Corona virus RCI policy

[jennyumaa]

10 minutes ago, Pochi Hanaki said:

Tell me what does having a Chinese passport do anything about safety. If you haven't been to China in a year why do they need to be screened???? Should they screen every american because there was a case in New Jersey? It is a bunch of fear mongering directed towards one country basically even though lots of countries are effected.  

 

In this case it's not even about screening, which was the old policy. In the new policy, they banned Chinese passport holders, no matter where they live. 

[Pochi Hanaki]

It's like someone saying oh you are from Chicago.. do you know my friend in Miami. 

[Ourusualbeach]

7 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

 

This form of insurance has stipulations as well and is not a blanket catch-all for every situation where typical travel insurance doesn't apply.  I cringe when I see people make this recommendation when most people have not read through exactly what a CFAR policy actually covers.  Some only offer partial coverage (75% is common) so you are out the other portion plus cost of the insurance when you have to make a claim.  There are also stipulations for notifying the carrier that you are cancelling 48 to 72 hours of departure to where you can't just decide day of you don't want to go and no-show.   Plus if your CFAR insurance is for your entire trip (from when you leave home until you return) you can't just claim CFAR for a portion of the trip.  You began your trip when you left your house and CFAR coverage ceased 24-72 prior to that.

 

It's better than nothing in some cases, but if you insured your entire trip (including flights and whatnot) and decide to cancel a cruise in the middle of that trip, CFAR won't apply.  If you buy CFAR just for the cruise itself and cancel in enough time, then you could get some money back.

Like you said, it depends on the policy. There are some great ones out there that do offer 100% payment for any unexpected reason. This would be covered. 

 

It's knowing what you are buying. 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Ourusualbeach

[Pochi Hanaki]

3 minutes ago, jennyumaa said:

 

In this case it's not even about screening, which was the old policy. In the new policy, they banned Chinese passport holders, no matter where they live. 

Well that is even worst.. can you imagine planning a trip for a year and living in the US only to have you being denied boarding because of your passport.

[iceberg1116]

 

1. Regardless of nationality, any guest or crewmember traveling from, to, or through mainland China, Hong Kong, or Macau less than 15 days prior to their sailing will be unable to board any of our ships.
2. Any guests holding a Chinese, Hong Kong, or Macau passport, regardless of residency or when they were there last, will not be allowed to board our ships.
3. Any guest or crewmember that has been in contact (which the CDC defines as 6 feet or 2 meters) with someone that has traveled from, to, or through mainland China, Hong Kong, or Macau less than 15 days prior to their sailing, will also be unable to board any of our ships.
4. Additionally, there will be mandatory specialized health screenings performed on:
   • Guests who are unsure if they have been in contact with individuals who have traveled from, to or through mainland China, Hong Kong, or Macau in the past 15 days;
   • Guests who report feeling unwell or demonstrate any flu-like symptoms;
   • Any guest presenting with fever or low blood oximetry in the specialized health screening will be denied boarding.

Both of these means that Royal Caribbean might as well just say you can't board a ship if you are from a populous state, haven't hole yourself up in the last 15 days and went to the cruise port without going through an airplane, taxi, bus, or shuttle.  I know #3 will definitely exclude me since I've been in the train station commuting to work, people has traveled to China at work and we have been to restaurants with people that mostly like have traveled to China.

 

I would say this excludes 99.9% of people out there from boarding.

Edited February 7, 2020 by iceberg1116

[Arzeena]

8 hours ago, kernow said:

Just cancelled our Quantum cruise from Singapore next week. With the ever changing situation we just decided it was too risky, not so much of us getting the virus but being put in quarantine and getting stuck somewhere. We booked the whole thing with a UK ta who is refunding us in full, we might all moan about the inflated UK prices but grateful for all the protection when something goes wrong.  At the same time we booked to fly out to Dubai next Wednesday and board Jewel the following Monday so not all bad news!

Wish you all the best!

Have a wonderful, safe, happy and healthy cruise.

[LoveTheSoul]

12 minutes ago, Pochi Hanaki said:

Um xenophobia is not race... American is not a race. but you notice even though Americans have the virus they are not signaled out.

Cruise lines are simply trying to take a safety precaution from a virus that there is currently no vaccine for.  If spreads in the US, I'm sure this will also happen.  Norwegian cruise line just cancelled Spirit cruises sailing from April - Dec 2020.  I'm sure others may follow depending on how far and quickly this spreads.  This is not because they fear or do not like a particular nationality.  If they cancelled my cruise at the end of this month or prevented US passengers from boarding, I would be upset as well. Again, I wouldn't think of this differently other than a safety precaution.

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by LoveTheSoul

[mochuck]

5 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

 

They have one, but good luck with that.

 

Many complain, few are resolved...

Public shaming can go a long way when you're not getting anywhere.

[mochuck]

51 minutes ago, Pochi Hanaki said:

Tell me what does having a Chinese passport do anything about safety. If you haven't been to China in a year why do they need to be screened???? Should they screen every american because there was a case in New Jersey? It is a bunch of fear mongering directed towards one country basically even though lots of countries are effected.  

 

Yes lots of countries have been affected. But China has had >30,000 cases and the next highest infection rate is Japan with 45 cases. So I don't think its fear mongering its putting it into perspective. 

 

They may not have travelled to China themselves but have a much greater likelihood of being in contact with someone else who has. 

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of nationalities in the Diamond Princess outbreak.

[Pochi Hanaki]

6 minutes ago, mochuck said:

 

Yes lots of countries have been affected. But China has had >30,000 cases and the next highest infection rate is Japan with 45 cases. So I don't think its fear mongering its putting it into perspective. 

 

They may not have travelled to China themselves but have a much greater likelihood of being in contact with someone else who has. 

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of nationalities in the Diamond Princess outbreak.

 

China has 1.386 billion people and we are talking 30,000 cases.  So yes it is fear mongering. 

[mochuck]

11 minutes ago, Pochi Hanaki said:

 

China has 1.386 billion people and we are talking 30,000 cases.  So yes it is fear mongering. 

Tell that to the 3,700 people stuck on the Diamond Princess. It makes perfect sense to isolate people from the source of the most infection. 

[Pochi Hanaki]

2 minutes ago, mochuck said:

Tell that to the 3,700 people stuck on the Diamond Princess. It makes perfect sense to isolate people from the source of the most infection. 

Um there are all kinds of nationalities on the ship. So the Americans on that ship could have infected everyone. 

[mochuck]

1 minute ago, Pochi Hanaki said:

Um there are all kinds of nationalities on the ship. So the Americans on that ship could have infected everyone. 

I think they have identified the index patient as the 82 year old man who disembarked at Hong Kong.  He was diagnosed with coronavirus 6 days after he left the ship.

[MindyJohn]

10 hours ago, kernow said:

Just cancelled our Quantum cruise from Singapore next week. With the ever changing situation we just decided it was too risky, not so much of us getting the virus but being put in quarantine and getting stuck somewhere. We booked the whole thing with a UK ta who is refunding us in full, we might all moan about the inflated UK prices but grateful for all the protection when something goes wrong.  At the same time we booked to fly out to Dubai next Wednesday and board Jewel the following Monday so not all bad news!

Glad to hear you're making these changes!  It would be awful to be trapped.  Enjoy Dubai and Jewel 😊

[mochuck]

The latest email that I received from RC this morning has disappeared from my inbox. I had it open and hadn't finished reading it.I went back to finish and it was gone. Has this happened to anybody else?

[Jzx1103]

Well Royals new policy is really screwing me over, I have 2 comp'ed cruises from casino royale booked next month, will also hit Diamond status after that. Now my trips in jeopardy just because of my  chinese passport. I'm a U.S. resident and haven't stepped foot in China in 13 years. Btw your not any more likely to associate with someone with the Coronavirus whether you're a chinese passport holder that's a US resident vs a US passport holder who happens to be Chinese, like my wife, kids, and rest of my family. So Royals new policy doesn't even make any sense in terms of safety measures. Might as well just be racist and ban all Asians. 

[mochuck]

1 minute ago, mochuck said:

The latest email that I received from RC this morning has disappeared from my inbox. I had it open and hadn't finished reading it.I went back to finish and it was gone. Has this happened to anybody else?

Disregard, I found it.

[chipmaster]

1 hour ago, alfaeric said:

I think they are now playing the odds more.  Since they have added "have you had contact with anyone from the area" question, they fully know that people are going to lie- just like they do for the health quiz.  While it's far from universal, the odds of someone with a passport from the area contacting someone there is much higher than the nominal population.

 

Besides, the demands for our public safety forces the CDC and all travel companies to at least LOOK like they are doing something.

 

Not fair, sure.  But playing the odds makes it kind of suck.

 

The vast majority of affected passengers would be on ships leaving China, which account for only 6 percent of the company’s business, according to Rob Zeiger, a spokesman for Royal Caribbean.

 

So we dont' want your business nor do we think the billion of you and likely the 200-400 million middle class will be important next year, LOL.  Ask how places like Taiwan tourism did once the Chinese government "encouraged" them to change their travel habits.  Ask any luxury brand if they'd risk walking away from that large number of consumers, simply silly and shortsighted!

[xxHadleyxx]

12 minutes ago, Jzx1103 said:

Well Royals new policy is really screwing me over, I have 2 comp'ed cruises from casino royale booked next month, will also hit Diamond status after that. Now my trips in jeopardy just because of my  chinese passport. I'm a U.S. resident and haven't stepped foot in China in 13 years. Btw your not any more likely to associate with someone with the Coronavirus whether you're a chinese passport holder that's a US resident vs a US passport holder who happens to be Chinese, like my wife, kids, and rest of my family. So Royals new policy doesn't even make any sense in terms of safety measures. Might as well just be racist and ban all Asians. 

I'm so sorry this is happening to you.  It's unfounded discrimination which doesn't have a thing to do with safety.  I hope RCI comes to their senses ASAP

[sfaaa]

4 hours ago, xxHadleyxx said:

Well that new policy feels discriminatory to me.  So a citizen of Hong Kong who has, for example, been living and studying in Toronto for the past three years and not returned to Asia in all that time would be denied boarding simply because if his nationality?  

I'm all for safety measures, but that's just blatent xenophobia.  I hope RCI rethinks this quickly. I generally like the company.  I can understand why issuing FCCs is happening (though also understand why it's frustrating to many).   But this?  Yeah, it really rubs me the wrong way.

This is an out of control medical emergency and not a political correctness exercise or hurt feelings debate. So long as RCI is giving a full refund to those affected in question, why is this an issue?

Edited February 7, 2020 by sfaaa

[PortFees45]

2 minutes ago, xxHadleyxx said:

I'm so sorry this is happening to you.  It's unfounded discrimination which doesn't have a thing to do with safety.  I hope RCI comes to their senses ASAP

It's not unfounded, nor is it discrimination. 

 

If a highly contagious and potentially deadly virus with no vaccine had its ground zero in Ireland, where tens of thousands were sickened, then they'd do the same thing to Irish passport holders. The fake woke outrage over this smart, prudent and welcome decision is absurd. 

[Jzx1103]

3 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

It's not unfounded, nor is it discrimination. 

 

If a highly contagious and potentially deadly virus with no vaccine had its ground zero in Ireland, where tens of thousands were sickened, then they'd do the same thing to Irish passport holders. The fake woke outrage over this smart, prudent and welcome decision is absurd. 

 

It is discriminatory and unfounded, as I said earlier there's really no difference between potential risk of a Chinese passport holder with a U.S. greencard vs US passport holders who happens to be Chinese. It only matters if you had any connection to China in the recent month. Their previous policy was on target, this new one jumps the gun.

[sfaaa]

3 minutes ago, Jzx1103 said:

 

It is discriminatory and unfounded, as I said earlier there's really no difference between potential risk of a Chinese passport holder with a U.S. greencard vs US passport holders who happens to be Chinese. It only matters if you had any connection to China in the recent month. Their previous policy was on target, this new one jumps the gun.

Very easy to correct if this is how you feel. Cancel all your existing RCL cruises, close your membership account and don't cruise with RCL again in future. Done.

[mochuck]

13 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

It's not unfounded, nor is it discrimination. 

 

If a highly contagious and potentially deadly virus with no vaccine had its ground zero in Ireland, where tens of thousands were sickened, then they'd do the same thing to Irish passport holders. The fake woke outrage over this smart, prudent and welcome decision is absurd. 

I don't think its fake woke outrage. Its genuine disappointment by people who hold Chinese passports who have good reason to be upset.
OTOH I don't think RC's policy is unfounded either. This situation seems to be assessed on a daily basis. I'm guessing these latest restrictions are based on what is happening on Diamond Princess.

Edited February 7, 2020 by mochuck

[Starry Eyes]

Per a post on the NCL boards, it appears that NCL instituted a similar passport ban late today.  It will be interesting to see if Carnival et al also decide to do so or not.  I wonder if the authorities at many ports of call and disembarkation ports want to see passenger manifests without any Chinese, Hong Kong, or Macau passports....just a guess.

 

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    •  #315

Posted 1 hour ago

The safety, security and well-being of our guests and crew is our number one priority. We have proactively implemented several preventative measures outlined below due to growing concerns regarding Coronavirus infections in China. We will continue to consult with The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and take appropriate additional action as needed.  

 

Policies currently in place include:

• Any guest that holds a Chinese, Hong Kong, or Macau passport, will be unable to board any of our ships, regardless of residency. 

 

• Guests who have traveled from, visited or transited via airports in China, including Hong Kong and Macau, within 30 days of their voyage embarkation, regardless of nationality, will not be allowed to board any of our vessels. The standard incubation period recognized by the WHO and U.S. CDC for this virus is 14 days. 

• • Guests who are denied boarding will be issued a refund when they provide proof of travel. 

 

• The recent Hong Kong port closure will result in itinerary modifications and we will share the revised itinerary as well as further details as they become available.

 

• Prior to the port closure in Hong Kong, we implemented non-touch temperature screenings for all passengers embarking from this destination and any guest who registered a body temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius or higher, were not allowed to board. Guests on these voyages were also subject to temperature screenings when returning from shore excursions at ports of call. 

• • Guests who were unable to sail due to a high temperature were advised to open a travel insurance claim with their insurance provider.

 

• For all guests, we will continue standard pre-boarding health reporting and evaluation. Any guests who appear symptomatic are subject to pre-boarding medical evaluations including but not limited to temperature checks as deemed necessary. 

 

• Any guest who exhibits symptoms of any respiratory illness while on board will be subject to additional screening at our onboard Medical Center and may be subject to potential quarantine and disembarkation.

 

• We have implemented additional cleaning and disinfection protocols on board all voyages. These protocols will be enforced in addition to our already rigorous sanitization standards in place. 

 

• Any of our crew members that hold a Chinese, Hong Kong, or Macau passport, will not be allowed to board any of our ships, regardless of residency.  In addition, crew members who have traveled from, visited or transited via airports in China, including Hong Kong and Macau within 30 days will not be allowed on board our ships.

 

• Singapore and the Philippines are not currently allowing Chinese nationals to disembark at their ports. Guests with a Chinese passport who are traveling on voyages that disembark in one of these regions will not be allowed on board our ships. If additional port restrictions are put into place we may have to modify this policy as needed.
  • Guests who are denied boarding due to this will be issued a refund. 

 

The above measures will remain in effect until further notice and are subject to change at any time as we evaluate the situation and continue to consult with local health authorities as well as the WHO and U.S. CDC. “