Aussies stuck on 25 cruise ships overseas

[MMDown Under]

I just heard a grab on ABC that there were Aussies stuck on 25 cruise ships overseas.  Did you know that?  I had no idea they were on so many ships.

 

I'm aware of a number of those cruise ships, where passengers have been showing their experience, such as the one heading to Italy, of all places, but 25?

 

Azamara Pursuit is another

[patch nine]

I read on another site that 200 Aussies  were flown into Sydney last night on a repatriation flight from Hawaii.  Presumably from Norwegian Jewel

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/troubled-cruise-ship-2000-passengers-docks-honolulu-69741376

 

Edited March 25, 2020 by patch nine

[MMDown Under]

4 hours ago, patch nine said:

I read on another site that 200 Aussies  were flown into Sydney last night on a repatriation flight from Hawaii.  Presumably from Norwegian Jewel

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/troubled-cruise-ship-2000-passengers-docks-honolulu-69741376

 

That is good news indeed for the passengers from Norwegian Jewel.  I hope they were all checked for the virus and will all be self isolating at home in Australia.

Heard NSW Premier saying no more ships will be disembarking passengers in Sydney, which is understandable seeing Australia has a ban on cruise ships. 

[Vader1111]

14 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

That is good news indeed for the passengers from Norwegian Jewel.  I hope they were all checked for the virus and will all be self isolating at home in Australia.

Heard NSW Premier saying no more ships will be disembarking passengers in Sydney, which is understandable seeing Australia has a ban on cruise ships. 

The ban was supposed to come into effect at midnight last Sunday.  Which begs the question why the Vasco de Gama will be allowed to dock tomorrow.

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, Vader1111 said:

The ban was supposed to come into effect at midnight last Sunday.  Which begs the question why the Vasco de Gama will be allowed to dock tomorrow.

My understanding is Fremantle was always the destination for Vasco de Gama, which has a majority of Aus passengers on board.  This is why WA Government made arrangements in advance,  for the Aus passengers, by clearing out Rottnest Island for these passenger to self isolate there for 14 days.  

[Kiwi Kruzer]

The German Govt is flying tens of thousands of stranded tourists home . Here in NZ the Govt has told those stranded to hunker down for a long stay . Planes are ready to go an$ pick them up but they are not permitted to land in many countries .

 

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-german-government-to-fly-home-tens-of-thousands-of-tourists/a-52811964

[Aus Traveller]

There are around 200 Australians on the Costa Victoria that will dock in the port for Rome. Passengers are expected to disembark into a country that is quickly becoming the epicentre of the virus.

[marinating]

We flew in last night from Honolulu following our Norwegian Jewel Mystery cruise. We were told by the Captain on arrival that we would be taken by Border Force to a location for compulsory quarantine. Currently we are all at the Swissotel Hotel in Sydney. Confined to rooms with no contact with anybody but the Doctor who will visit us twice a day. Very poorly planned, no laundry facilities, small room with not even two chairs to sit on to eat meals. No cleaning products to clean room/bathroom over the next two weeks. Meals to be dropped off three times a day, ring buzzer three times and we open door and pick up from floor. No consideration given to dietary or religious requirements. Unable to eat breakfast and waiting for lunch. Am very hungry! I feel sorry for people on their own and older couples. Going to be a long two weeks.

[Aus Traveller]

4 minutes ago, marinating said:

We flew in last night from Honolulu following our Norwegian Jewel Mystery cruise. We were told by the Captain on arrival that we would be taken by Border Force to a location for compulsory quarantine. Currently we are all at the Swissotel Hotel in Sydney. Confined to rooms with no contact with anybody but the Doctor who will visit us twice a day. Very poorly planned, no laundry facilities, small room with not even two chairs to sit on to eat meals. No cleaning products to clean room/bathroom over the next two weeks. Meals to be dropped off three times a day, ring buzzer three times and we open door and pick up from floor. No consideration given to dietary or religious requirements. Unable to eat breakfast and waiting for lunch. Am very hungry! I feel sorry for people on their own and older couples. Going to be a long two weeks.

At least you are back in Australia. 🙂 You have food and unlimited toilet paper. 😁

 

As for laundry facilities, you can hand-wash the necessities in the bathroom sink and hang them in your shower. A lot of people do that with their undies etc on cruise ships.

[boeckli]

6 minutes ago, marinating said:

We flew in last night from Honolulu following our Norwegian Jewel Mystery cruise. We were told by the Captain on arrival that we would be taken by Border Force to a location for compulsory quarantine. Currently we are all at the Swissotel Hotel in Sydney. Confined to rooms with no contact with anybody but the Doctor who will visit us twice a day. Very poorly planned, no laundry facilities, small room with not even two chairs to sit on to eat meals. No cleaning products to clean room/bathroom over the next two weeks. Meals to be dropped off three times a day, ring buzzer three times and we open door and pick up from floor. No consideration given to dietary or religious requirements. Unable to eat breakfast and waiting for lunch. Am very hungry! I feel sorry for people on their own and older couples. Going to be a long two weeks.

 

Thanks for the update - good to hear you all got back to Oz safely.

[MMDown Under]

Welcome Home!  Lack of planning, policies and procedures prior to implementation of new rules and regulations, which change daily, has been a major weakness.  Unfortunately cleaning products and hand sanitisers have been extremely difficult to buy.  I couldn't buy any of the latter but understand soap and water works as well or better.  I bought the last box of 4 cakes of laundry soap in Woolworths, as I wanted to put a cake of soap beside every tap.  You might like to Ask hotel for extra cakes of soap to hand wash your undies.  The rest doesn't matter as no-one is going to see you in your room.  Keep well and happy. 

(I am a Senior who is self isolated indefinitely, eating Chinese noodles for lunch)

Edited March 26, 2020 by MMDown Under

[The_Big_M]

5 hours ago, patch nine said:

I read on another site that 200 Aussies  were flown into Sydney last night on a repatriation flight from Hawaii.  Presumably from Norwegian Jewel

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/troubled-cruise-ship-2000-passengers-docks-honolulu-69741376

 

 

Yes, got in late last night (around 1:30 a.m. so broke curfew) on a Qantas charter. I believe paid by NCL.

 

Then 2 weeks stay in Swissotel which is a good hotel. Quarantine isn't nice, but it's better than a lot of others have had in quarantine.

[The_Big_M]

56 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

My understanding is Fremantle was always the destination for Vasco de Gama, which has a majority of Aus passengers on board.  This is why WA Government made arrangements in advance,  for the Aus passengers, by clearing out Rottnest Island for these passenger to self isolate there for 14 days.  

 

Not quite  - Vasco had left Fremantle last month to return to England which was the scheduled plan.

 

However, given the quarantine and lockdown effects they made plans mid-voyage to return to Australia, also picking up some other Australian world cruisers out of Europe (with their ship then also returning home) and transferring their own Euro passengers off to the other ship. So it's more like a rescue ship, instead of the rescue flights that have been made elsewhere.

Edited March 26, 2020 by The_Big_M

[The_Big_M]

8 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

I just heard a grab on ABC that there were Aussies stuck on 25 cruise ships overseas.  Did you know that?  I had no idea they were on so many ships.

 

I'm aware of a number of those cruise ships, where passengers have been showing their experience, such as the one heading to Italy, of all places, but 25?

 

Azamara Pursuit is another

 

Yes, have heard that before. It does include the smaller "adventure" ships as well as the larger ocean ones. South America has had the bulk of issues so far and it includes the Jewel which as mentioned has just been resolved.

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, The_Big_M said:

 

Not quite  - Vasco had left Fremantle last month to return to England which was the scheduled plan.

 

However, given the quarantine and lockdown effects they made plans mid-voyage to return to Australia, also picking up some other Australian world cruisers out of Europe (with their ship then also returning home) and transferring their own Euro passengers off to the other ship. So it's more like a rescue ship, instead of the rescue flights that have been made elsewhere.

Yes I just realised she was cruising from Fremantle to Tilbury, not the other way around.  I knew she cruised in Fremantle and Adelaide waters when she was in Australia. 

[NSWP]

2 hours ago, marinating said:

We flew in last night from Honolulu following our Norwegian Jewel Mystery cruise. We were told by the Captain on arrival that we would be taken by Border Force to a location for compulsory quarantine. Currently we are all at the Swissotel Hotel in Sydney. Confined to rooms with no contact with anybody but the Doctor who will visit us twice a day. Very poorly planned, no laundry facilities, small room with not even two chairs to sit on to eat meals. No cleaning products to clean room/bathroom over the next two weeks. Meals to be dropped off three times a day, ring buzzer three times and we open door and pick up from floor. No consideration given to dietary or religious requirements. Unable to eat breakfast and waiting for lunch. Am very hungry! I feel sorry for people on their own and older couples. Going to be a long two weeks.

Not good, the govt could do better than that for you. I can only say stay strong.  Is there booze available to you ?   Being serious, Uber Eats, will they deliver? 

Edited March 26, 2020 by NSWP

[gogo65]

It’s just crazy, wishing anyone stuck on a ship a safe trip home. 

As an RN, working in a public hospital in NSW, all I can say, is stay healthy, take care and wash your hands

[megsie]

8 hours ago, marinating said:

We flew in last night from Honolulu following our Norwegian Jewel Mystery cruise. 

I saw on the news there was security at the doors of the hotel also those already in residence at the hotel are not very happy and were not informed of the quarantine.

It would be difficult spending 14 days in a small room but could be worse. Hope all keep healthy. 

[MMDown Under]

8 hours ago, megsie said:

I saw on the news there was security at the doors of the hotel also those already in residence at the hotel are not very happy and were not informed of the quarantine.

It would be difficult spending 14 days in a small room but could be worse. Hope all keep healthy. 

Grateful thanks are due to Hawaii for accepting Norwegian Jewel passengers, when many other places wouldn't!

[Blackduck59]

Unfortunately there are passengers from many nations trapped on many ships with nowhere to go. There are Canadians stuck on Celebrity Eclipse (Not a bad place to be stuck) that couldn't disembark in South America and are in transit to San Diego where they hope to disembark. With Grand Princess all the Canadians (Except some Crew) were evacuated by charter plane and flown for mandatory isolation at a Canadian Forces Base.

Governments everywhere are botching this. Canada certainly has but I think we are catching up. Australia has, can you say Ruby Princess? And I don't even want to talk about the United States (can you say denial at the highest level?) I hope that everyone who finds themselves stranded in a foreign land can get home safe. I also hope that when they do get home they will be helpful by complying to the isolation rules and perhaps grateful they are home instead of stuck on a floating lab experiment. You may be confined but you are in your homeland, if not at home.

Be well everyone and if you have a glass...Cheers

Edited March 26, 2020 by Blackduck59
wrong ship name

[kiwichick62]

21 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

There are around 200 Australians on the Costa Victoria that will dock in the port for Rome. Passengers are expected to disembark into a country that is quickly becoming the epicentre of the virus.

Do you know when the Costa Victoria is due to dock in Rome Aus Traveller?  I saw a video the other day of an older New Zealand couple on that ship.  They are terrified of docking there and having no way to get home.  The husband is immune depressed and I think he is running out of his medications.  Scary stuff.

 

Also read that many tourists are stranded in Bali which is quickly becoming another epicentre of the virus.  So glad to be isolating at home for 28 days.

 

Take care everyone.

[NSWP]

Many Aussies will fly out of Lima and Montevideo soon,  but Argentine government is not cooperating with our government and Australian travel businesses (my son's company is a major player) re the evacuation flights.  LATAM is the charter.  The Aussies and others were stranded after land tours and Antarctic expedition cruises around South and Central America.

Edited March 27, 2020 by NSWP

[Aus Traveller]

17 minutes ago, kiwichick62 said:

Do you know when the Costa Victoria is due to dock in Rome Aus Traveller?  I saw a video the other day of an older New Zealand couple on that ship.  They are terrified of docking there and having no way to get home.  The husband is immune depressed and I think he is running out of his medications.  Scary stuff.

The Costa Victoria docked in Civitavecchia, Italy on Wednesday (Italian time). Passengers now face the difficulty of getting home.

 

Earlier this week, the cruise ship company Costa Cruises revealed that a male Argentinian passenger who left the ship in Crete on March 22 had tested positive to COVID-19. Passengers were then isolated to their rooms.

[kiwichick62]

23 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The Costa Victoria docked in Civitavecchia, Italy on Wednesday (Italian time). Passengers now face the difficulty of getting home.

 

Earlier this week, the cruise ship company Costa Cruises revealed that a male Argentinian passenger who left the ship in Crete on March 22 had tested positive to COVID-19. Passengers were then isolated to their rooms.

Thanks for the update Aus Traveler.  Very concerning for all who were aboard the ship.  😔

[icat2000]

Well when they finally get back to OZ they be under mandatory lockdown. Government no longer going to trust people coming in by sea or airport to self isolate. They be taken and put into mandatory lockdown in hotel or similar and guarded.

 

Australians arriving home from overseas will be forced to serve out a two week quarantine in city hotels, with the rules enforced by the military. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced arrivals from overseas will be put into quarantine beginning at 11.59pm on Saturday night.  

The measures were vital as two thirds of the 3,050 confirmed Australian cases of COVID-19 are arrivals from overseas, he said. 

Mr Morrison confirmed the Australian Defence Force (ADF) will help state and territory police ensure 'compliance' to the new rules. 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8158679/Scott-Morrison-Coronavirus-returned-arrivals-quarantined-hotels.html