Now I'm Angry. She wants to ban cruising!!

[ldubs]

On 5/8/2020 at 6:09 AM, Roz said:

My experience has been that people who hate cruises have never been on one.

 

On these boards I think there are some people who like to hate everything.  😋

[ldubs]

On 5/11/2020 at 8:24 AM, AF-1 said:

I sure hope Italy doesn't get dropped by the cruise lines as stated in post#63

 

Won't happen.  But right now it is just the opposite -- the cruise lines are dropped by Italy.    

[clo]

25 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Won't happen.  But right now it is just the opposite -- the cruise lines are dropped by Italy.    

I've never done a Med cruise and have lousy geography skills 🙂 but from our land travels, it seems that doing a Med cruise that doesn't include any Italy would be problematic. ?

[Cruzaholic41]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 

On these boards I think there are some people who like to hate everything.  😋

There’s the understatement of the day. 😜

[sail7seas]

On 5/7/2020 at 9:16 PM, ldubs said:

 

I'm not sure why that is laughable.  If an infectious person traveled somewhere by air, then bingo!   

spot on

seems highly possible if not likely an air  traveler(Or many) who deplaned in   U,S. airport (s)  and brought their germs into the country.

 

 

Any who disagree, I wonder  how you  think this pandemic traveled around the world if not by air ?

Edited May 12, 2020 by sail7seas

[navybankerteacher]

37 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

spot on

seems highly possible if not likely an air  traveler(Or many) who deplaned in   U,S. airport (s)  and brought their germs into the country.

 

 

Any who disagree, I wonder  how you  think this pandemic traveled around the world if not by air ?

Which explains why New York was so hard hit. With JFK and EWR (Newark) airports reveiving tens of thousands of international arrivals daily - who interacted with airport staff, taxi and Uber drivers, others on public transportation, etc. New York and New Jersey became obvious US  hot spots.  Fortunately, this area has leveled off and seen a drop in infections — it remains to be seen whether other areas, which are rushing to reopen - without having seen a significant reduction - will see there own surges, and possibly bring about a second round.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, clo said:

I've never done a Med cruise and have lousy geography skills 🙂 but from our land travels, it seems that doing a Med cruise that doesn't include any Italy would be problematic. ?

We've done both Western Mediterranean (twice) and Eastern Mediterranean (once) cruises and all had multiple ports in Italy. 

[cruisemom42]

4 hours ago, clo said:

I've never done a Med cruise and have lousy geography skills 🙂 but from our land travels, it seems that doing a Med cruise that doesn't include any Italy would be problematic. ?

 

It could be easily managed assuming other ports are open:

 

Eastern Med example:  Roundrip Athens: including ports such as Navplion, Katakolon, Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Ephesus, Bodrum, Rhodes, Crete (3 ports) + more Greek isles for variety

 

Adriatic focus:  Roundtrip Athens with Corfu, Sarande, Kotor, Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Koper

 

Western Med example:  Roundtrip Barcelona: including ports such as Cartagena, Palma de Mallorca, Ajaccio (Corsica), Toulon, Marseilles, Cannes, Malta, even Tunis.

 

[navybankerteacher]

39 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

We've done both Western Mediterranean (twice) and Eastern Mediterranean (once) cruises and all had multiple ports in Italy. 

Assuming no political problems, one of the best itineraries would be from Istanbul and around the Aegean islands - taking in Troy, Ephesus, Crete, Rhodes and Athens.  There is a lot of Western Med as well: Spain, France and North African ports.

[slidergirl]

Bill Gates - never trust anyone who uses Microsoft, let alone helped create it!!!   There are viruses in that software...

 

[ldubs]

10 hours ago, sail7seas said:

spot on

seems highly possible if not likely an air  traveler(Or many) who deplaned in   U,S. airport (s)  and brought their germs into the country.

 

 

Any who disagree, I wonder  how you  think this pandemic traveled around the world if not by air ?

 

Yep.  One person with CV boards the plane.  10 with CV exit the plane.  And so it begins.   

[ldubs]

9 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Which explains why New York was so hard hit. With JFK and EWR (Newark) airports reveiving tens of thousands of international arrivals daily - who interacted with airport staff, taxi and Uber drivers, others on public transportation, etc. New York and New Jersey became obvious US  hot spots.  Fortunately, this area has leveled off and seen a drop in infections — it remains to be seen whether other areas, which are rushing to reopen - without having seen a significant reduction - will see there own surges, and possibly bring about a second round.

 

And yet California with LAX and SFO, both of which have more than a trickle of flights from Asia, did not experience the same thing.  I've read some of the explanations, including that CV was actually here some time before this all blew up.  

 

Regarding surges.  I just can't see how anyone can reopen and not experience a some kind of surge.    

[navybankerteacher]

9 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

And yet California with LAX and SFO, both of which have more than a trickle of flights from Asia, did not experience the same thing.  I've read some of the explanations, including that CV was actually here some time before this all blew up.  

 

Regarding surges.  I just can't see how anyone can reopen and not experience a some kind of surge.    

Good points— perhaps the bulk of the contagion came in from Europe rather than Asia - meaning that it must have gotten a start in Europe very early on.  Both Italy (because of Chinese infrastructure investments) and Spain (because of significant immigration) were early centers in Europe.

 

Reopening now - particularly in the many areas which have not really leveled off - is likely to create some sort of second round.

[clo]

10 hours ago, ldubs said:

Regarding surges.  I just can't see how anyone can reopen and not experience a some kind of surge.    

 

[slidergirl]

Maybe a time to look into small motor yacht cruises to places in the Med which wouldn't include Italy or Spain...

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, slidergirl said:

Maybe a time to look into small motor yacht cruises to places in the Med which wouldn't include Italy or Spain...

That might be the best way to see the Aegean islands - in stead of pulling in at 8:00 AM or so and pulling out at 4:00PM , and spending the night going between islands - spend the day (when the islands are over-crowded) sailing between islands, pulling in about 4:00 PM, having afternoons and evenings enjoying the islands, and pulling out as the mega ships pull in.

Edited May 13, 2020 by navybankerteacher

[clo]

13 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

That might be the best way to see the Aegean islands - in stead of pulling in at 8:00 AM or so and pulling out at 4:00PM , and spending the night going between islands - spend the day (when the islands are over-crowded) sailing between islands, pulling in about 4:00 PM, having afternoons and evenings enjoying the islands, and pulling out as the mega ships pull in.

We took the Greek ferries and stayed multiple nights on three islands. Do other island groups have similar things?

 

[navybankerteacher]

33 minutes ago, clo said:

We took the Greek ferries and stayed multiple nights on three islands. Do other island groups have similar things?

 

In the Med, the Balearic Islands have a number of inter-Island ferries, as well as connections to mainland Spain. That’s the only other Med “group” that comes to mind, but there are ferry connection to Sardinia and Corsica - but hardly Island groups.

 

Further afield, the Philippines and Indonesia are “island groups” with ferry connections. Then, I suppose you could say that Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard constitute a “group” -well  served by the Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship (hah!) Authority.

Edited May 13, 2020 by navybankerteacher

[cruisemom42]

4 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Maybe a time to look into small motor yacht cruises to places in the Med which wouldn't include Italy or Spain...

 

(Someone's been watching too much Below Deck!)

 

Or a traditional gulet cruise along the coast of Turkey.  That's high on my list.

 

 

[slidergirl]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

(Someone's been watching too much Below Deck!)

 

Or a traditional gulet cruise along the coast of Turkey.  That's high on my list.

 

 

Hey, that remark resembles me!!!   Note: Below Deck Sailing Yacht is sailing Greece in this first season...  

I had a chance to do a small yacht cruise of the Croatian coast last year, but I couldn't come up with all the money ;-(   My other bucket list trip that I want to do is a small barge canal trip in France...  All in-country, so no ports to deny access!   

 

 

[ilikeanswers]

7 hours ago, clo said:

We took the Greek ferries and stayed multiple nights on three islands. Do other island groups have similar things?

 

Croatia has a great ferry service to its islands as does Estonia. Finland I haven't tried but hear it is also pretty good. Outside of Europe I have heard great things about the Maldives and apparently less than a dollar a route. Thai islands are a bit like the Greek Islands very well connected and super popular. Fiji and Vanuatu have some ferry routes though for most of the Pacific you have to fly to get around. Japan has ferry services but honestly they are really expensive it is cheaper to fly. 

Edited May 14, 2020 by ilikeanswers

[clo]

13 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Croatia has a great ferry service to its islands as does Estonia. Finland I haven't tried but hear it is also pretty good. Outside of Europe I have heard great things about the Maldives and apparently less than a dollar a route. Thai islands are a bit like the Greek Islands very well connected and super popular. Fiji and Vanuatu have some ferry routes though for most of the Pacific you have to fly to get around. Japan has ferry services but honestly they are really expensive it is cheaper to fly. 

Wow. Very cool. Thanks.

[ldubs]

17 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Good points— perhaps the bulk of the contagion came in from Europe rather than Asia - meaning that it must have gotten a start in Europe very early on.  Both Italy (because of Chinese infrastructure investments) and Spain (because of significant immigration) were early centers in Europe.

 

Reopening now - particularly in the many areas which have not really leveled off - is likely to create some sort of second round.

 

I've read that NYC was kind of caught looking the wrong way.  CV came in the back door, meaning from Europe.  

[navybankerteacher]

4 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

I've read that NYC was kind of caught looking the wrong way.  CV came in the back door, meaning from Europe.  

I think that was very much the case - in the early days NYC was slow to start - there was expectation that after Washington State’s early hardship would be followed by California getting clobbered and then a slow move east.  (But “back door”? - no —- NYC sees itself as “the Golden Door”).

[S1drfl]

12 hours ago, slidergirl said:

My other bucket list trip that I want to do is a small barge canal trip in France...  All in-country, so no ports to deny access!   

 

 

As a possible aid to the bucket list, you could also look into renting a small houseboat to cruise the canals.  More affordable and no previous boating experience required.  DH and I have rented a 4 seater along with another couple and those trips are some of the best we've ever taken.