ilikeanswers

Let see if this work:

2 minutes ago, possum52 said:

Sorry Phillip. Yes I tried to link it but it didn't work, put the whole address in. CC must have blocked it or there is a glitch somewhere.

Troublemaker for the next surge': Top doctor warns of new COVID-19 virus killing the young in their thousands

3 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

Let's all take a breath :

Do the coronavirus vaccines work on variants? Here’s what we know so far

 

Pfizer Covid vaccine 'is 100% effective against South African variant, beats Brazilian strain'

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

Exactly, you are there, buy it, do it.  I read some posts on CC where people have spent thousands on airfares and cruises but are too mean to buy a coffee or drink overseas because of the cost, which might be not much more expensive than here. I hate people who have to convert local currency into AUD before they open their wallets. Likewise ship's shorex, buy them, because in future it may be the only way you will get off the ship, with new covid policy coming in.

 

I read some of the posts on these World Cruise roll calls, where people confess to being wine drinkers at home, but refuse to buy a glass of wine or bottle of wine on the ships.  For god's sake, what did it cost to get on the ship, like $50k pp?  Why suffer for 107 days without a drink.🍷 You cannot tell me they are happy. 

That attitude seems just as binary as Mic's comment😂. I get people not wanting to buy shorex. The one time I had an optional Shorex I arranged a car rental and explored myself because I didn't like the idea of spending 2 hours at some fabric store I knew I had no interest in. Compulsory shorex will be a deal breaker for a lot of people unless the cruise lines can offer more types of shorex to cover more interests or at least eliminate some of those shopping stops which seem to be the biggest pet peeve. 

The alcohol one I sort of understand as well since the mark ups can be over the top so it makes sense people might baulk at the prices but then I'm not a much of a drinker so abstaining isn't that difficult for me😜. I would rather save the money to purchase local produce that isn't available at home then overpriced wine I can get for a fraction of the cost at Dan Murphy😉. 

2 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I think they are getting the message but just like people here on this forum they are getting mixed messages that muddy the waters.    I think the message has to be straightforward “get the vaccine to protect yourself and the community”.  Not that you might still be contagious or might need a booster, enough with the mights and the  outlier possibilities. Discuss those when they are knowns not suppositions.     For those that want to delve deeper by all means, I enjoy a good statistical read myself but that should not be the headliner 

I get what you are saying but I look around the world and one thing that has become clear is countries that did well controlling Covid-19 were those that were fully transparent and gave all the information. The public when polled say they trust their public health system as a result. The problem is when you don't tell people about a possibility and it becomes reality like in the Philippines you get a massive drop in confidence. The Philippines went from an 88% vaccine rate down to 32% and with COVID19 only 66% say they might get vaccinated. To get people to vaccinate they need trust in the system and if you omit information you will just be feeding the fears that the government isn't telling everything. 

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

I just budget for paying the higher prices for food and drinks, when not at home. When travelling, whether it is overseas or herebin Australia, you will almost always pay more for any foods or drink than when shopping at home. 

Yes and no. I have had plenty meals when travelling that are cheaper than at home, and some food stuffs overseas are far cheaper then the same products sold in Australia. So I don't think it is a given rule that everything has to be more expensive when travelling🤔. 

Let's all take a breath :

Do the coronavirus vaccines work on variants? Here’s what we know so far

Pfizer Covid vaccine 'is 100% effective against South African variant, beats Brazilian strain'

14 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I agree with you 80%.  But the CDC continues to publish things their website aimed at the general public that, in my view, questions the efficacy of this vaccine by saying things that you might still be able to the disease, you might still be contagious.   Keep the message simple, tell people the vaccine works and if they have more questions to speak to their primary healthcare provider.  

 

They should only say what they know, not what they don't know.

I don't know if I would agree🤔. I think it is important the public understands the difference between disease and virus. In my experience a well informed public is better than a half informed public otherwise someone will take control of the hole in your information and use it against your message. If it had turned out that vaccines did not stop virus transmission and the public was not previously informed then anti vaxers would have a field day with the information and you would end up like the Philippines where everyone loses confidence in vaccines because they feel someone is hiding information. 

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

Vaccine: A product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. 

Covid-19 is the disease and so far most vaccines are proven effective against it. I don't think anyone apart from some anti vaxxers have been saying it is not effective against the disease. I know there are still questions over its effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission but the brief was to slow down the disease and so far results from Israel and UK seem to be showing they are fulfilling their brief. I'm a little confused about what all the confusion is about 😳😂. 

Bora Bora? 

15 minutes ago, qbay46 said:

What port are we in

Mo'orea? 

We talk about crew being vaccinated but most of the countries that crew come from are using the Sinovac vaccine from China. Will this vaccine be acceptable in countries in Europe and USA? We wouldn't force them to vaccine twice would we😳? 

2 minutes ago, qbay46 said:

Natchez, Mississippi

Finally a winner!🏆 It is the oldest city on the Mississippi River. The old town has alot of well preserved buildings and the owners go to a lot of trouble to do them up:

All yours🤗

Not yet the right state but Alabama is closer. 

18 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Cheers, I might duck back to Woollies this arvo, buy half a dozen packs and freeze them, they will last me a couple of months.

You can probably get them for cheaper now. Post Easter they are usually trying to get rid of all their Easter gear. I get all my Easter eggs half price😜

51 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

USA, a southern state?

You are in the right area. Follow the river😉. 

1 minute ago, lyndarra said:

We chose to business class for the US internal flights but shouldn't have bothered, they were barely Premium Economy standard.

Total was AUD15,000 for both.

I remember walking past business class on an intercontinental flight in Europe and I thought that does not look worth the extra dollars🤑. To me business class is only worth it for long haul flights. They usually have lie flat beds so at least you're paying extra for something. 

1 hour ago, SelectSys said:

However, multi-nation cruising is starting in the Caribbean with cruises from Barbados touching several nations over the span of a 7 day cruise.  This would be a requirement for any US departing cruise.

I would be hesitant to compare a giant country like USA with tiny island nations. Tiny island nations are in unique advantageous situation that kind of allows them their own little travel bubble amongst each other. 

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

Maybe not enough commission?  

I read somewhere that they get around 2.5% commission on flights alone. If a customer books a holiday package it is between 25-30%.

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

That was just under $9,000.00 for both of us. I think we paid about $5,000.00 for economy seats on British Airways YVR to Heathrow in 2008. We decided after an economy flight to and from Hawaii followed by a "First Class" flight to Hawaii (Alaska Airlines 737 more like premium economy on long haul flights now) after that we made the decision that we would never fly economy again; good thing Premium economy is a thing now it's worth the extra money to us and we can afford that better than Business class. We can stay in nicer hotels on land and a veranda suite on a Celebrity Cruise with the savings from Business class to Premium economy.

Well this is embarrassing😳 I completely misunderstood, I thought you meant $9000 per person😂. Personally the few times I have been in PE I have not found it worth the extra cost from economy😕. It probably depends on the airline but after my disappointments I am hesitant to be forking out that money again. 

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

That is for Premium Economy and it does feel like a lot of money. 

Yikes that is high😱. Business class from SYD to Mad was only just over $AU7000. Normally I have seen PE around the $AU3000 mark. 

Europe, UK and Asia are conducting domestic cruises or cruises to nowhere. From what I understand for the USA this is not possible for most cruise lines. 

The town is famous for its architecture:

All my cruises start overseas usually in places I have never visited so I tend to do land travel before and at the end. From Australia nearly everywhere is far to reach so if I'm making that effort I want to get as much out of my trip. It does baffle me that people say they are tired from their land trips😳. For me my work is draining and my travels are my recharge no matter the method. I never felt like I needed a rest from travelling 😂. 

16 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I feel the reason is that the Antarctic Peninsula (as well as South Georgia -fantastic - and Falkland Is) is easily reached from South America. I don't see the areas that can be reached from Australia as so appealing to tourists.

It is not as well known but the Ross Sea I have heard is pretty spectacular however it does take a lot longer, plus there are more sea days and generally speaking people who do more adventurous cruises are usually sea day adverse😆. 

Name the town you would see this view:

6 hours ago, lyndarra said:

Place is correct. I know him as Cumil the Sewer Worker. I found him because he was a Geocache I was searching for.

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC7B9JP

Your turn.

Cumil is Slovak for Watcher 😉. Apparently he is taking a break from work and just watching the world go by😂. I enjoyed Bratislava too though we didn't get as much time there as I would have liked, we happen to visit at the same time as a rock music festival. Interesting to hear Slovakian rock can't say it was my flavour 😜 but they also had food stalls selling local produce that was delicious. The spitfire pastries were huge. It was mesmerising watching them slowly turn in the fire🔥😁.