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

[Candycane83]

The Canary Islands (part of Spain, located near the South of the Moroccan coast) have announced that they will re-open hotels in July. They wanted to re-open in June, but that's too early. First they will re-open for locals, then for Spanish mainland residents and in October-December international guests. It's not an island that DCL sails to , but as it is an island that is heavily dependent on (cruise) tourism, I thought it's worth mentioning.

https://www.elmundo.es/espana/2020/04/21/5e9dcf88fdddff45a08b4675.html

Thanks for this! Wonder if the rest of the country would announce this... still waiting for DCL to be cancelled and flights and hotels... the waiting game is hard

 

[afan]

Well if antibodies from the full blown disease don’t offer protection, then antibodies from a vaccine (ie weakened version if disease designed to trigger the same antibodies) won’t work either, and we’d all be screwed with no end in sight ever.

For me at least, it's not that the antibodies don't protect but how long are you really contagious and does that change if you've never had symptoms. Are you contagious longer if you've never had symptoms? Then it's also how long do the antibodies protect you, is there a threshold of antibody percentage you need to protect you etc.

 

[tinkerone]

For me at least, it's not that the antibodies don't protect but how long are you really contagious and does that change if you've never had symptoms. Are you contagious longer if you've never had symptoms? Then it's also how long do the antibodies protect you, is there a threshold of antibody percentage you need to protect you etc.

Really, there is very little data about how long antibodies are staying with people who have been infected with this virus. There have been a few cases in China where it has been reported that people who have already had the coronavirus have gotten it a second time. This is being debated though as some specialist think that maybe they were never really cured but instead showed false positives for being cured. Even with vaccines, they all have different periods of being effective. Not all vaccines are created equal so it may be something you need to have redone every year, two years, five years. We just don't know yet. Just because one has had this virus does not mean they will always be immune.
Long story short, no one knows for sure and it will be awhile before we can take this conversation from being speculation to absolutes.

 

[monkeydawn]

Well if antibodies from the full blown disease don’t offer protection, then antibodies from a vaccine (ie weakened version if disease designed to trigger the same antibodies) won’t work either, and we’d all be screwed with no end in sight ever.

Then we'd have to really focus on the cure. Hopefully it wont take as long as HIV.

 

[Theactualdisneyprincess]

Obviously this is very hard to answer as things continue to change and evolve, but how has Disney been communicating DCL cancellations? Do you feel that they would give at least 7 days notice or so?

 

[monkeydawn]

Obviously this is very hard to answer as things continue to change and evolve, but how has Disney been communicating DCL cancellations? Do you feel that they would give at least 7 days notice or so?

The first batch of cancellations did not but since then I believe its been 2 weeks or more of notice. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

 

[lanejudy]

@Theactualdisneyprincess Yes, except for the very first cancellations which were immediate, it looks like all have received at least 14 days notice. Based on the Official Announcements thread above:

• March 14th - impacting departures through 4/12/2020
• March 30th - extended to departures through 4/28/2020
• April 6th - impacting Vancouver sailings departing through 6/30/2020
• April 10th - extended to all departures through 5/17/2020 plus Vancouver sailings through 6/30/2020
• April 15th - impacting Disney Magic sailings departing through 6/7/2020

 

[ahen]

I expected to hear yesterday, but hopefully by Friday, I just want to be done

 

[JaimeInParker]

My wife and I couldn't risk exposure on the November 2020 -EB Panama Canal Cruise - could not deal with getting stuck for weeks, so we moved to the May 2021 Trans-Atlantic from Miami to Barcelona this morning (this ship is already heavily booked no verandah's were left so we went with oceanview)

 

[spacecanada]

Cunard just cancelled their full 2020 Alaska season.

 

[bcwife76]

Cunard just cancelled their full 2020 Alaska season.

Yes and suspended sailings for their other ships until July 31 2020.

 

[Candycane83]

Wish they would cancel the Med sailings already... they are really taking their time!

 

[hnthomps]

Though what are your opinions on parks vs cruises. Can you guys see one opening while the other is not? Makes no sense to deem cruising safe, but parks not and vice versa

It makes no sense to declare cruises safe and parks not, but it likely works in reverse. It's clear that sustained indoor exposure (as from living with people) is much more likely to lead to transmission than any other interaction - which is why family groups are major vectors. And indoor interactions of all kind are riskier than their outdoor counterparts. Outside infection is theoretically possible, but not a major vector. Therefore the risk on a cruise ship (or even in a hotel room) is greater. And cruise ships have so many people in relatively small areas that it increases that even more.

I don't think cruises can go until there is herd immunity globally (through vaccine or otherwise) unless they can give crew members single occupancy rooms. Which they can't. But if they can't isolate sick crewmembers, they can't control an outbreak.

Parks can find modified ways to operate - restricting numbers inside, distancing lines, etc - not great, but at least plausible. Can't realistically happen on a ship.

(I work for a theater, so right now my entire life is trying to analyze the complex matrix of what is safe, what people think is safe, what is sustainable, what protects the audience/ushers/performers, etc. We are all quickly coming to the conclusion that while precuations are needed to keep people safe, not enough people will be willing to come in and even fewer to perform, to make it economically viable. My whole industry is going to be last to come back)

 

[slg]

I work in a theatre department and we don’t know how we can teach classes or do shows. Very stressful.

 

[skyvoyager]

Hi. I'm sure this has been asked multiple times, but I'd ask if I'm missing anything new. We have a cruise planned for July 1st. After seeing what NCL did with cancelling all cruises through June 30th, it got me thinking if Disney did that, we'd be the first cruise after the shutdown. I'm not sure I really want to do that. Looking at the cancellation policy as it stands, it seems we fall within the standard policy for 89-45 days (lose the deposit). I wanted to be sure there wasn't a different cancellation policy that I'm missing (I know about the one if the cruise departs up through May 31st you can cancel up until the day before). We have a backup cruise planned, but I'd like to not lose anything (if possible). Thanks!

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

I don't think cruises can go until there is herd immunity globally (through vaccine or otherwise) unless they can give crew members single occupancy rooms. Which they can't. But if they can't isolate sick crewmembers, they can't control an outbreak.

They will certainly be able to isolate sick crew members if they really need to, by putting them in an empty guest cabin. There are going to be enough of those when cruises finally resume operations, due to lower demand. And even if demand were high enough to totally fill ships, they are capable of denying that and instead blocking off a hallway of cheap guest rooms to have available for quarantine if necessary, as practical matter for themselves, in case of a small outbreak. Not saying that would solve the problem of transmission, as many (probably most) cases of this are spread by people who don't feel sick, but nevertheless I'm sure this is among the options currently on the table as the cruise lines plan how to deal with the major crisis they're in.

 

[MomOTwins]

Hi. I'm sure this has been asked multiple times, but I'd ask if I'm missing anything new. We have a cruise planned for July 1st. After seeing what NCL did with cancelling all cruises through June 30th, it got me thinking if Disney did that, we'd be the first cruise after the shutdown. I'm not sure I really want to do that. Looking at the cancellation policy as it stands, it seems we fall within the standard policy for 89-45 days (lose the deposit). I wanted to be sure there wasn't a different cancellation policy that I'm missing (I know about the one if the cruise departs up through May 31st you can cancel up until the day before). We have a backup cruise planned, but I'd like to not lose anything (if possible). Thanks!

Correct, unless you are concierge, which has always had a different concierge cancellation schedule.

 

[AZMermaid]

Hi. I'm sure this has been asked multiple times, but I'd ask if I'm missing anything new. We have a cruise planned for July 1st. After seeing what NCL did with cancelling all cruises through June 30th, it got me thinking if Disney did that, we'd be the first cruise after the shutdown. I'm not sure I really want to do that. Looking at the cancellation policy as it stands, it seems we fall within the standard policy for 89-45 days (lose the deposit). I wanted to be sure there wasn't a different cancellation policy that I'm missing (I know about the one if the cruise departs up through May 31st you can cancel up until the day before). We have a backup cruise planned, but I'd like to not lose anything (if possible). Thanks!

Are you on the Dream Cruise? The PIF was extended for that one so if you cancel by May 1, you’ll get a full refund. I moved this cruise to Thanksgiving a week or so ago.

 

[Canadian Girl]

Well if antibodies from the full blown disease don’t offer protection, then antibodies from a vaccine (ie weakened version if disease designed to trigger the same antibodies) won’t work either, and we’d all be screwed with no end in sight ever.

I think the vaccines work differently. One will inject a harmless killed corona virus that is safe and the body will then build immunity to the structure of the virus , ie the little spikes, and head it off.

 

[xavier2001]

Well if antibodies from the full blown disease don’t offer protection, then antibodies from a vaccine (ie weakened version if disease designed to trigger the same antibodies) won’t work either, and we’d all be screwed with no end in sight ever.

This is the problem with norovirus, the body never develops immunity, so you can catch it over and over. Thankfully noro is a relatively benign (although miserable) disease.