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

[Sakura1017]

For anyone worried about their cruise, and have not paid in full yet, I would suggest looking for insurance as a precaution. Disney does offer insurance for cancel any reason, but it's in the form of a voucher and you only get 75% back to use on a future cruise that needs to be taken within a year. Thus if you wanted the monetary amount you would need to look into other plans.

Personally I would look into other plans since you can't predict how travel will be within the year, and would hate to lose out transferring to another cruise. I already paid in full, so I can't really add on any trip insurance that will cover cancel any reason. Furthermore, I was thinking it wasn't needed at the time when booking since I had chase sapphire reserve and I would use that as insurance. Yet, that card doesn't cover cancel any reason.

At the moment, when I chatted with a rep they have no plans on canceling any cruises. They will email you if the itinerary will be modified.

 

[DisneYE]

We are doing this cruise as well and are not worried at all. Cannot live in our fears. It is what it is. Relax and enjoy the cruise.

That being said, I did just purchase a one time travel medical insurance policy. But that makes sense regardless.

You're right.
Let's enjoy life.
See ya on the cruise!

 

[luv2cruisedisney]

We are booked on the EBTA for May. We are watching and listening very closely to what is going on. As of today we are still going

 

[spiders]

If you want to shutdown WDW and the cruises then you should shutdown everything -- grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, offices...

Eventually, people are going to need to decide if they want to have jobs and food or if they want to stay home for the next year and grow their own food.

 

[xavier2001]

We are booked on the EBTA for May. We are watching and listening very closely to what is going on. As of today we are still going

we are in the same boat (literally lol)

 

[Lisa F]

This thing has a much higher death rate in those over 80 (like 15%) and also those who have heart disease, diabetes, respiratory issues and hypertension. Florida has a MUCH higher proportion of people who fit the very high risk for death profile than other states, especially this time of year with snowbird retirees. I would not be surprised if that figured in to the decision to start mobilizing agencies and funding early. They are going to be super hard hit by deaths if it spreads and my guess is they already run at or near capacity in their hospitals and healthcare system given how many old people are there.

 

[Haley R]

This thing has a much higher death rate in those over 80 (like 15%) and also those who have heart disease, diabetes, respiratory issues and hypertension. Florida has a MUCH higher proportion of people who fit the very high risk for death profile than other states, especially this time of year with snowbird retirees. I would not be surprised if that figured in to the decision to start mobilizing agencies and funding early. They are going to be super hard hit by deaths if it spreads and my guess is they already run at or near capacity in their hospitals and healthcare system given how many old people are there.

We live an hour from Orlando and I can confirm we have TONS of snowbirds here right now. We normally have a large retiree population anyway but it’s been a little hectic with the extra snowbirds lately

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Eventually, people are going to need to decide if they want to have jobs and food or if they want to stay home for the next year and grow their own food.

And grow their own money to pay for their mortgages, for electricity, gas, water, etc. And homeschool all of their kids through grad school. Um, no. I don't see that happening. Life must (and will) go on.

 

[Lisa F]

We live an hour from Orlando and I can confirm we have TONS of snowbirds here right now. We normally have a large retiree population anyway but it’s been a little hectic with the extra snowbirds lately

I honestly think that this has got to be a MAJOR concern given how much harder it hits the older you are. I think the state of FL might be the most vulnerable in the country because of it.

 

[Haley R]

I honestly think that this has got to be a MAJOR concern given how much harder it hits the older you are. I think the state of FL might be the most vulnerable in the country because of it.

I actually never even thought about that before. I've been worried about my health being pregnant and delivering a baby in April, but completely forgot about the large population of elderly in our state. I hope they get some things figured out before it gets too bad here.

 

[smmco]

But airplanes do not carry 3000+ passengers for extended periods of time (3 to 7+ days) like cruise ships do. Very different.

I read an article that said prisons and cruise ships are ideal breading grounds for this virus to be easily transmitted. If governments stick with the response of travel and crowd size restrictions then I cannot see how cruise lines can continue to operate the further that this clearly passes the containment phase and spreads globally.

They operate every flu season.

 

[smmco]

A Carnival ship that left yesterday from FL was supposed to go to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica, but Jamaica and GC won’t let them dock so they’re doing Cozumel, Belize and Key West instead. This is from a page and the mom’s kids are on the ship. No report of anyone being sick, rather these areas are turning away ships. Should be interesting to see what the future holds.

Not going to Jamaica is a blessing.

 

[Lisa F]

I actually never even thought about that before. I've been worried about my health being pregnant and delivering a baby in April, but completely forgot about the large population of elderly in our state. I hope they get some things figured out before it gets too bad here.

well you are entitled to worry about yourself. Congrats on the baby! Try not to worry too much, it won't make anything better. I know easy to say, harder to do. Just follow guidelines on handwashing, sanitize hard public surfaces you come into contact with.

 

[Haley R]

well you are entitled to worry about yourself. Congrats on the baby! Try not to worry too much, it won't make anything better. I know easy to say, harder to do. Just follow guidelines on handwashing, sanitize hard public surfaces you come into contact with.

Thank you! We're very excited for him to get here. At this point, I think we're still driving over to WDW on Thursday and Friday. We haven't made a final decision, but both of us really want to go and we're both very healthy. I haven't been wiping surfaces down so I might need to start doing that. I've mostly just been making sure I wash my hands very well.

 

[Heather07438]

I don't remember a precedent but maybe they can declare an emergency specific to the elderly/compromised by suggesting they don't unnecessarily travel and warning everybody else to somehow take extreme caution around these folks? Hmmm, I'm just trying to think of something that doesn't stop the rat race while helping to protect those most vulnerable.

 

[Lisa F]

Thank you! We're very excited for him to get here. At this point, I think we're still driving over to WDW on Thursday and Friday. We haven't made a final decision, but both of us really want to go and we're both very healthy. I haven't been wiping surfaces down so I might need to start doing that. I've mostly just been making sure I wash my hands very well.

I think at this point your chances of getting coronavirus are minuscule here in the US compared to all the other crud that is going around. Just do what you'd do in cold and flu season as a pregnant woman and you will be fine. My point in what I posted was mostly to say that I don't think the decision by Florida points to things being DIRE in Florida with two cases but there are definitely concerns there given how this virus hits older and sick people and the proportion of the population there that fits that profile vs. other states. I have read that declarations of emergency are often mostly about mobilizing agencies and personnel and freeing up funds designated for emergencies but not as much about indicating that something is absolutely horrible and very very imminent, kind of how regular people understand an 'emergency.'

 

[Haley R]

I think at this point your chances of getting coronavirus are minuscule here in the US compared to all the other crud that is going around. Just do what you'd do in cold and flu season as a pregnant woman and you will be fine. My point in what I posted was mostly to say that I don't think the decision by Florida points to things being DIRE in Florida with two cases but there are definitely concerns there given how this virus hits older and sick people and the proportion of the population there that fits that profile vs. other states. I have read that declarations of emergency are often mostly about mobilizing agencies and personnel and freeing up funds designated for emergencies but not as much about indicating that something is absolutely horrible and very very imminent, kind of how regular people understand an 'emergency.'

I've had a little bit of allergies lately because our temps here keep changing like crazy. It's supposed to be almost 90 this week and we just had lows in the 40s over the weekend. It's making me get a sore throat, stuffy nose, and headaches. If someone coughed near me I honestly wouldn't know what they were sick with. That's why I'm not going to overreact because I can't walk around in fear all day. I do think we'll go this week because I've been waiting to ride MMRR for awhile and was so excited to get a FP. I also want to get our magnet at Epcot on Friday and enjoy the festival. We won't be back during the rest of the festival since I'm due April 23.

 

[Lisa F]

I've had a little bit of allergies lately because our temps here keep changing like crazy. It's supposed to be almost 90 this week and we just had lows in the 40s over the weekend. It's making me get a sore throat, stuffy nose, and headaches. If someone coughed near me I honestly wouldn't know what they were sick with. That's why I'm not going to overreact because I can't walk around in fear all day. I do think we'll go this week because I've been waiting to ride MMRR for awhile and was so excited to get a FP. I also want to get our magnet at Epcot on Friday and enjoy the festival. We won't be back during the rest of the festival since I'm due April 23.

Enjoy and live your life! Pregnant women have been carrying babies through cold and flu season for millennia!!! Say hi to Figment for me!

 

[smmco]

I think when we start testing and the number of cases goes up and the fatality rates go down people will start to relax about the whole thing. I'm not saying we won't have a pandemic, but we've had pandemics before without crashing the whole economy and destroying the travel industry. There was a lot of hysteria with the swine flu outbreak and then a month later the media was on to the next crisis.

 

[xipotec]

I think when we start testing and the number of cases goes up and the fatality rates go down people will start to relax about the whole thing. I'm not saying we won't have a pandemic, but we've had pandemics before without crashing the whole economy and destroying the travel industry. There was a lot of hysteria with the swine flu outbreak and then a month later the media was on to the next crisis.

Thank you , this exactly.

2017 flu was much more deadly than this virus.