Seabourn and the current issues surrounding the Corona Virus

[Joc123]

4 hours ago, florisdekort said:

Sojourn is docked in Perth, Australia

Encore is en route from Adelaide to Perth (no pax)

Ovation is en route from Colombo to Salalah, Oman (no pax)

Quest is en route from Buenos Aires to Bridgetown, Barbados (no pax)

Odyssey is docked in Bridgetown

 

Floris 

 

Thanks 

[JRJarr]

We are booked on the Ovation September 5 Amsterdam to Norway.  Don't think it will happen,  I to have appreciated your information, insights and good nature in reporting.  

Thank you and safe travels.

[IanL]

As an aside, perhaps Seabourn would use some of its (free) time to up its IT game. Within 24 hours of the cancellation of March 14th cruise, it informed me that one excursion had been refunded - I have three others that have not been notified (but in fact refunded) and yesterday myself and wife received 4 rather unnecessary emails informing us that we would not be dinning in Thomas Kellers. (I would have preferred not to have been reminded of the fact!) Such is life.

Edited March 20, 2020 by IanL

[westmount]

We got onto onto the Sojourn Feb 12th. and although the virus was a serious issue at that time, the news seemed to escalate exponentially every day starting about two weeks later. 
I am now flying home to read about all the other ships stranded , and feel very lucky to have been allowed to disembark. 
I believe those people who got onto ships after the beginning of March and those that encouraged those actions wil have to account for their actions. but no healthy group of passengers should be denied entry off a ship. 
  Without knowing any facts, Princess lines will have to explain their actions to continue taking on passengers AFTER the ordeal they had in Japan

 We, as cruise passenger, as parasites out there, and the more stories that come out about passengers departing and subsequently a discovery made of virus carriers on board is downright scary. 
  What if a passenger getting on in the Seychelles had the virus , what would have happened to us. 
  Let’s hope the industry survives, but it doesn’t look like they were ahead of the curve on the virus, and while I don’t think they should /could have stopped much earlier,  it’s hard to look back and see how any large ships were taking any new people in March, and hundreds , if not thousands are at risk of being stranded or worse , infected.

  I guess the Mayor of Ammityville still lives, the beaches stay open! 
Looking forward to 14 days more quarantine, thanks Seabourn for the roll of toilet paper, hope it last 

[rols]

23 hours ago, JRJarr said:

We are booked on the Ovation September 5 Amsterdam to Norway.  Don't think it will happen,  I to have appreciated your information, insights and good nature in reporting.  

Thank you and safe travels.

September is a long, long way away. The world can't stay in this state of lockdown for that long, or even very long at all. Either the disease will be quelled or efforts to stop its spread will be abandoned and we'll move to just dealing with it. 

 

If Seabourn isn't sailing by September, I don't see that Seabourn will be sailing ever again. So I hope your cruise will go ahead. 

[teamflames]

September is a long, long way away. The world can't stay in this state of lockdown for that long, or even very long at all. Either the disease will be quelled or efforts to stop its spread will be abandoned and we'll move to just dealing with it. 
 
If Seabourn isn't sailing by September, I don't see that Seabourn will be sailing ever again. So I hope your cruise will go ahead. 

If the Australian PM gets his way there will be no Aussies in such an itinerary. He expects the travel ban to be in place for at least 6 months.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[JayPee28bpr]

1 hour ago, rols said:

September is a long, long way away. The world can't stay in this state of lockdown for that long, or even very long at all. Either the disease will be quelled or efforts to stop its spread will be abandoned and we'll move to just dealing with it. 

 

If Seabourn isn't sailing by September, I don't see that Seabourn will be sailing ever again. So I hope your cruise will go ahead. 

UK scientific advisors saying that current restrictions will need to be kept in place pretty much for the rest of the year. In practice that means relaxing them when infection rates dip, and reintroducing when rates rise again. Given this, I can’t see any cruises for this year. Nobody is going to let these plague ships anywhere near their ports for a long time.

 

I suspect the cruise lines, and shipbuilders, are nervously reviewing their contracts for the huge number of new ships due to hit the waves in the next 2-3 years. Our TA sent us a schedule of new ships, which suggested an increase of about 9 million cabins/year that cruise lines would have to sell. Good luck with that one.

[Flamin_June]

11 minutes ago, JayPee28bpr said:

Nobody is going to let these plague ships anywhere near their ports for a long time.

 

I suspect the cruise lines, and shipbuilders, are nervously reviewing their contracts for the huge number of new ships due to hit the waves in the next 2-3 years. Our TA sent us a schedule of new ships, which suggested an increase of about 9 million cabins/year that cruise lines would have to sell. Good luck with that one.

 

This will be much more of an issue for the mega-ships that carry thousands of passengers. Less so for 'small-ships', but all will be tarred with the same brush. But it is not just the ships.

I think a much bigger problem is air traffic: the thousands of planes a day and tens of thousands of passengerst they move round the world, seeding the virus everywhere.  While cruise ships have contributed to the spread, it is people who have travelled by air that have been the greatest spreaders of the disease.

[Fletcher]

2 hours ago, JayPee28bpr said:

Nobody is going to let these plague ships anywhere near their ports for a long time.

 

'Plague ships' . . . I like that, sums up the black death, bubonic plague and even touch of the Arthur Gordon Pym, my choice reading on cruises.  The horizon looks distant and dark.  

[zimflyer]

On 3/19/2020 at 3:29 PM, Swaxxy said:

I am still booked on that cruise and hoping they will cancel. A few days ago I got a notice canceling all my shore excursions. Today I got a notice saying it was an error. If you look at the cruise online there are hardly any shore excursions to book at most ports. They also cannot enter Iles de Pines, American Somoa or Fiji. I am clueless to what is going on. 

My guess is that SB want you to take FCC.

 

If you happen to want a refund,  likely cancellation will only happen at last moment, thereby meaning you will have to "stare em down"...

 

...and then wait up till 10 weeks for that refund....

 

...and also wait to see IF your extra flight costs for the amended itinerary will be reimbursed.

 

Your booking is confirmed and paid for in 5 minutes. The reverse is a biased waiting game.

 

Really...?

[westmount]

No cruise will be allowed to commence until there's a "test" one can take just prior to boarding for any passenger or crew. It's not so much the science here, but confidence is needed that passengers will not be exposed and to the port cities that they will not be welcoming in plague carrying day tourist who spend $30 etc. It's either that , or a vaccine that deals with the illness, but until then,  Youtube videos and memories are all you're going to have.  

  They'll be back, only not so soon and things will change , hopefully for the better. 

 

[florisdekort]

On 3/19/2020 at 3:28 PM, florisdekort said:

Sojourn is docked in Perth, Australia

Encore is en route from Adelaide to Perth (no pax)

Ovation is en route from Colombo to Salalah, Oman (no pax)

Quest is en route from Buenos Aires to Bridgetown, Barbados (no pax)

Odyssey is docked in Bridgetown

Sojourn has now left Perth for Sydney.

Ovation has left Salalah for the Suez Canal. 

[Joc123]

What will happen when Sojourn reaches Sydney?

Will she be able to dock? No one can get off or on but I note, the cruise Sydney - Auckland is still advertised on their website. Also Auckland - San Fransisco, probably others but I stopped looking.

Time for some honesty from Seabourn, these cruises can not go ahead.

 

[kowhairob]

2 hours ago, Joc123 said:

What will happen when Sojourn reaches Sydney?

Will she be able to dock? No one can get off or on but I note, the cruise Sydney - Auckland is still advertised on their website. Also Auckland - San Fransisco, probably others but I stopped looking.

Time for some honesty from Seabourn, these cruises can not go ahead.

 

We were booked on the Sydney to Suva on Sojourn , definitely has been cancelled by Seabourn. Already had a phone call and email confirming how much we will get back as a FCC , We have also been given reimbursement , detailing  what they pay us in  $AUS for flights and Hotels we had to cancel . Overall we are pleased however as we probably wont see anything for at least 10 to 12 weeks I'll reserve judgement when the money is in the bank.  

[Joc123]

That’s interesting - cruise Auckland - San Fransisco has not been cancelled by Seabourn yet.

[zelker]

46 minutes ago, kowhairob said:

We were booked on the Sydney to Suva on Sojourn , definitely has been cancelled by Seabourn. Already had a phone call and email confirming how much we will get back as a FCC , We have also been given reimbursement , detailing  what they pay us in  $AUS for flights and Hotels we had to cancel . Overall we are pleased however as we probably wont see anything for at least 10 to 12 weeks I'll reserve judgement when the money is in the bank.  

 

Confused.  When is this cruise and are you saying that Seabourn cancelled it but only gave you FCC, not a refund of your money?

[Derby Street]

2 hours ago, kowhairob said:

We were booked on the Sydney to Suva on Sojourn , definitely has been cancelled by Seabourn. Already had a phone call and email confirming how much we will get back as a FCC , We have also been given reimbursement , detailing  what they pay us in  $AUS for flights and Hotels we had to cancel . Overall we are pleased however as we probably wont see anything for at least 10 to 12 weeks I'll reserve judgement when the money is in the bank.  

 

I am confused as well. A FCC has been offered to you but no refund. If my cruise is cancelled I will be expecting to be offered either a FCC or a refund. 

[Swaxxy]

2 minutes ago, Derby Street said:

 

I am confused as well. A FCC has been offered to you but no refund. If my cruise is cancelled I will be expecting to be offered either a FCC or a refund. 

When did you receive the phone call and email about the cancellation of this cruise?

[mariap]

I would also be interested to know as we haven't received any confirmation via email that Auck-Suva-SF cruise has been cancelled.

[florisdekort]

3 hours ago, kowhairob said:

We were booked on the Sydney to Suva on Sojourn , definitely has been cancelled by Seabourn. Already had a phone call and email confirming how much we will get back as a FCC , We have also been given reimbursement , detailing  what they pay us in  $AUS for flights and Hotels we had to cancel . Overall we are pleased however as we probably wont see anything for at least 10 to 12 weeks I'll reserve judgement when the money is in the bank.  

Confusing as this cruise is open for bookings on seabourn.com.

[florisdekort]

6 hours ago, Joc123 said:

What will happen when Sojourn reaches Sydney? Will she be able to dock? No one can get off or on...

She’s sailing without passengers.

[Derby Street]

2 hours ago, Swaxxy said:

When did you receive the phone call and email about the cancellation of this cruise?

 

I never said that I had a booking for this cruise - what I commenting on was Seabourn only offering the poster a FCC

[wesport]

It came out today, there is now a test that one could get results back in 45 minutes. If this thing doesn't subside, cruise lines could test everyone before they get on board. This bodes well for smaller ships like Seabourn HAL's midsize ships. Testing 6000 people would be a logistics nightmare. 

[teamflames]

It came out today, there is now a test that one could get results back in 45 minutes. If this thing doesn't subside, cruise lines could test everyone before they get on board. This bodes well for smaller ships like Seabourn HAL's midsize ships. Testing 6000 people would be a logistics nightmare. 

So do you have to test in every port of call?



Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Mark56]

Testing will help but let’s face it, there needs to be herd immunity in the population before it will be safe to travel again. If we’re lucky, the world will have a vaccine in about a year and then the cruise industry can resume operations. 

 

The big problem for them is Carnival and most other lines have registered their companies in places like Panama to dodge taxes and I don’t know how excited people will be to bail them out when they declare bankruptcy.