Travel

[Mz iMac]

@Nuttmeg  Panama Canal cruises are approximately 3 weeks.  At least they are on the Holland Lines.

[Lipstickdiva]

They were granted permission to travel through the Panama Canal however Florida has said they will not allow the ship to dock there and passengers to disembark.  Not sure what is going to happen next.  Some of the passengers were moved to the Rotterdaam when it came to bring provisions to Zaandam.

There have been a ton of missteps made with cruise ships and passengers being allowed to disembark with no testing and to board flights home.  then people have turned up with Covid-19.     

[riley1]

This ship first set sail on March 7. Cruises were canceled on March 8. Don't know why they didn't have this ship return to port ASAP instead of letting this cruise go on.

I feel badly for the passengers on this ship, however, I can also see the other side as to why Florida's Gov. doesn't want them to come into port. 

[Alter Ego]

@riley1  Holland suspended cruises on March 13th and tried to get cruisers off the ship on the 14th.  Chile wouldn't allow it.

You may be thinking of the date that Princess stopped operations, which was a little earlier.  General thinking is that Princess will not make it out of the other side of this, with all their bad publicity.  Strangely, Princess and Holland are all under the Carnival umbrella.

[Lipstickdiva]

There have been so many debacles with the cruise ships and I'm not sure how this is happening.  

There is also the Coral Princess that disembarked in Buenas Aries a week ago.  Argentina let the ship dock and allowed passengers to disembark IF they had a passport from Argentina or had a flight out of the country that day.  None of the passengers were tested for illness but were just allowed to disembark and head home or get a flight out of the country.

If you didn't meet either of those criteria, you had to stay on the ship and it's  heading back to Florida. It is due to arrive in Florida Saturday but they have no idea if they will be able to disembark.  Several people are now reporting illness.  

[riley1]

@Alter Ego - Thanks for clarifying - 

[TW]

I will never understand the appeal of cruises.  Why would anybody want to vacation in a big floating city with questionable jurisdiction.  Cruise ships were floating Petri Dishes even before the virus.  People vanish from cruise ships never to be seen again and when a crime happens there is no law enforcement.  The owner's only interest is covering up.  The crew has abandondened ship before the passengers many times when the ship was in danger of sinking.  I would go on smaller expedition ships but never on one of these giant pots with unruly drunk passengers whose only interest is eating and drinking as much as possible. 

[proudlyfromNJ]

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@TW wrote:

I will never understand the appeal of cruises.  Why would anybody want to vacation in a big floating city with questionable jurisdiction.  Cruise ships were floating Petri Dishes even before the virus.  People vanish from cruise ships never to be seen again and when a crime happens there is no law enforcement.  The owner's only interest is covering up.  The crew has abandondened ship before the passengers many times when the ship was in danger of sinking.  I would go on smaller expedition ships but never on one of these giant pots with unruly drunk passengers whose only interest is eating and drinking as much as possible. 

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@TW Our close friends love cruising. They go four to five times a year on RC. They think it's the best vacation ever. To each their own.

[VaBelle35]

Cruise lines don't have any type of authority.  They are at the mercy of the ports.