CalgaryMac

On 7/17/2022 at 4:29 AM, CDNPolar said:

Yes and no.  Depends on where you are.

 

Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal - probably most places will accept them, but don't automatically expect exchange rate.  There is no requirement to give you exchange, and you will only ever get Canadian money as change.

 

Also, don't just routinely expect that all stores or coffee shops will accept them.  They may not.

 

There is no universal rule.  Canada is proudly not the USA or "America".

American dollars are accepted in Calgary but you will pay a premium. Best to change your money at a currency exchange at an airport. Americans don't accept Canadian dollars at all so unwise American tourists are open game.

Tensions are high in the Baltic nations, Poland, Eastern Europe as likely all over Europe. While rips to Europe might be great a potential war is not my idea of a fun vacation. The war is very serious. Slava Ukraini!

I am hesitant to give up masks in a crowded atmosphere like a cruise ship. There are many people who did not get fully vaccinated, still. Also it appears that whether you caught COVID or are fully vaccinated there is a risk to become infected. Long haul COVID is not how I would want to live my life. So masks for me.

I would go crazy as well if I was sequestered in a small cabin. I am not sure what there is to do but as is suggested by the writer - there are a lot more questions than answers as far as how one gets infected. You can't protect yourself if the risk is everywhere.

We cancelled a cruise to Hawaii scheduled for October 2022. The Omicron showed up an d we are happy to stay home and avoid the risks. Hopefully things will change in the coming months and years.

I wish they would offer cruises from Vancouver to the East Coast with stops along the way. The Panama Canal cruise would be fantastic with a Canadian flavour. We took a cruise to Hawaii from Vancouver (return). There were many Canadians as one might expect and it had a different feel that the cruises leaving from US ports. The cruise was also memorable as Canadian Thanksgiving was during the cruise so there were Canadian flags in the atrium and a Thanksgiving Dinner in the buffet.

On 9/14/2021 at 6:50 PM, Ginnyfyr said:

@K-_e_short out of curiosity, are the 2 cases at your school unvaccinated kids or vaccinated teachers?

 

Being stuck out of the country wouldn't be such a big deal if insurance companies were including quarantine coverage, especially since not all cruise lines are taking care of their passengers if they have to quarantine. Manulife only includes it for trips 31 days and longer. Blue Cross now covers cruises but medical costs only, not the cost of quarantine. Tugo's website says they include quarantine costs but doesn't specify if there's a minimum trip duration. I'm debating on bringing my laptop so I can still work if, god forbid, my husband or I tests positive at the end of our upcoming cruise. 

If you are not in a location with modern hospitals I might be concerned. Some of the cruises that we have been on stopped in locations where I questions the modernity of their medical services - certainly not like in Canada. Do I want to be in that situation if I need more complicated or intensive interventions? Not me.

On 11/6/2021 at 7:45 PM, broberts said:

In a recent thread, someone just off a Celebrity ship reported 3 cases on their voyage.

 

While the numbers are relatively low, for those of us with very high risk home situations cruising is still contraindicated. ☹️

I agree. Despite the efforts that the cruise lines are doing it appears that the virus is good at sneaking around the obstacles. We have a cruise planned in a year but are now considering cancelling as we are concerned about the risks that seem there no matter what precautions we all take. It seems that new variants are developing and the COVID waves are becoming a regular thing. I don't know if I want to gamble that nothing happens and if it does that recovery is uneventful.

17 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

But, what will be a future requirement regarding this?  That's what concerns me the most.  

I think it's wise to have the QR electronic version as well as a paper version. It was reported in Canadian media that some border crossings have unreliable wifi and internet signals so that QR code might end up not useable. 

My partner has mixed vaccines (AZ and Pfizer). He got a second dose of Pfizer.

This web site provides some information related to cruise ships and COVID.  It is from the CDC

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/cruise-ship-color-status.html

I monitor a web site "Cruise Law News" https://www.cruiselawnews.com which reports on legal issues and incidents on cruise ships. While incidents of COVID outbreaks on cruise ships is not reported in the general press very often these days they are still happening. Despite efforts to minimise risks for passengers and crew it continues. There have been reports in the press of people charged with attempting to create false QR codes with respect to the vaccine passports, others have tried to present false written records at entry points, etc. I guess the point is that there are people among us who want what they want and will take risks with their well being and all of ours. I have read entries on Cruise Critic boards where people have shown a willingness to provide false letters from doctors so that they can go on a cruise while having health issues that would normally raise flags.

We have a cruise scheduled for October 2022 and we can cancel with a full refund before the end of July 2022. We are going to see how things go but given that we have all seen numerous reports of people not taking the pandemic or vaccines very seriously, I am not sure what we will do. Our cruise will have us on the open ocean for 5 days without a nearby port so getting sick will not have options for transfers to a hospital. My health, my partner's health, and the health of everyone else will depend on people doing all that they can to reduce risk and being honest about it.

I tend to trust that the cruise lines are doing what they can to reduce risk - their bottom line is dependent on safe experiences for all people on the ship. I am losing faith in my fellow human beings some of who seem willing to put everyone at risk so that they can do what they want.

On 2/4/2020 at 7:24 AM, StartrainDD said:

I've searched and not found a thread on this.  I will be retiring soon and would love to plan longer trips.  Our issue is DW has a medical condition that requires a "Monthly" (every 4 - 5 weeks) medical infusion by I.V.  This is normally done at her Rheumatolgist's office.

I know we could plan back-to-back cruises from Florida or the West Coast and have this done between cruises in the USA, and her Medicare and Medigap policy would cover it, but what about planning longer trips outside the country?

Obviously we would need to pick up the cost ourselves, but medical costs are generally less in most areas compared to the US.  I would genuinely LOVE to plan a "World cruise."  Giving up a port day in a place like Sydney, Buenos Aries, Tokyo, or Athens (as examples) would be a small price to pay for the ability to do this kind of trip.

If anyone has experience with this type of thing, I would greatly love some good advice!  Thank you in advance!

I wonder about this myself but at the moment I can manage easily and 2 weeks is about the longest I want to be away from home. However as my health changes I might need to make changes to how I travel rather than pushing the envelope with respect to arranging treatments. At some point I think that I will find the extra effort and worry concerning medications and treatments might change my desire to travel.

We always book our own flights as I have found that the flights offered through the cruise line are not always the best priced and sometimes the route suggested is a milk run across North America. We like to travel business class and find it easier to book ourselves. I normally Strat with a site like Kayak to see which airlines might be offering sales and then check the specific site of the air line that we think suits us best. We have found some really good deals over the years.

On 12/3/2020 at 1:18 PM, Chicken_Lips said:

Meeting gays on cruises is a mixed bag. It's the same as in a gay bar. Some guys will be cool and friendly, while some guys will be shallow and rude AF!

 

I think a lot of extroverted people get frustrated when cruisers travelling with others, don't respond to their greetings as expected. Just be aware that a lot of people, gay and straight, who go on cruises as couples or with friends, just aren't interested in socializing outside their immediate group. This is how people behave, don't let it ruin your day. If you click, you click. If not, move on and enjoy the rest of your cruise.

I am the chatty one in our relationship. My partner wishes I would sit quietly and leave people alone but it is not my nature. He feels that it is like I am interrogating people but to me it is just a chance to hopefully meet interesting people or people with interesting stories. I find that most people are great and only a few are avoidable.

I have been watching the new series. It appears to be pre-COVID as there is no mask wearing and there is no mention of COVID in the show.

My partner was planning to get a second dose of AZ but when we tried to book the appointment for the second shot the web site stated that there were no locations where AZ was available. So he chose Pfizer. That was fine until we heard more reports of the mixed vaccinations not being accepted by the US. He went back and got to Pfizer last week. I wish the governments had made an effort to work this out long time ago.

On 8/28/2021 at 11:18 AM, Britboys said:

Regardless of what it is called, think yourselves lucky that American-based lines routinely hold and advertise such meet-ups. British-based lines, even the largest, never do...

I tend to only sail on (by today's standards) small ships of 2000 pax or fewer and so it is usually quite easy to meet other friends of Dorothy without a meeting...😀

You are lucky that you can identify other gay people. My gaydar has never worked so a meeting or a sign would help me. However I find that religious fanatics usually have no problem identifying me as gay.

On 5/7/2021 at 8:16 PM, Blackduck59 said:

 

I think it is quite logical to avoid inviting the virus into our country from an area that is a raging hot spot. I also think that those people who choose to purposely circumvent the health precautions that are in place to keep try and stabilize our Canadian infection rate are very selfish. We seem to finally be able to get a large number of vaccinations per day and the supply of vaccine seems to be keeping up.

There needs to be more limitations on Americans if we want to select countries that are experiencing high rates of spread. No country seems to be spared so best to get vaccines spread as widely as possible.

I am also pleased to see a place for Canadians to discuss cruising. We had to cancel a booking (or rather it was cancelled) and it seemed discouraging whether or when cruising would resume. We have a booking for October 2022 (Vancouver-Hawaii-Vancouver) on Holland America. We have a number of friends who liked HA.

I would like to see cruises that go from Canada's west coast to Canada's east coast with some stops along the way. We took a cruise to Hawaii from Vancouver and the large number of Canadian passengers seemed to change the tone somewhat. Thanksgiving happened during the cruise and Princess made extra effort to celebrate with Turkey dinners and a huge Canadian flag in the lobby.

On 7/15/2021 at 6:58 PM, K_e_short said:

 

Carnival has the same policy.

It really puts a lot of people in a stressful situation as many people in Ontario got Astra Zeneca as their first dose and then were told to get Pfizer/Modernas as their second.

 

I have two Pfizer vaccinations and my partner has an Astra Zeneca and a Pfizer. Astra Zeneca was unavailable for a second shot so we went with Pfizer. Due to this policy about mixed vaccinations we are likely going to have to cancel our cruise. Fortunately we have until July 10, 2022 to cancel and receive our deposit back in full. There needs to be a universal policy based on vaccine effectiveness regardless of the brand of the vaccine. Also it needs to be based on science and medical experts - not the politicians who seem to try to take over the discussion.

The Canadian government extended the border closing to the end of November. The government is starting a trial at the Calgary Airport and the Coutts land crossing where travellers are given the option of quarantining for 14 days or taking a COVID test. If negative the traveller is expected to repeat the test about 1 week later and if that is negative then the traveller is no longer quarantined and can travel freely. I assume that there will be penalties should you not get the second test. Details will need to be explained. Some travellers are now  scheduled for court appearances with the potential to receive fines and/or jail time for noncompliance with health department directives.

We won't travel until we know that Health Canada has approved regimens for travel on airplanes and on ships.As much as we would like to take cruises we decided that our health had to be a priority - death would be bad enough but living with ongoing symptoms after recovery could be just as bad or worse.

Take care everyone!

Given that there seems to be considerable evidence that wearing masks reduces the risk for the wearer and others, we will wear masks on cruises. It was not long ago that we all saw on the news the conditions on a number of cruise ships caught in the early days of COVID. I am not a gambling type of person so will do what is practical and evidence based to reduce risk. I hope that others will do the same. It is disheartening to read that some people still dismiss the benefits of mask wearing.

Our cruise through the Panama Canal on the Wonder was cancelled and we have no other reservations. We live in Canada and our government has banned nonessential travel which obviously includes vacationing. We can travel within Canada although flights are nothing like in pre-COVID days. We tested negative and have had no symptoms. We are retired so it is easier to stay home as we have no concerns about work, getting kids to school, etc.. Luckily we have a great patio and the weather has been warm this summer. We have lots of streaming services on TV and we have reduced our television stations significantly - tired of news about COVID and the US election (all discouraging). We had to adjust to a new shopping experience - we have never had to wait in lines to get into a store in our lives. Luckily businesses and people adapted and shopping is as easy as pre-COVID. My doctor now does my health monitoring over the telephone and our pharmacist has stayed effective and efficient as he always is. Initially medications were being rationed (only 30 day supply at a time) but that has ended. Our city has mandated mask wearing in indoor public places. The vast majority are abiding by the rules. Fines are being levied on people who routinely make no effort to wear a mask.

Americans are not allowed to cross the border except for essential trips. Some have flaunted Canadian regulations with pretty significant consequences. One man from Alaska repeatedly visited tourist spots over a few days (Canadians are reporting cars with foreign license plates). He now must appear in court and faces jail time as well as a $500,000 fine (YES - $500,000!!). Americans can travel through Canada if they are on the way to Alaska but are not to visit tourist areas and are to travel directly without unnecessary stopping.

So we are living okay and our mood is positive. I look for potential cruises in the future but am kind of alarmed at how much future cruises on Disney are filling up. Some have few accommodation choices left. Mind you flights to departure ports are currently in short supply which adds to the challenge of travelling. We have had great times visiting the US and going on cruises but we are thinking that those days might be passed.

Having a COVID specific thread seems beneficial if it is accurate and related to Oceania’s protocols. I do want to know what the protocols will be and I am also interested in knowing the success or non success of the protocols.  We will wait until there are protocols supported by a public health agency (e.g. Health Canada, CDC) and that there are effective responses to issues that develop. However the information needs to credible and substantiated not only opinions or feelings.