British Columbia announcement today - BC closed till 2021

[Seacruise]

27 minutes ago, SunFun80 said:

I listened to this in its entirety and nowhere does Horgan indicate that cruise ship ports are closed until 2021.  Can you indicate where he said this. I still have a cruise scheduled and have not cancelled as I am waiting for them to cancel.  

He says that NO groups of more than 50. Please tell me how you are going to load and unload a ship at Canada Place and maintain social distance and a group of 50 or less. A ship could not do all this in 8 hours.
There is NO possible way to load buses and maintain social distance as there are not enough buses in Vancouver to do this. Then there is the problem of cleaning them between loads.

[davekathy]

39 minutes ago, SunFun80 said:

I listened to this in its entirety and nowhere does Horgan indicate that cruise ship ports are closed until 2021.  Can you indicate where he said this. I still have a cruise scheduled and have not cancelled as I am waiting for them to cancel.  

Slide titled "Principles and Values" . About 14 minutes into the briefing. 

[middlehaitch]

18 minutes ago, SunFun80 said:

I listened to this in its entirety and nowhere does Horgan indicate that cruise ship ports are closed until 2021.  Can you indicate where he said this. I still have a cruise scheduled and have not cancelled as I am waiting for them to cancel.  

 

And there is the rub.

It hasn't been said. What has been said is that the  BC borders will stay closed for  the foreseeable future, no time line, and anyone entering BC has to isolate/quarantine for 14 days.

(BC residents are being advised to restrict travel even within the province for the foreseeable future)

 

At the border one has to produce ones' own isolation plan or the government will provide the means of isolation (not sure who would cover the cost of this).

 

This of course does lead one to presume their will be no cruises out of, or stopping in, Victoria or Vancouver.

Both these cities will, like Alaska, have no tourist season by land, air, or sea. Victoria is the busiest cruise port in Canada.

 

NB. This is part of the BC travel guidelines, not Canada's. Eastern Canadian ports may develop different travel guidelines.

 

Cheers, heather, 

(a resident of Victoria, BC's capital city)

 

Just a fun bit of info. The scientists who do ongoing research on the whales in our area are looking forward to the break in large ships and whale watching excursions as it will give them a chance to study them without the sea traffic noises which interfere with whale communication. 

[phoenix_dream]

30 minutes ago, Seacruise said:

He says that NO groups of more than 50. Please tell me how you are going to load and unload a ship at Canada Place and maintain social distance and a group of 50 or less. A ship could not do all this in 8 hours.
There is NO possible way to load buses and maintain social distance as there are not enough buses in Vancouver to do this. Then there is the problem of cleaning them between loads.

And even more concerning, he said those limitations will not be changed until a vaccine exists.  What if a vaccine takes two years or more??  I don't plan to worry that far ahead, but based on what he is saying, that is what it would be.  Yikes!

[SunFun80]

Celebrity hasn't cancelled yet - that's what we are waiting for.  I see them holding out until they extend the cruise port closure beyond July 1st.  It's not yet "officially closed" for the remainder of the season, I think celebrity is waiting for that before they cancel - just my thoughts..  Our cruise isn't until September - as our cruise starts in Vancouver, we would not need to self isolate until our return home (as we live in Canada) if the 14 day self isolation period remains - which it will I assume it will.  I really don't think we are going though.

 

This year for us holds a lot of celebrations and milestones in our family and is why we booked the cruise and we are all just holding onto to the little hope that we can still go.

Edited May 7, 2020 by SunFun80

[island lady]

50 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Slide titled "Principles and Values" . About 14 minutes into the briefing. 

 

Thanks Dave...I listened to that section 3 times.  Still does not really say ports closed.  Talks about limiting conventions and rock concerts, if things are not better.  

 

Call me dense...but it was a bit vague to me.  Pretty much more about conditions required about reopening and restarting BC.  With RCI would just make a decision...my finals are coming up next week for Alaska cruise.  I would like them to cancel it, instead of myself.  Have more choices then.  

Edited May 7, 2020 by island lady

[davekathy]

9 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Thanks Dave...I listened to that section 3 times.  Still does not really say ports closed.  Talks about limiting conventions and rock concerts, if things are not better.  

 

Call me dense...but it was a bit vague to me.  Pretty much more about reopening and restarting BC.  With RCI would just make a decision...my finals are coming up next week for Alaska cruise.  I would like them to cancel it, instead of myself.  Have more choices then.  

Pat, possibly I'm reading and listening more into the slide and briefing. The second bullet on the "Principles and Values" slide calling for "Stronger Boarder Controls".  We also have a September cruise booked out of Vancouver on Celebrity. We are going to let BC and Celebrity collectively decide for us if we are going or not. 

Edited May 7, 2020 by davekathy

[phoenix_dream]

9 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Thanks Dave...I listened to that section 3 times.  Still does not really say ports closed.  Talks about limiting conventions and rock concerts, if things are not better.  

 

Call me dense...but it was a bit vague to me.  Pretty much more about reopening and restarting BC.  With RCI would just make a decision...my finals are coming up next week for Alaska cruise.  I would like them to cancel it, instead of myself.  Have more choices then.  

It is a bit vague, but at the same time if they limit groups to 50 or less until a vaccine is developed I think it is a logical conclusion that there will be no cruises until then.  However, these things change constantly so who knows.  

[island lady]

2 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Pat, possibly I'm reading and listening more into the slide and briefing. The second bullet on the "Principles and Values" slide calling for "Stronger Boarder Controls".  We also have a September cruise booked out of Vancouver on Celebrity. We are going to let BC and Celebrity collectively decide for us if we are going or not. 

 

Thanks Dave...and...Yup, me too.  Though it would be more clear if Canada would just make the official announcement that they are extending the closed borders/cruising ports past the July 1st date.  

 

I think that announcement from RCI will come next week.  I am down the wire, with final payment due next week on the 16th for first leg Radiance Alaska August 14th.  

 

All really sucks, doesn't it.  😞   

 

When this is over, we really need to cruise together someday.  First drink in the CL/DL is on us!!  🤗🥃🍷

[davekathy]

2 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Thanks Dave...and...Yup, me too.  Though it would be more clear if Canada would just make the official announcement that they are extending the closed borders/cruising ports past the July 1st date.  

 

I think that announcement from RCI will come next week.  I am down the wire, with final payment due next week on the 16th for first leg Radiance Alaska August 14th.  

 

All really sucks, doesn't it.  😞   

 

When this is over, we really need to cruise together someday.  First drink in the CL/DL is on us!!  🤗🥃🍷

I agree my DS friend. Have a great HH in Florida. 🍷🍻😎

[dns65]

5 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Was anybody still thinking that there would be an Alaska cruise season this year?  Why?

 

I thought Alaska was requiring visitors to self-quarantine for 14 days.   How can you have a cruise season with this requirement? 

[Fouremco]

This issue of group sizes came up early in the pandemic as countries started implementing restrictions, and it became clear that some here on CC were interpreting the restrictions more conservatively than intended by the authority implementing them. For example, group sizes in Ontario are currently restricted to 5 people, but in parks that are open, you could have several hundred groups, park size permitting, as long as no individual group exceeds the 5-person limit and social distancing is maintained. There's no need to restrict it to a single group of 5 in the park at one time. Similarly apartment blocks and office towers aren't limited to only 5 tenants at a time or 5 workers. To conclude that the 50-person group limitation would automatically exclude cruises is a bit premature IMO, as I think that cruise lines could find ways to work within this limitation. That would require some major changes, but anyone who thinks that any future cruise anywhere won't require a great many major changes hasn't been paying attention to the cruise world.

[Fouremco]

23 minutes ago, dns65 said:

 

I thought Alaska was requiring visitors to self-quarantine for 14 days.   How can you have a cruise season with this requirement? 

Alaska is slowly re-opening, with Phase 2 effective tomorrow, but "The health mandate requiring a 14-day quarantine for those coming in from out of state is still in place, but will continuously be reevaluated as case numbers come in over the next few weeks, according to officials."

https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/State-announces-plan-for-phase-2-reopening-Alaska-570260251.html

[suzyluvs2cruise]

2 hours ago, SunFun80 said:

I listened to this in its entirety and nowhere does Horgan indicate that cruise ship ports are closed until 2021.  Can you indicate where he said this. I still have a cruise scheduled and have not cancelled as I am waiting for them to cancel.  

 

I didn't hear it either. Does anyone have a link to something in print about the ports being closed until 2021. 

[Fouremco]

8 minutes ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

I didn't hear it either. Does anyone have a link to something in print about the ports being closed until 2021. 

I did a pretty exhaustive search earlier today with no results.

[K12Guy]

I really wish the OP would edit the header on this post. It appears to be factual and apparently is not. At least not yet.

[golfpccc]

Just FYI — Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Azamara will not announce suspensions on Cruises until after final payment is due!  They are canceling 30 days at a time.   I expect an announcement shortly suspending cruises through 7/12.  

[dgraham]

Couldn't cruise ships sail out of Seattle, as many have in the past?

[suzyluvs2cruise]

3 minutes ago, dgraham said:

Couldn't cruise ships sail out of Seattle, as many have in the past?

 

They need to go to a distant foreign port such as Victoria. If not...it's a violation of the PVSA so no RT Seattle cruises to all Alaska without a stop in a Canadian port. 

 

Passenger Vessel Services Act

[suzyluvs2cruise]

35 minutes ago, golfpccc said:

Just FYI — Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Azamara will not announce suspensions on Cruises until after final payment is due!  They are canceling 30 days at a time.   I expect an announcement shortly suspending cruises through 7/12.  

 

Sad, if they know cruises won't sail, that they won't just pull the Band-Aid off. To me it's all about the $$$ and they want to keep it as long as they can. We'll cancel before any more $$$ out on final payments for cruises that more than likely won't sail. 

[az_tchr]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Thanks Dave...I listened to that section 3 times.  Still does not really say ports closed.  Talks about limiting conventions and rock concerts, if things are not better.  

 

Call me dense...but it was a bit vague to me.  Pretty much more about conditions required about reopening and restarting BC.  With RCI would just make a decision...my finals are coming up next week for Alaska cruise.  I would like them to cancel it, instead of myself.  Have more choices then.  

The ports are not technically closed.  You just need to be on either a BC Ferry or a boat carrying under 250-300 passengers. Same rule as today.  Just extended.

Too many people are arguing semantics.  Bottom line is I would need to isolate for 14 days if I entered BC.  That the Canadian Federal Govt. decided to open the border would not necessarily change the 14 day BC quarantine.

Horgan clearly stated there will be restrictions through the end of the year.  Something like cruise ships falls into large gatherings.  Those would be the last to open.  A cruise ship is exactly the same as a rock concert or convention.

My friend in Nanaimo said all events there over 50 people cancelled through holidays.  He feels won't change till a vaccine.

Edited May 7, 2020 by az_tchr

[poffles]

20 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Just so there's no confusion, John Horgan is the Premier of British Columbia, not the Prime Minister.

 

LOL .. I kept rereading that thinking huh ... Prime Minister ... did they mean Trudeau ... then I realized they should have said Premier.

Edited May 7, 2020 by poffles

[middlehaitch]

The ports, like all Canadian borders, are a federal not provincial responsibility, that is why it is not mentioned in the update,  but one can presume they will not be opened.

The federal guidelines have not changed, yet.

Here is some reading for those interested.

 

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/latest-travel-health-advice.html#cruise

 

https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety/bulletins-2020-05-eng.htm

 

cheers, heather.

Edited May 7, 2020 by middlehaitch

[poffles]

3 minutes ago, middlehaitch said:

The ports are a federal not provincial responsibility, that is why it is not mentioned in the update,  but one can presume they will not be opened.

The federal guidelines have not changed, yet.

Here is some reading for those interested.

 

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/latest-travel-health-advice.html#cruise

 

https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety/bulletins-2020-05-eng.htm

 

cheers, heather.

 

That's what I was thinking, why would BC make that decision since the closure up to July was made by the Prime Minister, same as all decisions made about our international border to the US.

[Mr. Click]

1 hour ago, golfpccc said:

Just FYI — Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Azamara will not announce suspensions on Cruises until after final payment is due!  They are canceling 30 days at a time.   I expect an announcement shortly suspending cruises through 7/12.  

And that is why we canceled out July 3 trip at final payment.....

Edited May 7, 2020 by Mr. Click