No 2021 travel to New Zealand?

[Markanddonna]

I heard on the news this morning (Jan 2) that New Zealand is banning all travel through 2021. Bloomberg News so far is the only online source reporting this. Is this a fact?

[onlyslightlymad]

Hi Donna,

, 

The Prime Minister stated at her press conference yesterday:

 

"But given the risks in the world around us and the uncertainty of the global rollout of the vaccine, we can expect our borders to be impacted for much of this year,”

For travel to restart, we need one of two things: we either need the confidence that being vaccinated means you don’t pass Covid-19 on to others – and we don’t know that yet; or we need enough of our population to be vaccinated and protected that people can safely re-enter New Zealand. Both possibilities will take some time.”

 

So, she didn't explicitly state that travel would be banned but she did says that it would be very unlikely.  The government have also stated in the recent past that they didn't foresee the borders relaxing for 18 months.  That would take us to mid 2022.  The PM also stated yesterday that it was possible that NZ would open to travel bubbles with particular Australian states as opening to the entire country was proving problematic.  I can see that you are in the USA, however, so this is probably not particularly helpful to you.

 

There are other news sources reporting this:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-jacinda-ardern-new-zealands-borders-likely-to-remain-closed-to-most-of-the-world-all-year/3OMNHUCIOJI3KGXCLCWRVWK32Y/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/26/new-zealand-borders-to-stay-closed-until-citizens-are-vaccinated-and-protected

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by onlyslightlymad

[lissie]

this is the key part - unlike some other counties when the PM says something she generally  stays with it unless there is good reason to change 

 

“For travel to restart, we need one of two things: we either need the confidence that being vaccinated means you don’t pass Covid-19 on to others – and we don’t know that yet; or we need enough of our population to be vaccinated and protected that people can safely re-enter New Zealand. Both possibilities will take some time.”

 

You can also  pretty much assume that you will be highly unlikely to even be allowed on the flight without proof of a Covid vaccine. 

 

NZ is likely to have vaccinated most of our population by the end of the year - the quesion is going to be how fast the rest of theworld can get on top of it . 

 

Also if you are on FB you can follow Jacinda - she often makes live video's of  key announcements. 

Edited January 27, 2021 by lissie

[MicCanberra]

17 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

I heard on the news this morning (Jan 2) that New Zealand is banning all travel through 2021. Bloomberg News so far is the only online source reporting this. Is this a fact?

I am not surprised at all, some countries are really struggling with the virus, and they don't want it coming back to NZ..

[OzKiwiJJ]

Also the Australian government has also implied there will be no overseas travel this year apart from possible bubbles with selected countries like NZ.

[MicCanberra]

Australia is currently closed to NZ for 72 hours as well

[Sailaway John]

Well I hope they open it up by December 2012, We are on the Royal Princess. 7th December.

[Ondine]

I think you have already missed the boat John. 

[NSWP]

If NZ is closed to international travel for the rest of 2021, then the big ships will not arrive here for the their scheduled itineraries in the Australia/NZ Region.

[Aus Traveller]

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

If NZ is closed to international travel for the rest of 2021, then the big ships will not arrive here for the their scheduled itineraries in the Australia/NZ Region.

We could possibly get one or two ships each from Princess and Royal Caribbean to do domestic itineraries only. I am hoping this might start around October/November. Summer is our 'cruising season' so if the government allows ships into Australian waters, I think this is a likely scenario.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Princess, P&O Australia, Carnival, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean could all operate here successfully with domestic cruises. One ship each which could offer cruises from all the East Coast ports, plus one ship from one of the lines operating out of Fremantle. 

 

The East Coast cruises could do what MSC did in Europe and offer embarkations from each major port with the ships circulating in various loops.

[getting older slowly]

33 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Princess, P&O Australia, Carnival, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean could all operate here successfully with domestic cruises. One ship each which could offer cruises from all the East Coast ports, plus one ship from one of the lines operating out of Fremantle. 

 

The East Coast cruises could do what MSC did in Europe and offer embarkations from each major port with the ships circulating in various loops.

 

Hopefully you are right.....

 

If so i wonder what they will do with the cruises all ready sold.....

 

ie New Zealand... will they offer a change itinerary... or cancel them.....

 

I hope they offer different itinerary... to save all the rebook and refund stuff.....

 

All we need is the iffy lot ( now to interested in the next election )  to make a decision...      or will they leave to the states......lol

 

So back to waiting.... and really expecting more of the same..

 

Don..

Edited February 5, 2021 by getting older slowly

[Aus Traveller]

I would think that Anna P in Q'ld might be interested in having cruising re-start. We have a new cruise terminal sitting unused. However, it is up to the Federal government to allow cruise ships into Aust waters.

 

We can all see how cruising can start domestically, but can the politicians? Will they still believe the Myth of the Sneezing Waiter?

[getting older slowly]

4 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We can all see how cruising can start domestically, but can the politicians? Will they still believe the Myth of the Sneezing Waiter?

Here lies the problem......   and after the Ruby.....   

 

and remember there is an election to win....   

[Tranquility Base]

With the 2021 Alaska season effectively now cancelled, the cruise lines now have a lot more flexibility regarding when & how they reposition ships down under.

 

As already mentioned, the BIG hurdle is Govt sign off.

If come June, they managed to get a provisional approval, they could prepare for crew only transits and get to Aust early....for example Sept.

 

The big logistics problem for them remains crew vaccinations.

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, getting older slowly said:

and remember there is an election to win....   

 

The will be no approval of cruise ships before the next Federal election, which will probably be held after the vaccine delivery has reached 70-80% of the population. I'm guessing that would be by August.

 

So Federal election in Sept/Oct and maybe consider cruise ships a month later. Maybe.

 

Canada has banned cruise ships until Feb 22. Australia might be tempted to do the same.

Edited February 5, 2021 by SinbadThePorter

[LittleFish1976]

21 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

The will be no approval of cruise ships before the next Federal election, which will probably be held after the vaccine delivery has reached 70-80% of the population. I'm guessing that would be by August.

 

So Federal election in Sept/Oct and maybe consider cruise ships a month later. Maybe.

 

Canada has banned cruise ships until Feb 22. Australia might be tempted to do the same.

Good to meet someone as cynical as myself!

[By The Bay]

7 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Good to meet someone as cynical as myself!

I have to agree. Allowing cruise ships back into Australian waters is not a vote catcher.

[cruisermsoon]

Getting back to the original subject of this series of posts, after the Ponant debacle, I cannot see any cruise line committing to a NZ cruise for some time.

[NSWP]

3 hours ago, By The Bay said:

I have to agree. Allowing cruise ships back into Australian waters is not a vote catcher.

My son, mr. chimu has tried to get an  expedition ship into hobart to sail south, aussies only, like nz govt permitted with spirit of enderby. No go from aust and tas govts. He has had two trips to hobart in the last month re same. Futile.

 

Thing look dire if they wont let the small ships in.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 minutes ago, NSWP said:

My son, mr. chimu has tried to get an  expedition ship into hobart to sail south, aussies only, like nz govt permitted with spirit of enderby. No go from aust and tas govts. He has had two trips to hobart in the last month re same. Futile.

 

Thing look dire if they wont let the small ships in.

That is indeed bad news, Les. Is it because the ship would be coming from overseas? Coral Expeditions and a couple of Murray River cruise companies are already operating but they are Aussie owned and crewed.

[Aus Traveller]

9 minutes ago, NSWP said:

My son, mr. chimu has tried to get an  expedition ship into hobart to sail south, aussies only, like nz govt permitted with spirit of enderby. No go from aust and tas govts. He has had two trips to hobart in the last month re same. Futile.

 

Thing look dire if they wont let the small ships in.

Maybe he should ask the Feds why they let Coral Expeditions operate in the north. However, I suppose there is a difference. Coral Expeditions are crewed by Aussies - one reason the cruises are so expensive.

[NSWP]

9 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That is indeed bad news, Les. Is it because the ship would be coming from overseas? Coral Expeditions and a couple of Murray River cruise companies are already operating but they are Aussie owned and crewed.

Yep, from Russia, russian, ukraine and fillipino crew. The others you mentioned are aussie crewed. Not cost effective for chimu to have aussies crew, ship would not get here that way.

[jessica3152]

6 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I would think that Anna P in Q'ld might be interested in having cruising re-start. We have a new cruise terminal sitting unused. However, it is up to the Federal government to allow cruise ships into Aust waters.

 

We can all see how cruising can start domestically, but can the politicians? Will they still believe the Myth of the Sneezing Waiter?

I would think the cruise ships would be ideal quarantine. They only need to use the balcony cabins so everyone has access to fresh air but it is thoroughly separated from the general public.  Cruise ships could moor in Moreton, Botany or Port Phillip Bays  with daily tender as providing testing. Any positive tests could easily  be moved to hospital if necessary.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Maybe he should ask the Feds why they let Coral Expeditions operate in the north. However, I suppose there is a difference. Coral Expeditions are crewed by Aussies - one reason the cruises are so expensive.

Not just the north, that's later in the year. They were offering Tassie cruises for the next month or so. They sounded great but way too expensive.