What is the earliest you'd rebook?

[suspaul]

We’ve cancelled our July Viking ocean cruise and rebooked for June 2021, had a Viking river in early May that was cancelled and don’t know when/if we’ll  reschedule.  
We do have a mid December AMA river cruise with hotel stays in Switzerland pre-cruise and plan to spend New Years in Amsterdam.  Not cancelling any of this until we see how the Covid19 situation stabilizes or not.  

[CaribbeanIsland]

I am hoping for a Christmas Markets cruise at the end of the year but haven't booked anything yet. Hopeful.

[AF-1]

Since our river cruise was cancelled for May; we are looking for a good date for May 2021;  as soon as we find a date; we will re-book

[elklemi]

Booked mid September for 17 day river/bus tour and final payment is Late June so trying to decide what to do, concern about flights and condition of all the countries we pass through.  17 days is a long time to be gone during all this uncertainty  and keep hearing about a possible rebound in the fall so impossible to anticipate conditions in September.  Good luck to all on their decisions.

[TFree]

We had a June 7 Uniworld Danube cruise planned.  We cancelled it and re-booked a similar Uniworld Danube cruise for May, 2021.  While we don't anticipate taking another cruise before then (river or ocean) we might take a European land tour in the fall.  Maybe around October (yet to be determined).

 

Tom & Judy

[cruisergrandma]

We are hoping to do a Christmas Market cruise in December 2020. Or maybe a Christmas Market land tour on our own. Hopefully we will be able to do so.

[bcorre2]

We have rebooked our cancelled Portugal's River Of Gold from June 2020 to June 2021 using Vikings 125% FCV.

Still hoping our Tauck In Freedom's Footsteps land journey will go this September.

Since then, we've booked two Viking Mississippi River cruises for 2022 & 2023. We'll enjoy the shorter flights.

[rentlady]

Not sailing anywhere until there Is a vaccine.

[AF-1]

rentlady;  what if there is no vaccine for five years.  Will you not take any vacations?  Just curious.  There has never been an "aids" vaccine;  however, people still go on vacation who have tested positive with aids.  It's been 35 years since aids came to the forefront; and yet no vaccine.  That is why I ask?  

[sharkster77]

@AF-1,   it is easy to avoid getting AIDS if one avoids certain behaviors, OTOH, it is hard to avoid breathing!!

 

COVID cannot be compared to AIDS.

[lackcreativity]

2 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

@AF-1,   it is easy to avoid getting AIDS if one avoids certain behaviors, OTOH, it is hard to avoid breathing!!

 

COVID cannot be compared to AIDS.

I think the point was the you can't predict how long it will take to develop a vaccine. If the search does drag on for years, I believe we will find ways to live an altered life in the time of corona. I can't picture what exactly it will be, and I am all for the current stay at home measures, but I honestly can't see spending the rest of my life in semi-quarantine. 

[jim80134]

Just Booked for 2022.  I was concerned of all the rebooking filling the boats quicker than the old norm.

[sharkster77]

20 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

I think the point was the you can't predict how long it will take to develop a vaccine. If the search does drag on for years, I believe we will find ways to live an altered life in the time of corona. I can't picture what exactly it will be, and I am all for the current stay at home measures, but I honestly can't see spending the rest of my life in semi-quarantine. 

 

I will repeat my assertion--one cannot compare COVID to AIDS.

 

AIDS had all kinds of other factors.  Some politicians ignored it because of its high incidence in the gay community.  Some people had a "they're getting what they deserved" mentality.  It took the death of the young hemophiliac Ryan White to wake up the narrow-minded.   AIDS is EASY to avoid--I don't have to list the behaviors one has to stop doing to avoid AIDS.

 

COVID is a completely different animal.  The only thing the two have in common is that in both cases, feet-dragging led to unnecessary deaths.  You can get COVID walking down the street.  I do not believe I can get AIDS that way.

[franski]

22 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

I think the point was the you can't predict how long it will take to develop a vaccine. If the search does drag on for years, I believe we will find ways to live an altered life in the time of corona. I can't picture what exactly it will be, and I am all for the current stay at home measures, but I honestly can't see spending the rest of my life in semi-quarantine. 

I am not convinced that a vaccine is anywhere close to being available in real time.  And, given the fact that this is another strain of the flu - and flu vaccines each year are really just a "best guess" scenario - I wouldn't put any money on a "vaccine".  No, I am not an anti-vaxxer... I do get immunized - and take a flu shot.  But,  I am in agreement with you, lackcreativity, in that I am not ready to spend the rest of my life in semi-quarantine... Nor will I put my faith in a vaccine - that has not yet been developed - that may or may not be completely effective.

 

The challenge with Covid 19 is that we still don't understand how it is spread.  People can test positive - and yet exhibit no symptoms. We aren't able to accurately identify the window of risk with exposure. And, with so many people believing it is a hoax, or "just another strain of flu" - even if you get vaccinated, who is to say the guy behind you in the grocery line, or passing you on the sidewalk, or delivering your pizza!! - has been vaccinated or if they have been in contact with someone who has not been - and is passing this along?   

 

I do believe that we are looking at a "new normal" - and we will need to be aware of our surroundings, try to maintain some distance between bodies --> and hope that our governments are quicker to react should something similar arise again.

 

Stay safe everyone!!  I, for one, am hoping that my cruise in early October is booked in a "sweet spot" - after Covid has settled, and before the next flu season arrives... and, it will come.  In the meantime, I continue to "shelter at home"...  my house isn't any cleaner, but I have produced some amazing quilts!!

 

Fran

 

[KathyK13]

I read yesterday that a lab at Oxford University has started human trials for a vaccine they have been working on, and if results are good the vaccine may be widely available in September.  The lab already had a coronavirus vaccine that had alreay gone through the first trials; they were able to modify it for Covid-19 and have completed animal testing.  Monkeys that received the vaccine and the virus did not get sick nor suffered side effects.  They have already started human trials with a large group, some of whom will receive placebos.  Of course there's no guarantee it will be safe and effective for humans, but it looks promising!

 

We have a Christmas market cruise booked for December.  We're just waiting to see how things work out.

 

[coevan]

On 4/28/2020 at 7:40 AM, sharkster77 said:

@AF-1,   it is easy to avoid getting AIDS if one avoids certain behaviors, OTOH, it is hard to avoid breathing!!

 

COVID cannot be compared to AIDS.

 

 

in any possible way

[franski]

19 hours ago, KathyK13 said:

I read yesterday that a lab at Oxford University has started human trials for a vaccine they have been working on, and if results are good the vaccine may be widely available in September.  The lab already had a coronavirus vaccine that had alreay gone through the first trials; they were able to modify it for Covid-19 and have completed animal testing.  Monkeys that received the vaccine and the virus did not get sick nor suffered side effects.  They have already started human trials with a large group, some of whom will receive placebos.  Of course there's no guarantee it will be safe and effective for humans, but it looks promising!

 

I just went on line and looked up the study... not particularly robust, IMHO.  They are looking at just a small sample (of just over 1000 participants) who must be in good health, and between the ages of 18 & 55 - and not have tested positive for Covid-19.  Half will get a placebo.  The participant will get either the vaccine or the placebo - and a diary to record symptoms.  If they develop symptoms, they will be monitored. But - unless you have  2 people visiting the exact same places at the same time - how can you - with any accuracy - state that the vaccine prevents (or doesn't prevent) Covid-19?  A good start, but the type of strong data they are looking for will not be available any time soon.  And, to push something through because you think it will work  without having the testing & results to back it up is worrisome...  Anyone remember Thalidomide for morning sickness??  (BTW, Thalidomide is being used successfully these days to treat multiple myeloma...)

 

Fran

[notamermaid]

Hello fran,

a pharmaceutical body is now backing the Oxford group as they think it has potential. In an interview on BBC news a guy from the company said, animal testing was promising, they are now monitoring the small sample group, then if this is okay a larger cohort, then they will see. No talk of September, but perhaps mass production at the end of the year. Perhaps...

 

At Mainz, here in Germany, they have also started a test run with a few volunteers, a local Biotech company has been given approval by the authorities in Berlin to do it. They also hope to be ready by the end of the year.

 

I am hopeful that Mainz university or other clever people looking for medicines can find one in the not so distant future. In Mainz they used a supercomputer to run through existing medicines for their active ingredients and compare them to symptoms data I believe. The results at first glance are promising.

 

I think before we have a vaccine we will have drugs and when that happens, the idea of re-booking becomes more feasible.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[sjde]

Franski,

Coronavirus is not another type of flu (influenza). If it were, a vaccine would be much closer at hand.

Some vaccines are licensed based on Randomized Control Trials  that use antibody response to the vaccine as measured in the laboratory, rather than decreases in influenza disease among people who were vaccinated.

[franski]

16 hours ago, sjde said:

Franski,

Coronavirus is not another type of flu (influenza). If it were, a vaccine would be much closer at hand.

Some vaccines are licensed based on Randomized Control Trials  that use antibody response to the vaccine as measured in the laboratory, rather than decreases in influenza disease among people who were vaccinated.

Sorry - you are right... I misspoke. They are both respiratory illnesses - with the flu having multiple strains, and  Covid-19 with 1 strain initially.   However, the Covid-19 virus has already mutated into 3 strains  - as discovered/reported by Cambridge University.  Further testing done in NY (looking at the DNA from samples taken from patients) is showing more deviations - so, I guess I am wondering - given the degree of variation - if a single vaccine will be effective.   A huge challenge is that we still don't know enough about it (Covid-19) - and even though multiple sources are promising a vaccine "soon", I am not confident in that reassurance.   Would love to proven wrong...

 

Fran

 

 

 

 

 

[coevan]

Sjde, please increase your font, even with contacts, it's barely legible 

Edited May 2, 2020 by coevan
added content

[sjde]

Well if it’s mutated into several strains that’s going to make it tougher every year . That's  why the flu vaccine isn’t aLways effective-  they’re always guessing which Of the many  strains  it’s going to be and I think the shot only includes  three or four. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

16 minutes ago, sjde said:

Well if it’s mutated into several strains that’s going to make it tougher every year . That's  why the flu vaccine isn’t aLways effective-  they’re always guessing which Of the many  strains  it’s going to be and I think the shot only includes  three or four. 

 

DW and I faithfully get the flu shot every fall – and since we're over 70, we get the triple-strength 'old codgers' version.  And this year we both got the flu anyway [on the same day, so no blame game in our household!].  So people are going to have to get used to the idea that they may get coronavirus in the normal course and adapt to that – or else we'll all have to go back to the stone age and live in caves...

 

[PS – how scary is this:  the autocorrect already knows how to spell 'coronavirus'...]

[sjde]

Two years ago I got the flu shot for seniors as well , based on my doctor’s recommendation . She said it was stronger or higher dose because as we age , our immune systems don’t work as well . That was the one time I got influenza ! It was a mild case , maybe because I  had the vaccine?  Then my niece in pharmacy school told me I should stick with the regular one because it includes more strains. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 minutes ago, sjde said:

Two years ago I got the flu shot for seniors as well , based on my doctor’s recommendation . She said it was stronger or higher dose because as we age , our immune systems don’t work as well . That was the one time I got influenza ! It was a mild case , maybe because I  had the vaccine?  Then my niece in pharmacy school told me I should stick with the regular one because it includes more strains. 

 

Thanks for that info.  Next fall I will ask.