Holland America Cruisers -- How are things where YOU live?

[JimnKaren]

Hot! 90s during the day and mid-70s at night. I will have to stay in Florida and miss my escape on the Voyage of the Vikings!

 

Jim

[JOHN 57]

Like everyone else, we are staying home,  we are both retired 69 and 60, so that problem is over.  My 2 sons live live with us, and we live in the country.  Have not gone anywhere,  hopefully next year a vaccine to end this virus.  So we have put cruising on hold until then, but still hopeful.  Mostly work on my yard, genealogy, and reading, which has kept me busy.  Here it is in the 90s, and we are from Huntsville, Texas.  Some photos of my back porch, which is my favorite place, of course I have a fan.  So we are hanging tough and order curb service.

[MargoK]

Hi, we are from Auckland New Zealand.

 

We are booked on our first HAL cruise on the Oosterdam 19 December 2020.   But sadly that is very unlikely to happen.   We haven't cancelled yet.  The plan was the travel with our 'yachty' friends who were keen to be in Hobart where the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race ends around 28th December and the place would swarming with fancy yachts and their crew!     It was to be the 75th Anniversary so it was to be big - may still happen, but with the secondary outbreaks of Covid 19 occurring it is looking less likely.

 

Here we are experiencing a very mild (read hardly any rain) winter and in Alert Level 1.  This means the borders are closed to anyone other than residents or citizens.    So for most of the population it is life as normal with internal travel permitted.       

 

NZ has done extremely well and we have had not local cases for a long time (maybe 90+ days) with the only positive tests coming from people returning to NZ and in 14 quarantine.     So we are very lucky.   As winter has been mild we are probably a little complacent and living normal lives.       

 

I worked from home from 22 March and returned to the office mid June.    The first week back was horrible!   Wanted to be back at home where I could work uninterrupted and all communications via email and occasionally phone!    Got back into it after a couple of weeks!

 

We feel very sad when we see the dreadful outcomes overseas of the Covid 19 virus.     

 

Please take care everyone.  Hopefully we will get back cruising some time.

 

Food for thought - the 1918 Spanish Flu wasn't 'eradicated' (for want of a better word) until 1922 apparently......

[grest]

In Florida....going nowhere.  A lady in our community came home from the hospital on Sunday after being treated for COVID....last night she went out to dinner.   Lots of folks around here with that mentality.  Needless to say, we aren't going anywhere.

[wuppis]

Hi from Germany,

 

our last cruise was in february with the German Cruiseline TUI. Every other cruise in 2020 was cancelled.

 

But we got a big chance in starting rivercruises in Germany, going to Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Hungary and some other places.

We started our first rivercruise in Europe in july on Amawaterways, which is normally not available for german cruisers. But now they have a cooperation with a german TA and we had a wonderful cruise in the Rhine. Only 50 passengers and about 50 crew members. We really enjoyed it. 

Next month we will be on the Danube for 12 days and if there will be anything with raising infections in one of the countries, Arosa will change the tour, not stopping in hotspots.

 

It´s a really good alternative instead of cruising with HAL or other cruiselines.

 

We feel safe in our country, because we have a lot of ristrictions. All of us are wearing masks when we go shopping, in public busses or  events inside. We can visit restaurants and we can travel to few other countries. But of course we also have more infections by people coming back from countries with lot more infections. But we will be tested for Covid-19 at the airports, the ports, the frontiers. 

 

Meanwhile the german cruiseline TUI has started with cruises from 3 to 8 days, without any ports. But people love that and they are really succesful and have no complains about the ristrictions onboard.

 

Stay all healthy and hope to see some of you next year on one of HAL´s ships.

We are booked for Oosterdam for a 32 day cruise in october, instead of cancelled Maasdam this october from California to Sidney.

 

Marita

[AFFirstSgt]

Everything is ok (case intensional) but we really miss cruising. Our last one was January 2, 2020 of this year and we are so thankful we got ONE this year. 

We were scheduled to go to Alaska in May and do a Transatlantic in September/October. We'd have been packing right now for the trip as we were going to spend a week in London and a week in Rome before embarking. Trip we had scheduled in December as replacement for those is cancelled also.

We are hoping the cruises we've got scheduled in January (Southern Caribbean) and May (Alaska!) this year embark and go. Based on the newest information just revealed from CDC on actual death rates apparently this disease is not as bad as we were told.

Hopefully NOW the world and cruising will open back up. Can't wait until we are standing on our veranda opening our bottle of Asti and toasting as we leave Fort Lauderdale; then going to a wonderful dinner in the Pinnacle to start our cruise!   

 

By the Way: If you haven't completed the 'Questionnaire" on cruising CDC is asking you to send it, PLEASE DO! I suspect mine will end on the floor of the mail reviewing room, as I pulled no punches in answering questions (many totally inane like "How much does a COVID19 test cost?" I'd think they would KNOW!) to make it totally clear we should begin cruising NOW with a few simple cautions! 

[pmcubed]

I'm in the westernmost county of New York state and  just recently our numbers started climbing.  We had an outbreak at a food manufacturer plus the local colleges opened up.  Now, just last week we opened up our K-12 schools. 

 

It seems that NY state should be operating in regions.  When we shut everything down in March we had NO cases - now that they are climbing we are opening up our schools. 

 

We are both retired so we stay close to home and only order take-out now and then.  Our June cruise was canceled and we scheduled one for June 2021 - still waiting for the FCC - I just hope we actually get to cruise again. 

 

More importantly than whether we can ever cruise again is the sadness at all the lost lives and livelihoods. 

 

Pat

[WheelieNick]

I live in the Netherlands, and things are pretty rough out here. The infections are just as high as in march/april. And it is scaring me out.  So, in order to keep a sane mind, I am focussing on cruising/and cruse ships all the way. Editing photographs, buying HAL souvenirs for in my house. 

It is a bumpy ride, but in the end we as humanity are gonna get there. Keep your hopes up everyone, we wil get there 

[rotjeknor]

On 9/25/2020 at 10:29 PM, WheelieNick said:

I live in the Netherlands, and things are pretty rough out here. The infections are just as high as in march/april. And it is scaring me out.  So, in order to keep a sane mind, I am focussing on cruising/and cruse ships all the way. Editing photographs, buying HAL souvenirs for in my house. 

It is a bumpy ride, but in the end we as humanity are gonna get there. Keep your hopes up everyone, we wil get there 

Same here ... and spending a night on the ss Rotterdam at least gives me a bit of  cruise feeling 

[fayruz]

Turin - North Italy

Things are getting better, mask wearing and social distancing has finally got into our heads 🙂

Cruises in the mediterranean have in some part started again but, I do not feel safe to go, at the moment . Better wait till an effective vaccine is found, my cruising time has moved to 2022

[Roger88]

3 minutes ago, fayruz said:

Turin - North Italy

Things are getting better, mask wearing and social distancing has finally got into our heads 🙂

Cruises in the mediterranean have in some part started again but, I do not feel safe to go, at the moment . Better wait till an effective vaccine is found, my cruising time has moved to 2022

Did you move your cruising time yourself or it was moved by the company? I mean, its got much safer to travel mostly due to the fact that the majority of people were forced to stay at home but again, one sick person is enough to start it all over again. In any case I expect  everything to go back to normal by the end of this year 

[fayruz]

5 hours ago, Roger88 said:

I mean, its got much safer to travel mostly due to the fact that the majority of people were forced to stay at home but again, one sick person is enough to start it all over again. In any case I expect  everything to go back to normal by the end of this year 

I usually spend april and october in Egypt getting a last minute but  since  covid broke out in march It was a problem even only going to shop groceries 

I am 67, my husband 77 so we book only last minute our cruises because we never know if we are fit to travel :-)

in 2020 we wanted to repeat the polinesia cruise but every thing is resting in the wish list bucket at the moment.

MSC and Costa have started cruising again, but I don't feel safe at the moment.

[fayruz]

Maasdam Nuku Hiva

[lyndarra]

I'm in New South Wales, Australia. Things are looking up in my state of 8+ million. No new community transmissions for 8 days straight. Been a while since any deaths. Life, for me, is back to pretty much normal except I can't travel interstate (but that's about to change any day now) or internationally . May even be able to get to New Zealand in a few months. We can dine in or out but social distancing is in force and is being enforced. Masks are optional mainly due to low risk. Schools are open. Contact tracing has been very intense and is working remarkably well.

Had to cancel Westerdam Alaska in June. Also cancelled land tour of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. War has broken out between the last two.

[fayruz]

Even if cruising was not in lockdown at the moment weather in mediterranean is terrible.

[AlanF65]

On 10/3/2020 at 6:24 PM, lyndarra said:

Contact tracing has been very intense and is working remarkably well.

Hi,

Is contact tracing done via phone or some other method? That is where the US just falls down.

A-

[fayruz]

12 hours ago, AlanF65 said:

Hi,

Is contact tracing done via phone or some other method? That is where the US just falls down.

A-

We use an app called " immuni" that advises if you have been in contact with a person who has been affected by covid.

[lyndarra]

23 hours ago, AlanF65 said:

Hi,

Is contact tracing done via phone or some other method? That is where the US just falls down.

A-

Briefly, if a person tests positive they are contacted by tracers to establish their movements i.e. restaurants, clubs, shopping centres, public transport. These places are widely advertised in the media advising anyone who has been to those places to get tested and self isolate until results are known. If tested positive they are to self isolate for 14 days. Free testing stations are set up in affected areas. Venues such as  pubs, clubs, gyms, restaurants etc. are required by law to obtain contact details of all clients entering.  This is usually done by scanning a venue QR code with smartphone (almost everyone here has one).  The state Health Department uses the information to follow up by phone and/or text. There are teams for personal follow up to ensure cases are staying home during their  isolation period. Venues also have restrictions on number of patrons according to floor space and social distancing is required. Any venue visited by the infected person is required to shut down and deep clean. Many venues have copped heavy fines if found in breach.

New South Wales state population 8.1. million.

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/stats-nsw.aspx

[ski ww]

We just had a wonderful Thanksgiving long weekend with two of our great grand daughters, weather was prefect, went for walks in the woods to see the Fall colours which are almost 100% now. Toronto has some hot spots and back to stage two which is locking down some public places.

 

[mamaofami]

Cases of Covid are rising in New Jersey. We cancelled our plans to winter in Florida and will stay in lockdown except for necessary doctor visits. Our community has its first new case from a woman who lunched with lots of others at the same table several times but can’t figure out how she got it. Her husband has many i

health issues but so far he hasn’t gotten it and it’s been over a week. I think some people are immune.

[AlaskaNewbie68]

On 10/17/2020 at 5:09 PM, mamaofami said:

Cases of Covid are rising in New Jersey. We cancelled our plans to winter in Florida and will stay in lockdown except for necessary doctor visits. Our community has its first new case from a woman who lunched with lots of others at the same table several times but can’t figure out how she got it. Her husband has many i

health issues but so far he hasn’t gotten it and it’s been over a week. I think some people are immune.

Just heard our town in Bergen County has 17 "active cases"...our total since March is 359 so 17 now seems worrisome. 

[ski ww]

Yesterday was a beautiful warm, sunny day, 24C(74F),shorts & Tshirts, we went out on our bikes riding the trail watching the fall colours. This morning it's 3C(35F)

 

[ski ww]

The first snow fall for the season this morning, 0C(32F)

 

[lyndarra]

33C 91F degrees predicted tomorrow and still 2 weeks 'till summer.

[Stratheden]

I'm in Victoria Australia.  population 6 million.  We have just had our 20th consecutive day with zero new cases and zero deaths.  We have been through a very strict Stage 4 Lockdown which has thankfully worked.  We have just been allowed to rejoin the rest of Australia except Queensland who have their state locked down tight and are not accepting visitors drom many other states.  Just yesterday South Australia, our neighbouring state went into an even stricter lockdown as they have had a surge of cases starting with international hotel quarantine.  Only for 6 days though.  They are not even allowed our for exercise.  Only one member of the household is allowed out to buy essentials once a day.  The only shops open are food and pharmacy.