lostinparadise999

1 hour ago, matamanoa said:

I think that a huge part of the problem with trying to get the numbers to go down is the lack of enforcement of the restrictions that have been in place for many months.  Has anyone in the Toronto area watched or listened to the traffic reports throughout the day?  There are thousands of cars on the roads and we are supposed to be under a stay at home order.  The fact that there are traffic jams, etc. certainly points to the fact that no one is listening or following the rules and the virus just continues to spread.  There are so many areas that need to be improved and enforced and yet nothing seems to get done about that.  The lineups at pop up clinics are crazy.  People standing in inclement weather for hours, not knowing if there are enough doses for everyone.  Then having to repeat the same thing the next day in the hopes that they get lucky.  The rollout is a disaster and should have been organized by someone who knew what they were doing.  As I'm sure you can tell, my opinion of the provincial government's handling of the pandemic is less than enthusiastic.  They keep implementing new rules by the day and nothing seems to work.  Their handling of the border closures has been less than ideal and people are always trying new ways to circumvent the restrictions.  Hopefully now that more citizens are able to get their vaccines, at some point in the months ahead, we will be able to see results and some return to normalcy and properity.

 

Barb

We had the same problems with pop up clinics in BC...total disasters. They now take the hot spots and send out booking invitations to those areas so you need an appointment before you go. These hotspot areas includes grocery workers, industrial, retail, people over 18 etc. Whistler for example was a hot spot and anyone living or working was encouraged to get their jab regardless of age or where they lived.

In areas that are lower infection the PHA still goes by age.  

The government and health authorities must be consistent, not one taking the limelight and ignoring the health authorities. 

Dr Bonnie Henry has been a pillar for our community and the provincial government let her take the lead. Guess about 40% of BC is vaccinated and lots more anxiously waiting for the shot. 

59 minutes ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

 

Good point. In fact, the actual wording allows a Swiss cheese like arrangement of loopholes, if and when they are needed:  

 

“The bill also prohibits requirements of COVID-19-vaccination documentation to access, enter, or receive service from businesses, governmental entities, and educational institution. The bill prohibits such entities from requiring Floridians to provide proof of vaccination or post-infection recovery from COVID-19 but does not restrict the use of screening protocols.”

 

The bill does indeed refer specifically to Floridians. It also says the customer must be able to enter a business and receive service. It says nothing about boarding transportation. It could be argued that a Floridian has the right to enter a cruise terminal and get service at the desk. It says nothing about being allowed,to board a ship if they do not have the correct documentation for the sailing. It also says nothing about originally purchasing a cruise from an out of state business that may require proof of documentation prior to the cruise itself.

 

 

Florida can say what they want but once the cruise ship leaves port they are no longer controlled by Florida laws. If the EU countries require a Green Digital passport and proof of negative results then that is the law for cruise ships entering. So the passengers on the ship without proof stays on the ship at each port or the ship is turned away from the port.

The cruise ship cannot put themselves in the same position they were in 2019, nor should the passengers accept their Florida's requirement when it puts everyone's safety and health at risk during the cruise.

I have cruised NCL, not a fan but I have to admire them for taking the stand everyone must be vaccinated including crew. 

Canada is seriously looking at aligning with other countries with the same interest in keeping its citizen safe and healthy. Our borders with US is closed so we can control the spread.  

5 hours ago, Sue from Canada said:

I just found this forum by accident and love it.  Ottawa is doing better with our Covid rates.  After having three HAL cruises cancelled I've still got Nov. 18, 2021 with HAL on the books (RT San Diego to Hawaii).  However, I'm thinking of asking my TA to try and bump it to April 2022 out of Vancouver. 

 

Waiting for second Pfizer shot in August but willing to take Moderna sooner. 

 

OMG, have you seen the prices for Air Canada and Westjet!!!  Air Canada finally refunded my money but Westjet refused and gave me a credit.  Only problem is there are no good flights from Ottawa.  In fact, we have so few good flights without going thru Montreal or Toronto - sad.  

 

Happy Mother's Day to all Canadian mothers.

My sister in law lives in Ottawa and says the same thing about flights. You think being the country's capital with a lot of international travellers it would be easier to get flights. Guess Ottawa is too small and sandwiched between 2 larger cities. 

I got a TA cruise in Oct on Westerdam and from the first time I looked at flights to now, prices increased by over $300 and Air Canada cancelled our flight. Comparative pricing for flights with cruise line and on line is about $100 more for cruise line but have no problems with refunds on cancellation... I call it flight insurance.

I use to book flights independently but since the one time I used the cruise line and AC ran into departure and repairs on the flight we were hours late into Venice. Princess held the ship for us. There were 2 other couples on the flight going on the cruise but as far as Princess was concerned we were the only ones they were waiting for, but also took them as they were with us. 

Since then we used the cruise line flight program ( don't use Norwegian flights...cheap but you tour the world before you get to port and if the plane is late the cs leaves the port without you).

Being Mother's Day, moms have the power to tell the "kids" to stay home and stay safe and celebrate Mother's Day on line or social distance and it will be the one time the "kids" listen.

Happy Mother's Day 

1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

Hadn’t seen that one.  A ‘passport’ for inter-provincial travel sound pretty far-fetched to me.

Yeah, it goes against our constitution but right now Ont with Quebec there is a bit of lockdown, BC is fining BC residents for leaving their public health district and discouraging other inter provincial travellers, the Atlantic provinces have been turning other provincial travellers so it would in a way make sense if there was a provincial passport to help the economy and prevent spread of the virus.

Guess with BC the lowest of the 4 we want to keep safe and lower the cases so we can get on with our lives. There seems to be some animosity to vehicles with out of province license plates in BC because of the high case count from the province of origin. 

The provinces like the cruise ships have an obligation to keep everyone safe and do what is necessary to accomplish that goal. 

Looks like RCL, Disney, NCL and others are vaccinating their crew at the port to prepare for mid-July start. And they are still requiring everyone to be vaccinated regardless of  the governor of Florida banning requirement for vaccination and vaccination passport.

46 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

Before we get overly worried about variants a full investigation of the occurrence is needed. Were the people actually "fully vaccinated" and outside the waiting period for full efficacy? What is the expected efficacy of the vaccine(s) used? Etc.

In a recent poll completed,  both Ontario and BC are in favour of a vaccination passport for international travel and inter provincial travel. Also we are in favour of vaccination passport as proof for concerts and other events. BC has the lowest infection rate in the 4 most populated provinces. So guess which province doesn't want a vaccination passport? Hint: Alberta has a higher infection rate than the US.

BC and Ontario has the highest rate of accepting vaccination and actively going to get a dose.

On 4/27/2021 at 8:01 PM, Chiliburn said:

Apparently Europe is going to allow tourists from the US if they have been fully vaccinated.

It could be just a con to get them to want to vaccinated but it sounds like a move in the right direction.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/25/us/europe-vaccinated-americans-summer-eu-vacation/index.html

 

 

 

Well, Governor of Florida threw mud on all of that. He signed a ban of passport vaccination and you can't ask if the person got his shot. 

We cruise with Norwegian a few times, not my favourite but I admire them for taking a stance against Florida. The last thing the cruise ship and passengers want is to be stuck in quarantined because Florida don't care.

This is the article: https://ca.yahoo.com/news/cruise-ship-company-may-avoid-163933829.html

We have 3 cruises booked- one in Oct 21, April 22 and Aug 22. Looks like the one in October will be cancelled as it is a TA from Venice to Ft Lauderdale. HAL has cancelled the sailing for the Westerdam until Sept 1, 21. The ship won't be in Europe to do the TA. I really hope they cancel it as I really don't want to be in Florida even if we get our second dose in July. 

On 5/1/2021 at 9:33 PM, Blackduck59 said:

 

I'm hoping that we will be able to keep it civil here, of course I freely admit that at times I have been unable to comment tactfully when some comments are so far over the glass.

We have done a few cruises on Norwegian but prefer HAL and Princess. I have to admire Norwegian for taking a stance on ensuring all passengers and crew will be vaccinated prior to departing. The last thing I want to happen is to be quarantined in a cabin indefinitely because one of the unvaccinated passenger got infected. 

This is the article

https://ca.yahoo.com/finance/news/norwegian-cruise-line-threatens-skip-160940524.html

I support CDC in ensuring 95% passengers  are vaccinated to prevent getting quarantined. 

We had numerous cruises cancel and the cruise line should do what is necessary to keep us safe.

I hope Canada keeps our border closed or require vaccination prior to entry from US as they have 10 times the population so it would not take much to cause a problem.