Norwegian Unresponsive to the Coronavirus in Asia

[Atgatsea]

8 minutes ago, Masekr11 said:

It’s not as simple as a revised itinerary though. Would you be happy paying extreme airfare changes without NCL guaranteeing they would reimburse you?  Would you be happy with sailing on a ship that has allowed passengers from the hot zones on and possibly contaminating the ship? Keep in mind, it takes 14 days for the virus to present its self, meaning we wouldn’t know about contamination until around 2/20 when we would already be sailing. Would you be happy sailing out of a port that has more confirmed cases than the original port and in NCL’s words isn’t safe to travel to (based on their decision to cancel April sailings)?

 

As a passenger scheduled on the 2/17 Jade, I appreciate your empathy and it certainly makes me feel better knowing independent people understand where we are coming from. I wish it was as simple of a changed port but unfortunately it’s not. And I feel like that’s a main problem with NCL. They seem to think that changing the embarkation port and implementing less than stellar health screenings is sufficient and don’t realize the downstream effects and risks that still exist. 

Let’s also not forget that all of those unfortunate passengers on the Diamond Princess were infected by someone on a previous cruise - not even the current cruise.

[mking8288]

Just a little more, updated / latest news link - this is out of Singapore - for those interested, planning to be there, perhaps - still going on with their plans to sail the Jade on the 17th of February.  Read for what it's worth, as reference/resource and for trending - it is not intended to trigger more "alarms" but informative purposes only.  The Strait Times is very good, fair & useful for its news reporting (i.e. - used their info on Malaysia Flight MH-17 back in 2014  over at Flyertalk Forum)

 

Singapore authorities has raised their "alert" level - 22 imported virus transmissions; and, 23 local transmissions.  Details here - https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2020/02/spore-virus-cases/index.html

Temperature scanning in Singapore being expanded - this isn't necessary going to help, as some of you know.  Visitors and tourists arriving, will no doubt, be expected to comply and follow.  

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/coronavirus-long-queues-formed-at-suntec-city-and-raffles-place-on-first-day-of

Public transport in Singapore is very efficient, popular and reliable - taxis ride will now have surgical face masks, as an extra measure for riders/passengers and the drivers - more frequent cleaning are being done - goal is to assure the public, not to panic. 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/coronavirus-300000-masks-for-taxi-and-private-hire-car-drivers-to-offer-to-passengers

 

Speaking of the Diamond Princess passengers and crew in Japan, government health officials are now talking of their plans & difficulties in testing all 3,600 onboard for the virus.  There is simply still many "unkown" about the virus - the mortality numbers outside of China is, still, very low.  

 

Let's just hope (a little praying won't "hurt") that all the cruise ships currently sailing in Asia can safely reach its next port stop, dock and disembark passengers and crews without incidents ... including the Westerdam, still floating at sea, somewhere in SE Asia waters.  

 

Traveling soon, safe - happy - healthy ones.  Please do pack a little extra personal medications and OTC meds, just in case.  Some of the World Dream cruisers on the 4 day short sailing only had 1 or 2 extra days of prescribed Rx with them, not wise at all.  

[hamrag]

54 minutes ago, Masekr11 said:

It’s not as simple as a revised itinerary though. Would you be happy paying extreme airfare changes without NCL guaranteeing they would reimburse you?  Would you be happy with sailing on a ship that has allowed passengers from the hot zones on and possibly contaminating the ship? Keep in mind, it takes 14 days for the virus to present its self, meaning we wouldn’t know about contamination until around 2/20 when we would already be sailing. Would you be happy sailing out of a port that has more confirmed cases than the original port and in NCL’s words isn’t safe to travel to (based on their decision to cancel April sailings)?

 

As a passenger scheduled on the 2/17 Jade, I appreciate your empathy and it certainly makes me feel better knowing independent people understand where we are coming from. I wish it was as simple of a changed port but unfortunately it’s not. And I feel like that’s a main problem with NCL. They seem to think that changing the embarkation port and implementing less than stellar health screenings is sufficient and don’t realize the downstream effects and risks that still exist. 

 

Very well stated, highlighting why the NCL position is outrageous at various levels....so sorry for Jade passengers, both currently onboard, and those scheduled for the 17th. Keep believing they will, albeit belatedly, come to their senses and abort this cruise!

[hamrag]

24 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Just a little more, updated / latest news link - this is out of Singapore - for those interested, planning to be there, perhaps - still going on with their plans to sail the Jade on the 17th of February.  Read for what it's worth, as reference/resource and for trending - it is not intended to trigger more "alarms" but informative purposes only.  The Strait Times is very good, fair & useful for its news reporting (i.e. - used their info on Malaysia Flight MH-17 back in 2014  over at Flyertalk Forum)

 

Singapore authorities has raised their "alert" level - 22 imported virus transmissions; and, 23 local transmissions.  Details here - https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2020/02/spore-virus-cases/index.html

Temperature scanning in Singapore being expanded - this isn't necessary going to help, as some of you know.  Visitors and tourists arriving, will no doubt, be expected to comply and follow.  

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/coronavirus-long-queues-formed-at-suntec-city-and-raffles-place-on-first-day-of

Public transport in Singapore is very efficient, popular and reliable - taxis ride will now have surgical face masks, as an extra measure for riders/passengers and the drivers - more frequent cleaning are being done - goal is to assure the public, not to panic. 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/coronavirus-300000-masks-for-taxi-and-private-hire-car-drivers-to-offer-to-passengers

 

Speaking of the Diamond Princess passengers and crew in Japan, government health officials are now talking of their plans & difficulties in testing all 3,600 onboard for the virus.  There is simply still many "unkown" about the virus - the mortality numbers outside of China is, still, very low.  

 

Let's just hope (a little praying won't "hurt") that all the cruise ships currently sailing in Asia can safely reach its next port stop, dock and disembark passengers and crews without incidents ... including the Westerdam, still floating at sea, somewhere in SE Asia waters.  

 

Traveling soon, safe - happy - healthy ones.  Please do pack a little extra personal medications and OTC meds, just in case.  Some of the World Dream cruisers on the 4 day short sailing only had 1 or 2 extra days of prescribed Rx with them, not wise at all.  

 

And you are the one asking others not to post long details.....such irony....! 😉

[david_sobe]

Several pages back when this started I wrote that there were no cases of transmittal of the virus on a cruise ship.  Correct me if I am wrong but the Princess ship under quarantine keeps getting more cases.  Even with precautions it spreads very quickly on a cruise ship (like many illnesses).  This really could be a disaster for cruising.

The Royal ship looks like in good shape that disembarked in NJ.  But someone please fill me in on the stupidity to pick up a bunch of Chinese people in the Caribbean just to take them to NJ that tied up emergency personnel taking them to hospitals and quarantine.  Luckily things look ok.  But am I missing something?  RCCL now bans Chinese passports yet they made a special stop to pick up Chinese people just so they could scare everyone and take them to hospitals?
There must be something I am missing because that was the stupidest thing ever.

[rjmols]

1 hour ago, Atgatsea said:

Let’s also not forget that all of those unfortunate passengers on the Diamond Princess were infected by someone on a previous cruise - not even the current cruise.

They were on the current cruise they just disembarked in HK and did not do the full itinerary.  It hasn't been made clear if HK was a disembarktion port or if just he had to disembark as he was unwell.  Does anybody know ?

 

[luv2kroooz]

18 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Correct me if I am wrong but the Princess ship under quarantine keeps getting more cases. 

No, you are straight away correct. They've been under a quarantine for four or five days now. The challenge right now is to know if the quarantine is working which can't be known. It has been reported that symptoms can appear up to 14 days after being infected. So, in theory, people being diagnosed today may have been infected prior to the start of the quarantine. Plus, the last I had heard, they had only tested 300 or so passengers, so maybe 10% of the passenger population and an even lesser percentage when you include the crew population. I have a lot of admiration for the guy that is doing the Facebook feed. He is so calm about everything. 

Edited February 10, 2020 by blcruising

[JCopp]

Norwegian Cruise Lies does have a Facebook page. Everyone feel free to leave reviews of how they are treating us!

[MoniMommy]

14 minutes ago, JCopp said:

Norwegian Cruise Lies does have a Facebook page. Everyone feel free to leave reviews of how they are treating us!

Excellent idea. Flood with posts. At the very least other passengers will be warned and may take their business elsewhere. 

[JCopp]

5 minutes ago, MoniMommy said:

Excellent idea. Flood with posts. At the very least other passengers will be warned and may take their business 

Let's stop hoping Singapore gets worse or going over our insurance policies and go after the company that doesnt want to take care of its customers! Tell the truth, tell everyone who will listen about Norwegian Cruise Lies! 

[PhilBenz]

I just received an email from NCL:

"Bonjour Philip,

Please contact your travel advisor in regards to cancelling  your reservation.

Merci"

However, our "travel advisor" still has no new information. 10% refund + 25% credit on a future cruise just doesn't cut it. I'll keep you posted on developments.

Edited February 10, 2020 by PhilBenz

[Masekr11]

9 minutes ago, JCopp said:

Let's stop hoping Singapore gets worse or going over our insurance policies and go after the company that doesnt want to take care of its customers! Tell the truth, tell everyone who will listen about Norwegian Cruise Lies! 

Yes! I also recommend people contact the media. NCL will only change their stance if they are forced to. All news outlets have secure/anonymous tip hotlines. Maybe some media pressure will force NCL to revisit their ridiculous and unsafe position 

[epgjon]

2 minutes ago, Masekr11 said:

Yes! I also recommend people contact the media. NCL will only change their stance if they are forced to. All news outlets have secure/anonymous tip hotlines. Maybe some media pressure will force NCL to revisit their ridiculous and unsafe position 

just received email from NCL. Update #4. nothing new though.

[Bevi65]

2 hours ago, LAnn said:

Hi Maeskr11, I get it. It's a horrible situation, and NCL's non-existent customer service is outrageous. They should absolutely have given everyone the option of at least a future cruise credit from the moment this virus became an issue. 

They absolutely should have.  We were shut down instantly a couple of weeks ago - we stressed that we didn't want a refund . If upcoming cruise ( fingers crossed) is cancelled, and we are then given a choice, I Can tell you now we won't be choosing the credit .

[Starry Eyes]

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

Several pages back when this started I wrote that there were no cases of transmittal of the virus on a cruise ship.  Correct me if I am wrong but the Princess ship under quarantine keeps getting more cases.  Even with precautions it spreads very quickly on a cruise ship (like many illnesses).  This really could be a disaster for cruising.

The Royal ship looks like in good shape that disembarked in NJ.  But someone please fill me in on the stupidity to pick up a bunch of Chinese people in the Caribbean just to take them to NJ that tied up emergency personnel taking them to hospitals and quarantine.  Luckily things look ok.  But am I missing something?  RCCL now bans Chinese passports yet they made a special stop to pick up Chinese people just so they could scare everyone and take them to hospitals?
There must be something I am missing because that was the stupidest thing ever.

Regarding the new cases on Diamond Princess, the incubation period is reportedly up to 14 days.  Once symptoms develop, testing would ensue, which would take some time.  So, the cases reported today may have been exposed to the virus a sinus long as 14-16 days ago (I believe that was before passengers were confined to their cabins).  With such a long incubation period, it takes a long time to know if the quarantine procedures have worked to stop the spread of the disease or not.  Admittedly, I have my doubts that it will work well enough.  While passengers are isolated from one another, I suspect crew are still in close proximity to one another (both working and in crew quarters), so though crew may be trying very, very hard not to spread the virus, I suspect it may be difficult to achieve zero spread in close crew conditions.  I hope the crew can pull it off, but it cannot be easy.

 

As to Anthem of the Seas, I thought the Chinese nationals were passengers who embarked in NJ with the rest of the guests and they happened to develop influenza during the voyage (it is flu season).  Do you have a reliable source that says to the contrary they embarked ill in the Caribbean?  That seems unlikely.

[Trimone]

28 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

Regarding the new cases on Diamond Princess, the incubation period is reportedly up to 14 days.  Once symptoms develop, testing would ensue, which would take some time.  So, the cases reported today may have been exposed to the virus a sinus long as 14-16 days ago (I believe that was before passengers were confined to their cabins).  With such a long incubation period, it takes a long time to know if the quarantine procedures have worked to stop the spread of the disease or not.  Admittedly, I have my doubts that it will work well enough.  While passengers are isolated from one another, I suspect crew are still in close proximity to one another (both working and in crew quarters), so though crew may be trying very, very hard not to spread the virus, I suspect it may be difficult to achieve zero spread in close crew conditions.  I hope the crew can pull it off, but it cannot be easy.

 

As to Anthem of the Seas, I thought the Chinese nationals were passengers who embarked in NJ with the rest of the guests and they happened to develop influenza during the voyage (it is flu season).  Do you have a reliable source that says to the contrary they embarked ill in the Caribbean?  That seems unlikely.

In the U.K. today,  a professor claimed there have been cases of up to 24 days? Before any Illness show’s 

[Starry Eyes]

2 minutes ago, Trimone said:

In the U.K. today,  a professor claimed there have been cases of up to 24 days? Before any Illness show’s 

If so, it may take even longer to know if the isolation procedures are working.

[Starry Eyes]

2 hours ago, blcruising said:

Plus, the last I had heard, they had only tested 300 or so passengers, so maybe 10% of the passenger population and an even lesser percentage when you include the crew population. 

One would not expect them to test people without signs or symptoms, especially if they can screen for fever easily, ask about symptoms, then test.

 

If you were aboard, felt perfectly well, had a normal body temperature, would you want to be repeatedly poked, prodded, and tested, on top of everything else you’d be enduring?  Some might; many wouldn’t.  Testing asymptotic people is invasive, cumbersome, and may result in false positive results.  The test will actually have a better positive predictive value if applied to a carefully selected set of passengers than to all.

[AliciaandMark]

It seems as though each time there is a media update about the escalating situation (eg doubling of confirmed cases on Diamond Princess, Cunard diverting their ship from Singapore to Australia) NCL respond by sending out their same duplicated communication script telling us nothing new?! I’m not sure what they are trying to achieve through this strategy? I’m legitimately confused by their approach?! 

[jskeel]

So are you going or staying home?  This is the worst roller coaster ride I have ever been on!  My travel starts on Thursday and I haven't packed a thing.  This is the most untenable situation that NCL has put us in!  We should not be forced to make this choice and I can't figure out what to do.  How are others handling it?  Keep in mind, I have 44 hours of air travel (round trip) to make this trip that may or may not sail or stop anywhere ... sigh.

[AliciaandMark]

We are on the 27th Feb sailing so leave Australia on 22 Feb to head to Singapore. Still watching at this stage and will make our decision at last minute. Last year I was booked in the Mediterranean cruise with NCL that was cancelled 48 hours prior to sailing (I was already in Europe when they cancelled!). I would hate to travel again all the way to Singapore and have the same thing happen to me. Such a hard decision. 

[ARandomTraveler]

12 minutes ago, jskeel said:

So are you going or staying home?  This is the worst roller coaster ride I have ever been on!  My travel starts on Thursday and I haven't packed a thing.  This is the most untenable situation that NCL has put us in!  We should not be forced to make this choice and I can't figure out what to do.  How are others handling it?  Keep in mind, I have 44 hours of air travel (round trip) to make this trip that may or may not sail or stop anywhere ... sigh.

That’s a cruddy situation to be in, sorry 😞

[NLH Arizona]

1 hour ago, Starry Eyes said:

One would not expect them to test people without signs or symptoms, especially if they can screen for fever easily, ask about symptoms, then test.

 

If you were aboard, felt perfectly well, had a normal body temperature, would you want to be repeatedly poked, prodded, and tested, on top of everything else you’d be enduring?  Some might; many wouldn’t.  Testing asymptotic people is invasive, cumbersome, and may result in false positive results.  The test will actually have a better positive predictive value if applied to a carefully selected set of passengers than to all.

I wouldn't mind being tested if I did not have any symptoms in case I was a carrier, who didn't show symptoms, because I wouldn't want to infect others.

Edited February 10, 2020 by NLH Arizona

[david_sobe]

2 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

Regarding the new cases on Diamond Princess, the incubation period is reportedly up to 14 days.  Once symptoms develop, testing would ensue, which would take some time.  So, the cases reported today may have been exposed to the virus a sinus long as 14-16 days ago (I believe that was before passengers were confined to their cabins).  With such a long incubation period, it takes a long time to know if the quarantine procedures have worked to stop the spread of the disease or not.  Admittedly, I have my doubts that it will work well enough.  While passengers are isolated from one another, I suspect crew are still in close proximity to one another (both working and in crew quarters), so though crew may be trying very, very hard not to spread the virus, I suspect it may be difficult to achieve zero spread in close crew conditions.  I hope the crew can pull it off, but it cannot be easy.

 

As to Anthem of the Seas, I thought the Chinese nationals were passengers who embarked in NJ with the rest of the guests and they happened to develop influenza during the voyage (it is flu season).  Do you have a reliable source that says to the contrary they embarked ill in the Caribbean?  That seems unlikely.

No, please don't put words in my mouth. I never said they embarked ill.  They were picked up in the Caribbean and disembarked in NJ and saw on TV there were ambulances taking them away to hospitals.  They may all be ok.  But is it not a crazy policy to ban Chinese passport holders yet transport them to NJ and then tie up first responders by taking them to the hospital or quarantine.  That was my point.  Was hoping someone was going to chime in with a rational reason for this.

[Pushka]

6 hours ago, Atgatsea said:

Let’s also not forget that all of those unfortunate passengers on the Diamond Princess were infected by someone on a previous cruise - not even the current cruise.

It is actually the current cruise where the person with the virus embarked. He disembarked early because either he felt unwell or had only purchased a smaller sector tour. The people who were in the initial screening batch of 260 were those current cruisers who were known to have had direct contact with him on the ship or on a Princess Bus trip they took together. The rest of the passengers were about to disembark in Yokohama.