Asia trips and coronavirus

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Hi Viki,

We regret that you feel let down by us; we have contacted both yourself and your booking agent about your requests.

We are following all governmental guidelines with regards to the Coronavirus. Your trip is still going ahead because Thailand is not banning entry to travellers. We understand it is disappointing to have to rearrange your travel plans but the circumstances are outside our control.

We take health and safety very seriously and have implemented the following measures:
· Purchase and install sufficient hand cleaning dispensers and fill with alcohol based hand sanitiser for use in all public areas OR purchase sufficient bottles of sanitiser to issue to all guests on embarkation.
· Purchase sufficient tissues and alcohol based hand wipes to be given to all guests.
· Inform housekeepers of the importance of cleaning and disinfecting all common points of contact such as door handles, stair rails etc.
· Where possible purchase sufficient face masks (preferable N95 standard) for guests to be issued should there be a suspected infected person aboard, though given the features of this virus it would probably be too late. However please have them available should guests request them.
· Where possible immediately isolate suspected infected personnel away from contact of all other guests.
· If there is a suspected infection on board the cruise should be terminated immediately and medical authorities notified. The yacht should be quarantined until the ‘all clear’ is given by suitably qualified medical personnel, follow local government guidelines.

We do hope that you will be able to dive with us in the future.
Best regards,
Worldwide Dive & Sail

I was dealing with the Phinisi (aka The Junk) recently on the coronavirus outbreak and the risk of customers travelling from high-risk territories. On a few incidents the staff was unprofessional in their responses and it is showing the company is valuing income more than the health and safety of the customers:
- When I asked about their policy/special measures in response to coronavirus, they copied and pasted language (e.g. wash your hands) that the US CDC posted (because they have "CDC" in their reply). The CDC has nothing to do with the measures in Thailand - they are not even quoting their own local disease("DDC") or heath authorities. That is to say they are not doing anything - their reply is providing less confidence than more confidence in the operator knows what they are doing.
- When the Thailand Health Minister announced a temporarily quarantine measures on travelers from high risk regions, again they won't respond to the risk of customers being stranded in a foreign country.
- When I attempted to continue the conversation about my concerns on the risk and the failure of the operator to acknowledge those risks, the staff simply cut off the conversation (a staff contacted me via whatsapp), referred me to the liveaboard.com agency and concluded with a "cheers" and disappeared - which they should perfectly understood the agency's protocol is always only to send any queries back to the operator. So they are pretty much sending me to a black hole. I couldn't do anything because the staff simply ignored any follow-up messages. I found the experience very rude of the operator.

The whole experience is not inducing confidence that the boat operator - The Phinisi (same operator as The Junk) is taking health and safety seriously. The poor customer service is disappointing - and this has triggered me to follow up with posting this on the forum - so I can inform fellow divers for their future consideration.
 
Hi Viki,

We regret that you feel let down by us; we have contacted both yourself and your booking agent about your requests.

We are following all governmental guidelines with regards to the Coronavirus. Your trip is still going ahead because Thailand is not banning entry to travellers. We understand it is disappointing to have to rearrange your travel plans but the circumstances are outside our control.

We take health and safety very seriously and have implemented the following measures:
· Purchase and install sufficient hand cleaning dispensers and fill with alcohol based hand sanitiser for use in all public areas OR purchase sufficient bottles of sanitiser to issue to all guests on embarkation.
· Purchase sufficient tissues and alcohol based hand wipes to be given to all guests.
· Inform housekeepers of the importance of cleaning and disinfecting all common points of contact such as door handles, stair rails etc.
· Where possible purchase sufficient face masks (preferable N95 standard) for guests to be issued should there be a suspected infected person aboard, though given the features of this virus it would probably be too late. However please have them available should guests request them.
· Where possible immediately isolate suspected infected personnel away from contact of all other guests.
· If there is a suspected infection on board the cruise should be terminated immediately and medical authorities notified. The yacht should be quarantined until the ‘all clear’ is given by suitably qualified medical personnel, follow local government guidelines.

We do hope that you will be able to dive with us in the future.
Best regards,
Worldwide Dive & Sail
If a customer has booked a cruise but subsequently faces coronovirus related travel restrictions to that country, would Worldwide Dive & Sail allow the booking to be transferred to another vessel in your fleet that is located in another country?
 
I just read your DiveAssure alert link. Sounds like to me that if you get sick before or during your trip, you should get a doctor's certification that you are too sick to go on the trip or continue, but make sure that you get a general flu diagnosis, not a coronavirus diagnosis.

I have talked to several of these company reps on the cancel before/during issue, and they all say that if you haven't bought the "cancel for any reason" alternative, they aren't going to pay if you cancel because you don't want to risk contracting the virus. That is a pretty expensive optional addition to the travel policy.

Not necessarily. It depends on a few things. If you purchased before January 24, 2020, it doesn't matter what the official diagnosis would be because if it is Coronavirus, it would still be covered.

All that aside, "You may be reimbursed for unused, non-refundable, pre-paid trip costs if you need to cancel your trip for a covered reason, subject to the terms and conditions of your policy. Always read your insurance policy thoroughly." Covered reasons for trip cancel/interruption are quoted to be:

"Cancellation and Curtailment - General Provisions
9.1 Sickness, serious injury or death of:
9.1 You or a person with whom You are travelling or had arranged to travel....
.....
9.1.3 Applicability:
9.1.3.1 Injury or Sickness of You, Traveling Companion or Family Member traveling with You must be so disabling as
to reasonably cause a Trip to be cancelled or interrupted, or which results in medically imposed restrictions as
certified by a Physician at the time of Loss preventing your continued participation in the Trip."

A trip being canceled or curtailed because of flight cancels/boat cancels/entry restrictions due to Coronavirus will not be covered if you purchased after January 24, 2020 but the grey part is if you do come down with Coronavirus and haven't left home yet, whether you would be able to cancel or not and be covered. That could qualify under the standard cancel/curtailment coverage. "If you contract Corona virus while on a covered trip, you could be covered for Medical Expense and Trip Interruption/Curtailment benefits if there is a confirmed diagnosis, subject to the terms and conditions of your insurance policy." leads me to believe that it would still apply but the only way to know for sure would be to ask. I'll get back to you.

Disinclination to travel due to fear or worry would not be covered by any insurance company unless you have CFAR. That is not surprising, Coronavirus being in the picture or not.
 
We are officially rebooked for April 2021. Now I just get that much more anticipation for my first Indo trip!
 
Chris, how did get you rebooked for next year? I asked my boat operator several times and they are not allowing me to defer to next year (the boat itself is $4K for a week). This is frustrating that they are not willing to flex given the environment.
 
Chris, how did get you rebooked for next year? I asked my boat operator several times and they are not allowing me to defer to next year (the boat itself is $4K for a week). This is frustrating that they are not willing to flex given the environment.


These are land based ops that agreed to defer booking. Their only other option was refunding me 50% and 75% under their respective policies, they were happy to be able to keep the money and I was happy to let them have it now. If the boat doesn’t have a cancellation policy I guess there’s no leverage there
 
MANILA LOCKDOWN.png
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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