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With the new Vaccine information when it will be possible to cruise normally


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4 minutes ago, jticarruthers said:

And also the challenge that no one has commented on yet of what % is willing to take the vaccine.

Not sure if that is an issue...because I think vaccinations will be required to travel, fly, cruise etc...so those who choose not to can stay home and let the rest of us enjoy life again....much the way it should have been handled from the get go

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1 hour ago, monctonguy said:

Not sure if that is an issue...because I think vaccinations will be required to travel, fly, cruise etc...so those who choose not to can stay home and let the rest of us enjoy life again....much the way it should have been handled from the get go

If society in general is still dealing with the virus it will cause spillover impact to the travel industry.  People will try to use fake vaccination records too and even one case on a ship will make headlines and thrust the cruise industry into the spotlight. 

No vaccine is 100% so people will still get infected just not in pandemic quantities.  If it happens on a cruise ship public health agencies will be quick to clamp down on cruise ships again.  So while these vaccines are game changers they don't solve the issue for cruise ships completely.

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3 hours ago, monctonguy said:

Not sure if that is an issue...because I think vaccinations will be required to travel, fly, cruise etc.

It's already going to be true for Qantas

Quote

Australian air carrier Qantas anticipates asking all international travelers to prove they’ve been immunized against the coronavirusonce a vaccine is widely available — a requirement that is likely to be adopted throughout the industry, CEO Alan Joyce said Monday.

“I think it will be a common theme, talking to my colleagues in other airlines across the world,” Joyce told Australia’s Nine News.

Travelers entering or leaving Australia could be required to show an electronic “vaccination passport” that shows which vaccine they received, Joyce said. He acknowledged that the government would probably need to provide input, though Australian officials have said that they are primarily focused on orchestrating the rollout of a vaccine once one is available, and have yet to decide if border restrictions will be changing.

 

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I think its going to be interesting to see whether private companies require it or governments require it.

"Qantas made me get this experimental vaccine and now I'm suing because of side effects" may not terrify Qantas but for those of us that live in the most litigious society on the planet will strike fear into many corporate legal departments.

I know of at least one travel company (personal contact within the company) that is already wrestling with the legalities of requiring it vs. not requiring it and has not yet made a determination on which way think is least likely to get them in legal trouble.

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41 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

Anyone know if a cruise ship can just stay at a port (not sail) and operate as a hotel/restaurant resort?  Might be another way to test food services and hotel side health protocols in addition to ships that sail.

In Singapore, we have had lots of people booking meals on a plane which just sits on the tarmac at the airport (not me!) so I don't see any reason why it can't be done on a ship, but I actually don't see the point (from a customer point of view).

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44 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

Anyone know if a cruise ship can just stay at a port (not sail) and operate as a hotel/restaurant resort?  Might be another way to test food services and hotel side health protocols in addition to ships that sail.

I imagine there would be port fees to be paid, and other legalities surrounding a ship just parking up in port for days on end.

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4 hours ago, cruisellama said:

Anyone know if a cruise ship can just stay at a port (not sail) and operate as a hotel/restaurant resort?  Might be another way to test food services and hotel side health protocols in addition to ships that sail.

Depends on the country but...

There are pretty significant crew VISA issues when crew C-1/D VISA in the US are overstayed.  They aren't designed to allow foreign workers to work in America.  They can transit through America to board a ship for employment but the ship has to leave and crew have to be processed by another country before CBP considers them to have left the US.  

Then there is the matter of local hotel and restaurant businesses who are struggling during a pandemic.  If you owned a restaurant how would you feel if all of a sudden a cruise ship is luring customers away when that cruise ship is a foreign company, using foreign employees, not paying taxes and not subject to complex city and county tax codes and business licensing or things like the ADA to the same extent that a local hotel or restaurant business is?  Heck the Key West hotel and restaurant industry hate cruise ships so much they banned them and that wasn't because of the pandemic.

Regardless what country you pick, few will want to see foreign companies paying no taxes decimate their local service industry for even a brief time.

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7 hours ago, twangster said:

Depends on the country but...

There are pretty significant crew VISA issues when crew C-1/D VISA in the US are overstayed.  They aren't designed to allow foreign workers to work in America.  They can transit through America to board a ship for employment but the ship has to leave and crew have to be processed by another country before CBP considers them to have left the US.  

Then there is the matter of local hotel and restaurant businesses who are struggling during a pandemic.  If you owned a restaurant how would you feel if all of a sudden a cruise ship is luring customers away when that cruise ship is a foreign company, using foreign employees, not paying taxes and not subject to complex city and county tax codes and business licensing or things like the ADA to the same extent that a local hotel or restaurant business is?  Heck the Key West hotel and restaurant industry hate cruise ships so much they banned them and that wasn't because of the pandemic.

Regardless what country you pick, few will want to see foreign companies paying no taxes decimate their local service industry for even a brief time.

Good points about the work VISAs but wasn't thinking about long term.   I brought it up because Richard Branson had plans to introduce and promote the Scarlet Lady operating as a restaurant over a weekend in NYC harbor.  Of course interested parties had to make advanced reservations to get a dining spot.  The promotion was called off when the plague broke out.  Wondered if the approach could be dusted off and applied elsewhere.  https://www.exploretock.com/virginvoyagesrazzledazzle

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Some more good news , 

Moderna are going to apply the request for emergency FDA approval .

The compile all the extended data  and they for the 30000 people test the vaccine has successful rate of 94.1%  to  protect from C19  94.1 % and 100%  from getting severe hilliness  . On other words  only 11 people out of 15000 who got the real vaccine got ill , noon of them developed any severe hilliness comparing to  185  from the placebo group who got the C19 and 30 of them became severely ill .

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/30/health/moderna-vaccine-fda-eua-application/index.html

 

 

 

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Huge step forward - UK just authorized the use of the Pfizer vaccine .

This is excellent news and I hope more approval will come soon from the FDA and other regulators. Maybe there is still hope for the RCB cruise to the fjords  ? 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-authorises-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine

“The vaccine will be made available across the UK from next week"

 

 

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On 11/26/2020 at 11:20 AM, Traveler said:

And soon we should have new about  Johnson and Johnson Vaccine.

The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is behind the others. I read that initial results should be released sometime In December but probably won’t be approved until Jan at the earliest or possibly Feb.

Having said that, the one major advantage the Johnson and Johnson vaccine might have is that it will probably only require one injection and won’t require the extreme cold the other vaccines require and is expected to be much cheaper.

If it was up to me (and of course it isn’t) I would use the Johnson and Johnson vaccine for less developed countries where freezing might be an issue or where governments who aren’t as rich as the US or Canada have to pay for the vaccine. Assuming it gets approved of course. But of course that’s just a thought, there still might be other factors I’m not aware of. I myself don’t love getting injected by needles more than I have to but, whatever is best for the entire world.  But of course the more vaccines, the better.

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12 hours ago, Oliver said:

The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is behind the others. I read that initial results should be released sometime In December but probably won’t be approved until Jan at the earliest or possibly Feb.

Having said that, the one major advantage the Johnson and Johnson vaccine might have is that it will probably only require one injection and won’t require the extreme cold the other vaccines require and is expected to be much cheaper.

If it was up to me (and of course it isn’t) I would use the Johnson and Johnson vaccine for less developed countries where freezing might be an issue or where governments who aren’t as rich as the US or Canada have to pay for the vaccine. Assuming it gets approved of course. But of course that’s just a thought, there still might be other factors I’m not aware of. I myself don’t love getting injected by needles more than I have to but, whatever is best for the entire world.  But of course the more vaccines, the better.

That's making sense ,  we just need to be careful that it will not start any  conspiracy theory regarding the vaccine that is offered for the developed countries comparing to other countries ...

Anyway , we can also expedite the vaccine process by first do serologic test for people since someone that already have antidotes can wait with the vaccine for few month.   

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14 hours ago, Traveler said:

That's making sense ,  we just need to be careful that it will not start any  conspiracy theory regarding the vaccine that is offered for the developed countries comparing to other countries ...

Anyway , we can also expedite the vaccine process by first do serologic test for people since someone that already have antidotes can wait with the vaccine for few month.   

I don’t think you are going to see serologic tests happening. The CDC has already said everyone needs to be vaccinated whether you have had COVID or not, and whether you have antibodies or not.

Whether or not this decision has been made because they truly aren’t sure if someone can get COVID twice or because the logistics of antibody testing everyone, I’m not sure. 

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4 hours ago, Oliver said:

I don’t think you are going to see serologic tests happening. The CDC has already said everyone needs to be vaccinated whether you have had COVID or not, and whether you have antibodies or not.

Whether or not this decision has been made because they truly aren’t sure if someone can get COVID twice or because the logistics of antibody testing everyone, I’m not sure. 

I guess it's all depends on how fast and how many vaccine portion will be available. If there will be many of them available soon than I guess given vaccine to all is the easiest way. We might get here enough portion to give for 25 precent of the population we will see how it will go.

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Good news - FDA finish to go over Pfizer test detail and it seems there is not any issue to approve it on Thursday meeting.

Bad news - US only bought 100 Million of the Pfizer vaccine and now Pfizer saying they are already committed to other countries therefore extra portion can be available only during June/July .

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3 hours ago, Traveler said:

Bad news - US only bought 100 Million of the Pfizer vaccine and now Pfizer saying they are already committed to other countries therefore extra portion can be available only during June/July .

This floored me when I first read about it.

Pfizer -- "Hey, we're only going to have so much vaccine to go around. Fifty million people is only about a sixth of the country, you want dibs on most of what isn't bought yet from our first run?"

US Gov't -- "Nah, we're good."

Pfizer -- "But... herd immunity needs at least 70% vaccinated... that's at least another 180 million people... 360 million doses..."

US Gov't -- "We're good. Get out of here."

 

US Gov't may have more or less torpedoed any chance of something resembling a normal summer with that decision for much of the United States. Hopefully the silver lining will be that more of Europe / Asia will get protected, letting them reach herd immunity levels sooner and open up faster.

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5 hours ago, JLMoran said:

This floored me when I first read about it.

Pfizer -- "Hey, we're only going to have so much vaccine to go around. Fifty million people is only about a sixth of the country, you want dibs on most of what isn't bought yet from our first run?"

US Gov't -- "Nah, we're good."

Pfizer -- "But... herd immunity needs at least 70% vaccinated... that's at least another 180 million people... 360 million doses..."

US Gov't -- "We're good. Get out of here."

 

US Gov't may have more or less torpedoed any chance of something resembling a normal summer with that decision for much of the United States. Hopefully the silver lining will be that more of Europe / Asia will get protected, letting them reach herd immunity levels sooner and open up faster.

Was this decision based on the government hedging its bets with other vaccine candidates? i.e. Moderna, AstraZeneca, J&J, et al.  So it may not be all bad.

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Our governor just held a presser to discuss distribution plans for the state.  All things still point to a "summer" availability for 18-64 yo.  This is subject to change once approval for children has been obtained.  

He also said that immunity comes some time after the second shot.  If you get the first shot in May he stated, the efficacy numbers that are being offered will be achieved after the second shot and you should expect the stated efficacy level of protection sometime in July.  

If that is true, that's another two months or so added to the timeline.  

Has anyone else heard this two month to efficacy claim from the date of vaccination?

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51 minutes ago, twangster said:

Our governor just held a presser to discuss distribution plans for the state.  All things still point to a "summer" availability for 18-64 yo.  This is subject to change once approval for children has been obtained.  

He also said that immunity comes some time after the second shot.  If you get the first shot in May he stated, the efficacy numbers that are being offered will be achieved after the second shot and you should expect the stated efficacy level of protection sometime in July.  

If that is true, that's another two months or so added to the timeline.  

Has anyone else heard this two month to efficacy claim from the date of vaccination?

 

For the Pfizer vaccine, the FDA has said:

In documents published ahead of an advisory meeting Thursday to review Pfizer’s vaccine, FDA staff also said data submitted appeared to show the vaccine was at least 52% effective before the second dose ...

Pfizer’s vaccine recommends two doses about three weeks apart. The agency added that two doses of the vaccine were “highly effective” in preventing confirmed cases of Covid-19 at least seven days following the second dose. In such instances, the vaccine was 94.8% effective after seven days of the inoculation.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/08/fda-says-pfizer-covid-vaccine-data-did-not-raise-safety-concerns.html

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just sharing with you my 2 cents worth

here in philippines, a group of LOCAL TOURISTS were caught when they used a FAKE COVID TEST showing they are negative so that they can visit one of our famed beaches... 

its very shameful and these people should be SHOT for this... or at least jailed for 20 years i think

not only did they endanger other people, but they are destroying the travel industry for others.. how can we feel safe now if there are these idiots still out there???

Here's the news article - https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1369535/6-boracay-tourists-face-raps-over-fake-covid-19-tests

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1 hour ago, Eric Chao said:

just sharing with you my 2 cents worth

here in philippines, a group of LOCAL TOURISTS were caught when they used a FAKE COVID TEST showing they are negative so that they can visit one of our famed beaches... 

its very shameful and these people should be SHOT for this... or at least jailed for 20 years i think

not only did they endanger other people, but they are destroying the travel industry for others.. how can we feel safe now if there are these idiots still out there???

Here's the news article - https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1369535/6-boracay-tourists-face-raps-over-fake-covid-19-tests

No one should be shot for faking a test.

There should be consequences, but death should not be on that list.

Drunk drivers face a fine and potential months in jail - is this correct?  Faking a virus test without proof that anyone died shouldn't carry a 20 year sentence which appears to be the maximum sentence for a fatality by a drunk driver. 

Totally get your frustration.  

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yes, i did exaggerate on the BEING SHOT part hehe, just wanted to emphasize that punishment should be severe... faking a COVID TEST is deliberate, inconsiderate, and pre-meditated... with criminal intent basically, so a simple FINE will not be enough... JAIL TIME should be given

problem is too many people violate the law with impunity... they're not afraid at all

we just need everyone to follow the rules so that we can get back to becoming a safe society again, and for us... be able to take our first ever cruise

like the passenger who tested positive for COVID in Singapore cruise... he/she didn't intentionally fake his/her covid test so i don't feel animosity towards him/her... its just unfortunate

but this one, the fakers of the test, they're definitely responsible for their actions..

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17 hours ago, twangster said:

Our governor just held a presser to discuss distribution plans for the state.  All things still point to a "summer" availability for 18-64 yo.  This is subject to change once approval for children has been obtained.  

He also said that immunity comes some time after the second shot.  If you get the first shot in May he stated, the efficacy numbers that are being offered will be achieved after the second shot and you should expect the stated efficacy level of protection sometime in July.  

If that is true, that's another two months or so added to the timeline.  

Has anyone else heard this two month to efficacy claim from the date of vaccination?

In Canada, they are saying Pfizer is approved for 16 and up.  My son will be 16 in April but I don't know what this means for my younger one who is turning 12 next year.  Hopefully they get more testing results as I don't know what this means if kids under 16 aren't protected.  And in cruising world, would hate for things to open up only if vaccinated.

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6 minutes ago, WannaCruise said:

In Canada, they are saying Pfizer is approved for 16 and up.  My son will be 16 in April but I don't know what this means for my younger one who is turning 12 next year.  Hopefully they get more testing results as I don't know what this means if kids under 16 aren't protected.  And in cruising world, would hate for things to open up only if vaccinated.

I think the reality of the situation is that ships in large or normal quantities won't be allowed to sail so long as community spread is probable. 

Right now we are in raging spread territory.  The virus isn't going to change causing our numbers to magically drop by themselves.  Warmer temperatures in May will turn the numbers in our favor but that alone won't drop them to acceptable levels to allow cruising to resume.

The vaccine will be required to really drive numbers down to levels where the CDC will allow mass cruising to resume.  They might allow very limited sailings prior to that but that is questionable.  

Once vaccines are readily available in the summer it will take a few months for their effects to be visible in data trends.  Only then will cruising be on the table for consideration of restarting anything resembling normal operations.

By then hopefully the additional research will have been completed for all children.

The point is your 12 yo will likely have access to a vaccine prior to the CDC allowing mass cruising to resume.

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

I think the reality of the situation is that ships in large or normal quantities won't be allowed to sail so long as community spread is probable. 

Right now we are in raging spread territory.  The virus isn't going to change causing our numbers to magically drop by themselves.  Warmer temperatures in May will turn the numbers in our favor but that alone won't drop them to acceptable levels to allow cruising to resume.

The vaccine will be required to really drive numbers down to levels where the CDC will allow mass cruising to resume.  They might allow very limited sailings prior to that but that is questionable.  

Once vaccines are readily available in the summer it will take a few months for their effects to be visible in data trends.  Only then will cruising be on the table for consideration of restarting anything resembling normal operations.

By then hopefully the additional research will have been completed for all children.

The point is your 12 yo will likely have access to a vaccine prior to the CDC allowing mass cruising to resume.

The impact might be faster than we think .

The plan is to give the vaccine to the older people and to people with pre conditions  . they are the people that mostly get the severe side of the C19 and need to use the hospital service . If the sensitive population will get the vaccine in the early stage  it might be that the risk from C19 will reduce (both risk to suffer from sever cases and the risk that hospital will not be able to handle so many cases). IT will also reduce the R factor. This is what they are doing currently in UK.

The second thing is the efficiency level , the herd immunity percentage is based on vaccine like flue and other that are between 60% to 70% while the C19 is around 95% which may result in lower require herd percentages numbers.

Yes I know I am optimistic  and there are many  factors to be taken .   

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26 minutes ago, Traveler said:

The impact might be faster than we think .

The plan is to give the vaccine to the older people and to people with pre conditions  . they are the people that mostly get the severe side of the C19 and need to use the hospital service . If the sensitive population will get the vaccine in the early stage  it might be that the risk from C19 will reduce (both risk to suffer from sever cases and the risk that hospital will not be able to handle so many cases). IT will also reduce the R factor. This is what they are doing currently in UK.

The second thing is the efficiency level , the herd immunity percentage is based on vaccine like flue and other that are between 60% to 70% while the C19 is around 95% which may result in lower require herd percentages numbers.

Yes I know I am optimistic  and there are many  factors to be taken .   

Clearly the right thing to do will be to protect the most at risk first.  That will help the death rate numbers but spread, new cases and hospitalizations are occurring across the population and some death is occurring below age 64.  

Here in a very democratic state polling has indicated 60% have an intent to get vaccinated.  That's below levels to secure herd immunity.  America is a very free and open country but the downside is that we have an unusually high distrust of vaccinations in general by many in this open and free society. 

Once the 60% get vaccinated and data begins to trend in the right direction, that will fuel the anti vaccination sentiments.  "The country is doing fine, numbers are heading down, phew... I don't need to get it".   That's not going to help America as it looks toward herd immunity as a means to move past the virus.  We'll get there eventually, just not as quickly as we could if more people trusted vaccinations.  

Hopefully the UK, EU, AU and other regions in general will be more willing to take the vaccine.

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9 minutes ago, twangster said:

Clearly the right thing to do will be to protect the most at risk first.  That will help the death rate numbers but spread, new cases and hospitalizations are occurring across the population and some death is occurring below age 64.  

Here in a very democratic state polling has indicated 60% have an intent to get vaccinated.  That's below levels to secure herd immunity.  America is a very free and open country but the downside is that we have an unusually high distrust of vaccinations in general by many in this open and free society. 

Once the 60% get vaccinated and data begins to trend in the right direction, that will fuel the anti vaccination sentiments.  "The country is doing fine, numbers are heading down, phew... I don't need to get it".   That's not going to help America as it looks toward herd immunity as a means to move past the virus.  We'll get there eventually, just not as quickly as we could if more people trusted vaccinations.  

Hopefully the UK and EU in general will be more willing to take the vaccine.

Yes , the anti vaccine voice (do not forget the chip theory ?

Here many people are saying they would like to get the vaccine (we already got some of them yesterday and today) but many wants to wait for other to get it first ?   but I think the numbers will be 80% + anyway , that may let me have the vaccine sooner .

Since we cannot force people to get the vaccine one of the thing our government considering is to have some kind of a certificate that will allow people that got the vaccine to enter events like concerts , sports game , movie theaters and so on. Also people that will get the vaccine will not be require to be quarantined even if they might be expose to someone that carry the C19 or came back from a "red" country.

Maybe it can also work in the US , not sure , what I do think is that  the percentage of  people that like to cruise will be higher  than the general population .  

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6 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Yes , the anti vaccine voice (do not forget the chip theory ?

Here many people are saying they would like to get the vaccine (we already got some of them yesterday and today) but many wants to wait for other to get it first ?   but I think the numbers will be 80% + anyway , that may let me have the vaccine sooner .

Since we cannot force people to get the vaccine one of the thing our government considering is to have some kind of a certificate that will allow people that got the vaccine to enter events like concerts , sports game , movie theaters and so on. Also people that will get the vaccine will not be require to be quarantined even if they might be expose to someone that carry the C19 or came back from a "red" country.

Maybe it can also work in the US , not sure , what I do think is that  the percentage of  people that like to cruise will be higher  than the general population .  

Given how outraged people have become at the simple request to wear a mask, I can just imagine the outrage here if someone was turned away from a venue for no vaccine.  

The next 12 to 24 months should be an interesting time in America.  Get the popcorn ready.  

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