DivotMaker

2 minutes ago, npcl said:

As they say context is everything.  

 

Just prior to that he makes some other contextual comments

 

such a these type deep lung illness can, if the droplet size is correct, and the virus is carried in very very fine particles,  can theoretically carry as much as 200 feet.

 

Lot of qualifications, especially the theoretically comment as opposed to practically, expected or observed transmission.

 

 

I'm not saying it's true, just saying that's where I heard the comment since the person above asked for the specific location.

5 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

If you listen to the BBC programme linked to, at the point referred to in the post, you’ll hear what he has to say about the current outbreak, and the reference to the 200 feet potential range for infection.

I just listened and heard it at the 3:02 mark.

26 minutes ago, npcl said:

Since the passengers are all isolated in cabins, and food prep cleared (protocols would require MHW to clear it before use and thus th ereason for the initial delays in food distribution) then the clock should not have to reset. 

Only they're not.  "Passengers with inside cabins are now allowed to walk on the deck for 1.5 hours under the supervision of the Quarantine officers. They must stay 1 metre apart from one another and not make contact or congregate in groups."  This is from someone on the ship.

14 minutes ago, kathy49 said:

Shocking headlines there was a "whistleblower" doctor who warned about this virus....government silenced him and now he has died of the virus. Can't make this stuff up.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51403795

8 minutes ago, Av8rix said:

Sorry, I have to say one thing more: 

Strawberry pavlova 

(all the regulars on this forum knew that I was going to say that, didn't you?)

YUM!!  I've not heard of that dessert until now and honestly looked right over it.  But WOW, it looks amazing.

42 minutes ago, ThePenguin1 said:

Serious question to do with corona virus,  If confined to your room for 2 weeks would they let you smoke on your balcony?  I could not go 2 weeks without a smoke.  Perhaps the rules would be relaxed if quarantined inside your cabin? Anybody onboard know?

According to the Princess board, Japanese officials are not allowing smoking anywhere on the ship.

King salmon and tri tip sandwiches....say no more!

A little good news for inside cabin passengers.  The Facebook gentleman on board the Princess ship (David Abel) posted a video a few minutes ago and said the captain announced those with cabins that don't have access to the outside will be allowed on deck with face masks.

10 minutes ago, uksaint said:

I hope they can find a way to get those in inside cabins out on deck for some fresh air - even if they have to do it one family/cabin at a time. 14 days stuck inside with no fresh air cannot be healthy.

According to David Abel they will be allowing passengers in cabins not having a window that opens to walk around a certain area of the ship with masks on.  This was in his latest video that he uploaded about 20 minutes ago.

5 minutes ago, gdlamberth said:

Thanks, the first answer is somewhat disturbing; sort of defeats the purpose of a quarantine. 

This has been my line of thinking as well.  But in reality, how would you possibly enforce this?

6 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

He just did a live feed a bit ago and said thanks to all the social media response and people contacting Princess on his behalf, he has plenty of food which is fantastic. Boy do I give this man credit, he is so incredibly positive.  

 

 

 

 

Indeed, I applaud his courage.  But,  I'm just heartbroken for the passengers with medical conditions requiring medications that they may not have enough of.  I hope Princess can figure out a way to resolve that.

4 minutes ago, JeffElizabeth said:

Anyone else hesitant to book a new cruise? We are doing a Panama Canal cruise end of February on the Rotterdam.  I think governments and people are responding quickly to infections outside of China.

We just had dinner with our travel companions for our June trip to Alaska. We agreed to not make a rash decision and will give it a few more weeks before making a decision on canceling.  But after reading some of the posts on the Princess board it does give me more reason to be concerned.

8 minutes ago, keeponcruising said:

Passenger in Princess board posted a video pleading for help.  He is diabetic and hasn't been fed in 15 hours.  He said all services suspended because they are afraid the food could be a source of transmission.

Just watched that video.  Definitely alarming.  That poor man, I hope things get better for him very soon.

Update - He did get some food, so that's a relief.

Here are a couple recent threads on the subject:

This was a very enjoyable read, thank you.

36 minutes ago, Tom O. said:

 

 

I was hoping someone else would answer your question, as I have no experience with suites at all. But I would think you would have an easier time making reservations. For regular passengers, such as myself, we have to line up at the podium of the MDR after boarding. Sometimes the line is long. This is the reason I usually make advanced reservations at the Pinnacle Grill for the first night. That way I only have to worry about the next couple of nights, and I usually have one or both of those days set so they deliver the dinner to our room.

32 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

The concierge can make the reservations for you IF you book during the time when reservations are available.

My friends just used the MDR manager on one cruise and secured the same table for the entire cruise.

Thank you both.  We're planning to take your advice Tom for the first night and book the Pinnacle Grill.  Our travel partners want to try the other two specialty restaurants so we'll be booking those as well, careful to not do it during the Gala nights as I believe you're the one that pointed out the MDR typically offers better selections on those nights.  

38 minutes ago, npcl said:

This is assuming that the steps are shortened as much as possible, usually this process will take years. One can assume that the regulatory processes will be shortened as much as possible, but unfortunately it takes time to get data on efficacy and safety before it goes into Clinical and each step there depends upon the disease itself since you have to vaccinate healthy individuals and then wait and see how many get sick compared to the non-vaccinated population. Then repeating with a larger test population if it shows efficacy and safety in the first.

 

I guess one could always test by vaccinating and then exposing the person to the virus, but that would not be considered to be ethical or moral in any drug development environment that I have worked with (US, Europe, Japan Canada).

Thanks again, much appreciated.

3 hours ago, npcl said:

A brief discussion on the steps involved in generating a vaccine:

 

1. Exploratory - Research intensive phase to identify or develop a candidate (those interviews where someone has stated that they have a vaccine are really saying that they have identified or developed a candidate)

2. Pre-Clinical - Testing using tissue cultures,  cell culture and or animal testing to validate the candidate.  Many fail at this step because they either do not produce the required immunity or harmful side effects are detected.

3. Clinical Development - If the candidate is successful in pre-clinical then an IND is generated and approval is obtained for testing in humans.

3A. Phase 1 -  administers the candidate vaccine to a small group (less than 100 people) with the goal of determining whether the candidate vaccine is safe and to learn more about the responses it provokes among test subjects.

3B Phase 2 - includes hundreds of human test subjects, aims to deliver more information about safety, immunogenicity, immunization schedule and dose size

3C Phase 3- includes thousands or tens of thousands of test subjects, continues to measure the safety (rare side effects sometimes don’t appear in smaller groups) and effectiveness of the candidate vaccine.

4. Regulatory Review and Approval

5. Commercial Manufacturing

6. Post Market Quality control that may involve phase 4 clinical trials, Vaccine adverse event reporting, vaccine safety data link.

 

The information from Inovio indicates that they have developed a candidate.  If the candidate works out in Pre-Clinical testing they could be in phase 2 trials in China in early summer, and phase 3 trials by the end of the year.  If everyone accelerates as much as possible and the data is good (it shows good efficacy and safety)  then you might see something available to the public sometime in 2021.

 

Of course with a vaccine trials it is not like treating people with a disease and then seeing how they respond to the drug, instead you need to treat a number of patients and then see how the test group compares to the population in how many catch the disease.  This means you have to have an environment where the disease is present to test. The main reason there are no approved SARS vaccines, even though candidates were developed, is because the outbreak died out before the candidates could be effectively tested.

Thank you for the very detailed and educational response.  I found this very helpful.  One question, and I hope it doesn't happen, but in the event of a VERY serious outbreak of something that was killing a high number of people, can or would the timeframe/steps of this process be shortened?  Thanks.

29 minutes ago, Tom O. said:

Ruth is correct, but I will add, that the reservations for open seating cannot be made until after you board.

If you use the NS concierge, will your chances of securing a table increase for the MDR during open seating or is the volume such that it wouldn't really matter?

1 hour ago, igraf said:

. 

If it is a once in a lifetime cruise in a Penthouse Suite, then buy the insurance.  If it is a common 7-10 day cruise, then don't bother.

 

igraf

 

 

This is how we view the insurance dilemma as well.   Never bought it for a 7-10 day cruise but definitely will be for our 15-17 day Panama Canal cruise is 2022 when we celebrate 30 years together. I see it as a personal decision that has to pencil out for your finances and like most here would never judge someone for their decision to purchase or not purchase it.  

11 minutes ago, pilot said:

On the Nieuw Statendam and just called Guest Services for the second time this week about the guy in the balcony next door smoking. They thanked me and said they would take care of it. I didn’t approach him, but loudly stated “No Smoking on Balconies “. 
 

It is hard to believe that he thought we couldn’t smell the smoke. 

Get your ice bucket fill it with water, and toss the water over the divider between your balconies.  When he complains, just tell him you thought he was on fire.

1 minute ago, RocketMan275 said:

Thank  you the link worked.

 

You're welcome.  Feel free to use it to buy us a gift for our cruise in June  😀

2 minutes ago, kazu said:

If you know their booking number, you can go on line and buy them a gift.

 

But, if you don’t know their booking number all you have to do is call the HAL indulgence  phone #, give their full names, ship and sailing date and they will process it for you.  They will also send you a confirming email so that if something goes wrong you can get it corrected.

I recently did it for friends on a Grand voyage and it went as smooth as silk.  

You can still book online even if you don't have the booking number.  There are 4 other ways to look up the reservation as shown below:

Try this link -> https://book2.hollandamerica.com/secondaryFlow/login?ul=true

2 hours ago, STANCPA44 said:

I am on the ship right now. There are number of cases of the Norovirus. So far it seems to be minor, the staff is out there with hand sanitizers, as a precaution.

Thanks for reporting in.  Hopefully you're doing ok and are able to enjoy the remainder of your cruise.