Is it worth booking a cruise now? when would it be likely they go ahead?

[SelectSys]

9 hours ago, mashisback said:

To be fair, Royal Caribbean was perfect when it comes to refunding and communication so that probably wouldn't have put me off the risk... but im still recovering from the stress of trying to recover 3k from virgin atlantic!

 

RCCL processed my refund reasonably quickly as well.  The airlines are another matter and Virgin Atlantic seems to be at the bottom of customer care in this regard.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2021/jan/13/ryanair-and-virgin-atlantic-rated-the-worst-airlines-at-dealing-with-refunds-in-2020

The survey, which was conducted in September 2020, also found that a third of respondents who had a flight cancelled by Ryanair or Virgin Atlantic waited more than three months for their refund. None of the Ryanair passengers surveyed received their refund within the legal time frame.

 

I was really lucky as I even got money back from Norwegian for a cancelled flight early in the pandemic.

 

1 hour ago, evandbob said:

As Warp Speed became Molasses Drip, it's probably best to temper estimates of successful vax efforts. 

 

You don't think things are going to dramatically improve soon?  My state of CA is off to a slow start and has only distributed 24% of the vaccines it has received.  Of the big states, Texas appears to be doing the best so far with 46% of their vaccines distributed.  Florida is at 41% if you believe Bloomberg.

 

Here is a daily update tracker of progress

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/

Edited January 13, 2021 by SelectSys

[clo]

1 hour ago, SelectSys said:

I was really lucky as I even got money back from Norwegian for a cancelled flight early in the pandemic.

 

I also got a refund from Norwegian Air. 'Course I did email their CEO 🙂

[evandbob]

• go

 

• #26  
•  

Posted 6 hours ago (edited)

    7 hours ago, evandbob said:As Warp Speed became Molasses Drip, it's probably best to temper estimates of successful vax efforts. 

 

You don't think things are going to dramatically improve soon?  My state of CA is off to a slow start and has only distributed 24% of the vaccines it has received.  Of the big states, Texas appears to be doing the best so far with 46% of their vaccines distributed.  Florida is at 41% if you believe Bloomberg.

 

Here is a daily update tracker of progress

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/

 

This tracker shows that only 3.58 out of 100 Floridians have received a vax to date, far, far below the original estimates.  Yes, I think (hope) progress will be made, but the rollout has been hampered by lack of coordination and logistics planning on all levels of Government, Federal, state and local.

 

Each local nightly TV  show has state officials blaming the local reps, who in turn blame the state back aa well as the public for its' "unforeseen demand".  Then there's shots of frustrated local seniors complaining about the difficulty and scarcity of getting shots.  Lee Cty Dept of Health just had a phone in for 1,800 shots and blocked out all available appointments in 3 minutes.  So if this continues, it will take about 25 to 30 months to complete and get to full herd immunity.

Edited January 14, 2021 by evandbob

[SelectSys]

3 hours ago, evandbob said:

Each local nightly TV  show has state officials blaming the local reps, who in turn blame the state back aa well as the public for its' "unforeseen demand". 

 

Unforeseen demand?  Send me the link to that one!  

[Markanddonna]

I've booked three long cruises (between 11 and 28 days) for Nov 2021 and then winter and spring 2022. They were fantastic deals and had a relatively small deposit. I can handle the heartbreak of canceling if necessary.

[evandbob]

10 hours ago, SelectSys said:

 

Unforeseen demand?  Send me the link to that one!  

It was on TV evening WINK news the day after the first public availability of vax.  Seniors had camped out overnight in long lines for the first come first immunized distribution of the vaccine.  Lee County Health officials were asked to explain why the rollout was so disorganized and one said the DOH hadn't anticipated the "unseen demand" for the vax.

 

A few days later after some more miles long lines of waiting seniors, the County switched to a phone in appt system.  It began accepting calls at noon, and in 3 minutes 1500 to 2000 vax appts were filled.

[SelectSys]

3 hours ago, evandbob said:

... the day after the first public availability of vax...

 

It could happen here as well.  Governor finally decided yesterday to let those over 65 who are at greatest risk get a vaccine to accelerate delivery and hopefully lower load in time on the hospitals.  

 

My county says they aren't ready to deliver on this as of yet.  I can only imagine what happens on the first day...

[iancal]

We are not booking anything.  It is not simply whether or not the cruise will happen.  

 

The on board environment and details as to what ports will allow us in, and if we are restricted to cruise line excursions are just as important to us as whether the cruise will leave the dock.

 

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, evandbob said:

It was on TV evening WINK news the day after the first public availability of vax.  Seniors had camped out overnight in long lines for the first come first immunized distribution of the vaccine.  Lee County Health officials were asked to explain why the rollout was so disorganized and one said the DOH hadn't anticipated the "unseen demand" for the vax.

 

A few days later after some more miles long lines of waiting seniors, the County switched to a phone in appt system.  It began accepting calls at noon, and in 3 minutes 1500 to 2000 vax appts were filled.

It is amazing how no one at federal, state, county, or municipal levels gave any effective though about what to do with the long-awaited vaccines when they finally became available.

 

Who ever thought there would not be a demand for the vaccines - how the hell could there have been an “unseen demand” (for ANYONE who could see)?

[navybankerteacher]

26 minutes ago, iancal said:

We are not booking anything.  It is not simply whether or not the cruise will happen.  

 

The on board environment and details as to what ports will allow us in, and if we are restricted to cruise line excursions are just as important to us as whether the cruise will leave the dock.

 

I think you are right - the very first cruises to sail will almost certainly have conditions on board and limitations regarding embarkation, ports and debarkation that will seriously impact the enjoyability of the effort.

 

But, then, people can be pretty good at not thinking about things they do not want to think about.

Edited January 14, 2021 by navybankerteacher

[iancal]

Bottom line for us is that we are simply not up for buying a 'pig in a poke'.  We are not that desperate to cruise.  We want to know exactly what we are buying before buying and before leaving home.

 

There are other travel options that are equally attractive and available to us.

Edited January 14, 2021 by iancal

[clo]

3 hours ago, SelectSys said:

 

It could happen here as well.  Governor finally decided yesterday to let those over 65 who are at greatest risk get a vaccine to accelerate delivery and hopefully lower load in time on the hospitals.  

 

My county says they aren't ready to deliver on this as of yet.  I can only imagine what happens on the first day...

Our county (NV) is going to have what seems like dozens of pharmacies help. And it appears we'll be able to make our appts. online which we were able to do for testing.

[ldubs]

22 hours ago, SelectSys said:

 

It could happen here as well.  Governor finally decided yesterday to let those over 65 who are at greatest risk get a vaccine to accelerate delivery and hopefully lower load in time on the hospitals.  

 

My county says they aren't ready to deliver on this as of yet.  I can only imagine what happens on the first day...

 

With such a low percent of the vaccine stock distributed, I think there was some concern it would expire before it would be used.  At least, that was part of the message I heard from our governor.   My county has expanded the tier to 65+.  I am now on the vaccine registration list.  I'm not sure why we were so slow to involve pharmacies and other med facilities, but they are starting to do that now.  When my appointment comes up it will be interesting to see if I will go to my local pharmacy or to public health.  

[SelectSys]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 I'm not sure why we were so slow to involve pharmacies and other med facilities, but they are starting to do that now.

 

https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article248492950.html

 

What went wrong? The tiered system for prioritizing vaccinations was arguably too complicated — and too cautious — for its own good...

the state laid out a complicated tiered priority system that emphasized vaccinating Californians according to “risk, exposure and equity,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state’s Health and Human Services Agency...

“That slows things down when you have all these tiers and subgroups,” Pan said. “We want to be equitable, at the same time the more layers we put there … that becomes really challenging especially as you move to start vaccinating the community. ... We’ve really got to step back and say, ‘How do we make it as simple as possible?’ ”...

The average across the country is 36%. Only Alabama, Georgia and Virginia have performed worse by percentage than California at exhausting their allotments.

 

It seems to me that the state's eternal quest for micromanagement and equity are two big factors.  Add in favors to the preferred unions and what you get is a mess. 

 

The sad fact is that this may result in downstream consequences in the federal allocation of vaccines which serve to put CA further down the line:

 

That woeful performance could prove costly to California in the near future: The federal government is preparing to roll out fresh supplies under an allocation formula that it says will be based in part on how quickly the states have used up the supplies they’ve received so far.

 

[clo]

3 hours ago, ldubs said:

involve pharmacies

Last night we chuckled that perhaps our fave pharmacist, with whom we talk and laugh about all manner of things, will just call us one day and say 'get your butts in here, right now.' But our main hospital which has all manner of outpatients services all over the city is going to be the online registration point. Now to get the vaccine.

[ldubs]

On 1/15/2021 at 10:07 AM, SelectSys said:

 

https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article248492950.html

 

What went wrong? The tiered system for prioritizing vaccinations was arguably too complicated — and too cautious — for its own good...

the state laid out a complicated tiered priority system that emphasized vaccinating Californians according to “risk, exposure and equity,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state’s Health and Human Services Agency...

“That slows things down when you have all these tiers and subgroups,” Pan said. “We want to be equitable, at the same time the more layers we put there … that becomes really challenging especially as you move to start vaccinating the community. ... We’ve really got to step back and say, ‘How do we make it as simple as possible?’ ”...

The average across the country is 36%. Only Alabama, Georgia and Virginia have performed worse by percentage than California at exhausting their allotments.

 

It seems to me that the state's eternal quest for micromanagement and equity are two big factors.  Add in favors to the preferred unions and what you get is a mess. 

 

The sad fact is that this may result in downstream consequences in the federal allocation of vaccines which serve to put CA further down the line:

 

That woeful performance could prove costly to California in the near future: The federal government is preparing to roll out fresh supplies under an allocation formula that it says will be based in part on how quickly the states have used up the supplies they’ve received so far.

 

 

Sadly, too many in our gov't are too focused on a beauty contest and are much better at making work than doing work.  

 

 

[evandbob]

I'm waiting for CVS, Walgreens or Publix (local supermarket pharmacy to begin vaxxing seniors, rather than attempt to secure a Lee Cty DOH appt via the phone.  Some people in SWFL are using multiple phones when calling in for the few available appt spots.  Last two times they filled 2,000 appts within 3 minutes.

 

Before the call in, it was first come first served, so seniors were waiting overnight on lawn chairs or in their cars , an utterly disaster.  I've waited for 9 months, I can wait a little while longer.

[jocap]

In the UK, we've watched as the very vulnerable over 80s, and front line care staff have been injected; you receive a phone call from the local NHS surgery with a date and place, and there are volunteer drivers and helpers.

This week we heard of more 80+ without underlying conditions, including several friends and some relatives, and have been given a rough idea that we, in the 75+ group, should be hearing in the last week of Jan/first week of Feb.

Local TV showed the first home visits, which probably means the Oxford vaccine which doesn't need the same refrigeration as the Pfizer one, and we know that some local care homes have been covered.

It all seems to be moving quite quickly now.

[clo]

50 minutes ago, evandbob said:

I'm waiting for CVS, Walgreens or Publix (local supermarket pharmacy to begin vaxxing seniors, rather than attempt to secure a Lee Cty DOH appt via the phone.  Some people in SWFL are using multiple phones when calling in for the few available appt spots.  Last two times they filled 2,000 appts within 3 minutes.

 

Before the call in, it was first come first served, so seniors were waiting overnight on lawn chairs or in their cars , an utterly disaster.  I've waited for 9 months, I can wait a little while longer.

It's just so odd to me that here in podunk Reno/Washoe County it's being done online. I got my appt. for next Saturday at a local hospital. Bob got a notice for a couple of weeks after me but they can't schedule it yet. Need to make sure they'll have the vaccine available. Where I have a friend who lives in Indiana who was on hold for SEVEN hours!

[spookwife]

I have a carnival booked for 2022..my father wanted to go on their big anniversary shindig but hates going alone and paying the single supplement.  It was booked long before the pandemic really got going.

 

I had an Alaska on Royal booked which had been rescheduled 5 times before I finally threw in the towel and got a full refund.

 

I will not book any more until AFTER there have been at least 90 days worth of sailing from US ports with no huge problems.  I’m not willing to tie up money for a pipe dream otherwise 

[SelectSys]

On 1/16/2021 at 1:55 PM, clo said:

It's just so odd to me that here in podunk Reno/Washoe County it's being done online.

 

I think this might be considered discriminatory in California as under served communities tend not to have equal access to and capabilities to the Internet.  We'll go slow on this one in my state I would think.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/online-sign-ups-complicate-vaccine-rollout-older-people-75274960

Many states and counties ask people to make appointments online, but glitchy websites, overwhelmed phone lines and a patchwork of fast-changing rules are bedeviling older people who are often less tech-savvy, may live far from vaccination sites and are more likely to not have internet access at all, especially people of color and those who are poor.

 

Nearly 9.5 million seniors, or 16.5% of U.S. adults 65 and older, lack internet access, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Access is worse for seniors of color: more than 25% of Black people, about 21% of Hispanic people and over 28% of Native Americans 65 and older have no way to get online. That's compared with 15.5% of white seniors.

 

[clo]

55 minutes ago, SelectSys said:

I think this might be considered discriminatory in California as under served communities tend not to have equal access to and capabilities to the Internet.  We'll go slow on this one in my state I would think.

 

Well, Reno is only of only three cities in the state and one of those is actually part of Vegas. I have no idea what's going on in the rural areas.

[Sea42]

16 hours ago, SelectSys said:

Nearly 9.5 million seniors, or 16.5% of U.S. adults 65 and older, lack internet access, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Access is worse for seniors of color: more than 25% of Black people, about 21% of Hispanic people and over 28% of Native Americans 65 and older have no way to get online. That's compared with 15.5% of white seniors.

If anyone knows of someone who is in this situation, please direct them to the nearest library. Virtually every library in the country has computers for public use and staff willing to help.

[clo]

7 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

If anyone knows of someone who is in this situation, please direct them to the nearest library. Virtually every library in the country has computers for public use and staff willing to help.

Under other situations I'd say the same. But some libraries are closed due to COVID. Our county system is.

[cruisemom42]

10 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

If anyone knows of someone who is in this situation, please direct them to the nearest library. Virtually every library in the country has computers for public use and staff willing to help.

 

Our county's libraries are only open for limited services right now -- using their computers is not an option.