CDC UPDATE

[trbarton]

I’m on the Ruby in October & December 2021 out of San Francisco. I just checked the bridge camera & it’s still in the Manila Bay. There first cruise is June 26, 2021 out of LA plus they still have to do the test cruises & they’re  in the red & they have to become green. We’ll see what happens. 
 

Tom😎

[Bgwest]

4 hours ago, Grego said:

We had our second vaccine yesterday and without any side effects.  Now to start thinking positive that we will be sailing out of Port Everglades on the CB May 15th.

We hope to be joining y’all. 

[voljeep]

13 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

We hope to be joining y’all. 

just looked at that cruise ... final payment due 2/14 - less than 2 weeks ?

 

what happened to 60 days ?

[Daniel A]

On 1/31/2021 at 7:44 PM, tillys mom said:

It also says that the ships not listed are not scheduled to sail into or out of the US. 

That is not the complete picture of what is being said.  They aren't even referencing passenger carrying itineraries with this chart.  They are only referencing those ships currently sailing or planning to sail in US waters during the very early phase of the "Framework" and how the ships can manage their deployments of crew members.  Per the CDC: 

What does it mean if a cruise line or cruise ship is not listed on the table above?

If a cruise line or cruise ship is not listed, it means it is not operating and does not plan to operate in U.S. waters during the initial phases of the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order.

 

[Astro Flyer]

Europol is reporting on the increasing number of fake coronavirus negative tests results documents that are available for a price online & through social media for anyone who wants to purchase them.
 

These fake documents will allow people to travel & undoubtedly the crooks will also create fake coronavirus shot records. Who’s going to prevent such abuses...certainly not someone who’s checking in people before traveling. When traveling here to Hawaii their Safe Travel site requires adding a PDF negative test result in advance however it isn’t verified until producing a printed copy upon arrival.

 

These fake documents will create further problems as the world attempts to manage the coronavirus pandemic & sadly don’t see any effective way to prevent all of these fake documents.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/01/fake-covid-tests-criminals-try-to-profit-from-travel-restrictions.html

[Potstech]

I am surprised it took this long for the fake documents to show up. Criminals will always find ways to make money of disasters.

[D C]

Did this release from the CDC have any purpose beyond the CDC saying "remember us? We think we're important!:?

 

We're how many month into the conditional sail order with absolutely ZERO in terms of cruise lines taking meaningful steps to re-open.  The odds of sailing taking place under the current conditional sail order are miniscule, imho. 

 

Every cruise line CEO is probably watching vaccination news and watching their books, trying to figure out if they can hold off until enough customers are vaccinated so they can implement a 100% vaccination policy for cruises.  

 

Once the CDC agrees with that, things should be pretty normal pretty quickly.

[Astro Flyer]

12 minutes ago, Potstech said:

I am surprised it took this long for the fake documents to show up. Criminals will always find ways to make money of disasters.

Absolutely & there are insufficient resources to stop the abuse.

 

In a BBC story they stated Nigerian organized crime is one of those involved...wonder if they’re the same Nigerian Princes who scam people & drain the victim’s bank accounts.

[D C]

25 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Europol is reporting on the increasing number of fake coronavirus negative tests results documents that are available for a price online & through social media for anyone who wants to purchase them.
 

These fake documents will allow people to travel & undoubtedly the crooks will also create fake coronavirus shot records. Who’s going to prevent such abuses...certainly not someone who’s checking in people before traveling. When traveling here to Hawaii their Safe Travel site requires adding a PDF negative test result in advance however it isn’t verified until producing a printed copy upon arrival.

 

These fake documents will create further problems as the world attempts to manage the coronavirus pandemic & sadly don’t see any effective way to prevent all of these fake documents.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/01/fake-covid-tests-criminals-try-to-profit-from-travel-restrictions.html

 

They're of negligible significance on a cruise ship if the official policy is that everyone must be vaccinated.  

 

What percent of people on a ship are going to be of the mindset that they'll flout the rules and not just lie about the vaccination, but will order fake proof?  1%?  2%? 5%?   If it's 5%, that's 150 on a 3000 passenger ship.  You have 95% of the people who are actually vaccinated, and as of right now, it's with a 95% effective vaccine.  That's is so much safer for everyone than NOT being on a ship.  

 

The only concern is with ports of call.  Firstly, we lack data on transmissibility of the virus from vaccinated people, but hopefully that'll be sorted by the time cruising resumes.   Assuming transmissibility is stopped, we then have the willingness of a port to allow 3000 people to come ashore with the possibility that ~150 of them are unvaccinated, and maybe a couple of them are possibly infected.  Those two might not even get off the ship.   

 

The chances of a port declining the financial gain because of tiny odds of a couple of new cases being introduced is probably very small in a lot of places.

[D C]

6 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Absolutely & there are insufficient resources to stop the abuse.

 

In a BBC story they stated Nigerian organized crime is one of those involved...wonder if they’re the same Nigerian Princes who scam people & drain the victim’s bank accounts.

Nigeria? Why is it always Nigeria??

It should be easy to spot the fakes with all of the spelling an grammar mistakes 🙂

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, D C said:

Every cruise line CEO is probably watching vaccination news and watching their books, trying to figure out if they can hold off until enough customers are vaccinated so they can implement a 100% vaccination policy for cruises.  

I think that this has been the strategy all along, and I've been saying as much.   But now that vaccines are being administered, it becomes abundantly more clear.  I don't think there was EVER any appetite to spend tens (hundreds?) of millions of dollars to reconfigure ships only to sail with 30%-50% capacity and change the entire cruise experience, only to then have to drydock the ships a second time to undo all of the changes that they implemented to account for a pandemic that shows all the signs of being over in two years' time.  In the moment, this all seems so permanent. But in the long view, this is all very temporary and once financing became available to hold on for a couple of years, I think the plan was always to wait this out.  The total number of people who are in complete withdrawal from cruising and need a "fix" asap is almost unmeasurable as compared to the number of people who simply won't step foot on a cruise ship until all of this is behind us.  That latter group is not pining away for quick, temporary half-measures to "make cruising safe."  They are waiting for the full cruise experience to return once things are under control.  The industry leaders understand this.  The problem here is that boards like this are made up of the former group and our views skew our reality.  Wishful thinking can be very self-intoxicating.

[Thrak]

7 hours ago, Ombud said:

If that's the case then should I sell my 4k gift cards?

 

Who will you sell them to? I have more than enough of my own. Hoping to be able to actually use them one of these days. I can't see anybody buying them from me.

[WNcruiser]

8 hours ago, trbarton said:

I’m on the Ruby in October & December 2021 out of San Francisco. I just checked the bridge camera & it’s still in the Manila Bay. There first cruise is June 26, 2021 out of LA plus they still have to do the test cruises & they’re  in the red & they have to become green. We’ll see what happens. 
 

Tom😎

The bridge cam is not updating. The Ruby has been off the coast of LA for a while. 
https://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/vessels/RUBY-PRINCESS/CURRENT-POSITION/9378462/310567000

 

 

 

[trbarton]

1 hour ago, WNcruiser said:

The bridge cam is not updating. The Ruby has been off the coast of LA for a while. 
https://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/vessels/RUBY-PRINCESS/CURRENT-POSITION/9378462/310567000

 

 

 

Thanks!  I thought that the bridge camera was not accurate. 
 

Last I saw the Ruby was still in the red zone & they need to get into the green zone. 

The big challenge to start cruising is for the test cruises to start. Both the CDC & the Cruise lines are pointing the finger at each other. 

 

Tom😀

Edited February 3, 2021 by trbarton

[Potstech]

6 hours ago, D C said:

 

They're of negligible significance on a cruise ship if the official policy is that everyone must be vaccinated.  

 

What percent of people on a ship are going to be of the mindset that they'll flout the rules and not just lie about the vaccination, but will order fake proof?  1%?  2%? 5%?   If it's 5%, that's 150 on a 3000 passenger ship.  You have 95% of the people who are actually vaccinated, and as of right now, it's with a 95% effective vaccine.  That's is so much safer for everyone than NOT being on a ship.  

 

The only concern is with ports of call.  Firstly, we lack data on transmissibility of the virus from vaccinated people, but hopefully that'll be sorted by the time cruising resumes.   Assuming transmissibility is stopped, we then have the willingness of a port to allow 3000 people to come ashore with the possibility that ~150 of them are unvaccinated, and maybe a couple of them are possibly infected.  Those two might not even get off the ship.   

 

The chances of a port declining the financial gain because of tiny odds of a couple of new cases being introduced is probably very small in a lot of places.

So if 10 of those people test positive on a cruise what will that do to future cruises? It would have a possible devastating effect on the industry for the next couple of years. And f they did get off the ship in a foreign country what would that for that country?

[leck57]

16 hours ago, Grego said:

We had our second vaccine yesterday and without any side effects.  Now to start thinking positive that we will be sailing out of Port Everglades on the CB May 15th.

 

I don't want to let down your tires but there is a bit more to it than just you having had your vaccine. About 95% of the world's population has not had the vaccine yet, including the crew most importantly. I think you are jumping the gun and have no chance of your May cruise. I have had three cruises cancelled so I know what it is like.

[D C]

7 hours ago, Potstech said:

So if 10 of those people test positive on a cruise what will that do to future cruises? It would have a possible devastating effect on the industry for the next couple of years. And f they did get off the ship in a foreign country what would that for that country?

Nothing whatsoever.  First off, that's an enormous IF.   And a fully vaccinated population is the ultimate dream.  if the cruise industry can't operate with each ship being a utopia of vaccination status, then life on shore should never return to anything resembling normal.

 

International travel is likely to require vaccinations going forward.   If transmission is shown to be prevented by the vaccines, there is no reason for someone to be vaccinated AND take a covid test.  Allowing someone vaccinated and positive into your country would be less risky than allowing in someone unvaccinated who isn't feeling well and maybe has influenza.  

[Potstech]

That is your opinion along with your "ifs".

[D C]

13 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

Those of you who are touting vaccines are overlooking one very important aspect. We haven't enough vaccines in this country to vaccinate 75 and over. How do you propose that the crew who fall at the back of the vaccination line due to age get the vaccine. Many come from third world countries which makes it even more difficult. My wife works for NYU Hospital. She tells me that although they have extended the eligibility for receiving the vaccine, they still don't have enough to vaccinate the 75 and over group. If a vaccine is going to be required it's going to be a long time before cruising can start. The first group will be needing booster shots before the entire world has received the first dose.

I don't believe anyone is expecting an imminent announcement or restart of cruising. It would clearly rely on there being a sufficient supply of vaccines to innoculate anyone who so desires. 

 

If J&J and AZ are approved in the US, there should be more doses than willing recipients by the start of Summer. 

[HaveWeMetYet]

Cruising resumes when we get back below the lows in early fall and last spring. New cases are dropping sharply even with testing remaining high which is a good sign. We have easily reached the peak unless new mutations cause a problem.

 

[D C]

3 hours ago, HaveWeMetYet said:

Cruising resumes when we get back below the lows in early fall and last spring. New cases are dropping sharply even with testing remaining high which is a good sign. We have easily reached the peak unless new mutations cause a problem.

 

 

The status of the country as a whole should have no impact on cruising if the policy becomes vaccines mandatory for cruising.   

[Iamcruzin]

3 hours ago, D C said:

 

The "failure" percent includes people who contracted the disease, but only had the sniffles. It's not like it didn't work at all. In the early recent release of info on the Oxford/AZ vaccine, exactly ZERO people were hospitalized or died after being vaccinated.   That's batting 1000 in my book. 

The issue is it isn't like the flu or norovirus. If someone tests positive for covid while on board it could be the end of the sailing. At 90% the risk factor is lower. 

[sunsetme]

cdc mandates masks on cruises today

[Daniel A]

6 minutes ago, sunsetme said:

cdc mandates masks on cruises today

That story was a bunch of nonsense...  The CDC has mandated masks on all forms of public transportation, (trains, planes, buses and of course cruise ships and the Staten Island Ferry)  In reality, the CDC has a total ban on cruise ships so there's nobody to boss around and require that you wear a mask on the Lido Deck.  I guess it makes them feel important and make it look like they're doing something despite the downgrading of their reputation.

[sunsetme]

https://cruiseradio.net/cdc-rule-cruise-passengers-will-be-required-to-wear-masks/?fbclid=IwAR0rPe6xEDHs_6Z4Q32cMbnxDNyARvrNz0LfZ_u7F46MCSsw-I8FTXHJNJ0