Australia Extends Cruise Ban

[banzaii]

13 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

3 months, you must love to cruise.

 Australia has started testing it’s own vaccine today in Melbourne and Brisbane today.

They should have some results In July.

 Apparently it also gives immunity to vegemite,flies and long hot summers.

But not the drop bears!

[bouhunter]

On 5/23/2020 at 9:13 AM, lr657 said:

Serenade itineraries have her sailing from Honolulu to Sydney on September 17th. She is currently somewhere in the Caribbean. If the ports actually do open in September, wonder what the plan for Serenade will be for the 2020/2021 season. 

At this point, wonder what the plan will be for any ship in the 2020/2021 season.

[Chiliburn]

46 minutes ago, banzaii said:

But not the drop bears!

Drop bears are part of our secret defence plan. They are quite placid until they hear a foreign accent.

[island lady]

16 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

3 months, you must love to cruise.

 Australia has started testing it’s own vaccine today in Melbourne and Brisbane today.

They should have some results In July.

 Apparently it also gives immunity to vegemite,flies and long hot summers.

 

Yes, indeed we love to cruise.  It has only been a year now since life change has allowed us to do the longer trips.  We both want to see the world as much as we can, while we still can...and now we can't.  Very frustrating for us and many of our cruise mates.  😞 

 

LOL...Vegemite.  Yikes, I did try that in NZ many years ago where we spent our honeymoon.  Must be an acquired taste.  😉 

[Biker19]

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the restrictions on outbound international travel and the entry of cruise ships within Australian territory have been extended until June 17.

 

The three-month extension will take the human biosecurity emergency period out to 15 months. It was introduced on March 18 last year and was set to cease December 17, before being extended to March 17.

Unacceptable risk

Hunt said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee and the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer advised the government that the COVID-19 situation overseas continues to pose an unacceptable public health risk, including the emergence of more highly transmissible variants. 

 

He said the extension of the emergency period is to mitigate that risk for everyone’s health and safety.

 

He said the government continues to work closely with state and territory agencies, national health committees and the cruise industry to develop a framework for the staged resumption of cruise ships in a manner that is proportionate to the public health risk.

‘Remarkable job’

Cruise Lines International Association Australasia MD Joel Katz said Australia has done a 'remarkable job’ in managing COVID-19 and CLIA respects the decision to extend the Biosecurity Determination affecting the border and international travel.

 

‘However, we believe there is a pathway for the phased and tightly controlled return of domestic cruising for the benefit of those regional communities and industries that rely on a healthy cruise sector,’ Katz said.

Talks about domestic operations

‘We have been working closely with the federal government for more than six months now on a high-level framework for the restart of domestic operations.’

[Hogbay]

P&O is the one that cruised throughout the year Royal only comes for our summer season hope everything better by then 🙂

[TheMastodon]

I wonder what New Zealand will do?  I hear they are turning away migrating birds and other sea creatures.  Might not cruise there for a long time considering they lock down for one case.

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, TheMastodon said:

I wonder what New Zealand will do?

The turning away of cruise ships may not even be COVID related - Ponant was denied because they couldn't get the crew the right visas.

[Biker19]

On 3/5/2021 at 1:13 AM, Hogbay said:

P&O is the one that cruised throughout the year Royal only comes for our summer season hope everything better by then 🙂

They don't seem to be too optimistic things will be in place by the time the ban lifts:

 

P&O Australia, which Carnival Corp owns, has extended its pause on operations down under until the end of July 2021. This comes as there are some positive signs on restarting operations with talks between the industry and the government.

More Cancellations for P&O

The cruise line has extended its pause on operations until the end of July as the industry remains closed in the country. So this means that even more cruises will now be canceled from June 18 to July 30, 2021.

 

P&O Australia is also canceling voyages to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands for the remainder of the year given the uncertainty around borders.  Unfortunately, this also affects this year’s Cairns season where Pacific Explorer was to be based for two months from October.

President of P&O Cruises Australia, Sture Myrmell, said:

“We are sorry that some of our guests will be unavoidably inconvenienced by these changes to the existing schedule at a time when we remain optimistic about returning to service as society keeps opening up.”

“We are continuing our discussions with governments and health authorities to develop a framework for the staged resumption of cruising.”

“As those discussions continue, today’s changes are necessary as we take a practical approach to the current environment and continue to look forward to better days ahead.”

 

The government does currently have an extended ban on cruise ships in place until June 17, 2021. This is part of the human biosecurity emergency period due to the global pandemic. The ban has been in place since March 18, 2020.

 

Still Positive Signs

There are still some positive signs of a cruise restart in Australia this year. We already know the authorities down under are working on a framework so that cruises can resume.

 

P&O Australia president has also said that the cruise line continues to have discussions with governments and health authorities so that cruised can resume. There have already been rumblings are following the UK by offering domestic sailings only once operations resume. P&O Australia previously extended its suspension until June 18, 2021.

 

P&O Australia Extends Cruise Suspension (cruisehive.com)

[dswallow]

Should we start a thread discussing the odds for who's first to come out with a functioning framework to restart cruising, Australia or the United States? 🙂

[Chiliburn]

I think we have given up on the 2021-2022 season.

With a couple of outbreaks locally ,immunisation delays plus a situation with our islands in our area such as PNG ,Solomon Islands.They just don’t have the ability.
That will divert a lot of resources.

Its realistic our government won’t allow cruises to start.

[Chiliburn]

2 minutes ago, dswallow said:

Should we start a thread discussing the odds for who's first to come out with a functioning framework to restart cruising, Australia or the United States? 🙂

Singapore is offering us cruises if we can get there.

[kernow]

2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

I think we have given up on the 2021-2022 season.

With a couple of outbreaks locally ,immunisation delays plus a situation with our islands in our area such as PNG ,Solomon Islands.They just don’t have the ability.
That will divert a lot of resources.

Its realistic our government won’t allow cruises to start.

I'm interested in your comments as we have a Feb 2022 Sydney to Singapore on Serenade booked. Do you think this is really unlikely to happen?

In the UK we don't hear too much about the situation in Australia, is the vaccination programme not going well?

[Chiliburn]

1 minute ago, kernow said:

I'm interested in your comments as we have a Feb 2022 Sydney to Singapore on Serenade booked. Do you think this is really unlikely to happen?

In the UK we don't hear too much about the situation in Australia, is the vaccination programme not going well?

I doubt you will be doing that cruise.

 I could be wrong it wouldn’t be the first time.

Our government has done a fantastic job of controlling the virus .
It is almost nonexistent in the community.

And I think  it doesn’t want to lose it’s reputation .
For me they are over cautious.We could have domestic cruises.But they won’t take the chance.

Also We have a unfolding situation in our islands near us and it’s probably going to take a lot of our medical resources to deal with it.

[kernow]

9 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I doubt you will be doing that cruise.

 I could be wrong it wouldn’t be the first time.

Our government has done a fantastic job of controlling the virus .
It is almost nonexistent in the community.

And I think  it doesn’t want to lose it’s reputation .
For me they are over cautious.We could have domestic cruises.But they won’t take the chance.

Also We have a unfolding situation in our islands near us and it’s probably going to take a lot of our medical resources to deal with it.

Thanks for the info. We're really not sure what to do, keep this cruise (which we really like the sound of) or move to one of the Ovation cruises in Nov/Dec 2022. 

[island lady]

That is why I purposely waiting to book again until 2023.  😮   Had no hope at all for the 21-22 season. 

[MommaBear55]

I'm hoping we can travel from the US to cruise in Australia and New Zealand next year. My husband and I are reaching the point that we may not want to take 10 hours flights anymore, but I really want to spend more time down under before our time runs out.

[island lady]

19 minutes ago, MommaBear55 said:

I'm hoping we can travel from the US to cruise in Australia and New Zealand next year. My husband and I are reaching the point that we may not want to take 10 hours flights anymore, but I really want to spend more time down under before our time runs out.

 

I am already booked for 2023.   And from United's website...it's a 23-24 hour total flight time.  That was what it was when we went to New Zealand for our honeymoon many years ago as well.  And that is from Florida.  

[ScottishRobbie]

21 hours ago, kernow said:

I'm interested in your comments as we have a Feb 2022 Sydney to Singapore on Serenade booked. Do you think this is really unlikely to happen?

In the UK we don't hear too much about the situation in Australia, is the vaccination programme not going well?

There's a few reasons that I highly doubt you'll be going on that cruise. When cruises restart down under, I anticipate that it will be for Australian residents only, similar to the Quantum cruises out of Singapore, and stop at Australian ports only. Also, if the cruise you are on goes ahead, it would likely be on Radiance rather than Serenade, as Radiance is currently still in Asia after last years Australian season (and is due to return 2022-23), while Serenade is currently still in the Americas

[dswallow]

32 minutes ago, ScottishRobbie said:

There's a few reasons that I highly doubt you'll be going on that cruise. When cruises restart down under, I anticipate that it will be for Australian residents only, similar to the Quantum cruises out of Singapore, and stop at Australian ports only. Also, if the cruise you are on goes ahead, it would likely be on Radiance rather than Serenade, as Radiance is currently still in Asia after last years Australian season (and is due to return 2022-23), while Serenade is currently still in the Americas

 

Australia has been ultra-conservative with COVID--19. I can't believe that any change in that will happen quickly. Mid-2022 would be my guess when things will start opening up that leisure travelers could get into Australia, at least from places like the US and much of Europe, and probably will require some pretty strict protocols even then, at first.

[Hogbay]

Cruise passenger Quantum 🙃

[ShazM]

7 hours ago, ScottishRobbie said:

There's a few reasons that I highly doubt you'll be going on that cruise. When cruises restart down under, I anticipate that it will be for Australian residents only, similar to the Quantum cruises out of Singapore, and stop at Australian ports only. Also, if the cruise you are on goes ahead, it would likely be on Radiance rather than Serenade, as Radiance is currently still in Asia after last years Australian season (and is due to return 2022-23), while Serenade is currently still in the Americas

I am kind of a bit the other way. We are also booked on this cruise to Singapore. My hope is that even if the ship changes, given we will have a travel bubble with Singapore soonish then it may well be one cruise that actually goes with Aussies/Kiwis/Singaporeans and anyone else in that bubble.

[Biker19]

The situation on resuming cruises in Australia has been pretty silent recently until now. It does now seem that all of summer is lost in Australia as the largest cruise line based in the country has extended its pause on operations until September 17, 2021.

 

The previously extended suspension was until the end of July and at the time, there was hope that cruises could still resume later in the summer.

Mr Myrmell said:

“We are supporting our industry association as it works with governments and public health authorities to develop a framework for the successful resumption of cruising.”

“I again wish to thank our guests for their unwavering loyalty to P&O Cruises Australia and their passion to cruise with us.”

“We look forward to the day when a pathway is confirmed for cruising’s return so that we can welcome everyone back onboard.”

“For now, we continue to assist our guests in every way we can in spite of the current uncertainty.”

So the six-week extended pause impacts all departures from July 31 to September 17, 2021. P&O has said that they continue to work with the relevant government authorities on a safe return. However, any specific details on this are yet to be known.

 

This will be a huge disappointment to cruises in Australia especially when cruises in the UK, Europe are returning this summer and now possibly even the U.S. by mid-July. Guests are being notified of their options directly or through their travel agent.

 

Currently, Carnival Cruise Line, a sister line with two vessels based in Australia, is also on hold while a pathway to resuming cruises continues to be worked on. Carnival Splendor cruises are canceled through August 10, and Carnival Spirit sailings are canceled through September 12.

 

Cruises have proved in other parts of the world that operations can resume safely so now all eyes will be on the authorities down under to let cruise lines sail and make a comeback before the year ends.

 

P&O Australia Extends Suspension Into September (cruisehive.com)

[Biker19]

Australia’s governor general on Thursday extended the human biosecurity emergency period a further three months, impacting a range of matters including the entry of cruise ships.

 

The emergency, which has been in place since March 18, 2020, to protect Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic, will continue until December 17.

Unacceptable risk

This follows advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee and the Commonwealth chief medical officer that the international COVID-19 situation continues to pose an unacceptable risk to public health.

 

The human biosecurity emergency declaration ensures that the federal government has the powers to take any necessary measures to prevent and control COVID-19.

Cruise restrictions

This extends four existing emergency determinations including mandatory pre-departure testing and mask wearing for international flights, restrictions on the entry of cruise vessels within Australian territory, restrictions on outbound international travel for Australians and restrictions on trade of retail outlets at international airports.

 

Thursday’s announcement said the federal government will continue to consult with the states and territories and the maritime industry on options for the staged resumption of cruising when the medical advice is that it is safe to do so.

 

The measures in place can be amended or repealed at any time.

CLIA decries government inaction on cruising

Cruise Lines International Association Australasia MD Joel Katz was quick to respond, saying that discussions are needed to finalise a pathway forward, initially for cruises carrying only Australians within Australia.

 

‘Our discussions with government agencies have gone nowhere and our letters to the most senior levels of government have gone unanswered,’ Katz said.

 

‘Other countries have not only created detailed plans to uphold safety on cruise ships in response to the pandemic, but have already resumed cruising in a responsible way.

 

‘CLIA has outlined its own four-phase pathway to cruising’s revival, so we need governments to break the cycle of inaction and discuss how to put plans in place now so that we’re ready as conditions improve and vaccination rates rise.’

 

As Australia extends ban, CLIA pleads for talks on domestic cruises (seatrade-cruise.com)

[island lady]

3 hours ago, SilkySal said:

I had booked by bucket list cruise AUS/NZ and spent lots of $$ on that trip. I was disappointed when it cancelled and finally got my refunds all back. As we are getting older, we have decided not to reschedule it and, instead, booked a few more lovely leisurely cruises in the Caribbean, closer to home! Not disappointed anymore. Looking forward to several more relaxing cruises!

 

We were so happy to book that big bucket list Aussie circumnavigate, Tasmania, NZ, SP, and TP up to Hawaii...then stay on to Vancouver.  Like you...so very disappointed it did not happen.  Knew to stay away from 2022 and rebooked for 2023...but now I am worried about 2023.  Gulp.  🥺

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by island lady