Coronavirus - Travel impact

[NW-Bound]

Wow, looking at the coronavirus infection history of Singapore, chances of this guy getting infected should have been extremely low (unless he was in close contact with someone from Wuhan when he was visiting Singapore), so him getting infected is as hard as winning a mega lotto, I imagine.

And this is a gift that keeps on giving...

Perhaps that's what puts Singapore in a panic right now, when people realize the infection is more common than thought.

People there are hoarding food, toilet papers, basic supplies, and emptying out store shelves.

Singapore found 7 new cases, 2 of them are taxi drivers, bringing the total to 40.

It's way easier to catch coronavirus than winning a mega lotto, IF you are a world traveler.

 

[NW-Bound]

It's pretty dangerous to jump from a balcony, as it's really high and then you end up in the cold rough water for a very long long swim. Boat traffic would be very dangerous.
Since most folks are not athletes, they couldn't do it.

I'm wishing we had picked a balcony for out next cruise, as to get locked in the interior room would be like being in the "shoe or hole" confinement. Like solitary confinement but with spouse. Which could get tense..

I was joking about jumping overboard. The chance of surviving is less than that of outliving the virus.

Or maybe not.

 

[Fermion]

How does this not spell short term doom for the cruise line industry?

I don't think I would book a cruise right now even it it were free.

 

[FIYes]

Not canceling any plans at this point, but glad I don’t have a cruise scheduled. We took a cruise in January so reading about quarantined passengers hits home for me. This has me thinking that once this resolves, if we cruise in the future I will book a balcony cabin. I have cruised with an inside cabin, oceanview cabin, and balcony cabin. While balcony was best, I tended to book inside cabins to save money. Now I see a balcony cabin almost like travel insurance. Being quarantined on a ship would be bad, but being quarantined in an inside cabin would be hell.

 

[6miths]

How does this not spell short term doom for the cruise line industry?

Or the tourism industry. On the odd occasion that I visit Niagara Falls, usually with company from overseas, the largest visible minority present is Chinese and there are countless buses with giant Chinese letters on the side.

All the measures being taken are impressive, but at the end of the day one has to wonder if they are going to be effective at all.

 

[Sunset]

How does this not spell short term doom for the cruise line industry?

I don't think I would book a cruise right now even it it were free.

Same with Disney World, all inclusive resorts, and airlines, and hotels, music festivals, and finally Church.

Anywhere you gather hundreds to thousands of people together is going to be avoided by some.

 

[Sunset]

In NJ, the cruise ship there, tested some people and sent a few to hospital for further testing, and let everyone disembark !

So now there are around 3,000 folks in NJ, spreading out over the USA... wonder how this will turn out ?

 

[Gumby]

Being quarantined on a ship would be bad, but being quarantined in an inside cabin would be hell.

Welcome to the world of the submariner. Only it's for over two months instead of two weeks.

 

[audreyh1]

Or the tourism industry. On the odd occasion that I visit Niagara Falls, usually with company from overseas, the largest visible minority present is Chinese and there are countless buses with giant Chinese letters on the side.

All the measures being taken are impressive, but at the end of the day one has to wonder if they are going to be effective at all.

Yes, it’s got to have a huge hit on both the cruise lines and the countries that normally get a lot of Chinese tourists.

 

[jollystomper]

In a quarantine as what done on the Diamond Princess, you will be kept inside your cabin, and will not be allowed to see the "strangers", let alone interact with them.

Even MORE reason for us not to take a cruise at this time.

 

[Teacher Terry]

My kids have decided that now is not the time to take their first cruise)

 

[Nemo2]

We haven't cancelled (small deposits placed) our two back-to-backs in the Fall, or our Dubai to Athens in the Spring of 2021

 

[cathy63]

In NJ, the cruise ship there, tested some people and sent a few to hospital for further testing, and let everyone disembark !

So now there are around 3,000 folks in NJ, spreading out over the USA... wonder how this will turn out ?

The news report I saw yesterday said that 4 Chinese citizens aboard had tested positive for Influenza A, which is already widely present in the U.S, so everyone on the ship was allowed to disembark. Also that the flu sufferers were from a part of China that's not (yet) affected by the Novel Corona Pneumonia virus. I don't know if there's been any new info released since then.

 

[Sunset]

The news report I saw yesterday said that 4 Chinese citizens aboard had tested positive for Influenza A, which is already widely present in the U.S, so everyone on the ship was allowed to disembark. Also that the flu sufferers were from a part of China that's not (yet) affected by the Novel Corona Pneumonia virus. I don't know if there's been any new info released since then.

That's good news.
Problem is of course, they didn't test to eliminate the possibility that a bunch of the folks are early stage Corona-virus.
Which is a paranoid type comment

 

[cathy63]

That's good news.
Problem is of course, they didn't test to eliminate the possibility that a bunch of the folks are early stage Corona-virus.
Which is a paranoid type comment

Yeah, there could be people traveling all over the world who were unwittingly exposed to NCP a week or two ago before the quarantines started. It's a tough situation and hard not to be paranoid about it, especially when a lot of the info we have is speculation. I don't think anyone really knows what the incubation period for this virus is. Epidemiologists think its around two weeks and they think it doesn't survive outside the host for more than a few hours because that's true of other related viruses, but nobody knows for sure.

I was thinking yesterday about how it would be if other countries closed their borders to Americans due to an outbreak that was thousands of miles from where I live. What if there were a cluster of cases in Chicago, so people from San Diego were no longer allowed into Mexico? Or if there were an outbreak in L.A. that caused Canada to close its entire border with the U.S? That's what China is dealing with.

 

[FIYes]

Gumby, it takes a special person to be a submariner. You and Nords have my respect.

 

[Sunset]

Yeah, there could be people traveling all over the world who were unwittingly exposed to NCP a week or two ago before the quarantines started. It's a tough situation and hard not to be paranoid about it, especially when a lot of the info we have is speculation. I don't think anyone really knows what the incubation period for this virus is. Epidemiologists think its around two weeks and they think it doesn't survive outside the host for more than a few hours because that's true of other related viruses, but nobody knows for sure.

I was thinking yesterday about how it would be if other countries closed their borders to Americans due to an outbreak that was thousands of miles from where I live. What if there were a cluster of cases in Chicago, so people from San Diego were no longer allowed into Mexico? Or if there were an outbreak in L.A. that caused Canada to close its entire border with the U.S? That's what China is dealing with.

True, but during the H1N1 outbreak (I think it was nicknamed Swine flu) in Mexico.
China cancelled all Mexico flights to China, and literally rounded up Mexicans in China to quarantine them.

Interview of Jorge Guajardo, Mexico’s ambassador to China from 2007 to 2013 below:

https://shanghai.ist/2020/01/29/jorge-guajardo-mexico-h1n1/

https://supchina.com/2020/02/07/mex...xtraordinary-hypocrisy-of-xinhua-news-agency/

 

[tmm99]

Travel Plan Changes Due to Coronavirus?

I don't think I would book a cruise right now even it it were free.

+1

Holland America's Westerdam is still stranded on the water (outside of Taiwan), as Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and the US territory of Guam have refused them to dock. I imagine everyone will be sent home once they find a port they can dock at (wherever that may be). The company will refund the cruise fee plus some, but I don't think they will pay for the passengers’ return-home flight.

And supposedly, none of the 2,000+ passengers/crew are infected with the coronavirus. The ship originated in Hong Kong on Feb 1.

 

[NW-Bound]

+1

Holland America's Westerdam is still stranded on the water (outside of Taiwan), as Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and the US territory of Guam have refused them to dock. I imagine everyone will be sent home once they find a port they can dock at (wherever that may be). They will refund their cruise fee plus some, but I don't think they will pay for the return-home flight.

And supposedly, none of the 2,000+ passengers/crew are infected with the coronavirus. The ship originated in Hong Kong on Feb 1.

What the ship can do is to lock all its passengers inside their cabins, and after wandering all over the Pacific Ocean for 2 weeks without a sick person (fingers crossed), it will be declared all well. Some ports will allow them to dock, most likely their original destination.

 

[Sunset]

What the ship can do is to lock all its passengers inside their cabins, and after wandering all over the Pacific Ocean for 2 weeks without a sick person (fingers crossed), it will be declared all well. Some ports will allow them to dock, most likely their original destination.

Better than a plane being denied landing, or allowed to land only to refuel and take off again...

 

[NW-Bound]

True, but during the H1N1 outbreak (I think it was nicknamed Swine flu) in Mexico.
China cancelled all Mexico flights to China, and literally rounded up Mexicans in China to quarantine them.

Interview of Jorge Guajardo, Mexico’s ambassador to China from 2007 to 2013 below:

https://shanghai.ist/2020/01/29/jorge-guajardo-mexico-h1n1/

https://supchina.com/2020/02/07/mex...xtraordinary-hypocrisy-of-xinhua-news-agency/

Wow! Thanks for sharing how China treated Mexico during the H1N1 outbreak. And yet, according to the above link, Mexicans were never a threat to the Chinese public health. China did not even care about Mexican expats who had been living inside China the whole time, and not recently arriving from Mexico.

The first case of H1N1 that arrived in China was a U.S. citizen from St. Louis, Missouri. The second and third were also U.S. citizens. No Mexican ever tested positive for H1N1 in China. No travel bans were placed on any other country or nationals other than Mexico. It was only aimed at Mexico.

The Chinese government sent a plane to evacuate Chinese nationals in Mexico. Mexico sent a plane to evacuate Mexicans in China. China would not allow the Mexican plane to land in China. It was only after Mexico threatened to deny landing rights to the Chinese plane, which was already in the air, that they caved to our request, but on the condition that the Mexican crew not deplane. The plane had to fly with two full crews, to relay each other, without deplaning on a route from Mexico City, to Beijing, to Shanghai, to Guangzhou, to Hong Kong, to Mexico City.

 

[tmm99]

Again, I can only see this information on Japanese online news media so far (it's morning there now), but according to them (including Mainichi News, etc), they are testing another 10 passengers/crew who had close contact with the patients who were found to be infected on the cruise ship, Diamond Princess, staying near Yokohama. In addition, about 100 more passengers/crew remaining on board are now reporting feeling ill with fever, etc, and they will also be tested.

https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200209/k00/00m/040/008000c

I hope the circulated air isn't infecting everyone. (It's not supposed to, but I still think about it..). But if that's not what's happening, and if many of these people test positive, well, then, this thing is spreading like wildfire.

 

[sengsational]

I have a flight to Guayaquil and then to Lima booked for April. Non-refundable. I might see if I can buy trip insurance. So far all I was thinking was to cancel if the situation looked dire, or wait for the airline to cancel (which should come with a refund). But I imagine they'll have plenty of tricks up their sleeve to prevent giving customers their money back. The trip insurance angle didn't occur to me until typing this post. Some insurance has to be bought right at the moment you book, but I think you can buy it from some companies if it's more than X months before travel begins.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Trip insurance can be throwing your money away. My friend had it and when he was dying and too sick to go on the cruise despite a doctor saying that they just kept saying they didn’t receive it despite me sending it 3x’s.

 

[Ronstar]

My travel plans are altered in a different manner. I ordered a drone from China on Jan 21 to take on a long road trip adventure. Take some aerial photos and movies of scenic areas.

But the drone company has closed down for a while. Doesn't look like I'll get the drone before my trip.