When will things start back up?

[HiFi43]

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

This is late April  or do your mean 2022?

Sorry, I may has meant to say start as early as late July 2021… 

 

[HiFi43]

Editorial correction…

With the new CDC clarifications today (April 29, 2021) it looks like Oceania will likely succeed on their announced  Marina restart in late August and be able get some other ships sailing. The new regulations make it possible to restart cruising for Oceania type ships as early as late July 2021. There are a number of hurdles to jump. Including requiring vaccinations and a pre embarkation rapid antigen test (which is less invasive and more rapid than a PCP test) for almost all passengers and crew. The other large hurdle could be port stop adjustments for countries not allowing access. This could mean itinerary adjustments. But at least there is now a clearer light at the end of the tunnel. 

[Tranquility Base]

21 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

What happens if  one of those 2 or 5%   have covid ??

Not so great news 🤔

The cruiseline can exceed any CDC requirements if they so wish.

Hence I would still expect 100% needing proof of vaccination.

The elephant in the room......what types of proof required.

 

Also, I read somewhere that the EU travel permission was only IF a person is vaccinated with one of the 4 Vaccines currently approved by the EU.

This may cause a problem for some crew.

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

The cruiseline can exceed any CDC requirements if they so wish.

 

But would they  if they can get away with less than 100%  fully vaccinated pax & crew ? 🤔

 

I would not want to be on a ship unless EVERYONE  is fully vaccinated

 YMMV

 

[Tranquility Base]

23 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I would not want to be on a ship unless EVERYONE  is fully vaccinated

 

Only cruise on ships with itineraries that require 100% vaccination.

After all, the countries visited (even if only one) will tell the cruise lines what the minimum they have to abide by is.

 

[RJB]

8 hours ago, LHT28 said:

But would they  if they can get away with less than 100%  fully vaccinated pax & crew ? 🤔

 

I would not want to be on a ship unless EVERYONE  is fully vaccinated

 YMMV

 

PLUS 2

[HiFi43]

What I’ve read about the less than 100% vaccination rule for passengers is they are leaving room for children who can’t get vaccinated (with so few children on Oceania that is probably not as much of an issue) and room for some who can’t be vaccinated because of a doctor’s excuse medical issue as long as they get tested prior to boarding and periodically during the cruise. The theory being that as long as everyone else is vaccinated on the cruise risk is minimal.

[pinotlover]

2 hours ago, HiFi43 said:

What I’ve read about the less than 100% vaccination rule for passengers is they are leaving room for children who can’t get vaccinated (with so few children on Oceania that is probably not as much of an issue) and room for some who can’t be vaccinated because of a doctor’s excuse medical issue as long as they get tested prior to boarding and periodically during the cruise. The theory being that as long as everyone else is vaccinated on the cruise risk is minimal.

Not very manageable. For an O ship that’s 55 people. So how is it managed? First 55 non vaxers to sign up? Then that’s 55 people going into ports that could be susceptible. Oceania needs to maintain its 100% vaccination policy?

[Tranquility Base]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

Oceania needs to maintain its 100% vaccination policy?

They will I believe.

 

Just look at ATW '22 itinerary.

How many countries will mandate 100% ?

I think a significant proportion would.

Edited April 30, 2021 by Tranquility Base

[HiFi43]

Actually I suspect, but don’t know, that Oceania will go for the 100% vaccination number. The fine print suggests if they adopt the  CDC’s recommendation about percentages they might not have to take the additional step of running test cruises with volunteers. Their own policies probably should be 100% no matter what they CDC recommends. We’ve volunteered to be test passengers if they have to run test cruises to check out their sanitation, food service, and other practices before their first cruise on any ship. Time will tell…

[mauibabes]

Oceania is going 100% vaccinations as Marina prepares to sail August 29.  All other ships are cancelled thru September 30. They will publish new info as it is developed for additional ships sailing. They are NOT going with the CDC minimums. 

I heard O’s recommendation was to look at 2022 sailings because since ships must sail at reduced capacity to start sailing so you are probably wasting your time looking at 2021 sailings. 
The mention of a Montreal to NY sailing is undoubtedly on the chopping block because Canada still has its borders closed so no ships are going into Canadian waters. We had a Great Lakes trip in September with another company and it was cancelled over a month ago. No idea what the sequence will be of ships going live and when. 
Focus on 2022 and in September the new 2023 itineraries will be out. Keep on dreaming and planning and booking.
 

Gerry

[PaulMCO]

4 hours ago, HiFi43 said:

Actually I suspect, but don’t know, that Oceania will go for the 100% vaccination number. The fine print suggests if they adopt the  CDC’s recommendation about percentages they might not have to take the additional step of running test cruises with volunteers. Their own policies probably should be 100% no matter what they CDC recommends. We’ve volunteered to be test passengers if they have to run test cruises to check out their sanitation, food service, and other practices before their first cruise on any ship. Time will tell…

why are we debating this point??  Oceania already committed in their CDC plan to do so.

 

ALL INDIVIDUALS (GUESTS & CREW) MUST BE VACCINATED

All guests and crew must be fully vaccinated, at least 2 weeks prior to embarkation, in order to board.

[LHT28]

49 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

The mention of a Montreal to NY sailing is undoubtedly on the chopping block because Canada still has its borders closed so no ships are going into Canadian waters. 

Gerry

I believe the 2021 sailing was already chopped 

Do not see any listed on their website for this Sept

[Tranquility Base]

Port Canaveral has started vaccinations of cruise ship crew.

It appears this has started with a Disney ship. 

[Tranquility Base]

33 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Port Canaveral has started vaccinations of cruise ship crew.

It appears this has started with a Disney ship. 

The thread with these reports is on the Royal Caribbean forum.

Reports of Carnival crew offered vaccinations in Galveston, and Port of Miami having a pop up vaccination area in the Royal Caribbean terminal.

[CintiPam]

 

 

I attended a webinar Wednesday morning (April 28) presented by the hotel school at my alma mater (Cornell) regarding “Restarting the Cruise Industry”. The main speakers were Frank Del Rio and RCL’s Richard Fain. FDR reaffirmed the 100% vaccination requirement. He also stated that one of the main practical concerns regarding the restart is that a major percentage of crew are from India and The Philippines.

[mauibabes]

You can bet they will be finding a way to get a number of the Butlers out of India ASAP and a NCL ship to the Philippines.  
I am sure it was a great Webinar.

Gerry

[njhorseman]

3 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

You can bet they will be finding a way to get a number of the Butlers out of India ASAP and a NCL ship to the Philippines.  
I am sure it was a great Webinar.

Gerry

NCL has a ship waiting in Manila . It's been there since being being used to repatriate crew. It may be too late to get butlers out of India. The US has closed its borders to people coming from India and it wouldn't surprise me if other countries are also closed to them...with the result being that a ship may be denied free pratique if it has residents of India on board.

[clo]

19 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

NCL has a ship waiting in Manila . It's been there since being being used to repatriate crew. It may be too late to get butlers out of India. The US has closed its borders to people coming from India and it wouldn't surprise me if other countries are also closed to them...with the result being that a ship may be denied free pratique if it has residents of India on board.

With 300,000 and 400,000 new cases a day - and I read that it's a "double variant"? - ...well, that tells me that no one is going to leave there (except US citizens) any time soon. Tragic. This emphasizes to me that a vacation means nothing compared to things like this.

[RJB]

On 5/1/2021 at 12:53 PM, Tranquility Base said:

The thread with these reports is on the Royal Caribbean forum.

Reports of Carnival crew offered vaccinations in Galveston, and Port of Miami having a pop up vaccination area in the Royal Caribbean terminal.

A very good sign.  Need them all to do this so we can get back to sea. 

[susiesan]

Here is what happened in Japan last week when they resumed cruises with only Japanese on board. Unfortunately, the cruise was cut short due to 1 covid case.

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/05/01/national/cruise-ship-coronavirus-asuka-ii/?utm_source=pianoT5&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=295&pnespid=ONRogxe_bTAAvzhw8kZulzUMKKpaEWnYPIMM

[basor]

10 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Here is what happened in Japan last week when they resumed cruises with only Japanese on board. Unfortunately, the cruise was cut short due to 1 covid case.

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/05/01/national/cruise-ship-coronavirus-asuka-ii/?utm_source=pianoT5&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=295&pnespid=ONRogxe_bTAAvzhw8kZulzUMKKpaEWnYPIMM

That is too bad - it does not indicate that the cruise line required all staff and cruisers be fully vaccinated 14 days prior to boarding.  It would be interesting to know 

[susiesan]

11 minutes ago, basor said:

That is too bad - it does not indicate that the cruise line required all staff and cruisers be fully vaccinated 14 days prior to boarding.  It would be interesting to know 

I can tell you from information coming from my friends who live in Japan that likely none of the pax or crew were vaccinated. Japan is running very slow in getting their citizens jabbed, they just started last month.  Only 1.1% of the population has been vaccinated so far, all the very elderly only.

[basor]

12 minutes ago, susiesan said:

I can tell you from information coming from my friends who live in Japan that likely none of the pax or crew were vaccinated. Japan is running very slow in getting their citizens jabbed, they just started last month.  Only 1.1% of the population has been vaccinated so far, all the very elderly only.

I figured as such and so ,unfortunately, this puts a bad face on cruising but does not truly reflect the policies put in place to ensure safe cruising by Oceania and other cruise lines.  

[Tranquility Base]

2 hours ago, RJB said:

A very good sign.  Need them all to do this so we can get back to sea. 

Yes it is a good sign, especially as it appears there is an approaching oversupply of vaccine availability due to a decrease in take up rate recently

Hopefully some other countries in need of supplies will soon see the benefit.

 

The problem for cruise lines of course is getting new crew onto the ships, whether they be vaccinated beforehand or after arriving onboard.

I see Celebrity has also had crew vaccinated in Miami.

 

With Marina due to sail in about 3 1/2 months and currently in Italy, it will be interesting to see where they source their crew from for this start up.