Smokeyham

Stephanie, Can you believe that this thread that you started on December 3, 2004 would still be going? Thanks for getting this going. It has given me (and I suspect a lot of other people) a lot of laughs. I look forward to the day when we can start to see crazy things aboard once again.

I was supposed to be going to Peru just before Covid hit. Dealing with Latam, both prior to the cancellation and since the cancellation has been a nightmare. Of course, every airline has been impacted but it has been especially difficult even getting through to Latam.

Thanks so much everyone for the great responses! Certainly makes sense to go to Ushuaia a few days early to allow for flight and/or baggage delays. Doing a full Antarctic cruise and relying on the generosity of others to loan you clothing would not be fun! Good point too that being there after your Antarctic adventure when others are excited about the journey they are about to start on could be sad.

Could you tell us a little more about what the differences were?

Hank, Thank you for such a well-considered post. I agree that the luxury small ship market will be better able to meet the requirements, and cruisers' preferences, in the post Covid world. It will be interesting to watch what this does to pricing for such lines.

Thanks Erin, As always, your blog is wonderfully written and very informative. Gordon

The sad thing about this article is how pleased the violator is with himself, believing he "beat the system" but not thinking (or caring) about the risk he put others to.

I'm asking this in the Antarctica boards because this seems like a place you are more likely to get rough seas. When I owned a boat we got a roll of non-slip rubberized matting that we put on many different surfaces to keep things from slipping off when the boat rocked. A roll was cheap from Bed, Bath and Beyond and could be cut to fit any surface. I'm wondering if anyone has done this for tables, bedside nightstands, etc. in your cabin. I haven't seen it in in the usual lists of things to bring (over the door shoe holders, magnets, etc) but realize that the motion is

I've read that a number of Antarctica cruises set things up so you are met in Buenos Aires and then take a flight to Ushuaia and board the ship with little time in the port. Would it be better to arrange your own flights and to spend a day or so in Ushuaia, either at the start or end (or perhaps both) of the trip?

All good points that have been raised. The sad thing is that we go on a cruise hoping for an environment where we don't have to confront people in order to get compliance with what, to many of us, are common sense requirements during a pandemic. My fear is that, despite the requirements being widely published both on board and prior to boarding, a segment will refuse to comply. A likely result, is a Covid breakout and the bad publicity will follow. Cruising would once again shut down. Of course, I also fear that I will be one of the ones that catch Cov

My guess is that we will not see any cruising out of U.S. West Coast ports until the middle of 2021 at the earliest. It sounds like plans are underway to try cruises out of Florida. If those can be conducted safely (i.e. no Covid outbreaks) then other markets could start to reopen.

Good points...... The things that I would like to be sure I understood are items like the general characteristics of other passengers on board, the dress code, the style and layout of the vessel and cabin, the atmosphere on board, etc. Some of those things you can learn about from reading or watching videos, but I think a lot you can only learn from being on board.

So, is the reason that they can use Ensenada for the SF - Hawaii - SF cruise because it starts and ends at the same U.S. port?

I would hope that the cruise lines would be firm on enforcement. I guess we will have to see what the reports are from the first cruises that go out from U.S. ports once cruising is allowed to resume.

Thanks for posting this idea. As a temporary work-around to allow some cruising from the U.S. mainland to Alaska this would seem to have some merit. Of course, it won't replace the volume of ships that visit Alaska with embarkation at Seattle and Vancouver, bit it would seem to be feasible to offer a 14-day itinerary from San Diego to Ensenada then north to Alaska, stopping in Monterey, Astoria and then on to Alaska. One the return journey the final stop could be in San Francisco if there was not time to get all the way back to San Diego. Pri