KWofPerth

It's looking more and more like there will be no down under cruising for the remainder of the year https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/health-safety/coronavirus-australia-borders-likely-to-stay-closed-until-2021/news-story/8a1c8e41dd412c20ff1b4704832adf4b

The general vibe amongst Joe Public is that cruise ships are a source of Covid spread and are viewed very negatively at present. A massive chunk of cases in NSW came as a direct result of infected passengers being allowed to disembark the Ruby Princess. However I don't know of anyone that thinks cruise ships are solely to blame. Far from it. We've had non-essential international travel banned since March and several of our states have shut their borders. We are now down to less than 150 active cases of CV19 so these measures have worked and worked beyond expectation. Our geographical isolation for once has been beneficial. As has New Zealand's. As a result of this success we have begun easing restrictions. Larger gatherings are now permitted, restaurants have just opened, sport is starting again. No one is in a rush to open our international borders - to aeroplanes or ships - anytime soon, because all that does is allow in cases from countries who have not been as successful in eliminating the virus as we have. I love cruising, but I disagree with many others on this site. Cruise ships are a source of spread and best avoided at this juncture. Just because there are other sources of spread, it does not mean that cruise ships should just be allowed to freely go about their business. Like I referenced in a prior post, there are other ways to vacation that are every bit as enjoyable and I will support the local tourism industry for the foreseeable future. All the while I will be following RC's progress as it navigates its way through this mess and look forward to one day cruising again. I hope you can appreciate my honesty.

Coming from Perth the biggest hurdle to going for a last minute deal would be getting last minute flights at a reasonable price. The planets would need to align in once-in-a-century-fashion.

There's too much uncertainty for my liking. You and I (along with our North American friends I'm sure), are lucky to have plenty of great holiday spots within our own country, and even within each individual state, so I'm going to stick to local travel for the foreseeable future. Foregoing cruising for a year or two is hardly a sacrifice in my view.

I love Radiance Class, but I am going to miss Voyager Class. Q Class I can take or leave. It's a moot point anyway. In the current climate I'm not handing over my cash for a booking that may never eventuate. See: Twangster's experience in one of the other threads.

Disappointing to have no Voyager/Freedom Class. Also, two Q Class ships, both out of Sydney, is too much. If we must have two, I would have preferred to see one of them swap with Radiance from Brisbane.

This new requirement looks to be a slight relaxation of current rules to me. Current rules - mandatory 14 day quarantine upon arrival. New rules - take a test before arrival and bypass any quarantine; OR take a test upon arrival and quarantine for a couple of days; OR refuse the test and go into mandatory quarantine (same as current rules). That seems like a positive improvement if you ask me.

International travel is banned here in Australia at the moment. Heck, we can't even travel interstate! Cruise ships, forget about it. Our one hope is the opening of a "travel bubble" with New Zealand in the near future, which has been mooted by both governments. Fingers crossed, we shall see.

Not for me. There's plenty of fantastic regular holidays I can take within my state, I'll be sticking to them for the near future.

I'm not so positive. Our success is due in large part to our geographical isolation and shutting down the borders. Following the debacles with Ruby Princess in Sydney and the Artania in Freo, I can't see the authorities being too keen to open up cruising in a hurry.

Not just any employee either. The Senior Vice President of Sales and Trade Support & Service. It makes you wonder how much RC uses this blog for research purposes. I suspect it would be a reasonable amount, right?

I can't say as I ever have, no. It certainly didn't stop me from jumping off of perfectly good bridges and out of aircraft when I've been to NZ.

Here in Western Australia, the government has just lifted the daily limit on alcohol purchases that was imposed a month or two back when there was a run on toilet paper and non-perishable food items (pasta, rice, tinned foods, etc.). We are no longer limited to just one carton of beer (24 cans) and 3 bottles of wine per day. Phew, I was getting desperate for a while there ?

I wouldn't know, sorry Joe.

Well, this is not what Royal needs right now... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-27/new-zealand-white-island-volcano-disaster-four-corners/12150706

Well thank goodness for that. I can rest easy, while I work from home...

Are you....are you Carol Baskins???

The problem with Covid19 is that its infection rate is so high. So although it may have a lower mortality rate than other viruses, its infectiousness means that it gets transmitted to more people, resulting in higher numbers of deaths overall if left unchecked.

What happens if there are sick passengers onboard? The captain will seek assistance at the nearest port. Then the local government has an incident on its hands. This is exactly what happened with the Artainia here in Perth. It was ordered to leave multiple times, ignored those orders and sat idle at Fremantle port for three weeks. Passengers and crew were taken off as needed (because hey, we have a heart) and treated, taking up hospital beds and resources, before finally, mercifully, leaving over the weeknd. The whole thing was a mess. So to answer your question, I couldn't imagine any country or State authority who have strict border controls in place to allow a cruise ship to simply pull up and take a few photos. Too much potential for a disaster to occur.

I sadly agree.

Perhaps the economics of it. NZ's population is about 4 million, so not enough demand to sustain return cruises out of Auckland. @F1guynz @EmersonNZ ?

They can't.

This is the inconvenient truth, I'm afraid.

Does anyone else follow this channel? Super weird either way, but amusing...

Not at all. It's just a prudent course of action to take, in the very real event of things going bad for RCCL. We all hope that doesn't happen of course!