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Coronavirus And Western Mediterranean cruise


Chris H

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I feel for you.  Spang clearly isn’t keeping up to date.  I’m in a similar situation, I’m due to travel to China at the end of April on Quantum.  I simply told them that I wanted to travel but wouldn’t pay balance.  So, I’m in limbo,at the moment.  They haven’t cancelled on my yet though!

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At this point if you cancel you will be subject to normal deposit terms and conditions.  Assuming you have an non-refundable deposit you'll lose $100 pp and the rest of the deposit returned in FCC pp. 

If you decide to go any country could close their ports.  It could be Italy only and they modify the itinerary skipping Italy.  No one knows how this will play out.  It could be all a memory by your sail date and the cruise executes normally.  

Just understand that cancelling now means you acknowledge and accept the fees associated with that and they will not bend or deviate. 

At this point it appears your risk is that a country like Italy closes its ports.  By moving forward you accept that as a possibility.  If that is going to be overly disappointing then cancelling is an option accepting the fees involved.  

This is a decision only you can make.  This isn't your fault but it also isn't Royal's fault.  Once you decide either way sleep well knowing you did what is right for you.

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18 minutes ago, Sean O S said:

I feel for you.  Spang clearly isn’t keeping up to date.  I’m in a similar situation, I’m due to travel to China at the end of April on Quantum.  I simply told them that I wanted to travel but wouldn’t pay balance.  So, I’m in limbo,at the moment.  They haven’t cancelled on my yet though!

yeah it kinda sucks.....

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9 minutes ago, Tuggboat said:

I'm on Allure in July, so I'm hoping things will be a better by then. I'm sure if Royal cancels on us, I would think we would get full refund. At this point, my only non-refundable purchases are my airline tickets. I'd suggest you check with your travel insurance. 

yup..thanks

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9 minutes ago, twangster said:

At this point if you cancel you will be subject to normal deposit terms and conditions.  Assuming you have an non-refundable deposit you'll lose $100 pp and the rest of the deposit returned in FCC pp. 

If you decide to go any country could close their ports.  It could be Italy only and they modify the itinerary skipping Italy.  No one knows how this will play out.  It could be all a memory by your sail date and the cruise executes normally.  

Just understand that cancelling now means you acknowledge and accept the fees associated with that and they will not bend or deviate. 

At this point it appears your risk is that a country like Italy closes its ports.  By moving forward you accept that as a possibility.  If that is going to be overly disappointing then cancelling is an option accepting the fees involved.  

This is a decision only you can make.  This isn't your fault but it also isn't Royal's fault.  Once you decide either way sleep well knowing you did what is right for you.

We are on the May 10th sailing

twangster

It would stink (really bad) if we skipped Italy, we have three ports there.  Do you have any clue what they will replace with Italy?  Just want to do lite research now vs trying to figure out something on the ship last minute.  

Sorry Chris H, not trying to hijack your thread but since you will be there May too, might be helpful if Twangster or anyone else has an idea.

 

 

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Just now, MicDay said:

We are on the May 10th sailing

twangster

It would stink (really bad) if we skipped Italy, we have three ports there.  Do you have any clue what they will replace with Italy?  Just want to do lite research now vs trying to figure out something on the ship last minute.  

Sorry Chris H, not trying to hijack your thread but since you will be there May too, might be helpful if Twangster or anyone else has an idea.

 

 

Crystal ball question.  Keep in mind if Italy does close through the summer many cruise lines and cruise ships will be impacted.  They will all be looking for alternate destinations.  No one can predict how that game of musical chairs will end up.  

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Just now, twangster said:

Crystal ball question.  Keep in mind if Italy does close through the summer many cruise lines and cruise ships will be impacted.  They will all be looking for alternate destinations.  No one can predict how that game of musical chairs will end up.  

Darn!

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I know how you feel as I am also worried about my Baltic cruise in June. We booked our flights a week before coronavirus was announced. Our final payment is in a few weeks and we aren’t sure what to do. I still really want to go, but nobody knows what will happen in June.

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Just posted this in another thread, but will note here as well -- one thing I don't think anyone in the scientific community or the press has commented on is whether this virus, which is so flu-like in symptoms and spread, is also flu-like in terms of seasonality. If it is, then by May / June time frame it could well have quieted down, and won't be heard from again until September / October time frame. If it's better able to survive and spread regardless of season, then all bets are off with that.

I'll be Canada, Iceland, and Ireland in early- through mid-August, and obviously I'm hoping that this hasn't spread to any of those countries by the time we're there. But I'm reasonably confident that just like the flu, it won't be an issue in mid-summer.

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1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

Just posted this in another thread, but will note here as well -- one thing I don't think anyone in the scientific community or the press has commented on is whether this virus, which is so flu-like in symptoms and spread, is also flu-like in terms of seasonality. If it is, then by May / June time frame it could well have quieted down, and won't be heard from again until September / October time frame. If it's better able to survive and spread regardless of season, then all bets are off with that.

I'll be Canada, Iceland, and Ireland in early- through mid-August, and obviously I'm hoping that this hasn't spread to any of those countries by the time we're there. But I'm reasonably confident that just like the flu, it won't be an issue in mid-summer.

Well obviously, no one here or in the media can report or state from any degree of certainty, whether this virus will possibly be seasonal; simply because, the planet has never experience the effects of the virus. Which imho, boggles the mind why people casually downplay the seriousness of this circumstance, making misleading statements such as, "one is more likely to die from the Flu, than the Coronavirus".... We no very little about the virus, have never experience the CV outbreak before, China is not releasing much pertinent information overall, by all accounts, it's engineered/weaponized & not naturalized, and finally, the Flu has not cause the denying of entry of cruise ships or airline carriers, by "sovereign nations" in ever expanding areas across the globe, while potentially, crashing not only, the travel industry(particular in this case, the cruise industry); but, the global economy. That's the real misinformation imo, downplaying real concern, given what seen thus far. I personally hope it become seasonal & things die down(no pun intended), by the time we take our cruise(two this year). So obviously, all we can currently do, is be aware of the fluid nature of the situation & stay inform as best as possible, follow the trend or "rate" of infection(trend up or down), and obviously, treat this circumstance in whatever way you deem fit, in your own behalf. The one thing I am torn between is the official report of infection/fatalities & the leak reports that put those rates much more higher & dire....but given the reaction of world officials & governments, I tend to suspect the official count is more flawed than the leaks. That's just me.....last thing we need is The Med to start denying entry, closing borders, & becoming much like southeast Asia. Geez....  

 

    

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22 minutes ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

by all accounts, it's engineered/weaponized & not naturalized

Unless you have a link to a reputable source for this, please don’t make alarmist / conspiracy theory level comments like this. People said the same kind of thing when AIDS first appeared, and other modern novel viruses, and it was bunk every time.

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If you speaking about the insertion of accounts this virus is engineered, take it however you wish...there are AP & Journal articles accounts of this, plus the reported known region, Wuhan, a large genetic/viral research hub. So whatever man...you ignoring parts if the full scope of information, one should consider, changes nothing as far as what "is" happening. That's just me....I certainly hate to be in a similar situation like the Princess; so, I try to be well aware of all information, that comes out.

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Meant to address a few other parts of your last comment

34 minutes ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

the Flu has not cause the denying of entry of cruise ships or airline carriers, by "sovereign nations" in ever expanding areas across the globe

Influenza A is now well-researched and reasonably well understood; and unlike Novel Coronavirus or similar viruses like SARS, we have both OTC medications (Tamiflu, etc.) and vaccinations available to help control its spread and severity. But believe you me, when (note not if, but when) Influenza A next mutates into a much more virulent and deadly strain like the Spanish Flu or 2009 swine flu, it will cause countries to raise the alarm bells and impose travel restrictions just as fast. The Swine Flu pandemic back in 2009 didn't completely shut borders but was covered extensively as it spread across the globe, and many travel restrictions and other precautions were put in place. It's expected that there will be another mutation in Influenza A at some point that will trigger another pandemic, and it's only a matter of time and chance.

42 minutes ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

So obviously, all we can currently do, is be aware of the fluid nature of the situation & stay inform as best as possible, follow the trend or "rate" of infection(trend up or down), and obviously, treat this circumstance in whatever way you deem fit, in your own behalf.

This we both agree on 100%. ?

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2 minutes ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

there are AP & Journal articles accounts of this

Again, if you have links then please do post them (although I don't have a subscription to the Journal). I read WaPo, NYT, and New Yorker regularly; I can't imagine if AP put out something stating this that it wouldn't have been put out right away by at least the first two of those publications.

I'm totally open to new information, just would like to see the first-hand reporting and know where it's coming from. You can take me out of the science lab, but you can't take the scientist out of me.

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2 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

But believe you me, when (note not if, but when) Influenza A next mutates into a much more virulent and deadly strain like the Spanish Flu or 2009 swine flu, it will cause countries to raise the alarm bells and impose travel restrictions just as fast. 

No doubt...but that's still in the "If" colume as we speak...Corona is a concern right now...and shouldn't be looked at less likely, given what has already occurred & the unprecedented reaction, as far as volume of population going under quarantine. Certainly unique in my book.

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25 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Again, if you have links then please do post them (although I don't have a subscription to the Journal). I read WaPo, NYT, and New Yorker regularly; I can't imagine if AP put out something stating this that it wouldn't have been put out right away by at least the first two of those publications.

 

No, it's not a direct definitive report from AP about the nature of the virus...it's the number of reports quoting agent officials or biologist engineers who indirectly give their suspicions, without directly stating such. One reporter stated for an example: in his conversation with a CDC official, of his suspicions of the makeup of the virus, that he could speak with any authority, because the CDC need China officials to be more forthcoming on the makeup of the virus, "how it escape", and procedures they are taking to reduce the spread or containment". This is why JLMoran, I say I'm torn between official reports & leaked reports....

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The complete genome sequences of numerous 2019-nCoV samples have been available for several weeks.  Analysis of these sequences showed that the new coronavirus is most similar to bat coronavirus, moreso than human SARS or MERS CoV.  From the abstract of this paper:

"Taking advantage of all the genomic information currently available, we constructed a phylogenetic tree including also representatives of other coronaviridae, such as Bat coronavirus (BCoV) and SARS. We confirm high sequence similarity (>99%) between all sequenced 2019-nCoVs genomes available, with the closest BCoV sequence sharing 96.2% sequence identity, confirming the notion of a zoonotic origin of 2019-nCoV."

Ceraolo and Giorgi.  2020.  Genomic variance of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus. J. Med Virol.  doi: 10.1002/jmv.25700

 

Also, see here:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html

 

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Ray,

Your fridge seems to display unusual characteristics for a 2019-nCoV infection in that the Corona does not seem to be replicating.  Rather, I would wager that your virus titer is declining with time; and having a few Scots as colleagues, my guess is that your virus titer will be zero in about zero time.  Congrats!!  Your fridge is cured!!

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On 2/23/2020 at 4:45 PM, Spang1974 said:

You have better chance of getting the flu. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

2 hours ago, LizzyBee23 said:

Can we stop saying this now?

 

At this point, I don't think we can just dismiss the risks associated with the coronavirus and cruising.  This is not to minimize the risks involved with the flu but it has not impacted cruising like the coronavirus has.  What cruise ship has been denied disembarkation in five countries because of the flu?  What cruise ship has involved the "extraction" of citizens of Canada and the US in chartered flights because of the flu?  Has there been a cruise ship in recent history that has had a "Yokohama" situation?  For the coronavirus, the list of cruise ships being affected is growing - the Costa Smeralda, the Westerdam, the Diamond Princess, the Anthem... whether they were overkills and false alarms, who would want to be on the next ship to be added to that list?

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On 2/23/2020 at 10:43 PM, MicDay said:

We are on the May 10th sailing

twangster

It would stink (really bad) if we skipped Italy, we have three ports there.  Do you have any clue what they will replace with Italy?  Just want to do lite research now vs trying to figure out something on the ship last minute.  

Sorry Chris H, not trying to hijack your thread but since you will be there May too, might be helpful if Twangster or anyone else has an idea.

 

 

They will struggle to find alternative ports as none are big enough for the allure, we’ve done this itinerary on the oasis a few times and I asked why they don’t change it up every year and was told no other ports can take the Oasis class...?

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Going back to @Chris H original post, I think it's still too early to know what to expect.

Royal Caribbean has demonstrated with its Asian sailings that it will offer full refunds if/when there is a need to cancel the sailing.  I think it's become quite evident that if there's a hint of a greater issue, the sailings will be cancelled.  I mean, the entire Asian cruise season is effectively gone.

So if I were you, I'd make final payment and hope for the best.  No one today can provide any more insight or accurate predictions for what to expect in 90+ days from now.

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54 minutes ago, Matt said:

Going back to @Chris H original post, I think it's still too early to know what to expect.

Royal Caribbean has demonstrated with its Asian sailings that it will offer full refunds if/when there is a need to cancel the sailing.  I think it's become quite evident that if there's a hint of a greater issue, the sailings will be cancelled.  I mean, the entire Asian cruise season is effectively gone.

So if I were you, I'd make final payment and hope for the best.  No one today can provide any more insight or accurate predictions for what to expect in 90+ days from now.

Thanks Matt and all the others.....I appreciate it

I've made the final payment and will hope for the best...good luck to all others as well....

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We are on the Jewel, April 19th. This post now has me a teeny bit worried. I have not been letting myself think too much about the virus affecting our Europe trip (I'm being the ostrich), but now that Italy as been brought up; it's getting a bit real.  

I know worrying will not change a thing, we will just hope for the best. ?

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