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

[MarkLT1]

And in Germany for now it's 0%.. 800 cases and zero deaths.. We need more data on this virus.

Yes.. that looks very promising. And, the thing to keep in mind regarding Germany- they have been testing a lot, and their numbers a week ago were only around 30 positive tests. The typical time-history of this thing, has most people either getting better, or going the bad-route after a couple of weeks. So the majority of those 800 cases may be too early to be having deaths. Again, this is not to say they will suddenly have a bunch of deaths, but just like people are saying "you cant count the nursing home deaths in the US as representative data," we also have to wait some time to count Germany's cases on a mortality basis if we're going to compare apples to apples. I for one truly hope that the 0 deaths in Germany holds, but time will tell. In the next week for Germany, we will start to know a ton more.

 

[LovesBelle]

I called Costco this morning to deal with our Disney cruise reservation, and joined the auto-callback queue. That was 5 hours ago—still waiting. Anyone else having this experience?

 

[cvjw]

I called Costco this morning to deal with our Disney cruise reservation, and joined the auto-callback queue. That was 5 hours ago—still waiting. Anyone else having this experience?

Gave up after 3.5 hours this morning. Going to call back next week when the dust settles some. We have a week or so before we have to cancel to get 90% of our cruise fare back.

I got a Costco agent really quickly at 9:00 am. She called DCL and finally got an agent on the line around 11:00, who transferred her to another department. I gave up at 12:30, as she was still on hold for the other dcl agent. That may be one way for dcl to make money - not have enough agents To actually help their clients cancel or rebook.

 

[tonybest]

Gave up after 3.5 hours this morning. Going to call back next week when the dust settles some. We have a week or so before we have to cancel to get 90% of our cruise fare back.

I got a Costco agent really quickly at 9:00 am. She called DCL and finally got an agent on the line around 11:00, who transferred her to another department. I gave up at 12:30, as she was still on hold for the other dcl agent. That may be one way for dcl to make money - not have enough agents To actually help their clients cancel or rebook.

How did get someone answered your call? 9:00 am is EST? I booked 4/19 Wonder trip through Costco and due to the virus fear, was "forced" to cancel my trip on 3/4/20, the last day I could just lose my deposit. Then yesterday I learned I could convert the fare to full credit. I called Disney cruise and was asked to contact the Costco travel to get the credit back instead of losing the deposit. Now I have been stuck with the endless waiting of the Costco travel phone line.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

Gave up after 3.5 hours this morning. Going to call back next week when the dust settles some. We have a week or so before we have to cancel to get 90% of our cruise fare back.

I got a Costco agent really quickly at 9:00 am. She called DCL and finally got an agent on the line around 11:00, who transferred her to another department. I gave up at 12:30, as she was still on hold for the other dcl agent. That may be one way for dcl to make money - not have enough agents To actually help their clients cancel or rebook.

I hope Costco improves their system. Having each individual person hold for a Costco agent, who has to then hold for a DCL agent while you wait on the line, makes no sense. You should be able to just tell the Costco agent what you want, then every so often Costco can call Disney and just do like 50 transactions at a time or something. Based on the recording that you hear while you wait, they have a web-based system for the other cruise lines, maybe they will institute something like that. Have a web form you fill out with your information, and they can just take care of it.

 

[mousefan73]

People it is only to be expected that ALL travel industry hotlines are overwhelmed right now. This situation right now is not the norm. So please dont get upset or expect standard response times right now. Or get mad at the person who eventually answers after a few hours. That person is probably working double shifts. I know for my company we have pulled management and professional staff with reservation know-how to support our global call centers.

 

[xavier2001]

I hope Costco improves their system. Having each individual person hold for a Costco agent, who has to then hold for a DCL agent while you wait on the line, makes no sense. You should be able to just tell the Costco agent what you want, then every so often Costco can call Disney and just do like 50 transactions at a time or something. Based on the recording that you hear while you wait, they have a web-based system for the other cruise lines, maybe they will institute something like that. Have a web form you fill out with your information, and they can just take care of it.

this is why I book direct, that Costco gift card is tempting but I like to have control if something goes awry.

 

[FightingIrishman]

this is why I book direct, that Costco gift card is tempting but I like to have control if something goes awry.

+1

 

[cvjw]

How did get someone answered your call? 9:00 am is EST? I booked 4/19 Wonder trip through Costco and due to the virus fear, was "forced" to cancel my trip on 3/4/20, the last day I could just lose my deposit. Then yesterday I learned I could convert the fare to full credit. I called Disney cruise and was asked to contact the Costco travel to get the credit back instead of losing the deposit. Now I have been stuck with the endless waiting of the Costco travel phone line.

9:00 am eastern. Costco opens at 6:00 pacific. I got an agent within 2 minutes. The problem is that dcl had been open for hours, so there were lots of people already in line waiting. Costco put me further back in the line with their later opening time. Thinking this will calm down after a few days, or Costco will get a better system, or dcl will hire extra agents to deal with this mess.

 

[Gentry2004]

I think cruise lines are being turned into the fall guy. A cruise ship holds on average with crew 3-5 thousand unless a mega ship.. So now they are LOOKING for sick people, testing them and finding postives and holding the whole ship.. I am referring to the two two cases on the coast of CA now..

Can then the CDC please random pick a few towns with about 3-5 thousand inhabitants in CA and test all there. I can guarentee they will find a positive in that town. Looking at patterns globally this has spread.. But sure target cruise ships.. you got all the people at your mercy..

This is the issue. I am not afraid that a few people on my cruise will have the virus (that is an almost certainty at this point.) I am afraid they will be "discovered" and I will be stuck on the boat or a military base for 2 weeks. No thanks. If they can assure me that will not happen, I would feel very differently.

It is not sustainable for them to start quarantining every boat that comes back into port. So they either have to stop doing that, or stop the cruises.

 

[mousefan73]

This is the issue. I am not afraid that a few people on my cruise will have the virus (that is an almost certainty at this point.) I am afraid they will be "discovered" and I will be stuck on the boat or a military base for 2 weeks. No thanks. If they can assure me that will not happen, I would feel very differently.

It is not sustainable for them to start quarantining every boat that comes back into port. So they either have to stop doing that, or stop the cruises.

That's a lot of boats

 

[BlueRibbon]

9:00 am eastern. Costco opens at 6:00 pacific. I got an agent within 2 minutes. The problem is that dcl had been open for hours, so there were lots of people already in line waiting. Costco put me further back in the line with their later opening time. Thinking this will calm down after a few days, or Costco will get a better system, or dcl will hire extra agents to deal with this mess.

Costco probably pulled the travel agents to help with stocking toilet paper and bottled water. Costcos in SoCal are all selling out within minutes of opening. I had no idea that CoronaVirus was supposed to disrupt the water supply.

We have a spring break cruise planned on the Magic for March 23, and we're all still looking forward to going.

It's been funny to read a couple of comments thinking that shutting down US cruises would be a good idea. Well over 30k people die in car crashes in the US every year. Maybe suspending use of autos is also a good idea?

 

[Gentry2004]

That's a lot of boats
View attachment 479348

Exactly! Can you imagine if they have to start quarantining even 1/3 or 1/2 of them? They can't do it.

 

[gotomu212]

Yes.. that looks very promising. And, the thing to keep in mind regarding Germany- they have been testing a lot, and their numbers a week ago were only around 30 positive tests. The typical time-history of this thing, has most people either getting better, or going the bad-route after a couple of weeks. So the majority of those 800 cases may be too early to be having deaths. Again, this is not to say they will suddenly have a bunch of deaths, but just like people are saying "you cant count the nursing home deaths in the US as representative data," we also have to wait some time to count Germany's cases on a mortality basis if we're going to compare apples to apples. I for one truly hope that the 0 deaths in Germany holds, but time will tell. In the next week for Germany, we will start to know a ton more.

I agree and do not want to sound morbid, but had a very interesting conversation with two PhDs that teach at the local university med school- they said the big thing to watch in the early test countries (they specifically were studying S Korea) is whether their death numbers continue to stay low or if they are just lagging because they are identifying people in week 1 of a 6 week fatal case and need time before the person passes or if those lower numbers indicate more “mild” cases that don’t come to the attention of other governments with limited testing. Part of what makes tracking it hard is S Korea continues to test and add more early positives to their numbers so even if earlier positives turn deadly their numbers are still diluted with the more recent positives. You have to basically study the testing in batches- like x number of positives from Feb 14th have led to y deaths instead of looking at the totals to date data.

It was really interesting to hear all the considerations that go into studying those numbers and how it’s incredibly hard to draw conclusions even from hard data at this early stage. For what it’s worth their gut feeling is that the numbers are a little bit of both- as time goes on the fatality numbers will continue to lag but the rate will go up AND the rate is also overstated in those countries that don’t have their act together yet. So much is still speculation. For people that do like data and are interested, there really will be a lot to study out of this.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

It's been funny to read a couple of comments thinking that shutting down US cruises would be a good idea. Well over 30k people die in car crashes in the US every year. Maybe suspending use of autos is also a good idea?

Car crashes aren't contagious.

 

[smmco]

Costco probably pulled the travel agents to help with stocking toilet paper and bottled water. Costcos in SoCal are all selling out within minutes of opening. I had no idea that CoronaVirus was supposed to disrupt the water supply.

We have a spring break cruise planned on the Magic for March 23, and we're all still looking forward to going.

It's been funny to read a couple of comments thinking that shutting down US cruises would be a good idea. Well over 30k people die in car crashes in the US every year. Maybe suspending use of autos is also a good idea?

Toilet paper? As far as I know diarrhea is not a common symptom.

I think theres been too many Zombie apocalypse movies made over the last 10 years. People are losing it.

 

[Starwind]

Just announced on CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-07-20-intl-hnk/index.html
QUOTE


VP Mike Pence announces changes to cruise line industry to fight coronavirus
From Jason Hoffman and Jamie Crawford

Vice President Mike Pence announced a new plan to combat coronavirus on cruises.

There will be enhanced entry and exit screening for cruise passengers, as well as on-board testing for coronavirus, Pence said. There will also be new quarantine standards for those who took a cruise and need to be quarantined, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will coordinate.

The cruise line industry is working with the CDC, Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard over the next 72 hours to implement the plans.

When asked about reports that he may have come into contact with an infected individual at a conference in Washington earlier this month, Pence said he has “not been tested for the coronavirus.”

“We were able to confirm that I did not come in contact with that young person and we wish them and their family a swift recovery,” Pence said.


END QUOTE

 

[MarkLT1]

Toilet paper? As far as I know diarrhea is not a common symptom.

I think theres been too many Zombie apocalypse movies made over the last 10 years. People are losing it.

And as we all know, in the Zombie Apocalypse, TP is one of the most needed and scarce supplies. Without a bunker full of 2-ply, you might as well get ready to enjoy BRRRRRAINS...

 

[Starwind]

Also this statement from about two hours before on the same CNN live update page:

QUOTE


Pence: It's "essential that we find ways to mitigate that risk to prevent the spread of coronavirus"
From CNN's Jamie Crawford

Vice President Mike Pence spoke of the cruise ship off the coast of San Francisco in a meting with members of the cruise line industry in Florida today amidst the coronavirus outbreak.

Pence said state and federal officials have “developed a plan which is being implemented this weekend to bring the ship into a non-commercial port. All passengers and crew will be tested for the coronavirus and quarantined as appropriate. Those that require additional medical attention will also receive it."

Pence also said “while the risk to the average American of contracting the coronavirus remains low, it is essential that we find ways to mitigate that risk to prevent the spread of coronavirus and I’m here today on behalf of President Trump to learn ways that this industry, the cruise line industry, can work with our health officials at the federal level, here at the state level with port authorities to give the passengers, communities and the country safe and healthy.”

Adam Goldstein, global chairman of the Cruise Lines International Association, told Pence it was the “commitment” of the cruise line industry to “work closely with government and to go above and beyond anything we are currently doing to screen even more stringently to prevent those who should not be allowed to board, to monitor and test and care for those who are on board and to transition and help pay for any sick guests or crew to move to locations staffed and equipped COVID-19 cases."

“We will work aggressively with government to further develop and strengthen all necessary protocols for prevention, for detection and for care,” Goldstein said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, as well as officials from Carnival Cruise, MSC and Royal Caribbean were also part of the meeting with Pence.


END QUOTE

 

[Numtini]

On the zombie front, WW-Z (book, not movie) is a great look at governments sticking their head in the sand.