i have gone over there web site up and down and still have found nothing ! looking for info and what there proceedures are . thanks in advance nat

Natski - when are you going?

Just call 1-877-sail-hal, they will tell you.

In April, at the dock, we had to sign a paper that we had not been to any 'hot spots', no one checked but it covered them.

If you have a connecting flight-or live- in these areas, you might have a problem.

hi thanks we sail aug 9th ms zuderdamn western carib aa cabin family of 4 boy 9 girl 13 goin on 30, lol we live in toronto so i,m trying to find out what proceedures are ??

PS: thats what is scarin us crystal cruises is not allowing anyone on board period from the efective area,s , or ever if you have flown threw toronto. it has been blown way out of proportion way out . i emailed crystal to let them know that we as a family of 4 cruise every 4 yrs and with the exchange it costs app 10,000 to 12,000 cdn dollars per trip ( now that is everything in ) and i told them they would never see a penny of that from this family ever. i see there policy as over reactive , when the other lines are using healthcare pro,s to check everyone and the airports are using thermal eq to check passengers.

They are trying to stop the spread of something without a cure. They don't know you or your life, you or anyone from that area could be carrying the 'bug' and for them to knowingly allow you to board into a closed environment as a ship is foolhardy at best and criminal at worst to expose the other cruisers.

Don't blame the cruiselines, if you were from somewhere else, how would you feel? They have enough trouble with Norwalk in the summer and won't add something else.

The lack of responce all day must mean all the 'lookers' must agree.

Please, Natski- clean up your typing skills- I could hardly read it.

The cruiseships do have to be careful BUT... let's not overreact! There has been no community spread of SARS in Toronto. I mean if these ships can dock in Vancouver (another SARS area, albeit not listed by W.H.O.!), why even worry about someone who has merely transited through Toronto's airport? Moreover, even people living in Toronto who are not involved in treatment of SARS patients or have not been exposed otherwise to a SARS patient in hospital are at zero risk of transmitting anything like SARS to a ship. I'd worry more about TB... from the crew, or even just catching a cold and ruining my vacation than catching SARS! Remember... wash your hands frequently (we did this before SARS!), and it does not hurt to have one of those hand disinfectants either.

Get real Maryann. Travellers from Toronto and Singapore are not speading SARS. The disease is contained in hospitals. People who have SARS are in hospital. People who are under quarantine(who have had some casual contact with a SARS infected hospital or a person with SARS) CANNOT leave their houses much less the country (and they do not have SARS - they have just had some possible contact). SARS is not in the general population - it is confined to hospitals(which means people who have it are NOT walking the streets speading it around). So exactly how do you think you would get SARS from anyone from Toronto or Singapore ? And it is even sillier to worry about people who have only transitted through the Toronto or Singapore airport. However when all is said and done - to calm people's fears I personally (as a Torontonian) would have NO objection to being examined before boarding a cruise ship. I think Crystal's ban is silly.

I thought I was real, we don't know where anyone works-are the hospital workers in a quarantine building or are they at home on a voluntary basis? Who is checking if they are violating this?

Maybe there is more that we should know,eh.

Well Maryann - you may be real but I cannot believe that you actually live in Toronto and are so ill-informed. I have a severe chronic respiratory illness - I make VERY sure I am well informed about this. There is no "quarantine" building. People in quarantine are at home or if in "working" quarantine (ONLY for certain health care workers - i.e. anyone who was working at North York General during specific time frames) are at home and at work. They are called by telephone. Since we do not live in a police state, only people who are found to be violating quarantine (very MUCH against the law) are put in confinement. Quite frankly your attitude is hysterical and unnecessary. People with SARS are not roaming the streets of Toronto spreading disease and I cannot think of any reason why you would want to give this impression unless you have ulterior motives.

I do not live in nor ever been to Toronto, I live in West Palm Beach, FL,USA. There is no 'motive' other than information.

The original poster wanted to know about going on a cruise from a SARS quarantined area. For the health and safety of passengers and crew, some steps are being taken. Ships have cancelled ports and inquired as to the cruisers home area and travel connections.

It is up to them how far they want to take their caution.

Years ago, my sister & I had Polio (when there was no cure) we were treated in the hospital in isolation until the disease had run it's course and were then still kept away from others.

So nothing is new-there is always something travelling from one place to another.

I wish everyone in Toronto a healthy summer and hope you see the last of SARS in the near future, it's obvious that TV and print media have done their usual incomplete reporting.

Apologies to maryann for thinking you were from Toronto - I misinterpreted something you said.
Re: what you said about polio:
This is exactly what is happening in Toronto - people who have SARS are hospitalized and kept in isolation - once fully recovered (and most do) they are sent home where they must remain in quarantine for another period of time (in case of relapse). And a step beyond that - people who have even the most indirect, casual contact with SARS patients are quarantined for a 10 day period (the incubation period of SARS virus) - BTW most people who actually get SARS get it within 5 days of exposure to the virus. Not all people exposed to the virus get SARS - in fact most DONT. To contract SARS you need CLOSE contact (within 1 metre) with an infected person (WHO IS SYMPTOMATIC) OR you need to touch a surface a SARS infected person has spead SARS infected droplets to (for example sneezed or coughed on or touched after they have sneezed). One nasty thing about the SARS virus is apparently it can survive at least 24 hours on surfaces - Hence the emphasis on washing hands. Oddly enough washing hands correctly and frequently works wonders to prevent disease spread - nearly every spring I get a very nasty cold or bronchitis - this year - none at all - I attribute that to more frequent hand washing. A friend of mine with a compromised immune system has commented on the same thing.
Re: the media - obviously they report the most 'interesting' and sensational stuff - not that I really blame them - that is what sells but it contributes to a hysterical view of the disease. I still remember the "nurse on the GO train" stories all over the media. During the first outbreak of SARS in April, a nurse inadvertantly travelled twice on a commuter train(going home one night and returning to work the next day) when she was in the very first stages of SARS (all she had was a headache). Luckily (because hospital employees were being checked for fever when they came to work each day) she was diagnosed when she arrived for work and immediately isolated and moved into a SARS ward. The interesting thing about that case (which the media ignored) was that - NO ONE caught SARS from her. Her family were quarantined and the people who were seated close to her on the GO train were quarantined. NONE of them developed SARS. That fact was buried somewhere at the back of a newspaper.

See how bad info. starts and it is reported, over and over.

Maybe the cruise ships are concerned about that 5-day window (I don't know)

We are happy to have alot of Canadian visitors in S. Fl. but seeing as this is now happening in the summer-the papers,etc. are not being too hysterical.

Good luck with it all (I'll keep handwashing, too)

I can still remember being ostrasized (sp?) after I got back from the hospital, little kids don't understand that stuff. My mother transferred us to another school !

JMM I think you sound hysterical and not Maryann! I read a report today that in Parry Sound a town of 5000 located 150 miles north of Toronto 1000 people are under quarantine!

Maryann - that must have been awful as a child. It's amazing how unkind people can be to children on the basis of unfounded fears. I try to keep up on all the SARS info because of my lung condition - I think I will keep up the extra careful handwashing routine during flu season this year - it has just made such a difference.
Conquistador: I am just trying to point out the facts. Lots of people in Parry Sound are in quarantine (sorry I dont know the exact number) as a precaution because ONE person who was a patient at North York General when the lastest SARS outbreak started returned home to Parry Sound and developed signs of SARS after his return. The public health people in Parry Sound have decided (and rightly so) to be ultra cautious and requested that ANYONE with the most casual contact with the affected person OR his family put themselves in quarantine for 10 days from their contact with this person. So far about 60-100 have passed through the quarantine period with NO sign of illness. This includes children at a school and daycare centre (attended by a child living in the same home as the infected person). BTW that child is fine. I am not sure about the status of the person's other relatives.

People need to watch out for themselves. Apparently SARS has re-emerged in Toronto, after the Canadian officials treaded too lightly for fear of ruining their tourism industry. SARS in the confined spaces of a cruise ship would be devastating. It's likely the industry is already thinking about plans, given their recent brush-up with the Norwalk virus.

Oh to be quarantined on a cruise ship! Sounds like a friggin' nightmare!