Swine Flu in Mexico, is it safe to go. (Merged Threads)

[Cruisin Bob]

I think this thing is being blown way out of proportion.

 

And the above account from the couple in Scotland makes my point: How many are supposedly sick in Scotland at the present time? This couple likely came within 6 feet of hundreds of people after their return from Mexico. If only 10 were infected, it is likely that those 10 would have infected 10 more and so on and so with exponential growth in the numbers infected. Yet that is not what we are seeing. The incubation period is 2-7 days and the first case was sometime in February in Mexico. In an area of 20 million less than 2000 cases have been confirmed, about 0.01%.

 

Many peolpe are sick at any one time but of those how many actually have swine flu. Just last friday my wife came home from work with a fever of 100.5F with body aches, cough and sore throat. Had she gone to the doctor it would have been recorded as a possible case yet within 36 hours she back to 100% - not swine flu.

 

People are not socially distancing themselves and we aren't seeing rapid increase in confirmed cases.

 

Princess has their hands tied with the CDC and WHO travel warnings, they did what they had to do. I think options would have been better but that is their choice.

 

Hopefully I will be correct and this won't turn out to be any worse than your typcial seasonal flu outbreak - which I read somewhere that about 36,000 died last year or the year before from the normal season.

 

Let's hope for the best but I'm very skeptical of the media and the medical pundits in the news are doing just Princess is, covering their rears.

 

Seasonal flu kills 250,000 to 500,000 people a year. The addition of swine flu could kill that number or many millions depending on how bad a flu and how many people get infected.

 

Officials would like to keep the death toll to a minimum. So if in retrospect they were over cautious and people experienced more sea days - so what. If they under react and in retrospect millions die, that is an outcome a lot of us do not want.

 

Right now they just do not know, so you better get use to the idea that they are going to proceed with caution.

[JoJo79]

I live in Florida and if I was set to go on a Cruise to the Carribean and had my ports switched to Port Canaveral and and Ft. Lauderdale without any options or refund I would be livid. These people have a right to be upset and Princesses lack of information is probably making matters worse.

 

I'm a business owner and Princess is a business but sometimes you wonder who is making a business decisions for them. We recently had someone in our group have to cancel the within 40 days of the cruise. The smart thing for Princess would be to not refund their money but to penalize them 10-20% and put the remaining amount already paid into an escrow account to count towards a future cruise. That way Princess keeps the money puts it in the bank makes interest off of it or invests it and is also guaranteed a future booking where they make money off of onboard/offshore items. All the while keeping a customer happy. Instead they just take the $6000 and lose out on all the rest. So don't just assume Princess is making smart business decisions because they obviously do not.

 

 

Thank you for saying that!

[jetwet1]

Sartracker.

 

That actually brings up a good point, if we end up going to San diego what happens if a case pops up there before we hit port ?

 

This whole thing really does put the cruise lines between a rock and a hard place.

[STLCruiser09]

Well here we go, I just got off the phone with Princess AGAIN, and they are releasing a statement this afternoon, along with the "emergency alert" that they email to all the passengers. The lady was playing stupid and would not tell me what was in the statement or alert, so I guess we wait and see.....

[Colo Cruiser]

Well here we go, I just got off the phone with Princess AGAIN, and they are releasing a statement this afternoon, along with the "emergency alert" that they email to all the passengers. The lady was playing stupid and would not tell me what was in the statement or alert, so I guess we wait and see.....

 

 

Playing "stupid"?

 

Did you ever think she is not authorized to release this info???

[STLCruiser09]

Playing "stupid"?

 

Did you ever think she is not authorized to release this info???

 

 

Yea, maybe, and what? We are all pretty upset at Princess right now for not taking care of the passengers that have given them thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years.

[jetwet1]

That's what they are trying to figure out, what will it cost them to force us to take the cruise in the long term.

 

There are some people that no matter what are stuck, people who are flying in, then there are the rest off us who live in the general area and can make other plans.

 

Guess we will see when they release some info.

[sartracker]

jetwet1, I would practice social distancing a much as possible on your own, both on the ship and esp. in ports like San Diego. The Mexican side is screening everyone crossing into the US but the US doesn't seem to have started a really rigorous screening. I guess because they think Mexico will catch it.

 

The borders aren't closed so people are crossing both ways. I'm always concerned about the people who look fine and 24 hours later they are running a temp and bingo, another case. :(

[sartracker]

I have to go out for a few hours. I'll check my email when I get back and see if there are any new developments. :)

[cruisebore]

The situation is really getting hyped up on this side of the pond with different experts with differing opinions appearing by the minute on the News channels.

It is really affecting my dear wife who refused to fill the car with gas this afternoon.

That is until I told her the flu originated in Mexico not Texaco ;)

[jetwet1]

Well it seems that people who were wait listed for the May 2nd cruise are now getting calls offering them Santa Barbara, Catalina & San Diego.

 

Those of us that are booked have heard nothing.

 

It really is sad how Princess is handling this whole thing.

[STLCruiser09]

Well it seems that people who were wait listed for the May 2nd cruise are now getting calls offering them Santa Barbara, Catalina & San Diego.

 

Those of us that are booked have heard nothing.

 

It really is sad how Princess is handling this whole thing.

 

 

It sure is, why would they not call us first? We have been booked forever, I have a feeling that they are not going to give us any option to cancel or reschedule. I think we are going to be stuck with the Triple C, (Cold Cali Cruise).

[jetwet1]

Yep, sad way to spend my last cruise on princess.

 

Oh well I will make the best of it, we are with family so we can enjoy that.

[5waldos]

Have you read this about people put off ship because they asked about getting some pills for a cold? On a site internationalcruisevictims.org

 

This has been going around, it is quite old, and why would you believe it? It smacks of trolling of the worst kind to me. You may not like how your cruise line is dealing with a crises, but is there anything in the history of any cruise lines that you personally know of that would suggest that they would dump an older couple into the sea on a rubber float in the middle of the night because they have a sniffle which was already resolved?

 

You need to get a grip.

[STLCruiser09]

Have you read this about people put off ship because they asked about getting some pills for a cold? On a site internationalcruisevictims.org

 

"My husband Barry, age 70, had a cold and a runny nose. The doctor gave him an “inhaler” that was much too strong. He had a reaction, the nurse gave him the anti-dote and in about 2 minutes he was fine! I know the ship claims no responsibility for the doctors who run their clinics but I think they should have doctor’s who are certified in either family medicine or emergency medicine. Some, I have been told are ophthalmologists! But, our real nightmare began after Barry recovered from the bad drugs the doctor gave him

 

 

 

The ship’s doctor panicked, called the bridge, told them there was an emergency and the ship stopped in the middle of the Straights of Messina. We were ordered to pack the cabin and within an hour, thrown off the ship. Even though it was clear to at least 1 nurse as well as us that Barry was fine now, the doctor refused to call the Captain and admit he’d made a mistake.

 

 

 

As they prepared to throw us off the ship, the ship’s officers told me we were going to Calabria. I know that very little English is spoken in that state of Italy, so I pleaded with the ship’s officers to get us someone to meet us on shore who spoke English. They did not.

 

 

 

Several ships’ officers took us down to the bowels of the ship where there was a rubber Avon-type boat about 20 feet long. A half dozen ship’s officers circled around us as the crew tried to lash this rubber boat to the ship. We could all see that the rubber boat had no medical equipment, no oxygen, no medical personnel, and no where to sit. We begged not to be cast off on this rubber boat, but Holland America had decided. They pushed us off, along with all of our luggage, on to this rubber boat with 3 Italians who spoke not a word of English.

 

 

 

Thereafter, we tossed around the Mediterranean for about an hour in the dark until finally being taken to a desolate area in rural Calabria. It is a good thing Barry was not in “repertory distress” as the ship’s doctor claimed, because in this rubber boat he probably would have died.

 

 

 

Once we reached land, both Barry and I were forced to scale a 25 foot seawall from the Avon, by climbing a ladder placed over the stern, onto the flying bridge of second boat, and another ladder up to the top of the seawall.

 

 

 

There was no one there to meet us from the ship or any of its agents. There was no English speaking person to see to our care or translate. Luggage and Barry and I were loaded on to a truck and taken to a truly third-world clinic in a darkened village. Barry was examined, advised that he was "perfectly okay" and needed no further treatment or examination.

 

 

 

We had no where to stay the night. There were no hotels in this rural village. We were able to arrange through a man from the clinic we know only as "Tony" to get us a ride to the main town and find us a hotel. We needed a large vehicle because of all of our luggage. We drove in the dark with a stranger who spoke no English, through very “bad looking” neighborhoods, broken glass in windows, laundry lines hanging out, long, dirty alleys. Eventually we traveled 40 to 50 miles to Reggio, Calabria.

 

 

 

If the people we stumbled upon at that clinic in desolate, rural Calabria that night had not been honest we might have been kidnapped or killed. The villagers knew we were “rich” Americans. We had been on a very fancy cruise ship. They also knew that all of our cash, all of our valuables, all of our jewelry was on our person. It surely wasn’t on the ship. The ship had sailed. We were totally vulnerable! No one would even have reported us missing for 10 more days because the cruise wasn’t scheduled to end until October 4.

 

 

 

This is nothing against Italians. I am Italian-American. My grandparents came from Calabria. But I do not speak the language. Actually the Italians were our saviors when Holland America abandoned us in the rural village in Southern Italy.

 

 

 

We later discovered that Holland America had made no plans to assure our safety, or our care. This is particularly distressing in Calabria, because that is a province well known for speaking no English. HAL agents (the closest one 50 miles away, across the straits of Messina) were of absolutely no help in assisting us to get home from Reggio, Calabria. Because of the wrong diagnosis by the HAL doctor (saying Barry was in “respiratory distress” our travel insurance would not help us either.

 

 

 

After a frustrating series of dozens of telephone calls, and faxes, in an attempt to secure some assistance from Holland America, we "gave up", and called Alitalia Airlines, and Delta Airlines, rescheduled our own flights, and flew home at our own expense.

 

 

 

We heard nothing further from them. Holland America never offered to take any responsibility for this fiasco.

 

 

 

We took our first cruise in 1975, as newly weds. We have taken one or two cruises annually most years since then. I can tell you that after this terrifying experience, we took our last cruise this September. But I would like to warn other unsuspecting Seniors that this kind of thing can happen. I’ve been told it is not even rare for a cruise ship to dump a passenger and sail away."

 

 

 

Yea, so what are they going to do if they have a real crisis on the ship, throw everyone overboard? If they continue this cruise they are setting themselves up for a very big risk.

We will have to see what the announcment has in it.

[MMDown Under]

"The World Health Organisation has raised the threat awareness level to 5 out of 6.

 

Dr Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general, made the announcement in Geneva on Wednesday night and said all countries should now activate their pandemic plans.

 

Raising the threat to level 5 means that there is sustained human to human spread in at least two countries and that people who have not visited Mexico have fallen ill and passed on the virus.

 

Level 6 means that there is a pandemic.

 

Responding to the increased threat Robert Madelin, Director General for Health and Consumer Protection at the European Commission, said: "In 200 days we will have an anti-viral vaccine for this influenza."

 

www.telegraph.co.uk

[Chas N Keith]

Have you read this about people put off ship because they asked about getting some pills for a cold? On a site internationalcruisevictims.org

 

"My husband Barry, age 70, had a cold and a runny nose. The doctor gave him an “inhaler” that was much too strong. He had a reaction, the nurse gave him the anti-dote and in about 2 minutes he was fine! I know the ship claims no responsibility for the doctors who run their clinics but I think they should have doctor’s who are certified in either family medicine or emergency medicine. Some, I have been told are ophthalmologists! But, our real nightmare began after Barry recovered from the bad drugs the doctor gave him.

The ship’s doctor panicked, called the bridge, told them there was an emergency and the ship stopped in the middle of the Straights of Messina. We were ordered to pack the cabin and within an hour, thrown off the ship. Even though it was clear to at least 1 nurse as well as us that Barry was fine now, the doctor refused to call the Captain and admit he’d made a mistake.

As they prepared to throw us off the ship, the ship’s officers told me we were going to Calabria. I know that very little English is spoken in that state of Italy, so I pleaded with the ship’s officers to get us someone to meet us on shore who spoke English. They did not.

Several ships’ officers took us down to the bowels of the ship where there was a rubber Avon-type boat about 20 feet long. A half dozen ship’s officers circled around us as the crew tried to lash this rubber boat to the ship. We could all see that the rubber boat had no medical equipment, no oxygen, no medical personnel, and no where to sit. We begged not to be cast off on this rubber boat, but Holland America had decided. They pushed us off, along with all of our luggage, on to this rubber boat with 3 Italians who spoke not a word of English.

Thereafter, we tossed around the Mediterranean for about an hour in the dark until finally being taken to a desolate area in rural Calabria. It is a good thing Barry was not in “repertory distress” as the ship’s doctor claimed, because in this rubber boat he probably would have died.

Once we reached land, both Barry and I were forced to scale a 25 foot seawall from the Avon, by climbing a ladder placed over the stern, onto the flying bridge of second boat, and another ladder up to the top of the seawall.

There was no one there to meet us from the ship or any of its agents. There was no English speaking person to see to our care or translate. Luggage and Barry and I were loaded on to a truck and taken to a truly third-world clinic in a darkened village. Barry was examined, advised that he was "perfectly okay" and needed no further treatment or examination.

We had no where to stay the night. There were no hotels in this rural village. We were able to arrange through a man from the clinic we know only as "Tony" to get us a ride to the main town and find us a hotel. We needed a large vehicle because of all of our luggage. We drove in the dark with a stranger who spoke no English, through very “bad looking” neighborhoods, broken glass in windows, laundry lines hanging out, long, dirty alleys. Eventually we traveled 40 to 50 miles to Reggio, Calabria.

If the people we stumbled upon at that clinic in desolate, rural Calabria that night had not been honest we might have been kidnapped or killed. The villagers knew we were “rich” Americans. We had been on a very fancy cruise ship. They also knew that all of our cash, all of our valuables, all of our jewelry was on our person. It surely wasn’t on the ship. The ship had sailed. We were totally vulnerable! No one would even have reported us missing for 10 more days because the cruise wasn’t scheduled to end until October 4.

This is nothing against Italians. I am Italian-American. My grandparents came from Calabria. But I do not speak the language. Actually the Italians were our saviors when Holland America abandoned us in the rural village in Southern Italy.

We later discovered that Holland America had made no plans to assure our safety, or our care. This is particularly distressing in Calabria, because that is a province well known for speaking no English. HAL agents (the closest one 50 miles away, across the straits of Messina) were of absolutely no help in assisting us to get home from Reggio, Calabria. Because of the wrong diagnosis by the HAL doctor (saying Barry was in “respiratory distress” our travel insurance would not help us either.

After a frustrating series of dozens of telephone calls, and faxes, in an attempt to secure some assistance from Holland America, we "gave up", and called Alitalia Airlines, and Delta Airlines, rescheduled our own flights, and flew home at our own expense.

We heard nothing further from them. Holland America never offered to take any responsibility for this fiasco.

We took our first cruise in 1975, as newly weds. We have taken one or two cruises annually most years since then. I can tell you that after this terrifying experience, we took our last cruise this September. But I would like to warn other unsuspecting Seniors that this kind of thing can happen. I’ve been told it is not even rare for a cruise ship to dump a passenger and sail away."

 

What the ????:eek:

[Toto2Kansas]

Have you read this about people put off ship because they asked about getting some pills for a cold? On a site internationalcruisevictims.org

 

"My husband Barry, age 70, had a cold and a runny nose. The doctor gave him an “inhaler” that was much too strong. He had a reaction, the nurse gave him the anti-dote and in about 2 minutes he was fine! I know the ship claims no responsibility for the doctors who run their clinics but I think they should have doctor’s who are certified in either family medicine or emergency medicine. Some, I have been told are ophthalmologists! But, our real nightmare began after Barry recovered from the bad drugs the doctor gave him.

 

 

 

The ship’s doctor panicked, called the bridge, told them there was an emergency and the ship stopped in the middle of the Straights of Messina. We were ordered to pack the cabin and within an hour, thrown off the ship. Even though it was clear to at least 1 nurse as well as us that Barry was fine now, the doctor refused to call the Captain and admit he’d made a mistake.

 

 

 

As they prepared to throw us off the ship, the ship’s officers told me we were going to Calabria. I know that very little English is spoken in that state of Italy, so I pleaded with the ship’s officers to get us someone to meet us on shore who spoke English. They did not.

 

 

 

Several ships’ officers took us down to the bowels of the ship where there was a rubber Avon-type boat about 20 feet long. A half dozen ship’s officers circled around us as the crew tried to lash this rubber boat to the ship. We could all see that the rubber boat had no medical equipment, no oxygen, no medical personnel, and no where to sit. We begged not to be cast off on this rubber boat, but Holland America had decided. They pushed us off, along with all of our luggage, on to this rubber boat with 3 Italians who spoke not a word of English.

 

 

 

Thereafter, we tossed around the Mediterranean for about an hour in the dark until finally being taken to a desolate area in rural Calabria. It is a good thing Barry was not in “repertory distress” as the ship’s doctor claimed, because in this rubber boat he probably would have died.

 

 

 

Once we reached land, both Barry and I were forced to scale a 25 foot seawall from the Avon, by climbing a ladder placed over the stern, onto the flying bridge of second boat, and another ladder up to the top of the seawall.

 

 

 

There was no one there to meet us from the ship or any of its agents. There was no English speaking person to see to our care or translate. Luggage and Barry and I were loaded on to a truck and taken to a truly third-world clinic in a darkened village. Barry was examined, advised that he was "perfectly okay" and needed no further treatment or examination.

 

 

 

We had no where to stay the night. There were no hotels in this rural village. We were able to arrange through a man from the clinic we know only as "Tony" to get us a ride to the main town and find us a hotel. We needed a large vehicle because of all of our luggage. We drove in the dark with a stranger who spoke no English, through very “bad looking” neighborhoods, broken glass in windows, laundry lines hanging out, long, dirty alleys. Eventually we traveled 40 to 50 miles to Reggio, Calabria.

 

 

 

If the people we stumbled upon at that clinic in desolate, rural Calabria that night had not been honest we might have been kidnapped or killed. The villagers knew we were “rich” Americans. We had been on a very fancy cruise ship. They also knew that all of our cash, all of our valuables, all of our jewelry was on our person. It surely wasn’t on the ship. The ship had sailed. We were totally vulnerable! No one would even have reported us missing for 10 more days because the cruise wasn’t scheduled to end until October 4.

 

 

 

This is nothing against Italians. I am Italian-American. My grandparents came from Calabria. But I do not speak the language. Actually the Italians were our saviors when Holland America abandoned us in the rural village in Southern Italy.

 

 

 

We later discovered that Holland America had made no plans to assure our safety, or our care. This is particularly distressing in Calabria, because that is a province well known for speaking no English. HAL agents (the closest one 50 miles away, across the straits of Messina) were of absolutely no help in assisting us to get home from Reggio, Calabria. Because of the wrong diagnosis by the HAL doctor (saying Barry was in “respiratory distress” our travel insurance would not help us either.

 

 

 

After a frustrating series of dozens of telephone calls, and faxes, in an attempt to secure some assistance from Holland America, we "gave up", and called Alitalia Airlines, and Delta Airlines, rescheduled our own flights, and flew home at our own expense.

 

 

 

We heard nothing further from them. Holland America never offered to take any responsibility for this fiasco.

 

 

 

We took our first cruise in 1975, as newly weds. We have taken one or two cruises annually most years since then. I can tell you that after this terrifying experience, we took our last cruise this September. But I would like to warn other unsuspecting Seniors that this kind of thing can happen. I’ve been told it is not even rare for a cruise ship to dump a passenger and sail away."

 

As they always say, don't believe everything you read, and there is more than one side to every story. This story, I am afraid, is very difficult for me to believe, even in part. Sorry, don't care where it was found online, I do not believe it happened as written.

[jetwet1]

Moving on.....

 

On our roll call I offered up a wager, I am betting $1 (total :D) that Princess will not announce anything till 6pm PST, which happens to be when their head quarters closes.

[rcacace]

As they always say, don't believe everything you read, and there is more than one side to every story. This story, I am afraid, is very difficult for me to believe, even in part. Sorry, don't care where it was found online, I do not believe it happened as written.

 

If something like this ever happened and the cruising public found out how they treated sick people no one would ever report being sick again for fear of being treated the same. I've got my doubts about this one.

[cathycruise]

I don't see too much connection between this horror story, which obviously could be a sort of urban legend, and the current situation with Princess Cruise (unless the moral of the long posting is "misery loves company" :confused:). Now, my question is, is Princess currently the only major cruiseline that is refusing a rebooking/cancelation? If so, wouldn't it hurt their future business? What are they going to do with all these irate passengers from So Cal? Does anybody have some sort of educated insight for this "mysterious" reaction from the Princess HQ? I'm not that familiar with Princess (this is our first cruise -- I'm not sure if I want to go on another cruise after this one, though; it's simply too RIGID!). I wonder if they've been always behaving this way? :(

[5waldos]

[quote name='rcacace']If something like this ever happened and the cruising public found out how they treated sick people no one would ever report being sick again for fear of being treated the same. I've got my doubts about this one.[/QUOTE]

If a cruise line did this, why would anyone ever cruise with it again? This story is fiction, and poor fiction at that.

[jetwet1]

[quote name='jetwet1']Moving on.....

On our roll call I offered up a wager, I am betting $1 (total :D) that Princess will not announce anything till 6pm PST, which happens to be when their head quarters closes.[/quote]

Well I would of lost a dollar :D

May 3 - Santa Barbara - 7 am - 6 pm
May 4 - San Diego - 7 am - 6 pm
May 5 - Ensenada (service call only)
May 7 - San Francisco - 7 am - 8 pm

Crappy itinerary for our last Princess cruise.

[smixsell]

UPDATE

World Health Organization raises pandemic alert to 5 of 6

AND

1 Confirmed case of Swine flu and 1 other suspected case in San Diego.

LINK: [URL]http://www.mercurynews.com/health/ci_12254868[/URL]

It seems to me that a "cruise to nowhere" or a complete cancellation would be the wisest move for Princess to make at this point. With the incubation period for this disease, it seems likely that those areas with any degree of close/regular contact w Mexico will have a significant number of peiople who are infected and don't know it yet, making these destinations a significant risk for contagion.

In any event, I plan on enjoying the cruise and making it my LAST:mad: on Princess unless they offer some significant comps or credits :ofor this lousy and cold itinerary.

[smixsell]

AND with 17 confirmed cases in San Diego County