Cruise ships refused permission to visit ports outside Asia

[Kiwi Kruzer]

16 minutes ago, Pushka said:

Princess is in a world of pain with the Grand. The next cruise has been cancelled. Goodness knows how long CDC will hold the ship in US waters once it berths later today. 

Big trouble ....

[pully8]

We would love to book a cruise but are reluctant given current events.

No end in sight at present either.

We enjoy getting away but the thought of being subjected to mandatory isolation and all that would mean, very reluctant.

Its very frustrating and reading some of the strange things like the toilet roll hoarding seems so bizarre.

It must be traumatic especially those who have been through the recent bushfires to hear and read about this current potential life threatening virus too.

Escape would be wonderful. 

[Relaxing Robbies]

Tonga has diverted 4 cruise ships that were due to visit during March.

https://matangitonga.to/2020/03/03/health-diverts-four-cruise-ships-tonga

 

We will be on Carnival Spirit, so it will be interesting to see if we get a replacement port.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/05/health/california-coronavirus-cruise-ship-thursday/index.html

[MMDown Under]

6 hours ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

Tonga has diverted 4 cruise ships that were due to visit during March.

https://matangitonga.to/2020/03/03/health-diverts-four-cruise-ships-tonga

 

We will be on Carnival Spirit, so it will be interesting to see if we get a replacement port.

Yes that was the second time Tonga didn't allow cruise ships to disembark passengers.  Recently passengers on Amsterdam's World Cruise were given permission to disembark.

[MMDown Under]

58 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/05/health/california-coronavirus-cruise-ship-thursday/index.html

Thanks David.  That is a well written article.

A telling point is no shows on The Grand, yet the casino continues to operate at present.

I have heard that tech people are working from home in Seattle.  I am wondering how the cruise industry is planning future cruises on big cruise ships.  It seems irresponsible to allow seniors, who are the most vulnerable, to cruise, or to not let them cancel their future cruises, without penalty, because of their genuine concerns.  

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Here’s the track of Grand Princess as she circles while awaiting clearance to allow her to enter San Francisco . 

 

[By The Bay]

Shaping up as another fiasco like the Diamond. I would not want to be onboard.

[NSWP]

7 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

Shaping up as another fiasco like the Diamond. I would not want to be onboard.

Sure is shaping that way if there are some positive tests.  Four Aussies on board, rest of the pax are mainly American, mostly from California.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

25 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Sure is shaping that way if there are some positive tests.  Four Aussies on board, rest of the pax are mainly American, mostly from California.

There were 8 Kiwis on board from the previous cruise who have now returned home and have had to be tracked down and tested . 
If a positive test comes back for the present ones they will all have to be quarantined. ......and that won’t be any bed of roses 🙁😱

[NSWP]

45 tested so far on the Grand Princess - 21 were positive, mostly crew.  All on board will be tested. Ship is to proceed to a naval base - quarantine base - Point Magu in Ventura County, 600 mile sail.   This will take weeks.   Plenty of reports coming in on Princess board of Cruise Critic.

Edited March 7, 2020 by NSWP

[Kiwi Kruzer]

10 minutes ago, NSWP said:

45 tested so far on the Grand Princess - 21 were positive, mostly crew.  All on board will be tested. Ship is to proceed to a naval base - quarantine base - Point Magu in Ventura County, 600 mile sail.   This will take weeks.   Plenty of reports coming in on Princess board of Cruise Critic.

If or when that happens in Australia and NZ , where will we put 4500 peoples ?

[Pushka]

15 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

If or when that happens in Australia and NZ , where will we put 4500 peoples ?

I did read, maybe fake news, that if negative and a local they could drive home and self isolate. Same if positive but not unwell - which is exactly what will start to happen in Australia because once it hits we cannot put everyone into hospital just because they test positive. Only those very unwell would go to hospital.

[NSWP]

50 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

If or when that happens in Australia and NZ , where will we put 4500 peoples ?

Howard Springs, near Darwin, the former mining camp housed 3500 workers.  That is currently being used as a quarantine camp for the Aussies taken off Diamond Princess.  Capacity is there, but support facilities for that many would be hard to provide.  More use of the Defence Force medical personnel is needed.   Would there be a disused army barracks in NZ that could be used David?

Edited March 7, 2020 by NSWP

[Kiwi Kruzer]

1 minute ago, NSWP said:

.   Would there be a disused army barracks in NZ that could be used David?

We have several sites that would be ideal eg islands or peninsula s , but the barracks have long since been dismantled or fallen down . However should  that occur , there would be no demand from tourists for the thousands of camper vans that abound , and they could be used . That’s what  happened with  the first lot that arrived .

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

If or when that happens in Australia and NZ , where will we put 4500 peoples ?

 

The current strategy of most countries is containment. This failing miserably, but the point is to minimise virus transmission until a vaccine is developed. However, the vaccine could be two months or two years away.

 

Once the virus is ubiquitous, containment policies become pointless. At that stage I don't see any reason to shut down cruises or quarantine ships. Just treat it as any other disease outbreak, send the sick to hospital and the healthy home to be checked by their doctors.

 

Any decision to shut down cruising entirely would be hard to justify without also shutting down airports, sporting events and rock concerts. None of which will happen.

 

This virus will be much worse than the flu, except maybe the Spanish flu. It will probably end up killing millions, mostly elderly people in the third world. That said, for the cruising world I reckon once past the next three months it will be business as usual. Until then anything could happen as governments flail around trying to look as though they know what they are doing.

[NSWP]

35 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

We have several sites that would be ideal eg islands or peninsula s , but the barracks have long since been dismantled or fallen down . However should  that occur , there would be no demand from tourists for the thousands of camper vans that abound , and they could be used . That’s what  happened with  the first lot that arrived .

As long as electric fences and machine gun towers were erected around the compound housing the camper vans.    Sorry to inject a bit of humour.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Situation developing as I post , but it looks like Grand is heading into SF .Marine Traffic is showing them heading that way . Picking they will dock in an isolated spot and either keep everyone onboard or bus them to a quarantine camp.

[NSWP]

47 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

Situation developing as I post , but it looks like Grand is heading into SF .Marine Traffic is showing them heading that way . Picking they will dock in an isolated spot and either keep everyone onboard or bus them to a quarantine camp.

Looks like they are heading into the SF Bay area,  The Americans are saying perhaps disused military facility - Almeda which can accommodate large ships.  Time will tell.  SF and California generally would have very comprehensive disaster management plans, because of earthquake potential, should be able to handle a lot people.

Edited March 7, 2020 by NSWP

[Kiwi Kruzer]

https://www.carnival.com/health-and-sailing-update?fbclid=IwAR1CIRZh4-e3pCHBhCHodoM1yGD29RglErIh6orfARuJbuGZKSjRL6udEiE
 

Carnival are taking all embarking passengers temp in the States. Wonder if they will apply it down here ? 

[By The Bay]

48 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

https://www.carnival.com/health-and-sailing-update?fbclid=IwAR1CIRZh4-e3pCHBhCHodoM1yGD29RglErIh6orfARuJbuGZKSjRL6udEiE
 

Carnival are taking all embarking passengers temp in the States. Wonder if they will apply it down here ? 

When we arrived in Singapore on Pacific Explorer in February, all passengers were checked by walking past a a thermal scanner similar to the image below. I can see this becoming  standard around the world. I saw the same during the SARS in 2003 when flying overseas.

Edited March 7, 2020 by By The Bay

[Gwendy]

20 hours ago, Pushka said:

I did read, maybe fake news, that if negative and a local they could drive home and self isolate. Same if positive but not unwell - which is exactly what will start to happen in Australia because once it hits we cannot put everyone into hospital just because they test positive. Only those very unwell would go to hospital.

Self isolate?  Scenario.  My child goes to a high school where all students have been sent home to self isolate.  Other 4 children go off to school, Mum, Dad give isolated child hug and kiss and go to work on public transport to their customer service jobs, call into get shopping on way home (no toilet paper, it is all sold out).

How does this stop spread of virus? Just saying.

Hope US gets sorted cruising from SFO in May (hopefully).

[Pushka]

20 minutes ago, Gwendy said:

Self isolate?  Scenario.  My child goes to a high school where all students have been sent home to self isolate.  Other 4 children go off to school, Mum, Dad give isolated child hug and kiss and go to work on public transport to their customer service jobs, call into get shopping on way home (no toilet paper, it is all sold out).

How does this stop spread of virus? Just saying.

Hope US gets sorted cruising from SFO in May (hopefully).

Oh, I absolutely agree. We had one guy in isolation pop off to the local shops to buy groceries! It isn't going to work, they know that, but we don't have the resources to keep everyone who is positive and well, stay in hospital. Many will obey the rules which will slow it down. Which is ultimately their goal. 

[NSWP]

And the Grand Princess is still going around in squares and circles 50 miles off SF.    Americans are now mentioning Oakland pier in SF as a possible berth for the Grand.   Time will tell.

[By The Bay]

It is being reported on the Princess board of CC that the Royal Princess has just had its cruise canceled. Royal Princess