****CARNIVAL CRUISERS: HOW ARE THINGS WHERE YOU LIVE???

[Aplmac]

Here on the Eastern Caribbean island of Barbados

we have a sturdy vaccination program going down!

Just about everyone our age group (70+)

has now been fully vaccinated, plus 2 weeks...

so we'll be ready for y'all, when the cruise ships starting dropping by again.

 

Covid-19 is just about under control,

but oh man it's taking some management

and social discipline, social distancing, mask-wearing

- and night curfews!

 

Below are some latest statistics to give you some idea

of what's up (and down) on a small island of just under 300,000 residents!

 

And a pretty picture or two...

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

19 hours ago, Aplmac said:

Here on the Eastern Caribbean island of Barbados

we have a sturdy vaccination program going down!

Just about everyone our age group (70+)

has now been fully vaccinated, plus 2 weeks...

so we'll be ready for y'all, when the cruise ships starting dropping by again.

 

You'd better be ready in September when my ship (NCL Gem) stops by in September!  It looks like it's going to be one of the first mainstream cruise ships to visit Barbados since the pandemic started.

 

Back on the subject at hand, thanks as always for all the updates from around the world.  Here in Michigan cases are continuing to drop to levels we haven't seen since February.  In our county, new cases have dropped to numbers we haven't seen since last July.  Things are continuing to open here, with more restrictions being dropped by June 1, and all of them scheduled to go on July 1.  We understand that this is not as fast as some states, but please try to understand what we recently went through.  We don't wish that on anyone.

 

In other news, our Governor made a couple of questionable moves that she was called out for.  I'm sure those of you with the most inquiring minds can find links to the discussion of them.    I won't make any further comment on them other than to say it's been a long year plus for everyone.

 

I hope things are going well for you all wherever you are.  Let's go cruising!

Edited May 25, 2021 by Honolulu Blue

[pe4all]

NY positivity rate at .60!  Unfortunately we still had 10 covid deaths yesterday, and hospitalizations are around 900.  Capacity being upped to 90% in some venues, no curfew anymore for bars or restaurants, though they still need 6 feet between tables which is causing problems for some smaller places.  Tents are going up again for outdoor dining, which is soooo nice!  Free state or city college tuition for 10 lucky 12-17 year olds being offered in a drawing each week for the next 5 weeks for those who get the vaccine.  Free Belmont Stakes tx being offered today for those who get vaccine.  All good.  And the best - cruising will restart soon!

[Aplmac]

UPdating y'all on the Barbados situation

the latest island statistics look like....

 

Oh and by the way, today Monday 7th. June

we are receiving Celebrity Millennium as our first real,working cruise ship

with paying passengers -in quite some time now!

I.e. that test cruise out of Sint Maarten...

 

 

[Wennfred]

How is it out there, well let me tell you, I just completed a road trip 6478 Miles driven from San Diego Ca to Erwin Tennessee, from Tenn to Key West Florida and then back up the Panhandle and around back to San Diego Ca. (14 days).

 

My main stops Tennessee, Miami Fl, Key West, Tallahassee, New Orleans, San Antonio and El Paso before heading home.

 

Throughout all of the States that I drove through and stayed over night, No one wore masks, it’s as if it never happened, Restaurants running like normal and I mean, Chefs or waiters never wore masks. No one sick, no one coughing etc. It was actually nice to walk anywhere and go inside places without having to worry about that. It felt good.

 

Here at home (San Diego) I continue to take precautions and wear my mask when I enter some establishments that requires the masks but once you are seated to eat you can remove your mask. Don’t get me wrong, Covid killed my Mom & Dad immediately back in April out of New York when it hit hard there. Today I’m fully vaccinated and mostly everyone here is. Cruiseship crew members in San Diego, Long Beach areas are now getting their vaccines and will be open to cruise by July.

 

see you all in the open seas.

 

have a great day 

 

Fred

[pe4all]

23 hours ago, Wennfred said:

How is it out there, well let me tell you, I just completed a road trip 6478 Miles driven from San Diego Ca to Erwin Tennessee, from Tenn to Key West Florida and then back up the Panhandle and around back to San Diego Ca. (14 days).

 

My main stops Tennessee, Miami Fl, Key West, Tallahassee, New Orleans, San Antonio and El Paso before heading home.

 

Throughout all of the States that I drove through and stayed over night, No one wore masks, it’s as if it never happened, Restaurants running like normal and I mean, Chefs or waiters never wore masks. No one sick, no one coughing etc. It was actually nice to walk anywhere and go inside places without having to worry about that. It felt good.

 

Here at home (San Diego) I continue to take precautions and wear my mask when I enter some establishments that requires the masks but once you are seated to eat you can remove your mask. Don’t get me wrong, Covid killed my Mom & Dad immediately back in April out of New York when it hit hard there. Today I’m fully vaccinated and mostly everyone here is. Cruiseship crew members in San Diego, Long Beach areas are now getting their vaccines and will be open to cruise by July.

 

see you all in the open seas.

 

have a great day 

 

Fred

So sorry to hear of your parents passing from Covid.  Yes, we here in NY got crushed.  However, we are on the up and up, and hopefully next week may have most of our restrictions lifted.  I still wear a mask while food shopping, as the majority still do.  Don't know when I will give it up, even though we have been fully vaccinated since March.  When cruising returns to NY we will be ready.

[pe4all]

New announcement today:  Our Gov. said we are at 69.9% of NY 18 and over population with at least 1 vaccination.  Our magic number is 70%.  Capacity of places increasing again, and all restrictions will be lifted Aug. 20th. if all goes well.   Thought it would be sooner, but I guess he wants to see if the infection rate increases before then.  NYS fair is resuming at 100% capacity - big boost for tourism and local businesses. 

[Honolulu Blue]

Thanks, everyone, for continuing to report.  In my last post, I referred to a stop in Barbados on my NCL Gem cruise.  That cruise was canceled, the ship repositioned to Miami, and new itineraries developed.  I won't be aboard that ship any more, alas.  I replaced it (sort of) with two Carnival sailings in August and September - neither of which will be going to Barbados.

 

Anyway, Michigan cases statewide continue their downward trend.  We survived Memorial Day and our first big reopening without a significant spike.  We hope our good luck continues.  In my last few visits to the big box stores I choose to spend about 80% of my retail time at, mask use has gone way down to maybe a third of shoppers these days.  I still do it because it's not a big deal for me to do so and I'm used to it.  I don't know when I'll stop.

 

I hope this is just the calm and there's no storm brewing.  And I hope the same for all of you.

[RWolver672]

Michigan's Governor Whitmer is releasing the state from all restrictions on Tuesday, June 22nd.  Keeping our fingers crossed that the new strain doesn't make the numbers climb up again.  Only time will tell.

 

[islanders]

From Catalina Island:  We are hurting economically by not having cruise ships visit.  Most of us are vaccinated and I don't think we've had a positive test in months. As a tourist town, you would think that we would have had lots of cases, but not really, and no deaths.  Now, people feel the freedom and our little town is packed with vacationers.  Only a couple of places require masking, mostly on the Catalina Express ferry.   No large ship cruises yet out of CA.  Our July cruise on Panorama cancelled, but hoping for Sept. 11, to be a go.

[auscgguysgirl]

Northeastern NC here.  We've been out of lock down for weeks an no issues.  No restrictions, no masks ... no issues.  Lower part of VA is still a little mask weird, but overall ... seeing less & less panic.

 

It's looking good.

[Honolulu Blue]

Thanks everyone for continuing to report.  Here in Michigan cases are starting to increase from very low levels.  No one is sure what it means, but there's no panic yet.

 

Also, we're finally joining all the cool states and having a vaccine sweepstakes with prizes for those who have gotten the shot.

[Joe817]

Here where I live, life has pretty much returned to 'normal'. All restrictions removed. Everything is opened 100%. I haven't worn a mask in 3 or 4 weeks. Not even to the grocery store. Rate of vaccinations are continuing to drop, which is very disappointing. We've had an unseasonably wet spring and continuing into summer. Right now, it's 78F, when normally it's into the low 90's. We go out to eat(or order take out) almost every night. I miss home cooking! LOL. We haven't been to the movies yet, but we aren't big movie goers. We are big stay-at-home. Me more than wife. Our biggest conversations are, cruising of course. I keep her more or less updated on what's happening here on CC. She keeps me posted on the happenings on FB. 

      Life goes on....pretty boring. We are soooo looking forward to our Vista cruise on Aug. 21 out of Galveston. We debate almost daily on what excursions we're going to do, while in Belize and Mahogany Bay. 

 

Well, that's all for now. Happy sailing everybody. 

73. Joe 

 

 

 

[Host Carolyn]

If they offer tour to Mangroves and east end mostly by boat in Roatan, take it! Beautiful  non touristy end of island where my son has a house near Oak Ridge

[Joe817]

8 minutes ago, Host Carolyn said:

If they offer tour to Mangroves and east end mostly by boat in Roatan, take it! Beautiful  non touristy end of island where my son has a house near Oak Ridge

Excellent! THANK YOU! 👍

[Honolulu Blue]

Hi.  Michigan again.  Cases are continuing to increase steadily from very low levels.  Other states are increasing even faster, so we're still near the bottom.  I like the bottom.

 

I got a notice from our state Health Department that one huge festival that was held last week is linked with several cases and everyone that attended is advised to monitor for symptoms and test.  Too soon for something like this, perhaps?

 

On a more personal note, the virus circles ever closer to me.  One of my co-workers (fully vaccinated, BTW) had a breakthrough.  We kindly asked him to stay home for a while, but he'll be back soon.  I hope things don't get TOO awkward.

[Host Carolyn]

More cases here too. Obvious that unvaccinated people are  going maskless because our percent vaccinated is about 55 and no one masks up at all.  ICU nurses of all people are livid that major health providers want to require masks by September.

[pe4all]

Here on Long Island our infection level is rising at a scary rate.  We are back up to 2.25%, and there is a tremendous push to get the 12-17 year olds vaccinated with pop-up sites at schools around the island trying to get them "done" before school begins.  Personally, we have never stopped wearing masks at malls, grocery stores, bank, etc.  Now with the CDC recommending masks indoors where infection rate is high, I would not doubt our local government may put some kind of mandate back in, which will definitely cause an uproar.  

[ksromack]

Following along. Missouri here and if you are watching the news we, along with Texas and Florida have increased cases.  It is shameful and clearly people are going maskless without benefit of vaccination.  To be clear, it is the southern portion of our state where the bulk of the cases are originating.  Hubby and I work in medical labs and we perform Covid testing in addition to all other laboratory tests. I work at a cancer care center so I wear masks indoors because I would never want to be carrying the delta variant and give it to our patients who as you can imagine are quite immuno-compromised.  St Louis is back to mask mandates indoors with some legal debate over that.

 

The reason I am following so closely is we are anticipating a cruise this December out of Long Beach. First day of cruise will be our 20th anniversary at the end of the month. I feel the rules are in a constant flux. We are completely vaccinated since mid January so as of now no Covid testing required, right? What about the return? If required will sites for testing be open upon return Mexico?

[Honolulu Blue]

2 hours ago, ksromack said:

The reason I am following so closely is we are anticipating a cruise this December out of Long Beach. First day of cruise will be our 20th anniversary at the end of the month. I feel the rules are in a constant flux. We are completely vaccinated since mid January so as of now no Covid testing required, right? What about the return? If required will sites for testing be open upon return Mexico?

 

Thank you for commenting.  Please forgive me for chopping the first half of your post because this part is where you asked the questions.

 

Fully vaccinated passengers on all Carnival ships are not required to test for COVID-19 upon embarking or disembarking, as of now.  This could change at any time.  If Carnival requires tests, they will let the passengers know if, when, and what type they will be, and how much they will cost.  The ports could require additional proof of vaccination or additional tests, but since they're all Mexico, it's pretty unlikely.

[SheSailsFL]

This.  And I’m scheduled to sail in 19 days. 🤦🏼‍♀️

[Honolulu Blue]

Big University and Other Big University have decided to drop the hammer - they're both requiring the vaccine for all students, faculty, and staff effective August 31.  There will be some religious and medical exemptions.  Big U. is also requiring masks indoors on campus starting now.  Other Big U. required them already.

[surfergirl15]

On 7/26/2021 at 7:55 PM, Host Carolyn said:

More cases here too. Obvious that unvaccinated people are  going maskless because our percent vaccinated is about 55 and no one masks up at all.  ICU nurses of all people are livid that major health providers want to require masks by September.

Grandson, Granddaughter, and 2 nieces are registered nurses.  Grandson working in ICU at Emory Hospital.  He has to suit up in addition to wearing masks.  Not really masks but PPE.  He has taken care of people who are begging, now that they are sick, for the vaccination.  Says some of the patients probably will not make it.  They are all unvaccinated.  Nieces and granddaughter do not mind the masks.

[marshhawk]

Good morning.  Just read on the news that Carnival will (as of now) require all cruisers, vaccinated or not to wear masks while indoors.  They will re-evaluate on 10/31.

 

The mayor of Atlanta spoke on Tuesday, both Dekalb and Fulton counties (they share Atlanta and we live in Dekalb) have seen such a large rise in cases that she is asking for the mask mandate in these two counties again.  Not sure anything has been set in stone yet.

 

We just got back from a week in south Florida.  The office for the hotels and condo rental all required masks in the office, and any shared space.  On Sanibel the grocery store asked for us to be masked, but in restaurants there were very few who wore masks.  We took a day cruise, mask required.  We saw folks being refused access into businesses for not wearing a mask.

 

One interesting observance-we are Cracker Barrel fans, we stopped for breakfast heading south in Macon.  Our first time we stopped very few folks were wearing masks in the restaurant.  We stopped for coffee on the way back home, and every one that worked there was wearing masks. 

 

Every where we went are now reporting high rates, so glad that we were vaccinated.  Safe travels folks!

 

 

[pppiglet]

We are right on the border of Los Angeles County and Orange County. (we live in LA Cnty) Los Angeles is having mask and vaccine mandates.  Orange County is not.  If we shop down the street from our house we need masks.  If we go 1 mile over we do not need masks. Ridiculous.  LA has lots of Covid cases if you listen to the new.  OC is not reporting anything in the news.  

The open border is not helping anything.  Thousands are coming over from Mexico with Covid every day.  Thousand of these children were housed in Long Beach.  Long Beach cases rose.

  I cancelled our November cruise out of Long Beach.  This is just not the year to cruise with the rules changing all the time.  And IF you listen to Fauci, it's only going to get worse. Another variant coming soon.  Personally I think he has flip flopped so many times he's just not believable anymore. He says you now need to double mask, CDC says no.  Who do you believe any more?   So....we wait to cruise until this is all over.  If it never ends, we are done cruising.