To our friends in New Zealand and Austraila (please forgive my spelling errors)

[rnrcruzin]

We are scheduled to take a cruise out of Auckland on 27 December ending O/A 10 January in Sydney. Both countries have done very well in steaming the pandemic. Do you think your countries will open to international travel, with restrictions, by the end of the year?

[onlyslightlymad]

Our government has stated several times that it is very unlikely that the NZ border with be open this year.  The exception is the travel bubble with Australia which begins tomorrow but it has been explicitly stated that cruise ships will not form part of that bubble.

 

As to Australia, with their slow vaccination rollout, I would be surprised if the 21/22 cruise ship season goes ahead.  As we also have a cruise booked out of Sydney in January I hope I'm wrong but I would be very surprised if our cruise goes ahead.

 

The fact that both countries have been so successful in their COVID response makes them more cautious in opening our borders to the virus.  

[rnrcruzin]

6 minutes ago, onlyslightlymad said:

Our government has stated several times that it is very unlikely that the NZ border with be open this year.  The exception is the travel bubble with Australia which begins tomorrow but it has been explicitly stated that cruise ships will not form part of that bubble.

 

As to Australia, with their slow vaccination rollout, I would be surprised if the 21/22 cruise ship season goes ahead.  As we also have a cruise booked out of Sydney in January I hope I'm wrong but I would be very surprised if our cruise goes ahead.

 

The fact that both countries have been so successful in their COVID response makes them more cautious in opening our borders to the virus.  

Thank you

[Little Monty]

8 hours ago, rnrcruzin said:

We are scheduled to take a cruise out of Auckland on 27 December ending O/A 10 January in Sydney. Both countries have done very well in steaming the pandemic. Do you think your countries will open to international travel, with restrictions, by the end of the year?

Agree with onlyslightlymad. The Australian government has indicted they want the great majority of people vaccinated, then they might open the border to business travel, international students etc in that order. Mass tourism after that, but only after determining it is safe to do so taking into account the possible need for a 3rd Pfizer shot, whether vaccinated people can still become infected and / or transmit the virus etc.

 

The original target was the great majority of adults in Australia vaccinated by end October, then end December, now with issues around Astra Zenica and blood clots - who knows.

 

We are booked to go to South America next January (Viking Jupiter) but know that trip is highly unlikely to proceed. As a second option we are thinking about something in the Med mid next year, but even that might be ambitious.

 

We have basically zero virus in the community and close to zero deaths - and this has been the case for some time. So we are very safe inside our bubble.

 

The vaccine program has been slow to get going, but things are improving.

 

Fingers crossed.

 

But in answer to your question - it is highly unlikely at this stage.

 

[Emma Chisit]

Agree with what onlyslightlymad and Little Monty said.  This article might give you some insight into the Australian government thinking.  The Federal politician quoted is Greg Hunt the Minister for Health.  

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/covid19-vaccine-wont-guarantee-the-return-of-international-travel/news-story/4316d15554490c3d5796ab9e6c2a615a

[Pushka]

Have to agree with the other Aussies and New Zealander. There is no way we will have open borders to anyone until early next year at the earliest. We can't even get out of here and right now even travel within Australia is ridiculously restricted and issued at a moments notice. (WA). 
 

I do hope Greg Hunt doesn't get the main voice on when we can travel again. All he is achieving is pushing people away from vaccinating because there's no point if we can't travel. 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Pushka

[rnrcruzin]

Thank all of you for your responses. Please stay safe.