Volendam To Brazil November 2020 - Would You Go?

[SargassoPirate]

I haven't cancelled yet, but I sent this to Holland America:

 

"I know Holland America is monitoring the Covd-19 pandemic, but are you watching the situation in Brazil?  The Volendam is scheduled to sail there in November, 2020.

The government in Brazil is not supporting testing, physical distancing, and the use of personal protective equipment.

A vaccine for Covid-19 is 12-18 months away from availability.

Do you really want to take a shipload of people to Brazil in the absence of a vaccine and with conditions in Brazil that are getting worse by the day?

Please consider conceling this cruise and redeploying the ship to a safer venue."
 

 

[DFD1]

If things there are as you state...and they may actually be worse.....I expect HAL will cancel if conditions do not improve.

 

In any event, I would not leave any serious money in HAL's hands right now. Things are still too uncertain.

 

 

[KirkNC]

4 minutes ago, DFD1 said:

If things there are as you state...and they may actually be worse.....I expect HAL will cancel if conditions do not improve.

 

In any event, I would not leave any serious money in HAL's hands right now. Things are still too uncertain.

 

 

Unfortunately several lines have serious amounts of my money right now.

[Randyk47]

We’ve stopped looking at cruises for the time being and we have nothing booked.   May reopen our research and planning after the first of year.   Really depends on the potential of a second wave this fall and winter and the availability of a vaccine.

[CruiserBruce]

You are outside of final payment, correct? If so, the decision is totally in your hands. Why berate HAL?

[SargassoPirate]

27 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

You are outside of final payment, correct? If so, the decision is totally in your hands. Why berate HAL?

My intention was not to berate but to get them to think and make an informed intelligent decision.

 

The only skin I have in this is a non-refundable deposit that I can walk away from when the time comes in order to stay healthy.

[Himself]

I would not go.  I was not planning on going but if I was going I would say " Thanks nut no thanks."

[richwmn]

4 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

My intention was not to berate but to get them to think and make an informed intelligent decision.

 

The only skin I have in this is a non-refundable deposit that I can walk away from when the time comes in order to stay healthy.

And you don't believe HAL is already thinking about it? At the rate things are changing, any decision made today could be wrong next week let alone next month. You are talking about a cruise several months off.

Also, while Brazil may not be practicing "social distancing" and other things as you would like (and neither is Sweden), it may prove that position is as correct or maybe more correct than what we are doing. At least they are providing a "control group" to compare two different approaches to the situation. Both may work out ok.

 

[CruiserBruce]

16 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

My intention was not to berate but to get them to think and make an informed intelligent decision.

 

The only skin I have in this is a non-refundable deposit that I can walk away from when the time comes in order to stay healthy.

I guess my thought is that I am sure they are monitoring things constantly. I wouldn't assume I have a monopoly on info and smart decision making skills or abilities. 

 

As mentioned...you have control over your destiny in this case. No need to try to dump it on HAL.

[TN Fem]

Brasil may lose a lot of people but come out of this pandemic faster if in fact they are doing nothing. They may have the Philadelphia 1918 flu spike with no second wave.

[Tbay]

We are also booked on this cruise, and have made plans for a week in Florida before the cruise.  At this time, we are 99.9% certain we will not go.  We do still have some time before final payment. It's a bucket list cruise, but.....

[SargassoPirate]

11 minutes ago, Tbay said:

We are also booked on this cruise, and have made plans for a week in Florida before the cruise.  At this time, we are 99.9% certain we will not go.  We do still have some time before final payment. It's a bucket list cruise, but.....

Tbay, it's a bucket list cruise for me as well and I had been watching the cruise for several years.  I was scheduled to board the Ruby Princess on April 4, and ended up just barely being able to get home from Australia.  It's the things beyond my control that have me worried - such as not being allowed to port or being stuck on the ship or having to disembark where I hadn't planned to.

 

The more I think about this one, I'm about 99 percent sure I'll sit this one out. Plenty of time to make a final call before the final payment is due 

 

[DeeniEncinitas]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

You are outside of final payment, correct? If so, the decision is totally in your hands. Why berate HAL?

CruiserBruce,

I was thinking the same thing also!

I agree.

Denise😊

[Krazy Kruizers]

My 2 cents worth -- I would not go.  You will only lose your down payment if you cancel now.

[DeeniEncinitas]

1 hour ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

My 2 cents worth -- I would not go.  You will only lose your down payment if you cancel now.

Hi KK!

I am with you also on this one!

Both you and CruiserBruce in my opinion 

mare correct! We did the same.

Denise😊

 

[SargassoPirate]

6 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

My 2 cents worth -- I would not go.  You will only lose your down payment if you cancel now.

 

 

Losing the down payment vs what I just went through in Australia and the Ruby Princess is a good tradeoff.  I'm still waiting for a refund from Princess for the cruise they cancelled.

 

Let's hope for a vaccine soon 

[Sir PMP]

I would wait a little longer, we were just there with the Volendam (early March) now the have mass burials because of the Chinese virus..

[SargassoPirate]

Here's an article that was carried in our local paper and is available to read online:

 

https://apnews.com/cb9947b1bd563637b17b102456c2be8b

 

Here is just a sample from the article:

 

"Medical officials in Rio de Janeiro and at least four other major cities have warned that their hospital systems are on the verge of collapse, or already too overwhelmed to take any more patients.

Health experts expect the number of infections in the country of 211 million people will be much higher than what has been reported because of insufficient, delayed testing.

 

Meanwhile, President Jair Bolsonaro has shown no sign of wavering from his insistence that COVID-19 is a relatively minor disease and that broad social-distancing measures are not needed to stop it. He has said only Brazilians at high risk should be isolated.

In Manaus, the biggest city in the Amazon, officials said a cemetery has been forced to dig mass graves because there have been so many deaths. Workers have been burying 100 corpses a day — triple the pre-virus average of burials."

 

 

 

 

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, SargassoPirate said:

In Manaus, the biggest city in the Amazon, officials said a cemetery has been forced to dig mass graves because there have been so many deaths. Workers have been burying 100 corpses a day — triple the pre-virus average of burials."

 

So much for the idea that the virus disappears when the weather turns warm. Can't get much warmer than the Amazon area. 

[DFD1]

Not the ideal time to take a cruise to Brazil.

[MJSailors]

Simple answer.. I wouldn’t even consider such a cruise with the Covid-19 being present in the world without viable treatment and/or vaccine.

 

[JeffElizabeth]

3 hours ago, MJSailors said:

Simple answer.. I wouldn’t even consider such a cruise with the Covid-19 being present in the world without viable treatment and/or vaccine.

 

We think we already got Covid in February and March so we have booked a Hawaii cruise(HA) in October. Hope to get an antibody test soon. Would you sail if you knew you had already beat the virus? I don't think I would take a cruise to Brazil right now or far from America or Canada. Europe will have to wait until 2021. 

Edited April 27, 2020 by JeffElizabeth

[Randyk47]

13 hours ago, JeffElizabeth said:

We think we already got Covid in February and March so we have booked a Hawaii cruise(HA) in October. Hope to get an antibody test soon. Would you sail if you knew you had already beat the virus? I don't think I would take a cruise to Brazil right now or far from America or Canada. Europe will have to wait until 2021. 

The problem is that WHO and CDC aren’t sure if having had Covid-19 makes you immune.  

[DFD1]

Why take the chance on illness or death, knowing the history of illness on cruise ships with this virus?

Even the question does not make any sense when one considers the possible consequences.

[ski ww]

An article today in our local paper, "Toronto Star" written by David Biller, Marcelo De Sousa & Adam Geller from the Associated Press says, " Brazil might be the next hot spot". I would stay away from Brazil until this crises is over.