Despite the warnings people traveled to XYZ and are now stuck. Who is responsible?

[outofofficebrb]

I disagree - there was enough news by March 9 to know traveling internationally was risky - some folks just seem to have poor judgement.

I do feel bad for those stuck and hope they get evacuated (and are then held in strict quarantine for 2-3 weeks before being “let loose”) - hopefully, this is a learning opportunity for any future situations like this.

The level 3 global advisory for non-essential travel wasn’t issued until March 11-12. At that point, people saw it as an advisory and not an outright ban and my guess is many people didn’t want to cancel because they would lose 100% of the money due to “fear or disinclination to travel due to pandemic/epidemic/health situation” (not covered by insurance) and it was still too early for ops to be canceling on them. Most insurance won’t cover health/pandemic/epidemic situations either.

California was the first state to lock down. 7 counties started off in the SF Bay Area in March 17 (announced March 16) and then the rest of the state followed a couple of days after that. The legal order made it a misdemeanor punishable by fine and/or imprisonment to go out for anything other than essentials and maybe a walk or outdoor activity while enforcing social distancing. At that point, I imagine when it was a legal order and not an advisory, that might have also changed many people’s minds. Other cities and states have slowly followed behind that.

 

[Joneill]

The level 3 global advisory for non-essential travel wasn’t issued until March 11-12. At that point, people saw it as an advisory and not an outright ban and my guess is many people didn’t want to cancel because they would lose 100% of the money due to “fear or disinclination to travel due to pandemic/epidemic/health situation” (not covered by insurance) and it was still too early for ops to be canceling on them. Most insurance won’t cover health/pandemic/epidemic situations either.

California was the first state to lock down. 7 counties started off in the SF Bay Area in March 17 (announced March 16) and then the rest of the state followed a couple of days after that. The legal order made it a misdemeanor punishable by fine and/or imprisonment to go out for anything other than essentials and maybe a walk or outdoor activity while enforcing social distancing. At that point, I imagine when it was a legal order and not an advisory, that might have also changed many people’s minds. Other cities and states have slowly followed behind that.

As I said, there was plenty of info before the advisories were issued that this was getting serious - if folks chose to ignore that due to concerns on losing money... well, then then we see what happened... For myself, at least, I'd rather lose the money than risk being stuck in a foreign country when things go south.

 

[Doc]

Fortune rewards the brave.

 

[KatieMac]

I have sympathy for them. I was supposed to go to Roatan on 3/14 (feels like months ago) and we didn’t feel like a concrete no go until morning of 3/12. Things didn’t seem to go to overdrive until then.

Good thing you didn't. By 3/16, they were locking down the island.

 

[KatieMac]

umm, EVERYBODY (not “many” or “most”) got there “before all hell broke loose”. It surely was not the fault of any travelers who arrived even five minutes before the entry ban was proclaimed.

No one involved here is guilty of anything other than the US air carriers. They’re the ones who haven’t arranged appropriate return flights for their stranded and ticketed passengers.

I am told this failure is about to be resolved. Hearing that one of two U.S.A. Carriers is being less than cooperative. I have no personal knowledge, so I’ll skip naming the company I heard referenced negatively. Time will tell.

The few people stuck at Coco View have been staying for free, and after the limitation on boat diving kicked in, they’ve been shore diving 3 and 4 times a day.

Not a bad place to go all Gilligans Island.

Sorry @Doc, you are correct.

To be clear, many got to Roatan before our own countries put in a travel ban. If my trip out were one week later, I would have been ignoring Canada's travel warnings.

 

[KatieMac]

As I said, there was plenty of info before the advisories were issued that this was getting serious - if folks chose to ignore that due to concerns on losing money... well, then then we see what happened... For myself, at least, I'd rather lose the money than risk being stuck in a foreign country when things go south.

Depends on the location. Grand Cayman, possibly. Siberia, definitely not.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

All in all, I think I'd rather be with my family in Roatan, Bonaire, tropical island, etc. than NYC right now. Food, water, roof, and scuba. What else do we need?

It's kind of depressing here.

 

[chillyinCanada]

A friend tells me that after making her own arrangements, she ran around and again told a bunch of folks that their planes would, in all likelihood, not be coming for them. They wouldn't believe her and popped another cerveza. She tried to convince them a few times but nope, they had faith and she was a nut and overreacting.

Now they're stuck down there. Curfew, meds almost gone, I think martial law might be in place. Pretty stressed but heck, you can't say that they were not warned.

 

[KatieMac]

All in all, I think I'd rather be with my family in Roatan, Bonaire, tropical island, etc. than NYC right now. Food, water, roof, and scuba. What else do we need?

It's kind of depressing here.

Maybe not in Roatan given the situation there now. No diving in most places. No going to the beach. Restaurants are shut down. And apparently so are the grocery stores now. Patrols with guns on the streets and in the water.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Maybe not in Roatan given the situation there now. No diving in most places. No going to the beach. Restaurants are shut down. And apparently so are the grocery stores now. Patrols with guns on the streets and in the water.

Nevermind. I take that back. yikes.