Alaskan Senators Want To Restore Cruise Season

[JeffElizabeth]

They are sponsoring a bill that would let cruise ships get around a port stop in Canada.  I don't have much faith it can get passed to save the cruise season this year but I like to see the effort. 

[CruiserBruce]

19 minutes ago, JeffElizabeth said:

They are sponsoring a bill that would let cruise ships get around a port stop in Canada.  I don't have much faith it can get passed to save the cruise season this year but I like to see the effort. 

Yep...been discussed here a fair amount. But until the CDC and the cruise lines reach agreement,  particularly on important and complex things like whether or not crew AND pax need to be fully vaccinated,  the PVSA is not the biggest hurdle that is in the way.

[drowelf]

1 hour ago, JeffElizabeth said:

They are sponsoring a bill that would let cruise ships get around a port stop in Canada.  I don't have much faith it can get passed to save the cruise season this year but I like to see the effort. 

Here is a link to an article about the proposed bill. 

[deliver42]

The CDC, and their power hungry leader have the final say.

[CruiserBruce]

2 hours ago, deliver42 said:

The CDC, and their power hungry leader have the final say.

I am sure the cruise lines are just rushing to get open and then have the embarrassment of another outbreak, even if small, on a ship. That will not help the cruise business rebound.  I am sure that keeps cruise line execs awake at night.

[KirkNC]

Of course they do and by introducing a bill to nowhere they can tell their constituents that they tried.  In the scheme of things needed in the world today, the Alaska cruise season is pretty far down the list. 

[ontheweb]

3 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

Of course they do and by introducing a bill to nowhere they can tell their constituents that they tried.  In the scheme of things needed in the world today, the Alaska cruise season is pretty far down the list. 

And even if this was a larger priority, in a deeply divided Senate, members of the party not in the majority have little or no power to push something like this. But it does make them look better for their constituents when they are ready to run for reelection.

[Himself]

I would hope the bill would pass in a bypartisan mannor.  The CDC has too much power.  That is an executive agency and they should NOT have legislative power.

[CruiserBruce]

22 minutes ago, Himself said:

I would hope the bill would pass in a bypartisan mannor.  The CDC has too much power.  That is an executive agency and they should NOT have legislative power.

They have regulatory power, not legislative power, many agencies do, given to them by Congress.  If they didn't,  it would take Congress months, if ever, to react to an emergency, like a pandemic that is getting hundreds sick on cruise ships. Just how long do you think it would take Congress to agree on how to reopen cruising, and how scientific would their actions be?

 

Our blinding and biased need to resume cruising should not overtake a scientific, rational approach to the safety requirements. Or, we could keep reacting to emergencies, like determining how many lifeboats are required AFTER a horrible number have died by allowing cruise lines to determine how many lifeboats the ship needs.

[CruiserBruce]

To add to my post...it appears the CDC is waiting for the cruise lines to provide their plans and agreements with ports, cities and countries for getting sick passengers ashore, treated and, potentially transported homeward. 

 

After that, the test cruises might start. Sounds like the ball is in the cruise line's court.

[St. Louis Sal]

2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

I am sure the cruise lines are just rushing to get open and then have the embarrassment of another outbreak, even if small, on a ship. That will not help the cruise business rebound.  I am sure that keeps cruise line execs awake at night.

If cruises start back up and even one ship ends up with a covid infected passenger and they must quarantine and/or cancel the cruise, that will set all cruising back. And if the outbreak were really bad, that could be the end of many of the cruise lines.

 

It sounds like the ships have a good grasp on the safety and cleanliness they need. The issue probably is the agreements with the ports and the cities which might need to take them in. It’s funny how much Florida seems to want the ships back, but I watched the Rotterdam dock in April at Fort Lauderdale. I was watching it live-streamed from a local TV station and the comments from viewers against bringing those passengers into the community were brutal. (Florida or at least the governor, seem to have changed their minds since then). No cruise line can risk that again, being dependent on last minute agreements for docking or being a floating ship of sick or at risk passengers with no place to go.

 

St Louis Sal

[Aquahound]

Not gonna happen.

[groundloop]

12 hours ago, deliver42 said:

The CDC, and their power hungry leader have the final say.

 

The family and loved ones of over a HALF MILLION dead Americans will certainly disagree with that short sighted sentiment.  I personally know of three people who have died from Covid, two of whom were previously young and healthy.

 

The CDC is working diligently to help us get back to normal, while unfortunately a large number of selfish people don't want to be inconvenience by something as simple as wearing a mask.  As much as I want to get back on a cruise ship and be sipping a cold one from my balcony I understand the greater need to put this pandemic behind us and thankfully we have some very good scientists and medical professionals working on that.

[drowelf]

7 hours ago, St. Louis Sal said:

If cruises start back up and even one ship ends up with a covid infected passenger and they must quarantine and/or cancel the cruise, that will set all cruising back. And if the outbreak were really bad, that could be the end of many of the cruise lines.

 

I predict that when cruising starts again, there will be a case of an infected passenger, but the state the world needs to be in is that when, not if, this happens, it will not require a mass quarantine of the entire ship. Hopefully with wide spread vaccine distribution, we can start treating incidences of infection more like getting the flu. Tens of thousands of folks die in the US from the flu each year, but you don't see mass lockdowns or other actions stemming from a Covid infection. Sure Covid is more infectious than the flu, but for the world to return to some form of normalcy, getting a case of it needs to be less impactful to those around you, hopefully the vaccines will also help with the spread of the infection. This has yet to be fully studied, but there are some promising first indications that vaccinated people are not as infectious as non-vaccinated. 

 

Even with vaccines, 100% protection from infection is a pipe dream. What the vaccines are designed to do, is keep you from getting severely ill and dying! 

[Crazy For Cats]

I put this in the category of nothing ventured nothing gained.  If no one asks for permission the answer is still no.  While I doubt the legislation will pass I’m willing to be pleasantly surprised.

[nocl]

47 minutes ago, drowelf said:

I predict that when cruising starts again, there will be a case of an infected passenger, but the state the world needs to be in is that when, not if, this happens, it will not require a mass quarantine of the entire ship. Hopefully with wide spread vaccine distribution, we can start treating incidences of infection more like getting the flu. Tens of thousands of folks die in the US from the flu each year, but you don't see mass lockdowns or other actions stemming from a Covid infection. Sure Covid is more infectious than the flu, but for the world to return to some form of normalcy, getting a case of it needs to be less impactful to those around you, hopefully the vaccines will also help with the spread of the infection. This has yet to be fully studied, but there are some promising first indications that vaccinated people are not as infectious as non-vaccinated. 

 

Even with vaccines, 100% protection from infection is a pipe dream. What the vaccines are designed to do, is keep you from getting severely ill and dying! 

Probably because when cruising starts back up they will require everyone to be vaccinated.

 

10's of thousands with the flu is not the 100's of thousands with Covid.  And keep in mind that that number died with all of the actions taken to keep the number as low as possible. 

 

Also keep in mind that the measures put in place to slow the COVID spread pretty much eliminated the spread of the flu this year so they not only saved lives from COVID, but also saved 10's of thousands from the flu this year. That fact that the spread of the flu was pretty much stopped shows just how much more infectious COVID is than the flu.

 

No one is looking for 100% protection, but they are looking for infection number to drop low enough to demonstrate that the epidemic is under control and we are a long way from that.

Edited March 7, 2021 by nocl

[JeffElizabeth]

Some here think another outbreak on ship would destroy cruising, I don't think that is necessarily so. I was on a cruise last March and wasn't that worried about getting Covid-19, even after the horror stories out of China. I have been more concerned about Norwalk virus. And when SARS,  another Coronavirus, was plaguing Toronto,  I didn't have an issue taking a North Atlantic cruise to Canada.  Some people are more risk averse than others. Especially if they got the cruise at a discount,  like we did the SARS cruise. Especially if I am already vaccinated.  

[wolfie11]

I noticed that Odyssey of the Seas, a brand new cruise ship that hasn't transported a single passenger yet, has reported COVID on board.

[Shmoo here]

10 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

I noticed that Odyssey of the Seas, a brand new cruise ship that hasn't transported a single passenger yet, has reported COVID on board.

Nevermind, I found it.

 

The two cases were Meyer Werft shipyard workers working on building the ship.  

Edited March 8, 2021 by Shmoo here

[wolfie11]

3 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

Source?

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/royal-caribbeans-newest-ship-stuck-in-port-after-workers-catch-covid-19-661182