smokeybandit

They're also ending Lift and Shift which to me is a good sign of cruises returning this year.

The due date/final payment date really isn't important here.

If you've paid in full prior to the cruise being canceled, regardless of when final payment is, then you can get the 125% FCC.

First thought would be they are loading the additional medical equipment required for return to cruising, but that wouldn't make sense to load that onto the pool deck.

Though I guess they could be loading social distancing stuff like plexiglass windows.

So much to digest here.  Yeah, it sucks, but I'm sure the CSR didn't know when cruises were about to be canceled again.  FCCs don't automatically get applied to your next reservation. And RC wasn't taking your money since they already had it.

The rest is just impatience in the midst of a total hell of a year for cruise lines.

24 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

But is is fair for the vaccinated to be imposed upon and require them to wear a mask to help protect the non vaccinated. I don't think so.

I agree with that.

Actually, it looks like those 3 Carnival ships with lengthy delays is just delayed drydock schedules.

5 minutes ago, molly361 said:

Don't know what they will do but as I have said on other threads it should be vaccines for all or those who can't or won't including kids should not be allowed on board.  Doesn't seem fair for others to get vaccinated and then get sick from some kid that brings it on.  FYI I am over 65 and have not had any luck getting one yet so I might be one not let on board either

It doesn't seem fair to exclude families with younger kids just because kids can't get the vaccine, despite kids getting and spreading covid at 50%, if not higher, rates than adults.

Plus how often would you as a 65 yr old cruiser being spending time in close contact with a kid you don't know?

On 1/20/2021 at 10:03 PM, atgood said:

We’re way down on the list to get the vaccine so it won’t be happening for us anytime soon.  
 

On a positive note though, the WHO announced revised guidance today regarding interpreting PCR test results, essentially saying that high cycle rates result in high false positive rates.  “WHO guidance Diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 states that careful interpretation of weak positive results is needed (1). The cycle threshold (Ct) needed to detect virus is inversely proportional to the patient’s viral load. Where test results do not correspond with the clinical presentation, a new specimen should be taken and retested using the same or different NAT technology.

WHO reminds IVD users that disease prevalence alters the predictive value of test results; as disease prevalence decreases, the risk of false positive increases (2). This means that the probability that a person who has a positive result (SARS-CoV-2 detected) is truly infected with SARS-CoV-2 decreases as prevalence decreases, irrespective of the claimed specificity.”  https://www.who.int/news/item/20-01-2021-who-information-notice-for-ivd-users-2020-05

If PCR cycle rates are lowered, then the # of positive cases will drop.  Also, with the focus on administering the vaccine now, testing will go down and so will the # of CV cases too. 

As much as I think PCR thresholds should be lowered, that's not entirely what this says. It says if the test hits at a high cycle, don't immediately take that as a positive case.  Retest and/or use that in conjunction with clinical observations to determine if it should be considered  positive case.

A lot of the big resorts in Mexico are preparing to do the testing for their guests.

4 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Just the fact that cruising resumes says nothing about the vaccines. It is only when other restrictions can, and are, removed will it demonstrate that the vaccines are providing the desired affect.

 

I do however feel this demonstrates the benefit of 100% vaccination requirement. If there are exceptions and an outbreak occurs on a ship, the first thing the skeptics will point to is vaccine failure.

 

 

And there will be positives on board, even with 100% vaccinations since the vaccine won't be 100% effective (especially in older people) and there will be false positives.

Just now, Ourusualbeach said:

Other things that people get vaccinated for aren't a global health issue.  If it bothers you then wait several years until the vaccine is no longer a requirement

I have no issue with the vaccine itself. I just have an issue with the utter hypocrisy surrounding the vaccine and covid in general.

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

She never stopped sailing.

It was a joke. The Love Boat was a different Pacific Princess that was scrapped a few ago

But both are still beyond what the manufacturers ever tested again.

OK, "disaster" might be hyperbole. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/vaccine-delay-uk-should-cut-its-12-week-gap-between-doses-doctors-group-says/ar-BB1d1EjB

3 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Then I guess there are a multitude of legit reasons to deny boarding.

Until they get hit with a class action ADA lawsuit

Apparently I get the AWE network, despite the fact I've never heard of it until now

Its very likely that even when cruising starts up, it'll be a gradual restart.  Not all RC ships and ports will start up from day 1. That's been hinted at in many different ways. That seems to be what Carnival is announcing.

Pacific Princess? Are they bringing back the Love Boat?

I'm fine with a covid vaccine mandate just as long as they make all other modern vaccines mandatory, too.

From looking at the movie rating scale in the UK, the adult content on a cruise ship would be 12A/15 in the UK.  

There will be lawyers lining up to defend people who don't want to or can't get the vaccine should RC go that route.

How are the docking contracts written? Do they have to use the dock every so often to satisfy terms of the contract?

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

I think the best way to get back to a normal cruise experience is to require 100% vaccination rate on the ship. Once you start making exceptions then other precautions will also have to be used like masking and distancing. Unfortunately, those who can't, or won't, be vacinated would just have to wait to go on a cruise.

You'll never get 100% vaccination rate for  multitude of legit reasons.

4 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

That is not what we have been told here in UK. To my knowledge we have been told you have antibodies after infection and we have cut quarantine periods from 14 days to 10 days. And after 14 days you show a negative test and are free to go. This place is the only place I have heard of this 3-5 month business. It has never been mentioned in any UK coronavirus briefing by Johnson or Hancock or Van Tam or in UK Media to my knowledge. Nor do I recall hearing it with Trump on CNN when he got sick. Perhaps I am misunderstanding what has been said. But it sounds to me like  it has been said you are positive for 3-5 MONTHS after diagnosis and recovery.

The US CDC says with the PCR tests you can test positive 12 weeks after exposure.  The PCR test doesn't test for live virus, but just the existence of the virus fragments.  If the PCR test searched for animals on the side of the highway, it would pick up live animals as well as roadkill that's been dead for weeks.

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Never.  It won’t happen.  People would just book cruises knowing they would be cancelled just to book points. 

It'd be simple. Points only go to those people who elect FCC and those retroactive points are credited when the FCC cruise sails.