Coronavirus MSC embarkation update

[niko40]

So they will now be checking you every time you leave and join the ship

 

Rigorous pre-embarkation screening: 
 

 

• MSC Cruises has conducted and continues to conduct pre-boarding screening by thermal cameras to exclude persons who may be at risk, and passengers with signs or symptoms of illness such as fever (≥38 C°/100.4 F°) or feverishness, chills, cough or difficulty breathing will be denied embarkation. The same rules apply to their travel companions and will also result in a denial of boarding;
  
  Keeping the ship free from infectious diseases:
• Throughout the cruise, at ports of call, guests and crew embarking and disembarking will be frequently checked by thermal cameras for fever symptoms;
   
• In addition, there has been and will continue to be an elevated deep-sanitation on every ship in our entire fleet. There is increased continuous disinfection of public areas especially frequently touched areas such as handrails, elevator buttons, door handles and reception desks, and people are reminded constantly to thoroughly hand-wash and use alcohol-based hand-sanitizers.

 

[niko40]

I have noticed there is no mention of refunds if you are denied boarding, i know Royal Caribbean have said they will give you a full refund wonder if MSC will or do they have to ??

[Beardface]

Much like TSA, this just reeks of security theater with no real ability to actually stop anything

 

But if it helps east some of the hysteria right now, its for the best.

[cruisingnewtoit]

On my Mera sailing in the YC there wasn't a purell sanitizer unit at Top Sail and I rarely saw guests wash their hands before entering. I wish the faucet was touch sensetive as is the one in the buffet.

[phissy]

We travel often, many flights and 2-3 cruises a year. I always carry disinfecting wipes with me. Wipe down airline seat, tray table, seat belt and NEVER touch surfaces in lav. Use tissues - even to open and close the door.

 When we get in our cabin or room, wipe down remotes, handles etc.  When dining, go and wash hands after serving myself at buffet, before eating food.  Not a guarantee but, gives me peace of mind.    We have made final payment for our cruise in June to Iceland on Preziosa. Will monitor conditions until then.  

 

[dexddd]

Right, they have been radio silent on what happens if they deny you.  Denying a family at a port would be interesting.  They going to deny people back from OC?

 

Seems very overboard.  Maybe give people option to cancel to help out.

[hawkeye93]

Right, they have been radio silent on what happens if they deny you.  Denying a family at a port would be interesting.  They going to deny people back from OC?
 
Seems very overboard.  Maybe give people option to cancel to help out.

That’s what i wonder. So if a kid gets a fever above 100.4 in grand cayman what are they going to do?


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[Homosassa]

2 hours ago, hawkeye93 said:

That’s what i wonder. So if a kid gets a fever above 100.4 in grand cayman what are they going to do?


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Quarantine the kid and all the traveling companions in their cabin.

 

 

[niko40]

On 2/27/2020 at 7:18 PM, Homosassa said:

Quarantine the kid and all the traveling companions in their cabin.

 

 

You will be denied boarding i guess they will off load you in grand cayman what happens then will be upto the authorities in Cayman 

[Homosassa]

I noticed in the latest MSC update on the prescreening is the addition of feverishness after the word fever.

 

Good for MSC. It gives them the leeway to stop those that  are slightly feverish with the addition symptoms that are listed.  

 

[WH_Cruise]

First time poster here so hello everyone 🙂

 

As its my 40th coming up in May me and the wife thought a cruise would be something different and are booked on to the MSC Meraviglia in May for a north european cruise over 7 nights departing from Kiel and travelling to Denmark, Finland, Russia and Estonia - genuinely cannot wait.

 

The balance for this is due this coming monday, at present we have only paid a deposit.

 

The guidance on the MSC website whilst understandable is beyond vague regarding the denial of boarding. I rang them earlier (in the UK) and asked the following questions in relation to being denied embarkation:

 

1) Would we be simply left on the dock and left to support ourselves and/or Quarantined aboard the ship - bearing in mind we will most likely be ill if we have failed the check.

2) Would we receive a refund on the cruise?

3) In the event only one person is 'ill' and refunds are applicable, would it be a refund for only the ill party, or both?

4) What would happen to luggage (if any) already on board?

 

Rather worryingly they could not answer any of them, they told me to put all my questions in writing to their Operations team email address (seemed a bit convenient to pass the buck).

 

At the moment i have no idea whether to pay the balance on Monday or not. Although having said that, the rate this thing is spreading i suspect the cruise could be cancelled by May anyway.

 

Very distressing 😞

Edited February 29, 2020 by WH_Cruise

[Markanddonna]

4 hours ago, WH_Cruise said:

First time poster here so hello everyone 🙂

 

As its my 40th coming up in May me and the wife thought a cruise would be something different and are booked on to the MSC Meraviglia in May for a north european cruise over 7 nights departing from Kiel and travelling to Denmark, Finland, Russia and Estonia - genuinely cannot wait.

 

The balance for this is due this coming monday, at present we have only paid a deposit.

 

The guidance on the MSC website whilst understandable is beyond vague regarding the denial of boarding. I rang them earlier (in the UK) and asked the following questions in relation to being denied embarkation:

 

1) Would we be simply left on the dock and left to support ourselves and/or Quarantined aboard the ship - bearing in mind we will most likely be ill if we have failed the check.

2) Would we receive a refund on the cruise?

3) In the event only one person is 'ill' and refunds are applicable, would it be a refund for only the ill party, or both?

4) What would happen to luggage (if any) already on board?

 

Rather worryingly they could not answer any of them, they told me to put all my questions in writing to their Operations team email address (seemed a bit convenient to pass the buck).

 

At the moment i have no idea whether to pay the balance on Monday or not. Although having said that, the rate this thing is spreading i suspect the cruise could be cancelled by May anyway.

 

Very distressing 😞

Very stressful, indeed and good questions to ask. No one can give you a good answer, but I just cancelled an October cruise to the Eastern Med. and it was't because of coronavirus (work related.)  I received a follow up phone call and email from my personal cruise consultant from the cruise line wanting to be sure the company had done nothing wrong, and he was insistent that he could easily rebook me if we changed our mind. I imagine if you cancelled, you would be able to book at a lower rate with some perks.  That is just my guess.  The cruiselines are in a desperate state now, and if they can't give you some assurance, I would be tempted to cancel and then rebook later if things settled down.  I just got off a cruise and felt like we just made it under the wire as far as craziness of ports refusing entry, etc. Keep us posted!

[resistk]

6 hours ago, Bobal said:

 

Your numbers are out of date. This is a better source of information https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

Looks like Spain and France are rapidly in danger of escalating.

[WonderMan3]

3 hours ago, resistk said:

 

Looks like Spain and France are rapidly in danger of escalating.

And it’s only a matter of time before the U.S. is in the same situation. What happens to all the cruise ships sailing the Caribbean then? Are they going to deny boarding to all U.S. citizens? Soon there will be no one allowed to board any ship.

[resistk]

1 hour ago, WonderMan3 said:

And it’s only a matter of time before the U.S. is in the same situation. What happens to all the cruise ships sailing the Caribbean then? Are they going to deny boarding to all U.S. citizens? Soon there will be no one allowed to board any ship.

 

Quite possibly, if the virus is still spreading.  Cruise ship is not where you want to be during an epidemic.