Australia/New Zealand question

[willtup5]

Currently booked on Sapphire Princess out of Melbourne January 10th 2022. How likely is this cruise going to happen? Your opinions are much appreciated!

[caribill]

Honestly, nobody can answer this question. Australia, for example, now thinks they may not be able to fully vaccinate their people by the end of 2021.

 

You can get just as reliable an answer at https://eightball.tridelphia.net/

[PJOZ]

We are booked to sail on the Sapphire a month before you. I was a lot more confident about it going ahead a month ago than I am now. I don't think governments here are going to be keen to give cruising the go-ahead until we have high rates of vaccination, and that is looking further away than it was. My guess is cruising will probably be happening in Australia by December, but whether or not Princess has changed their mind about sending Sapphire here before now and then I couldn't say. I hope not!

[leck57]

I am booked on the Royal from Singapore to Brisbane in mid October which I doubt will happen. My fall back option is one of the Sapphire or Royal cruises within Australia or to NZ in November. If the cruises that bring the Royal or Sapphire to this part of the world are cancelled, will Princess bring any ships here at all? I am just waiting for now. 

I've had one dose of the AZ vaccine with the second one in July but now with the over hyped scare about AZ, who knows which way the minority will steer this process now.

[AZjohn]

Just contacted our TA this weekend about cancelling our Jan B2B Australia/NZ cruises. Cruises might still happen but I think it will be only for locals while boarders stay closed. Sad both countries are having difficulty getting vaccines.

[leck57]

7 minutes ago, AZjohn said:

Just contacted our TA this weekend about cancelling our Jan B2B Australia/NZ cruises. Cruises might still happen but I think it will be only for locals while boarders stay closed. Sad both countries are having difficulty getting vaccines.

 

Well, we were not really having trouble with getting vaccines in the short term as the AZ vaccine is being produced here (and I have had my first shot). The Governments plan was that all who wanted the vaccine would be able to have it by October, however with the rare chance of blood clotting the panic movement have taken over and the Government has now recommended the Pfizer vacs for under 50's. The supply of Pfizer vaccine may be a problem until the 4th quarter of the year.

I would think there is a good chance that the borders will be open by years end to anyone that has had the vaccine but this my still not be clear by the time your final payments are due.

[LACruiser88]

I hope it's a go for you.  We are booked on the Emerald in April (2022), Sydney to Los Angeles...

[Thrak]

We are supposed to board January 3, 2022. If things work out we will see you onboard when you get there on the 10th. We are "supposed" to be on Sapphire from January 3 through January 29. I'm not really counting on it happening.

[onlyslightlymad]

I can't comment on Australia but the NZ govt has stated many times that our border restrictions will not be lifted this year.  We do have a travel bubble opening with Aus in a week or so but it does not include cruise ships.  We still have a Maritime Border Restriction in place that does not allow ships to visit NZ except for specific reasons.  I don't think cruise ships are high on the priority list.  I suspect there will not be a 21-22 summer cruise season.  There was an article in our paper stating that the first booking for a cruise ship at the Port of Tauranga is not until October 2022.

Edited April 12, 2021 by onlyslightlymad

[casofilia]

FYI

 

I have a thread where I update information as it comes available in New Zealand.   https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/topic/2760660-new-zealand-border/

I suggest you follow that to get "up-to-date" information.   I try to add anything I find regarding Australia too.

Mike

 

[fubarbloke]

Watch what happens in the UK over the next two or three months. If restrictions are rolled back on the current time table (international travel starting to ramp up in May and restrictions largely gone by the end of June), it'll be a case study for countries with similar circumstances. NZ is looking at full vaccination in October, Australia maybe by the end of the year. By that time, there could be relevant data from the UK to support a reassessment of current restrictions. I wouldn't bet on anything changing before then, though.

[casofilia]

@fubarbloke

 

NZ is looking at full vaccination in October,

 

"Rose coloured glasses".   At the rate we are vaccinating now October 2022 is more likely.

[OzKiwiJJ]

16 hours ago, PJOZ said:

We are booked to sail on the Sapphire a month before you. I was a lot more confident about it going ahead a month ago than I am now. I don't think governments here are going to be keen to give cruising the go-ahead until we have high rates of vaccination, and that is looking further away than it was. My guess is cruising will probably be happening in Australia by December, but whether or not Princess has changed their mind about sending Sapphire here before now and then I couldn't say. I hope not!

My guess is that even when cruising does recommence down here the ships will have to arrive with crew only onboard, not as a repostitioning cruise with passengers onboard.

 

We're booked on Sapphire for the Tasmania cruise out of Sydney 17th October. I reckon there is about a 5% chance that will happen and if it doesn't then there probably won't be a 21/22 cruise season. 😥

[Princess Cruises Fann]

It looks like Princess will either be moving the Royal Princess out of Australia or possibly delaying the scheduled start of cruising in Australia and New Zealand. According to the Piraeus (Athens) port schedule website it shows the Royal Princess embarking from that port on November 10th. 

 

olp.gr - Cruise Terminal Click on the Excel spreadsheet in the lower left-hand corner and it lists all the cruise ships in port for the remainder of 2021. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

24 minutes ago, Princess Cruises Fann said:

It looks like Princess will either be moving the Royal Princess out of Australia or possibly delaying the scheduled start of cruising in Australia and New Zealand. According to the Piraeus (Athens) port schedule website it shows the Royal Princess embarking from that port on November 10th. 

 

olp.gr - Cruise Terminal Click on the Excel spreadsheet in the lower left-hand corner and it lists all the cruise ships in port for the remainder of 2021. 

It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't bring Royal down here. Princess would be smarter to use smaller ships down here for the restart, and at 75% or less capacity. Royal and the other Royal class ships have some disadvantages. The bars are very small so social distancing would be an issue, and the public areas around the atrium get very congested at times.

[fubarbloke]

On 4/12/2021 at 1:43 PM, casofilia said:

"Rose coloured glasses".   At the rate we are vaccinating now October 2022 is more likely.

 

Maybe so – I'm an optimist. California had a slow and rough start, too. But once the vaccination program scaled up, the number of people vaccinated daily increased rapidly. It's still confusing and chaotic here, but a lot of jabs are finally going into arms.

[AZjohn]

2 hours ago, fubarbloke said:

 

Maybe so – I'm an optimist. California had a slow and rough start, too. But once the vaccination program scaled up, the number of people vaccinated daily increased rapidly. It's still confusing and chaotic here, but a lot of jabs are finally going into arms.

Just arrived Kauai and was explaining this strange outcome to our friends we met here (we all are vaccinated now). I was probably the worst critic when vaccinations first rolled out so slowly in CA. Now, it’s really going much better.

[Porky55]

On 4/13/2021 at 2:47 PM, Princess Cruises Fann said:

olp.gr - Cruise Terminal Click on the Excel spreadsheet in the lower left-hand corner and it lists all the cruise ships in port for the remainder of 2021. 

It all looks like Greek to me 😁🤣

[willtup5]

I appreciate all the opinions/comments, Especially liked the 8 ball. I asked the 8 ball and it did say Yes! 

Thrak I have appreciated all your info/insight over the years and look forward to sailing with you if it happens!

[Yehootu]

On 4/13/2021 at 2:23 PM, fubarbloke said:

 

Maybe so – I'm an optimist. California had a slow and rough start, too. But once the vaccination program scaled up, the number of people vaccinated daily increased rapidly. It's still confusing and chaotic here, but a lot of jabs are finally going into arms.

I came back to Long Beach just to get my 2nd shot.

[icat2000]

Just read this article

Australia's border is set to remain closed until the END of 2022 as government warns it 'won't be flung open' even after mass vaccinations

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9547631/Australias-international-borders-set-remain-closed-year-Covid-19-vaccinations.html

[icat2000]

Here's my thoughts on the situation. I think Australia will look to try and assist Australians who are stuck overseas first home and see how that goes on whether it creates spikes in COVID19 cases. There some pressure coming on the Government to assist Australians trapped in India home. However, there really needs to be some facility to process them that not a quarantine hotel arrangement. Not sure why they can't use Christmas Island.

 

There is very little active COVID19 cases here. And not many have been vaccinated. Partly due to not being able to get the vaccine supply, another part to the issues surrounding the various vacines and another part where people either want to wait and see what the impact of these vaccines are or refuse them all together.

Edited May 5, 2021 by icat2000

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, icat2000 said:

Just read this article

Australia's border is set to remain closed until the END of 2022 as government warns it 'won't be flung open' even after mass vaccinations

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9547631/Australias-international-borders-set-remain-closed-year-Covid-19-vaccinations.html

So my December 1st Queensland cruise might be canceled soon? If so, I might not board anywhere other than SF until 2022 😞

 

If true I need to let my PVP that I want my FCD back as FCD again (do-able if I cancel)

[MamaFej]

1 hour ago, icat2000 said:

Just read this article

Australia's border is set to remain closed until the END of 2022 as government warns it 'won't be flung open' even after mass vaccinations

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9547631/Australias-international-borders-set-remain-closed-year-Covid-19-vaccinations.html

Thank you. We were to visit Australia for the first time at the end of a cruise from Singapore in December 2020, then return in January 2021 for a long trip, including NZ and many South Pacific Island nations. It became rather obvious by April of last year that those trips would not happen, so we wiped out all international travel for 2020 and 2021 and booked a similar trip for January through April of 2022. Since Australia and New Zealand were among the best nations in the world in their handling of the pandemic, we felt this was a good bet. It never occured to us that those nations would have a hard time getting adequate vaccine distribution. My heart breaks for the people there.

 

We were so grateful to just push it out until 2022, and not play the cancel/rebook/cancel/rebook game we saw so many folks playing. It looks like we, too, were a bit overly optimistic with our 21 month cushion. 

 

I sincerely hope to visit and experience these lovely places some day. More importantly, I hope that the people living there are able to be vaccinated sooner than later. 

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

39 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

Thank you. We were to visit Australia for the first time at the end of a cruise from Singapore in December 2020, then return in January 2021 for a long trip, including NZ and many South Pacific Island nations. It became rather obvious by April of last year that those trips would not happen, so we wiped out all international travel for 2020 and 2021 and booked a similar trip for January through April of 2022. Since Australia and New Zealand were among the best nations in the world in their handling of the pandemic, we felt this was a good bet. It never occured to us that those nations would have a hard time getting adequate vaccine distribution. My heart breaks for the people there.

 

We were so grateful to just push it out until 2022, and not play the cancel/rebook/cancel/rebook game we saw so many folks playing. It looks like we, too, were a bit overly optimistic with our 21 month cushion. 

 

I sincerely hope to visit and experience these lovely places some day. More importantly, I hope that the people living there are able to be vaccinated sooner than later. 

 

 

Thank you for your caring concern.

 

I think part of the problem with the slow uptake of the vaccine is that there is no sense of urgency here in Australia as we have few cases. And even when we do have an outbreak it's usually dealt with swiftly and sharply. So some people are holding off having it to see what happens to those of us who have had it.

 

We've just had a new outbreak in Sydney from an unknown, and as yet untracked, source, so that might stir a few more people into getting their vaccines. It would help immensely if the blasted media would stop scaring people over the AstraZenica vaccine which is actually being produced in Australia so there is a steady ongoing supply of it.

 

Sadly I don't think your 2022 trip will be viable. The Australian border will open very cautiously when it does open, and probably only to selected countries initially. Hopefully you can push your trip out again to 2023 or 2024.