Oceania Cruisers -- How are things where YOU live?

[AlexCherie]

Western New York - a recent surge in people wearing a mask at a supermarket; border traffic to Canada is problematic and that is having an impact on business here. Restaurants have no staffing so you can't really dine out between Sunday and Tuesday night much.

Given the compressed availability reservations are still available, which is surprising a bit. Before the rise of the variant in the summer they were harder to come by. 

We have family involved in healthcare, there really hasn't been a rise in hospital beds for the infected. And I think there is as much fear of rising crime as there is COVID.

[WESTEAST]

20 hours ago, AlexCherie said:

Western New York - a recent surge in people wearing a mask at a supermarket; border traffic to Canada is problematic and that is having an impact on business here. Restaurants have no staffing so you can't really dine out between Sunday and Tuesday night much.

Given the compressed availability reservations are still available, which is surprising a bit. Before the rise of the variant in the summer they were harder to come by. 

We have family involved in healthcare, there really hasn't been a rise in hospital beds for the infected. And I think there is as much fear of rising crime as there is COVID.

As we all know, 'essential' travel by air has been permitted between Canada and US throughout the pandemic. Canada opened land borders to fully vaccinated Americans with test in August however, the US has yet to open the land borders to fully vaccinated Canadians? The border problem is up to the US Government to resolve. Of note, Canadian Gov't website reports as of Oct 2nd, 81% of Canadians 12 and older are fully vaccinated (believe US has total of 65% fully vaccinated per NY Times).  

[AlexCherie]

1 hour ago, WESTEAST said:

As we all know, 'essential' travel by air has been permitted between Canada and US throughout the pandemic. Canada opened land borders to fully vaccinated Americans with test in August however, the US has yet to open the land borders to fully vaccinated Canadians? The border problem is up to the US Government to resolve. Of note, Canadian Gov't website reports as of Oct 2nd, 81% of Canadians 12 and older are fully vaccinated (believe US has total of 65% fully vaccinated per NY Times).  

As we know, what is permitted and what is happening tell two different stories.

I don't know what it is like in Detroit, but our cross border traffic is down considerably. The shopping malls used to be full of Ontario plates.

No more. 

And speaking for myself, I'm twice vaccinated as is my wife. We aren't going to go get tested just so we can get into Canada. That's just not happening. 

[tipsygirl]

We live in a resort type area, so have lots of open areas and trails for walking. Lots of folks have been outside walking and biking throughout the pandemic.Infection rates have been high in our county, but are beginning to drop. More restaurants are beginning to have events such as wine dinners.

We received our initial doses of Pfizer in February and had our booster shot in September. We have taken 2 trips within the US since July on tours requiring vaccinations. Met some fellow Texans on the last trip. 

We have easy access to free testing so were both tested early in the pandemic and again prior to our July trip. And I had required testing prior to each of two surgical procedures in September. All tests negative. 

Most medical practices still require masks, but most other business have made it optional. 

Although we have stayed CoVid free we have multiple friends and family who have been infected. One family member died. She was 94. 

 

We are considering a cruise in the Caribbean in February on a cruise line that requires vaccinations and testing, including for children and those who have recovered from CoVid. 

[Caymus88]

New York State just announced state of emergency because of Omicron

OMG. 

Edited November 27, 2021 by Caymus88

[WKUWIZ]

On 11/27/2021 at 1:55 PM, Caymus88 said:

New York State just announced state of emergency because of Omicron

OMG. 

Yes, we saw that.  Apparently it causes fatigue and a slight headache.  Better Lockdown...  Sorry y'all have to go through poor decision making.

[molemaui]

Michigan is now one of the worse states in the US for COVID cases. Hospitals are beyond the "red stage". If you are in a car accident, have a heart attack or just need hospital care, you are pretty much out of luck in MI. Only life/death cases are getting surgery approval. 

 

We're vaccinated with booster and have already taken a cruise in October. 3 more planned in next several months. With the testing and vaccinated only policies, a ship is a pretty safe place to be in my opinion. 

[WESTEAST]

The Canadian Government announced effective today (December 15th) a new Covid-19 travel advisory:  avoid non-essential travel outside Canada. This is on top of the continued advisory to avoid all cruise travel outside of Canada. 

[Hokapontas]

On 12/2/2021 at 9:44 AM, molemaui said:

Michigan is now one of the worse states in the US for COVID cases. Hospitals are beyond the "red stage". If you are in a car accident, have a heart attack or just need hospital care, you are pretty much out of luck in MI. Only life/death cases are getting surgery approval. 

 

We're vaccinated with booster and have already taken a cruise in October. 3 more planned in next several months. With the testing and vaccinated only policies, a ship is a pretty safe place to be in my opinion. 

 

 

We are returning to cruising in August next year. What changes did you see? Did you wear any masks, clean your room down at all or spend most of your time out of doors? A cautious question.

[Hokapontas]

Addressing the question criteria, Sydney Australia has decided not to lock down, to accept overseas arrivals without the previously required quarantine, and dropped the mask mandate recently. It is as if the Omicron variant is preferential, and needs to spread. No state is allowed to continue with hard borders, which they have had in recent past. Our hospitals are ok but I think we have less beds per population, so govt has been especially cautious. We have been captive to the various governments' restrictive decisions so far. There have been 3700 cases in our state today and nobody has lost their mind about it. Being Christmas, many are able to visit family, travel and have family travel to them after a long time, so great! Other countries are having a harder time than us, we know. I think everyone is breathing a sigh of relief.

[molemaui]

12 hours ago, Hokapontas said:

 

 

We are returning to cruising in August next year. What changes did you see? Did you wear any masks, clean your room down at all or spend most of your time out of doors? A cautious question.

Our first cruise in October was on there Celebrity Edge. Masks were required at all ports (inside and out) on our itinerary. Masks were not required on board. A few more them but they were in the minority. The entire crew was required to wear masks. As we were just looking to relax and have been to all the ports before, we never got off the ship and instead enjoyed a "floating resort". There was not much in the way of social distancing although there were those who requested a table not close to others and as far as I could tell, the request was always granted. I'm not much of a buffet person but noted they were well staffed with crew serving food instead of self service. (ship holds approx. 3000 guests-approx. 1300 on board) 

 

We just returned last night from our second cruise on Silversea. On this ship, masks were required in any public area indoors. Once you got to the bar or dining area, you could keep your mask off. two COVID tests were given onboard and were simply precautionary as I was told. All ports required masks inside and out except St. Barth's which only required them inside stores, etc. SIlversea also provided a COVID test during the boarding process. There were approx. 410 on board. Ship holds 609. 

 

In two weeks we leave on Oceania. When we booked, masks were not required. Just got notice that they will now be required By the wording of the notice, it seems it will be similar to SIlversea-indoor public areas. 

 

As a back to back right after the Oceania cruise, we will reboard the Celebrity Edge. As of now, nothing has changed. We'll see as the date get's closer. 

 

On both cruises taken so far, cleaning seemed "extra" and thorough. There were hand washing requirement  before dining, etc. The reduced passenger counts helped in reducing crowds. 

 

All cruises we are considering have a 100% guest and crew vaccination requirement and do quite a bit of testing. I know nothing is fail safe but we feel much safer on a ship then in a nice resort somewhere. Right now, we really don't care where the ship goes. 

 

Hope this helps.