Coronavirus and DCL Megathread - Suspension of Departures for the fleet until early November. Booking only available from early December.

[plethera1]

The main take away is this quote:

“We are implementing some itinerary changes on voyages scheduled to call on Grand Cayman and Jamaica this week. A number of Caribbean destinations continue to work through their policies with regards to cruise ship visits.”

It added that “while we are following all U.S. [Center For Disease Control] and World Health Organization screening protocols and guidelines, we want to avoid any possibility of a visit to a destination where there is uncertainty or we risk being turned away.”

 

[lklgoodman]

But why would they do that? Solidarity with MSC?

They don't state that, but at the end of the cruise law article it said that some people think that is the real reason.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

Being a statistician, this is what is so interesting as the numbers play out. CFR in Iran (if you believe their numbers) is around 5%, in China and Italy, it seems closer to 2-3%, however, in South Korea, the numbers are close to 0.5%. Why the difference?

This is just my thoughts. Either (1), South Korea is doing a much better job of testing everyone and thus has a better handle on what the true incidence rate is in the population, or (2), where the outbreak occurs (in Italy, the hospital in Codogno - and, I fear, in Washington State, the Nursing Home) can affect deaths. In South Korea, the outbreak was in a large church, but you wouldn't have too many compromised people there. In Italy, when the PM said "Protocols in the Hospital weren't followed", I wonder if care givers in the hospital went from the original case into places like the ICU, etc, which would be really bad...

Again, no basis for this, but I think that there are a lot of factors at play in terms of what the CFR is until we see this play out. For H1N1, the original CFR estimates turned out to be way higher than what they really were. I think that it's almost like a "fog of war" that since we are in the middle of it, we don't have a true sense of what's going on. For all we know, it may have been circulating even here for awhile and a lot of people could have had it, but if it were mild, it may never have been picked up. I just don't think we have a handle on the true population that has been exposed...

Protocols weren't followed in Italy in the sense that case 0 went to hospital the first time with flu symptoms and was sent back home without being tested because he had not been to China and had not been in touch with anyone who had been, like any other country would have done at that point. He then went back when his symptoms worsen and at that point the doctors were really surprised about his pneumonia and after questioning the wife repeatedly she remembered that at the beginning of the month he had dinner with a friend who had been in China. This man was tested and resulted negative. Italy is still looking for patient zero. Population in Italy is also very old so that would affect the morality rate.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

I need honest advice. I have booked a two weeks WDW holiday in May, and I really really wanted to add a GT rate cruise. I haven't bought it yet as we are still trying to understand the situation and trying to convince my husband is not proving very easy. The reasons why I'm so concerned beside catching the virus are two. First skipping ports, we were planning on the dream, now I don't care about skipping Nassau, but I really wanted to go to castaway! Do you think that if they skip Nassau they can do two days at castaway instead or they will have to skip castaway as well because it's still Bahamas?

Secondly, I have an Italian passport, but I live in the UK. If they put a ban on people that are coming from Italy how would they know that despite me having an Italian family I haven't been there since Christmas? It's a EU passport so there are no stamps. Adittionally it's a passport made in Milan!

Finally I known this has already been asked, but if they reject us would they refound us the cruise we are a family of 6 so it's cheap!

 

[Ccll4]

Once the US testing sites are up around the USA the numbers will jump to the thousands and no need for Trump to put a travel ban. People will not want to come until this settles. It will be interesting what Companies and the Federal Gov. will do in response.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

cruise law article it said that some people think that is the real reason.

As we all know how cruise-friendly a source Cruise Law News is...........

 

[lklgoodman]

As we all know how cruise-friendly a source Cruise Law News is...........

I had never heard of them until pp posted about them. Did a search for them to find out what the pp had written about. I take it they aren't well thought of by cruisers then? Good to know.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I had never heard of them until pp posted about them. Did a search for them to find out what the pp had written about. I take it they aren't well thought of by cruisers then? Good to know.

Well, the lawyer that's responsible for that site is pretty much always looking for ANYTHING that happens onboard a cruise ship. And, if it did, it's the cruise line's fault.

 

[lklgoodman]

Well, the lawyer that's responsible for that site is pretty much always looking for ANYTHING that happens onboard a cruise ship. And, if it did, it's the cruise line's fault.

Thanks for info. I hadn't heard of it before and now I know what kind of person writes it, I won't be looking at it again. I only look here and at Scott's blog for cruise info.

 

[randumb0]

I need honest advice. I have booked a two weeks WDW holiday in May, and I really really wanted to add a GT rate cruise. I haven't bought it yet as we are still trying to understand the situation and trying to convince my husband is not proving very easy. The reasons why I'm so concerned beside catching the virus are two. First skipping ports, we were planning on the dream, now I don't care about skipping Nassau, but I really wanted to go to castaway! Do you think that if they skip Nassau they can do two days at castaway instead or they will have to skip castaway as well because it's still Bahamas?

Secondly, I have an Italian passport, but I live in the UK. If they put a ban on people that are coming from Italy how would they know that despite me having an Italian family I haven't been there since Christmas? It's a EU passport so there are no stamps. Adittionally it's a passport made in Milan!

Finally I known this has already been asked, but if they reject us would they refound us the cruise we are a family of 6 so it's cheap!

You need to call Disney on the passport question. If a ship were turned away from Nassau I would expect he ship to not dock at Castaway. Although Disney owns the island it would be bad press if a ship docked and a Bahamian acquired the virus. Then again no one really knows what Disney would do

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Although Disney owns the island

No, Disney does not actually own the island. In 1997, Disney entered into a 99-year land lease for the cay with the Bahamian government. The lease will expire in 2096.

 

[randumb0]

No, Disney does not actually own the island. In 1997, Disney entered into a 99-year land lease for the cay with the Bahamian government. The lease will expire in 2096.

Then if a ship is not allowed to dock in Nassau it will most likely not be allowed to dock at Castaway. With that being said, I don't see us ever getting to that point

 

[monkeydawn]

Then if a ship is not allowed to dock in Nassau it will most likely not be allowed to dock at Castaway.

Why do you say this? We are seeing ships turned away at some ports and allowed to dock at others. What is so special about the Nassau/ CC combo?

 

[mom2brooke76]

Well, the lawyer that's responsible for that site is pretty much always looking for ANYTHING that happens onboard a cruise ship. And, if it did, it's the cruise line's fault.

I do know that the Grand Cayman residents aren’t happy with Carnival because their government has agreed to let Carnival build a port to use for the Mardi Gras, their new, largest ship. I’ve seen the comments from the GC residents and they’re anything but nice. I think that along with the fact that some ships were turned away is what caused this. The GC government DOES want them there though because they have a huge impact on their economy. I’ve been watching closely because we’ve done 13 Disney cruises and just did our first Carnival in January and DH and I have a Western book with Carnival next week.

 

[mom2brooke76]

Why do you say this? We are seeing ships turned away at some ports and allowed to dock at others. What is so special about the Nassau/ CC combo?

I imagine referring to the fact if Coronavirus got bad and the Bahamas didn’t allow ships to dock, the same would go for CC since it’s part of the Bahamas. Just a guess.

 

[mousefan73]

I need honest advice. I have booked a two weeks WDW holiday in May, and I really really wanted to add a GT rate cruise. I haven't bought it yet as we are still trying to understand the situation and trying to convince my husband is not proving very easy. The reasons why I'm so concerned beside catching the virus are two. First skipping ports, we were planning on the dream, now I don't care about skipping Nassau, but I really wanted to go to castaway! Do you think that if they skip Nassau they can do two days at castaway instead or they will have to skip castaway as well because it's still Bahamas?

Secondly, I have an Italian passport, but I live in the UK. If they put a ban on people that are coming from Italy how would they know that despite me having an Italian family I haven't been there since Christmas? It's a EU passport so there are no stamps. Adittionally it's a passport made in Milan!

Finally I known this has already been asked, but if they reject us would they refound us the cruise we are a family of 6 so it's cheap!

Good question and this is what concerns me is that people will be denied boarding based on assumptions and not being able to prove negatives. Post back here if you get Infos.
Also not all cruises need passports. So if one was recently in Italy- and has that stamp you could Just leave it at home and bring your birthcert and state ID for many sailings.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

But would they even have a four days cruise without any ports? I would still be happy if they stopped somewhere in the US as long as they stopped, although it would be disappointing to skip CC. But I don't want to have a four days cruise without any stops at all! I will call Disney to see what they say in regards to the passport. My ID it's Italian as well, maybe driving licence? What was the story with China? Didn't they just ban anyone with a Chinese passport?

 

[SirDuff]

Why do you say this? We are seeing ships turned away at some ports and allowed to dock at others. What is so special about the Nassau/ CC combo?

They're both in the same country, so likely to have the same rules/response. In other scenarios (where a ship could dock at one port and not another), the ports were in different countries.

 

[monkeydawn]

But would they even have a four days cruise without any ports? I would still be happy if they stopped somewhere in the US as long as they stopped, although it would be disappointing to skip CC. But I don't want to have a four days cruise without any stops at all! I will call Disney to see what they say in regards to the passport. My ID it's Italian as well, maybe driving licence? What was the story with China? Didn't they just ban anyone with a Chinese passport?

Cuises to nowhere arent a thing anymore for a reason. A closed loop cruise from the US needs at least one foreign port or the company will incur heavy fines. I am unsure why this rule now exists, never cared enough to google. There have been instances where a cruise was unable to dock in a foreign port because of unforeseen circumstances and this was forgiven without fines but unless there is a change to maritime law you can bet that that we wont be seeing this as planned sailings.

Yes, Chinese passports are banned, it doesnt matter if last travel was 10 days or 10 years. My guess is that this is because Chinese nationals may be much more likely to have had close contact with someone traveling through China in the last 2 weeks and therefore a greater risk. While it stinks as a rule I can understand it as a measure to try to slow the spread.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

Cuises to nowhere arent a thing anymore for a reason. A closed loop cruise from the US needs at least one foreign port or the company will incur heavy fines. I am unsure why this rule now exists, never cared enough to google. There have been instances where a cruise was unable to dock in a foreign port because of unforeseen circumstances and this was forgiven without fines but unless there is a change to maritime law you can bet that that we wont be seeing this as planned sailings.

Yes, Chinese passports are banned, it doesnt matter if last travel was 10 days or 10 years. My guess is that this is because Chinese nationals may be much more likely to have had close contact with someone traveling through China in the last 2 weeks and therefore a greater risk. While it stinks as a rule I can understand it as a measure to try to slow the spread.

Yes then I'm afraid that they could come up with such a rule even for Italian passports?
In regards to the ports, do you then think that to avoid paying the fine they will still try to go to those Bahamian locations, knowing exactly that they won't be able to dock, but then just putting it as a "sorry they won't let us dock" kinda thing. In the mean time my fear of not docking anywhere realises...