Booking a cruise and Coronavirus

[pettswoodmumof3]

Had made a plan with family to book a cruise together next year. However, do not want to now due to the current news re Coronavirus. Cannot imagine anything worse than being stuck and quarantined on a cruise ship. They think I am overreacting. AIBU? Happy to book another type of holiday but for now, think it would be silly to book onto a cruise/ unless others are happy to lose the deposit/us dropping out last minute - there is a group discount.

I think a lot of you are unaware of how much care and trouble cruise lines go to so that people stay healthy. The main reason for illness on a cruise ship is the filthy bastard passengers who won't wash their hands, but these people are everywhere.......hotels......campsites....airplanes... As on all holidays, you need to pay attention to detail for yourself. So, wash your hands, use the stairs not the lifts, use a napkin to pick up serving spoons if you want to use the buffet, use the toilet facilities in your cabin not the public ones.

I have several health issues, but I feel very safe on a cruise BECAUSE I see so much cleaning going on. And if it is the air con you are worried about, if that was the route for most infections, then you wouldn't be any safer than anywhere else that has air con...offices, shops, hotels, GP surgeries, etc.

If it is the quarantine failure on the Princess cruise ship in Japan that has coloured your view of cruising, I do believe it was a mistake to keep people in quarantine on there, but not because I think the air con was passing it round. It was much more likely to be passed via crew members taking food to passengers kept in their cabins. Food itself was probably OK, but the trays, plates, cutlery - probably not so much. I hear that the crew worked very hard, and I'm sure they did their best, but they were not trained in proper quarantine protocol. There was also the fact that passengers were allowed on deck for short periods, so touching handrails, lift buttons etc which were probably cleaned in between batches of passengers being allowed on deck, but if a passenger incubating Covid-19 was in your batch and you touched a surface he/she touched, then that would be a route of transmission.

I agree with much of Gadareen’s post. Standards of cleanliness are very high and there is constant cleaning and sanitising going on. You aren’t allowed in restaurants unless you sanitise your hands, EVERY time.

I disagree about the AC. They operate a returned air system picking up used air from the corridors and common areas. People confined to their cabins were more at risk than if they’d been able to circulate on open decks in the fresh air. Another reason for avoiding large modern vessels in favour of small traditional ships with a proper promenade deck.

Well we're booked to go on a 2 week cruise at the end of April, and unless either the FCO or our cruise company cancels we will be going. We've got specialist cruise insurance as part of our travel insurance so we are covered. To be quite honest me and DH are more worried about Norovirus. However we take effective steps to minimise infection and you continually see staff cleaning etc. We're not worried although I totally respect others who are and feel that they need to postpone or cancel.

We’ve got a cruise booked for our honeymoon in May and we’re just carrying on as normal for now until we hear otherwise. Not much else we can do really!