gtalum

Then I apologize for getting that wrong. At any rate, I doubt any of the big cruise lines are willing to reflag their ships to the US and hire American crews to save their Alaska seasons.

POA was partially built in America.

That exemption is long gone. NCL's remaining ship in Hawaii is American registered and crewed. That exemption only exempted the requirement for the ships to be American built. They still required American registration and crew. The exemption was legislatively granted. IOW congress passed a law. Congress can grant an exemption now, as well, but are unlikely to. The president cannot grant an exemption by executive order.

I don't know about Pride, but previously both Carnival Legend and Carnival Miracle have done the same itinerary from Tampa for many years. There are two formal nights. As for ports closing, the only answer is nobody knows.

Greenland is a long sail from NYC or Boston. I doubt it will be seen as a viable alternative to Canada cruises.

The Jones Act is not within the power of the president to modify by EO.

It would take federal legislation to make an exemption to the Jones Act in this case. Nobody's going to sponsor such a bill in the current environment, especially since it's unlikely any cruises will happen before Q4 anyway (after the Alaska cruise season has ended).

I'm almost afraid to ask, but why are you skeptical of vaccinating against a virus? We do it all the time.

Yes, it would take legislation to make an exemption in this case and nobody's going to sponsor such a bill in the current climate, especially considering that the likelihood of any major cruising happening in the US before Q4 or even into Q1 2022 is so low.

The order only implements implements the CDC recommended guidelines, which to this point call for quarantine only for travelers entering who have been in China within the past 14 days. You're right that it could come, but so far there's no quarantine requirement upon entering the US except for that one case.

The US has no quarantine rules on entry from most countries, but we do now require a negative COVID test for anyone entering.

They can't stop people from leaving, but Canada does have very strict quarantine measures in place for anyone entering Canada.

In the meantime, live your life, plan a land and/or air vacation, and relax. Don't keep lending money to the cruise lines. It will be clear when they're ready to start sailing. I think we're going to go to Brazil this summer. They're open.

As most viruses circulate among humans, we eventually develop resistance to them. They still affect us, but our immune systems become more adept at fighting them off. The reason an average seasonal flu "only" kills a more limited number of people every year is because we've seen the strains before. A pandemic occurs when a new virus hits, one that nobody has any resistance to. At least one of the normal flu strains that runs around today is the strain that caused the 1917/1918 pandemic. Now it's just seasonal flu. You're right that SARSCoV-2 and the resulting COVID-19 infectio

My evidence is my own experience. I tend to find a couple of bartenders on the first night and gravitate to them as much as possible for the rest of the cruise. By the second night I can walk up to a bar and get served immediately even when others are waiting, because they know I'll tip with every drink. I do also treat all of the staff courteously, because I respect them. I think the better service comes from the tips, though. People are self-motivated. No, I don't do the same for the room steward. I auto-tip, and if we get great service we will leave them some ex