mightycruisequeen

28 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

I don't mind being asked to prove my vaccine status, but cannot get a solid answer from the medical community of why vaccinated people joining other vaccinated people on a cruise need to be tested - beyond "an abundance of caution" and "may happen".  No solid answer either to what the danger is from a asymptomatic vaccinated person who tests positive - other than to those who refuse to get vaccinated.

 

The illness rate of breakthrough transmissions between vaccinated people is almost nil. 

 

The virus is here to stay and if we wait for zero positive tests, we may never resume normal life.

 

 

The group no one is discussing is the very large (and growing) group of people who had the virus and recovered, and now have natural antibodies to protect them from reinfection.  

Well, I for one would very much like to see HAL drop the vaccine requirement.   I understand that it's not the popularly voiced opinion on this forum, but I'm sharing it here, since this is supposed to be a place to share opinions and ideas on cruising.   

26 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

I recall our household answering a survey from HAL months before the Alaska season began asking our opinions on vaccines and masking.

I sure do wish they had included us in that survey.

Are they sending out surveys again?  I've still got HAL cruises booked, and not gotten any surveys about Vax mandates in 2022.

2 hours ago, 12cruise2 said:

  I said what re requiring 100% vax--they said it's what the passengers and crew seem to want, so hopefully . . . .  

 

Well, is that such a shock?  The passengers onboard are 100% vaxxed. 

Unvaxxed aren't allowed to sail HAL, so nobody's asking them what they want.

19 minutes ago, Nghthawke said:

 

Completely agree. 😉

 

Hubby and I did a "land cruise" across Canada in September. Canada is especially beautiful at this time of year. The scenery driving around the top of Lake Superior was magnificent. Got to see prairie antelopes and lots of bald eagles going up the Yellowhead Highway to Edmonton. Bears and mule deer in the Rockies on our way down through Banff and Lake Louise and over to Kelowna. Stunning snow-capped peaks going through both the northern and southern mountain passes. And of course the many, many pristine lakes big and small all along the way.

 

We had to make sure to book our accommodations early because lots of fellow-travellers (both Canadian and international) were also doing road trips going either West to East or East to West. It was great seeing the hotels and restaurants busy again.

Great minds think alike 😉

10 hours ago, nimiq said:

You might keep checking that list as it might grow.

True.  There's never been a better time to spend our time & dollars in our own country.

That eliminates Canada from our list of destinations for the foreseeable future.

2 hours ago, Lizofwisconsin said:

I just want to know before I pay, so I’d be OK If they said OK not to make final payment till they decide. They did not say that. 

I totally feel for ya, and I hope you get some sort of answer from HAL, because all the opinions of people on this board aren't helping you one bit.

We've also been waiting in suspense to see if HAL's vaccine policy is going to stay or go for 2022.   

After reading the most recent mass mask rant thread, I'm thinking we made the right decision to cancel our January 2022 cruise.  All that hysteria at sea sounds like anything but a vacation to me.

20 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

The Cellar Master's attendance at a wine tasting or a "Sip and Savor" too often is pretentious and designed to "sell" a specific red and white wine.  

 

If job reductions need to be done to save some salary money, the Cellar Master position would be close to the head of my list if I was a CFO.  

   How sad; that would really dampen the experience, I'd think!

   I remember a Holland America cellar master named Gilroy.   He was a great big, sweet man from India, and my favorite cellar master ever.  He never let his extensive knowledge and experience with fine wines get in the way of his friendliness and humility.  Gilroy was anything but pretentious; he was downright loveable.

Google "sommelier". 

But whatever...

2 minutes ago, kazu said:

A wine steward is not necessarily as knowledgeable as a sommelier but I’m not going to ge into semantics. 😉 

As I said before, a wine steward and a sommelier are the same thing.  It's just two names for the same job/person.

22 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Can’t help - haven’t sailed since covid, but from reading it sounds like there are still sommeliers just no wine stewards?  Hopefully you can get clarification.

A wine steward and a sommelier are the same thing.  Are you maybe talking about a cellar master?

53 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

I can't imagine foreign ports/countries allowing any passenger that's not vaccinated.  

 

Many countries never required visitors to be vaccinated.  Relax.

5 minutes ago, Lizofwisconsin said:

Called HAL to ask about 2022 vaccine policy.  We have Zuiderdam Panama Canal cruise Jan 2, final payment next week. “We don’t know what vaccine policy will be next year, and don’t know when that will be decided”.  Very frustrating. 

It's extremely frustrating. It's getting down to the wire, and we still don't know if we should make the final payment, and look forward to our cruises, or cancel our cruises that we booked before there were even vaccines.

9 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

The tide is coming in...

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/23/is-it-legal-to-require-vaccinations-to-travel-yes-say-experts-.html

 

👍

I'm also eager to see if HAL is going to keep or drop the vaccine requirement.

(and hasn't everyone pretty much expressed their preference about this dozens of times at least???)🥱😴

3 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

I cancelled a March 13 ,2022 Koningsdam cruise &  booked the Jan 31 ,2023 Hawaii cruise ;but ,I did that with tongue in cheek ; because NO One knows what this man made virus will do  in the future .Even  the  current vaccines  are not 100% protective  except may be death  protection   .BTW this is not being negative but realistic in face of what is going on in the world & not  just in ones  own back yard ,so to speak .  We live in  very uncertain times   but we can Hope & Pray for a quicker end 

 

 It has taken 2 years from us already  & we are 82  ,so we don't have lots of time to look forward to  cruises any longer  ;but great that we did close to 90  on our bucket list .Therefore  , now looking at  the  different  possible alternatives 

I sure do admire your attitude and outlook! 😎

1 minute ago, kazu said:

 

I have two booked for next year - Norway and Europe TA 🙂. I’m not alone by the look of my roll calls 😉 

 

 

I asked if you were planning to book a cruise.   We've got two cruises booked for next year too, but we're not even considering any new bookings, and we'll probably have to cancel the cruises we have booked, if HAL doesn't cancel 'em first. 😕

9 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

It’s not the cruise lines that are creating the additional precautions - it’s the virus and the countries they are visiting that are requiring the protocols like testing and vaccination.

Nonetheless, it's a business killer when it goes on and on the way it is.

Let me ask you; are you planning to book a cruise any time soon?

We're all looking at the situation with cancelled cruises/altered or abbreviated itineraries, and escalating health and safety requirements to cruise.  It's not engendering the excitement and anticipation that the idea of cruising is supposed to do; quite the opposite, I'd say.  At some point, the cruising public is going to say "enough" with the excessive hoops that the cruise lines expect them to jump through, and they're just going to stop putting deposits on cruises.  That will be the death of cruise lines, including HAL, in my opinion.

4 hours ago, TomBeckCruise said:

You might be giving too much credit go "all" HAL passengers.

Unfortunately there are many Americans where I live that believe they have the right to ignore any restrictions having to do with Covid. They will use fake results to board a ship. You should certainly test yourself at home. You could be positive and not know it.

I would also like to see all passengers tested at the pier.  That will make all of us safer.

We're obviously giving way too much credit to HAL passengers, if any of them actually believe that people will show up to board a ship with fake Covid test results.  Please stop the wild accusations and fear mongering.

7 hours ago, dmcfad2 said:

Has anyone done the PCR test at CVS and received their results within the two day timeframe? For my October cruise I am planning on doing the PCR test at CVS, as I haven’t found the rapid antigen test near me, but I’m feeling stressed about getting the results in time. Their website says 1-2 days. 

I've taken the PCR test at CVS three times.  All three times, the results were available within 36 hours.

Praying for your full and quick recovery, Bruno.

3 hours ago, atexsix said:

Agree.  I didn't mean to imply it wasn't helpful, some positive tests will surely get weeded out and it's one less positive infecting the ship.  But people have whiplash from all the back n forth, the mask craziness alone has been like a tennis match, half the confusion came out of the CDC itself.  

 

I went and read the RCI thread and it sounds like the CDC's recommended testing window might narrow at some point, and I don't see how they can incorporate covid testing into the logistical endeavor of getting to a cruise port, a full day effort for many people, at least.  The current business model of booking flights, hotels, and transfers via the cruise line will need to be replaced with flying people in for the covid test and nothing else.  HAL's website is just plain annoying about it, "we are glad to know you are arriving pre-cruise to enjoy downtown Seattle....you can book an appointment and results are sent electronically within 2 days."  Yippee!!  So how's that going to work when people have to be on the ship in 1 day.  Really HAL?

 

I think they completely underestimated what was involved for the average passenger, it was poorly implemented, heck, I'm not even convinced they did even the minimal required research and vetting of such a process.  "They'll do it if they want to cruise bad enough" is probably what the suits were thinking....meanwhile the ships have averaged how much in capacity?

 

 

Yes, at some point, even the most diehard cruisers are going to look at this lunacy and just say "that's too many hoops to try to jump through," and cancel while they still can.