New Canadian Travel Guidance - Cruising Still Officially a No-Go....

[CRUISINGCANUCKS99]

Good to know.

[truckswain]

Manulife Covid Coverage for Cruises:

 

 

As it relates to Cruises, must be vaccinated:

 

 

[CalgaryMac]

I monitor a web site "Cruise Law News" https://www.cruiselawnews.com which reports on legal issues and incidents on cruise ships. While incidents of COVID outbreaks on cruise ships is not reported in the general press very often these days they are still happening. Despite efforts to minimise risks for passengers and crew it continues. There have been reports in the press of people charged with attempting to create false QR codes with respect to the vaccine passports, others have tried to present false written records at entry points, etc. I guess the point is that there are people among us who want what they want and will take risks with their well being and all of ours. I have read entries on Cruise Critic boards where people have shown a willingness to provide false letters from doctors so that they can go on a cruise while having health issues that would normally raise flags.

 

We have a cruise scheduled for October 2022 and we can cancel with a full refund before the end of July 2022. We are going to see how things go but given that we have all seen numerous reports of people not taking the pandemic or vaccines very seriously, I am not sure what we will do. Our cruise will have us on the open ocean for 5 days without a nearby port so getting sick will not have options for transfers to a hospital. My health, my partner's health, and the health of everyone else will depend on people doing all that they can to reduce risk and being honest about it.

 

I tend to trust that the cruise lines are doing what they can to reduce risk - their bottom line is dependent on safe experiences for all people on the ship. I am losing faith in my fellow human beings some of who seem willing to put everyone at risk so that they can do what they want.

[CRUISINGCANUCKS99]

Looked up Manulife and the full coverage is pricey. But it has everything.

 

I totally agree with you CalgaryMac. It is sad to know there are people who will attempt to bend the rules to make the world spin around them, without any regard for others. I've said this exact thing for many years, 'humans are a terrible species".

[ctlyf]

On 10/23/2021 at 8:50 AM, Roxxy said:

Blue Cross for Alberta is omitting anything to do with Covid Coverage.  To my understanding Celebrity has that covered anyways.  Free medical attention while on board and also 'evacuation' to nearest port to have you flown home.  Not sure about quarantining in the US though??

According to Alberta Blue Cross website, they are selling COVID emergency medical (no trip interruption or cancellation), however will not cover people choosing to go on a cruise.

[Dr. Cocktail]

4 hours ago, CalgaryMac said:

I monitor a web site "Cruise Law News" https://www.cruiselawnews.com which reports on legal issues and incidents on cruise ships. While incidents of COVID outbreaks on cruise ships is not reported in the general press very often these days they are still happening. Despite efforts to minimise risks for passengers and crew it continues.

 

I tend to trust that the cruise lines are doing what they can to reduce risk - their bottom line is dependent on safe experiences for all people on the ship. I am losing faith in my fellow human beings some of who seem willing to put everyone at risk so that they can do what they want.

THE big problem with assessing safety on cruises out of the States is that, Bermuda notwithstanding, once you are cleared and on board, you won't be tested again. The only people being tested are those who are almost immediately flying back to locations outside of the United States at disembarkation.

 

A key weakness in the CDC's protocols is this lack of random rapid tests at disembarkation. It's almost as if they don't want to know the results!

 

 

Edited October 24, 2021 by Dr. Cocktail

[Fouremco]

4 hours ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

THE big problem with assessing safety on cruises out of the States is that, Bermuda notwithstanding, once you are cleared and on board, you won't be tested again. The only people being tested are those who are almost immediately flying back to locations outside of the United States at disembarkation.

 

A key weakness in the CDC's protocols is this lack of random rapid tests at disembarkation. It's almost as if they don't want to know the results!

 

 

That's not quite accurate. In addition to Canadians and others being tested for their return flights home, b2b and b2b2b passengers are being test at the conclusion of one leg before embarking on the next. As any positive test is reported to the CDC, they would have sufficient data to determine whether there was a need to expand post-cruise testing. 

[Dr. Cocktail]

38 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

That's not quite accurate. In addition to Canadians and others being tested for their return flights home, b2b and b2b2b passengers are being test at the conclusion of one leg before embarking on the next. As any positive test is reported to the CDC, they would have sufficient data to determine whether there was a need to expand post-cruise testing. 

I'd forgotten about the b2b cruisers .....

 

Still, I'm fairly certain that there are still very few non-Americans cruising out of the States.  We can't really know if there actually is sufficient data or what constitutes an acceptable sample size. I would guess that you would want at least 10% of the passengers to be tested to have a decent "view"....

[Fouremco]

17 minutes ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

I'd forgotten about the b2b cruisers .....

 

Still, I'm fairly certain that there are still very few non-Americans cruising out of the States.  We can't really know if there actually is sufficient data or what constitutes an acceptable sample size. I would guess that you would want at least 10% of the passengers to be tested to have a decent "view"....

From what I'm reading on the boards, there's a good number of b2b and side by side cruisers these days. But my point was that even with a small sample size, CDC could determine whether or not a larger and more statistically relevant sampling was necessary. If they are now seeing only two or three positives per hundred tests, they might not view a larger test sampling as necessary.

[Dr. Cocktail]

12 hours ago, Fouremco said:

From what I'm reading on the boards, there's a good number of b2b and side by side cruisers these days. But my point was that even with a small sample size, CDC could determine whether or not a larger and more statistically relevant sampling was necessary. If they are now seeing only two or three positives per hundred tests, they might not view a larger test sampling as necessary.

I dunno .... after reading Michael Lewis's new book about Covid in the States, The Premonition, my faith and confidence in The CDC's ability to assess data and act quickly on it are MUCH diminished!!!!

[davsen]

If the cruise ship ban from Canadian waters ends Nov. 1 ‘21 .. could it be the ‘don’t cruise’ advisory may lift then as well ??

[Fouremco]

34 minutes ago, davsen said:

If the cruise ship ban from Canadian waters ends Nov. 1 ‘21 .. could it be the ‘don’t cruise’ advisory may lift then as well ??

There has been some speculation along those lines, but I think that it is more likely that it will remain in place until the CDC lets the Conditional Sailing Order expire. It has now been extended until January 15, 2022. Assuming, of course, that the decision will be based on any external factor.

[lx200gps]

2 hours ago, Fouremco said:

There has been some speculation along those lines, but I think that it is more likely that it will remain in place until the CDC lets the Conditional Sailing Order expire. It has now been extended until January 15, 2022. Assuming, of course, that the decision will be based on any external factor.

The important thing to note about the CSO is that after the 15th of January, (barring any new problems of course) the program will officially devolve into a "voluntary" program. AFAIK this is the first time one of their repeated extensions has actually quoted a finish date. And even though it will be a voluntary as at 16 January, I would imagine many cruise lines will continue to follow its "suggestions", whatever those may be, particularly our usual line Princess.

[Fouremco]

47 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

The important thing to note about the CSO is that after the 15th of January, (barring any new problems of course) the program will officially devolve into a "voluntary" program. AFAIK this is the first time one of their repeated extensions has actually quoted a finish date. And even though it will be a voluntary as at 16 January, I would imagine many cruise lines will continue to follow its "suggestions", whatever those may be, particularly our usual line Princess.

It certainly will be interesting to see how the different cruise lines respond after January 15. The announcement that Celebrity has now extended its COVID-19 Assistance program until the end of April I found both surprising and reassuring, and it's certainly indicative of them having no immediate intention of chucking out all of the restrictions and protocols driven by the CSO come January 16. 

[lx200gps]

42 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

It certainly will be interesting to see how the different cruise lines respond after January 15. The announcement that Celebrity has now extended its COVID-19 Assistance program until the end of April I found both surprising and reassuring, and it's certainly indicative of them having no immediate intention of chucking out all of the restrictions and protocols driven by the CSO come January 16. 

Celebrity certainly does set the gold standard for taking care of passengers who test + on one of their cruises. Actually flying you home to Canada even if you are completely healthy and aysmptomatic is amazing. Wish our trip next month was with them.

[eltigre]

Still want to know about the level 4  Government Travel Advisory. If that advisory is still in place and you need to use either medical or trip interruption insurance, will your plans cover you. Not only the level 4 for the cruise, but any of the ports you may visit that have a level 4.

[Fouremco]

13 hours ago, eltigre said:

Still want to know about the level 4  Government Travel Advisory. If that advisory is still in place and you need to use either medical or trip interruption insurance, will your plans cover you. Not only the level 4 for the cruise, but any of the ports you may visit that have a level 4.

There are 16 countries with Level 4 travel advisories, but none AFAIK that have ports used by any of the major cruise lines. Consequently, only the Level 4 advisory not to cruise outside Canada should concern you.

 

Based on personal experience with Johnson insurance, as well as reporting on this board on Blue Cross and the small number of other companies that offer travel insurance while the advisory is in place, you can get coverage for COVID-related medical expenses but not for trip cancellation or interruption. Whether or not you can buy supplementary insurance to cover COVID-related cancellation/interruption insurance from these companies or others I've not looked into due to the Celebrity Safe Passage Home policy.