drrtc1

I live in San Diego and my wife and I have received both shots (Moderna) at the commercial pharmacy, RiteAid.  It is free whether you have insurance or not.  I will not exacerbate the feelings re: COVID by taking a cruise that continually reminds me to put on a mask, distance on the elevator and essentially have to guard yourself and pay attention to gnomes who are trying to help.  That is not a vacation, it is purgatory.  I think that at least in the US, everyone can be vaccinated and needs to be vaccinated to travel freely and not be a risk to others or self.  I certainly will not go on a cruise that does not allow me to fend for myself when in port.

I hear that "The announcement drew scrutiny -- mainly online -- from people outraged that a cruise line should be allowed to tell its passengers what to do." re vaccinations.  

Well, I don't think that is really the case since cruise lines and airplanes are not a "right" and always are in charge of what and when we do it.  Getting a vaccination is just par for the course.  Get it and cruise or don't get it.  

Wife and I won't go on a cruise until they make it mandatory for vaccination.  We need to be away from the Covid crisis and that means to not intensify it by distancing, mask wearing, etc.  Can you imagine playing bridge while masked up!!

If you want a vacation, the rules that they have in place will make boot camp look good.

8 minutes ago, drowelf said:

MY opinion is that any pre-test is pretty useless for travel purposes. All the test tells you is whether you have Covid at that point in time. You could be infected 5 minutes after they take the swab, you could already be infected, but just not at the stage that the test can detect. 

 

Proof of vaccination should be required to cruise. I hear rumbles over in the airline forums that it may soon be required to travel on an airplane. 

One potential problem is if sizable segments of the population choose not to get the Covid-19 vaccine, says John R. Mascola, director of the federal National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Vaccine Research Center. 

“Until we have broad-based vaccination and herd immunity, we should appreciate that it’s possible to still get exposed to the virus really from anybody whether they’re vaccinated or not,” he says. But if the vast majority of people get the vaccine, “some asymptomatic transmission is not going to have much of a public health implication,” he says.

That is exactly what a ship is where everyone is fully vaccinated.  I do not think that we then need to worry about asymptomatic transmission since immunity has been 95% established.

1 minute ago, drowelf said:

MY opinion is that any pre-test is pretty useless for travel purposes. All the test tells you is whether you have Covid at that point in time. You could be infected 5 minutes after they take the swab, you could already be infected, but just not at the stage that the test can detect. 

 

Proof of vaccination should be required to cruise. I hear rumbles over in the airline forums that it may soon be required to travel on an airplane. 

Hear, hear!!

3 hours ago, rafinmd said:

So far none of the vaccines in use have been demonstrated to reduce the vaccinated person's ability to transmit the virus.  Astra Zenica has demonstrated that, but until a vaccine is available that reduces a person's ability to infect others comes along I see little benefit in requiring others to be vaccinated.

 

Roy

 Preliminary evidence from Moderna showed that participants in a clinical trial who received the vaccine and were tested for Covid between their first and second doses had a roughly two-thirds reduction in asymptomatic infections. “That means there’s a substantial, substantial reduction in overall infections just from that first dose,” says Deepta Bhattacharya, an associate professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona in Tucson.  Under what circumstances would a person on a cruise have no symptoms and infect others?

We are at a junction where the votes are in.  However, they failed to ask the most important question.  Tabulated results were that 5% of past cruisers will not cruise if mandatory vaccinations are required.  However, they didn't ask "Will you travel if Mandatory Vaccinations are Not required?"  As well as the onerous restrictions by CCL such as masks, social distancing, not self exploration, have to stay together while ashore and may not be able to leave the dockyard, certainly not by self.

Comments.  I have two cruises with HAL Dec 21 and May 22.  I will cancel if they don't make vaccinations mandatory and you can wear masks or not.  I do not want to be reminded X 20 what I live thru everyday.  How do you social distance in an elevator or theater?   Let us let Darwinian principles rule the outcome for the non vaccinators and the rest of us can get on with a normal life.

Please reply to the question which was asking do you ever need accommodations with closed captioning?

7 hours ago, CruisinKikster said:

You are interpreting it incorrectly. Out of curiosity, all I see from you is "ADA doesn't apply to cruise ships" when we all know it does. Why are you pushing that agenda so hard? Do you even need accommodations? 

Here's pushing the issue in the wrong direction simply because he used to be ADA officer on a ship. Have your orders!

Thanks for the tip.  I shall take a look.

Thanks for the date and cruise.  Unfortunately, that leaves me in New Zealand for another 3 weeks after the America's Cup is finished. (it ends on March 21). I would love to stay but having lived there for 13 years, I really don't have a lot of reason except old friends and visiting.  

great idea but I need to leave end of March.  I am going to America's Cup which ends on the 21st of March, 2021.

Australia is a good alternative.  This year the Maasdam goes from Sydney to Auckland and on to San Diego, however, on March 1.  .  That would be ideal for next year but need to leave later, but no ships for 2021.  Sydney, Australia is about 1400 air miles from Auckland, NZ, need to get another ETA also.  Rather, if able to go from Auckland.  May end up flying but where is the fun in that?.

Essiesmom, do you know if something like this exists for repositioning cruises or Transpac cruises??  That is a super web site but for now, I really need a 2021 cruise from NZ to California or West Coast.

Thanks a bunch.  Did not think of Google.

Wish I had been on your cruise.  I thought about this but figured that the ship would put the kibosh on it. I like to play about 2 hours every evening when on a cruise.

Hello, thanks for the help.  I needed to be more specific.  I am going to be in NZ for the America's Cup and that is over on March 21.  I really don't want to stay until the middle of April if I can help it and just looking for something better than a flight..

Looking for a transpacific cruise for Mar or April 2021 from Auckland to West Coast of California or Seattle.  Any body??

Just off the Rotterdam, same deal.  Complained that this type of table is terrible and not real Texas Hold'em

You do sound like the last 20 people that worked on cruse ships in I.T.  Really helpful.

If you are against helping those that are hard of hearing just say so.  You needn't quote law, statistics, and every reason that you can think of to not help.  Most ships do.  I would like to know what got up your nose?  However, since you have made your position clear, you needn't answer or be on this board any longer.  Just state that your are against it, and cruise ships have a law all their own. 

DOT changed this so that all disabled passengers have equal AIR access.  However, laws at sea are very murky.  I.e.. 

Jurisdiction

Most cruise lines register their ships with foreign countries and fly foreign flags. As such, the law of the country of registration may apply to events on such cruise ships. Additionally, for cruises departing from a U.S. port, the laws of the state where the ship departed, U.S. federal law, and various international treaties may apply as well.

Special maritime jurisdiction may apply pursuant to 18 U.S. Code Section 7 when an offense is committed by or against a U.S. national in a place outside the jurisdiction of any country, and cover foreign vessels that have a United States arrival or departure port.

Florida Statute 910.006 offers Florida law enforcement special maritime jurisdiction when an offense is committed and the victim is resident of Florida, the suspect on board the ship is a resident or citizen of Florida; more than half the revenue passengers aboard the ship originally embarked and plan to finally disembark in a Florida port; or the crime could have caused a "substantial effect" within Florida.

So you see, we can never solve the hearing problem by changing the law.  It has to be consumer driven.

I think that you may be wrong since I checked this with Viking on the Closed Captions and have it in writing that they obey the laws of the Netherlands since that is where the ownership resides, not the US.   Nothing to do with Registry.   I replied that the EU has stricter compliance than US on hearing assistance since they also see it as help in educating immigrants in language.

However, this is far afield.  You can have this one if you want.  I only said that it was up to the consumers not the law to change cruise lines to be more friendly to the hard of hearing by CC, help with movie theater, shows, trivia pursuit, door bells, announcements, etc.  Begin with a letter writing campaign, up it to letters of the president of the line and then begin booking and cancelling with the reason of non compliance to hard of hearing.  There are plenty of ships that do comply.  If you want a list, I'll give it to you.

I think that you just agreed with me that Registry and Ownership is not the same.  And as I said, in any case, it is consumer pressure that generally changes the behavior or corporations, rarely laws or Congress.

Which is why I said that regardless of the law that is in place (registry and ownership are not the same either), we, as consumers will determine whether or not the ships change their tune on helping the hearing disabled.  You don't really think that most movie houses in the US offer Closed Captions because of the law, do you?   I suspect hard of hearing and deaf is a larger group than all of the other handicapped groups that now frequent cruise ships.  There are plenty of cruise lines that respect and help the hard of hearing and deaf.  Just let the ones that do not,  know when you cancel a world cruise with them it is because of their practices.  With the state of disarray in our legislative bodies, I doubt the law will change quickly and we cannot depend on that.  This is for consumer activism which determines how fast companies change policies.