This is a good sign regarding cruising restarting

[mr walker]

47 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

So far I only know two people with COVID. My cousin's wife in London who passed away last December and a windsurfing mate two weeks ago.

I've never had or been required to have a test yet but that may change, especially if I restart foreign travel.

For much of the time of COVID I didn't personally know anyone with it, and people I knew who had tests were for medical appointments, work requirements or 'flu-like' symptoms, or the dreaded close contact at shops or similar. We have been mostly very careful & have not had tests ourselves.

Recently, I expect as a result of the nature of the virus, lessening of restrictions etc it has come much closer to us. Tracey's sister who lives at Central Coast tested positive after Xmas (as did her son & his girlfriend) & more recently my sister & BIL, who live at Castle Hill, both tested positive. A guy who is a customer of mine from Melb also tested +. For all of them it was mild, like a moderate flu & fortunately they are all well after a few days taking it easy.

Stay safe all.

[Ondine]

I seem to remember Tehan saying last year that cruise ships could come back around the time that Greg Hunt was saying that they could be here by Christmas.  Not sure what Tehan has to do with them.  I think he is minister for Trade.

 

The Biosecurity Bill (with amendments) is listed to be debated in the Senate for the second time tomorrow.  I think this has to be finalised for most international visitor travel to resume because it also covers airlines.

[BRANDEE]

2 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Never say never, BRANDEE. Once the world settles down again, and I'm sure it will in time, you may be tempted to come down under again. Remember, you've got lots of friends here now to catch up with.

 

BTW are you still suffering from Long Covid effects or has that gone away now?

Thanks OzKiwiJJ and lyndarra!

 

You're right..never say never.  I never thought I would go to Australia the first time.  Time will tell, but as my husband and I get older..being too far away from the US and home is less and less appealing. We have been lucky to be traveling the past year either around the US or at our timeshare in Aruba..never more than 6 hours from JFK..home.

 

Unfortunately, I still gets bouts of fatigue.  I've have many tests but the conclusion is long covid effects.  I just have to take a nap or I basically can fall down on the spot. No pattern except boom it just happens. Usually, once a week /10 days and a nap of 30 minutes to 2 hours. The only thing it really effects is my driving long distances alone, I am always concerned it will happen then. So I don't take trips to see my younger son and family without hubby. How many people can say they took a nap in Yellowstone National Park or in the lobby of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas!!

 

I am in contact with a few passengers who were on the Ruby with me.  One couple were traveling with their two year old son.  They all returned and had covid.  The wife also suffers from fatigue, but much, much worse than me.  She had to give up her job as principal of a school .  And worse,  their son still has seizures since he got covid and doctors can not pin point any other reason than long term covid effects.

 

Another passenger from Sydney, who never got covid (nor his wife) never got his job back just because he was on the Ruby.  After one year of paid leave, they finally fired him and he is now involved in a law suit.   

 

We are taking a chance next month and going on a cruise..sorry, don't mean to rub it in.  Excited and nervous at the same time. The hardest part of some travel is the testing rules. Cruising is 48 hours before sailing and testing on board for 2b2s and cruises to Hawaii and Panama Canal. BTW, covid travel insurance is a joke..very expensive and no real coverage!

 

Perhaps, we will meet in person one day, but I love to keep in touch here with my friends and hope you all soon get back to cruising and more important something they call normalcy!!

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, BRANDEE said:

Unfortunately, I still gets bouts of fatigue.  I've have many tests but the conclusion is long covid effects.  I just have to take a nap or I basically can fall down on the spot. No pattern except boom it just happens. Usually, once a week /10 days and a nap of 30 minutes to 2 hours. The only thing it really effects is my driving long distances alone, I am always concerned it will happen then. So I don't take trips to see my younger son and family without hubby. How many people can say they took a nap in Yellowstone National Park or in the lobby of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas!!

 

I am in contact with a few passengers who were on the Ruby with me.  One couple were traveling with their two year old son.  They all returned and had covid.  The wife also suffers from fatigue, but much, much worse than me.  She had to give up her job as principal of a school .  And worse,  their son still has seizures since he got covid and doctors can not pin point any other reason than long term covid effects.

 

Yikes, and it's almost two years since that Ruby cruise. I wish you could ram that information down the throats of the anti-vaxxer idiots! They just don't have a clue what they are risking until it's too late.

 

I hope the young boy eventually grows out of those seizures, they must be very scary.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, BRANDEE said:

 

 

Another passenger from Sydney, who never got covid (nor his wife) never got his job back just because he was on the Ruby.  After one year of paid leave, they finally fired him and he is now involved in a law suit.   

 

If that was the reason he lost his job then good on him for suing. I know some businesses have been doing it tough in the last two years, and I'm sure some of them have had to lay off staff, but making his presence on that Ruby cruise an excuse to fire him is just ludicrous.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, BRANDEE said:

 

 

We are taking a chance next month and going on a cruise..sorry, don't mean to rub it in.  Excited and nervous at the same time. The hardest part of some travel is the testing rules. Cruising is 48 hours before sailing and testing on board for 2b2s and cruises to Hawaii and Panama Canal. BTW, covid travel insurance is a joke..very expensive and no real coverage!

 

Perhaps, we will meet in person one day, but I love to keep in touch here with my friends and hope you all soon get back to cruising and more important something they call normalcy!!

 

Have a wonderful cruise. 

 

Down here travel insurers are specifically excluding Covid cover on cruises. It's ridiculous! 

[Bubbeh]

23 hours ago, Cruisers47 said:

Victorian election is not until November and since very few cruise ship come to Victoria I doubt it would be an issue.

Um, I'm supposed to be on a cruise coming into Melbourne from Perth via Adelaide in September.

[Bubbeh]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

making his presence on that Ruby cruise an excuse to fire him is just ludicrous.

and (assuming he was a permanent employee) not exactly legal.

[BRANDEE]

7 hours ago, Bubbeh said:

and (assuming he was a permanent employee) not exactly legal.

He was a full time employee and just a few years away from retirement and able to be in a pension system , that is how I understood it.  When the Ruby came back he and wife tested  negative and he was told to take two weeks off and retest.  Did that and told to wait another month and retest.  It was like they were waiting for the monster covid to appear from within.  Anyway, around two months he went to work and was stopped at the gate and told he was not allowed on property, because other employees were afraid they would get covid from him.  Talk about paranoia!! They paid him for a year to stay away..sounds good, until you factor in the loss of self esteem and being labelled a hazard to people's health.  His lawyer told him to collect for as long as they would pay him and that by paying him he had no ability to fight and win.  After a year, they finally fired him and end of paycheck and no one in his field would hire him.  Through this whole ordeal, his wife said his mental state was very fragile, worried that he would be financially ruined and not be able to provide for his family. Plus being isolated from his peers at work who were his "friends" for years.

 

I have no idea how his company got away with this..I know laws are different in every country, but that is pure discrimination based on ignorant fear.  He had a hard time getting anyone to represent him at first. Currently, he has been very quiet, so not sure what is happening since December.

 

[Aus Traveller]

His lawyer is probably looking at filing a case for unfair dismissal. One good aspect of our system in Aust is that he would not have lost his pension when he lost his job. His pension (superannuation) is held in a fund in his name.

 

If his employer made him redundant (rather than fired him) I don't believe they could be found guilty of unfair dismissal, but the employee would have received an extra pay-out when he was terminated, the amount based on his years of employment. This can be a considerable amount for long-time employees.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I wonder how many people in that company caught Omicron. Since they obviously believe cruise ships spread the virus and therr haven't been any cruise ships in port for almost two years all these new outbreaks must be very confusing to them, especially the ones with superspreader events in churches. 🙄

[Bubbeh]

7 hours ago, BRANDEE said:

He was a full time employee and just a few years away from retirement and able to be in a pension system , that is how I understood it.  When the Ruby came back he and wife tested  negative and he was told to take two weeks off and retest.  Did that and told to wait another month and retest.  It was like they were waiting for the monster covid to appear from within.  Anyway, around two months he went to work and was stopped at the gate and told he was not allowed on property, because other employees were afraid they would get covid from him.  Talk about paranoia!! They paid him for a year to stay away..sounds good, until you factor in the loss of self esteem and being labelled a hazard to people's health.  His lawyer told him to collect for as long as they would pay him and that by paying him he had no ability to fight and win.  After a year, they finally fired him and end of paycheck and no one in his field would hire him.  Through this whole ordeal, his wife said his mental state was very fragile, worried that he would be financially ruined and not be able to provide for his family. Plus being isolated from his peers at work who were his "friends" for years.

 

I have no idea how his company got away with this..I know laws are different in every country, but that is pure discrimination based on ignorant fear.  He had a hard time getting anyone to represent him at first. Currently, he has been very quiet, so not sure what is happening since December.

That stinks!  Amazing how many 'friends' run screaming when the chips are down.  🤬

[JohnGc]

This looks promising.

https://www.9news.com.au/videos/national/plan-to-revive-australias-cruise-industry/ckzgoplb5001w0jnxcs8qu87e

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

23 minutes ago, JohnGc said:

This looks promising.

https://www.9news.com.au/videos/national/plan-to-revive-australias-cruise-industry/ckzgoplb5001w0jnxcs8qu87e

 

🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

[sewgood]

1 hour ago, JohnGc said:

This looks promising.

https://www.9news.com.au/videos/national/plan-to-revive-australias-cruise-industry/ckzgoplb5001w0jnxcs8qu87e

 

I also saw a reference to this on the ABC news web site, it was just added at the bottom of a story about the vaccine status change recommended by ATAGI.

It was only a sentence that the eastern states will now start working with the federal Governmnet to come up with a plan to restart cruise ships.

I wonder how long this plan will take? 😐 And I really don't know why the majority of this couldn't have been started before this if they were serious about restarting cruising.

Hopefully we will get some more news on this in the next couple of days.

 

[mr walker]

Does it not seem strange to others that now Ch9 & Ch7 in particular are now pushing for the cruise re-start. These were the ones who feasted on the opportunity to be anti-cruising back in March 2020 & following months highlighting the issues and playing it for every ratings opportunity the could. You all will remember their negative stance re cruising and the various enquiries.

 

Maybe they are on now a campaign to sell advertising time to the cruise companies and so now are pro-cruising? They have turned 180 degrees, finding any industry rep they can to talk it up.

 

Do you think that after cruising resumes they will be sitting back hoping against hope for a major COVID issue with the ships and the cycle can start again?

[OzKiwiJJ]

Not strange at all. They are only after ratings and will get on any bandwagon that they think will interest viewers whether it be fact or near-fiction.

 

2020 - cruise ships are nasty virus factories!

 

2022 - Oh, look, thousands of people want to go cruising. Bad, nasty governments won't let them!

 

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄😡

[Vader1111]

On 2/8/2022 at 8:45 AM, lyndarra said:

There are signs and there are signs.

This morning I was surprised to learn that we, Australia, are on the CDC Red List "Level 4: COVID-19 Very High". Who are they kidding? If we are level 4 then surely USA should be Level 10 except that 4 is the highest on the CDC scale.

So, will intending US visitors look at that and say "Nope, not going there - unless its on a safe cruise ship but oh, wait, there aren't any ships down there".

At the peak of the Omicron wave Australia's per capita case numbers were worse than anything in Europe or the USA.  That's why they put us on the Red List.

 

With the peak having now passed, and numbers considerably lower, I would expect Australia to be removed from the Red List next time it's reviewed (which happens every few weeks).

[NSWP]

4 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Not strange at all. They are only after ratings and will get on any bandwagon that they think will interest viewers whether it be fact or near-fiction.

 

2020 - cruise ships are nasty virus factories!

 

2022 - Oh, look, thousands of people want to go cruising. Bad, nasty governments won't let them!

 

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄😡

You forgot 'Floating Petri Dishes.' Julie.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 minute ago, NSWP said:

You forgot 'Floating Petri Dishes.' Julie.

Same thing!

[OzKiwiJJ]

Ruby Princess - less than 1,000 cases and 27 deaths, at the beginning of the pandemic when Covid protocols hadn't been invented, and there were no vaccines.

 

Omicron nationwide - over 2 million cases and over 2,000 deaths, even after a year of vaccinations, masks, social distancing etc.

 

And they still bang on about Ruby! 

[lyndarra]

22 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

 

And they still bang on about Ruby! 

That seems to me to be an Australian thing. Elsewhere thay "bang on" about Diamond

[OzKiwiJJ]

29 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

That seems to me to be an Australian thing. Elsewhere thay "bang on" about Diamond

Well it happened here and Australians were affected by it, no thanks to the NSW Government.

[MicCanberra]

Some of these jokers will announce anything knowing that it won't happen but will make people feel good for a while

[ollyoeno]

19 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Some of these jokers will announce anything knowing that it won't happen but will make people feel good for a while

How dare you. I vote for politicians because I want them to have their fifth house on the Gold Coast.