Alaska 2021–CCL not giving up yet

[BlerkOne]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

How are you going to do that in 7 days or less to comply with the CDC?

That is a 14 day cruise, but do cruises that originate outside of the US fall under the 7 day suggestion?

[ontheweb]

9 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

That is a 14 day cruise, but do cruises that originate outside of the US fall under the 7 day suggestion?

Yes.

 

Cruise lines to limit all US cruises to under 7 days as part of CDC guidance (cruisearabiaonline.com)

 

Notice in the first paragraph cruises from or cruises to.

[BlerkOne]

5 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes.

 

Cruise lines to limit all US cruises to under 7 days as part of CDC guidance (cruisearabiaonline.com)

 

Notice in the first paragraph cruises from or cruises to.

Within that same article

 

"It’s important to note that the booking of these cruises is suspended, the cruises themselves haven’t been cancelled. The CDC guidance only called for cruise lines to stop selling or marketing such cruises."

 

Yet as part of the actual CDC Conditional Sail order

"(2) The cruise ship operator must not sail or offer to sail on an itinerary longer than 7 days. CDC may shorten or lengthen the number of days permitted to sail based on public health considerations and as set forth in technical instructions or orders."

 

This may be a gotcha

19For cruise ship operators with ships that have not been in U.S. waters during the period of the No Sail Order or voluntarily withdrew their ships, the 60-day period will begin upon: (1) CDC confirming to the cruise ship operator in writing that the operator has a complete and accurate NSO response plan, including having submitted to CDC a signed Acknowledgment of No Sail Order Response Plan Completeness and Accuracy; and (2) submission of the EDC form for the 28 days preceding the cruise ship’s expected arrival in U.S. waters.

 

 

Of course, the CDC is overdue in answering and clarifying the questions by cruise lines, especially since there is a new administration. Perhaps even coming out with new guidance.

 

 

 

 

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Within that same article

 

"It’s important to note that the booking of these cruises is suspended, the cruises themselves haven’t been cancelled. The CDC guidance only called for cruise lines to stop selling or marketing such cruises."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other words, you cannot book or sail on any of these cruises.

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

In other words, you cannot book or sail on any of these cruises.

Currently true. OTOH, by May, the US will have enough vaccine for all adults, something that would have been thought impossible when the CDC guidelines were drawn up last year. The US has a long way to go, but it is probably time to rethink timetables and restrictions. This is no time for Carnival and others to give up.

 

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Currently true. OTOH, by May, the US will have enough vaccine for all adults, something that would have been thought impossible when the CDC guidelines were drawn up last year. The US has a long way to go, but it is probably time to rethink timetables and restrictions. This is no time for Carnival and others to give up.

 

I have to give you one thing, you are the eternal optimist.

 

What about all the people who say they will not take the vaccine? It does not look like Canada will reach having enough vaccines as early as the US. And how about the crew; will they get vaccinated?

[BlerkOne]

5 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I have to give you one thing, you are the eternal optimist.

 

What about all the people who say they will not take the vaccine? It does not look like Canada will reach having enough vaccines as early as the US. And how about the crew; will they get vaccinated?

 

Herd immunity does not depend on everyone getting the vaccine, but if cruise lines or CDC say it is required to cruise? Oh well. Children? If they can't cruise for a season, then bonus! I don't see the crew as an issue - there are a number of vaccine manufacturers around the world and Philippines much of SE Asia and others are receiving vaccine from China.

 

About a year ago it was going to be safe for everyone but old people to cruise. Now maybe the opposite. That's how it should be. My how times change.

[chengkp75]

19 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Philippines much of SE Asia and others are receiving vaccine from China.

 

The Philippines just received their first batch of vaccine 4 days ago, 600k doses out of 148 million needed.  Their next batch, from AstraZeneca, of another half million is delayed a week due to supply problems.  They are among the last countries in Asia to start getting vaccine.

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Or that many crew members are not from the Philippines?

One third of all cruise ship crew are Filipino.  Which vaccine companies are selling to private industry?

Edited March 3, 2021 by chengkp75

[sfaaa]

41 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

One third of all cruise ship crew are Filipino.  

Good workers. Hard working, pleasant and speak good English.

[BlerkOne]

On 2/11/2021 at 8:36 AM, dbrucern said:

Actually the Jones Act was temporarily over ridden so ships could help out PR when hit with the hurricane so hopefully something will be worked out for Alaska Cruises

This is true. It was so cargo could be delivered to PR. PR already has an exemption for PVSA. Cruise ships could ferry people from the US mainland and let them off in PR and vice versa. PVSA could be updated to at least last century - getting it to this century might be too much.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

Harder to follow a swiss cheese thread and selective quotes. I know a lot are from the Philippines. One company might be the corrupt Philippine Government, LLC, or Russia or Cuba. Perhaps even China. Money talks.

Yes, it is hard to follow you most times.  So, you're plan is to rely on an unproven conspiracy theory of corruption by the various governments to vaccinate 1/3 of all cruise ship crew.  Let me know how that works out for you.

[BlerkOne]

19 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Yes, it is hard to follow you most times.  So, you're plan is to rely on an unproven conspiracy theory of corruption by the various governments to vaccinate 1/3 of all cruise ship crew.  Let me know how that works out for you.

My plan is whatever works and not limit options. There are many options

 

[wolfie11]

On 3/1/2021 at 5:57 PM, BlerkOne said:

It is AN EXAMPLE and TEMPORARY. The Alaska cruising season can be SAVED. All that is needed is for lawmakers to not be narrow minded and to think outside the box. I was embarrassed to quote CATO but for once they made sense.

Give it up.  There won't be an Alaska cruise season this year.  There is no reason to change/modify the PVSA because ships won't be sailing in May or June.  I could maybe see, if the stars align perfectly, the first ships sailing in July or August, which is too late for an Alaska season.  No one is currently hiring employees for the summer for cruise ship related jobs (check CoolWorks which is the main job site for summer employment) and the cruise lines haven't lined up any naturalists or native interpreters for the ships.  
 

If a few ships did manage to sail from Seattle starting in July at reduced occupancy, say 50%, I don't think they could get the great behemoth that is the cruise industry in Alaska up and running at that late date.  Think of the thousands of workers that have to be hired, brought to the state, and then trained to provide the restaurant workers, tour guides, bus drivers, etc. that support the activities in the ports.  I'm not sure I would be willing as a vendor to get my operation up and running for an eight-week season for around a quarter of the usual number of passengers.

[BlerkOne]

44 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

Give it up.  There won't be an Alaska cruise season this year.  There is no reason to change/modify the PVSA because ships won't be sailing in May or June.  I could maybe see, if the stars align perfectly, the first ships sailing in July or August, which is too late for an Alaska season.  No one is currently hiring employees for the summer for cruise ship related jobs (check CoolWorks which is the main job site for summer employment) and the cruise lines haven't lined up any naturalists or native interpreters for the ships.  
 

If a few ships did manage to sail from Seattle starting in July at reduced occupancy, say 50%, I don't think they could get the great behemoth that is the cruise industry in Alaska up and running at that late date.  Think of the thousands of workers that have to be hired, brought to the state, and then trained to provide the restaurant workers, tour guides, bus drivers, etc. that support the activities in the ports.  I'm not sure I would be willing as a vendor to get my operation up and running for an eight-week season for around a quarter of the usual number of passengers.

Actually some cruise lines are gearing up for the land tour portion of Alaska cruise tours. There will be a season.

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Cruise-lines-offer-land-only-tours-in-Alaska

 

Cruise lines haven't given up, nor should they.

[chengkp75]

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Actually some cruise lines are gearing up for the land tour portion of Alaska cruise tours. There will be a season.

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Cruise-lines-offer-land-only-tours-in-Alaska

 

Cruise lines haven't given up, nor should they.

And, this just shows how to support the Alaska tourism industry without a waiver of the PVSA.

[ontheweb]

15 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

And, this just shows how to support the Alaska tourism industry without a waiver of the PVSA.

But as you have pointed out previously, it is not about supporting the Alaska tourist industry; it is about someone desperately wanting a cruise to Alaska.

[gtalum]

9 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Actually some cruise lines are gearing up for the land tour portion of Alaska cruise tours. There will be a season.

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Cruise-lines-offer-land-only-tours-in-Alaska

 

Cruise lines haven't given up, nor should they.

 

You might note those are no cruises, nor is anyone expecting a cruise season in Alaska.  This is Carnival Corp. leveraging its land-based assets and offering the land-based half of what was traditionally a 14-day cruise and land tour.

 

It's also always been possible to book the lodges and land tours on their own.

[chengkp75]

12 minutes ago, gtalum said:

 

You might note those are no cruises, nor is anyone expecting a cruise season in Alaska.  This is Carnival Corp. leveraging its land-based assets and offering the land-based half of what was traditionally a 14-day cruise and land tour.

 

It's also always been possible to book the lodges and land tours on their own.

Well, actually American Cruise Line, UnCruise Adventures, and Alaska Dream Cruises are gearing up for maximum effort in Alaska this year, and are small enough to be able to cruise without meeting the CDC requirements.  But, you are correct that this option has always been available.

[gtalum]

7 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Well, actually American Cruise Line, UnCruise Adventures, and Alaska Dream Cruises are gearing up for maximum effort in Alaska this year, and are small enough to be able to cruise without meeting the CDC requirements.  But, you are correct that this option has always been available.

 

I should have been more clear, but your clarification is a good one.  I was aware of the small cruise lines.

 

I want to say, I have enjoyed this thread, with one guy who knows what he's talking about vs a guy who read some stuff on the internet.  🙂

Edited March 5, 2021 by gtalum

[gtalum]

On a side note, for anyone who wants to take an Alaska trip, you don't even need these tours.  A rental car and a triangle(ish) from Anchorage - Denali - Fairbanks - Valdez - Whittier - Anchorage is a heck of a trip and can be done pretty inexpensively (I bet even more so now than normal).  Add a side trip to Seward between Whittier and Anchorage and you've seen a lot.  

 

The big thing you miss is the Inside Passage.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, gtalum said:

The big thing you miss is the Inside Passage.

And for those with time and an adventurous soul, you can combine driving on Alaska Rt 7 which has unconnected segments down the panhandle, with the Alaska Marine Highway, which connects the Rt 7 segments by car ferry.

[drvmywifecrzy]

Seems like this is stalling and season will be canceled

[BlerkOne]

11 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

And, this just shows how to support the Alaska tourism industry without a waiver of the PVSA.

Only a very limited subset.

[BlerkOne]

10 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Well, actually American Cruise Line, UnCruise Adventures, and Alaska Dream Cruises are gearing up for maximum effort in Alaska this year, and are small enough to be able to cruise without meeting the CDC requirements.  But, you are correct that this option has always been available.

And as I'm sure you know, the small ships don't object to a temporary waiver of PVSA this year for Alaskan cruises.