Canada bans all cruises until Feb 2022.

[A&L_Ont]

6 minutes ago, lovescats5 said:

And yet...why does everyone think that the vaccine is the cure for Covid.  The flu shot does not keep everyone from getting the flu.  At what point of time are we just going to let people get out and if we get sick we get sick.  And now there are so many people who feel that if children can not get vacicnated they should not be allowed on a ship.  Tell me how that will affect RCl's bottom line.  

It is a game changer not a cure.  In The States, compared to other countries, you have already been getting out there and getting sick. People have been dying too.
 

I don’t want the vaccine to cruise.  I don’t care if I can’t cruise again.  I want it for normalcy to return. 

[yogimax]

24 minutes ago, lovescats5 said:

At what point of time are we just going to let people get out and if we get sick we get sick. 

And... if we die, we die???

 

That's the logical extension of your point.

[lizzius]

54 minutes ago, yogimax said:

And... if we die, we die???

 

That's the logical extension of your point.

The point seems a bit more nuanced to me, and that's that at some point we have to survive the pandemic. We have all given up a year already (accompanied by other losses big and small)... and vaccines are on the horizon. At the point where we are considering cruises sailing with ships full of vaccinated I think we can all agree kids should be in school and we can all attend church in person again.

Edited February 6, 2021 by lizzius

[notmyrealnameoremail]

23 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

Let’s fix the DMV before we entrust the US government to healthcare. It took me 5 hours of waiting in line to get a drivers license when I moved to CT, and that was with having all my paperwork ready and not needing a test. Surely this is not the standard we all want for healthcare?

Here's the thing, to start let me make it clear that I love my country and don't want to live anywhere else, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from other countries.

 

Ignoring the fact that we in the US pay a lot more for healthcare while living less healthy shorter lives than people in Canada, most of the EU and many other developed countries isn't rational if our goal is to live longer healthier lives.  I don't know, maybe that's not our goal.

 

Canada's issue with vaccinations appears to be driven by the fact that it doesn't currently have mass vaccine manufacturing capability.  Somewhat ironically in the US we have the same issue with PPE, which is much easier to manufacture.

[lizzius]

5 minutes ago, notmyrealnameoremail said:

Here's the thing, to start let me make it clear that I love my country and don't want to live anywhere else, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from other countries.

 

Ignoring the fact that we in the US pay a lot more for healthcare while living less healthy shorter lives than people in Canada, most of the EU and many other developed countries isn't rational if our goal is to live longer healthier lives.  I don't know, maybe that's not our goal.

 

Canada's issue with vaccinations appears to be driven by the fact that it doesn't currently have mass vaccine manufacturing capability.  Somewhat ironically in the US we have the same issue with PPE, which is much easier to manufacture.

Not as much money to be made in PPE under normal circumstances.

[notmyrealnameoremail]

2 hours ago, Heymarco said:

I’m all for improvement! I just don’t trust my government to bring that. This is the same government that so many people have trusted their retirement savings to. How is that working out for everyone?

I fear we are moving further into political territory, but since Ida M. Fuller got her first Social Security check just over 81 years ago on January 31, 1940, the promised checks kept coming. 

 

Sounds like a good track record to me.

[pstone1]

4 hours ago, Heymarco said:

Let’s fix the DMV before we entrust the US government to healthcare. It took me 5 hours of waiting in line to get a drivers license when I moved to CT, and that was with having all my paperwork ready and not needing a test. Surely this is not the standard we all want for healthcare?

I don’t really have experience in CT, but the DMV is run by the state government, NOT the US Government everywhere I’ve ever lived.  

[onlyslightlymad]

13 hours ago, Heymarco said:

There are so many other things that factor into life expectancy than healthcare. Let’s not forget that the US is also the fattest country on earth and the homicide rate is also higher than other countries. How is moving to an outdated healthcare system gonna solve that? I would recommend living in one of these other countries first, experiencing their healthcare, and then telling me that’s what you truly want! 

Try telling the Germans they have an outdated healthcare system.  Lol.

 

[BND]

29 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

A. If left unchanged, funds will be fully depleted in next 10 years.

B. Some people can’t even afford to eat on what they get.

You do know there is no separate SS fund, right?  Also, SS was never, ever meant to be a retirement plan.  It was supposed to be temporary.   Most people draw way, way more than they ever put in.  It's the current payers that are subsidizing this entitlement program and more is being taken out than put in.  We never counted on having SS so we saved.  We'll probably end up drawing it, but it was never going to be our retirement.

Edited February 7, 2021 by BND

[notmyrealnameoremail]

7 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

A. If left unchanged, funds will be fully depleted in next 10 years.

B. Some people can’t even afford to eat on what they get.

A.  1. It won't be left unchanged, in the 80's the situation was similar and changes were made. Only  having to tweak the system every 40 to 50 years as demographics change is pretty impressive.  BTW, If it was unchanged, there would still be enough to pay ~79% of benefits.

 

B.  Social Security was never intended to be the sole source of income for older Americans.  Over the years it has been improved to cover more.  I would happily support changes that would keep all recipients well above poverty level but that will require higher taxes.  In the past many people had pensions through their employers that would have been another source of income for retirees, but that is much less common these days.

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, BND said:

You do know there is no separate SS fund, right?  Also, SS was never, ever meant to be a retirement plan.  It was supposed to be temporary.   Most people draw way, way more than they ever put in.  It's the current payers that are subsidizing this entitlement program and more is being taken out than put in.  We never counted on having SS so we saved.  We'll probably end up drawing it, but it was never going to be our retirement.

If you really want to understand all the reasons S.S. is running out of money, one of the big reasons is conviently ignored. One way the S.S. makes money is investing the premiums. Their biggest client is the U.S. government, to the tune of $2.7 trillion. The problem is the government has only made the interest payments, nothing against the premium in many years.   

[notmyrealnameoremail]

17 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

If you really want to understand all the reasons S.S. is running out of money, one of the big reasons is conviently ignored. One way the S.S. makes money is investing the premiums. Their biggest client is the U.S. government, to the tune of $2.7 trillion. The problem is the government has only made the interest payments, nothing against the premium in many years.   

SS has only been taking the interest because the interest when combined with SS taxes  has been more than enough to pay current benefits.  When portions of the principal are needed to help pay benefits, then the principal will drawn upon.  

 

It was a GOOD thing that SS wasn't drawing down the principal.  That allowed more interest to accrue for the future. 

 

Think about it,  if you have personal retirement accounts and can live off the interest (or other income) why would you draw down the principal?

 

The trust fund has not been raided, they are invested in US Treasury securities, generally considered the world's safest investment.

[d9704011]

6 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

I am German! It’s 20 years behind the US technology. I had an eye doctor misdiagnosis me with a brain tumor. Several months of testing later, all good. Newer technology such as the rental scanning machines could have prevented in two minutes. Again, be careful what you wish for!

You’d think they’d have a few Heidelberg Retinal Tomography laser machines in Germany.  I’m in Ottawa, and our optometrists and ophthamologists use them all the time. 

[A&L_Ont]

22 hours ago, notmyrealnameoremail said:

Canada's issue with vaccinations appears to be driven by the fact that it doesn't currently have mass vaccine manufacturing capability. 

That’s it right there. 

[BND]

7 hours ago, notmyrealnameoremail said:

SS has only been taking the interest because the interest when combined with SS taxes  has been more than enough to pay current benefits.  When portions of the principal are needed to help pay benefits, then the principal will drawn upon.  

 

It was a GOOD thing that SS wasn't drawing down the principal.  That allowed more interest to accrue for the future. 

 

Think about it,  if you have personal retirement accounts and can live off the interest (or other income) why would you draw down the principal?

 

The trust fund has not been raided, they are invested in US Treasury securities, generally considered the world's safest investment.

SS is really just another budget line item.  SS was never meant to be a retirement program.  And, now, we have a huge entitlement program and the result?  Some people never bother to save a penny.  We always assume we wouldn't ever get any SS and saved accordingly.  

[BND]

1 hour ago, Heymarco said:

I am German! Here are some of my experiences from Germany.... It’s 20 years behind the US technology. I had an eye doctor misdiagnosis me with a brain tumor. Several months of testing later, all good. Newer technology such as the retinal scanning machines could have prevented in two minutes.

 

My dentist office had nine dentists and one person to clean the teeth. After growing up in US, the dentist shook my hand and enthusiastically thanked me that they got to see such a great example of teeth once in their life.

 

Finally, I called “911” one time because I found a man laying face down in the street on a cold night. The ambulance refused to take him to the hospital because “then we tax payers would have to pay”.

 

Again, be careful what you wish for!

You're not the only one on CC who appreciates the US healthcare system.  There's a couple of other posters who have experienced US and outside the US and choose the US system.  Some people are blissfully ignorant and live in a world where they think "free" healthcare works better, which it doesn't and of course it isn't free.

 

As for Canada and the vaccine, the Canadian Gov needs to be held accountable.

[pstone1]

10 hours ago, Heymarco said:

Ok, my college admission was temporarily rejected because the social security office didn’t know that I became a US citizen three years earlier. How about thinking of other government services, what exactly should we be modeling after?

 

Speaking first hand, you lose innovation and easy access when government takes over. Be careful what you wish for!

Umm, where exactly in my post did you see that I was wishing for anything?  Just correcting your incorrect generalization of what agency runs the DMV, at least in the multiple states I’ve lived in.

[BND]

5 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

Umm, where exactly in my post did you see that I was wishing for anything?  Just correcting your incorrect generalization of what agency runs the DMV, at least in the multiple states I’ve lived in.

Yes, the DMV is a state run office in every state.  The problem is it doesn't work well in any state.  Considering what their job is, it's baffling to see such poor customer service.  

[pstone1]

40 minutes ago, BND said:

Yes, the DMV is a state run office in every state.  The problem is it doesn't work well in any state.  Considering what their job is, it's baffling to see such poor customer service.  

I’m not disagreeing with that!  😀  I just thought the proper entity (State vs Fed) should be cited.  There is a big difference between the two.

[lovemylab]

The ban on cruiseships has nothing to do with Canada's healthcare system.  Even if we we had the same system as the US, the vaccine rollout wouldn't be happening any quicker. 

 

We have plenty of doctors, nurses and healthcare providers to administer vaccinations.  The issue is vaccine supply.  That being said, it's early February so I'm not going to hit the panic button just yet over whether all Canadians will be vaccinated by end of September as a lot can change in the next 8 months.  

 

I live in Nova Scotia and am not at all surprised by this announcement given how strict our provincial government has been with restrictions.  Most people travelling into the province have to quarantine for 14 days (even if coming from another Canadian province).  There has been no sign of that restriction being lifted anytime soon.  So if the province is restricting domestic visitors, no way will they allow a cruise ship to dock with thousands of people.

 

[Ashland]

I just received my daily RCI offer to purchase cruise planner items for my 9 night Oct 14, 2021 Freedom Canada/NE. I doubt these will stop until the cruise is officially cancelled by them...after all why not get as much money upfront as they can 

[AF-1]

lovemylab;  thanks for the update about this subject

[soremekun]

I have an October 2021 Canada / NE cruise on Jewel booked.  There is no equivalent available for 2022.  I wonder if I should pay some more towards the cruise for a larger FCC so I can use that towards my existing bookings.  My thinking is they will not offer me a Lift & Shift option.

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, soremekun said:

I have an October 2021 Canada / NE cruise on Jewel booked.  There is no equivalent available for 2022.  I wonder if I should pay some more towards the cruise for a larger FCC so I can use that towards my existing bookings.  My thinking is they will not offer me a Lift & Shift option.

Canada NE cruises are being released the week of March 8th....long before yours will be cancelled. 

[Ashland]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Canada NE cruises are being released the week of March 8th....long before yours will be cancelled. 

Thanks so much I thought release date was Feb 15th.