their sneezes or let someone spray the bottom of their footwear; IMO, are these real challenges?" i think it is a problem to get people to do the right thing.honestly i'm not sure why this is. it is a real challenge unless they have more people policing the issue. they can't evn get everyone to take hand sanatizer in the food areas. the only time it sometime works is when your coming back onboard. and i saw you said if people don't comply they will ask them to disembark but its a pain. how will they know if people don;t comply? take notes? cameras? policing? i just don't see it. i could be wrong though. they would need an entire extra set of eyes and hands and people to do this. the crew onboard is already working at the max. even then if they make it done when everyone comes back or goes ashore what about people that don't do the right thing during other various times on the cruise? its not a small group of people. its a lot of people to watch over. i saw a person eat off their plate in a buffet onboard once and then go back up with the same plate and get more food. did the crew do anything? no. should they? yes why didn't they? because its more work for them. sad but true. at least on princess it was. they had a hard enough time making sure everyone had free drinks that asked. imagine adding more duties. 

 

"(We've cruised a lot in the past 5-7 years; generally when schools, colleges are "in" and non-holidays and vacations.  The % of passengers that have age-related obvious difficulties already task the medical staff and facilities.  Also, not popular, a noticeable % of passengers are 2-3 times their preferred weight which makes the body at risk so many health enhanced risks; so, cruise lines will have to invest in more physical and medical personnel resources)" cruise ships are only so big. they can make them bigger but they are only so big for now. im not familar with the medical center onboard. i don't know how many crew they have down there. but i do know cost cutting. i know we disagree on this matter. i'm sorry. but why would they invest in that? cruise ships aren't hospitals. they aren't meant to be someplace to deal with a huge disaster. they are meant to fix little things or stablize a person till they get to land or can be airlifted. they aren't meant for much else. i have a more complicated explaination why but i'll save it for a rainy day. 

 

"One of the two major reasons the cruise lines BIG 3 didn't get US aid in the current $2T was the incredible cost to US ships (Navy and Coast Guard, and Helicopters) that is not even remotely minutely reumbursed.  The other is CCL, RCCL and NCL are NOT INCORPORATED or FLAGGED in the US and, essentially pay NO US CORPORATE TAXES and almost NO Payroll Taxes.)"

 

😡😡 *sigh* they shouldn't get aid because they choose not to flag america. they choose not to because they don't want to follow our laws regarding american seafarers and hiring and protections. i can't speak on taxes i can only speak for crew. but heres the truth its complicated...

 

i hope in the end maybe the cruise lines whenever they/if they come back they make some big changes that stick. only time will truly tell. 

 

 

[Sailorgrl7392]

58 minutes ago, momofmab said:

 

 

People who are medically vulnerable are concerned about influenza every year and take necessary precautions to protect themselves.

 

If you think it's hysteria, I would point you to  the case of a good friend of mine.  Her father-in-law, an otherwise healthy man who felt a little unwell one day and within days, was put on a ventilator at a hospital in NYC.  If you haven't heard, the hospitals in NYC are completely overwhelmed with these cases.  Because it's COVID, which spreads like wildfire, family is not even allowed to accompany their sick relatives to the hospital.  The sick are transported alone, treated alone and are dying alone.  Because they are so overwhelmed, there is NO ONE available to take the time to update my friend on her father-in-law's condition.  If they pick up the phone to call the hospital - there is NO ONE to talk to them - everyone is too busy.  They've gotten one or two calls every 3-4 days - made by volunteer physicians who have come in just to make family calls -they aren't even treating the patients they are calling about.  One day they received two calls from different people, one telling them to prepare for his passing, and another telling them they thought he was improving (who do they believe)?  As of last night (Saturday), they haven't heard anything since Thursday.

 

Pick the person you love most and put yourself in that scenario.  Not knowing whether they are alive or dead, not being able to make any medical decisions for them, not being able to be by their bedside.  This is happening in one of the largest, most modern cities in the world.

 

If you think it's hysteria, I would invite you to read the first-person accounts of people who are battling it - the Canadian swimmer (Olympic hopeful) who, even though he is recovering, can't walk up the stairs in his home without becoming winded; the marathon runner from Chicago who said it feels like he is slowly drowning.

 

This is a cruise site, I get it but there still seems to be a few people in denial about how quickly this has spread on cruise ships; still in denial about how maybe they won't come down with symptoms but they could carry the disease and pass it to someone else, who DIES from it.  Is being able to take a cruise really worth THAT?  

i'm not disagreeing/commenting with anything you said except for the olympic hopeful having a hard time going up stairs. have you ever had pneumonia? i know this COVID -19 isn't pneumonia but it kind of has the same affect at least thats what i've heard on the tv or news or from nurses. if you've never had pneumonia i wouldn't wish it on anyone because it sucks. it was the sickest i've ever felt. i thought i was dying at one point. pneumonia takes a long time to recover from. it took me weeks recover and feel back to normal. there are times i still notice a difference. my point is that recovery takes time. right now its hard, hopefully soon and with time they come back to where they were. just my ten cents. 

[Formula280SS]

3 hours ago, Sailorgrl7392 said:

😡😡 *sigh* they shouldn't get aid because they choose not to flag america. they choose not to because they don't want to follow our laws regarding american seafarers and hiring and protections. i can't speak on taxes i can only speak for crew. but heres the truth its complicated...

 

i hope in the end maybe the cruise lines whenever they/if they come back they make some big changes that stick. only time will truly tell. 

 

 

 

Agree that it is, in the end, about dollars (very, very big dollars "costs"). 

 

Flagging US and agreeing to demands for application of US DOL, OSHA, etc. would multiply their cost of labor and operations exponentially.  Our days of cruising at the rates we're used to would be long, long gone accordingly.

 

We'd all be kidding ourselves if we also didn't admit that we participated and benefitted from the cruise line labor (sub-western wages and hours from world wide empoverished geographies) practices; low cost, brand new ships and almost all-inclusive.

 

So, as you suggest, only time will truly tell.

 

We've decided to 'cool off for 2020 and it will be the first year since 2008 (our first year) that we won't be cruising, regardless of promotions or pricing.  Looking to 'ink next years 6-month oceanfront rental on FL South/Central East Coast on bridged barrier island in gated community.

[momofmab]

4 hours ago, Sailorgrl7392 said:

i'm not disagreeing/commenting with anything you said except for the olympic hopeful having a hard time going up stairs. have you ever had pneumonia? i know this COVID -19 isn't pneumonia but it kind of has the same affect at least thats what i've heard on the tv or news or from nurses. if you've never had pneumonia i wouldn't wish it on anyone because it sucks. it was the sickest i've ever felt. i thought i was dying at one point. pneumonia takes a long time to recover from. it took me weeks recover and feel back to normal. there are times i still notice a difference. my point is that recovery takes time. right now its hard, hopefully soon and with time they come back to where they were. just my ten cents. 

I agree - recovery takes time whether it is COVID or pneumonia- but his point in sharing his experience publicly, was that he is an elite athlete who was training daily for the Olympics and COVID ravaged his lungs to the point where even if the Olympics were still happening, he doubted that could get back to where he needed to be.

[leithbones]

14 hours ago, Love my butler said:

Classic germaphobe.  The body has to be exposed to a certain amount of germs to build up resistances.  Living in a bubble isn't the answer.

Classic denier.

The body has to be exposed to a certain amount of bullets to build up a resistance to lead.  Wearing kevlar isn't the answer.

[ziggyuk]

19 hours ago, pokerpro5 said:

 

Huh?  How many cases of the "other" coronavirus, 2002 SARS, do you hear about today?

 

Of course COVID-19 will eventually die.  Herd immunity will kill it.  It also hasn't been found to mutate very well, so it's not that likely that it will keep coming back in different forms.

 

Are you kidding me, even the common cold is a coronavirus and there are 4 strains, they have not "died".

 

Human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43)

Human coronavirus HKU1

Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63, New Haven coronavirus)

Human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E)

[david_sobe]

It took a month for the USA to get 1000 deaths.  That amount doubled to over 2000 in just 2 days

Clearly this is NOT the flu.  Scary to think about 2 weeks from now

 

[Stealthdog]

22 hours ago, FLcruisergrl said:

I’ll cruise when it is safe to do so. By “safe”, I mean as it was pre-Corona. I felt safe then and will feel safe again.

I’m with you.  Once I am comfortable it is safe, I’ll be back on board.  My definition of safe is the same as your definition.

[karakara1]

Help!  We are supposed to take a RC Baltic Cruise early July.  We are to make our final payment today.  If we don't make the payment, we are out $900 that we won't get back in any form, and will get a $900 RC credit.  If we make the final payment and they end up cancelling the cruise, we get ALL our money back in straight-up credit card refund.  Another option they are giving us is that we can cancel up to 72 hours before sailing, and we'd get all the $$ back in future cruise credit and we'd have to use it by the end of 2021.  What would you do????

[Beach Life 1]

3 minutes ago, karakara1 said:

Help!  We are supposed to take a RC Baltic Cruise early July.  We are to make our final payment today.  If we don't make the payment, we are out $900 that we won't get back in any form, and will get a $900 RC credit.  If we make the final payment and they end up cancelling the cruise, we get ALL our money back in straight-up credit card refund.  Another option they are giving us is that we can cancel up to 72 hours before sailing, and we'd get all the $$ back in future cruise credit and we'd have to use it by the end of 2021.  What would you do????

 

[Beach Life 1]

Sorry, error in previous post.   Cancel !  You will be so stressed until July.  It's not worth it.   If things are better by then (although, I don't think they will be), you can always rebook.  There's so much going on now to worry about,  don't add this to your stress.

[GA Dave]

Unfortunately, I do not believe my wife and I will ever cruise again.  With how long this virus may last (some medical experts are saying as long as three years), and with the devastation this will have on the global economy, I do not think our finances will ever recover enough to justify another cruise.  The double whammy of the 2008-2010 recession and this historic drop has destroyed our hope for a retirement that would include luxuries like a cruise.

[smplybcause]

8 hours ago, lucymorgan said:

You are welcome.   Personally, I hope to cruise again when this is sorted out.   The information in my link  https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers)  has now been updated to include infections in Australia arising from cruise ships  😧

 

But the odds are the virus got on a ship via an airplane. Planes are responsible for spreading the virus so much. If one fears going on a cruise ship because of the virus they definitely should not fly on a plane. 

[Nola26]

4 hours ago, GA Dave said:

Unfortunately, I do not believe my wife and I will ever cruise again.  With how long this virus may last (some medical experts are saying as long as three years), and with the devastation this will have on the global economy, I do not think our finances will ever recover enough to justify another cruise.  The double whammy of the 2008-2010 recession and this historic drop has destroyed our hope for a retirement that would include luxuries like a cruise.

I hope this isn't true for you.

 

Cabin options and frequency of cruises may have to change but hopefully you find a way to have something you love in your future. 

[Jaxweb]

On 3/28/2020 at 3:56 PM, Weluv2cruise2gether said:

I am an ER nurse and I can tell you that all the positive Covid-19 patients we have seen so far in our ER have not been anyone who was on a cruise or even had recent travel. There are many people in the world who are positive Covid-19 and have never cruised or traveled outside of their country. On that note, we need to remember to ALWAYS have good hygiene whether we are at home or traveling and not just during a health crisis. We also need to remember to be KIND to one another everyday. I was to be currently on a cruise as I type this. Disappointed that I’m not on vacation but also grateful that me and my family are healthy and praying we all remain that way, as well as you all!

Is that a rationalization to cruise because you are more likely to catch coronavirus on land than on a cruise?

Even if that’s true, you are better off getting it in your home town than during a cruise. 
if your need to self quarantine, it’s easier to do that in your own home. You can go outside in your own backyard or patio, get food delivered etc. and you have better access to hospitalization if needed. 

[Aesop081]

Sad but true words from many sources on this thread.  Cruise ships do their best to contain a whole host of problems from health, sanitation...drunken @$$ hats. But their design is not conducive to this type of viral avoidance.   This virus is gonna be a pain in the derriere to eradicate from the amount of surfaces and with the amount of passengers on ships.  Also as with most viruses they just keep mutating.  It could mutate into something harmless, or something worse.  

 

I love cruising and in the last few years am doing it much more often as our kids have/will be leaving home and retirement is very close.  However, for the next few years or until evidence has shown that the sardine effect treatment of passengers from the cruise lines stops we will be land vacationing (Hello Maui baby!) Although it is a popular vacation destination it isn't like a cruise ship.   Because as they build ever more densely packed ships in order to keep that low price, the effects of ANY virus will be easier and easier to find away to spread.  And there are fully functional hospitals at most land destination with doctors I'd trust also.

 

I'm still a fan of cruising, but once this years booked are cancelled by us and them...well, we will need to separate for awhile.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Aesop081

[mking8288]

 

19 minutes ago, Aesop081 said:

 ... Cruise ships do their best to contain a whole host of problems ... But their design is not conducive to this type of viral avoidance.   This virus is gonna be a pain in the derriere to eradicate from the amount of surfaces and with the amount of passengers on ships ... (and, crew members)

 

HCF especially hospitals (health care facilities) does have solutions as effective infection control measures to maintain a clean, safe & often, sterile environment is a must - this is one of the high tech solution - 

https://nyulangone.org/news/nyu-langones-germbusters-combat-covid-19-high-tech-handheld-sprayers

 

Highly unlikely for the cruiseline industry to adopt, train the staff and use the technology onboard ships.  

Edited March 30, 2020 by mking8288

[Markanddonna]

One of the sad outcomes for most of us is that one of our joys has been taken away: cruise planning. The typical Cruise Critic probably logs on daily, reads, researches, and makes comments. Now, the boards for me will soon be a nice memory because I likely won't cruise in the next few years.  Planning and dreaming now seems like an exercise in futility with things being so uncertain.

 

Our worlds have certainly been turned upside down, but they we have to consider that our inability to cruise is such a first world problem. I think of all the people in India panicking and going home to their poor villages with little food or water. My desire for a half gallon of ice cream in my freezer is rather silly in the big picture. I'm grateful to have a lovely home and enough for now.

[ray98]

You should probably just plan on staying inside....

[krittykat]

I will cruise again. There is always a "next virus" lurking around the corner. There is always the risk of Norovirus breaking out on the cruise ship (happened during my 1st cruise with Holland).  There is the risk of getting sick shopping at the mall at Christmas (which happens nearly yearly for me).
I agree this is worse that all that but living in fear is not living.  I will ride this one out using the recommended guidelines and once this passes (and it will), I will resume my early retirement and travel as planned.