Posted on 09/19/2021 5:40:17 PM PDT by Capt. Tom
Thanks for posting.
It pretty much confirms what I had imagined it would be like to be a regular voyager on the seas.
While I have enjoyed my many cruises over the years, I think I will continue to wait it out until some sense of sanity returns in this world.
I have remarked that the world we are living in today is much like the 1930’s when countries were in the midst of threats of world wars. And then Germany and Japan ‘released the Kraken’.
If you pay good money for recreation, it should be what _you_ want it to be, not what they want it to be.
No travel for me until the stupid rules are gone—every last one of them.
Bookmarked
Can you recommend a river cruise?
I cruise to meet amazing people from all over the world and make new and long lasting friends. I won’t do check point charlie to do it.
It's over. People need to get back to living their lives.
How much are the cruise lines paying you to ensure this?
They still sell Jiffy Pop. I used to take it on camping trips, and still get it for little ones as a New Years Eve treat.
Can you imagine the chaos after flying to a location when a travelling companion, vaccinated or unvaccinated, is not allowed to board a cruise ship because of a positive covid test.
Since different countries have different rules, I could see that person or possibly both people ending up in some type of local Quarantine. -Tom
Interesting article. We’re not cruising yet. Hope things get better.
😂That was funny I couldn’t stop laughing!
Thanks Capt. Tom.
Entropy, *PING* of likely interest to you.
Where have you gone that isn’t insane with totalitarian control disease (TCD). Seems the USA will be ruled by TCD forever. I would like to think there is an escape plan.
I don't do them, but a close friend goes yearly on the American Queen Steamship Co. paddlewheeler cruise ships in this country.
He and his wife really enjoy those various river cruises. -Tom
Before Covid, I was a regular cruise columnist for the FoxNews.com website. I wrote over 110 articles for FoxNews and foxbusiness.com. I know Gene Sloan well (he once suggested I got him his job with USA Today). The circle of cruise journalists is a pretty small one and we have traveled on the same cruises probably a couple of dozen times.
Unfortunately, my journalistic outlets for cruise articles are not as avid as what Gene has found.
I also enjoy the cruise experience and have been on probably 200 of them (lost count). I even worked aboard ships in the 80s and 90s for almost 2 years.
In any case, it is sad but true that mostly for non-cruisers, cruise ships have a reputation for being breeding grounds for viruses. This is not a complete fallacy either, especially with some of the pre-COVID practices they used like buffets, arena shows, bars, and casinos.
The biggest challenge however is overcoming the memory of Diamond Princess which was one of the first COVID hotbeds in the world, sailing in Japan where the health minister made the mistake of forcing the ill to remain on the ship but not necessarily sequestered in their rooms. The C19 onboard spread far faster than any virus anyone had ever seen before and for a month it was in the news every day.
Honestly, if we had a vaccine that worked we all might be back to normal already, but the vaccines do not work, there are breakthrough cases, and those people are more likely to be asymptomatic carriers.
I miss cruise travel, but without the people watching and with even more red tape than ever, I fear it will be quite a while before the industry is back to normal - barring a miracle of course.
FYI: My name is Paul Motter and I was the editor of CruiseMates.com.
Believe it or not, the US is one of the more sane places right now with regards to lockdowns. Most of Asia is just crazy, they're locked down tighter than a drum. Australia has to take the cake for craziest. France has opened up some recently but only if you have a vaccine card, you have to show it everywhere to get in. Germany and the Netherlands aren't too bad, at least you can get out of the hotel.
I live in Florida and it's so refreshing to get home, it's like it's the only sane place on the planet right now.
Thank you.
I miss cruise travel, but without the people watching and with even more red tape than ever, I fear it will be quite a while before the industry is back to normal - barring a miracle of course.
I am one of the most injected and vaccinated people on the planet, but am right now at 86, and with plenty of comorbidities, unvaccinated, because I cannot find a vaccine or experimental drug that actually works against covid.
As far as the cruise lines making an economic recovery , I don't see it happening now, as the economic drain has gone on for too long, and the discrimination of vaxed and unvaxed will take a future economic toll, as will the covid prevention requirements aboard and ashore. -Tom
Thank God for southern states. FL and many others are sane but federal mandates cause the idiocy.
Thx for the feedback.
GaryCrow wrote:
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“Where have you gone that isn’t insane with totalitarian control disease (TCD). Seems the USA will be ruled by TCD forever.”
Believe it or not, the US is one of the more sane places right now with regards to lockdowns. Most of Asia is just crazy, they’re locked down tighter than a drum. Australia has to take the cake for craziest. France has opened up some recently but only if you have a vaccine card, you have to show it everywhere to get in. Germany and the Netherlands aren’t too bad, at least you can get out of the hotel.
I live in Florida and it’s so refreshing to get home, it’s like it’s the only sane place on the planet right now.”
Many thanks for your eyes-on report !!
I’m in Texas; it’s also sane (except Austin is still wierd).
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