Canadian Cruisers

[ilovetotravel1977]

Feds are making an announcement at 1:30 ET on the border measures.  Likely something long the lines of August 21st borders will open between the Canada and the US for fully vaxxed without quarantine, but entry testing will stay. This could be "Phase 2".  Perhaps an announcement of a digital passport or something like that as well.  

 

Maybe that might drop the level 4 warning for non-essential travel to level 3 exercise caution.  Cruise ships level 4 won't likely go away until the Nov 1st ban lift.

 

Video link for announcement is here: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1923301443883

[MStarzky]

it would be nice if the americans could open the border to us by aug 1st so i can drive down, but more importantly they need to drop the level down for cruising.

[Thechamp555]

6 minutes ago, MStarzky said:

it would be nice if the americans could open the border to us by aug 1st so i can drive down, but more importantly they need to drop the level down for cruising.

I so tired to have to battle with these regulations that I will cancel my upcoming cruise and wait for mid 2022.

 

I will do an all inclusive instead this fall. A lot easier to manage ! 🤨🤨🤨

[MStarzky]

I'm not gonna cancel my cruise, its just the insurance issue, I'm down in florida for the next 2 months anyway.

[CruisingCanucksTwo]

Listened to the whole press conference and now the questions.  Other than Aug.9th - I'm not sure exactly what the implications are for Canadians.  Lot's of talk about American access to Canada, but nothing about Canadians leaving.

In fact the one minister said there are advising Canadians to still not to travel.  So Americans can enter Canada for non-essential, but Canadians cannot!?

No change to required testing to get into Canada from what I understand.

Still waiting to see what the American response is.

I wish politicians could be clear and concise - let's hope the American response is more clear cut.

There's already issued at the border with a lot of 'lee-way and discretion'  from border personnel that plagues the current set of guidelines.

At what point is this an issue of personal liberties for Canadians fully vaccinated?

65000 Canadians that were fully vaccinated crossed the border since July 8 and they were all tested and only 8 tested positive.  Clearly testing of vaccinated citizens is not required.

 

[Thechamp555]

6 minutes ago, CruisingCanucksTwo said:

Listened to the whole press conference and now the questions.  Other than Aug.9th - I'm not sure exactly what the implications are for Canadians.  Lot's of talk about American access to Canada, but nothing about Canadians leaving.

In fact the one minister said there are advising Canadians to still not to travel.  So Americans can enter Canada for non-essential, but Canadians cannot!?

No change to required testing to get into Canada from what I understand.

Still waiting to see what the American response is.

I wish politicians could be clear and concise - let's hope the American response is more clear cut.

There's already issued at the border with a lot of 'lee-way and discretion'  from border personnel that plagues the current set of guidelines.

At what point is this an issue of personal liberties for Canadians fully vaccinated?

65000 Canadians that were fully vaccinated crossed the border since July 8 and they were all tested and only 8 tested positive.  Clearly testing of vaccinated citizens is not required.

 

The American government will do an announcement in the coming days for Canadians planning to cross the border. Stay tuned ! 👍

You can expect the same measures as what I've been announced by our government.

[luvtocruze11]

On 7/17/2021 at 10:41 AM, Sprocket said:

Flights can be considerably cheaper from the US and it also opens up airline choices.  I have driven to Seattle many times to catch flights flew Southwest mostly as they do not fly from Vancouver.

As of Nov, Southwest fly from Bellingham!

[Sprocket]

1 hour ago, luvtocruze11 said:

As of Nov, Southwest fly from Bellingham!

Yep been waiting to book, they were going to come to Vancouver at one time much better I think from Bellingham. 

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, CruisingCanucksTwo said:

I wish politicians could be clear and concise

Funniest quote of the day!!! 🤣🤣🤣  Obfuscation is a prerequisite for entering politics.

[puppycanducruise]

5 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Funniest quote of the day!!! 🤣🤣🤣  Obfuscation is a prerequisite for entering politics.

lol too true!

[Robjame]

1 hour ago, CruisingCanucksTwo said:

No change to required testing to get into Canada from what I understand

Only change I could see was vaccinated Americans don’t need to do the mandatory 14 day quarantine on entering Canada.

 

Very few perks for fully vaccinated Canadians which I would think could be used as motivators for the unvaccinated. Most countries have a country-wide policy.

[MStarzky]

well we haven't heard from the americans yet, though i doubt they're going to change anything major.

[broberts]

3 hours ago, Thechamp555 said:

The American government will do an announcement in the coming days for Canadians planning to cross the border. Stay tuned ! 👍

You can expect the same measures as what I've been announced by our government.

 

Wishful thinking. 

 

From the American perspective Canada is nowhere near 50% fully vaccinated. While a 2 dose Astrazeneca vaccination might be accepted, a large proportion of two dose vaccinations in Canada are mixed vaccine. Which is not accepted by the FDA.

[Fouremco]

5 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

Wishful thinking. 

 

From the American perspective Canada is nowhere near 50% fully vaccinated. While a 2 dose Astrazeneca vaccination might be accepted, a large proportion of two dose vaccinations in Canada are mixed vaccine. Which is not accepted by the FDA.

From what I've read via social media, less than 10% of fully vaccinated Canadians have had mixed doses, not a large "large proportion". On the other hand, none of the official GOC websites seem to provide an actual breakdown. Are you able to provide a link? 

[Thechamp555]

9 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

From what I've read via social media, less than 10% of fully vaccinated Canadians have had mixed doses, not a large "large proportion". On the other hand, none of the official GOC websites seem to provide an actual breakdown. Are you able to provide a link? 

RC removed today  this policy on mix vaccines. Interesting....

[CruisingCanucksTwo]

27 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

Wishful thinking. 

 

From the American perspective Canada is nowhere near 50% fully vaccinated. While a 2 dose Astrazeneca vaccination might be accepted, a large proportion of two dose vaccinations in Canada are mixed vaccine. Which is not accepted by the FDA.

CDC quietly changes Covid vaccine guidance to OK mixing Pfizer and Moderna shots in 'exceptional situations' (msn.com) 

Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines | CDC 

COVID-19 Tracker Canada - Vaccination Tracker (covid19tracker.ca)

 

These sites show that US guidance CDC(which FDA uses) does in fact allow combos of like vaccines (Pfizer&Moderna) - so likely why Carnival and RCL today are allowed that combo. 

 

The last site shows realtime data on vaccination status for Canada.  We are almost right at 50% of all Canadians vaccinated (more than USA) and of eligible Canadians (so not 12 and under) we are at almost 58% for fully vaccinated.

[tert333]

32 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

Wishful thinking. 

 

From the American perspective Canada is nowhere near 50% fully vaccinated. While a 2 dose Astrazeneca vaccination might be accepted, a large proportion of two dose vaccinations in Canada are mixed vaccine. Which is not accepted by the FDA.

The most important metric is the case loads.  As of July 18,the US 7 day average of new cases is 97.54 per million.  The Canadian 7 day average of new cases is 9.76 per million.   Maybe more countries should be taking the Canadian approach of mixing doses.

[Fouremco]

2 hours ago, Thechamp555 said:

RC removed today  this policy on mix vaccines. Interesting....

Yes, there's a lot of confusion, it would appear. I'm not sure that the lines and CDC are interpreting things the same way. Hopefully they'll get it straightened out soon.

[broberts]

4 hours ago, tert333 said:

The most important metric is the case loads.  As of July 18,the US 7 day average of new cases is 97.54 per million.  The Canadian 7 day average of new cases is 9.76 per million.   Maybe more countries should be taking the Canadian approach of mixing doses.

 

The most important metric is what the CDC / FDA dictate. Right now neither consider Az + mRNA fully vaccinated. That may change. Given that Az is not approved for use in the US, I suspect that change will not happen anytime soon. 

[Thechamp555]

3 hours ago, broberts said:

 

The most important metric is what the CDC / FDA dictate. Right now neither consider Az + mRNA fully vaccinated. That may change. Given that Az is not approved for use in the US, I suspect that change will not happen anytime soon. 

Article from this existing dilemma:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/some-cruise-lines-not-accepting-passengers-with-mixed-covid-19-vaccinations-1.5514985

[DirtyDawg]

8 hours ago, broberts said:

 

The most important metric is what the CDC / FDA dictate. Right now neither consider Az + mRNA fully vaccinated. That may change. Given that Az is not approved for use in the US, I suspect that change will not happen anytime soon. 

I'm sure that issue is part of the negotiations going on internationally regarding re-opening international travel. As well as the lobbying going on by the U.S. travel industry.   There's more than a a wee bit of political pressure being applied to the CDC/FDA to 'update' their guidance. 

[K_e_short]

49 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

I'm sure that issue is part of the negotiations going on internationally regarding re-opening international travel. As well as the lobbying going on by the U.S. travel industry.   There's more than a a wee bit of political pressure being applied to the CDC/FDA to 'update' their guidance. 

 

John Heald from Carnival announced today that they will be reaching out to Canadians booked up unti October to give them guidelines on mixed vaccines.

 

I'm booked in December so won't get that email but hopefully someone on this board is booked and can share that information.

 

I do hope the CDC changes their guidance. This is not the type of stress and annoyance we deserve considering we did the right thing.

 

[petuniaflower]

On 7/11/2021 at 10:17 PM, MarynotMartha said:

Hi Barb

Check with your cruise line.  I spoke to Princess and the ship itself will have the ability to do several different types of covid test.  That includes the pre flight test that is necessary for international travel.

Elaine

Thats awesome! I wish Carnival would do this!

[petuniaflower]

New to this sub and happy to have found it!  We are booked out of Port Canaveral next month..excited to be cruising again (fingers crossed it all works out).

 

Can anyone confirm if Carnival is offering PCR/NAAT tests onboard?  An agent I asked said no, but reading thru this chain someone mentioned they had heard yes..if they did offer it would be soo helpful!

[K_e_short]

20 minutes ago, petuniaflower said:

New to this sub and happy to have found it!  We are booked out of Port Canaveral next month..excited to be cruising again (fingers crossed it all works out).

 

Can anyone confirm if Carnival is offering PCR/NAAT tests onboard?  An agent I asked said no, but reading thru this chain someone mentioned they had heard yes..if they did offer it would be soo helpful!

 

John Heald has confirmed a few times that RIGHT NOW Carnival is not doing any testing for Canadian travellers that need a test to return to Canada.

That might change in 5 minutes but thats the current statement.

 

Can you post the email you're going to get in the next few days about Canadians and mixed doses? John Heald said this morning that Canadians booked until the end of October would get an email with "clarification".

 

If you scroll down in this section you will find information on the best places to get a test before coming home. Specifically some people have said you can go to a drug store to get a test but the Orlando airport also does PCR testing (just for a high price 😞

 

Are you going on the Mardi Gras? If so I'm VERY JEALOUS 🙂