Where are the test cruises?

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, bouhunter said:

A post somewhere on CC recently suggested Chik Fil A do the vaccines.  Got a good laugh out of that....... but they are amazingly efficient at drive thru service..... 🙂

 

Just couldn't get vaccinated on a Sunday!

[Milwaukee Eight]

54 minutes ago, orville99 said:

The state is working on a statewide reservation system that should help if and when it gets rolled out. What I don't understand is how Volusia county can be surrounded by counties that have successfully implemented a reservation/appointment system, and yet they continue to go with FCFS. BTW, anyone in Florida can go to any county in Florida to get vaccinated, so if Volusia doesn't clean up their act, you can make a reservation/appointment in Orange, Brevard, or Osceola, or wherever else you're close enough to drive to.

Got mine today. Family of Healthcare workers over 65. No wait. Walk right in. 

[bouhunter]

14 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Got mine today. Family of Healthcare workers over 65. No wait. Walk right in. 

Nice 🙂

 

[island lady]

14 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

That’s great. I’m happy to read this. 

 

thanks...just hope it all works out!  😮 

[island lady]

3 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Glad Brevard seems to have their act together. This FCFS here in Volusia is for the birds.  I think things are going to change up a bit here soon. Too much pushback on FCFS. 

 

M8

 

Yeah, thought it was silly they threw open the gauntlet of "first come first serve" free for all nightmare...at least they have realized that did not work well.  😮   Could be wrong, but I believe they are doing appointments now?  Though hearing they were gone in like 15 minutes?  

[sandebeach]

52 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Got mine today. Family of Healthcare workers over 65. No wait. Walk right in. 

Great that you had no wait, what site was this?

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 minute ago, sandebeach said:

Great that you had no wait, what site was this?

Advent Health Daytona. They are doing local healthcare workers and their family members over 65, as First Responders through Saturday or until they run out. Moved very fast. Longest wait was the 15 minutes after the shot. 

[sandebeach]

Just now, Milwaukee Eight said:

Advent Health Daytona. They are doing local healthcare workers and their family members over 65, as First Responders through Saturday or until they run out. Moved very fast. Longest wait was the 15 minutes after the shot. 

Very nice. I am trying to help my daughter's in-laws, they are in Manatee County and can not find a place to get an appointment. Publix up in Brooksville and also Spring Hills will be doing vaccine shots, but they do not seem to want to drive that far north. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

4 minutes ago, sandebeach said:

Very nice. I am trying to help my daughter's in-laws, they are in Manatee County and can not find a place to get an appointment. Publix up in Brooksville and also Spring Hills will be doing vaccine shots, but they do not seem to want to drive that far north. 

I love riding my motorcycle down to Brooksville. Lots of nice roads around Floral City. 

[sandebeach]

1 minute ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I love riding my motorcycle down to Brooksville. Lots of nice roads around Floral City. 

Our oldest son lives in that area, it is a beautiful area. 

[orville99]

On 1/7/2021 at 9:42 AM, Milwaukee Eight said:

Got mine today. Family of Healthcare workers over 65. No wait. Walk right in. 

Just got the call back for our second dose in Osceola county. Being done at a local church, so gov has definitely expanded vaccination locations. Announcement this morning that now expanding to 120+ Publix locations as well.

[Milwaukee Eight]

2 hours ago, orville99 said:

Just got the call back for our second dose in Osceola county. Being done at a local church, so gov has definitely expanded vaccination locations. Announcement this morning that now expanding to 120+ Publix locations as well.

Go Florida!!!

[orville99]

14 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Go Florida!!!

And Seminole County Public School System just announced that they have set up an appointment system to begin vaccinating their teachers and staff over 65. They also said that when someone misses their vaccination appointment they are taking the leftover vaccine doses to local assisted living facilities and vaccinating residents rather than letting the doses go to waste.

[Biker19]

The atmosphere on November 1, 2020, in the cruise industry, was one of pure optimism. Not only did the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) lift the No-Sail-Order, but we would also soon start seeing ships sailing from US ports on test cruises. The end of December, or at the latest, the start of January, would surely be the time.

 

More than 150,000 people signed up for the test cruises onboard Royal Caribbean ships, while the Facebook page quickly gained 63,000 followers.

 

That optimism has faded somewhat. It’s mid-January, and there is no sign whatsoever of any ships even preparing to sail on test cruises. What Gives?

Is the CDC Stalling?

Well, it’s not just the CDC, but the fact the agency has not provided cruise operators with guidelines on the test sailings has so far delayed proceedings.

 

In the call that Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald held with investors this week, the CEO was asked: What is happening with the test cruises? Donald’s reply was this: 

“The additional guidelines for future phases have not yet been issued by the CDC. We have weekly calls or as often as we need with them. So that remains to be seen. But what I can tell you is that we’re on track to be able to do whatever we need to do in a very timely manner to be able to resume cruise ultimately.

To answer your question about specific timing on a test cruise, yes, we would be waiting. But obviously, we’re doing a lot of things. We’ve started to bring ships back into the US and are meeting the criteria put out there to be in a position to then subsequently do test cruises. But to give you a specific timing on the test cruises, we would need additional guidance from the CDC.”

Without the proper guidelines and instructions from the CDC, the cruise lines have their hands tied. Of course, it’s no surprise the test cruises are taking longer to materialize than expected.

 

The second wave of COVID-19 infections does beg the question if sailing would be a good idea anyway. Even ships sailing for many months have stopped operating in Europe and are not expected to start again until the end of January.

Waiting for the New Administration?

It could very well be that the CDC is waiting for President-elect Biden to take over. Joe Biden has stated already he will be extremely tough on how he will deal with the virus, especially for the first 100 days of his presidency. Why would the CDC allow test cruises now, if they might just be canceled again later?

 

However, it is entirely possible that the CDC wanted cruises to start up when they lifted the No-Sail-Order last year. COVID-19 is currently spreading at such alarming rates that it doesn’t permit test cruises to occur in a manner that could be considered safe. You could argue that the cruise lines themselves do not want to sail right now.

Cruise Lines Have Too Much To Do?

The two largest cruise operators in the world have been kept postponing cruises since the first suspensions were announced back in March 2020.

 

The fact that Royal Caribbean has canceled cruises as far as May 2021 and Carnival as far as the fall for select ships, this could very well be a sign of worse to come.

It goes beyond just waiting for a response from the CDC. Thousands of crew members need to be brought back to the ships. This needs to be done safely and in accordance with the CDC. Ships need to have a green status for this to happen.

 

Ways to help protect guests and the crew is a huge importance. Protocols need to be refined covering many different aspects of the cruise vacation experience including before even embarking on the ship.

 

MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises have vast amounts of data about how cruising can be done safely during the pandemic. Even they have moored their ships for now. Keep in mind, if ships did start sailing now, and an outbreak would occur, the media coverage could do more damage to the cruise industry than the pandemic itself.

 

As Royal Caribbean said before on the subject of test cruises: “Our priority is to ensure that we can exercise our comprehensive set of measures safely and healthily while making sure we provide a memorable vacation experience.”

 

That safe and healthy manner does not seem to be possible right now. The question is, therefore, not what gives? But, when will the time be right for test cruises to start?

If the current situation doesn’t improve soon, it could be much longer than we ever expected.

 

Why Haven't We Had Any Test Cruises Yet? (cruisehive.com)

[smokeybandit]

The only reason the CDC issued its return to sail guidelines when it did was because of the Trump administration (not meaning to start any political wars).  The CDC wanted to extend the ban well into 2021.  I fear this time next week under the new administration, cruising may see even further setbacks.

[ipeeinthepool]

6 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

The only reason the CDC issued its return to sail guidelines when it did was because of the Trump administration (not meaning to start any political wars).  The CDC wanted to extend the ban well into 2021.  I fear this time next week under the new administration, cruising may see even further setbacks.

 

I hope you're wrong.  I'm hoping the new administration finds a way to make cruising great again.

Edited January 16, 2021 by ipeeinthepool

[smokeybandit]

I hope I'm wrong, too.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

I think we all can all see what the requirements will be for crusing and i hope to god it gets there quick.

 

Vaccination s for crew and all guests. 

Prob sail to nowhere to start or limited stops. 

 

The sad thing is the crew unless paid for will be bottom of the list like myself being only 42 and in the military.

 

Ive looked at the uk calculator and im scheduled jan 2022 for vaccine......lol

 

 

 

[HaveWeMetYet]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

I hope I'm wrong, too.

Your not.

[Eddie Wilson]

The 7 day running average for Covid cases is presently around 225,000 per day.  I believe the CDC will not allow cruising to test sail until this number is solidly trending downward and at minimum less than 50,000, and it may be much lower.

 

Then if the ships sailing protocols pass, AND that average number is less than an even smaller number, say 20,000 or 10,000 per day and continuing to trend downward...then they may allow cruising to resume.

 

Just an opinion, but with these Jan 2021 numbers even test cruises are some time off.

 

Right now the best we can do to get the world back to some normalcy is to have vaccines in as many people as possible.  Here in Ohio, and apparently most of US, the vaccine rollout is woefully under projection.

 

Eddie

 

[Sail n Snow]

On 1/16/2021 at 9:11 PM, Biker19 said:

You could argue that the cruise lines themselves do not want to sail right now.......

 

MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises have vast amounts of data about how cruising can be done safely during the pandemic. Even they have moored their ships for now. Keep in mind, if ships did start sailing now, and an outbreak would occur, the media coverage could do more damage to the cruise industry than the pandemic itself.

 

Unfortunately with these new strains being more contagious and the cruise lines worried about public relations I don’t see test cruises happening until the summer. 
 

Even with swab testing you can’t be 100% sure.  The test themselves are between 75-95% accurate and what happens if someone is  tested when the viral load isn’t high enough and gets through?  Yes you can have social distancing and mask use in place but even that isn’t 100% to stoping the spread.  
 

Australia has done an amazing job stopping the spread but they continue to have small outbreaks that shut cities down.  I haven’t even seen their govt. says cruising can start again. 

Spectrum is supposed to start soon out of Shanghai but can’t.  It has no ports to visit as Japan is still closed and going through a new wave that is worse than the last. 
 

Even Singapore the cruises are 4 nights or less and due to a false positive one cruise returned early. Credits for the lost day and sorry this happens fcc’s were also issued.  
 

If the cruise lines start back and there is one person that tests positive the cruise is probably over.  Everyone on board would need to quarantine in there rooms until back at port and the cruise line is handing out more free money (which they don’t have).  There reputation probably is tarnished a bit and they lose more revenue to deep cleaning and extra swab testing for the crew and passengers. 
 

If I was a cruise line I’d want 100% of the crew vaccinated and if possible 75% or more of the passengers vaccinated and cruise with say 50-60% capacity at first. 
 

It’s going to be a long road to recovery. 

[Tippyton]

On 1/7/2021 at 8:42 AM, Milwaukee Eight said:

Got mine today. Family of Healthcare workers over 65. No wait. Walk right in. 

Got mine too!