Predict when cruising will start again post-Coronavirus

[OzKiwiJJ]

31 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/media/covid-19-emergency-measures-extended-for-a-further-three-months

Which doesn't leave us any the wiser as to whether there will be a 21/22 cruise season. ☹

 

Not much cruising occurred in winter in the past few years so extending the ban to mid-Sept has little effect. However if cruising is to occur over summer they will need to make a decision soon so that the ships can be brought up to full operating conditions and crewed.

[NSWP]

UK had 7300 new covid cases yesterday, more than double their daily rate last week. I think Boris will keep their lock down on past 21 June which was supposed to be 'freedom day' there.

 

What worries me here, is NSW is taking in foreign students again in the next few weeks, I hope they are checked out fully.

[possum52]

2 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Which doesn't leave us any the wiser as to whether there will be a 21/22 cruise season. ☹

 

Not much cruising occurred in winter in the past few years so extending the ban to mid-Sept has little effect. However if cruising is to occur over summer they will need to make a decision soon so that the ships can be brought up to full operating conditions and crewed.

It would appear that the 21/22 season is looking quite precarious. As you say that for the ships to be here in October a decision will need to be made soon - by the end of this month according to the article on the 'What Does Hal Know that We Aussies Don't' thread on this board by RNZ.

[Cruisegroover]

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

Ovation,27 September.

 I’ll email my agent and see why the cruises have been taken down.

Cruise planner is still there but any live website doesn’t show it or other cruises.

Was that Honolulu to Sydney? I thought they had been removed from sale months ago after the CDC said no cruises departing US ports longer than 7 days. I have a friend on the same cruise and that's what her TA had said - not actually cancelled but waiting further advice from CDC.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Cruisegroover

[Cruisegroover]

55 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Which doesn't leave us any the wiser as to whether there will be a 21/22 cruise season. ☹

 

Not much cruising occurred in winter in the past few years so extending the ban to mid-Sept has little effect. However if cruising is to occur over summer they will need to make a decision soon so that the ships can be brought up to full operating conditions and crewed.

I know I have 2 cruises - Coral Princess in November to PNG (100% certain that won't happen) and Ovation of the Seas NYE cruise. 

 

Given Ovation of the Seas will be up to full operation for a short Alaska season (5 x 7 nights cruises 13 Aug to 17 Sep) I have been wondering what will happen to OOS after 17 Sep. Seems a lot of time and effort for a ship to sail such a short time particularly if they ban gets extended again until 17 Dec at least.

 

I am positive during the Ruby Princess inquiry Carnival reps said the cruiselines submit paperwork 6 months in advance for the Australian cruise season for approval. I must go back and look through the transcripts to see what was actual said.

 

[possum52]

13 minutes ago, Cruisegroover said:

I know I have 2 cruises - Coral Princess in November to PNG (100% certain that won't happen) and Ovation of the Seas NYE cruise. 

 

Given Ovation of the Seas will be up to full operation for a short Alaska season (5 x 7 nights cruises 13 Aug to 17 Sep) I have been wondering what will happen to OOS after 17 Sep. Seems a lot of time and effort for a ship to sail such a short time particularly if they ban gets extended again until 17 Dec at least.

 

I am positive during the Ruby Princess inquiry Carnival reps said the cruiselines submit paperwork 6 months in advance for the Australian cruise season for approval. I must go back and look through the transcripts to see what was actual said.

 

We have the PNG Coral cruise too. I'm quite certain it won't happen as well. I guess it could be made into a QLD coastal but the fact it was going to PNG was the reason we booked and it was a reasonable price.

 

Leigh

[Tikibird]

We are also on that Coral PNG cruise.  Yeah, no way is it happening, people are freaking out over some Melbourne couple who snuck into Qld and turned up positive.   I know, bad move on them but it's more the freaking out that worries me than the bloody Covid.  I wish Princess would just cancel and give us credits.  We are in 20% cancellation fee stage now as of 31 May.  11 Sep is final payment day. This is so stressful! 

[OzKiwiJJ]

45 minutes ago, Tikibird said:

We are also on that Coral PNG cruise.  Yeah, no way is it happening, people are freaking out over some Melbourne couple who snuck into Qld and turned up positive.   I know, bad move on them but it's more the freaking out that worries me than the bloody Covid.  I wish Princess would just cancel and give us credits.  We are in 20% cancellation fee stage now as of 31 May.  11 Sep is final payment day. This is so stressful! 

Don't panic!

 

You won't lose your money. If you cancel you'll get any cancellation fees back as FCC. However I recommend waiting until Princess cancels, which they will do and it should happen before final payment is due. I've had a number of cruises cancelled and I haven't lost a cent so far. In fact I've made money as I chose the FCC option instead of a refund of my deposits so got a bit extra as well. 😊

 

But if the ships come here I very much doubt a PNG cruise will be allowed to happen. If cruising does restart here it will only be domestic cruises, and possibly NZ cruises if the NZ government comes to the party.

[Docker123]

I think that this is just a 3 month step. More to come.

 

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/health-safety/delta-variant-could-keep-australias-borders-closed-scott-morrison-warns/news-story/9777bb4b983ab840b6c4a6a21fa2fb3d

[frantic36]

3 hours ago, Docker123 said:

I think that this is just a 3 month step. More to come.

 

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/health-safety/delta-variant-could-keep-australias-borders-closed-scott-morrison-warns/news-story/9777bb4b983ab840b6c4a6a21fa2fb3d

 

What is so frustrating with this is that Mr Morrison quotes the issue in Great Britain with the Delta virus. From an article I read today only three of the cases admitted to hospital had been vaccinated with two jabs, 28 had only one jab and 83 had not been vaccinated. So it seems to indicate to me that the issue is getting more people vaccinated to protect against variants.

 

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/the-jabs-are-working-from-12-383-delta-variant-cases-in-britain-only-three-fully-vaccinated-people-in-hospital-20210608-p57yyj.html

[Hygge!]

Totally agree!!!

[Chiliburn]

15 hours ago, Cruisegroover said:

 

 

Given Ovation of the Seas will be up to full operation for a short Alaska season (5 x 7 nights cruises 13 Aug to 17 Sep) I have been wondering what will happen to OOS after 17 Sep. Seems a lot of time and effort for a ship to sail such a short time particularly if they ban gets extended again until 17 Dec at least.

 

 

 

Ovation will probably end up in LA doing short cruises.

I doubt we will be seeing it in Australia for 18 months.

[OzKiwiJJ]

11 hours ago, Docker123 said:

I think that this is just a 3 month step. More to come.

 

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/health-safety/delta-variant-could-keep-australias-borders-closed-scott-morrison-warns/news-story/9777bb4b983ab840b6c4a6a21fa2fb3d

But the border closure shouldn't stop domestic cruising. There are more than enough people in Australia who love cruising to fill a few ships for the whole season. A it would take is an exemption for vaccinated and pre-quarantined crews to enter Australia along with the ships. If the government can give exemptions for thousands of international students to come to Australia they can damn well do the same for cruise ship crews to help the recovery of industries that support cruising here.

[Tikibird]

31 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

But the border closure shouldn't stop domestic cruising. There are more than enough people in Australia who love cruising to fill a few ships for the whole season. A it would take is an exemption for vaccinated and pre-quarantined crews to enter Australia along with the ships. If the government can give exemptions for thousands of international students to come to Australia they can damn well do the same for cruise ship crews to help the recovery of industries that support cruising here.

 That is also kind of a worry.  I would never spend this kind of money on a domestic cruise.  I chose the PNG itinerary because I want to see those remote PNG islands.  QLD coast is a road trip for us, not a cruise.   I don't want to be forced to accept a changed itinerary or lose my deposit.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Tikibird

[Aus Traveller]

17 minutes ago, Tikibird said:

 That is also kind of a worry.  I would never spend this kind of money on a domestic cruise.  I chose the PNG itinerary because I want to see those remote PNG islands.  QLD coast is a road trip for us, not a cruise.   I don't want to be forced to accept a changed itinerary or lose my deposit.

I am sure you won't be forced to accept a changed itinerary. 🙂 When our cruises were cancelled, we were given the option of a replacement cruise or a refund. Even when P&O changed the ship for a particular cruise, we were given that option.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Aus Traveller

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Tikibird said:

 That is also kind of a worry.  I would never spend this kind of money on a domestic cruise.  I chose the PNG itinerary because I want to see those remote PNG islands.  QLD coast is a road trip for us, not a cruise.   I don't want to be forced to accept a changed itinerary or lose my deposit.

For us there are three types of cruises:

1. Destination cruises where the port stops are important, like your PNG cruise. 

2. Catch up with family and friends in NZ.

3. Relaxation cruises where being on the ship is the reason for cruising and the port stops aren't important. That's why we don't mind doing domestic cruises or cruises to places we've been to before. We just love being on a ship.

 

Sometimes we're lucky enough to combine 1 & 3. The 35 night Hawaii/Tahiti cruise we did in 2019 gave us plenty of sea days for relaxation plus some lovely new places to visit. 

Edited June 11, 2021 by OzKiwiJJ

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

But the border closure shouldn't stop domestic cruising. There are more than enough people in Australia who love cruising to fill a few ships for the whole season. A it would take is an exemption for vaccinated and pre-quarantined crews to enter Australia along with the ships. If the government can give exemptions for thousands of international students to come to Australia they can damn well do the same for cruise ship crews to help the recovery of industries that support cruising here.

It does say a restriction on cruise ship entering Australian waters.

It doesn’t say anything about ships operating in domestic waters.

And cargo ships are constantly getting permits to enter Australian waters.

 

But I think we are flogging a dead horse,even Saudi Arabia are lifting restrictions but not Gilligans Island. 
It’s like a comedy of errors,a completed vaccine rate of 1%

 

[possum52]

We chose the PNG cruise as we had a land trip there cancelled in 2019 and then a cruise for mid year 2020 which would also have visited PNG. We can do it in the future, if this one is cancelled, although we were hoping 3rd time lucky. But as Julie said, it is doubtful that a PNG cruise will be allowed. If cruise ships are allowed back, we would probaly be happy to do a domestic QLD cruise. We have cruised through the GBR and really enjoyed it and wouldn't mind doing it again.

 

Leigh

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

It does say a restriction on cruise ship entering Australian waters.

It doesn’t say anything about ships operating in domestic waters.

And cargo ships are constantly getting permits to enter Australian waters.

 

But I think we are flogging a dead horse,even Saudi Arabia are lifting restrictions but not Gilligans Island. 
It’s like a comedy of errors,a completed vaccine rate of 1%

 

That's a bit unfair given the recommended time between the relatively plentiful AstraZenica doses is 12 weeks and we only get limited supplies of Pfizer. DH, who is over 70, got his first AZ shot at the end of March, which was as soon as he could get an appointment with our GP once they made the vaccine available to over-70s. He's due for the second shot in exactly two weeks. The numbers of fully vaccinated will definately start climbing from now on. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 minutes ago, possum52 said:

We chose the PNG cruise as we had a land trip there cancelled in 2019 and then a cruise for mid year 2020 which would also have visited PNG. We can do it in the future, if this one is cancelled, although we were hoping 3rd time lucky. But as Julie said, it is doubtful that a PNG cruise will be allowed. If cruise ships are allowed back, we would probaly be happy to do a domestic QLD cruise. We have cruised through the GBR and really enjoyed it and wouldn't mind doing it again.

 

Leigh

 

Especially if they do a run through Torres Strait in the daytime. We did one repositioning cruise that did that and it was wonderful, so scenic, and the commentary given by the strait pilot was fascinating. We were so disappointed when the next repo cruise we did went through there at night.

[possum52]

13 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Especially if they do a run through Torres Strait in the daytime. We did one repositioning cruise that did that and it was wonderful, so scenic, and the commentary given by the strait pilot was fascinating. We were so disappointed when the next repo cruise we did went through there at night.

Ours was through the day too Julie, quite fascinating listening to the pilot through the strait. I would love to do it again.

 

Leigh

[gogo65]

42 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That's a bit unfair given the recommended time between the relatively plentiful AstraZenica doses is 12 weeks and we only get limited supplies of Pfizer. DH, who is over 70, got his first AZ shot at the end of March, which was as soon as he could get an appointment with our GP once they made the vaccine available to over-70s. He's due for the second shot in exactly two weeks. The numbers of fully vaccinated will definately start climbing from now on. 

Agree, most of those in the 1B group would have had AZ, being 3 months apart, the numbers will start to rise shortly.

Add to that the opportunity for Pfizer opening up to the under 50’s, that will also increase the rate quicker.

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That's a bit unfair given the recommended time between the relatively plentiful AstraZenica doses is 12 weeks and we only get limited supplies of Pfizer. DH, who is over 70, got his first AZ shot at the end of March, which was as soon as he could get an appointment with our GP once they made the vaccine available to over-70s. He's due for the second shot in exactly two weeks. The numbers of fully vaccinated will definately start climbing from now on. 

 

47 minutes ago, gogo65 said:

Agree, most of those in the 1B group would have had AZ, being 3 months apart, the numbers will start to rise shortly.

Add to that the opportunity for Pfizer opening up to the under 50’s, that will also increase the rate quicker.

Well I beg to differ.

The US had a big political handicap and they have 43% fully vaccinated.

https://usafacts.org/visualizations/covid-vaccine-tracker-states/

 

 

 

[gogo65]

3 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

 

Well I beg to differ.

The US had a big political handicap and they have 43% fully vaccinated.

https://usafacts.org/visualizations/covid-vaccine-tracker-states/

 

 

 

Yes but they are also using J&J which is one dose and moderna which is two doses one month apart. 
 

[Blackduck59]

Still reading, still being quiet. Be well everyone.