monctonguy

I base it on the experience and facts so far..nothing has worked...lock downs, masks, distancing, flaten the curve, circuit -break resets etc......and we are all for the most part doing worse than ever with the pandemic....minus China of course for some reason..

The goal posts keep changing....the rules, the regulations, the expectations, the restrictions....what people accept and believe and are willing to live with for the good of society and everyone else.....another few months and it will be different and probably worse again....

I hope i am wrong...after 9 months of this not yet though.

I am starting to fear long term for the viability of cruising....there are so many tangents and implications from this issue, that it may be too much for it to overcome......

Based on what I have seen so far, its concerning whether or not cruising will be available vacation option in the next few years or ever. This virus and the response has turned almost everything we knew and were used to upside down..its not merely a inconvenience that will eventually go away.....these changes and problems/issues are here long term and probably to stay...

It ain't ever going away if you read and believe some of the articles out there. It is already mutating...(1100 cases in the UK they are following, spreading and mutating through animals etc)).....and we still need to distance and wear masks even after vaccinations we have been told....

I am only 43...but my experience with vaccines is that you don't get it, end of story... You cant give it and you cant get it.....(in layman's terms)

This sounds nothing like we are being told about Covid......either the government is lying or the science is lying....something doesn't add up at the end of the day.

I would say all my optimism has been replaced with skepticism very quickly.

If they have to shut down cruising in Singapore because ONE person on the ship got it and 5 ppl in the whole country have it.....based on that model..cruising will NEVER be viable again thanks to Covid.

Just got approved here in Canada..168,000 doses by end of December...drop in the bucket as that's a 2 step vaccine....but its a start...gives us about 250,000 doses from Pfizer and Moderna(enough for 125,000 people)

Positive news....but now we need this rolled out in large numbers!

On 12/11/2020 at 4:33 PM, MKMAJ1 said:

Does RC typically sell Blue Lagoon excursions onboard and do they sell out frequently? We would like to play it by ear with Nassau (have been there several times). 

We will have a pretty significant amount of OBC to burn so I'd prefer to do that as opposed to a day pass but don't want to pull the trigger on an excursion until last minute. (looking at you, February weather) 

You can usually cancel those up to a certain time and get your money back I believe......

It wouldn't be the weather to be concerned about......it would be Covid at this point as to whether or not you make it Nassau on a cruise in Feb!

Very interesting...as it seems like for the past 9 months, its all been about how we can cruise safely with protocols in place during the pandemic..now, that seems to be a moot point....ultimately it was probably always going to come down to wide-spread vaccine roll outs.

Seems like alot of money and time and resources went into plan A, which really never came to fruition. Will there be somethings they learned and implement from it?...probably..but at the end of the day, that will have had no bearing on cruising resuming...imho.

Wish they would roll this out quicker and faster across Canada..

2% positive rate...i'll take that any day to travel

Fingers crossed...still 6-8 mths away from any sense of normalcy at this point...but glad to see this happening before the end pf 2020....defn something positive!

Once anti-vaxxers can't attend movie theaters, restaurants, bars, flights, cruises, hotels etc...that may change those whose minds were not fully made up or on the fence to get it...

I just hope the whole restrictions thing doesn't stay in place...masks, social distancing AND vaccincated...that wont sit well with me or many others..

Have traveled a few times solo in the past and I would say that its rare to even find or notice them. Would be hard to say who is at the bar or meeting place that is there for the solo meets ups or just hanging out and has no idea others are there to meet up with other solo cruisers..lol.

Nope....nothing til at least  May/June....if you want to play it safe..I say Fall of 21 probably

Yeah..I wont be travelling anywhere that masks are required. They are annoying, uncomfortable, cant eat, cant drink, cant smoke, hard to talk/hear people and those aren't even any potential medical issues with them.

Maybe for the first few cruises while they are still being started up and not everyone is vaccinated yet, but I expect any company that wants my $$ once this pandemic is over, no way in hell I will support your business if you think masks are the "new normal"

it wont change till vaccine's are widespread...we had all but had it gone here for months and now back and locked down....

Nothing changing till widespread vaccines rollout....at this point, all governments will continue lockdowns and restrictions...why would anyone think that's going to change now after almost a year?

Don't plan or book or even think about cruising till late 2021, assuming the vaccine roll out goes as planned AND no complications or shortages along the way.

Vaccine is the ONLY way anything will return to normal..till then its masks, shut downs and very little to NO travel.....governments just won't allow it...

I wouldn't book anything before that sails before the fall at this point!

If a country with 5 cases allows one cruise, and someone is sick on the cruise.....just think about North American with tens of thousands of cases right now all while we are  trying to "flatten the curve"..it ain't working and winter is going to get alot worse before it starts to get better.....

Jan/Feb cancelled....March/April will be the start of test cruises and by May/June right in line with my predictions all along we should be getting back to some cruising...albeit with some restrictions and problems for the first few months yet.

I wouldn't feel sure or confident of booking a cruise that sails before Sept/Oct to be really sure.

Doesn't surprise me at all..I suspect it will be at least May or June..by then  the US will have  reached high levels of vaccination(according to their plans currently) and the #'s start to drastically go down as a result.

By then, hopefully we will be on our way with vaccinations(although I predict it will take us about twice as long to get it done) and things will start to loosen up. Going to be a long winter and spring for us Canadians!

Great news for our UK friends and possibly cruising from the UK restarting....

No surprise....I think most will do this....and based on discussions here on other threads, I think its going to be alot longer till any type of cruising resumes....I have been sticking with May/June but the more I heard and see about how they are going to try and roll out "safe" cruises, I really really am starting to have my doubts

16 hours ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

If they are doing rapid tests while boarding they can easily say a positive person is negative. My understanding is they are only reliable if you have symptoms even then not that great. The PCR test is most reliable but only says you weren't positive the day it was done, even that isn't always true as @ericfromripppoints out it could take 14 days. I believe it takes 3-5 days incubation time in your system to show up as positive. So, if I had an exposure to a positive person, I'd be told to quarantine from the contact tracers and advised to get a test on day X, if that came back negative I could stop quarantining. 

I'd like to be positive and say we could be close to paying passengers, but I think your 6 month estimate is probably more realistic. Guess we will have to see how these test cruises go & how many are required for the CDC to give the clearance.

SO if tests don't work, then why let people on the  ship...because masks and social distancing works? If so, then why bother with the cost and time of tests that apparently don't work.....and if masks/social distancing work, then anybody should be allowed on the ship sick or not based on that logic.

If this is the case moving forward, then vaccines wont mean a damn thing...masks and social distancing and faulty tests will be the norm...good luck cruising with that kinda system in place.

They had to do all this for a country that has ONE case?.....how in any world would anyone think that this going to work somewhere with millions of cases.

I hope everyone here is wrong, but if you are all so sure and confident of this, I fear for the long term viability of the cruise industry.

If nobody is allowed on the ship with Covid(and the tests that they use actually work like they say they do) then why all the masks and distancing.....

I guess till vaccines are widely rolled out that will be the case...but you cant catch something that isn't there....

That being said, its nice to see a cruise happening..but still a LONG way to go before we get to that point in North America yet I feel(5-6 mths at least)

Hmm...please take me there!!

Must be amazing to be on that cruise right now!

54 minutes ago, Jim S said:

Has any of the forum booked a Crown Loft Suite on Oasis Class ships? Do the onboard benefits justify the increase in price over that of a Junior Suite, i.e. £330.00 per person.

$330/person to go from a Junior Suite to a Crown Loft?..I don't think there should be any questions as to whether its worth it or not..there is NO comparison between the two!!!

The room alone...plus all the extra.....hands down its worth it...and I haven't stayed in either.

Yeah..I had read that in regards to Qantas...have heard hotels here in Canada may require it as well so I am pretty sure that will be the norm across the travel industry in the near future and for some time to come!