Coast Guard Tells Cruise Ships With COVID-19 Cases To Stay Away From U.S. Ports

[soryang]

Coast Guard Tells Cruise Ships With COVID-19 Cases To Stay Away From U.S. Ports
April 1, 202011:35 AM ET
BILL CHAPPELL

The U.S. Coast Guard is telling foreign-flagged cruise ships to be prepared to care for people with COVID-19 for an "indefinite period of time" at sea or to seek help from countries other than the U.S., citing a health care system that is being overwhelmed. The instructions are in a new safety bulletin that took effect this week along the southern Atlantic coast, including Florida – which is reporting more than 6,700 coronavirus cases.

If a cruise ship must send someone ashore for medical care, its owner will be responsible for essentially every step of the trip, from arranging an evacuation to hiring a private ambulance and ensuring the person has a spot in a hospital. But the Coast Guard bulletin, signed by Rear Admiral E.C. Jones of the Seventh District based in Miami, also says it could be difficult to find any facility in South Florida that can take new COVID-19 patients.

more:

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/01/825205607/coast-guard-tells-cruise-ships-with-covid-19-cases-to-stay-away-from-u-s-ports

[leftieNanner]

1. Interesting

Many of these cruise ships fly under non-US flags, mostly for tax reasons I think. And now they are paying a price. I am sad for the passengers who may get stuck and suffer, but why the hell are they on a cruise at this time anyway?

[SWBTATTReg]

2. Good points. Perhaps some of them couldn't get a refund, but I think that they should have...

had insurance perhaps? I don't know. They are now in a difficult position, trapped on the boat actually. Sad actually. I feel for them but can you imagine all of a sudden, several hundred sick people flooding into a community already under siege?

[edhopper]

3. Insurance would only cover if the cruise was cancelled

they are not covering people not going out of concern for the virus.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Wow. I did not know this. Not surprised. I guess the insurance only kicks in prior to the ...

cruise starting, such as a family member gets sick (not including CV) or has a heart attack prior to the cruise?

Or, it kicks in when the cruise itself cancels (again, prior to leaving shore)?

[edhopper]

11. I've had to use insurance when I got sick while travelling

they were very good about everything. But there are strict limits to the coverage.

[PufPuf23]

13. The insurance contracts also likely have force majeure provisons that

allow the insurance companies to avoid paying coverage.

Force majeure is unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract (such as war, pandemic, etc.)

The cruise ship companies are zombie businesses, essentially bankrupt and a dead business model.

Sad for the passengers on those boats.

[edhopper]

16. Travel insurance is seperate from the cruise companies

they just cover cruises as well as other traveling. But yes, their criteria for what is covered is explicit. One I found out was natural disaster yes, personal disaster no. So if a wild fire burns down your home, you are covered, if your home just burns down on it's own, trip cancellation isn't covered. (no, it didn't actually happen to me)

[PufPuf23]

18. Of course you are correct. I was thinking of the insurance industry and

the cruise ship industry in general and that consumers have no recourse.

[edhopper]

19. Yeah

And more and more the whole travel industry is demanding money up front, months and months before you travel. If you want the option to cancel, the extra cost can be 50%.
It is a racket.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. There certainly *has* to be a controlled way of getting them offloaded/quarantined

People are not thinking hard enough/lazy. What's going to happen when everybody on the boat is infected/dead? Are we just going to allow Cruise ships with sick people to just float aimlessly around until that happens? We're not talking about a nasty Rotovirus causing intestinal distress here.

[SWBTATTReg]

9. I did hear that they did allow one boat (a couple of weeks ago) to unload, so I'm wondering why ...

the difference here, more CV-infected passengers perhaps?

[democrattotheend]

12. I think the one that tried to dock in Florida yesterday had been going for a few months

So people on it got on before this became a known serious threat. I believe there were some passengers who had tried unsuccessfully to get flights home from one of the port cities it stopped at along the way.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. Understand there are two ships

with 6k persons total onboard bidding time until they find a Port who will take them in.

They must be damn near out of necessary supplies aboard.

[soryang]

6. This Miami Herald article says 12 cruise ships hovering off shore

Coast Guard tells cruises to prepare to care for sick people for ‘indefinite period’
BY ALEX HARRIS
MARCH 31, 2020 06:01 PM, UPDATED 1 HOUR 37 MINUTES AGO

The Coast Guard issued that and other new rules this week in the face of an increasing number of requests to medically evacuate people from the dozen-plus cruise ships hovering off Miami’s coast, according to a public memo. The new framework requires cruise lines to arrange for private transportation for those who are sick rather than relying on the Coast Guard.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241656586.html

Get your assistance in the Bahamas!

[Demovictory9]

15. when did these cruise ships launch? Before the shutdown?

[soryang]

17. i don't know any more than what is in the article

it boggles the mind to think people embarked as late as March 13, but that seems possible.

[SharonClark]

20. Yes

[superpatriotman]

8. Ships must be allowed to dock

This is beyond insanity, and I live in Fort Lauderdale!

Let them dock and get them to where they need to be.

[exboyfil]

10. Good luck ever selling another ticket on a cruise

[Demovictory9]

14. yep. Overall - international travel will be supressed for a while - getting back to US is a

nightmare when some big event occurs. There are still Americans stuck in other countries.