Federal govt says not to travel internationally for min 4 weeks

[WESTEAST]

38 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

There is the risk of getting sick and dealing with the insurance implications and of course the medical implications of recovering from the virus.

 

There is also the real risk of being quarantined on the ship and having your vacation interrupted.  Omicron is easily transmitted and can spread quite easily in a closed environment like a cruise ship.  The challenge is once anyone tests positive for COVID, they must quarantine.  The risk is that should you have a rapidly spreading virus outbreak on a ship that significant numbers of crew and passengers will be forced to quarantine.  Anyone travelling must be prepared for this risk.

 

What is the risk that should a certain threshold of cases is reached that the voyage is terminated and returned to the nearest port and people are quarantined in a local hotel?  

 

Local news stations are reporting that Trudeau wanted more restrictions but the provinces pushed back, but more restrictions are coming Friday.  What is the risk that you will not be able to return to Canada when you need to?  What is the risk that while you are away even more restrictions are imposed?

 

Great outline of risks and to add to it, with no Cancellation and Trip Interruption (for Covid), the personal cost of an expensive vacation is just not worth taking.

Edited December 16, 2021 by WESTEAST

[jean163]

6 hours ago, melbrook said:

Cancelling is a personal choice for so many different reasons - for us, it is mostly based on our employer's rules and our level of safety.  Based on reviews of cruise life and safety measures I feel pretty safe to cruise.  If we have to quarantine after our cruise we would have to cancel as we're not willing to waste 2 additional weeks vacation to sit at home.

 

I am confused by the number of people cancelling because of the Advisory being implemented again when the Advisory to not take ANY cruise has never been lifted.  If we were all taking the Cdn Gov't advise there would be no bookings to cancel in the first place.  

 

I also wonder if anyone has experienced travel shaming?  When we planned a trip to Punta Cana in October we got a lot of comments and looks - like we were being irresponsible.  We genuinely felt guilt right up until the Advisory was lifted and we didn't feel like a criminal leaving the country!  

We are also cancelling our cruise that was to sail next week.  months ago we felt fairly confident that the measures we were taking and that the cruiseline was taking would keep us safe.  Hence we booked and felt we could disregard the cruise advisory.  This new advisory and the emergence of Omicron is what has made the difference.  With its transmissibility (and vaccine breakthrough) and the need to be in 3 different airports just to get to the ship we felt the risk was becoming too great.  In our view this advisory isn't just about individual risk it is about a greater risk to society and we don't want to have any hand in prolonging this situation the world finds itself in.  Unfortunately for us this decision is extremely costly as Oceania has indicated they won't consider an FCC as Princess and Carnival are doing and we are considered to be in full penalty. 

[macmax]

21 hours ago, jean163 said:

Would love to hear about refund policies from different cruise lines for travel during the new advisory.  So far it appears that Carnival and Princess will issue a FCC and Oceania is refusing to do anything at all.  If you were set to depart in the next month and have decided to cancel please let me know what your experience is.  Thanks!

 

Celebrity, Royal & Azamara have the Cruise with Confidence that allow cancellation up to 48hrs prior to departure with FCC's for the full amount including air if booked with them.

[john2003]

1 hour ago, jean163 said:

 Unfortunately for us this decision is extremely costly as Oceania has indicated they won't consider an FCC as Princess and Carnival are doing and we are considered to be in full penalty. 

Unfortunate, O is being so inflexible because they can.

We had a very much smaller decision to make on Vancouver Island. Tonight we have non-refundable tickets to a concert and dinner in Chemainus at the theatre. I emailed them yesterday about risk. They sent a marvelous response about leaving empty seats between parties, offered to reseat us if required and low booking capacity in the dining room. Then they offered us a credit if we decided to cancel.  We were impressed. In the end after talking with our adult daughters we have decided to go.

[Tree_skier]

The new rules say testing and quarantine til results come in if you go outside if Canada or the US. That would mean cruises to The Caribbean would be subject to this new rule…. Thoughts?

[GrannyGear]

At first, I thought this was all just an overreaction. Now that we see cases skyrocketing at 50% increase per day in Nova Scotia, we are locking ourselves back down. I sense that the province is really trying to let residents have xmas, but the numbers are scary. Kinda given up on a Jan trip south, maybe March. 

[iancal]

When we returned early from Mexico in late March 20 we decided not to book anything during covid further out than 5-7 days.   Cruise, air, AI, whatever.

 

The notion that covid is over is naive and it flies in the face of our reality over the past 18 months.   It is far, far from over. 

 

The travel industry and some politicians may claim otherwise however the facts have never supported their claims.

Edited December 17, 2021 by iancal

[Florida_gal_50]

17 minutes ago, iancal said:

When we returned early from Mexico in late March 20 we decided not to book anything during covid further out than 5-7 days.   Cruise, air, AI, whatever.

 

The notion that covid is over is naive and it flies in the face of our reality over the past 18 months.   It is far, far from over. 

 

The travel industry and some politicians may claim otherwise however the facts have never supported their claims.

It will never be “over”.  Hopefully at some point in will be manageable. 

[nimiq]

We are set to leave on a cruise December 22nd with Holland America and our flight to Fort lauderdale is December 20th. Today I called HAL to check what policy they had in place with the new ruling and advisory from our Canadian Government and they said we could not get a future cruise credit. The agent said to call back tommorrw and check as this was pretty new to all of them and maybe it would be changed.

The only time they would reimbursed or give you FCC is if you test positive before departure.

 

We just don't know what to do as my biggest fear right now is not Covid but more that the Government might have us quarantine for 14 days upon return and this is lots of money when you suppose to work.

 

Everything is so confusing and to be honest cruise lines should just give FCC and make it clear and keep the ones that wanted to cruise.

 

Thanks all will keep you updated.

Sea ya

Eric L

[Florida_gal_50]

7 minutes ago, nimiq said:

We are set to leave on a cruise December 22nd with Holland America and our flight to Fort lauderdale is December 20th. Today I called HAL to check what policy they had in place with the new ruling and advisory from our Canadian Government and they said we could not get a future cruise credit. The agent said to call back tommorrw and check as this was pretty new to all of them and maybe it would be changed.

The only time they would reimbursed or give you FCC is if you test positive before departure.

 

We just don't know what to do as my biggest fear right now is not Covid but more that the Government might have us quarantine for 14 days upon return and this is lots of money when you suppose to work.

 

Everything is so confusing and to be honest cruise lines should just give FCC and make it clear and keep the ones that wanted to cruise.

 

Thanks all will keep you updated.

Sea ya

Eric L

And this is why I buy Hal’s cancel for any reason for cancelation not for the medical.  Too many unknowns for Canadians especially.  If you don’t buy insurance you have to assume that responsibility in my mind.  There is no way I would take a cruise right now but that just my personal opinion.  If people feel ok about going more power to them.  No one wants to buy insurance but you can’t expect the cruise lines to bail you out unless they have guaranteed that.

[cbr663]

6 minutes ago, nimiq said:

We are set to leave on a cruise December 22nd with Holland America and our flight to Fort lauderdale is December 20th. Today I called HAL to check what policy they had in place with the new ruling and advisory from our Canadian Government and they said we could not get a future cruise credit. The agent said to call back tommorrw and check as this was pretty new to all of them and maybe it would be changed.

The only time they would reimbursed or give you FCC is if you test positive before departure.

 

We just don't know what to do as my biggest fear right now is not Covid but more that the Government might have us quarantine for 14 days upon return and this is lots of money when you suppose to work.

 

Everything is so confusing and to be honest cruise lines should just give FCC and make it clear and keep the ones that wanted to cruise.

 

Thanks all will keep you updated.

Sea ya

Eric L

 

Media outlets are reporting that the Feds will be introducing more travel restrictions tomorrow.  Hopefully you will know more before you go.

 

It seems that the thought is to try and bring in whatever restrictions are needed before the end of this week before the start of holiday travel next week.  The Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ottawa said today that she is in discussions regarding restrictions with the province.  She said if the province doesn't move quickly she will use her powers in the next couple of days to bring in further restrictions for Ottawa.

 

Point being that things are changing quickly.  

[Florida_gal_50]

17 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

 

Media outlets are reporting that the Feds will be introducing more travel restrictions tomorrow.  Hopefully you will know more before you go.

 

It seems that the thought is to try and bring in whatever restrictions are needed before the end of this week before the start of holiday travel next week.  The Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ottawa said today that she is in discussions regarding restrictions with the province.  She said if the province doesn't move quickly she will use her powers in the next couple of days to bring in further restrictions for Ottawa.

 

Point being that things are changing quickly.  

And that is really the scary part.  A person might think it’s worth the risk but what “might “ happen is more risk then I’d want to take on.

[XLVIII]

We have a Holland America cruise booked for late February that we’ll be cancelling. Not because we’re worried about getting sick (triple vaxxed) or lack of insurance (covered through work) but because we’re worried about being able to get home. With the increased transmission of Omicron and the need for a negative PCR test to fly, the risk of testing positive and having to spend 2 weeks isolating in the US is just too high. Hopefully we’re wrong. We’ll re-evaluate in February and re-book if things look better. 

[goodtoglow]

3 hours ago, XLVIII said:

We have a Holland America cruise booked for late February that we’ll be cancelling. Not because we’re worried about getting sick (triple vaxxed) or lack of insurance (covered through work) but because we’re worried about being able to get home. With the increased transmission of Omicron and the need for a negative PCR test to fly, the risk of testing positive and having to spend 2 weeks isolating in the US is just too high. Hopefully we’re wrong. We’ll re-evaluate in February and re-book if things look better. 

I am 90% sure we will be canceling our early February cruise, for the same reasons 😞 we are still hoping to go to disneyworld and I'm just waiting on a call from Westjet to change our flights home to a week earlier and then I'll cancel the cruise... I'm also secretly hoping there will be some good news in the next few days before my west jet appointment, so I can leave everything as is... but I'm not hopeful 😞

[DirtyDawg]

17 hours ago, broberts said:

The Ontario modeling report today was startling. Data was a week old and the expectation is that Omicron is already the dominant strain in the province.

 

While outcomes may be better, given the highly infectious nature of the variant, sheer numbers may well overwhelm the health care system. For those of us in higher risk groups, airplanes and cruise ships seem to be a very bad idea. ☹️

You just have to look at the Covid infections on North American sports teams over the past week. In this population the leagues are testing on a regular basis, not just when people are systematic.  The infection rates are going way up!

 

Our son works for a European company and is on calls with his colleagues from various European countries daily. They are even further along with Omicron infections than Ontario is. With Delta, they might have known one or two people who got Delta. With Omicron they all seem to know lots of people who have contracted it. The consensus among this group anyways seems to be that almost ALL of them will get Covid eventually.  If you are young, healthy, and fully vaccinated and boosted it should not be a problem but as you said, the shear numbers will overwhelm the health care system and really negatively affect the treatment for the elderly and immune compromised. 

 

Mrs. Dawg and I are in our early 60's and in pretty good health. We are still on the fence about our Caribbean AI later this month.  

[1kaper]

13 hours ago, GrannyGear said:

At first, I thought this was all just an overreaction. Now that we see cases skyrocketing at 50% increase per day in Nova Scotia, we are locking ourselves back down. I sense that the province is really trying to let residents have xmas, but the numbers are scary. Kinda given up on a Jan trip south, maybe March. 

I don't have high hopes for the announcement this afternoon.  Many are expecting increased restrictions. 

Thanks St. F. X!

Edited December 17, 2021 by 1kaper

[1kaper]

18 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

You just have to look at the Covid infections on North American sports teams over the past week. In this population the leagues are testing on a regular basis, not just when people are systematic.  The infection rates are going way up!

 

Our son works for a European company and is on calls with his colleagues from various European countries daily. They are even further along with Omicron infections than Ontario is. With Delta, they might have known one or two people who got Delta. With Omicron they all seem to know lots of people who have contracted it. The consensus among this group anyways seems to be that almost ALL of them will get Covid eventually.  If you are young, healthy, and fully vaccinated and boosted it should not be a problem but as you said, the shear numbers will overwhelm the health care system and really negatively affect the treatment for the elderly and immune compromised. 

 

Mrs. Dawg and I are in our early 60's and in pretty good health. We are still on the fence about our Caribbean AI later this month.  

Yes.  From what I understand, with Delta, not everyone in the household would get it.  My nephew had it and no one else in the house got it.  He didn't have symptoms. 
With Omicron, it seems that everyone in close contact gets it.  We have had some infections here linked to the St. F.X cases and they all were close contacts, not casual.  People who spent significant time together, ate together. 
So it's kind of good and kind of bad. 

[DirtyDawg]

16 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

Yes.  From what I understand, with Delta, not everyone in the household would get it.  My nephew had it and no one else in the house got it.  He didn't have symptoms. 
With Omicron, it seems that everyone in close contact gets it.  We have had some infections here linked to the St. F.X cases and they all were close contacts, not casual.  People who spent significant time together, ate together. 
So it's kind of good and kind of bad. 

One of the things we are waiting for is whether the University I teach at will be going back it online for all of January. If we do get stuck down south I could conduct online classes from the island (via internet or cell data) but on campus would be a BIG stretch. Same applies if we have to quarantine for any length of time when we get back.  

Edited December 17, 2021 by DirtyDawg

[leerathje]

15 hours ago, john2003 said:

Unfortunate, O is being so inflexible because they can.

We had a very much smaller decision to make on Vancouver Island. Tonight we have non-refundable tickets to a concert and dinner in Chemainus at the theatre. I emailed them yesterday about risk. They sent a marvelous response about leaving empty seats between parties, offered to reseat us if required and low booking capacity in the dining room. Then they offered us a credit if we decided to cancel.  We were impressed. In the end after talking with our adult daughters we have decided to go.

 

However, Adrian and Bonnie may change your plans.  There is an update today.

 

L.

 

[Fouremco]

10 hours ago, XLVIII said:

We have a Holland America cruise booked for late February that we’ll be cancelling. Not because we’re worried about getting sick (triple vaxxed) or lack of insurance (covered through work) but because we’re worried about being able to get home. With the increased transmission of Omicron and the need for a negative PCR test to fly, the risk of testing positive and having to spend 2 weeks isolating in the US is just too high. Hopefully we’re wrong. We’ll re-evaluate in February and re-book if things look better. 

I'm not sure why you aren't worried about getting sick (triple vaxxed), yet you are worried about having a positive PCR test. Is your concern that the increased transmission of Omicron will result in a higher number of false positives?

[melbrook]

36 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I'm not sure why you aren't worried about getting sick (triple vaxxed), yet you are worried about having a positive PCR test. Is your concern that the increased transmission of Omicron will result in a higher number of false positives?

 

I "think" the fear for XLVIII is if they happen to test positive they can't get on the plane and fly home.  We can relate.  Say I get off the ship, have my PCR test and turns out I have been asymptomatic and I am positive; I am now stuck in Florida for possibly 10-14 days.  So while we have been triple vaxed, insurance is good etc - we're stuck  and for us that means not getting back to work on time.   We have actually debated driving instead of flying to eliminate this scenario - even a positive test will allow us to cross the land border and quarantine at home.  Not ideal, but somewhat better.

 

The fear for us used to be getting it and getting really sick.  Now I worry less about that and more about having it, not being sick and getting stranded somewhere.

 

I should probably have let the OP reply but as soon as read it I could relate as that is our concern with the latest developments.  It seems to spread so much easier and faster and there are tons of people walking around with it and don't even know.  

[gubby]

45 minutes ago, melbrook said:

 

I "think" the fear for XLVIII is if they happen to test positive they can't get on the plane and fly home.  We can relate.  

 

The fear for us used to be getting it and getting really sick.  Now I worry less about that and more about having it, not being sick and being stranded.

This is one of our biggest fears that led us to cancel our cruises. Hopefully the triple vaccine keeps us out of the hospital and ICU, but if it is SO transmissible, a positive test could keep us in Europe longer than we planned. I switched to my KN 95 mask when I went to buy milk this morning. 

[truckswain]

Unfortunately there will be many more Variants of Concern and as someone said earlier Covid will never be gone it needs to be manageable.

 

 While Omicron is more transmissible there is no data yet that hospitalizations and deaths will trend upwards as well.  As far as I am concerned hospitalizations and deaths are the key metrics not infections. Time will tell.

 

With Omicron already the dominant strain border and travel restrictions will do little to lessen the spread.   The Government of Canada's travel advisories are about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.  

 

I just found out both myself and DW are both off between Christmas and New Years I was actually looking at last minute cruises.  Celebrities' Safe Passage Home, Cruise with Confidence and their testing makes it very appealing to book.

[1kaper]

So far the Federal (and my provincial) announcements haven't been as bad as I feared. 

 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, melbrook said:

 

I "think" the fear for XLVIII is if they happen to test positive they can't get on the plane and fly home.  We can relate.  Say I get off the ship, have my PCR test and turns out I have been asymptomatic and I am positive; I am now stuck in Florida for possibly 10-14 days.  So while we have been triple vaxed, insurance is good etc - we're stuck  and for us that means not getting back to work on time.   We have actually debated driving instead of flying to eliminate this scenario - even a positive test will allow us to cross the land border and quarantine at home.  Not ideal, but somewhat better.

 

The fear for us used to be getting it and getting really sick.  Now I worry less about that and more about having it, not being sick and getting stranded somewhere.

 

I should probably have let the OP reply but as soon as read it I could relate as that is our concern with the latest developments.  It seems to spread so much easier and faster and there are tons of people walking around with it and don't even know.  

I agree with everything you say. The point I was trying to make is that, in theory, you don't test positive unless you catch it, so if you aren't concerned about catching it, you shouldn't be concerned about testing positive. Conversely, if you are concerned about testing positive, you should definitely be concerned about catching it, even if you are fully vaxxed and boostered.