Canada extends cruise ship ban

[david,Mississauga]

Although the U.S. CDC is lifting the ban on cruise ships according to a Cruise Critic news item, Transport Canada has extended the ban on cruise ships from the end of October to the end of February. This will have no effect on the cruise industry as there are very few ships calling at Canadian ports during those months. There are often a few calls in November in Halifax. My recollection is there were three calls in November of this year posted on the Halifax port authority list but these were cancelled long ago when all others were cancelled.

 

This is one of many articles on the subject.

 

https://vancouversun.com/news/covid-19-transport-canada-extends-ban-on-cruise-ships-to-end-of-february

 

 

[BlueRiband]

If Canada extends the ban beyond February it would affect QM2's Jun 30-Jul 6 sailing where a call in Halifax is scheduled for July 2nd.  Given the logistics and advance planning involved Cunard will have to make a go/no go decision by February.

[ace2542]

They may make the bans permanent you know.

[BlueRiband]

8 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

They may make the bans permanent you know.

Possible.  Although it would also end the tourist industry for good.  But it's their country and their choice.  

[ace2542]

2 hours ago, BlueRiband said:

Possible.  Although it would also end the tourist industry for good.  But it's their country and their choice.  

Not for all ports I am sure but some ports might drop away and in the long run it could be the cruise lines that drop them like Cunard with Halifax for instance. I can't see them being too happy if what you say might happen comes to pass.

Edited October 31, 2020 by ace2542

[K_e_short]

4 hours ago, BlueRiband said:

Possible.  Although it would also end the tourist industry for good.  But it's their country and their choice.  

 

The Canadian ports don't rely heavily on cruise tourists. There are enough people driving or flying to those places.

 

Now until Canada lifts it's 14 day self isolation rule, no one from out of Canada is travelling anyways.

 

And..currently Nova Scotia and the other Atlantic provinces have what they call "the Atlantic Bubble", they aren't letting anyone in and out without a lot of rules and supervision. That is how they have kept their numbers low.

 

[BklynBoy8]

Halifax is one of our favorite Canadian Ports when we sail on the QM2 to visit.

 

We enjoy our repeated visits and also the people in the City.

 

And through our visits we have heard the residents of Halifax find it a pleasure to meet those off the ships that visit while we are in port. Their kindness is so accommodating and warm.

 

It would be a loss not to be able to sail into and again enjoy visiting the Port. But may be again one day.

[Mudhen]

11 hours ago, BklynBoy8 said:

Halifax is one of our favorite Canadian Ports when we sail on the QM2 to visit.

 

We enjoy our repeated visits and also the people in the City.

 

And through our visits we have heard the residents of Halifax find it a pleasure to meet those off the ships that visit while we are in port. Their kindness is so accommodating and warm.

 

It would be a loss not to be able to sail into and again enjoy visiting the Port. But may be again one day.

I agree with you completely! We have always loved Halifax and have been there many times, usually by ship. I love that the city sits smack on the water. Boardwalk is great! My husband collects coins and we've found a great little shop. They also do antique jewelry (one of my passions) so we always visit them to see what might be on hand. 

The people of Halifax are unfailingly charming, interesting and polite. Too bad more ports don't have folks like them....!

[david,Mississauga]

22 hours ago, ace2542 said:

They may make the bans permanent you know.

 

Permanent? Maybe for the forseeable future. The Canadian border is closed for non-essential travel, i.e. tourism. This is not just for those from the U.S., although that gets the most publicity.

 

Canada has two travel advisories in effect, one applying specifically to cruises. It is very difficult, although not impossible, for Canadians to get travel insurance.

 

As long as many other countries have a rate of infection and death far greater than that in Canada there is an expectation the border will remain closed. The U.S. has a rate of COVID-19 cases approximately five times and a death rate of two and a half times greater than that of Canada. Belgium has a worse rate: six times the cases and almost four times the deaths. Spain's rate of cases and deaths is similar to that of the U.S.  The rate in the U.K. is more than double in both cases and deaths.

 

Although Cunard has cancelled the Alaska season for 2021, there are many ships booked for Vancouver-based cruises. There are Canada/New England cruises booked to and from Montreal or Québec starting in May. There are fewer than usual, though. We have booked for Cunard's only voyage starting in Canada this year : QM2 Québec-New York in October.  We will have to consider the situation at the time of final payment.

[ClipperinSFO]

My question is whether the Canadian closure will have any impact on planned TA crossings since Canadian ports are often used in cases of medical emergency. Or might a Canadian stop for

medical/technical reasons be allowed on a case by case a basis?

[babs135]

20 hours ago, david,Mississauga said:

We have booked for Cunard's only voyage starting in Canada this year : QM2 Québec-New York in October.  We will have to consider the situation at the time of final payment.

We are on the full 28 days no fly trip and would be absolutely gutted if it didn't go ahead.  Apart from New York and Boston all ports are new to us and 3 nights in Quebec really appeals.   As you say, decisions will have to be made by the time of paying the balance.  Another consideration is what protocols will be in place.  If there is no change from what has just been announced then I think we may cancel or transfer the booking.  The thought of masks, etc is not appealing and although I could cope with social bubble shore excursions, the thought of not being able to share a table at dinner is probably a step too far.  We've made some good friends over the years and it is one of the reasons we choose to sail with Cunard.

[david,Mississauga]

11 hours ago, babs135 said:

We are on the full 28 days no fly trip and would be absolutely gutted if it didn't go ahead. 

...

 

The full 28-days sounds great. There were two of those trips last year and there was supposed to be two this year.  Last year I considered the 28-day round trip from Québec, but we booked a different voyage.  Of course this can't be done if there is only one round trip from Southampton.  Perhaps in 2022 Cunard will do two. 

 

We have done the Québec - New York trip once and the next year we had a 14-day trip combining Québec-NY with an Atlantic crossing.

[majortom10]

We should have returned last Friday from a 28 nt cruise to North America/Canada on QM2 and was absolutely gutted when it was cancelled and cannot see us booking another one in the near future. We had it booked 2yrs ago whilst aboard QM2. 

[BklynBoy8]

19 hours ago, majortom10 said:

We should have returned last Friday from a 28 nt cruise to North America/Canada on QM2 and was absolutely gutted when it was cancelled and cannot see us booking another one in the near future. We had it booked 2yrs ago whilst aboard QM2. 

Hope you do consider rebooking in the future a North America/Canada sailing.

 

It's one of the sailing we enjoy booking and sailing.. We all will one day return to the High Seas......

[broberts]

On 10/31/2020 at 10:41 AM, ace2542 said:

They may make the bans permanent you know.

 

Very unlikely. Too many jobs in Vancouver and Halifax would be lost. 

 

Extending the cruise ship ban to February suggests that the land borders will remain closed as well. I suspect that the two are closely linked.

[Flying-Dragon]

On 10/31/2020 at 12:53 PM, K_e_short said:

 

The Canadian ports don't rely heavily on cruise tourists. There are enough people driving or flying to those places.

 

For 2019 in Vancouver, about 1 million passengers and over 800 million dollars to the local economy.  The difference in the number of people in town this year is very noticeable.  Cruise tourism is big here.

[K_e_short]

5 hours ago, Flying-Dragon said:

For 2019 in Vancouver, about 1 million passengers and over 800 million dollars to the local economy.  The difference in the number of people in town this year is very noticeable.  Cruise tourism is big here.

 

I was one of those 1 million 🙂 (did an Alaskan cruise with NCL).

I was thinking more the eastern provinces.

[babs135]

Well as I suspected. 2022's dates for New England and Canada don't work for us 😢.  We are just going to hope and pray that the 2021 date goes ahead.  Have said that we would cancel (or transfer) if the protocols announced are still in place but maybe by then we will have had feedback from others as to how it worked out and if it doesn't sound too horrendous then we will continue.

Still a long time until June when we have to pay the balance.  A lot can have happened by then.

[david,Mississauga]

On 11/5/2020 at 6:22 AM, babs135 said:

Well as I suspected. 2022's dates for New England and Canada don't work for us 😢.  We are just going to hope and pray that the 2021 date goes ahead.  Have said that we would cancel (or transfer) if the protocols announced are still in place but maybe by then we will have had feedback from others as to how it worked out and if it doesn't sound too horrendous then we will continue.

Still a long time until June when we have to pay the balance.  A lot can have happened by then.

 

Cunard will not allow me to view any information for 2022. May I ask if there is only one voyage to/from Québec that year?  Our booked voyage for 2021 is still our first choice. Thanks in advance.

[MCC retired]

33 minutes ago, david,Mississauga said:

 

Cunard will not allow me to view any information for 2022. May I ask if there is only one voyage to/from Québec that year?  Our booked voyage for 2021 is still our first choice. Thanks in advance.

 Yes, just 1 voyage to/from Quebec City for 2022 . Same goes for 2021 . Certainly would like to see QM2 return to the 2 r/t's of yesteryear .