sugcarol

Done both several times and prefer Celebrity hands down.

What will you do about the booster shots if the card is laminated?. That is why they left room for boosters below your vax on the card. We were told not to laminate the card when we got our second dose.

25 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

And when tracing discovers that you were in contact with those sick people that get off loaded in Honolulu and you get confined to your cabin, what is your plan?

Why would you care? Do you plan on going on the same cruise? I would not mind spending quarrantine in Hawaii. Who knows they will likely make their quarrantine based on whether I am vaccinated. Nobody knows how anything is going to be 8 months from now.

31 minutes ago, cured said:

Yup, mentioned that in the same post.

 

You cannot compare the  "best for society" centered Asian culture to the wildly individualistic US culture. What has worked in Singapore will not work in the US. Additionally, Singapore has a rule that no one who has had covid in the past 6 months can board the ship. Good luck finding enough Americans who have not been exposed to covid in the past 6 months to even partially fill a ship. Singapore has very, very strict rules, rules that Americans would never tolerate. To try to compare results of their cruises to what would happen in the US is apples to oranges.

 

Right, Singapore has 5.7 million people. USA has 331 million people.

24 minutes ago, mek said:

I agree with you up to a point, but I will admit that I am slightly concerned about the variants.  Michigan is a mess with NY and NJ not far behind with increasing cases.  I will admit I don't know how much the mutations are affecting the increases, but something is causing it.

Also, I'm not totally convinced how protected I will be if I am exposed to someone with one of the variants.

Don't get me wrong, I'm fully vaccinated and have started doing many of the things I wasn't able to do this past year, but I will not throw all caution to the wind until we see just what the state of Covid is over the next few months.

Nobody should throw caution to the wind, but as a retired nurse and close friend of my doctor a provider of the vaccine in North Texas, he says treatment would be the same, variant or not, and vaccine as well. The booster for Covid may  factor in the variants just like the flu virus vax changes each year. I will roll with the flow and not worry about something unless and until it  became a serious issue.

2 minutes ago, skywonder said:

It is NOT about them not caring about others it is about them making a choice they feel safe with. If you are so worried about Covid then maybe you should not sail or do anything else for that matter. See it works both ways.

Where did you get the idea i was worried about covid?. I have changed my thinking about whether i did or did not want to cruise with unvaccinated passengers. I have done all i can to protect myself and others. I wont worry about what the person next to me does. This is not March 2020. We now know what it is, how to treat and how to prevent. At the beginning it was total chaos, it is not that way anymore.

1 hour ago, cured said:

I don't have a fear of catching Covid being vaccinated. I am more concerned about what happens to a vacation if there is an outbreak amongst unvaccinated passengers. Does the cruise get cut short to bring the sick passengers back to port? Do we miss a port or two because the islands don't want people from a ship that has some cases aboard to mingle with their residents?  

 

I would rather have a vaccinated ship (including the teens/tweens) to minimize any fallout from an outbreak amongst unvaccinated cruisers. 

My situation is different. My cruise is an american flagged ship sailing only in Hawaii. They would be able to off load any sick patients in Honolulu and continue on with cruise. Just today in the news there, they are considering letting fully vaccinated to show their vaccination card, while they work on a digital vaccine passport. We will know more soon. 

At first I wanted a fully vaccinated crew and passengers, but after seeing the comments about the reluctance to get the vaccine, I have decided I will  cruise anyway. I'm fully vaccinated and do not have fear of getting Covid from unvaccinated passengers. If they don't care about themselves or others then I do not care about them. I will leave it up to the cruise lines and ports to make the decision. JMHO

30 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

That cruise won't sail so it doesn't matter. 

I agree, im concerned about my Hawaii cruise late November. Hoping for the best but have a PlanB for doing land trip.

9 hours ago, farmersfight said:

 

Thanks for posting this valuable information! It is really valuable when someone who has been there and actually done the things in the guide book and verifies it's true & accurate. I definitely will be buying the Maui guidebook and probably also the Oahu guidebook.

 

I definitely planned on renting a car in Honolulu pre-cruise (will be there 4 days pre-cruise) but really hadn't thought about renting a car during the overnight stays. Hmmm...

I got the books as well and so worth the money.

The vaccine is free to everyone, but if you have Medicare or insurance, the provider of the vaccine will have asked you for your cards. The provider is allowed to bill Medicare or insurance company the charge for administering the vaccine. Medicare sends you a copy of all the payments made for you every quarter. Other insurance could be every 3 months to 6 months. The payment will match the Covid 19 administration and the dates will be the same. You can also call Medicare or insurance and they will send you a copy. It will be for each injection that you received.  That is a legal document and can be used along with your Covid 19 vaccine card you were given. That will  greatly reduce the chance for forgery of the card. A vaccine passport is possible, we just don't know yet, but in the event you book a cruise requiring proof of vaccine, that will give the additional proof you received them. When I get mine for both doses, I will keep them with the Covid vaccine card.

I just booked Queen Kapiolani Diamond Head view for our precruise hotel in Honolulu. They are offering special welcome back to Hawaii rates, plus half price resort fee. I have spent weeks looking at different hotels for precruise and ultimately picked this one.

Can someone explain to me why the people who have no plans to cruise or refuse to take the vaccine and find fault with anyone who does not feel the same, are even on here posting. I get people are fearful ( i am not one of them) but get off the boards, and quit trying to justify the fact they dont want to cruise and let those if us that do can state our thoughts and hopes.

My fingers are crossed for you as well. I have gone to different luaus and to me the Old Lahaina Luau is the best. They do not have the fire dancers, but the rest of the dances are so well done. If you are older I do recommend you ask for the table with chairs.  Sitting on the ground on pillows is not very comfortable for old bones.

Cases are not the concern, how many cases required hospital care? How many died? That is the barometer  to what is really going on. The graphs continue to go down. 75,000 new cases yesterday in the US, and 1260 deaths. Yesterday 3.3 MILLION vaccines went into arms. As vax goes up the rest comes down. It is all about the numbers.

6 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

Yesterday (March 26), 75,000 new cases, 1,260 new deaths.  

Are you talking about US? There are 331 million people, 1260 deaths doesnt even move the needle. 75,000 cases, how many hospitalized? Still doesnt move the needle. We know what it is, how to treat it and how to prevent it. We are miles ahead of what we were march 2020.

From the beginning we were told that less than 15% hospital beds with Covid is the goal. We are way below that now. CDC does not have a leg to stand on. We met that goal months ago, that is why states opened up. The vaccine made a huge difference, it is no longer an automatic death sentence like when it first began. If you get it will be mild or asymptomatic, or not get it at all.

Im a Minnesota transplant to Texas. Best state i have ever lived in. We are now going to be vaccinating everyone over 18 starting Monday. I wish Gov Abbott would give CDC a dressing down and open up Port of Galveston. A lot of people are vaccinated and ready to sail, i know i am..

I should take a picture of a mall here where Hobby Lobby is. There are 100's of high school kids hanging out every night in the parking lots. This is completely ridiculous. When this hit, the goal was to not exceed 15% of hospital beds with Covid patients. The entire US has met that goal and much, much less. There is a kangaroo court running this.

21 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

And we are giving around 1 million doses per week lately 

yep, looking back when cruises stopped. We had no idea what it was or how to treat it. We know now what to do and if someone did get it while on a ship, they can treat it and not have to sail in circles to find a port. CDC must think it is still march 2020 and not march 2021. Cases are still happening but nowhere near the numbers we saw at the beginning, and not a death sentence. 

20 hours ago, yogimax said:

Sailings are not going to begin in weeks, if not months.  You should have plenty of time to get your vaccination.  Here in NYC, we are already down 50 years of age and older.

Texas is opening up vaccine for anyone over 18 beginning Monday 3/29. They have also closed many of the big hospital's Covid ICU bed wings. People said we would have a big  jump in cases after opening state 100% and no longer having mask mandate. Never happened.

I forgot to add that the final payment for my 11/27 is due 120 days ahead 7/29. If I am not seeing cruises sailing in July, i am cancelling and doing a land trip. I would rather cruise but cruise is too expensive to be unsure if it will even sail. You are lucky you are eligible to pay 60 days ahead, sailing in October, 120 days ahead for me is too iffy.

1 hour ago, markdunn said:

I'm close to booking the Pride of America for mid-October. 

Circling back to the original poster's point about price, I'm wondering about the flights that NCL offers (currently 2nd passenger flies free). Flying to Honolulu isn't cheap of course but if I'll be in a middle seat on an indirect flight, I'll factor two full airfares into my overall decision.

If people do use NCL's flights, is there a way to "game the system" - figure out which airport to fly from with the greatest change of a direct flight? I'm in the  bay area so have SFO, OAK, even SMF within a couple hours. 

Thanks for an insight!

 

I did originally book POA air at 399.00 pp but ended up changing to my own air. I wanted non stop flights and choice of seats. I fly out of Dallas and is an 8 1/2 hour flight which is a long time to be crammed in a small seat. You can try to get the flights you want once NCL flights are released, but you will pay more than what they offer you. The main cabin extra seats are worth paying 20.00 more per person each way than standard seats.

Our first 7 day American Hawaii Cruise (SS Constitution) was 1695.00 pp plus tax and fees for an inside cabin in 1983. Drink of the day was 50 cents.

I'm feeling more confident by the day about POA sailing again. Looked up these facts about Covid in Hawaii, based on their data.

Population 1.4  Million

Positive cases 28,834

Hospitalized [7%]=2018

Deaths 454, the majority of deaths occurred during the first 6 months

535,000 vaccinated with at least 1 shot given so far.