Zaandam and Rotterdam -- Moving Forward (April 3, 2020)

[arabrab]

Hopefully this gives the remaining ships a blueprint for their returns.

[mamaofami]

I’m so happy they are off the ships and heading home or hopefully to a safe place. I’m sure they will never forget this cruise.

 

Thanks to the hosts who let us watch the arrival of the ships in Florida and for allowing those of us who love Hal a place to be together.

 

 

Thank you John for your always knowledgeable comments.

 

Praying for all the people who were onboard and their families that all will be well.

[cdwise]

The cruise lines had been footing the bill for every repatriation since the shutdown so why anyone would expect this to be different I never understood. I’m sure there will be some negotiations between the cruise lines and the travel insurance companies for indemnity where people who have been evacuated have such policies as we do for every cruise and out of the US trip we take but other than possible premium increases for next year’s policy that won’t affect the passengers. 
 

The flight departures and order as well as number for each flight is in exhibit 2 to the agreement. 

[rjbean4]

Hi Copper. Regarding the flight to ATL. How were passengers selected for this flight and then "where to" from there for those on board. According to Flight Aware this flight has yet to depart. I also have the FlightRadar24 app on my phone (free version) and use it frequently.

Edited April 3, 2020 by rjbean4

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, arabrab said:

That is a very detailed plan in terms of getting folks out of Florida. 

It is not nearly so clear as to what happens to folks once they arrive at the airport where the charter flights land. I hope the passengers continue to wear the masks they are being provided.

I agree

 We have over 400  new cases in GTA  daily

 people flying back to  Toronto & other parts of Canada are told to self isolate for 14 days

 some  were stopping to shop on the way home  though  😲

[gatour]

39 minutes ago, richwmn said:

about the rebirth of Eastern Airlines from Wikipedia

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines

 

Had to look up what a wet lease was.  Basically the owner leases the plane out and include flight crews and other stuff.  In regards Eastern and being based in Miami, the "wet" part has some interesting connotations. 

[Vict0riann]

Do you remember the days when CC would crash when we had a "hot" Sailaway thread?  I was amazed that the forum held up so well under multiple days of hotness on the Zaandam and Rotterdam thread.  Congratulations, and many thanks, Cruise Critic.  It was an amazing experience to follow along, and what a relief when Zaandam and Rotterdam made it into port.  

 

The PTZ group, Lou and Dave, also were a wonderful asset for all of us following the arrivals.

 

Good wishes to all the passengers returning home.  Stay healthy!  And to those remaining on the ships I hope for only good outcomes.

[cruzingnut]

13 minutes ago, cdwise said:

The cruise lines had been footing the bill for every repatriation since the shutdown so why anyone would expect this to be different I never understood. I’m sure there will be some negotiations between the cruise lines and the travel insurance companies for indemnity where people who have been evacuated have such policies as we do for every cruise and out of the US trip we take but other than possible premium increases for next year’s policy that won’t affect the passengers. 
 

The flight departures and order as well as number for each flight is in exhibit 2 to the agreement. 

 

No, they have not.  We on the Amsterdam got off the ship in Fremantle, Australia and had to pay for our own flights home if we hadn't used HAL for flights TO the cruise when it began in January. 

 

Linda R.

[Vict0riann]

Sail, I think both ships will have crew on board, and also Zaandam will have some mildly sick passengers and crew staying on board until they recover.  Then I imagine they will have to return to FLL to drop off passengers and re-provision for another stint of waiting in the Bahamas.

[PTC DAWG]

25 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

And I suspect that most of the negotiation was not over who was going to pick up the tab, but was about containing the threat of infection.

 

I wouldn’t bet on that..

[bluesea321]

1 hour ago, arabrab said:

That is a very detailed plan in terms of getting folks out of Florida. 

It is not nearly so clear as to what happens to folks once they arrive at the airport where the charter flights land.

I hope the passengers continue to wear the masks they are being provided.

 

Per the agreement:

"[Passengers] instructed to wear facemasks at all times until arrival at final destination and instructed to go immediately into 14 days self-isolation upon arrival at home.   Per recent CDC guidance, passengers will be provided with a face mask to be worn during disembarkation, during transport to their charter flights, for the duration of the flight(s), and while taking ground transportation contracted by the Company until they reach their final destination."

 

Clearly being done to keep passengers from infecting others and I hope all adhere to this requirement until they reach their homes.  The country (and the world) has enough cases as is.  I have been under mandatory stay at home orders for 3 weeks now and I have followed it.  I hope for safe travels to all.

[Copper10-8]

Eastern 209 Heavy, one and a half hours late, but now taxiing and just about on the way for the short flight to Atlanta 🙂

 

[Crism]

2 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

Eastern 209 Heavy, one and a half hours late, but now taxiing and just about on the way for the short flight to Atlanta 🙂

 

 

Just flew by!  They're on the way now too.

[Copper10-8]

Just now, Crism said:

 

Just flew by!  They're on the way now too.

 

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/EAL209/history/20200403/1600Z/KFLL/KATL

[Copper10-8]

Next up are Rotterdam's/Zaandam's 236 U.S. west coast and Aussie/Kiwi pax on Eastern Airlines Flt #267, a chartered Boeing 767-333 with a scheduled departure from FLL of 1:42 PM EDT and a scheduled arrival in San Francisco, CA (SFO) at 4:37 PM PST

 

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/EAL267/history/20200403/1815Z/KFLL/KSFO

[rjbean4]

Copper,

 

So with those en route to ATL whats next for them. Had heard the last flight will be early tomorrow morning to London I think. Don't always believe the reporters as I have heard a lot of incorrect info coming from them. Even on the local news here in Tampa as there are passengers who have been on board from our area.

 

After I go out to pick up a couple of prescriptions before the end of the afternoon will look forward to going back into hiding. Sure would have been nice for my insurance to allow for 3 month fills but I was able to get a new scrip from my Dr. with no problem and get another one filled early.

Edited April 3, 2020 by rjbean4

[Tampa Girl]

Copper,

 

What is the latest projected time for the ships' departure?

[Vict0riann]

This article was in Canadian CTV news this morning - there is no mention of what Canada will do with the arriving Zaandam passengers.

 

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. -- Passengers from an ill-fated cruise were carefully freed from their cabins and allowed to touch dry land on Friday for the first time in weeks, following the removal of 14 critically ill people who were wheeled off to Florida hospitals bracing for an onslaught of coronavirus patients.

The exodus from the Zaandaam and its sister ship the Rotterdam was expected to continue throughout the day. Floridians were getting off first, followed by other passengers. Buses were taking people healthy enough to travel directly to the airport, where they'll board chartered flights home without going through the terminal.

At least four buses brought the first small groups to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday morning, where they prepared to board two planes waiting on the tarmac. The passengers wore masks, while paramedics and airline workers were fully suited up and masked in protective gear. The first plane was bound for Toronto, Canada, port officials said.

 

They'll be followed by what Carnival Corp. said was its last ship carrying passengers to a U.S. port since the pandemic was declared. The Coral Princess is expected to arrive at the Port Everglades terminal on Saturday with more than 1,000 passengers who have been isolating in their cabins, including 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on board.

Princess Cruises, a line owned by the larger corporation, had already announced a "higher-than-normal" number of people with flu-like symptoms aboard the Coral Princess.

"This is a humanitarian situation, and the County Commission's top priority is protecting our 1.9 million residents while providing a contained disembarkation option for people on board who need to get safely home," Broward County Mayor Dale Holness said in a statement late Thursday.

It was unclear when the bodies of four passengers who died on the Zaandam would be removed from the ship, which set sail on March 7, the day before the State Department warned people against cruising during the pandemic, and was thereafter barred from South American ports.

The U.S. Coast Guard has directed that hundreds of crew members should remain on the dozens of cruise ships that are either docked or waiting just off Florida's shores, and that cruise lines should be prepared to treat all but the most serious cases on board to avoid adding more stress to Florida's health care system.

Already, crew members are getting sicker. One has died on the Celebrity Infinity and two others were medically evacuated from the Oasis of the Seas, according to an email Friday from their company, the Miami-based Royal Caribbean cruise line. The Infinity is waiting off Florida's west coast, and the Oasis of the Seas is positioned off Broward County's shores.

Holland America initially said 45 people who were mildly ill would stay on board the Zaandam until they recovered, but the docking plan released later Thursday indicated that 26 passengers and 50 crew members were ill. Two of the four dead had COVID-19, said William Burke, chief maritime officer for Carnival Corp., which owns the ships. Nine people had tested positive for the new coronavirus, Burke said earlier this week.

There were 442 guests and 603 crew on the Zaandam, and 808 guests and 583 crew on the Rotterdam. The Rotterdam was sent last week to take in some of the passengers and provide assistance to the Zaandam since it was denied permission to dock at ports in South America.

About 250 people have reported influenza-like symptoms since March 22, including 17 aboard the Rotterdam, according to the docking plan.

Originally firmly opposed to the ships' arrival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that he had a change of heart after realizing many passengers were U.S. citizens and about 50 of them Floridians.

He went further on Thursday, telling Fox News that allowing passengers to disembark and transferring critically ill patients to hospitals was "the humanitarian thing to do."

Emily Spindler Brazell, of Tappahannock, Virginia, was still in her cabin waiting for instructions from the Rotterdam's captain but said she was relieved to be back home.

"People greeted us, came out to their balconies, blew air horns and shouted, `Welcome home!"' she said. "It was surprising. We went to many countries that said, `We are not going to talk to you."'

[cdwise]

59 minutes ago, cruzingnut said:

 

No, they have not.  We on the Amsterdam got off the ship in Fremantle, Australia and had to pay for our own flights home if we hadn't used HAL for flights TO the cruise when it began in January. 

 

Linda R.

 

From what I saw in the information we received about our cancelled cruise if you didn't use HAL and had expenses related to changing flights you could contact them and they would help with getting you on flights and any change/cancellation fees incurred. So if you did have additional costs directly related to the changes not covered by travel insurance I'd suggest calling them.

 

On a side note, when I was reading the disembarking conditions one of them was no cough for 24 hours. Since a medication I take has a cough as a side effect I'd be stuck on the ship forever as I've had a cough since I started taking it over a year ago. Nothing to do with seasonal allergies which also cause a cough. Way too many other reasons to have a cough than this virus.

[ShipWalker]

23 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

What is the latest projected time for the ships' departure?

 

Ah! Here is the link I forgot to save on page 69 of that other thread. 😣

https://pevvesseltraffic.broward.org/webx/

 

Departures

Zaandam 4/3/2020 22:22 hrs

Rotterdan 4/4/2020 22:22 hrs

Edited April 3, 2020 by ShipWalker

[Copper10-8]

10 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

Copper,

 

What is the latest projected time for the ships' departure?

 

 

Zaandam and Rotterdam both now show a scheduled (but still unconfirmed) departure time of 22:22 (10:22 PM) on Sat 04 APR 20 in order to head for their "hot layup" location in Bahamian waters.

 

They still have an international group of 260 pax scheduled to depart tonight around 1800 (6:00 PM) for Paris-Charles de Gaulle (ongoing to Frankfurt, Germany) plus 226 pax scheduled to depart for London-Heathrow on the fifth charter flight early Sat morning around 0100 hrs. 

 

Keep an eye on this site for updates:

https://pevvesseltraffic.broward.org/webx/ 

[cruzingnut]

3 minutes ago, cdwise said:

 

From what I saw in the information we received about our cancelled cruise if you didn't use HAL and had expenses related to changing flights you could contact them and they would help with getting you on flights and any change/cancellation fees incurred. So if you did have additional costs directly related to the changes not covered by travel insurance I'd suggest calling them.

 

I should have clarified this to read that we had NOT taken any flights to get to the cruise.  I never do as I (until 2 weeks ago) hadn't flown in well over 20 years.  So, there were no flights to change.  I'll just leave this at that as this isn't really the proper thread to be discussing this.

 

I am so happy though that they ships were allowed in; while we had a good couple of weeks worrying about where we would go, these folks had it much worse.

 

Linda R.

[Copper10-8]

23 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

This article was in Canadian CTV news this morning - there is no mention of what Canada will do with the arriving Zaandam passengers......................

 

That flight is due to land at Toronto-Pearson in six minutes 😉 Perhaps on your local TV?

 

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/EAL212

[rjbean4]

And the flight to ATL is on decent. Still wondering about those on this flight and to where they are headed. They well see all the parked Delta equipment on the 2 runways depending on their approach. ATL has 5 runways and 2 of them are closed to use to park some of the Delta Equipment. Airlines have also parked them out west in the desert due to the climate.

[LMaxwell]

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

I wouldn’t bet on that..

I would bet on it, since Port Everglades posted the Unified Commands list of requirements for the public and specifically stated what needed to be addressed.