P&O extend pause to April

[terrierjohn]

18 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Sorry, just checked, my numbers were wrong. First para should say 10m jabs to cover 5m people.

 

UK government have been clear that the U.K. stocks of the jab will not be available on the private market. This is because they want to retain capacity such as Chemists to do the mass vaccine program.

 

Whether Carnival have bought their own supply, I can’t comment. They would need about 350k doses.

 

What is more likely is that Carnival are working with local staffing agencies to ensure crew are vaccinated before travelling to join a ship. Most of these countries would be thankful for Carnivals money so might sell a few hundred thousand doses!

Once the Oxford/AZ vaccine is approved there should be plenty of supplies in India, I read recently that a factory there had already started producing and hundreds of millions of  doses were planned.

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, molecrochip said:

The problem is this is only looking at the U.K. Most other countries are lagging far behind which focuses mind on U.K. cruising. Am told that Norway will be quick to adopt vaccine.

Which, as I see it, is significant. 

Many people are saying "We have been vaccinated, lets go on a cruise" whereas in reality, everything depends on the action and decision making of other countries. 

Why anybody is booking a cruise for this summer, or expecting their European cruise to go ahead, is beyond me.

Seven day cruises from Southampton to Newcastle and back,  possibly !

[terrierjohn]

13 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Which, as I see it, is significant. 

Many people are saying "We have been vaccinated, lets go on a cruise" whereas in reality, everything depends on the action and decision making of other countries. 

Why anybody is booking a cruise for this summer, or expecting their European cruise to go ahead, is beyond me.

Seven day cruises from Southampton to Newcastle and back,  possibly !

wowzz, you went to Lanzarote only recently at the height of the 2nd wave, how bad were things over there, were the shops shut, did you struggle to find a cafe open, could you get a drink in a bar, were the promenades and beaches empty?

How much better are things likely to be if Europe follows our lead and approves vaccines for use, and optimism and confidence starts to flow through the hospitality sector, I wonder?

[wowzz]

16 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

wowzz, you went to Lanzarote only recently at the height of the 2nd wave, how bad were things over there, were the shops shut, did you struggle to find a cafe open, could you get a drink in a bar, were the promenades and beaches empty?

How much better are things likely to be if Europe follows our lead and approves vaccines for use, and optimism and confidence starts to flow through the hospitality sector, I wonder?

Well, the majority of hotels were shut, it was very quiet, but it was not difficult to find open bars and restaurants,  but compared to normal years they were probably only 20% full. The bars and restaurants that catered mainly for the expats were not doing too badly, but they still needed the holiday makers to make a profit. As one cafe/bakery owner said, things were "dire".

But, the issue for the Canarian Government was trying to balance the risk between opening the doors to unfettered tourism, and the danger of rampant CV19,  or keeping the economy alive.

 The  Canarian government, as you know, subsequently decided to continue to let tourists in, but only with a negative CV19 test result, which is not only expensive, but problematic due to the time scale involved, for many holiday makers. Consequently the majority of hotels have decided not to reopen, and I have to imagine only the most determined will decide to holiday there over the next few months. In effect, the government took the low risk option (nothing wrong with that) but the economic impact on the islands will be catastrophic.  

To come back to your original post - I can't see the Canaries suddenly allowing thousands of cruisers to disembark any time soon, regardless of the fact that they may have been vaccinated in the UK,  unless the indigenous population have themselves developed some form of herd immunity through an internal immunisation programme. 

Which is why I believe those that believe that cruising in July will go ahead just because of a small vaccine roll out in one couuntry, are seriously deluded.

Sorry for a verbose and rambling reply.

[tring]

38 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Well, the majority of hotels were shut, it was very quiet, but it was not difficult to find open bars and restaurants,  but compared to normal years they were probably only 20% full. The bars and restaurants that catered mainly for the expats were not doing too badly, but they still needed the holiday makers to make a profit. As one cafe/bakery owner said, things were "dire".

But, the issue for the Canarian Government was trying to balance the risk between opening the doors to unfettered tourism, and the danger of rampant CV19,  or keeping the economy alive.

 The  Canarian government, as you know, subsequently decided to continue to let tourists in, but only with a negative CV19 test result, which is not only expensive, but problematic due to the time scale involved, for many holiday makers. Consequently the majority of hotels have decided not to reopen, and I have to imagine only the most determined will decide to holiday there over the next few months. In effect, the government took the low risk option (nothing wrong with that) but the economic impact on the islands will be catastrophic.  

To come back to your original post - I can't see the Canaries suddenly allowing thousands of cruisers to disembark any time soon, regardless of the fact that they may have been vaccinated in the UK,  unless the indigenous population have themselves developed some form of herd immunity through an internal immunisation programme. 

Which is why I believe those that believe that cruising in July will go ahead just because of a small vaccine roll out in one couuntry, are seriously deluded.

Sorry for a verbose and rambling reply.

 

Very interesting post, especially to someone due to head to Lanzarote on 7th March for 3 weeks (hopefully after having a vaccine, since we are over 70).

 

I agree that countries will not want to "allow thousands of cruisers to disembark any time soon", but I think we need to remember the criteria of not being allowed off a ship independently according to published COVID plans.  I can therefore see the need to join an excursion for some months, or at least until other countries have vaccinate the vulnerable.  I have just watched todays news briefing on catch up and JVT said that vaccinating the 1st phase (people over 50 and others who are vulnerable) is expected to mean 99% of those who are currently being hospitalised will have been vaccinated.  Added to that, Astro Zen data has shown no hospitalisations in the vaccinated group.  Hence that will, in IMO, be the stage at which other countries will allow travel by other nationals without widespread controls.  All European countries are also working on a vaccine plan, though reaching that stage will more likely be by about the end of June, rather than April as is hoped here.  So as Molecrochip has said it is likely to be July before cruising starts to look more like it has done.

 

Molecrochip has mentioned Norway are expected to vaccinate quicker than other countries, so along with the fact that Hurtigruten have been sailing with "cruisers" as well as Norwegian passengers, it gives good prospects for Ionas fjords cruises, even though excursions have been needed for Hurtigruten cruisers to leave the ships.  An excursion does not seem such a problem in the Fjords as many are in the open, (rather than into busy cities/tourist areas) and we would also be happy to stay on the ship if docked in a scenic location.  So we are hopeful of the fjords cruise we have just booked to replace the US/Canada cruise next September.

 

Interesting that JVT had also commented on the future world after COVID.  He is convinced COVID will always be with us, so we may need regular vaccines, though that need is yet to be assessed.  He also said he could see that masks and hand sanitiser cannot be burnt in a bonfire (at that stage DH did comment that he would not throw sanitiser on a bonfire!), but would still be needed at times.  Boris subsequently reined him in on that, trying to limit the use to the Far East, though I am not convinced that is the only place JVT felt it would be needed.  Must admit that did bring cruising and other crowded places to my mind, but what will be needed where in the long term is something that will be determined as time progresses.

 

 

[davecttr]

Given the probable vaccine rollout timescale and additional time for it to take sufficient effect to make me more relaxed about cruising again I will probably cancel my Iona cruise to Norway in May but might still go on the identical cruise in September, but only if those two long proper fjord sail ins are included.

[terrierjohn]

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

Well, the majority of hotels were shut, it was very quiet, but it was not difficult to find open bars and restaurants,  but compared to normal years they were probably only 20% full. The bars and restaurants that catered mainly for the expats were not doing too badly, but they still needed the holiday makers to make a profit. As one cafe/bakery owner said, things were "dire".

But, the issue for the Canarian Government was trying to balance the risk between opening the doors to unfettered tourism, and the danger of rampant CV19,  or keeping the economy alive.

 The  Canarian government, as you know, subsequently decided to continue to let tourists in, but only with a negative CV19 test result, which is not only expensive, but problematic due to the time scale involved, for many holiday makers. Consequently the majority of hotels have decided not to reopen, and I have to imagine only the most determined will decide to holiday there over the next few months. In effect, the government took the low risk option (nothing wrong with that) but the economic impact on the islands will be catastrophic.  

To come back to your original post - I can't see the Canaries suddenly allowing thousands of cruisers to disembark any time soon, regardless of the fact that they may have been vaccinated in the UK,  unless the indigenous population have themselves developed some form of herd immunity through an internal immunisation programme. 

Which is why I believe those that believe that cruising in July will go ahead just because of a small vaccine roll out in one couuntry, are seriously deluded.

Sorry for a verbose and rambling reply.

The EU approval will undoubtedly follow ours very soon and, assuming the EU have sufficient orders for the vaccines, they will be rolling out vaccination programmes at the same pace as ours.  So I would expect that next years holiday season could start by Q2, and as you point out all the holiday centres are desperate to get their economies moving again, which will certainly help to oil the wheels, which should help any cruise lines to restart their cruising programmes.

[davecttr]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

The EU approval will undoubtedly follow ours very soon and, assuming the EU have sufficient orders for the vaccines, they will be rolling out vaccination programmes at the same pace as ours.  So I would expect that next years holiday season could start by Q2, and as you point out all the holiday centres are desperate to get their economies moving again, which will certainly help to oil the wheels, which should help any cruise lines to restart their cruising programmes.

It appears that France will be starting its widespread vaccination programme from April and if a similar timetable is common  maybe we will see no return to a form of cruising normality until autumn?

[AnnieC]

42 minutes ago, davecttr said:

It appears that France will be starting its widespread vaccination programme from April and if a similar timetable is common  maybe we will see no return to a form of cruising normality until autumn?

Australia not due to start its vaccination programme until March, according to my step-daughter in Melbourne. She was listening to an interview this morning about it and a government minister was asked why they were waiting so long when the UK was starting next week. The reply was along the lines of "would you copy anything the UK has done during this crisis"?

 

I'm hoping it's something we've got right...

[terrierjohn]

26 minutes ago, AnnieC said:

Australia not due to start its vaccination programme until March, according to my step-daughter in Melbourne. She was listening to an interview this morning about it and a government minister was asked why they were waiting so long when the UK was starting next week. The reply was along the lines of "would you copy anything the UK has done during this crisis"?

 

I'm hoping it's something we've got right...

If not it will certainly cut the pension bill.🥺

[panamapd]

Hi - I pop onto this board now and again (awaiting Iona in December 2021 now).

 

I read somewhere that "AIDA Cruises today announced that it will offer Canary Island cruises starting from December 5, 2020.

On December 5, 2020, AIDA Cruises will open its cruise season around the Canary Islands with AIDAperla, followed by AIDAmar, which will start its winter season with the Christmas voyage on December 20, 2020"

 

Be interesting to see how this progresses but it doesn't state which islands.

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, panamapd said:

Hi - I pop onto this board now and again (awaiting Iona in December 2021 now).

 

I read somewhere that "AIDA Cruises today announced that it will offer Canary Island cruises starting from December 5, 2020.

On December 5, 2020, AIDA Cruises will open its cruise season around the Canary Islands with AIDAperla, followed by AIDAmar, which will start its winter season with the Christmas voyage on December 20, 2020"

 

Be interesting to see how this progresses but it doesn't state which islands.

I can't see how any passengers will be allowed ashore, as currently you have to have a negative CV19 test within 72 hours of arrival at all of the islands.

I suppose that tour "bubbles" might be the way around the restriction, if AIDA have negotiated such an arrangement with the authorities. 

[panamapd]

As I say, it will be interesting to see how they do it!

 

When I go onto aida.de the Aida Perla is available to book for 12 December 2020 for one week.  ( I only went as far as the booking page.  I don't know what would have happened if I stated I'm from the UK).  Gran Canaria. 12.12.20

Sea day

14.12.20 La Palma

15.12.20 Tenerife

16.12.20 Tenerife

17.12.20 Fueventura

18.12.20 Lanzarote

19.12.20 Gran Canaria

 

[tring]

We got an email this morning about our newly booked Iona cruise for next summer (to replace a US and Canada one).

 

It included the following and also a link to the COVID procedures they have announced as using for re start cruises, which we all know includes only going ashore on excursions to begin with.  We are happy with that for our newly booked cruise, but would not have been for any other cruise:-

 

Seeing the sights on shore

Go ashore and explore the amazing ports we visit, by booking organised and vetted shore experience.

Edited December 3, 2020 by tring