It Might Be A Bit Longer...

[TrumpyNor]

Persons among the crew with confirmed covid-19 is currently at 36. This ship was sailing with only Norwegian passengers and to only Norwegian ports, and because of sailing with significantly reduced capacaty (around 160-180 passengers instead of max capacity of 530 passengers) and with Norway having very low numbers of covid-19 cases over the last 1-2 months, they were allowed to sail. But this is normally a expedition ship from Hurtigruten, that usually sails in Antarctica, so majority of the crew are of foreign nationality. Of the 36 confirmed infected as of now, 33 are of Philipine nationality, and it is suspected that it is one of the crewmembers that have "imported" the virus from abroad and then it has spread mainly among crewmembers. Majority of the confirmed cases onboard are without symptoms, and that is what I find scary with the covid-19 virus - that it is in most cases "invisible". 

 

What I find more worrying, is that information indicates that the Hurtigruten company seems to have tried to cover it up and keep it a "secret" until it blew up in the media.

Edited August 1, 2020 by TrumpyNor

[Gershep]

This is horrible. I don't see any cruises till maybe second half of 2021.

[seaman11]

This is horrible news,  no Sailings out of North America for some time.  they need to stop getting crew from infected countries and screen and test crew more often.  smfh.   

[Charles4515]

This is horrible news,  no Sailings out of North America for some time.  they need to stop getting crew from infected countries and screen and test crew more often.  smfh.   

From what I read they were testing crew but not passengers. One of the articles in Norwegian that I ran through a translation app seemed to be saying that an infected passenger may have brought it onboard.


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[TrumpyNor]

49 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

From what I read they were testing crew but not passengers. One of the articles in Norwegian that I ran through a translation app seemed to be saying that an infected passenger may have brought it onboard.


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I am living in Norway, and in the news here (both on TV and in newspapers) they say that it is suspected that it is a crewmember that brought the virus onboard from abroad. Only one passenger have tested positive so far. So either you have misunderstood something or the translation app has given you some incorrect translation. 

[seaman11]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

 

From what I read they were testing crew but not passengers. One of the articles in Norwegian that I ran through a translation app seemed to be saying that an infected passenger may have brought it onboard.


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Either is actually possible.   That is true it could have been a pax spreading it to the crew. However i suspect its the crew. 

Edited August 1, 2020 by seaman11

[mikaula]

So sad. 

[Charles4515]

I am living in Norway, and in the news here (both on TV and in newspapers) they say that it is suspected that it is a crewmember that brought the virus onboard from abroad. Only one passenger have tested positive so far. So either you have misunderstood something or the translation app has given you some incorrect translation. 

Probably the translation app botched what the article was saying. The English translation was definitely not perfect.


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[Trimone]

That’s on a small ship, multiply it by 5 ? What chance as any mainstream cruise line of sailing? Imagine calling at any port and spreading COVID-19 or contacting it...

none starter

[luv2kroooz]

3 hours ago, Trimone said:

That’s on a small ship, multiply it by 5 ? What chance as any mainstream cruise line of sailing? Imagine calling at any port and spreading COVID-19 or contacting it...

none starter

Yep, the local governments in the ports have enough dealing with their own people let alone tourists, you can't social distance on a cruise ship, and the general public is afraid to cruise. This is a big time problem for the cruise lines. They'd better start hoping a vaccine is available before their cash runs out because I see unsolved problems on multiple fronts until that time. 

[KmomChicago]

35 minutes ago, luv2kroooz said:

Yep, the local governments in the ports have enough dealing with their own people let alone tourists, you can't social distance on a cruise ship, and the general public is afraid to cruise. This is a big time problem for the cruise lines. They'd better start hoping a vaccine is available before their cash runs out because I see unsolved problems on multiple fronts until that time. 

agreed. We are far from ready. The situation has not improved at all since March.

[billyu]

Bye bye cruise industry.

 

Wish all a speedy recovery 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

42 minutes ago, billyu said:

Bye bye cruise industry.

 

Wish all a speedy recovery 

https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/2GLwVR/hurtigruten-ble-varslet-om-passasjer-med-smitte-etter-forrige-tur-mente-det-ikke-var-grunn-til-bekymring?fbclid=IwAR1SllxGjIqkHEaI2GacFEL_2nlBchI5lF9B7vFmZmiePb3feKsO-00Q748
 

Apparently the cruise line was notified of passengers infected after the first of the two cruises and did nothing and didn’t notify anyone. These cruise lines deserve the fate that is coming to them.  

[roger001]

36 minutes ago, billyu said:

Bye bye cruise industry.

 

Wish all a speedy recovery 

I didn't think so.  But now I do believe it is a possibility.   The virus apparently cannot be contained and will continue to spread every time any restrictions are relaxed.  It's gotten worse, not better.  I'm afraid until there is a cure/vaccine, there is no realistic chance to resume business as usual.  And cruise ships, in spite of their best efforts, just cannot insure virus protection.  Even if only every 10th ship ends up with a case on board, that's 14 days held hostage for those guests and crew.  I'm thinking the world will pretty much be requiring perfection for cruise ships before they sail again.  And a realistic look at the vaccine.....could be a year or more...if ever.   What a downer.  

[jaja]

I, also, was holding out hope that "this too shall pass"....but every day it seems less likely that we will cruise anytime in the near future...if at all.   

[EllieinNJ]

Has anyone heard if any were affected on the Mein Schiff 2 voyage?

[BermudaBound2014]

6 hours ago, billyu said:

Bye bye cruise industry.

 

Wish all a speedy recovery 

 

I don't think the cruise industry will fold. I do suspect bankruptcy filings, in which case the cruise lines debt is wiped out and they restructure. Creditors are the ones left in the hole. 

[BarnCat1]

I am already looking into alternate vacation ideas.

 

If we can't eat inside a restaurant, how can we expect to be on a cruise ship.  2021 is a 50/50.  Perhaps 2022 or 2023, if the cruise lines can stay afloat (no pun intended) that long.  

[BermudaBound2014]

Paul Gauguin just reported a positive case of Covid. Crew and passengers currently being tested. Sailing cancelled.

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23323-paul-gauguin-has-a-covid-19-case.html

 

 

Sadly, I was looking at Paul Gauguin as an alternate cruise 😞

 

[TrumpyNor]

On 8/1/2020 at 8:56 PM, TrumpyNor said:

Persons among the crew with confirmed covid-19 is currently at 36. This ship was sailing with only Norwegian passengers and to only Norwegian ports, and because of sailing with significantly reduced capacaty (around 160-180 passengers instead of max capacity of 530 passengers) and with Norway having very low numbers of covid-19 cases over the last 1-2 months, they were allowed to sail. But this is normally a expedition ship from Hurtigruten, that usually sails in Antarctica, so majority of the crew are of foreign nationality. Of the 36 confirmed infected as of now, 33 are of Philipine nationality, and it is suspected that it is one of the crewmembers that have "imported" the virus from abroad and then it has spread mainly among crewmembers. Majority of the confirmed cases onboard are without symptoms, and that is what I find scary with the covid-19 virus - that it is in most cases "invisible". 

 

What I find more worrying, is that information indicates that the Hurtigruten company seems to have tried to cover it up and keep it a "secret" until it blew up in the media.

 

The updated numbers from the Hurtigruten Roald Amundsen expedition ship is as follows (and keep rising):

In addition to the 36 crew members there are currently four (4) passengers from the last two week-long cruises that have tested positive to the covid-19 virus. The Norwegian health authorities have now asked the police to look in to this particular case, as there seems to be "evidence" that the Hurtigruten company did NOT follow up on the directions from the Norwegian health authorities and "take action"/inform all passengers on the current and the last cruise that they should all be tested after the first case was a fact (last Wednesday), and that they all had to go in to quaranteene. Hurtigruten did not do this until Friday evening - AFTER all passengers had left the ship. I believe they (the Hurtigruten company) were kind of "sticking their head in the sand and hoping everything would go away without anyone knowing about the situation" - and that resulted in a scandal that is now a police matter in Norway.

 

Luckily the majority of the passengers have been tracked down aaand contacted directly rather quickly by Norwegian health authorities, but this case could certainly have been handled much better by the Hurtigruten company by taking the first confirmed case SERIOUSLY. 

 

The ship itself is actually laying "in arrest" here in my hometown of Tromso, Northern  Norway with only crew onboard (all in quaranteene without permission to leave the ship). 

In Norway (also for ships) the current rule is that people that come from what is called "red" countries regarding covid-19 to work in Norway and have "exceptions" regarding entry to the country even though coming from outside Europe, have to undergo 10 or 14 days quaranteen when they arrive in Norway.

The Hurtigruten CEO was asked by journalists why the crew that came from the Phillipines didn't go into quaranteene when they came on board  a few weeks ago, and he replied something to like "yes, they were all in quaranteene, but for ships that just means that they are not allowed to go ashore during the quaranteene period. They did however PRACTICE THEIR REGULAR JOB ON BOARD, MANY OF THEM IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH PASSENGERS AND OF COURSE OTHER CREW. And he said that this was the standard international rules and regulations regarding the covid-19 quaranteene for crew on board. ships. That the quaranteene just means not to go ashore, but that they still can "mix and mingle" on board. 

 

And this is terrible if that is the case - that there are no difference between crew on ships with or without passengers.

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by TrumpyNor

[npcl]

2 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I don't think the cruise industry will fold. I do suspect bankruptcy filings, in which case the cruise lines debt is wiped out and they restructure. Creditors are the ones left in the hole. 

Shareholders are the ones that lose, in a restructuring debt/bond holders generally get their debt replaced with new stock in the restructured company.

[Fido Chuckwagon]

2 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I don't think the cruise industry will fold. I do suspect bankruptcy filings, in which case the cruise lines debt is wiped out and they restructure. Creditors are the ones left in the hole. 

Yup, creditors including passenger holding worthless future cruise certificates.  

[BermudaBound2014]

I hate to keep updating this with more bad news, but now it looks like you can add Costa to the list of cruise lines that have crew testing positive. I know we are just learning, but this continued news of covid aboard ships (even with current precautions) is getting depressing. 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2020/08/articles/disease/three-costa-crew-members-test-positive-for-covid-19-raising-number-of-infected-crew-members-in-europe-to-54/

"Three Costa Cruise seafarers tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Italian press today. In the last two weeks, over four dozen other crew members employed by AIDA, TUI and Hurtigruten have tested positive." 

https://etrurianews.it/2020/08/02/civitavecchia-porto-due-marittimi-di-costa-positivi-al-test-covid-19-in-pochi-giorni/?fbclid=IwAR3ZejObM9kWQewSvru4v1xA7wM1NZZkqNCFywBc8YzH-Y7hfNyiVRY_Y3o

 

Update on the Ponant owned cruise line Paul Gauguin. Hopefully most of the passengers will have balcony cabins since the ship was sailing at low capacity. I believe this was the second Paul Gauguin to sail and the first to sail with international passengers. 

"Passengers aboard Paul Gauguin have been told to stay in their cabins after a case of COVID-19 was detected Saturday evening by the ship's doctor"

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/covid-19-case-paul-gauguin-french-polynesia

 

 I still maintain that once the virus is under control, the image of being quarantined to a cabin is going to be a large hurdle for the industry to overcome. 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by BermudaBound2014

[jaja]

OMG--from bad to worse....

[Petoonya]

Windstar's Wind Spirit was supposed to start Tahiti sailings in October. I'm booked on her for 4/2021, 11/2021 and 4/2022.

The crystal ball could not be darker.

Edited August 2, 2020 by Petoonya