JeffB

I hope you're right. I didn't say that though, the author of the article I linked to did. You may have a better feel for this than I but I see boarder crossings among EU member states as being incredibly complex. The politics of the EUC is going to cause the same kinds of delays that the politics (and organizational friction within the US Health and Human Services Department) are causing with modification of the CSO. Right now, there is no globally integrated system that will allow for proof of vaccination - lot of entities working on them but will these all be interoperable? I think it is nearly certain that vaccination is going to be a prerequisite for international and cross boarder travel. Long way from agreement on how that is going to work.

Two points: (1) The problem I have with the US Government's stand on the resumption of cruise ship operations from US ports, articulated through the CDC and their CSO is that it represents government over-reach and abuse of it's lawful authority. But I understand why it appears government is moving at a glacial pace to rectify that. Let's be clear, there are a lot government agencies involved in this. It's hard to identify who might have the authority to modify the CSO in accordance with the provisions of it. Generally, these agencies are acting on the basis of a public health emergency declared by then Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar. He's gone being replaced by Dr. Rachael Levine who was just confirmed yesterday I believe. Is she the gal? The underlying law for the port closures allow port authorities to deny ships to operate in and out of them that may present risks to the public health. Everything the CDC is doing is lawful, aggrieved parties know it is and that's why this overreach is not being challenged in the courts. From my perspective, the CDC has the responsibility to recommend public health policy to HHS. If I'm reading the tea leaves correctly, they may very well have submitted modifications or recommended implementation of phases 2,3,4 of the CSO and, "it's being staffed by involved agencies." That's going to cause delays and the chaffing of interested parties to the continuation of the the CSO that right now is simply a ban, not a plan to return to cruising. Keep in mind, I suspect HHS and its new Secretary is bogged down by a lot of issues right now, vaccine procurement and distribution and immigration being among them. (2) I was able to identify the name of the person within the CDC that was quoted what amounts to a reiteration of existing policy - that's all. It wasn't something new, it wasn't a middle finger to the cruise industry. It was a statement recapping existing policy. Her name is Catlin Shockey she is Associate Director for Communications for CDC's Division of Global Migration and Quarantine. I believe she sent an email in response to journalist's questions about the CLIA press release.

I remain troubled regarding the implications of this thread's title and several of the posts within it affirming that a renewed stand against the restart of cruising from US ports by the CDC was precipitated by CLIA's press release yesterday. Other than reports yesterday on CNN and CNBC that a CDC spokesperson responded to the CLIA press release by saying, as if this was new and in the present tense, cruising won't resume from the US until November 1st (paraphrased), a CDC spokesperson isn't identified. I conclude that CNN/CNBC probably added the report they claim was a from a CDC spokesperson erroneously. It's already been pointed out the November 1st date applies to the original issuance of the CSO. Nothing new. What is new is that Fain and CLIA are making their case against the arbitrariness of the CSO more strongly than before. That's the good news but we do not know how the CDC is going to respond to those overtures. Walaneski did make a statement yesterday and the link below is to it. The video is included in an AP story that is very positive with regard to the state of the global pandemic. Walenski acknowledges that but continues to caveat the positive news with a cloak of pessimistic pronouncements. This isn't anything new. Both Fauci and Walneski have continually wrapped good news with more bad news. There's no question in my mind that the CDC still beleives the CSO shouldn't be updated or changed in any substantial way for a while. I think the cruise lines know this and are taking the steps we are seeing with an expansion of operations from foreign ports accordingly. I think there were a few people here who predicted that would happen if the CDC continued to stone wall cruise lines. https://www.9news.com/amp/article/news/health/coronavirus/us-improving-covid-19-vaccinations-rise-deaths-fall/507-c9ace044-8434-4bcb-92b3-cea03c03ebb9

........I've said this before, the EUC has to improve it's vaccination rate among member states before we're going to see Europe open up to tourism. There are steps being taken now to do that although there does not appear to be unity among the member states on the central action - halting the export of the AZ vaccines outside of the EU block to improve numbers within it. Obviously, the UK would be affected by that and reports this morning indicated that Boris Johnson has been on the phone with various EU country leaders urging them to veto that action and with some success. I have read that the EUC's vaccine procurement and distribution problems are complex and there is less incompetence involved than there is logistical problems that continue to be hard to overcome. So, it's unfair to compare vaccine rates between the EU and other countries and be critical of the EUC. I think it is fair to say that vaccination rates are going to be a major determinant of the date upon which cruising will return to some level of normalcy globally. I also think it is fair to say the RCL, anyway, and I'm sure other lines are doing the same, are making plans to expand cruising based on separate agreements with various governments who are willing to open their ports. The US is going to take a back seat as those plans evolve more successfully in foreign ports unless the CDC updates it's current position (the CSO) to reflect what's happening on the ground.

The simple answer is no. It might but only if Greece bucks the rest of the EU's current stand on open boarders. The article below thinks that's unlikely by May but may be by "late summer." July isn't exactly late summer but that RCL is planning on Jewel porting out of Cyprus with sailings from there starting in July indicates that contacts between RCL and Greek officials are probably on-going and positive. Bottom line Greece claims it plans to open to tourists from around the world as of mid-May, including those who are vaccinated, those with antibodies, and those with negative coronavirus tests. While I’d love for this to be true, I just don’t see this happening in the next couple of months. Not only does the European Union not have plans to open its borders, but then there’s the whole question of how proof of vaccination would even work. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Americans allowed in the European Union towards the end of summer, but personally I think May is highly optimistic. https://onemileatatime.com/visit-greece-summer-2021/

Do we have a link to this "spokesperson's" actual quote allegedly in response to the public release of the CLIA position (link to that is above) saying "defiantly the CDC's CSO remains in effect until November 1st?" I'm not about to believe CNN or CNBC on this one. There was an article in the NYT's on line this morning writing about a negative COVID bias in news reporting. A study was undertaken to compare positive to negative press reporting among MSM (CNN was one of them). 87% of the reporting was negative. Meanwhile, scientific reports and journals were generally balanced or positive. There is no story if the CDC doesn't respond (I suspect they may not have). There's a juicy story if they responded like CNN is reporting they allegedly did.

In my don't believe a thing the MSM says mode, the CLIA announcement is quoted and while I can't find a link to the CLIA announcement's text, the verbiage is appearing at the usual places like Cruise News. I've not seen anything resembling a quote from Walenski or someone close to her in the organization identifying whether the CDC actually responded directly CLIA today with a date certain of November, 2021. I don't think Fauci, from Allergies and Infectious Disease, has said anything either. He is the face of US infection control. I'd be looking to him to say something that won't be specific - he rarely is - but will try to present a happy, encouraging face. I do think it's pretty clear that the temperature in the room has risen - RCI starts sailing from ports easily reachable from the US and outside the CDC/US Treasury's jurisdiction, Fain is pretty clear that he's done waiting for the "technicals" to be provided to his company that were supposed to be provided months ago according to the CSO. RCI and others are operating cruise ships in parts of Europe and Asia. Launch the boats!..... and more are coming. Most of us have been calling for a hard stand by cruise industry big-wigs and CLIA. We'll we have it. I'm thinking we need to see how the US government responds over the next week or so. The CDC may be moved to the back of the room and assigned an advisory role. CDC claims they really aren't in charge of deciding when the cruise industry sails again. Statements like that are usually a lead in to a punt to someone else higher up in the chain of command. Stuff like this is usually some kind of face saving effort on the part of government officials to circle the wagons and not let the CDC appear to have fumbled the ball on this. Too bad it is obvious they have and they have egg all over their faces. Something I think Fain and his colleagues were trying to prevent. Too bad, times up. Bottom line, I'm not buying restarts until after November 1st.

That's fine as long as it doesn't interrupt my TA from booking Milllennium on any one of the sailings in June.? If you're thinking on booking Millennium as an RCL loylaist never having sailed Celebrity, here are some thoughts. I've sailed Millenium 4x, the most recent was in Asia for a month B2B. I'm a smaller ship enthusiast so, Celebrity's Millennium Class ships are my cup of tea. I've sailed Jewel, a Radiance Class ship, once on a repositioning cruise - loved it. The two classes, as has been mentioned, are similar in size and flay-out. When one speak's of "older' ships, Celebrity's maintenance standards almost make that term irrelevant. You might find a nick or two in a chair or cabinetry but for the most parts I've always found Celebrity's ships, no matter the class or age, spotless and everything I use regularly, functional. If you find something amiss in your cabin, it will get fixed right away. The layout is easy to navigate - straight access fore and aft on most decks. Cabin size is average with a larger deck on what are called "hump cabins. If you can snag one of those, do it. Aft cabins also have a larger deck, forward facing cabins are a bit larger. I just don't like either of these cabins, have tried both and that's just me. Celebrity has pushed these "refrubishments" and cabin upgrades converting the Millennium class ships to offer more exclusivity. I'm not really in to paying a premium fares for special soaps and a shower head or being able to dine in an exclusive restaurant with, aside from maybe a specialty or two, the same food that's served in the main dining rooms. So, my advice is to skip these premium fares. Book an "obstructed" Veranda at the lowest price you can get. Obstructed is a misnomer. The only thing you'll find obstructed is looking straight down. Worst case you'll have the top 10th of a lifeboat in your view. No big deal. This advice varies but skip Tuscan Grill and whatever they are calling the others now (specialty dining venue names change regularly) but book Murano. It really is 5 star dining - or at least it has been for us on past sailings. Tuscan is OK, not great as one of the only 3 or 4 specialty dining options and I'm thinking these might be limited on start-up cruises. If you favor what I call the glitz of the mega-ships, amusement park level activities and more dining options than you can take part on in a 7n cruise, Millennium will disappoint you. If you just want to sail, Celebrity cruise line is an excellent choice and Millennium a solid cruise ship. Before RCG acquired Celebirty, it was an independent luxury line. The X on the stacks of it's ships signified excellence. It's changed a bit in the 20y we've been cruising that line, almost exclusively, but not much.

I don't think this has been posted anywhere. Sorry if I've duplicated information in another thread. On Monday, the CDC updated it's guidance for people who are fully vaccinated. The link below will take you to a yellow highlighted paragraph at the incredibly cumbersome CDC web site that sums up this nothing burger. There's a ton of ancillary information at the link and since I've been bitching about public health authorities not providing guidance on how we should act as we return to normal activities, this is that guidance - a bit too narrowly focused for me but nonetheless ....... Does it mean anything that helps or hurts a return to cruising out of US or European ports? Not really but here's my take: If you dig into the information that is within and around the link, it's pretty clear that the CDC doesn't think travel is safe even as vaccinations increase nor do they think being in public spaces, indoors with a lot of people, even if all of them are vaccinated, like cruise ships, is safe. This warrants a face-palm from me. The data is out there to suggest the CDC is wrong on both counts. I've acknowledged that the CDC's position based only on the few reliable COVID studies published so far is defensible. CDC continues to recommend that face masks should be worn in any indoor public setting. Fine with me. However, it' s far from practical in the sense that it fails to address the anecdotal yet solid reality that vaccines are a game changer regarding how safely Americans who are vaccinated can interact. It also fails to recognize that people are sick and tired of COVID, aren't paying a lot of attention to what's coming out of the mouths or PH officials and that continued restrictions on mobility and social activity that don't make any sense are probably counter productive ..... people are ignoring reasonable mitigation measures because the number of unreasonable ones remain at unrealistic levels, e.g., baring cruise ship operations from US ports declaring that even for vaccinated people, travel should be avoided. The bottom line for me is that yesterday's updated guidance from the CDC for vaccinated Americans isn't going to move the needle towards an early resumption of any kind of cruising. That includes test cruises the CDC has mandated which are presently unnecessary. That CDC mandated requirement should be ditched. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html#:~:text=In public spaces%2C fully vaccinated,often%2C and following any applicable

I'm re-thinking this based on what's coming out from various sources. Sometime in mid January based on a lot of optimism that cruising from American ports would resume by the end of May, I booked a 7n Caribbean Itinerary out of PEV on Celebrity Equinox starting June 13th using some of my FCCs. Based on the progress the EU seemed to be making up to just recently, I also booked a Celebrity Reflection 7n itinerary out of Amsterdam to Norway. I also booked air via Celebrity. The fares were high but the risks of delays outweigh those costs. Worth it I thought. I've asked my TA to jump in line on Thursday morning to book Millennium out of St Martin in June. If it's practical and she can get through to a sales rep, she'll put a cabin on hold and call me with details. If the cancellation and Millennium fares are reasonable, I'll book Millennium and cancel Equinox. Based on how Europe plays out before April 20th (final payment for the reflection cruise) I'll re-consider that one too. Fast changing game!!!

Well, a lot us here among many others are asking the same question. It is, IMO, clearly discriminatory. Think back to March of 2020 when the pandemic was making itself known and governments were scrambling to "do something." The visuals of the Diamond Princess fiasco and the problems with cruise ships at sea being denied access to ports world wide were ugly. A convenient move by the US government to stop foreign flagged cruise lines from binging pestilence and death to US shores made it appear like the CDC was doing it's job to protect the US public health. IOW, there was a political calculation to the order. Made the US and the CDC, before the pandemic crisis, viewed as the world's leader in disease prevention and control, look good. If my memory serves me, President Trump, at the time of the CDC issued no-sail-order, did not want to shutter US airports. Those remained open and the airline industry added new safety protocols. The US government left other mitigation measures up to the states. That resulted in the crazy patch-work of mitigation measures you see today from state to state and even county to county.

It's complicated. Twangster has nailed the details down, I'll try to recall them. The US Government has declared a public health emergency. That grants US government agencies varying degrees of lawful authority to do certain things. The CDC issued a no-sail-order for certain ships (including those of the cruise lines operating ships with > 250 passengers) from US ports based on the emergency declaration. Certain Maritime laws are being invoked and the US Treasury Department which contains the US Coast Guard would be charged with enforcement of those laws. Various documents, enumerated in the Maritime laws that must be approved by port authorities are required for a cruise ship to enter or leave a US port. Port authorities would deny approval of the required documents. I've offered that the cruise lines should collectively sue in an appropriate court seeking an injunction preventing enforcement of the no-sail-order. I looked briefly at the law that might apply after a trade group for the travel industry threated to do just that in October. I'm not a lawyer but it doesn't take one to see that a jurisdictional issue exists and that the government lawyers that crafted the no-sail-order did a surprisingly good job of making it very hard for the cruise industry to ignore the order or sue. Twangster, jump in here if I've erred.

I'm with some here who say if they are going to fly to Nassau or St. Maartin, they're going to stay in a resort there. I feel the same way partly based on what I've written above that amounts to a risky undertaking that has to go down just about perfectly. Partly the travel hassle to the cruise port when I'm used to jumping aboard with a Uber ride from our home to Port Everglades. But here's the rough cost to cruise on Millennium out of St. Maartin for me: Round Trip FTL, AA X2: $650 Sonesta Ocean Point resort (all inclusive - 1 night on the front and back end of the Millennium cruise): $500/night (includes 21% tax on a $417 rate for 2 adults), $1000 RT Transportation to/from the resort and to/from the ship: $100 Negative COVID RT/PCR test costs/associated entry fees X2: $200 Incidentals $300 Veranda State Room. I'm not buying the $2k pp including air and their new "everything included" line so, I priced this with my own air. A typical 7n, Easter Caribbean Veranda cabin goes for around $1800pp tax and port fees included. I'll go with a cruise fare for 2 of $3600 or $257/N pp That's $5850 for a 7n itinerary. Hi, IMO, at least for my tastes. I could find cheaper accommodations. Safer? Probably not.

Yes, in a strictly literal sense but, the CDC carries a lot of weight and when Walenski takes to the airwaves and starts spouting non-sense that can easily be shown to be unsupported by the COVID data I become alarmed and more and more distrustful of her and the CDC. For example, hospitalizations and deaths - a true measure of disease burden about which we should be rightly concerned - continues to decline. This gets short shrift. Instead we get the same reliance on case numbers presented without context or without regard to the highly regional nature and risk correlation with age as the CDC's single measure of risk of infection. I am told they do this because the American public isn't smart enough to understand the importance of context with regard to pandemic information reporting. We can't assess risk, only the government can. How reliable has their COVID advice been in the past? I'm no longer trusting it or paying any attention to it ...... but that doesn't mean Joe Biden or Congress or local public health officials aren't. In the current pandemic and the public health emergency it has crated, government has intervened in our lives in unprecedented ways. What the US government through the CDC and other involved agencies has done to a supposed free market travel and leisure industry, to include the cruise lines, rings the gong warning Americans about the dangers of creeping government control. The risk is much wider spread than just for cruise ships alone. JMO, YMMV.

I have a Celebrity Cruise booked out of PEV June 13th on Equinox. Once optimistic, given the CDC's foot dragging, I'm about 90% certain it won't sail. I'm ready to sail ..... RIGHT NOW. I'm hugely frustrated over events in Europe involving the chaos that has been vaccine procurement and distribution by the EUC (YES!!!! to Boris on Brexit!!!) and the stupidity of postponing vaccinating EU citizens over fears of blood clots (resumed in most EU countries now). I thought Europe would lead the way back to cruising. Nope. Screwed that one up! And I also have a Celebrity cruise booked out of Amsterdam on Reflection So, sure, I could get to the Bahamas or St. Maartin pretty easily from FTL or MIA but we've decided not to try to book. These are my thoughts: We are spoiled living a 10 minute Uber ride to PEV. In our cruising life since 2001, we've endured flying to and from airports serving cruise ports world wide. The older we got (both in our 70s), the less we liked that part. Why do I want to do that, go through the additional hassle imposed by coming and goings in foreign airports imposed by local health authorities for COVID and mess with transport/bags to and from the port? Knowing how things work, initial sailings aren't going to go off without a hitch. Let some of the bugs get worked out without involving us. Regardless of the global decline in new cases, deaths, serious illness, SARS-2 is still out there. Risks of catching it is not zero, nor do I expect it to be but out of the gate how RCL and Celebrity along with local health authorities deal with just one positive test (accurate or not) occurring on board a vessel is going to something to carefully watch. A case of COVID on a vessel will very likely produce chaos, result in over-reactions at all levels and will become an event ripe for hand-wringing and pearl-clutching from multiple agencies. The MSM will augment this, LOUDLY as in, "we told you so." Do we want to be involved in that chaos? No. Look, I'm itching to cruise. I hate it that we've been banned from cruising, unfairly, for over a year, by a federal agency telling me what I can and can't do for the good of the public's health with all of their advice on that being suspect from the Pandemic's outset. Wondering what others are willing or unwilling to put up with now that RCL and Celebrity are going to actually cruise. Your turn.

Worth noting that PEV did a huge up-grade to its (primarily) Celebrity terminal to accommodate Apex class ships and their new check-in technology over a year ago. It's not like Port Everglades is getting left behind. Multiple lines cruise from there. It appears to me that in S. FL, RCG is consolidating ships in it's brand at two ports. I haven't sailed any cruise line out of Miami for a while. I live a 10 minute Uber ride to Port Everglades and I cruise primarily aboard Celebrity ships so .......

A link to an Article in the Miami Herald that contained the letter the Mayor of Miami-Dade County sent to Walneski at the CDC was posted else where but worth noting it's contents here to make my point. The letter was too nice for my tastes but in between the lines one can read the contempt that the Mayor has for the CDC's position that has unfairly crippled the cruise industry costing billions of dollars in losses just in the travel and leisure economy of Miami-Dade County alone. The Mayor does, much more nicely than I would, mention that hey, you morons, if it's OK to re-open Disney parks, put fans in football stadiums and allow movie theaters, gyms to open and indoor dining permitted across the US ...... WTH are you doing with hobbling the cruise industry. I'd mention it's pretty clear that the cruise industry is starting to work around your unwarranted no-sail-plan, wait ..... yes, that expired and was replaced with a safe to sail plan that you have not yet released the "technicals" to the cruise industry on how to comply with it. That the CDC is doing this will hurt FL in the long run and interminably slow the recovery of the travel and leisure sector of FL's economy. As has already been mentioned by others, it is a waste of key strokes asking if the cruise industry will change it's strategy on preparing ships to cruise again. The one, the only ONE question that needs to be continuously and repeatedly asked in any venue or forum where it can be asked is why is the CDC pursuing the moronic course of action it continues to pursue regarding the cruise industry.

Three or four weeks ago, I was pretty optimistic. The leading factor for that optimism was what appeared to be a shift in EU governments to a position that was supportive of the resumption of tourism, including cruise ship tourism, this in contrast to the CDCs fear monkey position on congregate settings, e.g., cruise ships. Then came news of a surge in new cases within the EU member states and more rigorous lock-downs. This was quickly followed by the AZ vaccines debacle. Increases in new case numbers compared to the experience in the UK, US and eslewhere had less to do about people behaving badly and irresponsibly in the face of COVID and much more to do with a failed vEUC vaccine program. At this point I'm not optimistic at all about a cruise restart being led by Europe. Walenski at the CDC is trying to outwardly be optimistic but follows a listing of every gain with two or more downsides. As I have said, THE #1 task for global governments should be getting vaccines in arms. It is undeniable that vaccines work and for countries that have done well distributing it to their citizens, disease burden is declining. An added benefit is that it is anecdotally but still clearly reducing transmission. Americans are not stupid. It defies logic and science for the CDC to, instead of being excessively guarded, start telling us that great progress is being made (which it absolutely is) and these are the steps you need to follow to start resuming normal activities safely. Failing to do this, and having Americans recognize that failure, is entirely counter productive and instead of increased attention being paid to meaningful public health messaging, it is being rejected as non-sensical and inconsistent with the facts on the ground. That is producing exactly the opposite affect .......Americans saying screw your advice and acting without any caution at all.

Look, I've said this elsewhere and probably in this thread as well. Those of us who have been loyal to RCG for decades and who aren't getting any younger, our time in this world where we are still vital and active is ticking away. Meanwhile, we wait for the resumption of cruising from US ports. My take is that we're getting a raw deal on two fronts: (1) The CDC's unobtainable goal of requiring cruise lines to get the risk of COVID aboard their ships to near zero through a litany of complex and costly tasks. (2) RCG's lack of leadership in getting them eased and keeping their loyalists informed. Admittedly, I don't know what is going on behind the scenes but this dance is ridiculous. It is becoming more and more obvious to me, anyway, that as time goes on this dance is being orchestrated at the corporate level. It is a marketing strategy to keep revenue flowing in through advanced bookings, sustained by falsely feeding our insatiable optimism that cruising is going to restart "very soon." It amounts to stall tactics and should be called out. I'm calling it out. I don't know about the rest of you but out of 7 planned cruises in the past year, all of them have been moved forward which means RCG has a lot of my money without any reassurances that I'm actually going to cruise in the next year. Yes, I had options. Did many cruisers holding cancelled bookings ask for refunds? Based on booking figures and optimistic outlooks for profits we get from corporate, Nope. Moreover, those predictions supported by investment analysts talking those profits up - propping stock prices up and keeping them tanking - makes it appear that folks pushing their chips forward to the next round of cancellations is a good bet. I'm seriously beginning to wonder about that.

Off-set by the assumed 25% that are anti-vaxers. It's a zero-sum game. In the end with 30% vaccinated and 30% immune by virtue of having had COVIDminus 25% of the FL's population who won't get the vaccine, you'll have 60% of that population immune ...... still herd immunity for that cohort.

This. The joke on one of the forums I post at regularly suggested Amazon and that was mostly a serious "joke." FL started out with a hospital system choice for initial roll-out - that would be healthcare workers and first responders. That went pretty smoothly as the 5 large hospital systems in S. FL rolled out employee rosters and started scheduling shots internally based on supply. Pretty simple. Soon after as that group got their shots, they went for LTC residents and staff and enlisted CVS to administer doses on site. That worked pretty good. Within a month 95% of both of those groups among those that didn't refuse it (only about 20% and much lower than first thought) had gotten inoculated. Then all hell broke lose. A mixture of hospital systems, retail pharmacies and public health agencies set up phone and web sites to sign up. If you were over 65, you get the shots. Phone lines and web sites crashed from demand. It was a mess for most of the month of February, especially the last week of January and the first two weeks of February. As supply increased, most of it went to the county public health departments, then retail pharmacies. Shifting to a state wide system to schedule shots helped to clean up the mess of diverse organizations scheduling and giving shots. By the end of February, the PH system was working best to get you a shot. Well published and circulated numbers for your county health department were answered by a bot that took you though a simple questionnaire to determine eligibility. If you answered all the questions to the bots satisfaction, the bot came on and said, we will call you. Calls by a human to offer a slot and sign up for it came in 3d to a week, no more. PH agencies were planning at most 72 hours in advance based on what they actually received at their front door. Retail pharmacies were hit and miss - you could sign-up on line or some times call and speak to a human. Most people I talk with have varied experiences signing up with a retail pharmacy even though hundreds of them are doing it- it's either surprisingly easy or I can't get through. Right now there are probably 200 retail pharmacies in the state getting supplies - Publix, CVS, Kroger, Walmart and Target. Some retailers aren't using the supply they had planned for a day. When that happens, if you're lucky, you'll get called at 8pm or so and asked, "how quickly can you get here." Shots for over 50 with an MD note certifying that the patient getting the shot has a qualifying co-morbid condition started on 3/9 - Gov. Desantis says the Dr. decides what that is; if you have a shot appointment and a letter you get the shot no questions asked. All teachers and school employees over 50 are also eligible. Seems to be working with minor whines about whatever. In 2w, anyone over 50 will be eligible. By mid April everyone over 16 should be eligible with all of those who don't refuse to be vaccinated with at least one shot before May first. That is nothing short of amazing. BTW, as of 3/14, FL leads the nation at 30/100 getting shots. Illinois is a close second. If you assume 30% of a given population has already had COVID and has some level of immunity to it, that's 60% with immunity ..... or herd immunity in FL according to some experts. All you need to do is look at plunging death rates and hospitalizations to know vaccinations are working and working way better than expected to end the pandemic. State wide positivity rates are right around 5% (Broward Co., home of port Everglades has a positivity rate just over 4%. 7d average is a little over 5%. This means the virus isn't circulating by most accounts unless goal posts change and the CDC does that. Open FL cruise ports!!!! I can see with my own eyes what's going on in my state yet we hear our federal public health experts and our President preaching caution and having pessimistic outlooks going forward. I get it but the reality is that people who are vaccinated can pretty much do as they please with appropriate precautions in indoor congregate settings involving vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Frustrating we are still waiting on the CDC to see this. We should be getting back on cruise ships ASAP.

We've lived in S. FL for 8 years mostly in Fort Lauderdale. We're now in Cocnut Creek about 20 minutes north. On Thursday, we were part of a group that gathered on the Carrie B that does a tour along the New River. This river passes through central Fort Lauderdale and branching off of it are multiple canals. The New River enters into Port Everglades and you can access both the intercoastal waterway and the Atlantic Ocean from the Port Everglades Cut. We toured past multi-million dollar homes and mega yachts and had that very same look pictured above as we turned around and headed back West bound - an empty cruise pier and terminal. I cried. That emotion stokes a good deal of my posting here. I know others are frustrated too so, I feel like I have a friendly ear to complain to. But we could be out of the woods with COVID globally barring some of the silly, non-science based policies affecting the cruising life we love. If only .....

This is a short read on what is known about blood clots in recipients of the AZ vaccine: https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n699 Two take-aways from the article: (1) There has been a pause (around 2w plus/minus) in use of the vaccine in the countries who have chosen to do so not a termination of it's use. (2) During rigorous AZ trials before approval by European Health Authorities of it's use in the general population, there were no reports of blood clots as a side effect in persons receiving the vaccines. In millions of AZ vaccine doses already administered, there are 5 reported cases of blood clots and 1 death. Regarding the perception that the current rise in new cases among European countries is due to people not following the rules, it is impossible to assign a cause. It is possible to speculate. Low on the list of speculated causes is people not following the rules. If anything, people reduce mobility, as measured by anonymous cell-phone tracking, when public health officials report rising case numbers. According to reports, mobility among Europeans has decreased as officials report rising case numbers. This seems to be a typical human response globally. At the top of speculated reasons is the increase in R(0) or transmission rates of two variants known to be in circulation in Europe - the increases are regional not Europe wide but when reported collectively the increase in absolute numbers as well as the rate of acceleration appears significantly more impactful than it actually is. South African PH officials are studying the mystifying drop in cases after the surge of new cases and deaths in that country in January. One casual reason has been identified as close quarters housing in poor regions of SA. This contributes to close contacts and increases spread in these poorer regions. Upper income areas are not experiencing the same increases. Again, it's regional and remains as very hard to assign causality. Finally, yes you can blame government for the slow vaccine roll-out within Europe and especially the EU. Right now, it amounts to not much more than finger pointing but the comparative numbers of inoculated as a percentage of 100K population between nations that have accelerated vaccine purchase and roll-outs and EU nations is, by itself, condemnatory. This isn't about Europe having a higher population than other countries when it is compared from a common baseline of per 100K. I don't think the press has all the answers and I certainly don't. Governments are being less than forth coming. I looked extensively this morning trying to find reliable, other than speculative and politically biased reporting on the several issues causing delays in getting vaccines into arms. Hard to find. But I know this: The number 1 thing that is going to get us back to cruising, folks, the number one thing is vaccinations in arms. We know this. Governments know this. The ones acting aggressively, taking action, on that knowledge are helping to bring the global pandemic to a close. The ones that aren't are prolonging it. Not recognizing that the benefits of getting a SARS-2 vaccine into arms is greater than, I mean hugely greater than, the risks of blood clots from an effective vaccine like the AZ product and stopping it's use, even for a few weeks, is anti-science. Yes, I am pissed at some EU countries, e.g., Denmark and yes, at the EUC and want to yell at it's Commissioners.

The problem for the EU right now - THE #1 problem that needs coordinated and cooperative attention among member states is - obtaining and distributing vaccines. What is happening in Italy was entirely avoidable if vaccines had been obtained and distributed within EU nations at the same rate that they were obtained and distributed in the UK, US and similarly in Israel and the UAE. The EUC should rightfully be pilloried and I've heard of moves by frustrated governments, Italy and Greece in particular, to obtain their own vaccine supplies and not wait on the EUC to get its act together. I don't claim to fully understand what the EUC's role in all of this is. I have read some but you know the phrase, "excuses are like (***) ..... every one has one." Europe in general did great in containing SARS-2 and had a leg up on everyone else until they blew it with vaccines, including the non-sense with questions about the safety of the AZ product. Concerns about that are without basis according to many yet, ????? . Selfishly I want to yell at Ursula von der Leyen and I suspect I'm not alone.

Well, this makes sense and so it resonates with me rumor or otherwise. I believe that where there is smoke there is fire so even the rumor mill suggesting crews are "crewing up" is an encouraging sign. I don't think there is any question that for the UK and Greece, probably Spain and Portugal as well, their governments are keen on "saving the summer holiday season in the Euro-zone. Italy was right up there cheering on a return of tourism until just recently. Politicians are pulling reluctant public health officials along behind them in this regard. I don't think that dynamic is present in the US. The public at large remains reluctant to re-engage in socialization that involves large crowds and what the CDC has defined as risky venues - like indoor dining at restaurants, people in the stands at sporting events or concerts. Fine - I'm not going to deny there is a risk of infection in any of these setting that is greater than hibernating in your basement, existing in a self imposed bubble, until one believes there is zero risk of becoming infected with any number of viruses out there - which will never happen.