ringers0815

1 hour ago, Lucky TGO said:

Hi to all of my Cruise Critic friends,

At this time I’m not doing well at all. Two of my very good friends husband & wife just died from the virus. 
They both got sick at the same time and went to the same hospital and died the same day within hours of each other. I feel awful at this time.

Stay Safe My Friends,

Tony

 

I am very sorry for your loss. This is a terrible disease and we can only hope that the vaccines will beat it back. But it will be too late for so many people. Very sad.

On 4/2/2021 at 6:31 PM, SargassoPirate said:

 

It's likely because the UK and Canada have socialized health care that doesn't cover them outside of their own country.  I booked a cruise with P&O and had to show them proof of my US health insurance that covers me worldwide, as well as travel insurance.

I don’t see the change in the contracts for the cruises we have booked. They still say “recommend insurance” but it’s not required. In   Ontario our universal health care is called OHIP and it does cover out of country emergency medical care. The current provincial government tried to remove this coverage but this was challenged in court and they had to reinstate it. However, most people get additional coverage for out of country medical care as OHIP does not cover 100% of the costs. 

We like to travel on our own and then cruise to travel back home or to relax before going back home. We have 3 cruises booked that would fit the bill for us: a November 2021 TA; an April 2022 Trans Pacific out of Sydney; and a Baltic cruise in September 2022.

We have EZair flexible tickets booked for the November TA (not sure this one will go ahead given current state of pandemic).  We are hoping to go in early October and spend a month in Europe before cruising back to North America. 

For the Trans Pacific we have booked business class tickets to Australia using our Aeroplan points (fully refundable of course). We would fly in mid March to spend a few weeks in Australia before the cruise. We are thinking of booking a March 2023 similar cruise out of Sydney as a back-up just in case...

We have not yet made plans around the September 2022 Baltic cruise but I am hopeful that this one will sail.

9 hours ago, nocl said:

 

Cannot say how the other regulatory authorities made their decisions. But it was probably by their equivalent of FDA's Vaccines Advisory Boards.  Who knows upon what information they might have based that on because such information, including the decision making process, has not been made public as far as I can find.

In Canada the regulator is Health Canada and they have authorized the vaccines with the dose intervals as per the clinical trials ie Pfizer 3 weeks, Moderna 4 weeks and AstraZeneca 4 to 12 weeks.

 It is a national  advisory body of experts (called NACI) that has said extending to 16 weeks for all the covid 2 dose vaccines was ok if required because of short supply. They said their advice is based on real world evidence coming out of primarily the UK. The provinces (who have jurisdiction over the delivery of health care) have decided to follow the advice of NACI and use the 16 weeks interval.
 

NACI is now reviewing data from a new study about vaccine effectiveness for the very elderly and others (like cancer patients) and have said they may revise their recommendation.

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

How about the top one - CANIummunize?

Yes it’s CANImmunize (the logo is a bird with a small red maple leaf)

On 3/30/2021 at 12:14 AM, caribill said:

 

Another reason not to laminate:

 

If you have a label pasted on it with the vaccine information, depending on the type of label it may be permanently blackened from the heat of lamination.

No need to laminate as I got my proof of vaccination both in paper form (which I filed at home) and by email directly from the Ontario Ministry of Health. I stored my electronic version in my emails on my phone but also uploaded it to my Canadian Immunization App on my phone.

Congratulations to the grandparents and the parents. Enjoy your new grandson!

Hélène

8 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Some booking - circa $37,600!!

Not close to $37,600! But the saving was still $376.12 so it must be something more than just the exchange rate. But we like any fare change in our favour. 

We saved $376 on one booking. We will take it!

Vaccine roll-out is (finally) accelerating in Ontario where the AstraZeneca vaccine is now available to 60 to 64 years old in some pharmacies and mRNA vaccines are being used in vaccination clinics for older groups. I got my first shot of the AZ vaccine. In Quebec they are vaccinating 65+ in Montreal and 70+ elsewhere. All of my 70+ relatives in Quebec (and some 65+) have now had, or have appointments to have in the coming days, their first shot of the vaccine. 

Well I got my first vaccine today! Very happy!

Thank you Ellie for the info on the AZ vaccine. I am hoping to get mine soon. 
 

I had a video call today with my daughter and my new grandson. They are doing well. He was 1 week old today. I hope your daughter is doing well.  
 

Hélène

Ellie, is there a lot of talk in the UK re: what is happening with AstraZeneca vaccine in the EU? This news of some people getting blood clots after the AZ vaccine is coming just as Canada starts rolling out this vaccine. It’s now available in some pharmacies but I don’t know if people will hesitate now. I did not hear of any such problems in the UK and believe it has been widely used there.

Ontario has started rolling out the AstraZeneca vaccine for 60 to 64 years old. But there is worrisome news out of the EU about the AZ shot and blood clots. Some countries are suspending the shots while they investigate. I find it interesting that Sweden reports that they have had 2 cases of blood clots after the AZ shot and 10 cases of blood clot cases after the Pfizer shot but they dont think either is related to the vaccine. 

50 minutes ago, mreasier said:

Initially it was not there but I called back and the representative was able to add it.  She put me on hold and it seemed like she needed to get a supervisor's approval to do it.

9 hours ago, stki said:

Hi Wayne, did you also get the normal FCD OBC applied to your cruise, using the FCC

 

Cheers

 

Tanya

Same for us, the Princess rep put us on hold to speak to guest services and got our OBC applied to the cruise we booked using the FCC from the cancelled Pacific Princess cruise.

The deposit seems to vary depending on the cruise. I see some cruises with a CAD $504 deposit and others with CAD $1008. The cruise we have booked for April 2022 (Sydney to San Francisco) was on a courtesy hold for us until Princess dealt with the deposit from our cancelled Pacific Princess cruise. The deposit was listed at $1008 for the Sydney to SFO cruise. But we were able to use as deposit only the FCC (plus the "goodwill" FCC) from our cancelled Pacific Princess cruise. And they gave us the OBC that went with our original FCD that we had used as a deposit for the Pacific Princess cruise.

4 vaccines now approved in Canada (Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson). Supply of Pfizer is growing very quickly so we are now in a situation where some provinces are "struggling" to ramp up their vaccination program. That is the case in Ontario where it was just annouced they will open their "mass" vaccination clinics only at the end of March. Until then, it is up to local Public Health Units to decide how to vaccinate people. In Ottawa, the local health unit is currently vaccinating people over 80 in high risk neighbourhoods. Also, AstraZeneca is approved for all adults but a health advisory body  has recommended that it be used for adults up to 64 years old only. The provinces have accepted this recommendation and a first shipment has been received in Canada of this vaccine. In Ontario this means that adults aged 60 to 64 will have to decide whether to get the AstraZeneca shot now or wait a few months to get the Pfizer or Moderna. But the good news is that the vacciation roll-out seems to be accelerating with the new vaccines approved.

On 3/3/2021 at 7:41 PM, ellie1145 said:

 

I wish your daughter well, and hope she is delivered safely. You must worry being unable to see her, especially with the devastating effects of Covid. How sad her husband has  lost his grandfather. I do hope her FIL and MIL recover soon. 

 

Glad to hear she is doing well. Our daughter is going through a very difficult time. We just don’t know how things will pan out. 

 

I do hope that you get to see your daughter and the new baby soon. Do let us know how she gets on, please. 

My daughter had a healthy baby boy early this morning. Both she and the baby are doing well.   I hope all goes well with your daughter.

18 hours ago, ellie1145 said:

 

I wish your daughter well, and hope she is delivered safely. You must worry being unable to see her, especially with the devastating effects of Covid. How sad her husband has  lost his grandfather. I do hope her FIL and MIL recover soon. 

 

Glad to hear she is doing well. Our daughter is going through a very difficult time. We just don’t know how things will pan out. 

 

I do hope that you get to see your daughter and the new baby soon. Do let us know how she gets on, please. 

Thank you Ellie. Her baby has decided to show up early! She is now in labour in the hospital. We are anxiously awaiting news.

3 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

Our's was processed yesterday.  We got the $100 FCD converted to FCC with a $25 goodwill FCC on top of that.  Seriously thinking of calling to have them change it back to an FCD given that the OBC would be higher than the bonus.  Of course this assumes that we will actually be back on board a ship someday!

I called today and asked Princess to put the $100 and the $25 FCCs on another cruise as a deposit. They did that and they also gave us the associated OBC ($300 OBC). So worked just like a FCD.

On 2/28/2021 at 7:35 PM, ellie1145 said:

 

DD is in her 38th week of pregnancy. It’s been a real roller coaster of a pregnancy especially with Covid, and there has been an astonishing lack of ante natal care. 

 

The little one has at last found the correct position, and is now ‘head down’ which is a huge relief but we won’t breathe a final sigh of relief until he makes his appearance.

 

Our daughter is also in her 38th week of pregnancy. She lives in the Czech Republic and we have not been able to see for one year now because of covid. We have been worried because covid cases are growing rapidly now in Czechia. Her husband lost his grandfather to covid a few weeks ago and now her father-in-law and his wife are both sick with covid. She is doing well despite all these challenges. She has had excellent prenatal care and everything is going well. We won’t be able to travel to see her and the baby until they lift travel restrictions. I can’t wait for this pandemic to be over!

Here in Ontario they have done all the long term care home, seniors residence and priority health personnel. Now they are starting to vaccinate people 80 years old and above who live in their own homes (ie not in a residence). They will then vaccinate 75+ and so on reducing by 5 years every time they finish vaccinating a group until they get to the 60+. As Canada has just approved a 3rd vaccine, I hope Ontario will now acelerate its vaccination roll-out.

We have always travelled by ourselves independently as well as done some cruises and I don’t see this changing. We often end a trip with a cruise to relax a bit after weeks or months of driving/exploring on our own. I think cruising will continue to be a good value and a relaxing option even if some things change.

I have cancelled cruises in the past that I had booked directly with Princess. I  just called them. No forms were required. 

18 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

Hi to all my Cruise Critic friends,

My wife and I are going for our second Pfizer shot on the 26 of February.
One of my BEST friends didn’t get that chance he just passed away from the Virus this week.

Bob was a retired Major he was in the army for over 25 years.  Everyone called him Major may he Rest In Peace. 🇺🇸 🙏🏻.

Tony
 

 

Very sorry for your loss. Covid continues to do its damage everywhere. My daugther lives in the Czech Republic and her husband's grandfather passed away from Covid last week. And my sister-in-law who lives in the US lost her sister to covid that same week. The vaccines cannot come soon enough! Here in Ontario they have vacinated people who live in long term care and front line health providers. They are now starting stage 2 vaccinations which includes people 80 years old and older. Dont know when they will get to the rest of us.