Cruising choices with an active Pandemic

[TheRealTMA]

I think it's more a case of all the people whose cruise has or is about to be cancelled have taken a voucher instead of the cash refund and those vouchers need to be used up by end of 2021. On the other hand a look at cruise critic posters suggests that if it didn't happen in the US then it didn't happen at all.

I was posting to a comment there when an american was saying they hoped the Australian NZ cruise would proceed in September. I posted that it was possible that international travel for Australians was likely to be stopped until end of year according to yesterday's headlines, let alone letting non Aus citizens into the country and then to go on a cruise. They pretty much didn't believe me and needed me to send the links. I surmised that It also suggests that google doesn't work for people from the US.

It often seems that people from the US generally don’t know there is anywhere but the US and Google in the US put low priority on search results from outside the US which just push everything else back several pages.

 

[Pushka]

Google in the US put low priority on search results from outside the US which just push everything else back several pages.

Really? well that's typical.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

We have been going to the US for over 40 years, been to all 50 states, our son lived there for 7 years. Our eldest grand-daughter was born in NYC.
But I am no longer amazed by americans lack of general knowledge of the rest of the world. It is like they live in a bubble !!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

It often seems that people from the US generally don’t know there is anywhere but the US and Google in the US put low priority on search results from outside the US which just push everything else back several pages.

google.com is USA biased
google.com.au is Australian biased


and whenever I am seeking something in a particular country (including local travel rates ) I will search through the google for that country. You then need to translate of course if the country is not english speaking.

It makes sense that things are biased to most of the likely users.


Having said that residents of the USA live life in USA bubble where anything from overseas gets minimal coverage unless there is an american involved.

 

[moa999]

Case of the Coral Princess seems even worse than the Ruby Princess.

Departed Chile 5 March. Had confirmed cases and was rejected at a number of ports before finally reaching Miami on 6 April. Bulk of passengers got off and flown directly home (including to Australia). By this point 3 deaths.
However CCL was unable to get flights for 13 passengers.. The US refused to let them quarantine in Miami hotels - so the ship is now being turned back out to see with the crew and these 13 passengers on board.

 

[Pushka]

Case of the Coral Princess seems even worse than the Ruby Princess.

Departed Chile 5 March. Had confirmed cases and was rejected at a number of ports before finally reaching Miami on 6 April. Bulk of passengers got off and flown directly home (including to Australia). By this point 3 deaths.
However CCL was unable to get flights for 13 passengers.. The US refused to let them quarantine in Miami hotels - so the ship is now being turned back out to see with the crew and these 13 passengers on board.

This is why CDC have set in place such onerous limits before cruising can be restarted again. Cruiselines have to be fully self sufficient in all aspects and they have to pay for charter flights to repatriate passengers. I think those passengers may be South American or something?

 

[JinbaIttai]

Cruiselines have to be fully self sufficient in all aspects and they have to pay for charter flights to repatriate passengers

And the same for crew - cruise companies have worked out it's cheaper & easier to take crew back home themselves (on their otherwise idle ships) rather than try to get them home otherwise.

Eg Amsterdam which dropped off all its passengers in Fremantle, sailed to South Africa to reprovision and let off 5 crew and is now on its way back across the Indian Ocean to take Indonesian (and likely Filipino) crew back to their home countries.

And Eurodam has just had crew from other HAL ships transferred to it (near Baja California) and is now on its way across the Pacific to take them home.

 

[odysseus]

Really? well that's typical.

It's the same here. Search for "ABC" and you'd likely get the Australian BC, than American. Coke and you'd probably get CCL instead of Atlanta. It's just commonsense.

 

[Anna]

Watching ABC24 this morning, I just heard that the person suspected of being 'case 0' for covid19 on the Ruby Princess cruise that departed on 8 March 'was a waiter or someone else who handled food'

 

[pauly7]

Watching ABC24 this morning, I just heard that the person suspected of being 'case 0' for covid19 on the Ruby Princess cruise that departed on 8 March 'was a waiter or someone else who handled food'

Imagine a waiter laying down the cutlery on a few hundred tables for the all you can eat buffet.... you can see how easily it would spread.

 

[drron]

Which means Princess cruises had not trained their staff adequately in hand washing and the use of sanitiser regularly.You would think with the prevalence of norovirus on cruise ships that should be mandatory.

 

[Pushka]

What I am curious about is why this infection on Ruby seems so much more virulent than the infections encountered on other ships where Covid did occur but only one or two sad deaths. And even that Antarctica rescue cruise had 70 positive infections on arrival in Melbourne but only 1 person needing hospital treatment. The lady who died in SA was only 62 and no other health issues.

 

[Fifa]

With travel insurance I thought it was nearly impossible to get travel insurance for anyone over 80 so I am surprised the number of old people who cruise.
Also with any travel insurance it always seemed difficult to cancel a trip because of sickness, maybe something in the policy that will have to be amended.

The vast majority of Americans we have spoken to while on cruises do not take out travel insurance. Some have the 'cancel for any reason' policy but not many.
I believe that a lot of US passengers rely on their health insurance policies which cover them overseas.
After lots of discussions many of our American friends now take out TI mainly for the medical evacuation benefit.

 

[tgh]

Silver Optimists..

Cruise Results | Silversea

Adventurous, relaxed or both? Find the luxury cruise most suitable for your taste and explore all 7 continents and over 900 fascinating destinations on our all-inclusive cruises.

www.silversea.com

Otoh , If they sell some cruises now and push the customers forward to a 125% future cruise credit when ss cancel the cruise ….. it is very cash flow positive.

In hindsight maybe clever marketing….

 

[Pushka]

Silver Optimists..

Cruise Results | Silversea

Adventurous, relaxed or both? Find the luxury cruise most suitable for your taste and explore all 7 continents and over 900 fascinating destinations on our all-inclusive cruises.

www.silversea.com

Otoh , If they sell some cruises now and push the customers forward to a 125% future cruise credit when ss cancel the cruise ….. it is very cash flow positive.

In hindsight maybe clever marketing….

Of course, thats many cruise lines strategy right now to prop up their bleeding cash flow.

 

[drron]

What I am curious about is why this infection on Ruby seems so much more virulent than the infections encountered on other ships where Covid did occur but only one or two sad deaths. And even that Antarctica rescue cruise had 70 positive infections on arrival in Melbourne but only 1 person needing hospital treatment. The lady who died in SA was only 62 and no other health issues.

The infections on the Princess ship were more numerous because of the large numbers on board.It appears more virulent as the passengers are older and more likely to have other problems.
The passengers from the Greg Mortimer had just done an Antarctic cruise.Younger ages and even the older ones generally fitter and less other illness therefore at lower risk.

The interesting part is that on the larger ships the rates of infection seem to be 20-25%.On the Greg Mortimer ~70%.Though they were kept on board longer and as 0nly 128 pax and 109 crew I believe everyone got tested.

 

[SydneySwan]

The infections on the Princess ship were more numerous because of the large numbers on board.It appears more virulent as the passengers are older and more likely to have other problems.

I agree. I believe that no states were on school holidays so the cruise would have had primarily retirees with hardly any children. The average age would have been as high as it ever gets on a Princess cruise and certainly much higher than for example cruises departing Sydney in January.

 

[drron]

Going through this article it appears the youngest person on the Ruby Princess to die of Covid was 62.Then a 67 and 68 year old one of whom was said to have a medical condition.3 in their 80s,2 in their 90s, the rest in their 70s.

Australia’s death toll rises to 92

In Australia, 92 people have now died from the coronavirus.

www.news.com.au

 

[Pushka]

Going through this article it appears the youngest person on the Ruby Princess to die of Covid was 62.Then a 67 and 68 year old one of whom was said to have a medical condition.3 in their 80s,2 in their 90s, the rest in their 70s.

Australia’s death toll rises to 92

In Australia, 92 people have now died from the coronavirus.

www.news.com.au

The 62 year old woman from SA had no other health issues. Just sadly very unlucky I guess. While a moot point now if those cruisers could have been put into quarantine in Sydney once the positive results were found - why didn't they wait for those tests to come back? - then maybe she and those others who died would have received faster medical care and not flown back to Adelaide.

 

[Princess Fiona]

The 62 year old woman from SA had no other health issues. Just sadly very unlucky I guess. While a moot point now if those cruisers could have been put into quarantine in Sydney once the positive results were found - why didn't they wait for those tests to come back? - then maybe she and those others who died would have received faster medical care and not flown back to Adelaide.

Unfortunately it would not have made any difference. COVID-19 follows a fairly typical course.
There is no early medical care that could prevent death in this group of patients.