Seacruise

13 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

No one claimed that US customs was staffed by Canada.  

Yes they did in post 13. That is what started this diversion in this thread.

1 hour ago, George C said:

I am sure Vancouver is a nice city but thought there airport was a disaster almost missed my flight returning from a cruise . If I have a choice I will go to Seattle one less problem for USA residents since we can avoid going thru your customs. 

Hmm there is a small problem here with what you are saying.

You say almost missed my flight returning from a cruise because of your customs.
Well when you are at the airport and go to clear Customs you are clearing US Customs to go back to the USA. So if you have a beef then it is with YOUR US Customs and and not our Canada Customs.
The YVR airport authority has nothing to do with controlling what US Customs does.
 

Norwegian Dawn just left Miami headed to Gibraltar.

Carnival Fantasy is anchored off Turkey and is schedule to be beached tomorrow to be scrapped.

Carnival Inspiration is scheduled to arrive on August 3rd and be beached.

It is a sad period of time to see them one after another....

5 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

I wonder why Carnival Corp. is/was not included? I think it would be better if all were putting forth a united plan of action. 

This WTTC and Carnival Corporation Present COVID-19 Scientific Summit could have something to do with it for now.

I have to agree here. Mind you today is the first day in a long time I have not got an email in my inbox. Maybe they are listening? 😉

Here is a snip from the Maritime Law Exemption for NCL

NCL was recently granted a legislative exemption7 from the U.S.-built requirement of U.S. vessel documentation law to operate three foreign-built cruise ships in limited domestic itineraries under the U.S. flag.8 These ships must meet all other requirements to operate under the U.S. flag, including U.S. ownership requirements and operating with a U.S. crew. NCL has created a U.S. subsidiary, NCL America, to meet the U.S. ownership requirements to operate U.S.-flag vessels in domestic trade.9 Because the U.S.-built requirement is waived and the vessels will be operating under the U.S. flag, these ships will be considered qualified to operate in the domestic trade. These ships are therefore unaffected by the restrictions of the PVSA. However, the exemption limits the markets these ships may serve. NCL is required to keep the ships in “regular service” in Hawaii and is restricted from using the exempted vessels for transporting passengers to ports in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, or Alaska.10 NCL is scheduled to begin service in Hawaii in July 2004.

Note it specifically states NO Alaska.

They could however get around it and pay the $300 fine for each passenger they put ashore in Alaska if they miss Victoria.

8 hours ago, compman9 said:

 

I'm all for advertising. I think Cruise Critic would be a much better place if TAs shared the very best prices for customers and tour operators listed their trips

You may be all for it now, but I can assure you that all hell will break loose on CC with TA's trying to out due do each other. They start by trying to poach customers from one TA to themselves.
I have run different cruise forums for 20+ years and all of them have had the rule NO TA posts because this is exactly what happens. Most private FB cruise pages have this rule as well.
I watched one agent go bankrupt for what she did with her discount online.

I was on the Millennium last April and again in August.

The one thing that was noticed was the poor quality of the refurbishment as one went up in the ship. Mainly here I am talking about cabins. We had a C2 on Deck 8.
You see when they started gutting the cabins they started on deck 2 with the plan to do 50 cabins a day. They only did 10 the first day and 15 on day 2. So they were 75 behind after day two and things didn't get better.
This was due to the number of trades needed to redo a cabin. They were tripping over each other.
So as time was ticking down they started to take short cuts such as not allowing the grout in the bathroom and showers to dry properly. Our shower was missing most of the grout about 6 weeks after refit. We had screws break through the desk top. The over spray of the paint was everywhere on the ship.
We even had an electrical fire in our cabin due to the refit.

In August I was on the ship again and some things had been fixed but over spray and grout had not yet been fixed. I managed to talk to the Captain about it and he said once the ship returned to Asia a crew was to board the ship to fix the many problems.

Don't get me wrong the ship was in great shape otherwise. Many things done were for the better with a few odd things such as the new bed lights in the Cabins that required one to get out of bed to turn on/off and Glass Doors to cupboards and closets.

One of the more interesting things added were large sinks as you walked into the Buffet so you could wash your hands. In light of what is happening today this will be of great interest.

I am planning on being back on Millennium next year. So the problems have not deterred me from sailing on here again.

Hope this helps and don't be afraid to sail on her.

2 hours ago, Bill Miller said:

SeaCruise has the most interesting and insightful comment about ordering stores for the ships. This makes sense. However, ship chandlers will amaze you with how fast they can grub up a ship when money is to be made.

 

Here is the problem, there currently is virtually NO Beef because of the slaughter houses being closed. Chicken is just starting to come back online due to plants being shut down.
With restaurants now starting to come back online  puts an extra strain of the already short supply.
Costco here last weekend had NO beef period. They had a great supply of Lamb and Farmed Atlantic Salmon (which no one from this part of the world would eat).
Milk and eggs are not a problem as there is an over supply of those.

I guess we could go the Chops for a vegan meal..... 😉

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

Found a good reason that RCL, including three X ships, are still planning on cruising in Alaska this summer:

 

https://vancouversun.com/investing/cppib-down-1b-on-ill-timed-royal-caribbean-cruises-investment-filings-suggest/wcm/188ac94c-dbd2-4545-8e78-de9cf3e615b6/

 

Canada (pensions) is a major stockholder in RCL.

 

Easy for CCL to cancel all their brands, harder for RCL.

 

Marc

Marc,

Look at the video that Heather posted above. Alaska is NOT happening.
It doesn't matter that the Canada Pension Plan is part owner, it isn't happening.

Also one has to undergo a 14 Day quarantine to enter BC.

The next problem is no cruise line has ordered any supplies/food at this point. The orders have to be placed roughly 88 days before departure. I have personal knowledge on this.
88 Days from today is August 10th at this point.

So does this sound like cruises to Alaska is a go?

The BC Health Officer today made it as plane as day that there will be no Alaska cruise season this year. Dr. Henry was Asked about the Vancouver Sun report wearlier that was posted.
Here is the video Dr Bonnie Henry and skip ahead to 33:45

The BC Health Officer made it as plane as day that there will be no Alaska cruise season this year.
Here is the video Dr Bonnie Henry and skip ahead to 33:45

Just to throw another thought into all this is July 1 is a date they use but it really doesn't appear to be possible.
We all know we are starting to experience shortages in now things like Beef and Chicken. I know my local Costco has no beef.
My other half works in the the food biz that supplies cruise lines and she was at work yesterday and they have almost no beef in stock because of the plants being closed due to covid19.
Also cruise lines have to submit their food list to the supplier roughly 88 days before departure. That would make it August 8th from today. Since there are no orders to supply any cruise line right now it appears July 1 start is far fetched.
So if you think July 01 is a go it may be a vegan cruise for you.

The BC Health Officer killed this about 3 hours ago. The Borders WILL NOT Open on May 21 as planned. Washington State has way too many cases still and no sign of it flattening out. Some stats showing why the BC govt. doesn't want the US border reopened: neighbouring Washington state, with 1.5x the pop. of BC, has 7x the number of COVID19 cases (231 today) and 7x the number of deaths.
The Premiers of the Provinces held a conference call last week calling for the Borders to stay closed on the advice of Health Officers.
If for some reason the port is opened you will have to do a 14 day quarantine prior to entering Canada under BC Law.

 

1 hour ago, middlehaitch said:

The ports, like all Canadian borders, are a federal not provincial responsibility, that is why it is not mentioned in the update,  but one can presume they will not be opened.

The federal guidelines have not changed, yet.

Here is some reading for those interested.

 

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/latest-travel-health-advice.html#cruise

 

https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety/bulletins-2020-05-eng.htm

 

cheers, heather.

It doesn't matter if the Ports are Federal. BC closed the border to Washington State BEFORE it was agreed upon with the USA as Washington State was a hotspot. What they did was issue a 14 day quarantine to those crossing. The cruise season was also talked about before Trudeau made the announcement. 

So you step off the Plane to get to the cruise and issued a 14 day quarantine, now what?

Oh yes how are you going to Fly to Canada to board the ship? Air Canada has no flights to the USA for the foreseeable future and nor do other airlines.
You have a major problem also coming up and that is where do you get a flight crew as in Pilots? Most Captains are over the age of 45 and require a medical every 6 months. Medicals were extended 3 months and will not be extended again.
In order to get a medical you have to visit the doctor in person (NO Virtual medical here) because of all the tests that have to be done.
In a lot of cases pilots have been laid off and will also require a Check Flight before getting back behind the controls. This takes a few hours and there are not that many Simulators out there to do it in fast order.
I know this because I am a pilot.

Oh and the big one that I read last week is how do the airlines bring the planes out of storage. Boeing and Airbus only have a manual for long term storage it turns out and no short term storage manual as it hasn't been needed. This is all new to them. It isn't a matter of kicking the tires and lighting the fire.
One just needs to go look at what the Airline world body is proposing in order to start back up again.
I read yesterday the proposal that is being put forward, is the airlines will require passengers to be at the airport 4 hours before a flight to go through all the checks.  There is even talk of them requiring blood tests in some cases which in itself is problematic in my opinion. The talk of "additional" fees is also talked about. The turning off of Video screens will also take place as they are a germ magnet they say.
I truly hope this get paired down or many passengers will be more than a little ticked off before getting on the plane.

There is another problem in Downtown Vancouver right now and that is Hotels are being used to House the Homeless. This will not end anytime soon either.  Just Google Downtown East-side of Vancouver and it will open your eyes.

There are just too many hurdles as I see it to over come for this summer to be a go.

27 minutes ago, SunFun80 said:

I listened to this in its entirety and nowhere does Horgan indicate that cruise ship ports are closed until 2021.  Can you indicate where he said this. I still have a cruise scheduled and have not cancelled as I am waiting for them to cancel.  

He says that NO groups of more than 50. Please tell me how you are going to load and unload a ship at Canada Place and maintain social distance and a group of 50 or less. A ship could not do all this in 8 hours.
There is NO possible way to load buses and maintain social distance as there are not enough buses in Vancouver to do this. Then there is the problem of cleaning them between loads.

1 hour ago, az_tchr said:

Prime Minister Horgan announced today on TV that ports in BC would remain closed to all except ship with under I think 300 passengers.  Ferry traffic continues at about 40% to Vancouver Island and US to Victoria ferry is shut.

Said in no hurry to open US/BC border to tourist traffic.

Sounds like Alaska cruising done for 2020.

Holland America and others pretty much cancelling all of 2020.  

Just to clarify something, John Horgan is Premier of British Columbia . The Prime Minister of Canada is The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau.
It is like calling the Governor of Arizona The President of the United States. 🙂 .

And Yes BC is closed this fall so no cruises period going to Hawaii or Japan.... Oh yes and if the border does open you will be required to do a 14 day quarantine.

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22905-holland-america-cancels-all-2020-alaska-europe-and-canada-sailings.html

Also Princess has cancelled.

RCL/Celebrity can't be far behind.

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22905-holland-america-cancels-all-2020-alaska-europe-and-canada-sailings.html

Celebrity/RCL can't be far behind.

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22905-holland-america-cancels-all-2020-alaska-europe-and-canada-sailings.html

I am not sure how HAL figures they can go to Alaska with just 2 ships.

Princess may "have" 2 ships as well.

First off places like Skagway have about 2500 "southerners" that come for the summer for work. So far no one is hiring for this summer because of the big unknown.
How many people will take work in Skagway for the few ships each week. The expense out-ways the gain. 
The next question since Carnival now owns White Pass Railroad and all Land and Sea Journeys are cancelled does this fall into it. What about Gray Line of Alaska which does HAL/Princess Tours, they are not hiring right now either and it takes about 6 weeks to train a driver.
I am just trying to be realistic here. I don't see much being open that needs southerners to work for them.

I have heard that cruise lines will not sail at full capacity to start off with because they can ill afford  to have 1 Covid19 case. If 1 case does show up the 400+ ships in the world may as well be sunk and turned into reefs at the bottom of the ocean.
There is the question of where the crew will come from.
In order to get crew to where the ships are you need airplanes to fly. That isn't happening in the short order because many pilots will need check flights and medicals (medicals have been extended for 3 months and are required for pilots over 45 every 6 months). Since that can't happen anytime soon there will be a backlog.
Remember that Alaska attracts people from all over the world. What restrictions will be placed on people from those places or from parts of Canada and the USA. Each place is in its own stage with Covid19 and as I see we all need to be on a level field before I want to be on a ship or have people visit this part of the world.

Too many hurdles to cross as I see it.

12 minutes ago, Himself said:

Has it already been given permission to enter the canal or is this a hope?

It is waiting for an opening.
 

As I said before it is likely to do a night time transit as it is cheaper.
The Agua Clara locks are only single locks, not parallel like Gatun Locks. So you have to wait for all outbound traffic to clear then the direction changes and starts going the other way.
As I type this there appears 1 more freighter Ever Legion that needs to go outbound before the switch would occur.
I am not saying it will happen tonight but it could.

Also passing in Culebra Cut is limited.

I also suspect that Koningsdam will take on fuel once it reaches the Pacific side.

13 hours ago, npcl said:

It is actually 100 days from when it is listed in the Federal Register. It was published on 3/24

It is an extension of that original order.
Why would they need to re-issue the order when the original order is still in effect.
Yes the order has other conditions as well and the cruise lines can dream all they want but there is no way that cruise will be back in the middle of May.
Please tell me how the cruise lines figure they will be back up and sailing by then.
The first thing is they have to re-crew their ships and that isn't happening anytime soon.

40 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

If you open the pdf, the order is dated March 14th and renews the order.

 

The original order was dated March 14 2020.
If you go down to the bottom of this order it says this:
 

In testimony whereof, the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has hereunto set his hand at Washington, D.C., this 9th day of April, 2020.

So the order is dated for April 9 2020. So 100 days from today's date.
That would make it July 18th 2020 end date.