Another Petri dish headed to Florida....

[pbmus]

Link to tweet

[Renew Deal]

1. I'd love to understand the psycology of people that got on cruises in the last month

or ever.

[getagrip_already]

2. they believe trump and fox news.....

And will tomorrow, next month, and next year.

[Coventina]

5. There was a DUer who was going on one. They've been conspicuously absent lately.

They were also one of the most vocal about how COVID-19 was no big deal.

I hope they are OK...

[OriginalGeek]

16. I was on a cruise in early Feb (8th through 15th)

Had a great time. We love cruising. I assume we will eventually be allowed to cruise again some day. We can only go every couple of years so hopefully this will not still be a thing then.

[Coventina]

17. You are not who I was thinking of, but glad you are OK.

[OriginalGeek]

18. :)

lol, I wasn't sure. I know I was less worried early on as I hadn't heard how bad it really was but I'm coming around.

I hope y'all stay OK!

[zonkers]

25. Cruise ships in general. They dump raw sewage at sea. They have a history of illnesses. They are

grotesque and toxic.

[malaise]

35. One of my very good friends returned from one on March 1

It was a birthday gift from her daughter and her sister. All three of them think they escaped just in time.

No one could pay me to go on a cruise and that's before this pandemic.

[Wellstone ruled]

37. We did that same Cruise several times.

And you needed to book that particular Cruise in early Summer so as to get a break from the January and February brutal cold of Minnesota. And for most,it is a 25 hundred dollar or more ticket for a couple. All about a special occasion,be damn if something goes haywire.

[lpbk2713]

3. Zandaam is currently off the coast of Ecuador.

That's a long way from Florida.

Link: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:268451/zoom

[KY_EnviroGuy]

6. I recall reading somewhere last week there's still 30 or so cruise ships...

floating around somewhere on the globe.

Does that sound right?

I'm curious if most have been ordered back to port.

[lpbk2713]

11. Many are anchored in clusters offshore with minimum crew.

They are grouped by Cruise Line owners to make it easier on the
supply ships to replenish them and to swap out crew when needed.

Cruise ships are coded blue: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-78.6/centery:26.2/zoom

Edit: I don't have a number but I'd say it exceeds 30. Every major
port has a cluster of ships like this offshore.

Here's Port Canaveral: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-80.549/centery:28.361/zoom

[sanatanadharma]

14. How to see passenger ships only on the map

For those who open the marinetraffic dot com link, it is possible to remove all of the not-blue ship icons.

On the left side of the page is a blue banner. select the second icon from the top (looks like a funnel).
Next select 'ship type' from the new opened list.
Unclick all boxes except "passenger vessels"; or have fun with other choices.
Some the blue icons left will represent small ships like ferries.

Place your cursor on a ship icon; a small info box pops up showing ship's reported destination and speed and time of last tracking. As I write this, the Zaandam's last gps report was ten hours ago.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

21. Thank you, makes things easier.

I may create an account to enable additional filtering such as gross tonnage. Without further filtering, we see all passenger ships from tiny ferries to cruise liners.

I assume these ships are required by maritime laws to transmit position and other data to authorities.

KY..........

[KY_EnviroGuy]

20. Thanks, very informative.

Shook my memory a little as I recall using this during a major hurricane and watching the big ships hightail it for port or a safe anchorage away from the storm's path.

KY............

[Tipperary]

8. That seems odd.

CNN get this wrong?

[getagrip_already]

4. why florida?

It originated in argentina and was supposed to end in chile. It isn't a us flagged vessel.

Why is it coming to florida?

[CanonRay]

7. I've been noticing that there are still

a lot of Holland America and Norwegian America vessels out there...is that the same line I wonder? They haven't shut down, most others have.

[stillcool]

9. nowhere do I see Florida...

in the article.

The Zaandam left Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 7, before the cruise operator announced it would be suspending global cruise operations for a month.

The voyage was scheduled to end in San Antonio, Chile, last Saturday. According to the release, no one has been off the ship since March 14 in Puenta Arena, Chile, where guests were initially told they could disembark for flights but were not permitted to.

All ports along the Zaandam’s route are now closed to cruise ships.

A second ship is bringing help: Holland America has deployed a second ship to bring extra supplies, staff, coronavirus test kits and other support to the Zandaam.

The support ship left Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on Sunday and will meet with the Zandaam on Thursday night.

[Tipperary]

10. Nothing new with fake news here on du.

Probably someone read it on twitter.

[stillcool]

13. it's from CNN...even the header

doesn't make sense, but these days.....

[CanonRay]

33. It is anchored off Panama City

They have offloaded the "healthy" passengers to another ship. Both are waiting permission to proceed through the Panama Canal. Then they will go to the company's main terminal in Ft. Lauderdale. It is NOT fake news.

[Bev54]

12. I have friends from Canada on that ship

They left in early Feb for a once in a lifetime 3 mos of travelling around South America, this cruise was just a small part of that. They were to get off in Chile and carry on, when they started hearing the news about the pandemic. They had their daughter in Canada secure flights home from Chile but then were not let off the ship so they did not know where they would go. Last I heard from them a few days ago, they were off of Lima Peru, heading for Miami, trying to get home. They did not go on a cruise on a large ship of thousands and last I heard from them, no one was feeling ill. Perhaps it has changed or maybe they are sea sick. No one has been allowed on or off the ship. Supplies were brought out to them and the ship was not allowed to dock so they sent fuel out them as well.

Their family and friends here are all hoping we can get them home safely.

[sanatanadharma]

15. The Zaandam is scheduled to arrive at Fort Lauderdale florida on April 7

For those interested, this site is focused on cruise-ship crews.
Advertised cruise ship schedules are available by port or by ship.

The Zaandam is scheduled (pre-covid-19) to arrive at Fort Lauderdale Florida on April 7 and leave again on April 21.

The crew-center dot com link above is to the site's news page. Navigation bar to go elsewhere is at the top of the page.
Have fun.

[Initech]

19. Why is the cruise industry still allowed to operate?

[GusBob]

22. Whatever happened to that boat. Eom

[pbmus]

23. Been quarantined at sea...Florida governor said no to docking anywhere in Florida

[Ms. Toad]

24. There have been both deaths and positive COVID 19 tests on teh Zaandam.

They evacuated a number of older, healty individuals who had inside rooms (my friend among them) to the Rotterdam.

They determined health based on symptoms (no coughing, no fever, etc. in the last X number of days) - so even the healthy ones may ultimately test positive.

But even on the "healthy" ship, they don't know where they are going - the room key my friend was given has an expiration date of 4/27, for whatever that is worth. The Panama Canal refuses to let them pass, and no one wants them once they do. Conditions on the second ship are worse than on the Zaandam - staff members are being told work is voluntary, so only about half are working. It took more than 24 hours for my friend to get internet - so we had heard that she was going to be evacuated, then silence . . . Apparently communication on the second ship leaves something to be desired.

[MineralMan]

26. It should dock at Mar-a-Lago and offload passengers

into that resort facility, which can be converted into a hospital by the Florida National Guard.

Yup!

[jls4561]

30. Excellent idea!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

36. And add bedbugs to their list of miseries? That's just cruel.

Maybe the guard could set up tent hospitals on the fairways.

[Newest Reality]

27. Ad

Tired of living? Just sick of it all? Can't stand the daily horrors?

Then isn't this a great time to take a nice cruise? Grim Cruises is at your service and ready to take you away!

(and they won't call it suicide!)

[NNadir]

28. Why the hell is anyone on a cruise ship????????? n/t.

[lpbk2713]

31. They booked several months ago.

And they would have had to pay a penalty to cancel.

But now the cost is really a lot higher.

[NNadir]

32. We had some fairly pricey theater tickets. We donated them to the theater and didn't go.

Of course, we live in a world where people think money is more important than life, so it's not all that surprising that these people are on that damned ship.

[Botany]

29. Build tents @ Mar Lago (the buildings are infected) and take everybody (safely) ....

.... those not showing any symptoms can go to some tents and be tested and those showing symptoms
can be tested and put in other tents. Donny, Jared, Don Jr., Eric, Kimberly McBoob-Job, and Ivanka can
go and empty bad pans for the sick people.

[liberalmuse]

34. Why are people still going on cruises?

Jesus.