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Costa Coronosa
Costa Luminosa – Cruise from 03/05/2020
| Booking Number: 26509327 | Jane Kennedy |
Dear Guest,
As you may have learned, the alert level for CoVid-19 declared by the World Health Organization has been raised, and this has led the health authorities of some countries to further increase their precautionary measures by introducing a series of bans on entry into their territories.
With the main aim to gain the most up-to-date information, Costa Cruises remains in constant contact with all the local authorities of the countries called by its vessels. This is done to allow Costa to make the most appropriate decisions and/or put in place the most adequate measures to be sure that the highest level of safety for its guests and crewmembers are met. Safety, in fact, is an absolute priority for us, both during navigation and on land.
Given the continuous evolution of this specific situation and in accordance with the directives issued by US Department of State, who have further strengthened their restrictive measures on some specific north Italian regions (Lombardy and Veneto) , we are forced to modify the itinerary originally planned for all American guests.
In light of this situation, the itinerary for your Transatlantic cruise aboard Costa Luminosa will now end in Marseille, France, on March 20, avoiding all the subsequent Italian calls.
Port Everglades, Florida Thursday 05 March
“We are both medically trained and we both tried to work on him while we waited ten minutes for the paramedics to arrive but I could tell he was dead.
“The captain saw us two days later and said ‘thank you’ and that we had saved his life and that he was recovering in Grand Cayman. I just called him a liar there and then to his face. That man was dead.”
During a previous voyage, an Italian man complained of heart trouble and was taken off the ship in the Cayman Islands on Feb. 29, Costa Cruises said in a statement. He later tested positive for the coronavirus and has since died.
Please see the itinerary below.
| 3/5/2020 | Port Everglades, Florida | – | 23:00 |
| 3/6-7/2020 | At Sea | – | – |
| 3/8/2020 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | 08:00 | 18:00 |
| 3/9/2020 | St. John’s, Antigua | 09:00 | 1800 |
| 3/10-15/2020 | At Sea | – | – |
| 3/16/2020 | S.Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Isl. | 09:00 | 17:00 |
| 3/17/2020 | At Sea | – | – |
| 3/18/2020 | Malaga, Spain | 14:00 | 20:00 |
| 3/19/2020 | At Sea | – | – |
| 3/20/2020 | Marseille, France | 13:00 | – |
While we regret this adjustment, we certainly understand this decision could be disappointing and as a gesture of goodwill, you will receive up to $250 per person onboard credit* that may be used for expenses onboard. Furthermore, Costa will provide transfers to the Marseille airport. Guests will be responsible to change flights with airlines from Marseille, France (MRS) to the final destination if needed. Costa will provide reimbursement up to $250 USD for airline change fee†, and up to $150 USD for 1-night hotel in the international flight city prior to departing home.
At Sea Saturday 7 March
Finally, you will be receiving a 25% discount on a future cruise (based on the cruise fare, this will be mailed to you at a later date).
Thank you for your understanding.
Costa Cruises
*Onboard credit amount is based on the Guest’s original disembarkation port: Savona- $50pp, Naples- $100pp, Venice- $250pp. Onboard credit is based on double occupancy, may not be used in the casino or for Hotel Service Charges. Any unused portion will not be refunded.
San Juan, Puerto Rico Sunday, 8 March
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sunday, Mar 8, 3:10 PM
Just arrived in Puerto Rico. Heading down for breakfast. I will meet with on board agent to solidify travel plans from Marseilles
Sunday, March 8, 8:08 PM
I like the new air con. I just booked hotel in Marseilles for March 20. I will continue to work on changing my flight but flight times with Turkish air are not ideal.
On March 8, when the ship was in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 68-year-old woman from northern Italy was evacuated from the cruise ship with pneumonia, accompanied by her 70-year-old husband. Both tested positive for the virus Saturday.
Monday, March 9, St. John’s, Antigua
Tuesday to Sunday 10-15 March, At Sea
The company said three passengers who disembarked the ship since Feb. 29 have since tested positive for covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Three more passengers were allowed to disembark in the Canary Islands on Sunday after complaining of breathing difficulties or a fever, but the Spanish government would not allow other passengers to disembark because the nation’s ports were closed, the company said.
Monday, March 16, S.Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Isl.
Tuesday, March 17, At Sea
The Costa Luminosa passed through the Strait of Gibraltar on Tuesday and was headed toward its next scheduled stop in southern France, but it remains unclear what will happen when it arrives. France began a lockdown Tuesday ordered by President Emmanuel Macron.AD
There are 233 Americans aboard, the company said. Some passengers are growing increasingly anxious, according to relatives who have spoken to them. A number have developed coughs and one woman told her daughter that the crew appeared overwhelmed by the need to deliver food to all the cabins. Symptoms of the coronavirus include coughing, fever and shortness of breath.
Costa Cruises, which operates the ship, said in a statement that there was a delay in organizing room service for the first meal when passengers were sequestered in their cabins, but that food delivery is now running smoothly.
Rossella Carrara, a vice president of the Costa line, said in an email to The Washington Post on Tuesday afternoon that “at the moment the health situation on board is under control, with no need for medical disembarkations.”
The ship, she said, is sailing off the Spanish Coast heading to Marseille, France, in hopes of docking and disembarking passengers there on Thursday. It is not clear how French authorities will handle the situation. The French Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Starting at noon on Tuesday 17 March, France was under total lock-down under the orders of Macron
who addressed the nation in a somber speech the night before. “We are at war,” he said, noting that the restrictions he was imposing were unprecedented during peacetime. “A sanitary war.”
Cruise line officials said they were communicating with French authorities Tuesday, discussing disembarkation procedures.
On the current voyage, an Italian woman who disembarked in Puerto Rico on March 8 after complaining of breathing trouble has also since tested positive for the virus, as has her husband, who was traveling with her, the company said.
Despite the woman’s respiratory distress, the Costa Luminosa ship continued across the Atlantic bound for Europe. Passengers were told early into the voyage that because of the outbreak, the ship would not head to Italy, but that stops in the Canary Islands and France were still planned, according to what passengers have told relatives.
Wednesday, March 18, Malaga, Spain
Carrara, the cruise line official, said that isolation and room service rules were put in place Sunday, the day after the cruise company was informed of two positive cases involving passengers on the current cruise.
“Other measures had already been implemented in the days before, including isolation of the close contacts of the suspect cases and the cancellation of several on board activities,” she said.
The company said it learned that passengers from a previous cruise on the ship had tested positive on Friday and had stepped up sanitation procedures.
However, several Americans whose parents are aboard said that passengers continued to eat communal meals and freely roam the ship until Sunday. Only then were they told that passengers should isolate in their rooms and that meals would be delivered to their doors, they said.
Yevgeniy Sverdlik, whose in-laws are on board, said they and other passengers have developed coughs. Sverdlik said that late Monday, his father-in-law, Alexander Smirnov, 67, had reported that he had a fever, as well. He said that a few hours later, Smirnov reported that his temperature had returned to normal.
“It’s definitely terrifying. It’s been challenging to get any information,” said Sverdlik, of Albany, Calif.
Costa Cruises said that staff members are going cabin to cabin taking the temperatures of passengers and crew members and reporting the results to doctors on board. Anyone with an elevated temperature is seen by a doctor as soon as possible, the company said.
Ashley Ecker, 41, of San Diego, said her parents have reported that the ship’s crew members appear shaken by the situation and overwhelmed by the need to deliver food to every cabin.
When her parents had received no breakfast by 11 a.m. Monday, her mother left her cabin to determine whether there was a problem, encountering an elderly man in the hall who said he was diabetic and had not had a meal in 18 hours, Ecker said.
“The captain, the crew and the cruise line is operating in an extremely dynamic environment with layers of variable,” he said. “ The crew is doing an admirable job of maintaining a single sheet of music from which we can all sing.”
“They’re in good spirits, which helps. I just get very worried that one morning, the message is going to be that they don’t feel well,” she said.
Shawn Dawley, 46, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who is on board with his wife, said that by Tuesday, the crew had appeared to work out kinks in the food delivery process and had also increased efforts to keep passengers informed during a rapidly changing situation.
Dawley said crew members have been collecting information from passengers to try to help them develop plans to get home. Still, he said the uncertainty about docking and the chaos in the airline industry have made things more difficult.
Ecker said a State Department official told her Monday that the U.S. government will not be able to do much to help if France requires passengers to remain on board or will not allow them to leave France.
“She said the State Department has no intention of sending a plane for the Americans,” she said. “I realize this is a drop in a bucket in all the suffering. Still, you would think there would be a better government response to this.”
A State Department official said the agency is “closely monitoring” the Costa Luminosa. “We are aware that the ship has multiple U.S. citizen passengers. Our team is in communication with U.S. government partner agencies, such as the CDC, and relevant local authorities. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular services to the U.S. citizens on board, in accordance with guidance from local health authorities and in coordination with the CDC,” the official said.
Sverdlik said that he was able to reach a U.S. official at the consulate in Marseille on Tuesday 17 March, who said that French officials were aware of the situation and debating whether to allow the ship to dock. The U.S. official indicated that if the ship docks, French authorities will probably test all passengers for the virus and hospitalize anyone who tests positive.
For passenger cruises Shouldn’t the Costa cruise captain know this Finally got breakfast 2 hours late I cleaned my cabin and am sorting out my supplements and vitamins, I am finished with some but needed a prescription to get in U.S.We are presently passing through the straights of Gilberto Wrong spelling Rough seas and rain
True it was a dock workers strike and protest have not found official notice of closing. watching video of Oakland docking all passengers quarantined on military bases crew aboard ship that’s us bad joke Costa Coronosa
I was aware of the Oakland cruise. We will likely be kept on ship for an extended period and then flown back to U.S. where wevwill be further quarantined Uggg
I haven’t yet heard “I told you so….“
Turkey now letting the cat out all tests only in Ankara 47th today
Jack of clubs are inherently lucky
It will continue to rise. Perhaps being self isolating on ship with room service isn’t the worst place to be. Smoking allowed on balcony, free WiFi for what’s so only m do I’m paying by the day. Yesterday we received a letter offering free future cruise with Costa up to amount spent on this cruise…,doubtful many of us are contemplating future cruise
Three passengers and their companions on the Costa Luminosa cruise ship were offloaded Sunday with respiratory problems in Spain’s Canary Islands. The cruise ship, owned by Miami-based Carnival Corporation, has left three people diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in two countries since it departed Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Feb
On Sunday evening, the ship departed the Canary Islands. Emilio fears that the ship will not be allowed to dock in France given the history of sick people on board. There are currently 1,427 passengers on board; of those, 233 are U.S. citizens. The company did not respond to a request for information about how many crew members are on board. The ship can hold 1,050 crew members. The Costa Luminosa isn’t the only ship with positive cases.
If we had read this – On Feb. 29, a 68-year-old Italian man was evacuated from the ship in the Cayman Islands following a stroke. He tested positive there for COVID-19 before he passed away Saturday.
The ship returned to Fort Lauderdale on March 5 to pick up new passengers.
Good information, the cruise line was negligent in allowing people to board, knowing this.
Tamara I just received a call from cruise staff asking my final destination. They are hoping to remove passengers and fly them home. Chicago is my only option at this point.
chicago to Istanbul. Or Chicgao to s.Carolina sort out the paper work and then Atlanta to Istanbul – Antalya
I can’t fly to Turkey without valid residence permit. If I am able to disembark, at some point i will be forced to quarantine No country, USA included will allow any passengers from corona infested ship, I meet with Ceyhan tonite re: residence permit. Turkey needs you. maybe they will allow you to quarantine Antalya. US quarantine Nebraska?? or maybe you pass the test in Chicago and let you go to Michelle’s. I just had my temperature taken. …normal
“Turkey has shut down all activity and sending foreigners in antalya home My BBC news channel went off All the news stations are focused on the virus Which airline will be allowed to fly from Marseilles to USA Delta air France TUE 5:01 PM Okay, great TUE 7:56 PM turkey closed until april 27 even I with valid kimlik would have to return to USA. turks can’t leave.
TUE 9:13 PM– okay, seems the cruise is working to fly U.S. citizen’s home No other nationalities have been asked where they are going. My account was balanced out and I even had a refund They also came around to ask if my safe was working Maybe we will be off the ship on 19th They are even coming around offering free packs of cigarettes to smokers. Wine and beer cart twice a day. They think there are 2 people in my cabin so I get 2 drinks and 2 meals. ….getting fatter Just had hot shower and shampoo. Perfect timing as They came around to change pillow cases
223 americanos will it be NY or Chicago? Stay with Tamara or Michelle?
“I said Chicago. I will stay with Tamara. Michelle has babysitting duty since school has been cancelled.”
This will be a re-birthing for you and Tamara Metin crew wearing rubber gloves cafe coffee shops closing do you get your cigarettes?
Yes, they are giving them away Do you think if we are lucky enough to get to U.S., we will be quarantined
Arrival will be in 18 hrs 25 min. (at 14:00 h local time)I’m hoping they test you and let you self isolate in Iowa
Me too, but since 3 people tested positive, not likely. ..we hope and pray
The fact that my account has been finalized and they have been asking me about where I want to go, is a good sign. Tamara is over the moon to have me back. Plus, if I should need any treatment, U.S. would be preferable to Europe. I ate 2 meals for dinner….again. rare tenderloin roast. Small portions but tasty.
Yeah maybe that’s the hidden message medical marjijuana and serious health care in Iowa City.
Wednesdy, March 18, 12:26 PM
I was informed that with 100% certainty, we will be allowed off ship in France I’m going with the flow. Good idea I’m going to take a nap. All is well love you Love you!
in 3 hrs 32 min. (at 14:00 h local time) this is exciting – scary but exciting
Wow, we will be in Marseille today? No announcements yet but I am checked out, got my refund and have free WiFi
Be Sure to be on the balcony
I see that there are flights still scheduled for U.S. I’d have to get all dolled up if I’m going to be on t.v.
Wednesday, March 18, 10:34 PM
Just announced we will be allowed to disembark tomorrow. We are outside port now Waiting for further information to be sent to cabin
wonder when they put your bags in the hall No bags in the hall. We have to keep them with us. They will call us out one by one Some time tomorrow. That’s all I know for now
The Costa Luminosa is now expected in Marseille, a major Mediterranean port, on Thursday at around 1 p.m. (1200 GMT), a Marseille port spokesman said, but they would not be permitted to disembark before being tested for coronavirus. On a Costa Luminosa Facebook group, passengers shared their distress about being confined to their cabins, the uncertainty about when they can disembark, and the lack of information. “Physically we are fine, but mentally we are all exhausted. Three days into this trip, it all became about COVID-19 (coronavirus),” Martha Bradbury, a 51-year-old Canadian passenger, told Reuters.
wonder how they are going to test on board They didn’t tell us about testing. How long does it take to get results back? one day before. now they have tests within hours but I don’t know about the frogs. Really, hours! A swab or blood test I’ll research testing after a
My god canary island patients got confirmation one two days later. the lag turn around time depends Where will we stay until results come back I’m reading the diary of Princess crew they flew test kits to the boat and got the results same day. I’d say your on the boat until they do the same
We jyst got menu selection for 3 meals tomorrow plus some strange French document regarding limitations of our movements in France. Doesn’t make sense to me
Thursday, March 19, Marseilles, France 8:28 AM
We have been circling outside of Marseilles port since last night. I have received information regarding flight, destination Atlanta with 10 hour layover in Barcelona then to London and on wards
Not possible to fly out of Atlanta on 20th as arrival is too late Since we haven’t even gone port side, perhaps I’m worrying too much Any news about France?
Dozens of crew members and passengers aboard the Costa Luminosa cruise ship are recorded as sick as the ship nears France in hopes of docking there Thursday, according to ship logs obtained by the Miami Herald.
I’m not going to start packing, I only got a few hours sleep last night. It was after 1 when I managed to drift off and the coffee in the hall wake up team came around 5am
At least 24 crew members on board the ship are classified as sick and are isolated, according to ship logs obtained by the Miami Herald, and at least 50 passengers are classified as sick, or are roommates of passengers who are classified as sick.
I’d still rather be floating around the port than 24 hours of airports and flying
Wow, good news, thanks. Can I come home now? I’ve been a good girl
Hard to find what is going on Miami Hearld crew logs Take a rest by the time they test on-board – dock or no dock – negotiate with Macron etc?? I’ll watch French English TV
Thursday, March 19, Marseilles, France 9:02 AM
The Costa Luminosa is now expected in Marseille, a major Mediterranean port, on Thursday at around 1 p.m. (1200 GMT), a Marseille port spokesman said, but they would not be permitted to disembark before being tested for coronavirus.
Announcements include completing menu selection and temperature checks to commence menu for today or tomorrow?
Today But we continue to circle the sea I showered but can’t seem to work up an appetite to eat My body hurts, my neck is swollen
Where will the tests come from Each country is focused on their residents, Costa dug its grave
You’re supposed to dock at noon. the frogs should have the kits. I see land and we are heading towards it
When the cruise ship docked in Cuba they took all direct to plane So you think that will happen My flight is scheduled for 10 pm
100 Canadians 200 american hot potatoes they want you guys out of there
I guess it is arriving? \One o’clock we should arrive at port.
I don’t think they will let us off in France based on scripted announcements. ..reading between the lines, looks like we will sail to savona
I bet they dump the foreigners off. Savona final destination for Italians crew and boat
We are docking now, I was called downstairs for my 4th reimbursement and was told Americans would fly out. The Lobby was full of angry people. Many will not be allowed off unless Costa has booked their flights.
19 hour layover in Barcelona. I opened my complimentary bottle of bubbly Can’t eat so should at least drink
what airline? Multiple but I think we start with iberis.
This is the sad part, when ambulances are preparing to take passengers off
are you on balcony Yes how many ships 4 the two in photo not costa One is.
the big one with squiggle now where’s your selfie
THU 6:49 PM
Good news We should head out soon did they take off the sick ?
Carol said: “I was going crazy yesterday. There have been announcements for Swiss, Canadians, Americans but no news at all for the British. The British rep has been as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike.
When asked about the situation at a press conference Thursday morning, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he didn’t have any updates on Canada’s role in helping Canadians disembark the Costa Luminosa.The Canadians that were trapped on the Costa Luminosa at the port of Marseille in France were able to board a charter flight by the cruise company Costa to Atlanta in the United States, reports say.
According to the cruise line, 386 Costa Luminosa passengers, including all 233 Americans on board and some Canadian and French passengers, too, disembarked in Marseille. Those who disembarked on Thursday evening were accompanied to flights and transfers organized by the company, and the partial disembarkation continued Friday.
Friday, March 20, 9:51????
FRI 9:51 AM what happened?
Friday, March 20, 1:39 PM ????
FRI 1:39 PM Jane missed your call.
Marseilles to Atlanta
ATLANTA (AP) — On a chaotic flight home, some passengers who had been stranded for days aboard a cruise ship after being exposed to the coronavirus suffered breathing problems, many coughed and several fainted with no food or medical personnel provided, travelers said Friday.
“It was a suicide mission,” said passenger Jenny Harrell, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. “It was a mass triage with absolutely no direction and the crew going, ‘What should we do now?’”
Decisions were left up to the passengers, said Harrell, who had some emergency medical training in the past and helped a physician who was also among the passengers.
Harrell, 51, said she isolated two other passengers who were having breathing problems. One had a chronic lung disease and needed to be hooked to a ventilator, she said. Another passenger had an asthma attack and several others fainted, apparently from low blood sugar levels. Harrell said many travelers were coughing and she helped treat people who had a fever.
“There should have been medical personnel on that flight,” Harrell said.
Costa Luminosa passengers also complained they were given no food other than orange juice and crackers in more than 24 hours — the time it took to disembark in Marseille, France, to fly to Atlanta, and be cleared by officials.
At one point, Harrell said, the flight attendants handed her the cabin microphone. “I basically took over the plane,” she said. “I couldn’t even make this up for a movie.”
KEY WEST, Fla. — An airplane carrying hundreds of Americans who had been evacuated from the Costa Luminosa cruise ship in France idled on the tarmac in Atlanta for about five hours Friday morning because health officials learned that three passengers aboard the plane had tested positive for the coronavirus. According to two people who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the voyage, the test results became known while the passengers were in the air, triggering the hours long delay that frustrated, angered and scared those aboard the plane.
Jennifer posted the only on board vids: Their evacuation turned into an all-night odyssey, with the group sitting on a bus for hours in Marseille before boarding the flight to to Atlanta. Left without food for more than 24 hours, passengers on the plane started fainting. Several had severe coughs. Jennifer Catron, who described herself as a wedding photographer with some medical experience, said she helped care for passengers while en route to Atlanta. She described a chaotic, dramatic flight with perhaps two dozen medical issues, some emergencies, some relatively minor.
Friday 6:00 PM Atlanta
The group arrived at the Atlanta airport at 6:30 a.m. on Friday, but then waited on the tarmac for about five hours. Many had not eaten since lunch on Thursday, and several passengers who have diabetes fainted. Many others had severe coughs. “Everyone is up in arms,” Kelea Edgar Nevis, 47, said in a text message while she waited to leave the plane in Atlanta. “We’re going to have a mutiny.” Several passengers called 911 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she said. A Georgia State official, who was not authorized to speak on the record about the situation, said information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicated that 359 passengers were on board the flight to Atlanta, including 70 Canadians. The official said the three people who tested positive for the coronavirus were not exhibiting symptoms, and that 13 others, who were sick on the plane, had not been tested.
Yes, we were forced to sit on bus at airport 6 hours. Now cleared my health screen in Atlanta. Chicago flights to be checked out after we get thorough customs
Made to sit on plane on tarmac for 5 hours. No hot food or drinks other than water and snacks for 2nd day
when do you take off? We have just been let off plane. We were not allowed to go to terminal. …waiting for further instructions
where are you? how many in your group? 300. I’m quarantined with all passengers. Several people very sick with virus on plane. Man behind me fainted and many passengers were too week to stand.
you are in Atlanta to Chicago or quarantine Quarantine but should be bused to terminal soon Any idea where Q will be? Cargo port of airport. They will allow 2 week home quarantine if no fever or coughing
Friday, March 20, 9:15 PM Atlanta Airport
Chicago or direct to Cedar Rapids maybe I’m hoping direct. Flight at 3 is direct but I told cruise my destination was Chicago. Hope I can change Think of all the stories you can tell love you Love you too. I’ll let you know about flight
Got ticket but will have to get cruise to reimburse. …they booked with a not Chicago? are you in terminal or cargo? you’ll be home before dark Mary Frances likes that Boarding in 5 minutes ship hip hoorah
got your elevator speech ready for the press I calc at least six died? That is the most interesting story we had police escort from quarantine area 15 minute drive. Streets all shut down but tv crews all lined up. I waved . Check the news, too tired to write it all out now
I’m hungry but no service and not Enough time to find restaurant Pretty quiet here buy a round on the plane. I had chips and dip to celebrate I just got chipotles taco salad with chips and salsa but flight has been delayed as one of the crew is circling the airport Can’t wait to have a bath
hard to find fellow shipmates may have and luminous has a FB site I’ll look up luminosa reunion next year
28 mins ago – The trans-Atlantic cruise ship Costa Luminosa moored at
Was there an article in Atlanta newspapers I can’t access it
Flight crew is sick so we are waiting for a replacement
The French media reported that another 36 people who disembarked Thursday also tested positive. The passengers who did not test positive were released and told to self-quarantine. But scores of them booked flights back to their home cities, despite having been near sick people all night and on the cruise since March 5. This is NYT
In the early afternoon, the passengers were being sent to a hangar for screening. State officials said they had encouraged H.H.S. to send two commercial buses to the airport to be standing by once the screening was complete. When asked where the passengers would be taken, the officials said, “We don’t know yet.
”Got to find her TGIF vid: Many of the passengers — including Ms. Catron — were roaming about in the Atlanta airport Friday. Ms. Catron posted a video from the T.G.I. Friday’s at the airport where she and other passengers were getting food.
was almost as much of a debacle as the cruise was,” Ms. Catron said. “It was probably scarier than the cruise.” By noon, most of the passengers had disembarked after getting their temperatures taken and were waiting for their luggage. Mrs. Nevis said they were instructed to self-quarantine at home
Saturday, March 21, 3:10 AM north Liberty, Iowa
I’m at Tamara’s now Today is almost over. Back in Iowa. Surprised We were allowed to continue traveling 9:41 AM Did they take the sick off in Marseilles?
SAT 2:45 PM Not sure. My Danish friends set in buses in Thursday for 5 hours waiting to be flown home. They had to return to ship. Not sure what is happening with cruise.
I slept. I awoke Drenched in sweat. …horrible night sweats and nightmares about the virus. Plenty more homemade chicken soup awaits
The police escort for our bus back to terminal from medical, holding hanger was hyperbolic. 3 cars in front with flashing lights. All roads and intersections on way to airport were blocked by more flashing lights…tv and newspaper, camera crews along the side if the road. …for a few buses of people. ..we had been asking for hours to get some food in our bodies. …surly would have been much less time and money.
Many of the people from cruise/flight, took off their masks and ignorantly /selfishly /vainly carried on spreading the virus. When I was standing in line at Delta to pick up a ticket, the cruise line failed to book, airport security started to drop off hands of sanitizer in front of each agents area. We were now officially Costa Corona Cruise passengers.
ATLANTA (AP) — On a chaotic flight home, some passengers who had been stranded for days aboard a cruise ship after being exposed to the coronavirus suffered breathing problems, many coughed and several fainted with no food or medical personnel provided, travelers said Friday. “It was a suicide
Most concerning is that people on flight with virus were not identified and the flight was open seating
Monday 23 March
Jane Marie goes for a Covid-19 test
Sent from my iPad
Doors of Funchal Madeira
Zeugma the Bridge of Empires
The Zeugma Story
Extraordinary Roman mosaics such as this image of a girl or perhaps a goddess once decorated wealthy houses in Zeugma in southern Turkey.
It wasn’t good policy that saved ancient Zeugma. It was a good story. In 2000, the construction of the massive Birecik Dam on the Euphrates River, less than a mile from the site, began to flood the entire area in southern Turkey. Immediately, a ticking time-bomb narrative of the waters, which were rising an average of four inches per day for six months, brought Zeugma and its plight global fame. The water, which soon would engulf the archaeological remains, also brought increasing urgency to salvage efforts and emergency excavations that had already been taking place at the site, located about 500 miles from Istanbul, for almost a year. The media attention Zeugma received attracted generous aid from both private and government sources. Of particular concern was the removal of Zeugma’s mosaics, some of the most extraordinary examples to survive from the ancient world. Soon the world’s top restorers arrived from Italy to rescue them from the floodwaters. The focus on Zeugma also brought great numbers of international tourists—and even more money—a trend that continues today with the opening in September 2011 of the ultramodern $30 million Zeugma Mosaic Museum in the nearby city of Gaziantep.
But Zeugma’s story begins millennia before the dam was constructed. In the third century B.C., Seleucus I Nicator (“the Victor”), one of Alexander the Great’s commanders, established a settlement he called Seleucia, probably a katoikia, or military colony, on the western side of the river. On its eastern bank, he founded another town he called Apamea after his Persian-born wife. The two cities were physically connected by a pontoon bridge, but it is not known whether they were administered by separate municipal governments, and nothing of ancient Apamea, nor the bridge, survives. In 64 B.C., the Romans conquered Seleucia, renaming the town Zeugma, which means “bridge” or “crossing” in ancient Greek. After the collapse of the Seleucid Empire, the Romans added Zeugma to the lands of Antiochus I Theos of Commagene as a reward for his support of General Pompey during the conquest.
Much of the ancient town and its modern counterpart of Belkıs now lie under the reservoir created by the construction of one of Turkey’s largest dams in 2000.
Throughout the imperial period, two Roman legions were based at Zeugma, increasing its strategic value and adding to its cosmopolitan culture. Due to the high volume of road traffic and its geographic position, Zeugma became a collection point for road tolls. Political and trade routes converged here and the city was the last stop in the Greco-Roman world before crossing over to the Persian Empire. For hundreds of years Zeugma prospered as a major commercial city as well as a military and religious center, eventually reaching its peak population of about 20,000–30,000 inhabitants. During the imperial period, Zeugma became the empire’s largest, and most strategically and economically important, eastern border city.
However, the good times in Zeugma declined along with the fortunes of the Roman Empire. After the Sassanids from Persia attacked the city in A.D. 253, its luxurious villas were reduced to ruins and used as shelters for animals. The city’s new inhabitants were mainly rural people who employed only simple building materials that did not survive. Zeugma’s grandeur and importance would remain forgotten for more than 1,700 years. By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER
How’s That Savings Account Doing?
The Individual Sovereignty Solution
The annual inflation rate for the United States is 2.1% for the 12 months ended November 2019, compared to 1.8% previously, according to U.S. Labor Department data published December 11, 2019.
In 1980 Gold was $594.90 ; 1981 $400; the Dow Jones around 3,000; bank interest rate in 1970 7% after Nixon closed the Gold window August 1971 bank savings account interest rate jumped to 12% in 1980.
Doug Casey the ACE of Spades: The Card of AMBITION now 73 and living in Estancia de Cafayate in Salta Province, Argentina.[3 goes by the moniker “International Man” and continues to practice what he preached on the 1981 Phil Donahue Show. Here he talks about the financial path to Individual Sovereignty.
After four years of living here, I like Antalya, Turkey
Bah Humbug St. Nick is buried in My Backyard
Travailing to Houston
‘Goat Farmer‘ Meetup
Currently billing my 3rd Life: ‘Fortuneteller’ upgraded on LinkedIn as a Astro-Psychometrician – A psychometrician is someone who practices the science of educational and psychological measurement, or in other words, testing. An Astro-Psychometrician is a 1st Life Architect- 2nd Life Goat Farmer who asks you: When’s Your Birthday?
Travailing to Houston with an expired driver’s license and without Jane Marie, meant I had to find a way to get from George Bush to Wharton. A 78 mile 1hr 23min one way taxi ride in Turkey might cost $50 versus $250 in America. MaryKarmen and Abundio the entire workforce of the Anala Goat Company, now living in Inez, saved me both ways, and better yet, hosting me at the best Mexican restaurant in Wharton.
The Loredo family and I share Expat status. After I flashed my Turkish Green Card (Kimlik), I inquired if they were still waiting for adoption by their 18 year old daughter? Claro que si!
Diego now 14 tells me in non-denominational Tejano English that he goes to a ‘white’ kids school in the little town of Vanderbilt, TX, plays on the football team and loves to fish.
Abundio gave up goats for hourly game warden duty on a deer ranch, where he camps out at night to shoot coyotes with his night vision rife. Getting paid for hunting sounds a lot better than milking fifty goats and three cows.
Travailing to Iowa
… With an elevation of just over 9,400 feet, Rabbit Ears Pass is lower than many other mountain passes in the area, but it is still inundated with heavy snowstorms during the winter, making avalanches, icy roads, and low visibility all too common.
Auto Bound Therapy
The week before Thanksgiving until the first business day in January was my emotional demilitarized zone. Since 2008, first in Mainland China and the last four years in Antalya. Turkey, I had avoided crossing the Happy Holidays DMZ.
The Karmic gods finally caught up with me when Jane Marie and I were reunited with her ex and their oldest daughter, with the mission of driving the daughter-father gifted car from Santa Rosa California to Iowa City, Iowa.
To add spice to the journey there was to be a stopover in Salt Lake City to break bread with the ex’s son from an previous marriage.
The Siri GPS experience worked well all the way to Salt Lake and back on our I-80 East route to our next stop Sidney, Nebraska, except when Siri suggested an alternate route via Baggs, WY. A turn left at Howard Street led to a road closed November-May blockage and asking the Baggs-lady what do we do now?
Jane “The Caretaker” doged the deer to Craig, turned north to Steamboat in time to catch the night skiers and then passed the Siri baton to Willie “The Loner” for the Rabbit Ears Pass Challenge. As the recently gifted owner of the car – a 7th of August Leo SIX of Diamonds, the Card of “Financial Responsibility” and the only even numbered card of our auto bound therapy threesome, Willie “The Loner” got the call.
Even numbers do better in the mundane world, odd numbers weigh-in matters of the spiritual realm. Jane and I, both JACKS (the eleventh card), as well as definitely odd, prayed for Willie.
Willie proceeded with caution but ever upward – Steamboat Springs at 6,732′ already had enough snow to ski but neither Siri nor the locals knew what lie ahead. Not too worry, Willie took care of the ‘NOW’ and within an hour we were over the top and our way to Walden.
Willie, energized by passing the pass with flying colors, was eager to continue on to Ft. Collins for a hookup with I- 80 but for the grace of Walden, we were destined to spend the night..
There were four options on Main Street in downtown Walden. Jane Marie turned down the first three b/c of the $75 room charge. I, “The Avoider” got the 4th and last chance to get off the road. The clerk was not in a negation mood b/c the motels close down from Thanksgiving until May and he was leaving in the morning for Florida.
My Corps logo USAA credit card got me a 20% discount as the Millennial ‘Jarhead’ showed me this triple triangle tattoo representing the 37 brothers he lost in his tour of Afghanistan and participation in the documentary Combat Obscura.
A May-September Romance
Akkaya Gardens
Egirdir Lake
Jane Marie & Mehmet Pasha Do Lunch at the Vanilla
Jane Marie got a sneak peek at the hotel that the Vehbi Koç family is building in Old Town. The glass floor entry covers the ruins of the previous city center when Alexander the Great came ashore in 333 BC.