Australia staying closed until mid 2022

[fweegy]

34 minutes ago, gerelmx said:

Now wait for Celebrity to Cancel Eclipse cruises

Well, the next step in this ongoing dance will be coming soon. Australia's official ban ends this June. So there should be an announcement soon from them extending. After that, the ball will be in Celebrity's court. There could be an announcement from them anytime after that.

[yorky]

3 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

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 

I find that response slightly baffling. Four people have died from the Indian variant, not sure how me stating “ people are dying from the Indian variant” is then scaremongering, they did actually died regardless of any underlying health condition after contracting Covid.

Edited May 16, 2021 by yorky

[Manchester is blue]

We have a NZ cruise out of Sydney booked on the Eclipse for October this year.

Im now assuming this will not sail, so just wish Celebrity would get on and confirm my fears so that I can consider alternative holidays for that time.

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Manchester is blue

[Blackduck59]

12 minutes ago, Manchester is blue said:

We have a NZ cruise out of Sydney booked on the Eclipse for October this year.

Im now assuming this will not sail, so just wish Celebrity would get on and confirm my fears so that I can consider alternative holidays for that time.

 

 

We are doubtful our New Zealand cruise in the Eclipse in January 2022 will go so I would pretty much count on your cruise in October will not proceed. Sorry, I know your pain, this will be the 2nd time we will have had to cancel our down under adventure.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Blackduck59
spelling error

[upwarduk]

Wonder if Eclipse will now be transferred to Alaska?

[FlyerTalker]

16 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. 

 

Of course I would go.

 

If I am vaccinated, there are two logical lines of thought:

 

A)  If the vaccine works, then it doesn't matter if the other people are vaccinated, as my shot is protecting me.

 

B) If the vaccine doesn't work, relying on others to be vaccinated with something ineffective isn't accomplishing anything.

[yorky]

32 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Of course I would go.

 

If I am vaccinated, there are two logical lines of thought:

 

A)  If the vaccine works, then it doesn't matter if the other people are vaccinated, as my shot is protecting me.

 

B) If the vaccine doesn't work, relying on others to be vaccinated with something ineffective isn't accomplishing anything.

That’s only logical if the vaccine is 100% effective “A”

Or not effective at all “B”

The fact it’s somewhere around 85/95% effective means you could still catch it “A”, but still find the vast majority are safe therefore reducing the chance of catching it in a country where most people have been vaccinated. The vaccine works because of its high percentage effectiveness thus dropping the R number below 1, it’s not a simple 100% or nothing.

[ShawninFL]

 An Australian on our Celebrity Connections Roll Call stated that their Prime Minister stated last week that Australia didn't expect to open their borders for tourism until sometime in 2022.  I've written off our October sailing on Eclipse, but since it's paid, I'm going to wait for the official cancellation to take the extra 25% FCC to apply to another cruise.  Unlike many, I opted for full refunds for all my 2020 cancellations.  Now that it looks like cruises will restart I'll take a credit to apply to something later this year.

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 minutes ago, ShawninFL said:

 An Australian on our Celebrity Connections Roll Call stated that their Prime Minister stated last week that Australia didn't expect to open their borders for tourism until sometime in 2022.  I've written off our October sailing on Eclipse, but since it's paid, I'm going to wait for the official cancellation to take the extra 25% FCC to apply to another cruise.  Unlike many, I opted for full refunds for all my 2020 cancellations.  Now that it looks like cruises will restart I'll take a credit to apply to something later this year.

Great moves on your part!  I hope you have been as good [lucky] in the stock market.  😀

[lyndarra]

11 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

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 

I was watching a UK news report this morning where it was stated that most new cases and deaths were of people who were eligible for vaccination but had not taken up the opportunity. Can a UK CCer here verify this?

[lyndarra]

1 hour ago, ShawninFL said:

 An Australian on our Celebrity Connections Roll Call stated that their Prime Minister stated last week that Australia didn't expect to open their borders for tourism until sometime in 2022.  I've written off our October sailing on Eclipse, but since it's paid, I'm going to wait for the official cancellation to take the extra 25% FCC to apply to another cruise.  Unlike many, I opted for full refunds for all my 2020 cancellations.  Now that it looks like cruises will restart I'll take a credit to apply to something later this year.

More news reports on this coming to light that the mid 2022 opening up was only a federal budget prediction. I believe the government may be doing a back pedal here and now saying that it is not yet policy. Having said that, a recent poll showed 73% of Aussies are supporting present international travel restrictions. It's a wait and see thing ATM.

We are now dealing with a surge of Oz citizens in India wanting to return home. COVID testing is required before boarding flights however there is a large proportion of the returnees testing positive, not withstanding some false positives which, I suppose, is better than false negatives. Most will be quarantined in a Northern Territory (outback) quarantine facility.

There's evidence that vaccinations are ramping up with the opening of mass vaccination centres and this will be the key to opening up. I'm halfway there - one of two so far.

 

[lyndarra]

On 5/16/2021 at 8:38 AM, fweegy said:

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

Did you see this? It may have been added later.

 

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information.

 

I was able to find the updated info.

[baldilocks]

We have a transpacific cruise on the Ovation of the Seas on October 9, 2022 to NZ and Australia. Will it sail....I do not know....my magic 8 ball is broken from asking it too many cruise questions.

[lyndarra]

21 minutes ago, baldilocks said:

We have a transpacific cruise on the Ovation of the Seas on October 9, 2022 to NZ and Australia. Will it sail....I do not know....my magic 8 ball is broken from asking it too many cruise questions.

Precisely. I hope your cruise happens.

[luv2travel90266]

Prime minister says no visitors. 90 second video. Hope they change their mind but expect cruise lines l need to make decisions soon and deploy their ships where they are welcome.  

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-sticks-by-plan-re-open-border-mid-2022-2021-05-16/

[excitedofharpenden]

9 hours ago, lyndarra said:

I was watching a UK news report this morning where it was stated that most new cases and deaths were of people who were eligible for vaccination but had not taken up the opportunity. Can a UK CCer here verify this?

Yes, I have heard the same thing from the uk. I was watching the BBC yesterday and one of the top scientists was saying how much this reiterated how important getting vaccinated is. There is growing evidence that the vaccines are effective against the Indian variant. 

 

Phil 

[excitedofharpenden]

17 hours ago, yorky said:

I find that response slightly baffling. Four people have died from the Indian variant, not sure how me stating “ people are dying from the Indian variant” is then scaremongering, they did actually died regardless of any underlying health condition after contracting Covid.

I think your original post is very misleading. Why not just say four deaths in the UK have been attributed to the Indian variant?  To those not familiar with news here you give the impression that people are dying of it in numbers and it's out of control. Which is not the case. 

 

Phil 

[Ronin23]

Here in Australia we have pretty much written off any kind of meaningful international travel until mid next year at the earliest, aside from travel bubbles to NZ, the Pacific etc. 

 

Yes we have catching up to do on vaccinations, however we have no COVID here at all so we are effectively leading normals lives apart from the travel aspect. For this reason most are not in a hurry to get vaccinated or open borders for that matter. It’s also politically favourable to keep borders closed and with a federal election due by May next year, don’t expect borders to open before then.

Edited May 17, 2021 by Ronin23

[DirtyDawg]

4 hours ago, Ronin23 said:

Here in Australia we have pretty much written off any kind of meaningful international travel until mid next year at the earliest, aside from travel bubbles to NZ, the Pacific etc. 

 

Yes we have catching up to do on vaccinations, however we have no COVID here at all so we are effectively leading normals lives apart from the travel aspect. For this reason most are not in a hurry to get vaccinated or open borders for that matter. It’s also politically favourable to keep borders closed and with a federal election due by May next year, don’t expect borders to open before then.

Wow. Are you saying that Aussie politicians put votes and the health and welfare of their voters ahead of us, the international travelers? Shocking! 🤯

[Manchester is blue]

Most of them do don’t they..........😠

[Christine Frances]

On 5/15/2021 at 5:41 PM, 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.

just moved my Jan 2022 South Pacific cruise to Dec 2022.   Same itinerary, slightly better  pricing   and better weather for our 4 week Darwin and Red Centre land tour pre cruise.   I’m disappointed  we are not going in Jan but still super excited. 

[ScreamWithMe]

I have a Dec 2021 cruise booked.   Has there been a historic trend of how far out Celebrity cancels these?   After reading all of the news I'm fairly confident I won't be going and would like to start planning something else.

[wrk2cruise]

Around 60 days out, although they currently haven't cancelled July and that's only 6 or 7 weeks out.

[luv2travel90266]

I'm booked  for New Zealand/Australia  on Azamara in Feb 2022. No news yet and the website still has the cruise listed for new reservations. It is a given that it is unlikely to occur. 

 

[ShawninFL]

On 5/16/2021 at 6:45 PM, lyndarra said:

More news reports on this coming to light that the mid 2022 opening up was only a federal budget prediction. I believe the government may be doing a back pedal here and now saying that it is not yet policy. Having said that, a recent poll showed 73% of Aussies are supporting present international travel restrictions. It's a wait and see thing ATM.

We are now dealing with a surge of Oz citizens in India wanting to return home. COVID testing is required before boarding flights however there is a large proportion of the returnees testing positive, not withstanding some false positives which, I suppose, is better than false negatives. Most will be quarantined in a Northern Territory (outback) quarantine facility.

There's evidence that vaccinations are ramping up with the opening of mass vaccination centres and this will be the key to opening up. I'm halfway there - one of two so far.

 

Thanks for the update from someone on the ground.  I'm not planning on making our October 2021 Australia/NZ cruise, but just going to wait for Celebrity to cancel.  If they don't actually cancel, I'll just use the Cruise with Confidence to reschedule for 2022.