the_thunderbird

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Maybe rules are different in Canadian waters, but you'd have to be near death to get a medivac by the coast guard.

 

That aside, I think you're seeing more medical diversions lately because thanks to the CDC the cruise lines are paranoid about keeping open beds for covid treatment (even though they're almost never used)

Admittedly I have no idea what the rules are anywhere else, but as a former Duty Officer for the Canadian Armed Forces Maritime Forces Pacific Command, who "dispatch" the birds in the photo from the first post - you gotta be in a real hurt locker to get picked up like that. 

Watched the Nieuw Amsterdam leave Vancouver today! Great to see life coming back to normal and hope everyone has a brilliant time. 

Always hard to measure how busy a ship is from The pier but I was around for a couple hours, looked pretty lite on passengers.

On 1/29/2021 at 2:54 PM, deliver42 said:

from Vancouver. 

As a somewhat informed observer who is in British Columbia, it seems like a long shot - albeit not totally impossible - that cruises will be allowed in Canada this year. The boats themselves are Federally regulated, and over the last week the Prime Minister said no international travel likely to be supported for discretionary reasons this year. 

The terminals are Federally owner in trust but Provincially regulated. And generally BC has an even more conservative approach that the Feds. 

My work policy isn't covering outside of BC! My insurance policy from my BMO MasterCard won't cover any bill, regardless of type, for Covid related items. 

Random story that has nothing to do with his thread, but, I thought if you might enjoy it. 

Many years ago, I'm not even entirely sure when (1970s), BC Ferries, the provincial ferry fleet for the Province of British Columbia, Canada, had a ferry named Island Princess. At that time, Canada was using the British registry for ships. That meant that the Island Princess name was assigned to BC Ferries in the Commonwealth.

When P&O bought the original-to-them Island Princess they wanted to retain the name. Fairly quickly a agreement would be reached where artifacts were donated to British Columbia, and the ferry name had the word "North" added. 

Today the 62 year old North Island Princess was retired! 

51 minutes ago, BigHouseFootball said:

Flying into Seattle and then driving to the cruise port in Vancouver is definitely something I have considered. 
 

No problems at the border with it being a rental car? And picking up the car in one country and dropping it off in another?

Amtrak runs twice a day too, when things are normal, and is a comfy way to get between the two cities!

12 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

The Pan Pacific isn't even open right now...all the hotels near the port ceased operations in March for the most part. Today we are meant to be slowly reopening in phase 2 but I'm not sure if that includes hotels. Good luck - hope you get your money back one way or another!

Pan opened today 🙂 Happy Phase 2! Be kind, be calm, and be safe.

BC as of yesterday put enough restrictions through September 1 to end cruises. Although the Ports are federally regulated, BC will require 14 self isolation through the summer, and has out in place Orders that would make loading a cruise ship impossible. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-health-officials-say-cruise-ships-not-welcome-this-summer-1.5567086

I don't think the federal government will reopen west Coast ports without BC being in agreement. 

BC confirmed closed for debarkation this season, Vancouver & Victoria (Seattle departures). There's no way the Federal government will open the Ports without Provincial consent. 

If the Ports were to open Dr. Henry, our Health Officer, stated she would issue an Order to prohibit actual physical entry of passengers to BC. As a resident I'm strongly supportive of this for 2020, but it'll be economically crushing. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-health-officials-say-cruise-ships-not-welcome-this-summer-1.5567086

BC confirmed closed for debarkation this season, Vancouver & Victoria (Seattle departures). There's no way the Federal government will open the Ports without Provincial consent. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-health-officials-say-cruise-ships-not-welcome-this-summer-1.5567086

Not go interrupt this argument about American policy in Canada, but... 😂

BC confirmed closed for debarkation this season, Vancouver & Victoria (Seattle departures). There's no way the Federal government will open the Ports without Provincial consent. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-health-officials-say-cruise-ships-not-welcome-this-summer-1.5567086

Another member shared the timestamp for this, apologies cannot remember who... In any event, here is BC's Public Health Officer not directly saying no yet, but really, saying no; 34 minutes in: 

3 hours ago, Seacruise said:

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

Dr. Henry is the best! Be kind, be calm and be safe.

The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, obviously only for Victoria, does have a proposal ready for a market style venue at the terminal in the event that ships arrive; generally Canadian Provinces and the Feds play nice together. The border was a tension point at the beginning stages of the emergency response, and I could really see it being a tension point again; that being that the border could open without BC's support. 

Pragmatically, though, BC has enough authority to keep you on the boat, but, only the Federal government can control whether it is able to tie up or now. I've got no idea if debarkation is required by the "Jones Act"?

Eeek - lots of, um, advice on here? I'm a Police Officer in Canada. 

There's contact info, if you feel comfortable , call them? This mass type of fan out is becoming a bit more common these days, we used it in Vancouver for the riots.

If you aren't comfortable, call your local Police non-emergency number. They can send a "CPIC Message" to the Mounties (well, probably Mounty, singular lol) in Australia to verify with your Police agency of home jurisdiction that it is a real request 🙂

49 minutes ago, Robinsoncruiseso said:

Victoria should not be an issue.  

 

Rumour here (Victoria) is that if there's a West Coast cruise season there could be a "market" taken to the terminal so ships can fulfill their Jones Act requirements, and access to the City proper may be denied for passengers. Obviously this is all very much evolving, but, BC had among the less onerous closure requirements, but, I think will also have among the slowest re-openings. 

Our events of over fifty people are almost all cancelled through September. 

3 hours ago, K_e_short said:

Now if you are leaving from Seattle just ignore my rant 🙂

Then you still need to go to Victoria 🙂

3 hours ago, roger001 said:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.   Too bad the many, many unknowns and variables cannot be seen at the beginning.  As my Dad told my Mom one day..."Nancy, the world isn't perfect."   

I agree with that, but come about mid-March we knew what was up... And many lines continued as per normal a week past that. Several articles outline the events quite well. For Canadians we got the don't sail guidance March 11th. 

Japan allowed crew changes on Costa Atlantic, and now 1/6th of the crew, 91 people as of tonight, is test positive. This began four or five days ago, no doubt why the CDC is rightly minimizing international travel I to cruise ships which by design allowing substantial disease transmission. 

7 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I read that the White Pass Railroad in Skagway is closed down for at least the beginning of the summer season but, I see you can book it online so, even as early as May so I must have gotten bad information.  

 

 

https://wpyr.com/excursions/product/summit-excursion/

 

I heard the exact same as you. Wondering if the "reasonable" Covid situation in Alaska eased the restrictions the season would face for them. They'll have a reasonable ability to space people out, particularly given the undoubted low loads they'll be carrying. 

The railway has actually just invested in some new locomotives which arrived a couple weeks ago now, and also sold some old ones headed south now. 

If it is safe, I will make my way there this summer to foam on the new equipment 🙂

1 minute ago, Joe817 said:

Thank you for your comment. I wasn't aware I that  my post was a 'political ranting'. I merely stated the facts, as I understood them. I'm sure you will agree with me, that my opinions, and ONLY my opinions, are shared with others on this on this  forum.

 

I strongly feel, that all of us will be sailing again. ... It's only a matter of time....And when. That's all. 

 

Don't worry, we aren't all American either 🙂  

I think your post is bang on... 

6 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

How do they know that it wasn't the hotel prior to the cruise (or the airline or transportation to the pier ... or from a restaurant or the grocery store, for that matter or even while in port, maybe on an excursion) where the passenger was originally infected?  We know it is extremely infectious ... seems like the cruise ship is where their symptoms developed.  I'm sure it isn't just enclosed spaces where this can spread as the article indicates.  It is human to human transmission and that can happen anywhere.  If it can't, I'm really irritated that I have to don a mask every time I take a walk in the neighborhood now.  The legal defense will be all over this, though.  

Because the statistical probability of the numbers that developed on several of the ships was essentially zero without some form of internal transmission. The research on ships being a great place for any virus etc to spread is incredibly well documented ... Its just willful blindness at this point to make posts saying "oh they just happened to all start showing symptoms on the cruise."

It is certainly not the cruise lines fault that covid-19 got on the ship, it is their fault for the lack of action that followed. 

Ships will probably always have this communal spread issue, its fine as long as it is properly remediated and the businesses are responsible enough to STOP when an issue is identified. 

They haven't issued a release for whatever reason. However, right now they're booking with very limited service starting in May. 

And, just as a correction to some misinformation above, some trips do run to Canada. If you ever have the chance ride the whole line - its all so spectacular! 

56 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I wasn't cruising during the SARS epidemic and am curious what the protocol was for cruising at that time. I don't remember what was protocol for MERS but would be interested to learn what that protocol was as well.  TIA!

Not much if anything on the North America side, I do recall a few ship redeployments and itinerary changes. 

SARS was pretty inefficient at moving through people compared to Covid-19. Consequently containment was quite successful, relatively speaking, quickly. The industry was able to keep moving normally everywhere except Asia... Even then I don't recall a full shut down?

On 4/20/2020 at 1:13 PM, jimbo5544 said:

You make an excellent point on forced vaccines. 

Schools are, for the most part, public institutions. Cruises are private companies, they can make almost anything a condition of carriage.