Hawaii Predicts No Cruises Until Late 2021

[npcl]

44 minutes ago, Foggyzx9r said:

 

Got it in one. It’s an assumption. Economic model based on the potential bad case. If it had read State Of Hawaii bans cruise ships till mid 2021 then fair enough but isn’t the case.

 

Off course we have a vested interest as we are or hopefully are sailing out of Hawaii Jan 2021🙂

While it is an assumption, one would expect that they did not just draw a date out of a hat.  That they did have discussions with departments in the state government about plans to re-open and included that information in their forecast.

 

Hawaii has certainly been the tightest in enforcing its quarantine not only for those arriving from out of state, but even for those going between islands.

[slidergirl]

43 minutes ago, JeffElizabeth said:

We are booked on Westerdam for September 20th, 2020. It seems silly to ban travelers but they import most of everything else. I can imagine the islands tourist industry wants us back sooner. 

Why is it silly?   Travelers bring disease, cargo less so.  Hawaii is a unique, closed environment.  Anything to keep it that way should be encouraged.  Note that they have NOT banned travelers - you can fly to Hawaii, do a 14-day quarantine, then behave like the locals are under their public health rules.  They just don't want cruise ships yet because they have not been proven to take this seriously enough (lying about cases onboard).  Don't blame them a bit.  "wah wah, I want my cruise" "Sure, come on down and infect us."  Why should cruisers be exempt from the quarantine rule?  

Edited May 27, 2020 by slidergirl

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, JeffElizabeth said:

We are booked on Westerdam for September 20th, 2020. It seems silly to ban travelers but they import most of everything else. I can imagine the islands tourist industry wants us back sooner. 

You realize there is no evidence of Covid surviving on a surface more than 72 hours...maximum, must less on most surfaces. And the time to sail cargo from the west Coast to Hawaii is several days...like no less than 4? In order words, Covid wouldn't survive the trip over, so they aren't importing Covid in cargo. Unless it is flown in, maybe. Something like 95% of all stuff is shipped in.

 

Yes, crew on the ships could bring Covid. But it is quite likely crew isn't allowed off in the islands.

[DeeniEncinitas]

Well since I was in Rotterdam 3/11 going to Panama Canal 3/27, followed by a TA on Oceania to Rome and also a B2B on another Oceania cruise Monte Carlo to Barcelona and we were disembarked  4 days into our 3 month cruise In PV to go back to San Diego our home, I will hope for the best with our Koningsdam 24 day cruise Mexico/Hawai’i 1/21! If not we still have our same agenda planned for 2022 with Rotterdam and Oceania

Denise😊

[HappyInVan]

4 hours ago, JeffElizabeth said:

We are booked on Westerdam for September 20th, 2020. It seems silly to ban travelers but they import most of everything else. I can imagine the islands tourist industry wants us back sooner. 

 

Don't forget to wear a mask when you disembark. That's to protect the locals. Lovely Hawaii has had no covid deaths for 2 weeks.

 

Today, Mitch McConnell told people in his home state...

 

"‘There’s no stigma attached to wearing a mask’: McConnell makes plea in favor of face masks"

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/27/mitch-mcconnell-plea-face-masks-285272

 

Looking haggard, McConnell finally said the M word. He has been wearing a mask for several weeks. Just not in front of the camera.

[Foggyzx9r]

6 hours ago, npcl said:

While it is an assumption, one would expect that they did not just draw a date out of a hat.  That they did have discussions with departments in the state government about plans to re-open and included that information in their forecast.

 

Hawaii has certainly been the tightest in enforcing its quarantine not only for those arriving from out of state, but even for those going between islands.

As much as I hate to, yes, in the back of my mind this was something that in retrospect, I agree with you. 
 

I guess it is a case of wait and see. Thank you for your post, got myself a little more grounded now. 👍

[JeffElizabeth]

13 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

You realize there is no evidence of Covid surviving on a surface more than 72 hours...maximum, must less on most surfaces. And the time to sail cargo from the west Coast to Hawaii is several days...like no less than 4? In order words, Covid wouldn't survive the trip over, so they aren't importing Covid in cargo. Unless it is flown in, maybe. Something like 95% of all stuff is shipped in.

 

Yes, crew on the ships could bring Covid. But it is quite likely crew isn't allowed off in the islands.

Those poor freighter crewmen! Freighters take longer than cruise ships and Hawaii would take shore leave away from them after a a week or longer trip. 

[JeffElizabeth]

14 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Why is it silly?   Travelers bring disease, cargo less so.  Hawaii is a unique, closed environment.  Anything to keep it that way should be encouraged.  Note that they have NOT banned travelers - you can fly to Hawaii, do a 14-day quarantine, then behave like the locals are under their public health rules.  They just don't want cruise ships yet because they have not been proven to take this seriously enough (lying about cases onboard).  Don't blame them a bit.  "wah wah, I want my cruise" "Sure, come on down and infect us."  Why should cruisers be exempt from the quarantine rule?  

From Vancouver to Hawaii is about four or five days. That is a short quarantine. 

[Mosaic]

That is a long incubation time....

[HappyInVan]

1 hour ago, JeffElizabeth said:

From Vancouver to Hawaii is about four or five days. That is a short quarantine. 

 

Ruby Princess got a third of pax infected in 11 days.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, JeffElizabeth said:

Those poor freighter crewmen! Freighters take longer than cruise ships and Hawaii would take shore leave away from them after a a week or longer trip. 

The point is Covid is not arriving in Hawaii by cargo ship, if the crew is not allowed ashore. It is not coming on the cargo itself. 

 

Like so many other things, in cargo, time is money. Cargo ships don't usually stay a minute longer than they have to at a dock. They can turn even some of the biggest ships around in amazingly fast timeframes.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Guess we will have to wait and see what happens.

 

 

Everything is so unpredictable at this time.

[Qcruise]

Logic would tell you that cruise ships should be welcomed at the same point they're willing to accept flights from all over the world into their paradise.  If they think it's safe for planes to dump throngs of people into their environment then why are cruise ships stopped....?   

[HappyInVan]

48 minutes ago, Qcruise said:

Logic would tell you that cruise ships should be welcomed at the same point they're willing to accept flights from all over the world into their paradise.  If they think it's safe for planes to dump throngs of people into their environment then why are cruise ships stopped....?   

 

I wonder why the CDC had a special alert for cruise ships? What happens when an outbreak occurs in the middle of the ocean? How long does it take to get the patients to hospital? What happens when you dump 500 patients on small remote communities in paradise?

 

Logic tells me that cruise ships do require special attention. Will the cruise industry invest and innovate to the same extend as the airports/airlines?

 

"Five ways the pandemic may change airports for the better"

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/27/what-will-flying-be-like-how-coronavirus-is-changing-airports.html

 

These are all important questions that the cruise industry has had no answers for. How do you enforce distancing on a cruise ship?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by HappyInVan

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Qcruise said:

Logic would tell you that cruise ships should be welcomed at the same point they're willing to accept flights from all over the world into their paradise.  If they think it's safe for planes to dump throngs of people into their environment then why are cruise ships stopped....?   

 

 

Anyone flying in goes into quarantine for 14 days.  Cruise ships can’t do that.

 

Therein lies the difference IMO.

[npcl]

2 hours ago, Qcruise said:

Logic would tell you that cruise ships should be welcomed at the same point they're willing to accept flights from all over the world into their paradise.  If they think it's safe for planes to dump throngs of people into their environment then why are cruise ships stopped....?   

However, land based travel generates far more money per passenger for their economy than does cruise passengers.  I expect that Hawaii will first open land based tourism for people staying in hotels and resorts.  This is because of the impact on the local economy verse risk.  The reason why hotels and resorts first is because they will mostly likely require re-opening plans and make sure that they are meeting specific requirements.  Much easier to do with hotels and resorts, compared to vacation rentals like airbnb.  It also follows since vacation rentals have been defined as non-essential and not currently allowed as quarantine locations.

 

I do not expect them to open up for cruise ships until well after they open for land tourism.

[slidergirl]

5 hours ago, JeffElizabeth said:

From Vancouver to Hawaii is about four or five days. That is a short quarantine. 

Well, if their public health rule stays as-is, the ship won't be allowed to dock or passengers won't be allowed to debark.

 

Also for Vancouver-Hawaii:  unless you live in Canada, you won't be able to cross the border to get to your cruise unless Canada changes it's public health rule that allows border crossings only for essential purposes.  I don't think a cruise qualifies. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by slidergirl

[KonaMel]

Since we have a 28-day cruise scheduled for 4/2021 which stops in Hawaii, I found the following clarification from yesterday (5/27/20) at Porthole:  

 

Eugene Tian, Ph.D, Economic Research Administrator for the Hawaii State Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism responded to our inquiry regarding the line in their report which stated “No cruise visitors until second half of 2021″. His clarification received via email is below: 

Regarding the cruise visitors to Hawaii, that is a pure assumption by a group of economists within the Hawaii State Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, the assumption is NOT a decision of government officials.  Our assumption is on the conservative side, the purpose is to provide the economic impact of a conservative scenario.  The assumption is based on two factors: (1) the projected COVID-19 pandemic will finish by the end of 2020 worldwide; (2) people are reluctant to travel via cruise for a few month after the ending of the pandemic.

There are a few cruise ships are scheduled to visit Hawaii during Fall this year.  If the 14-day quarantine for transpacific visitors is lifted earlier than September, the cruise ship visiting will be possible and visitor arrivals to Hawaii will be higher than we assumed.

 

[drowelf]

22 hours ago, kazu said:

 

 

Anyone flying in goes into quarantine for 14 days.  Cruise ships can’t do that.

 

Therein lies the difference IMO.

And unless you live in Hawaii, how practical is that? Can you really afford that? I doubt many people would like to schedule a 3+ week vacation in Hawaii and have to spend the first 2 cooped up in your room. 

[npcl]

Hawaii may open up to Japanese tourists before it opens to main land tourists.  When they use the term trans-pacific they mean anyone coming from out of state including the mainland as well as other countries.

 

 

 

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/05/28/hawaii-news/hawaii-senators-support-effort-for-travel-bubble-agreement-with-japan/

 

Hawaii explores ‘travel bubble’ with Japan amid tourism collapse

 

Paul Yonamine, Central Pacific Financial Corp. chairman and CEO, told the committee that an agreement between Japan and Hawaii would likely allow incoming visitors from Japan, who have met certain safety thresholds, to bypass Hawaii’s mandatory 14-day self-quarantine for trans- Pacific passengers.

[npcl]

13 minutes ago, drowelf said:

And unless you live in Hawaii, how practical is that? Can you really afford that? I doubt many people would like to schedule a 3+ week vacation in Hawaii and have to spend the first 2 cooped up in your room. 

That is the intent.  Hawaii does not want tourists at this time.