Australia staying closed until mid 2022

[fweegy]

So I just read in various articles online that Australia is expected to stay closed to travel until mid to late 2022. That will be twice my B2B has been cancelled. If it happens I'm done with them and NZ. I'll get my money back and move on to other countries willing to rejoin the world.

[Fouremco]

According to the official Australian Government website, the ban on cruise ships has been extended to June 17, 2021.

 

https://covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au/cruise-ships-and-maritime

[fweegy]

https://thepointsguy.com/news/australia-wont-reopen-2022/

[Fouremco]

10 minutes ago, fweegy said:

https://thepointsguy.com/news/australia-wont-reopen-2022/

Quite a speculative article, but your concern is understandable. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

With their low rate of vaccinations, would you really want to go anyway?  Better for everyone to wait until Australia catches up.  [PS – I'm in the same boat as you, only with New Zealand:  cruise cancelled by Covid twice; not thinking about rebooking until after international cruising actually starts up there.]

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, fweegy said:

If it happens I'm done with them and NZ.

Nope...still way up on my list!  Been meaning to go there for probably the last 20 years or so. Sorry to hear that they won't be opening up anytime soon the way it sounds. 

[fweegy]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

Quite a speculative article, but your concern is understandable. 

If you google it there are a few articles about it. It's not just one speculative article.

[fweegy]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

With their low rate of vaccinations, would you really want to go anyway?  Better for everyone to wait until Australia catches up.  [PS – I'm in the same boat as you, only with New Zealand:  cruise cancelled by Covid twice; not thinking about rebooking until after international cruising actually starts up there.]

I would have gone last year when the B2B were cancelled the first time. In fact, there has not ever been a time I would not have gotten on a boat. It just seems everyone else is keeping me off them.

[Host Jazzbeau]

16 minutes ago, fweegy said:

I would have gone last year when the B2B were cancelled the first time. In fact, there has not ever been a time I would not have gotten on a boat. It just seems everyone else is keeping me off them.

We were days away from flying to Auckland [and, despite all the warnings, ready to go] when Covid closed down cruising.  The cruise before ours was a few days into their cruise which then ended abruptly in Wellington and took some major hoop-jumping for those folks to get home – so in that case I was glad that someone else kept us off that ship!  But I am still owed the Air New Zealand fare for the flight from AKL to Queenstown, and the credit will expire before New Zealand opens up again.  So no more booking down-under until it's really, truly, fully open!

[LGW59]

28 minutes ago, fweegy said:

I would have gone last year when the B2B were cancelled the first time. In fact, there has not ever been a time I would not have gotten on a boat. It just seems everyone else is keeping me off them.

We all want to get back on a ship, but you are making it a whoa is me situation, and it is not.  Everyone else is NOT keeping you off the ship, COVID is, was, life will get better   

[Blackduck59]

4 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

With their low rate of vaccinations, would you really want to go anyway?  Better for everyone to wait until Australia catches up.  [PS – I'm in the same boat as you, only with New Zealand:  cruise cancelled by Covid twice; not thinking about rebooking until after international cruising actually starts up there.]

 

I think you miss the point, they feel they have kept the virus out and as such don't feel an urgency to vaccinate. To them anyone from anywhere is a threat so really your position is flawed.

That being said I am more than ticked by the attitude but my upset won't change their minds (believe me I wish it would) We have come to the conclusion that we will have to cancel again as well. A dream of 45 years and actual plan that started almost 2 years ago cancelled once and now twice.

Maybe in a couple of years, maybe not.

[NMTraveller]

This news is good to know.  I was contemplating an Australia cruise for Christmas 2022.  I will wait until the ships sail before I book.

[Blackduck59]

Just now, NMTraveller said:

This news is good to know.  I was contemplating an Australia cruise for Christmas 2022.  I will wait until the ships sail before I book.

 

You may be okay then because it is the "end" of 2022 but close to the beginning of the 2022-23 down under cruise season. Many people I am in contact with in Oz believe that the 2021-22 season will be lost. The Christmas 2022 cruise is a different season.

[Host Jazzbeau]

@Blackduck59 I'm not sure that we're disagreeing about anything.  Because they are an island nation [this applies to Australia and New Zealand both], they had the option to become, as one newspaper headline put it, 'the new Hermit Kingdom.'  Good first step, and they got lots of plaudits for controlling the pandemic and keeping their people safe.  But they forgot the need for an end-game.  Without securing vaccine supplies, they are now stuck as Hermit Kingdoms for the indefinite future.  That's not good for international travelers like you and me, but I don't see how anyone can think it's good for them either.  We have met so many Australians and New Zealanders who share our love of travel – now they're stuck at home.  Lovely homes, but still you want a change.  We at least have the option to travel in other parts of the world!

[markeb]

Let me see. Island nation that has protected its people, livestock, and native species for probably a hundred years by keeping out people and animals that might introduce a foreign disease. Some problems with invasive species during that time, but the normal response has been exclusion. Seems to be doing OK, maybe not great. 
 

I’m sure the country is shaking in its shoes that some Yank on an Internet forum has written them off. Enjoy. 
 

 

[Blackduck59]

14 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

@Blackduck59 I'm not sure that we're disagreeing about anything.  Because they are an island nation [this applies to Australia and New Zealand both], they had the option to become, as one newspaper headline put it, 'the new Hermit Kingdom.'  Good first step, and they got lots of plaudits for controlling the pandemic and keeping their people safe.  But they forgot the need for an end-game.  Without securing vaccine supplies, they are now stuck as Hermit Kingdoms for the indefinite future.  That's not good for international travelers like you and me, but I don't see how anyone can think it's good for them either.  We have met so many Australians and New Zealanders who share our love of travel – now they're stuck at home.  Lovely homes, but still you want a change.  We at least have the option to travel in other parts of the world!

 

I don't think we disagree at all, it was just the wording that I put in bold. It posed the question "With the low rate of vaccinations, would you really want to go there?" Yes I would have gone in January, I have had my first shot and will get the second in less than 16 weeks so I will be good to go.

Unfortunately many Australians feel that we are a threat to their freedom and don't understand that keeping the virus out is not nearly as effective as making it impotent. That being said there are many people in Oz and NZ that are not very happy with the slow pace of vaccination. We are postponing the down under adventure perhaps permanently. As it is now we are shifting our plan for 2022 to East Coast Canada.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Blackduck59
typo

[Host Jazzbeau]

I have an opening on my dance card for January 2023, but I'm favoring the Chilean Fjords [assuming they get their outbreak under control].  If not there, I guess another [boring] Caribbean cruise.  As long as there are places that are open, I'm not worrying about the ones that are not.  As long as I'm cruising!

[grandgeezer]

I don't think Australia is too worried about vaccinations. Their population is about 25.8 million and they've only had 29,967 cases and 910 deaths total since the pandemic started about 14 months ago.

As long as they control the amount of people entering their country they should be good.

[excitedofharpenden]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

@Blackduck59 I'm not sure that we're disagreeing about anything.  Because they are an island nation [this applies to Australia and New Zealand both], they had the option to become, as one newspaper headline put it, 'the new Hermit Kingdom.'  Good first step, and they got lots of plaudits for controlling the pandemic and keeping their people safe.  But they forgot the need for an end-game.  Without securing vaccine supplies, they are now stuck as Hermit Kingdoms for the indefinite future.  That's not good for international travelers like you and me, but I don't see how anyone can think it's good for them either.  We have met so many Australians and New Zealanders who share our love of travel – now they're stuck at home.  Lovely homes, but still you want a change.  We at least have the option to travel in other parts of the world!

I totally agree with you. I have friends desperate to get to see family in Australia as well. Young grandchildren too. Not easy. That they have done well in controlling it is great, but no fun now if you can't go anywhere or have people come and visit you. 

 

Phil 

[Korimako]

9 hours ago, fweegy said:

So I just read in various articles online that Australia is expected to stay closed to travel until mid to late 2022. That will be twice my B2B has been cancelled. If it happens I'm done with them and NZ. I'll get my money back and move on to other countries willing to rejoin the world.

 

Well, let's see. If you lived in a country of 5 million people with only 6 deaths since Covid broke out, how eager would YOU be to join the rest of the world where Covid is still raging???

Just asking.🙂

[hawkesbaynz]

Spoke to a friend in Napier, NZ last night. All good there although the housing market over- heating. She has her jab tomorrow ( a nurse).

 

Last time I was in Napier they were up in arms about the ships taking their water during a drought.

[yorky]

I don’t blame them, people’s lives come first. International vacations, in whatever form they are are a luxury, there is nothing to stop anyone taking their vacations in their own country. I miss my cruises but absolutely understand the logic and although we’re booked in Feb for Asia we won’t take it if it’s not a sensible choice. One family member dead and two with long Covid, that’s our reality, we can live with taking cottage holidays on the UK for as long as it takes.

[yorky]

I should add that we have people dying from the Indian variant now, because we allowed international travel to continue. That’s just the reality of the situation.

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, yorky said:

I should add that we have people dying from the Indian variant now, because we allowed international travel to continue. That’s just the reality of the situation.

The death count the last I saw in the UK totalled 4. I'm not sure of the underlying health of them or if they had had any vaccinations. It something we need to be aware of, but to say people are dying from it now is scaremongering in my view. 

 

Phil 

[gerelmx]

Now wait for Celebrity to Cancel Eclipse cruises