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Will Corona Virus Stop You Cruising?

farawayatsea

By farawayatsea,
in Celebrity Cruises

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villauk

villauk

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Most of you are referring to Caribbean cruises when you say you are still taking them, but if an outbreak occurred in that area, such as the one on Diamond Princess, in the next few weeks, would you still be taking those Caribbean cruises without worrying? Hopefully, you won’t have to make this difficult decision and the virus is contained.

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mom says Excellent Advice! Rare

mom says

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, villauk said:

Most of you are referring to Caribbean cruises when you say you are still taking them, but if an outbreak occurred in that area, such as the one on Diamond Princess, in the next few weeks, would you still be taking those Caribbean cruises without worrying? Hopefully, you won’t have to make this difficult decision and the virus is contained.

There are millions of "what ifs". If you tried to avoid all if them, you couldn't get out of bed in the morning.

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Marelaine

Marelaine

Posted
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36 minutes ago, villauk said:

Most of you are referring to Caribbean cruises when you say you are still taking them, but if an outbreak occurred in that area, such as the one on Diamond Princess, in the next few weeks, would you still be taking those Caribbean cruises without worrying? Hopefully, you won’t have to make this difficult decision and the virus is contained.


We just made final payment for our May Caribbean cruise. We will go. I'll follow the recommendations of several Cruise Critic members to pack extra meds and supplies.

 

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villauk

villauk

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36 minutes ago, mom says said:

There are millions of "what ifs". If you tried to avoid all if them, you couldn't get out of bed in the morning.

 

 

True, but mine was a hypothetical question about would you feel the same if the outbreak was in the Caribbean instead of Asia. The outbreak is there - no what ifs. Would the cancellations rise if it was closer to home (well, yours not mine 🙂)? Just asking a question, like the OP did on their first post.

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Fouremco

Fouremco

Posted
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3 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

True, but mine was a hypothetical question about would you feel the same if the outbreak was in the Caribbean instead of Asia. The outbreak is there - no what ifs. Would the cancellations rise if it was closer to home (well, yours not mine 🙂)? Just asking a question, like the OP did on their first post.

It doesn't matter where the epidemic is located, near or far, I simply wouldn't cruise to THAT location but would continue to cruise to other regions of the world. 

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SeaHunt

SeaHunt

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I would let the situation in Asia continue to evolve before I sailed there right now, but anywhere else, I'm in!

 

I have learned one thing though - to pay more attention to cruise line air instead of booking on my own like I usually do. It seems like most reporting that they had booked with the cruise line say that they have really taken care of their customers with no hassle re-routing(s), etc., unlike others scrambling to make arrangements on their own. 

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chemmo Holiday Sharing Rare

chemmo

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We were booked on Eclipse Tokyo to Singapore in October this year  which we had to change to a Southampton cruise a couple of months ago owing to health issues. We were really upset at the time but cheered ourselves up with the fact our new cruise was on the Revolutionised Silhouette. If we hadn’t changed then we would be doing so now...just too many ‘what ifs...’ to make planning and then enjoying a cruise, particularly to Asia, pleasurable.

 

There were several suites available on our cruise a couple of weeks ago which have now  gone...I wonder if other (particularly U.K.)  cruisers booked later in the year elsewhere in the world have decided not to risk cruises with flights? 

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chemmo Holiday Sharing Rare

chemmo

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36 minutes ago, yorky said:

We are booked for Asia next Feb and looking forward to it, we won’t be cancelling, life is too short.

 

That is far enough out to give you the opportunity to change if necessary, Celebrity to make revisions to itineraries if still necessary and also several months before you need to commit to booking flights...If I was booked a year out I would probably have a ‘let’s wait and see’ attitude but probably book flights/hotel reservations as late as possible...

 

We love Asia cruising and do hope to revisit.  Hope the situation stabilises soon...

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TeeRick

TeeRick

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20 hours ago, Denny01 said:

Will continue. Doing Europe and TA, then a Japan-TP in May 2021. Will review the Japan cruise in the Fall and see if Corona continues or starts back up and is a major threat. 

 

But we all must realize that cruising is more risky than many other vacation venues. When we see reports of ships having large outbreaks of norovirus, we don’t realize how many get this virus when visiting places such as DisneyWorld and the symptoms then show up after leaving. But with that said, cruise ships have a more vulnerable clientele, we are confined in common areas and same dining areas longer than most other vacation experiences. It’s the nature of cruising. 

 

So, we’ll watch how corona virus progresses. Either it recedes because of the actions being taken worldwide, or because viruses tend (but not for sure at all) to reduce as the weather heats up. Many medical sites are saying that may not occur with this virus. Anyone saying they think it may recede with summer coming is just blowing hot air. Ha. We’ll see. But all that means is that it then can return with a fury in the Fall/Winter as do many flu’s. 

 

Enough. we live with many risks. This is another one to take into account. I’ve been tracking the SR availability on my Nov 2020 TA and it is over 90% 8 months ahead with no decreases. So we’ll just have to see how it all goes and how it impacts the vacationing I love.

 

Heck, a group went skying in France and were exposed there. And by the way, I don’t see this as ‘media hysteria’. We always seem to blame the messenger. If they report on it, they are being hysterical or sensationalizing it; if they don’t they are hiding it. Goes with all the other conspiracies that come alive along with a new risk. 

 

Den

Den- Agree with you.  But the media hysteria is real by the way some outlets sensationalize the headlines and report things that are more speculation than facts.  They don't really wait for the facts or dive into the details in most cases.  Just instant reporting.  Yes it is up to most of us to realize this and sort it out for ourselves. 

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TeeRick

TeeRick

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15 hours ago, Denny01 said:

Just listened to an interview of Dr Gupta on CNN and he was asked a number of Corona virus questions. Go and take a quick listen. Excellent.

 

His professional opinion (still an opinion since this is a ‘nova’, ie. ‘New’ virus) was, he wouldn’t restrict himself or recommend people to stop traveling even to Asia. He would stay out of Wuhan China and watch and agreed travelers from there required full screening (not quarantine), and if any other area became a high risk area, but the rest of Asia is relatively safe. He disagrees with the blanket passport restrictions of all Chinese, HK and Macao, says we need to watch this closely but stop the wholesale restrictions. 

 

He thinks, he feels (opinon based on previous virus outbreaks and the 2.5% death rate of Corona) that this could well become another flu-cold type virus that is spread but not a pandemic as what occurred with millions dying in 1919 and so on.

 

But he stressed we need to watch it closely and see how it transitions. He also said the big plus was they came up with a relatively quick test if a person is carrying the virus. One thing I would have liked to ask was, what was the ‘false-positives’, ie, how many would show they had the viruse but didn’t, of the test. You wonder with 100’s being diagnosed on the ship in Yokohama. 

 

Den 

Den,

The current information(this week anyway) is that over 80% of people exposed to this specific coronavirus have mild cold-like symptoms or are not in need of any special medications or hospitalizations.  Good news but that also means a lot of non-symptomatic carriers are in the population too.  Also as more screening takes place in a higher number of exposed people,  the 2.5% fatality rate is predicted to decrease.  Coronaviruses have been with us for a very long time and will continue to be.  Both SARS and MERS are coronaviruses.  And most viruses of the RNA variety tend to mutate.  It is currently hypothesized that this one has been carried in bats and crossed-over to humans but unknown how this happened.

 

More info here:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-coronaviruses-cause-infection-from-colds-to-deadly-pneumonia1/

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Cruise a holic

Cruise a holic

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1 hour ago, farawayatsea said:

NYT reporting that cruise bookings are down by 15% already and that it's a public relations disaster for the industry.  Somebody's not travelling.

When you go on youtube and see the people who are quarantined on the Princess ship- it is not a happy picture of a cruise- I assume some are really frightened by the thought of being locked in their cabin for a few weeks-  We have a cruise in about a month, on this side of the pond- but now I am thinking instead of bringing a couple of extra days of my daily vitamins and other meds- perhaps I should bring an extra couple of weeks of the meds! 

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Happy Cruiser 6143

Happy Cruiser 6143

Posted
Posted (edited)
20 hours ago, mkcurran said:

Not at all. If this results in more people not opting to cruise, I'm okay with any possible discounts that may or may not happen to fill ships. 

 

Yup, keep cancelling, folks!  I scored a great upgrade yesterday on a cruise past final payment because some cabins suddenly became available.

Edited by Happy Cruiser 6143
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nomad098

nomad098

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4 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Den,

The current information(this week anyway) is that over 80% of people exposed to this specific coronavirus have mild cold-like symptoms or are not in need of any special medications or hospitalizations.  Good news but that also means a lot of non-symptomatic carriers are in the population too.  Also as more screening takes place in a higher number of exposed people,  the 2.5% fatality rate is predicted to decrease.  Coronaviruses have been with us for a very long time and will continue to be.  Both SARS and MERS are coronaviruses.  And most viruses of the RNA variety tend to mutate.  It is currently hypothesized that this one has been carried in bats and crossed-over to humans but unknown how this happened.

 

More info here:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-coronaviruses-cause-infection-from-colds-to-deadly-pneumonia1/

 

Unfortunately the link you posted is outdated in this rapidly changing situation

 

Latest information from Chinese research that the disease may have passed from bats to pangolins to humans but this has not been confirmed. Bats do not tend to pass corona viruses straight to human but go through intermediary animals with SARS it was the civet cat for MERS the dromedary camel.

 

However there is evidence to suggest that the wet market was not ground zero but was brought into that area by one of the first 20 infected persons investigations are on going.

 

Due to the way the Chinese government report on epidemics we may not know the full story for a while yet.

The Chinese only report those who have been tested as infected or tested before they died are reported cases. Anyone else who is infected or has died before being tested are not counted.

 

As an example of this USA in 2016-17 reported approximately 11,600 to 19,100 deaths from influenza, China reported around 41-56 for the same period draw what conclusions you will from that

 

 

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phoenix_dream

phoenix_dream

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7 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Den- Agree with you.  But the media hysteria is real by the way some outlets sensationalize the headlines and report things that are more speculation than facts.  They don't really wait for the facts or dive into the details in most cases.  Just instant reporting.  Yes it is up to most of us to realize this and sort it out for ourselves. 

I also agree with the rest of his post, but agree with you on the media hysteria.  Media helps create anxiety and stress by the methods and timing they use to report the news.  They lead with sensationalized headlines that make it sound like the world is ending.  They report peoples opinions and yet position them as facts.  They publish information on the fly without taking the time to vet it thoroughly so they can be the first in reporting.  This is sadly true of all news stories with the major players - not just the coronavirus.  

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shipshape sam Great Review Rare

shipshape sam

Posted
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On 2/12/2020 at 6:39 PM, villauk said:

 

 

True, but mine was a hypothetical question about would you feel the same if the outbreak was in the Caribbean instead of Asia. The outbreak is there - no what ifs. Would the cancellations rise if it was closer to home (well, yours not mine 🙂)? Just asking a question, like the OP did on their first post.

For me, for sure.  

 

We have decided, as we have no current sailings booked, to not book right now and see how it plays out.   Plenty of landed based trips/destinations.

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