1st Mediterranean Cruise in 5 months - MSC Grandiosa

[Sunshine3601]

Now that several countries are having higher cases of covid on a daily basis and most talking or already doing new restrictions and lockdowns will be interesting to see if tui msc and costa continue to do their weekly sailings.

[crazyank]

On 9/20/2020 at 6:53 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

Now that several countries are having higher cases of covid on a daily basis and most talking or already doing new restrictions and lockdowns will be interesting to see if tui msc and costa continue to do their weekly sailings.

Take a look at the real numbers,  not just the so called "new infections"  Recovery rates are steady or increasing with 96% or higher recovering.  Death rates are extremely low,  less than 1% in most places, and some are as low as .04 percent. 

[Biker19]

This article lists an update on the ships sailing or planned in the near future:

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23601-cruise-ships-back-in-service-october-update.html

[Biker19]

Morgan does MSC:

 

 

[crazyank]

21,000 new infections yesterday,  rioting in at least two port cities, Naples and Rome.  More and more curfews,  several EU countries have declared Italy a high-risk area.  IMHO MSC will stop cruising in the near future.  The risk is just too high.

[Oulton Jim]

Europe in general is now well into the second spike - France/UK/Italy/Spain -the list goes on...... I feel sure that the decision we made weeks ago to postpone an April cruise until March 2021 was the better option. 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, crazyank said:

IMHO MSC will stop cruising in the near future.  The risk is just too high.

The thing is, if you look at the numbers (virtually no cases reported on mainline ships), the testing to get on board (100%), the protections/mitigations on board (probably better than off ship), you might be safer on a cruise than on land in some places in Italy.

[Oulton Jim]

You are correct as things are right now. What finally made up our mind was the amount of restriction concerning shore visits. 

[crazyank]

19 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The thing is, if you look at the numbers (virtually no cases reported on mainline ships), the testing to get on board (100%), the protections/mitigations on board (probably better than off ship), you might be safer on a cruise than on land in some places in Italy.

I agree.  The problem is NOT the conditions on board.  The problem is the restrictions put in place by governments. 

[Biker19]

Going back to the first day:

 

 

[erinsmom03]

So are they still cruising in Europe?

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, erinsmom03 said:

So are they still cruising in Europe?

Yes, limited to Italy.

[Sunshine3601]

I'm surprised they are still sailing.  Many regions of italy are in red zone.  Imo they should pause sailings now before they have a problem.   Easier to recover from a pause than an outbreak.

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Imo they should pause sailings now before they have a problem. 

As with CEO Fain, the Costa CEO also mentioned that folks are likely safer on a cruise than at home 

[Biker19]

 

[ipeeinthepool]

6 hours ago, Biker19 said:

 

 

At the very beginning of this video, there was something that appeared to be a "pay elevator".  I've never seen or heard anything about "pay elevators".  Is that what I saw and are those common in Europe?

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

Is that what I saw and are those common in Europe?

Don't know and I don't recall seeing something like that before. 

[ipeeinthepool]

6 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Don't know and I don't recall seeing something like that before. 

 

Here's the snapshot from the video after he gets into the elevator to leave the hotel.

 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Non in UK. And as it's a 10 cent euro coin must be somewhere in Europe..never seen one In the European places I have been too.

[Biker19]

This one is pretty funny:

 

 

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

This one is pretty funny:

 

This is funny as hell.

Edited November 26, 2020 by A&L_Ont

[TravelerThom]

On 11/21/2020 at 6:44 AM, ipeeinthepool said:

 

At the very beginning of this video, there was something that appeared to be a "pay elevator".  I've never seen or heard anything about "pay elevators".  Is that what I saw and are those common in Europe?

Yep, I’ve seen pay elevators in a number of Med countries. These were not in buildings but allowed you to bypass hiking up a steep hill. Sometimes you have to pay going up, but it’s free going down. 

[Biker19]

 

[Biker19]

 

[Biker19]