Covid-19 Confirmed on Hurtigruten vessel

[jonikal]

6 minutes ago, Sue from Canada said:

But so many people will opt out of the vaccine.  Just look at how many people don't get the flu shot or parents who refuse to get their kids vaccinated.  Cruise lines in the future will have to demand proof that you've had a Covid shot or else you don't sail.

 

Unfortunately you are correct.  There will likely be many irresponsible people who will refuse to get the eventual Covid vaccine. The same ones who don't vaccinate their kids. The ships need to require documented verification before allowing passengers to board and everyone purchasing a ticket needs to have that clearly spelled out in the documentation.  No vaccine, no boarding the ship. And any travel costs incurred need to be the responsibility of the passenger should boarding be denied.

[resistk]

2 hours ago, jonikal said:

 

Unfortunately you are correct.  There will likely be many irresponsible people who will refuse to get the eventual Covid vaccine. The same ones who don't vaccinate their kids. The ships need to require documented verification before allowing passengers to board and everyone purchasing a ticket needs to have that clearly spelled out in the documentation.  No vaccine, no boarding the ship. And any travel costs incurred need to be the responsibility of the passenger should boarding be denied.

 

Other cruise lines like Ponant and Carnival's German subsidiary are equally reckless.  These line jumping cruise lines will kill cruising for the medium term.

[bob brown]

The CC news article states that Hurtigruten never ceased running their essential coastal ferry service, and had no virus reported in that operation, so I suppose they thought that they could safely resume cruising...

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5501/

 

 

[jonikal]

Here is an update: 

https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-outbreak-ms-roald-amundsen-2020-8?amp

 

 

[luxecruisers]

16 hours ago, richws said:

Do you have information/a source for statement that "many of the passengers were foreign"? This is not suggested in anything I have read.

 

Hi Richws, 

 

I tried looking for the article, but I couldn't find it again. Only one of the articles mentioned "mostly foreigners" or something along those lines. 

 

Because I can't find it, I'm going to edit my original post. If I find it, I'll reach out and send you the link. 

[luxecruisers]

On 8/1/2020 at 5:17 PM, luxecruisers said:

We can't make assumptions that a crew member was the source. Non-Norwegian crew members had to get two negative COVID tests before leaving their countries and be put into quarantine before sailing. Articles don't talk about passenger testing. 

 

Editing my post to exclude "many of the passengers were foreigners." Tried to find the one article I read that mentioned it and can't find it anymore. 

[resistk]

Police investigation

https://www.marinelog.com/shipping/cruising/police-to-probe-hurtigruten-coronavirus-outbreak/

 

[trbarton]

View this link,  

  A lot of unanswered questions. I’m interested to see what they find out. Important to know for all cruise lines. 
 

Tom😎

[Krydstosser]

The Crew from high-risk countries was not put In qurantine In Norway. They went straight to the ship. And no testing before enbarking the ship. In my point of view a stupid and dangerous procedure. This has destroyed it for other Cruise Lines!

 

Look at this police is now investigate what was going on.

 

https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/OpGBrk/tromsoevaeringer-aapenbart-at-smitten-ville-komme-til-byen

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

[grayjay]

6 hours ago, luxecruisers said:

 

Editing my post to exclude "many of the passengers were foreigners." Tried to find the one article I read that mentioned it and can't find it anymore. 

On the circumnavigation voyage that didn't happen any more most of the passengers were Norwegian, with a sprinkling of Germans, Austrians and from Switzerland. They were lucky in being denied boarding on their day of departure...

[ighten]

Just to point out its automatic in Norway (as it is in many EU countries) for the police to open an investigation when any public authority (health etc) is tasked with an investigation as a Mayor or Magistrate will be assigned.

 

Hurti do seem to have dropped the ball on this one..  Covid will always get on to the ships somehow, thats not the issue (unless you live in a fantasy world where you think it can be controlled).. The issue is what systems are in place when an outbreak occurs and do they work.. Its no good having a good and approved system of testing staff and quarantine etc if your not then following it to the letter when an outbreak occurs..

 

Hurti could have run this as an example of what happens when its spotted onboard - but instead they seem to have not followed there own rules..

[hallasm]

As a response to the coronavirus outbreak on board MS Roald Amundsen, Hurtigruten temporarily suspends all expedition sailings on MS Roald Amundsen, MS Fridtjof Nansen and MS Spitsbergen until further notice.

Press release from Hurtigruten
 

Coastal voyages from Bergen to Kirkenes are still sailing.

Edited August 3, 2020 by hallasm

[jakob71]

Hurtigruten´s CEO takes self-criticism after the COVID-19 outbreak on MS Roald Amundsen.

 

According to articles in Norwegian newspapers today, writes Hurtigruten´s CEO Daniel Skjeldam in a press release: “A preliminary evaluation shows that there has been a failure in several of our internal procedures. Therefore, we are now in the process of a full review of all procedures, and all aspects of our own handling”.

 

https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/hurtigruten-sjefen---jeg-er-lei-meg/72710688

 

 

 

 

[icepeople]

Update about the situation in all aspects from the newspaper I edit where the ship was travelling during its period of infection. Among other things it notes Hurtigruten's cancelling of voyages due to multiple violations of internal procedure and the official police/health investigations, concerns about the viral and economic infections that may spread globally, and news and social media feedback from a variety of local and international perspectives:

http://icepeople.net/2020/08/03/covid-19-outbreak-on-roald-amundsen-revives-global-cruising-fears-hurtigurten-stops-all-voyages-due-to-internal-procedures-failures-police-and-health-officials-investigating/

[jonikal]

Thanks for posting, Icepeople!  We enjoyed reading your paper when we visited Svalbard in happier times a couple of years ago.

[icepeople]

15 minutes ago, jonikal said:

Thanks for posting, Icepeople!  We enjoyed reading your paper when we visited Svalbard in happier times a couple of years ago.

There are still happy times, even now, and surely many more to come 😍

Edited August 3, 2020 by icepeople
Add quote

[bluesea777]

We are so sorry to hear that. I did read in another source that the 33 infected were from the Philippines. 

 

Bottom line: the air travel is the hot spot. You can be tested negative, produce doctor's letter and be healthy within 72 hours before you travel but can still get infected while travelling to the ship. Very few flights coming to Bermuda - about 1/4 normal and planes have been less than 1/2 full.

 

Bermuda had been virus free for 3 weeks until the airport reopened to commercial travel on July 1. Then there have been several positive cases - all from the air arrivals! Worst are the ones on Delta from Atlanta. The 72 hours thing do not work. Fortunately Bermuda is strict. All arrivals are tested (nose cavity swabs) on arrival, again on Day 3, 7 and 14.

 

Unfortunately for us, we're booked on two Hurtigruten trips in December this year - they were booked back in January - before the Covid hell. We are going to have to cancel them (final payment due in Sept) anyway as we are not going to risk ourselves air travelling via the USA or UK to Norway, period (and go into quarantine before boarding the ship). We're hoping that Hurtigruten will consider refunding (or at least putting it into credit for future) the 20% non-refundable deposit that we paid.

 

 

[bones774]

6 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

We are so sorry to hear that. I did read in another source that the 33 infected were from the Philippines. 

 

Bottom line: the air travel is the hot spot. You can be tested negative, produce doctor's letter and be healthy within 72 hours before you travel but can still get infected while travelling to the ship. Very few flights coming to Bermuda - about 1/4 normal and planes have been less than 1/2 full.

 

Bermuda had been virus free for 3 weeks until the airport reopened to commercial travel on July 1. Then there have been several positive cases - all from the air arrivals! Worst are the ones on Delta from Atlanta. The 72 hours thing do not work. Fortunately Bermuda is strict. All arrivals are tested (nose cavity swabs) on arrival, again on Day 3, 7 and 14.

 

Unfortunately for us, we're booked on two Hurtigruten trips in December this year - they were booked back in January - before the Covid hell. We are going to have to cancel them (final payment due in Sept) anyway as we are not going to risk ourselves air travelling via the USA or UK to Norway, period (and go into quarantine before boarding the ship). We're hoping that Hurtigruten will consider refunding (or at least putting it into credit for future) the 20% non-refundable deposit that we paid.

 

 

I have a 12 day coastal voyage booked in Dec myself, have a small deposit down, let's see what H does. I would think that at a minimum they will give credit, though prefer to have cash back at this point.

[franski]

8 hours ago, hallasm said:

As a response to the coronavirus outbreak on board MS Roald Amundsen, Hurtigruten temporarily suspends all expedition sailings on MS Roald Amundsen, MS Fridtjof Nansen and MS Spitsbergen until further notice.

Press release from Hurtigruten
 

Coastal voyages from Bergen to Kirkenes are still sailing.

  

I can appreciate that the coastal voyages are important for the people of Norway... transportation, mail etc.  But - are they still letting international travelers on board?  In thinking back to our coastal voyage last October, I am wondering how passengers would be able to maintain distancing guidelines as some of the spaces are quite small for the number of passengers on board.

 

Fran

[mlockhart]

I'm a little confused about the expedition sailings cancellations. We have a sailing booked to Antarctica in late December on the MS Fridtjof Nansen. When you look at their website, it only says that expedition cruises booked in August and September have been cancelled. However, the press release says all are cancelled until further notice. 

Are they only cancelled for those two months?

[ighten]

Just now, mlockhart said:

I'm a little confused about the expedition sailings cancellations. We have a sailing booked to Antarctica in late December on the MS Fridtjof Nansen. When you look at their website, it only says that expedition cruises booked in August and September have been cancelled. However, the press release says all are cancelled until further notice. 

Are they only cancelled for those two months?

 

Yes at the moment -- though tbf the antartica ones were looking risky even before this given the issues in South America

[bones774]

.

This is official Norway site updated at least every 2 weeks,    https://www.visitnorway.com/plan-your-trip/coronavirus-and-travelling-to-norway/

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, franski said:

But - are they still letting international travelers on board? 

Yes, If those international travelers can enter Norway. Link with details in post above.

Edited August 3, 2020 by hallasm

[icepeople]

Update on situation: Norway announced Monday night it is banning all cruises of more than 100 people (passengers and crew total) for at least two weeks:

http://icepeople.net/2020/08/03/cruise-ban-reinstated-norway-halts-cruises-of-more-than-100-people-for-two-weeks-following-covid-19-outbreak-aboard-hurtigruten-ship/

 

[hallasm]

12 minutes ago, icepeople said:

Norway announced Monday night it is banning all cruises of more than 100 people

Does only apply to cruise/expedition ships - not ships In ordinary service like Hurtigruten Coastal Service from Bergen to Kirkenes.