September 2020 too early to be booking cruises in Aus.

[MMDown Under]

Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Nick Coatsworth, says "September 2020 is too early to be booking cruises in Australia.

There will be an opportunity to book that sort of holiday and time to consider whether cruise ships are the right place to go but i would suggest it is too early at this point in time".

abc.net.au

[By The Bay]

45 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Nick Coatsworth, says "September 2020 is too early to be booking cruises in Australia.

There will be an opportunity to book that sort of holiday and time to consider whether cruise ships are the right place to go but i would suggest it is too early at this point in time".

abc.net.au

Totally agree. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

He's probably right but mine was booked a couple of months ago. I'm now just waiting for it to be cancelled. 😥

[MicCanberra]

Not expecting any cruises until October /November and then only domestic cruises with extreme measures and passenger restrictions.

[Chiliburn]

I was optimistic but I’m not so sure about 2020 

[pully8]

Yes read his comment.

We know previously many people booked cruises a very long time ahead to ensure the cabin/route.

Currently some have FCC for multiple cruises which will need to be accommodated.

How all that will work and the new bookings, unclear how all that will work .

We seldom book along way ahead as we like to be flexible and not locked in to set arrangements.

It must be difficult for public health officials with this new virus.

They are used to stuff like measles, STD, Hep viruses, etc this is beyond their experience.

Same spokesman was asked about the Cedar Meats cluster management by Victoria public health, he was noncommittal said we learn from these and this that assists with the next.

 

 

[nnps]

10 hours ago, pully8 said:

 

Same spokesman was asked about the Cedar Meats cluster management by Victoria public health, he was noncommittal said we learn from these and this that assists with the next.

 

 

Interesting thing about the Cedar Meats incident was the comment that many of the workers were casuals and so not eligible for Jobkeeper. Going to be tested for COVID and being quarantined would have meant losing their income so it was a huge disincentive to be tested. 

[By The Bay]

Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham has cautioned against booking cruise tickets, stressing that there is no set date they will be permitted to return to sea amid the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Many cruise companies have been taking bookings for this year and early 2021, but Birmingham said it would be "optimistic" to think they would be operating again by September.

"We haven't got to the specifics of talking about their restarting, and frankly, the first hurdle they've got to clear is with health officials, not with tourism ministers, to demonstrate that they can operate in a COVID-safe way," he said.

[Chiliburn]

1 minute ago, By The Bay said:

Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham has cautioned against booking cruise tickets, stressing that there is no set date they will be permitted to return to sea amid the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Many cruise companies have been taking bookings for this year and early 2021, but Birmingham said it would be "optimistic" to think they would be operating again by September.

"We haven't got to the specifics of talking about their restarting, and frankly, the first hurdle they've got to clear is with health officials, not with tourism ministers, to demonstrate that they can operate in a COVID-safe way," he said.

At least they are talking about it

[By The Bay]

Just now, Chiliburn said:

At least they are talking about it

An we are mostly an optimistic bunch here.😉

[possum52]

11 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

At least they are talking about it

I think any talk of cruising will be low on the list of the Fed Govt's priorities.

 

Leigh

[Roger88]

Australia is a whole different story. You guys have too many disasters this year. I hope everything is going alright with you at the moment but I am sure most of Australian citizens are bothered with internal problems. Fires and now the pandemic have hit the countries economy very hard. It will take time to recover

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, By The Bay said:

Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham has cautioned against booking cruise tickets, stressing that there is no set date they will be permitted to return to sea amid the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Many cruise companies have been taking bookings for this year and early 2021, but Birmingham said it would be "optimistic" to think they would be operating again by September.

"We haven't got to the specifics of talking about their restarting, and frankly, the first hurdle they've got to clear is with health officials, not with tourism ministers, to demonstrate that they can operate in a COVID-safe way," he said.

Pleased to hear comment that the first hurdle they've got to clear is with health officials, not with tourism ministers, to demonstrate that they can operate in a COVID-safe way.

I think that health and operation of ships in a COVID-safe way would be the major concern of most future passengers. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

29 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Pleased to hear comment that the first hurdle they've got to clear is with health officials, not with tourism ministers, to demonstrate that they can operate in a COVID-safe way.

I think that health and operation of ships in a COVID-safe way would be the major concern of most future passengers. 

Although I agree with your second paragraph, I'm not totally happy about health officials being the first hurdle as I suspect they will be very biased against cruising regardless of how much effort the cruise lines put in to making the ships safe - which, of course will be totally negated by the first selfish passenger who boards with 'just a touch of hayfever" and then spends the next few days sneezing all over other passengers, spreading whatever virus they have everywhere.

 

 

[By The Bay]

8 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Although I agree with your second paragraph, I'm not totally happy about health officials being the first hurdle as I suspect they will be very biased against cruising regardless of how much effort the cruise lines put in to making the ships safe - which, of course will be totally negated by the first selfish passenger who boards with 'just a touch of hayfever" and then spends the next few days sneezing all over other passengers, spreading whatever virus they have everywhere.

Is it not the case that the CDC in USA has to be convinced that cruising has to be safe before it can recommence?

[OzKiwiJJ]

21 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

Is it not the case that the CDC in USA has to be convinced that cruising has to be safe before it can recommence?

I'm not totally sure on that point as the cruise ships aren't registered in the US. I recall seeing some debate about it somewhere else and that point came up.

 

In theory it's totally sensible to have health authorities give the OK except ...

[The_Big_M]

43 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

Is it not the case that the CDC in USA has to be convinced that cruising has to be safe before it can recommence?

 

Only in the case of cruises in US controlled waters.

 

They can sail elsewhere without that.

[By The Bay]

Just now, The_Big_M said:

 

Only in the case of cruises in US controlled waters.

 

They can sail elsewhere without that.

Or is also the case that some of the cruise ship companies are  Headquartered in USA and therefore are under CDC guidance?

[The_Big_M]

5 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

Or is also the case that some of the cruise ship companies are  Headquartered in USA and therefore are under CDC guidance?

 

CDC does not cover permission to operate worldwide. They set requirements for sailings in US waters as a US body.

 

Just as with many things, they don't care what you do if you don't have anything to do with them. They're not a cruise regulatory body, just about disease control and health for the US.

[nnps]

20 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

 

CDC does not cover permission to operate worldwide. They set requirements for sailings in US waters as a US body.

 

Just as with many things, they don't care what you do if you don't have anything to do with them. They're not a cruise regulatory body, just about disease control and health for the US.

Trump doesn't pay much attention to them anyway.

[Chiliburn]

4 hours ago, possum52 said:

I think any talk of cruising will be low on the list of the Fed Govt's priorities.

 

Leigh

Wouldn’t the state have something to do with opening their ports?

[OzKiwiJJ]

54 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Wouldn’t the state have something to do with opening their ports?

Only after the Fed government has given the green light overall. Which possibly means Sydney will be the last port to reopen to cruise ships.

[By The Bay]

3 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

 

CDC does not cover permission to operate worldwide. They set requirements for sailings in US waters as a US body.

 

Just as with many things, they don't care what you do if you don't have anything to do with them. They're not a cruise regulatory body, just about disease control and health for the US.

This was reported in the latest Cruise Passenger email.

 

"Strict rules imposed by the American Centres of Disease Control and Prevention has put the mental health and wellbeing of around 100,000 stranded cruise crew around the world in jeopardy. There are around 70,000 crew still waiting at sea to get home."

 

It would appear that cruise companies are following CDC guidelines.

[Russell21]

Noticed a report in the news this evening that during the discussion regarding why the $1500.00 payments were only going for 6 months, ScoMo when referring to industries that will be most hit, mentioned that the Tourism industry would be the hardest hit with border restrictions for some years to come yet.

[The_Big_M]

3 hours ago, By The Bay said:

This was reported in the latest Cruise Passenger email.

 

"Strict rules imposed by the American Centres of Disease Control and Prevention has put the mental health and wellbeing of around 100,000 stranded cruise crew around the world in jeopardy. There are around 70,000 crew still waiting at sea to get home."

 

It would appear that cruise companies are following CDC guidelines.

 

The joys of poor journalism. And then others rely on it.

 

As you'll note from that article, it makes lots of a reference to the Guardian for the report. It also doesn't explicitly state how CDC is causing this. It's just an opening assertion without justification.

 

If you refer to the actual Guardian story, which is accurate, the reference to the CDC is actually 

"Cruise companies have blamed strict rules from health authorities for not letting crew disembark. In and around US waters, 100 cruise ships with 70,000 crew are still waiting at sea, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently told the Guardian that some operators have opted to stay at sea, citing concerns about cost and potential legal consequences. "

 

Source: 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/14/deaths-and-hunger-strikes-point-to-mental-health-crisis-on-stranded-cruise-ships

 

So the actual statement about the CDC is on restrictions in US waters, not waters around the world. That's just poor paraphrasing in the cruise passenger article.