Just received this email from silversea

This email just arrived.

Quoting:

Silversea understands that our guests and travel partners may be concerned about recent developments with the Ebola illness. In order to address these concerns, Silversea has implemented the following precautionary measures regarding Ebola.

Until further notice, all embarking guests will be asked to complete a public health questionnaire regarding guests' recent travel and current health status. Guests meeting the criteria below will be denied boarding.

1. Guests who have lived in, visited, been on a flight to and /or from, made a flight connection through or stopped in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea within not less than 30 days of embarkation;

2. Guests who have had personal contact with any individuals who have traveled to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea within not less than 30 days of embarkation; or

3. Guests who have or have had personal contact with, or helped care for, an individual diagnosed with Ebola within not less than 30 days of embarkation.

The safety and well-being of our guests and shipboard staff is always of utmost importance to us. We are closely monitoring the situation and evaluating the latest information and recommendations of the World Health Organization. If you have any questions about these procedures, please visit our website at http://www.silversea.com/security or click here to read our policy on Ebola.

Due to the ever-changing nature of this worldwide health concern, regular updates to the above guidelines will be made as necessary. Please be advised that there will be no further Ebola updates sent to you, and it is the guests' responsibility to ensure that they are up-to-date regarding the most current information available concerning Ebola guidelines by visiting http://www.who.int.

We trust you will understand the importance of these procedures to safeguard your health and that of others.

Sincerely,

Silversea Cruises

End Quote

Bravo to Silversea for being the first luxury cruise line to put out a policy regarding acknowledging Ebola and putting precautionary measures into place:)

I do not fault SS for having such a policy. However, they are silent on one important matter. What is the refund policy if one is denied boarding? If the cruise fare is entirely forfeited, do they really expect embarking passengers to answer the questionnaire honestly with a possible consequence being denied boarding and loss of the fare?

Seabourn issued an 'advisory' on Monday with very similar wording.

We're cruising from Cape Town in December.

There was also no indication from SB of what the refund procedure would be if one was denied boarding.

Crystal put their policy into effect on the 19th.

Nancy

Where does trip insurance cancellation for medical reasons kick in if at all?

Where does trip insurance cancellation for medical reasons kick in if at all?

Interesting question. If boarding was denied by Silversea, it could be that the passenger was entirely healthy and would remain so but was "guilty" by association (having been with certain friends, having taken certain flights, etc.)

....within not less than 30 days of embarkation

20 years is not less than 30 days!!!

They can use this to deny boarding to anyone who has ever been to one of the countries etc.

Yes, they had this questionnaire waiting for us when we embarked on Wednesday. :)

Seabourn issued an 'advisory' on Monday with very similar wording.

We're cruising from Cape Town in December.

 

There was also no indication from SB of what the refund procedure would be if one was denied boarding.

However SB has used 21 days instead of 30. I wonder why SS has gone for the longer period. Does anyone know if there is a WHO or Government recommendation for the cruise industry.

....within not less than 30 days of embarkation

 

20 years is not less than 30 days!!!

 

They can use this to deny boarding to anyone who has ever been to one of the countries etc.

Thank goodness someone else is a confused as I am about the wording.

I would think they mean "within the past 30 days".

Can anyone else explain how the wording in the notice can be interpreted to be reasonable?

I'm also curious why they don't ask one to declare a history of or contact with malaria, Japanese encephalitis, typhoid, polio, diphtheria, dysentery etc etc.

Seems the ebola bandwagon has acquired a great number of passengers.