Norway

[talljules1]

Oh poop.

 

We are supposed to be going to the Fjords in May and August on Silhouette. 

 

Now, who knows.   Bergen and Stavanger have apparently closed to cruise ships.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidnikel/2020/03/11/cruise-ship-passengers-banned-from-bergen-as-coronavirus-cases-rise-in-norway/?fbclid=IwAR2ld-W9bcWk5svx-D3Ky_rQThq1OvSczP03DWeydmHOObwogACDYwUIbrM#54962b7d348a

 

We will wait and see.   We would be happy to go even if we could only get on and off in Southampton and sail through the fjords (we have been before).

[CruiseMGM]

19 minutes ago, talljules1 said:

Oh poop.

 

We are supposed to be going to the Fjords in May and August on Silhouette. 

 

Now, who knows.   Bergen and Stavanger have apparently closed to cruise ships.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidnikel/2020/03/11/cruise-ship-passengers-banned-from-bergen-as-coronavirus-cases-rise-in-norway/?fbclid=IwAR2ld-W9bcWk5svx-D3Ky_rQThq1OvSczP03DWeydmHOObwogACDYwUIbrM#54962b7d348a

 

We will wait and see.   We would be happy to go even if we could only get on and off in Southampton and sail through the fjords (we have been before).

 

Ugh. Thanks for posting. We're scheduled for the Veendam in August. Now, who knows?

[clayton2002]

Thanks for posting.  We are scheduled for one of the Silhouette Norway sailings at the end of August.  Praying that things are contained by then and the ports can safely reopen.  Have been looking forward to this cruise for so long! 

 

[Mrwiggles]

Interesting to see what happens,  also going on Silhouette in early May. 

[andyfriend80]

We are on Silhouette at the end of May (Ireland and Iceland) and Iona (Fjords) in September.  Who only knows what will happen! 

[Fouremco]

What a shame. We had a 2 week Norwegian cruise last summer and enjoyed it so much. But as much as we enjoyed Bergen and Stavanger, we would happily do the cruise again, either adding a couple of sea days or adding a couple of the many other ports.

[orangedec10]

We are also on the silhouette in May. While I realize the world has greater problems, I can’t help but be disappointed with this news. Ugh...

 

While time will tell, I have a bad feeling these closures may stick for a while.

[DebbieMacG]

Oslo and Alesund as well 😢

[sgmn]

Wonder with these travel bans and now classified as pandemic if the ships will cross to Europe this year. We have our first Celebrity cruise booked on Silhouette this June to Norway 

Edited March 12, 2020 by sgmn

[jojo1966]

absolutely gutted with this news - we had got a great deal and will not get those benefits on moving it to another date 😪

[TriciaCC]

Saw this yesterday as well.  We were in a dilemma as to whether we cancelled our cruise for 9th May before our final payment which was due at the end of February.  After much deliberation we cancelled, just before Celebrity's offer to be able to rebook at a future date.  We  had booked this cruise on board Equinox in October at a good price with perks etc and with a low deposit, so it was a hard decision to make.  But we did receive an email a couple of days ago offering FCC for the amount of our deposit.  We thought that was pretty fair.  We are of course disappointed about cancelling and missing our first cruise to the Fjords, but fingers crossed for another opportunity in the future. 

 

[4774Papa]

16 hours ago, CruiseMGM said:

 

Ugh. Thanks for posting. We're scheduled for the Veendam in August. Now, who knows?

August is still a possibility.  Hopefully, the virus will  have peaked and slowed down.  Other, viruses have decreased significantly with the onset of hot weather.

[sgmn]

31 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

August is still a possibility.  Hopefully, the virus will  have peaked and slowed down.  Other, viruses have decreased significantly with the onset of hot weather.

Northern Europe doesn't usually have a sustained period of really hot weather in the summer 

[katrina915]

How long is the ban for?   I have a cruise booked for end of May and I didn't see a time frame in the article.

[talljules1]

7 hours ago, katrina915 said:

How long is the ban for?   I have a cruise booked for end of May and I didn't see a time frame in the article.

I don't think an end date has been set.   I suppose worth noting that ships currently can dock, but not disembark

 

[psirusmojo]

crud that sucks, that's basically 3 out of 4 ports potentially shut down for our cruise early may.  I hope celebrity offers us a good deal like princess has to their cruiser.  This is my first cruise with celebrity and I'm not very impressed with how the company hasn't made a statement yet.

[talljules1]

This article in a Norwegian newspaper/site today: https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/MRbqmR/fhi-anslaar-full-epidemi-fra-mai-helsekonsekvensene-blir-store (Google translated it for me) states that they expect that they will be in full epidemic stage in May, perhaps lasting through to October (which would scupper both our May and August cruises).   Also suggests they are thinking of sending uninfected tourists home/preventing entry.  Closing schools, universities, all businesses in hospitality industry, and a range of other measures:

 

"

• Kindergartens, kindergartens, secondary schools, high schools, universities, colleges and other educational institutions are closed. Exceptions apply to 15 defined critical social functions, such as persons in the health sector
• Schools and kindergartens must provide services for children with parents in these functions, and for children with special needs
• Cultural events, sports events, gyms, swimming pools and businesses offering hairdressing, skincare, massage, body care and tattooing are prohibited.
• All businesses in the hospitality industry are closed, including restaurants, bars, pubs and nightlife. Exceptions apply to canteens and eateries that can allow visitors to stay at least one meter away. Buffet is prohibited
• Retail and commodity trading are conducted as normal. The Minister of Health advises people to hoard food. Follow the advice of national security authorities about what to wear at home
• The transport sector operates as normal, but people are encouraged to avoid leisure travel. Do not go to work or school, avoid travel that is not absolutely necessary
• Avoid public transport, or other places where you can easily get close to others, and close contact with others
• Restrictions are also introduced for visitors to all the country's health institutions. Healthcare professionals working with patient care may also not travel abroad to ensure that Norway has health care providers available.
• Everyone who returns from traveling outside the Nordic countries should be in the home quarantine - regardless of whether they have symptoms or not. This applies to everyone who has come to the country since 27 February
• The public transport offer is maintained. People with critical social functions should be able to get to work and stay apart
• Do not visit people at institutions belonging to vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or the sick
• Healthcare professionals working with patient care are prohibited from traveling abroad - both business trips and private trips. They will have the costs compensated. Currently valid April 2020

The measures are valid from March 12 at 18:00 until March 26, 2020, with the exception of the latter point on travel for health professionals, which is currently valid for April."

[talljules1]

The info above is also present in The Week: https://theweek.com/speedreads/901770/entire-country-norway-shutting-down

in which the article notes: "Additionally, everyone entering Norway from anywhere other than another Nordic country will be required to be home-quarantined, regardless of symptoms — one of the most drastic measures taken in Europe so far. Healthcare professionals are no longer allowed to travel abroad, and the country is encouraging its citizens traveling abroad to return home at once."

 

Perhaps it is unsurprising.    According to https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, the UK currently has 8.7 confirmed cases per million population.  In Norway it is 147.0 per million. Currently only Italy (250 per million) and S. Korea (153.5 per million) have higher rates.

 

😞

Edited March 12, 2020 by talljules1

[ABZCRUISE]

21 hours ago, TriciaCC said:

Saw this yesterday as well.  We were in a dilemma as to whether we cancelled our cruise for 9th May before our final payment which was due at the end of February.  After much deliberation we cancelled, just before Celebrity's offer to be able to rebook at a future date.  We  had booked this cruise on board Equinox in October at a good price with perks etc and with a low deposit, so it was a hard decision to make.  But we did receive an email a couple of days ago offering FCC for the amount of our deposit.  We thought that was pretty fair.  We are of course disappointed about cancelling and missing our first cruise to the Fjords, but fingers crossed for another opportunity in the future. 

 

Interesting - thanks for this.

 

we are in a similar position, with final payment of £10k on 2 cabins for July due in 5 weeks - we will wait as long as possible to see if anything changes, but will then probably cancel and up till now i was resigned to losing the £600 NRD's - this gives me some hope.

[jakob71]

According to the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has published a new report, which think that the Coronavirus peak in Norway, may come in May, and not decrease until late autumn or winter.