Well someone has to say it.... what is going to happen to Nassau cruises?

[BirdTravels]

On 4/20/2021 at 6:57 PM, kearney said:

I just booked a cruise in August...and now the CDC wants to stop me, and am beginning to think it is personal..... man I am so tired of sitting home... I was really looking to go through the hassles to get to and from Nassau, just for a change of scenery....  I was even willing to wear a mask around the ship... take the tests... already vaccinated... very frustrated and not sure what to make of it.

The Travel Advisory has been around since early in the pandemic. The State Department is just going through their list countries and refreshing it to better align with the current CDC guidance. No one is stopping you. And you are required to take tests, be vaccinated, and follow all of the COVID rules in your cruise contract. 

[HMR74]

20 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The Travel Advisory has been around since early in the pandemic. The State Department is just going through their list countries and refreshing it to better align with the current CDC guidance. No one is stopping you. And you are required to take tests, be vaccinated, and follow all of the COVID rules in your cruise contract. 

Actually, the State Dept said its going to follow the CDC lead in this. If it cannot ban US citizens from going to the 80 countries  they will imply its banned where we cannot go even for a port call,.

We are still a long way from anything being resolved.

 

The CDC could cave but I cannot see it happening. Its too vested in its position, and as well members of Congress.

Sen Patty Murray yesterday talked about the over 500,000 deaths as if the majority of the deaths occurred due to cruise ships, so do not look for legislative relief.

 

The question is, whats going to break up this deadlock with the power really  being at CDC, supported by Congress.

 

I said before it is looking like a faction does not  want to see cruising ever again.

[ReneeFLL]

On 4/21/2021 at 1:23 PM, dswallow said:

 

......And yet all you can do is offer these stupid snippets of ignorance and petulance? Is it really necessary? Do you not even have simply the littlest bit of understanding of the science behind why these things are currently being asked for?

 

He doesn’t. 

[ReneeFLL]

On 4/21/2021 at 2:17 PM, bouhunter said:

Over a year ago "science" said we just needed to stay home for a couple weeks to "flatten the curve".

 

On 4/21/2021 at 2:30 PM, smokeybandit said:

 

Flatten the curve was to space out demand on medical services, which was a huge success. Then the goalposts changed. Many times.

 

On 4/21/2021 at 2:47 PM, Sky616 said:

Yea we see  how much of a lie that was.  Get the craps of hearing science, science.  Nobody knows anything.  

Some of you are so stuck in the past. When there is something new people learn about it and at times the info changes. Back in the day people believed the earth was flat. With exploration they have since learned that it’s round. So do you believe the earth is flat or have you gotten on board with the new information?  Things change as more is learned, but all y’all want to do is point out how you were lied to. 🙄🙄🙄

[firefly333]

48 minutes ago, HMR74 said:

The question is, whats going to break up this deadlock with the power really  being at CDC, supported by Congress.

 

I said before it is looking like a faction does not  want to see cruising ever again.

I'm feeling the same way. Someone on the carnival boards posted thank goodness the bill to resume cruising was blocked, so it's people on cc who dont want cruising to resume too. Not just outside of cc.

 

If we dont have herd immunity by July, I'm not sure we will get there. At some pt we need to learn to live with covid, let those who want to cruise do so. 

 

Cruising is now a symbol and a political football which worries me to resume. Agree with you, sides have dug into positions. What a mess. 

[grandgeezer]

One of the online travel agencies I look at have the Millennium doing cruises, from St. Maarten through the end of July. Celebrity shows them only through the first week of July. They will probably start selling them if the shutdown gets extended.

For kicks I checked availability for the first cruise, June 5, and I counted about 180 available balcony cabins (including concierge and Aqua).  With that only being six weeks away and most people need air to get there, it will sail with a couple hundred passengers than the hoped for. 

[dswallow]

1 minute ago, grandgeezer said:

One of the online travel agencies I look at have the Millennium doing cruises, from St. Maarten through the end of July. Celebrity shows them only through the first week of July. They will probably start selling them if the shutdown gets extended.

For kicks I checked availability for the first cruise, June 5, and I counted about 180 available balcony cabins (including concierge and Aqua).  With that only being six weeks away and most people need air to get there, it will sail with a couple hundred passengers than the hoped for. 

 

One issue they had was the limitation on no B2B sailings during the first 5 or so sailings on Celebrity, so a lot of people who had booked then canceled one or more sailings, and some may also have moved to later sailings so they could keep B2B sailings.

[Junkhouse]

On 4/22/2021 at 7:22 AM, DCGuy64 said:

Agreed! I believe that's the view of many. Science changes its findings based on new information, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The science has always said that masks aren’t effective in preventing the spread of the virus worn by the general public. If they did why were all the spikes happening when most were under mask wearing guidelines? It’s politics plain and simple.

[HMR74]

7 hours ago, Junkhouse said:

The science has always said that masks aren’t effective in preventing the spread of the virus worn by the general public. If they did why were all the spikes happening when most were under mask wearing guidelines? It’s politics plain and simple.

There are many people who think masks are the end all for prevention of any virus transmission, and many people who do not have that belief.

 

Few actually understand the science.

 

The concept is a quality mask  has different levels of "quality" depending on what you want to seal out,  and the benchmark for quality for this is how many of those virus "buggers" slip through. ( I have analogy from when we were younger but I'll pass on that) Materials and fitting matters a whole lot.

 

A screen door on on window does wonders to keep bugs out but it ain't so good on a submarine.

 

The internal combustion engines on our current cars, before they become extinct, seal water, coolant, oil, transmission fluid from leaking out on our garage floors, and we would  notice that in  a moment and be plenty upset if we saw oil on our garage floors, but the intricacy of engine gaskets is to also keep the engine oil from getting into the engine coolant and vise versa,  and when that occurs we get the term, "Blow a gasket" also as in somebody lost emotional control.

 

We have gaskets on auto sunroofs, house doors and windows to ensure good sealing hot and cold weather and water from getting in, refrigerator and oven doors etc. and yes, car oil filters.

 

Headphones are fancy electrical gaskets--some do a fantastic job of keeping noise out, some do a lousy job.

 

The Gaskets on the Challenger caused the failure back some 30 years ago. They were rubber gaskets and froze overnight and lost their ability to "seal" . Oops.  There are gaskets all over jets for sealing purposes for our safety.  If they fail even a little we are screwed.

 

The method to my madness here is we all have been using gaskets of many types and quality for decades.

 

And our face masks are no different. If we truly want them to seal any virus out completely you need a high grade material, fitted and worn correctly, and changed on schedule.

 

We run the gamut on quality and fitting process, and progressed where designer masks have become important-what do clothing and other companies know about proper fit  and materials to keep out particles of virus.

 

Understand it just takes one particle to get through to make you ill. Having a poor mask might be better than no mask. But is it really?

 

If you do not  do it right,  with specific quality materials and fit. you might as well just have a fitted screen over your nose.  Hmm, You could put a fitted high quality plastic bag over your head, with full sealing around you neck, but that would be called suicide. Poking a few holes in it would defeat the sealing purpose.

 

Mask Gasketing 101.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[grandgeezer]

9 hours ago, dswallow said:

 

One issue they had was the limitation on no B2B sailings during the first 5 or so sailings on Celebrity, so a lot of people who had booked then canceled one or more sailings, and some may also have moved to later sailings so they could keep B2B sailings.

Though it might be an issue, there is no way to tell how much of an impact it is having. We do mostly B2Bs and have had over 200 where they had the meeting in the theater. Our last one was on the Equinox, in August 2019 and we had less than fifty and that's on a ship that holds 2900 passengers.

Since they are only selling balconys and suites on the Millennium, I'm guessing it's about 1100 passengers max.

[Tin can]

This is quite a depressing read.

 

We are fairly confident of being able to fly from the UK to NY in August on our booked flights when we are supposed to board the Oasis. I have to admit to not understanding what your CDC does or what influence it has in NY but its seeming unlikely that Oasis will be able to sail.

 

Potentially flying down to the Bahamas from NY and joining this cruise was going to be our back up plan.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Tin can

[Smq123]

As promised, just returned home from the Bahamas, and giving an update about traveling to/from Bahamas. As of today, COVID tests aren’t required to travel to Bahamas anymore if you can prove you have been vaccinated & it’s been longer than 2 weeks since your 2nd vaccine. However, we did have a PCR test done prior to our trip to apply for Bahamas Health Visa and Atlantis did the COVID antigen test to leave the Bahamas. You can also get an antigen test at the airport for $20. Results take 30 minutes. You’re required to complete a COVID questionnaire every day you are on the island. It’s 6 questions & very easy. We were required to show our Bahamas Health Visa & COVID status leaving the USA upon airline check line, at entry to the Bahamas, and when checking into our hotel. Bahamas was similar to NYC in its COVID protocols; temperature checks entering hotels, mandatory masks, and social distancing. We stayed at Atlantis and the only thing I noticed that was different from the USA was the casino. There wasn’t plexiglass separating people at game tables and every slot machine was opened as opposed to every other one in USA. 
 

I wanted to see if they revamped their cruise port for all the anticipated passengers that will be embarking in the near future but it’s exactly the same. No modifications have been made. Also of note, ALL downtown shops & restaurants are presently closed. The straw market hasn’t been opened since Mid March 2020. Our driver said he heard Senior Frogs will open for cruise passengers but he wasn’t sure how many businesses will open this summer. The fish fry was mostly closed with the exception of 2 or 3 places opened. 
 

The water park at Atlantis is on an alternating day schedule but I was told on weekends all the rides are fully opened. 
 

The one thing I did notice is everything is almost double-triple the price from years past. The COVID vaccines are slowly becoming available to the population but right now only people 65 or older are permitted to get vaccinated. 

[smokeybandit]

29 minutes ago, Smq123 said:

I wanted to see if they revamped their cruise port for all the anticipated passengers that will be embarking in the near future but it’s exactly the same

They're using the Hilton as a "cruise terminal" at least for departures

 

30 minutes ago, Smq123 said:

The COVID vaccines are slowly becoming available to the population but right now only people 65 or older are permitted to get vaccinated. 

 

They're hoping to open things up to all by the end of May

[Moltar]

Booked for July 24 on Adventure. Only 1500-1800 people MAX at Coco Cay for 2 days!!!!!!!!!!

[boscobeans]

I see no problems with the November Anthem Cruise from Cape Liberty to Canaveral and the Bahamas.

 

The ship will be returning from completed cruises in Europe and will have easily by that time had the crew vaccinated.

 

By November all booked passengers will have had plenty of time to meet the medical visa requirements for the Bahamas.

 

The dates and itinerary will need NO CHANGES from what the cruise was planned for well over a year ago..

 

By the time NOVEMBER  rolls around, more and more ports may be open, especially to ships with vaccinated crews and passengers. 

 

The already reserved sailings on the Anthem going all the way into 2022 may only have to adjust an itinerary here or there and as passenger capacity, Covid restrictions and the number of islands change things would get back to normal almost seamlessly.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by boscobeans