Covid in Alaska - you may be on your own

[SharonN]

12 minutes ago, CafeBruno said:

Thanks for your concern Sumo Citrus! Like I said, I was writing to try and inform others that might be expecting HAL to help them once they test positive. Those that are might not be comfortable changing their own travel arrangements on the fly, like I did.

 

Sorry if I can off as whiny....but it is disappointing to me when HAL makes promises but does not keep them. 

You have every right to be disappointed in HAL not supporting you as they should have. It's hard to believe they didn't contact you at all. They were so good supporting us on the ship and you should have had the same treatment. Wish I knew who you could contact to share your concerns. 

[grammi]

17 minutes ago, CafeBruno said:

Thanks for your concern Sumo Citrus! Like I said, I was writing to try and inform others that might be expecting HAL to help them once they test positive. Those that are might not be comfortable changing their own travel arrangements on the fly, like I did.

 

Sorry if I can off as whiny....but it is disappointing to me when HAL makes promises but does not keep them. 

You did not come off whiny. Thank you for sharing your experience. 

[tundra1]

I hope you are recovering quickly.  I had heard about the spotty internet in the hotel rooms on the land tour portion, and was debating whether or not to bring my laptop, but your post convinced me it is worth the hassles, just to have that access to make alternate plans if needed.  I already have plan A and a plan B in case our Land/Sea package is canceled.  I guess I should now start lining up a plan C in case one of us gets Covid!  

 

As long as you have all your receipts, I am sure HAL will eventually reimburse you for your expenses, but I am sure it will take time to see that money again.  I wish you a speedy recovery of both your health and your funds!  🤗

Edited June 22, 2022 by tundra1
typo

[Gray Lady]

2 hours ago, CafeBruno said:

Gray Lady, when we self tested positive at the Westmark Hotel in Fairbanks, we immediately reported it to the HAL tour desk at the hotel. They took down our names and room number and told us our Tour Director would be getting hold of us for the next steps (she never did, now 4 days later), and that our tour was over and we could no longer participate in the tour. They then told us to go to the hotel front desk to report it to them also. We did and the front desk gave us 2 letters, 1 from HAL and 1 from the hotel.

 

The HAL letter told us we couldn't continue the tour and that we had to isolate, and said we had to pay for our additional expenses, and then submit to HAL for reimbursement. It also said we could contact Guest Relations, which we tried to but gave up after an hour on hold - I sent them an email instead on Friday, but again no response yet.

 

The hotel letter told us "...we will contact Beacon, and Occupational Health and Safety Service we have contracted with to help manage cases that come up. They will be contacting you periodically to test you and check on you". We got these letters last Thursday, and to date, no one from Beacon or HAL or the hotel has contacted us to do anything. I even spent an hour on the phone last Friday trying to contact every Beacon phone number I could find, and got shuffled around to 3 voice mails, which I left, which again I have not gotten 1 return call. 

 

Since our HAL flight was supposed to leave last Saturday, and our 5 day quarantine does not expire until tomorrow, I was able to change our HAL flights myself on delta.com on Saturday morning, from Saturday to Wednesday (for an extra $210, which of course I had to pay). 

 

Hope this is helpful to you - let me know if you need more info. And safe travels to you 

 

Yes, very helpful. Thank you. We were in Fairbanks from Saturday until this morning. How awful for y

 

2 hours ago, CafeBruno said:

Gray Lady, when we self tested positive at the Westmark Hotel in Fairbanks, we immediately reported it to the HAL tour desk at the hotel. They took down our names and room number and told us our Tour Director would be getting hold of us for the next steps (she never did, now 4 days later), and that our tour was over and we could no longer participate in the tour. They then told us to go to the hotel front desk to report it to them also. We did and the front desk gave us 2 letters, 1 from HAL and 1 from the hotel.

 

The HAL letter told us we couldn't continue the tour and that we had to isolate, and said we had to pay for our additional expenses, and then submit to HAL for reimbursement. It also said we could contact Guest Relations, which we tried to but gave up after an hour on hold - I sent them an email instead on Friday, but again no response yet.

 

The hotel letter told us "...we will contact Beacon, and Occupational Health and Safety Service we have contracted with to help manage cases that come up. They will be contacting you periodically to test you and check on you". We got these letters last Thursday, and to date, no one from Beacon or HAL or the hotel has contacted us to do anything. I even spent an hour on the phone last Friday trying to contact every Beacon phone number I could find, and got shuffled around to 3 voice mails, which I left, which again I have not gotten 1 return call. 

 

Since our HAL flight was supposed to leave last Saturday, and our 5 day quarantine does not expire until tomorrow, I was able to change our HAL flights myself on delta.com on Saturday morning, from Saturday to Wednesday (for an extra $210, which of course I had to pay). 

 

Hope this is helpful to you - let me know if you need more info. And safe travels to you 

 

Yes, this is very helpful. I am so sorry for what you have had to go through. We just left Fairbanks this morning. I gather you are done with cruising and the rest of the land tour??? I will keep you updated, CafeBruno, on what happens with us. We are not optimistic with everything we are reading and all the coughing/sneezing (could be colds, too, but still contagious). Our test will be given by HAL, so I will  pay attention to what they do after. Hope you and your wife are now okay.

[Freckles1983]

6 hours ago, arzz said:

Test positive and then just fly home?  What ever happened to consideration for others?

 

One thing to choose risk for yourself. Another thing to impose your risk decision on others!  Wow …

Not even nearly the most selfish of behaviours I saw both on the ship and on land.  We are on our second last night of our trip and it has been a good trip but I will never do another land tour again (for more than just covid reasons).  And we probably won’t be cruising/vacationing again any time soon just due to the increased unpredictability now.  I know that travel always comes with risk but it’s gonna be a bit before I’m willing to put up  with all the extra BS that goes along with it nowadays.

 

again sending well wishes for a speedy recovery of health and money to CafeBruno

[TiogaCruiser]

13 hours ago, SumoCitrus said:

I couldn't help but notice that you survived. That's good.

 

Think back to 2018 and reimagine your post but instead of COVID it was norovirus - a serious illness that is common on ships. Would you have written the same post?

Can’t help but notice-

 

You left out a great deal of context.

 

Does your hypothetical scenario include a pandemic of Noro, noro’s route of transmission suddenly being changed from fecal-oral to droplet and areosol, and HAL instituting their current care policy Care Policy to encourage people to cruise?

[cruisequeen4ever]

Goodness, I would contact the Holland America rep at the hotel again and report that no one ever contacted you. They are not supposed to leave you in the lurch like that. Thank you for doing the right thing and isolating! It’s scary to think that some people are ignoring it and just flying like someone else reported. I hope you guys get better soon! 

[2inSETexas]

20 hours ago, RSWBADGER said:

Future Cruise Credit (FCC) for 100% of the cancellation fee amount of non-refundable unused services, and a refund to the original form of payment for all taxes, fees, port expenses, and pre-paid onboard experiences and shore excursions purchased through the cruise line. Applicable, for guests and their immediate travel party in the same stateroom if any guest tests positive for COVID-19 within 30 days prior to embarkation.

You may be waiting a very long time for the FCC. I contracted the Omicron variant (twice vaccinated, twice boosted) three days before our Alaska land/cruise departure. Our TA contacted HAL the same day, and we were told the above - 100% FCC (less refunded fees, etc) - and they told us we’d get it in 10-15 business days. 

 

We are now at 28 business days and no FCC yet.  Last week our TA checked again and was told we’ll get the FCC when we get it. We’ve given up on trying to rebook this Alaska season. HAL is just non-responsive and taking a very long time to put move our money from their left pocket in the right pocket.

 

And from what our TA tells us, HAL isn't even the worse in such poor customer service. 

[Gray Lady]

CafeBruno, I hope you get home safely soon. I have had a bad feeling about this since we started our land tour, and sure enough last night hubby started feeling poorly. Pulled out the trusty test kits, and sure enough positive for him. Luckily, I am negative. He is stuffed up and feels generally blah…sleeps a lot. I contacted the front desk and Beacon came to the room to verify (we are in Denali). They have brought us food to the room and are transporting us to Anchorage where we will isolate. They have a liaison here who works with positive COVID cases and trip interruption. We have to pay upfront for our hotel room in Anchorage, but the platinum plan will reimburse us. They will also give us a $100 per dime per person to cover our meals. We are not to leave the hotel until after our 5 days, then we can fly home. Not the vacation we wanted. We were only on day 4 of our land tour. Hopefully we can make the cruise another year. 
You should be able to submit your hotel bill for reimbursement and also get money for food. I know the difficulty is getting hold of HAL. Let us know how things go with you.

 

[seaoma]

@Gray Lady I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope you will remain negative and that your husband's symptoms will be mild. My strongest wish is that there won't be any complications from this bout with covid in the future. 

 

I'm assuming your age is what indicates your screen name. If so, you might want to call the Dr. to ascertain whether Paxlovid is appropriate for him. Time is of the essence.

 

[SumoCitrus]

4 hours ago, TiogaCruiser said:

Can’t help but notice-

 

You left out a great deal of context.

 

Does your hypothetical scenario include a pandemic of Noro, noro’s route of transmission suddenly being changed from fecal-oral to droplet and areosol, and HAL instituting their current care policy Care Policy to encourage people to cruise?

 

There is a pandemic of something, that's for sure. Is there a vax for Noro? Can I get quad boosted for Noro? If I could I'm not sure I would because my online complaint rants wouldn't have the same heft.

[Gray Lady]

5 minutes ago, seaoma said:

@Gray Lady I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope you will remain negative and that your husband's symptoms will be mild. My strongest wish is that there won't be any complications from this bout with covid in the future. 

 

I'm assuming your age is what indicates your screen name. If so, you might want to call the Dr. to ascertain whether Paxlovid is appropriate for him. Time is of the essence.

 

Thank you for the tip. His symptoms so far are fairly mild. Double vaxxed and boosted, so hope that helps. We will see how he is once we arrive in Anchorage and then may have to call a doctor. Our physician is in California, and I doubt he would be able to prescribe it for us up here.

[seaoma]

Just now, Gray Lady said:

Thank you for the tip. His symptoms so far are fairly mild. Double vaxxed and boosted, so hope that helps. We will see how he is once we arrive in Anchorage and then may have to call a doctor. Our physician is in California, and I doubt he would be able to prescribe it for us up here.

 

It must be started within 5 days of symptoms. Even if he couldn't prescribe it for you up there, he may be able to facilitate the prescription. At least, you would know if it was something he felt was indicated for your husband. 

 

My husband's Dr. has already told us that if he were to get covid, because of age and health conditions, despite being double vaxxed and boosted, he must take Paxlovid.

 

[JHU]

3 minutes ago, seaoma said:

 

It must be started within 5 days of symptoms. Even if he couldn't prescribe it for you up there, he may be able to facilitate the prescription. At least, you would know if it was something he felt was indicated for your husband. 

 

My husband's Dr. has already told us that if he were to get covid, because of age and health conditions, despite being double vaxxed and boosted, he must take Paxlovid.

 

 

4 minutes ago, seaoma said:

 

It must be started within 5 days of symptoms. Even if he couldn't prescribe it for you up there, he may be able to facilitate the prescription. At least, you would know if it was something he felt was indicated for your husband. 

 

My husband's Dr. has already told us that if he were to get covid, because of age and health conditions, despite being double vaxxed and boosted, he must take Paxlovid.

 

My general practitioner advised me that Paxlovid interacts with chloresterol meds.  Might want to check that.  

[seaoma]

19 minutes ago, SumoCitrus said:

 

There is a pandemic of something, that's for sure. Is there a vax for Noro? Can I get quad boosted for Noro? If I could I'm not sure I would because my online complaint rants wouldn't have the same heft.

 

Your chance of getting Noro on a cruise ship is .18%. 

Your chance of getting Noro in a health care facility is 62%

Your chance of getting Noro in a restaurant is 22%

 

People just love to rant on the cruise industry. I wonder why?

 

[seaoma]

7 minutes ago, JHU said:

My general practitioner advised me that Paxlovid interacts with chloresterol meds.  Might want to check that. 

 

Yes, that's why I'm advising she call her Dr., not just any Dr. 

 

My husbands Dr. sent him an unsolicited email, advising him that due to his health conditions, that he is a candidate for the treatment. He would be aware of the medications he has prescribed and we would trust his judgement.

Edited June 22, 2022 by seaoma

[SumoCitrus]

19 minutes ago, seaoma said:

 

Your chance of getting Noro on a cruise ship is .18%. 

Your chance of getting Noro in a health care facility is 62%

Your chance of getting Noro in a restaurant is 22%

 

People just love to rant on the cruise industry. I wonder why?

 

 

Noro is no joke. Probably more dangerous than covid by now as well. Everyone share their "they didn't wash their hands" stories!

[JHU]

21 minutes ago, seaoma said:

 

Yes, that's why I'm advising she call her Dr., not just any Dr. 

 

My husbands Dr. sent him an unsolicited email, advising him that due to his health conditions, that he is a candidate for the treatment. He would be aware of the medications he has prescribed and we would trust his judgement.

Totally agree.  

[seaoma]

Just now, SumoCitrus said:

 

Noro is no joke. Probably more dangerous than covid by now as well. Everyone share their "they didn't wash their hands" stories!

 

Noro is no joke, but on a cruise ship, if there is an outbreak, you have a 1 in 5500 chance of catching it. 

 

I've been on one of ships with noro that still ranks in the top ten outbreaks on cruise ships. The 2 people that sat at our table each evening, got it. My husband and I did not. There were so many people sick on that ship that the FLL news met our ship at the dock. 

 

[LJProk]

1 hour ago, Gray Lady said:

CafeBruno, I hope you get home safely soon. I have had a bad feeling about this since we started our land tour, and sure enough last night hubby started feeling poorly. Pulled out the trusty test kits, and sure enough positive for him. Luckily, I am negative. He is stuffed up and feels generally blah…sleeps a lot. I contacted the front desk and Beacon came to the room to verify (we are in Denali). They have brought us food to the room and are transporting us to Anchorage where we will isolate. They have a liaison here who works with positive COVID cases and trip interruption. We have to pay upfront for our hotel room in Anchorage, but the platinum plan will reimburse us. They will also give us a $100 per dime per person to cover our meals. We are not to leave the hotel until after our 5 days, then we can fly home. Not the vacation we wanted. We were only on day 4 of our land tour. Hopefully we can make the cruise another year. 
You should be able to submit your hotel bill for reimbursement and also get money for food. I know the difficulty is getting hold of HAL. Let us know how things go with you.

 

So sorry, I do hope you stay negative and your husband recovers quickly.

[Gray Lady]

10 hours ago, seaoma said:

 

It must be started within 5 days of symptoms. Even if he couldn't prescribe it for you up there, he may be able to facilitate the prescription. At least, you would know if it was something he felt was indicated for your husband. 

 

My husband's Dr. has already told us that if he were to get covid, because of age and health conditions, despite being double vaxxed and boosted, he must take Paxlovid.

 

We have an on-site Beacon health care representative here at our hotel. They have a 24 hour doctor available with a phone call. They are monitoring us each day. I feel better now that if he doesn’t improve, they have someone to call immediately. Thank you!

[CafeBruno]

@Gray Lady, so sorry to hear your husband got it. But very glad that you got quick help from Beacon. Hoping you both stay safe and ride it out. 

 

Our 5 day quarantine ended last night, and we flew home from Fairbanks this afternoon. I am feeling much better, almost back to 100%. My wife is still having congestion and fatigue but has improved a lot since last week. I'm sure our vax and boosters helped a lot. I do plan to submit our expenses to HAL, as the policy does say that they will reimburse us, as others have helpfully pointed out. 

 

Thanks to all for the well wishes!