March 6th

Yesterday, March 5^th, was an amazingly productive and generally bright day!  I actually got a lot done.  Conference calls, a video for a School Board Campaign, marketing, marketing, marketing my business; attention paid to a lot of “little details.” 

I went to bed quite early for me, 10 p.m. and I woke up about 7 a.m.; 9 lovely hours of deep, deep sleep.  I think I may have gained at least two pounds the last couple of days, I’ve just eaten everything in sight. I can’t eat when I am upset. 

We had three people test positive in Maryland.  It was announced yesterday.  The Governor just went ahead and declared a State of Emergency.  That is mostly an administrative move that allows him to tap our “Rainy Day” fund.

Today I went to the grocery store around 12:30 p. and it was a bit busier than normal at that time of day.  More cashiers open.  Not a big deal, but some emptiness here and there on the shelves.  The bottled water aisle had LOTS of Bottled Water, sitting in the aisle in stacks and stacks, like they had made a “special order.”

I found the items we never keep on hand like Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen.  I normally treat everything with Aspirin, but to take large doses of aspirin, 6-8 days in a row to reduce symptoms or fever is really bad for your stomach, not to mention thinning your blood.  I didn’t find Mucinex which has an expectorant to break down mucous in your lungs.  Cough Syrup or Nyquil don’t do that. I also got Gatorade (which we never buy) and more Bouillon cubes for oral sodium intake.

Common remedies for the Flu.

Once I got home, I did a newsletter, had another conference call, made lasagna, did promotions, posted Facebook ads and posts, answered online questions about various properties, trouble shooted, had a couple glasses of wine, an interesting back and forth with an industry fella, agreed to a coaching session for a school board candidate on Sunday and walking a couple of blocks with door hangers…and then sat down on the couch to watch some tv and write this thing.

Italy had 700 new cases yesterday.

What I haven’t told you about is the absolute red hot fiery fury I felt around 5 o’clock tonight when we received an email from our Travel Agent, that Oceania was looking to reschedule their cruises in early May (our cruise) and they had put out a Weak-Sally statement about it at first, the specifics came later tonight:  it goes as follows.

Just today, we undertook the very difficult decision to eliminate ports of call in Italy from six of our April and May itineraries. We will continue to monitor the situation and make further revisions as necessary, just as we did a few weeks ago with our voyages in Asia.

Well, that’s awesome, we “hit the button” to cancel on the 4^th!  I feel SO blessed to know I am SMARTER than your entire team of professionals.  I mean I ain’t no Oracle at Delphi…but I at least have enough of an I.Q. to read the writing on the wall…

If you are departing between March 10th and September 30th of this year, you may cancel up to 48 Hours prior to departure and we will issue a Future Cruise Credit for 100% value of the cruise fare you paid.

So will they do this for us who cancelled March 4^th?  Or are we exempt because our last day to get a bigger refund was yesterday, instead of today?

But I also note…while they pushed off the Asian Region embargo until June, they are pushing off the Italian embargo until September 30^th?  What do they know that we don’t know?  I mean a couple paragraphs before this they say:

We have one of the best Health and Safety teams in the industry, led by our own resident Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Carlos Gonzalez. He and his team are in constant contact with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Together, they have designed and implemented comprehensive and stringent health and safety protocols to protect you and our crew. Our team is also in regular communication with local authorities around the world so we can very quickly alter itineraries to avoid areas of concern.

Dr. Carlos Gonzalez, Oceania’s Chief Medical Officer, worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and for both the Asia Region and Italy (specifically) they put a 7 month timeline on it being “safe” to get on a Cruise Ship from start to finish of the Coronavirus outbreak.  Asia first reported in December, therefore June. Italy first reported in February, therefore September.

Any Lawyers out there know if this is “actionable”?  I guess we’ll file a claim with our Trip Insurance and see if they turn us down and then maybe it will be actionable?

But, as hot as my anger is tonight.  I know we made the right decision.  Period.  Sometimes you have to take your life into your own hands because my experience has been, you get a group of people around a table to discuss anything and it never is good.  There are too many variables of personality, ego, one-upmanship, legal eagles, nay-sayers and namby-pambys. 

Your gut will most often be your best guide.  Trust the little man in your head to tell you the Meat smells Sour.  Throw it out if the little man in your head tells you so.