The cruise to nowhere
In my last post, I had definitely canceled my cruise, but my mother was still aboard. The ship was supposed to stop in Manila, but Manila (as well as Taipei) closed the port to cruise ships, and the ship (for obvious reasons) had canceled its stop in Hong Kong. It was able to reprovision and refuel in Manila via tender, and I believe a few passengers were allowed to leave.
The next message from the cruise line was that the ship would be heading to Singapore and should arrive on 2/12. Apparently the plan was that they would stay there until 2/15 (when the next leg of the cruise would commence), follow the original Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand itinerary as planned, then return to Singapore on March 1, where the entire two-month cruise would officially end. (Apparently the ship's owners are a gambling family from China based in Singapore, which is why they have the clout to land in Singapore when so many other places have closed to ships.)
The only problem, my mother informed me, is that the people on the ship have already been told that Vietnam has closed its ports to cruise ships. So the bulletins are either behind the times or outright lying. I suspect the first, because the cruise line appears to have been reasonably straightforward about other items.
This morning, my mother sent an email to her mailing list saying that she was trying to decide whether to stay on the ship until March or leave at the first Singapore stop. She said that even if she wasn't getting to go to any ports, the ship had great food and entertainment, and the weather was warm and sunny (unlike Chicago in February). Plus people cleaned the bathroom and made the bed for her.
I immediately sent off an email recommending that she fly home as soon as the ship arrived in Singapore. That's where she was scheduled to fly home from in March, so it would just be a matter of rescheduling, not rebooking. I pointed out that one suspected case of coronavirus aboard her ship, and she could be in for two weeks of quarantine, which wouldn't be anywhere near as enjoyable.
When I got back from the gym, there was an email response -- apparently my nephew (the doctor) had sent her a very similar comment, and having two people saying the same thing tipped the scales. She contacted the airline and changed her ticket, and will be flying home from Singapore on 2/14. I won't relax entirely until she's home safe, but I'm very glad she decided to pass on that last leg of the cruise.
The next message from the cruise line was that the ship would be heading to Singapore and should arrive on 2/12. Apparently the plan was that they would stay there until 2/15 (when the next leg of the cruise would commence), follow the original Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand itinerary as planned, then return to Singapore on March 1, where the entire two-month cruise would officially end. (Apparently the ship's owners are a gambling family from China based in Singapore, which is why they have the clout to land in Singapore when so many other places have closed to ships.)
The only problem, my mother informed me, is that the people on the ship have already been told that Vietnam has closed its ports to cruise ships. So the bulletins are either behind the times or outright lying. I suspect the first, because the cruise line appears to have been reasonably straightforward about other items.
This morning, my mother sent an email to her mailing list saying that she was trying to decide whether to stay on the ship until March or leave at the first Singapore stop. She said that even if she wasn't getting to go to any ports, the ship had great food and entertainment, and the weather was warm and sunny (unlike Chicago in February). Plus people cleaned the bathroom and made the bed for her.
I immediately sent off an email recommending that she fly home as soon as the ship arrived in Singapore. That's where she was scheduled to fly home from in March, so it would just be a matter of rescheduling, not rebooking. I pointed out that one suspected case of coronavirus aboard her ship, and she could be in for two weeks of quarantine, which wouldn't be anywhere near as enjoyable.
When I got back from the gym, there was an email response -- apparently my nephew (the doctor) had sent her a very similar comment, and having two people saying the same thing tipped the scales. She contacted the airline and changed her ticket, and will be flying home from Singapore on 2/14. I won't relax entirely until she's home safe, but I'm very glad she decided to pass on that last leg of the cruise.