Another nail in the coffin for an Alaska season in '21?

[71 Truck]

Every cruise ship that docks in Vancouver generates about $3million to the local economy.

That is a huge amount of money they are losing.
I hope local business can make it to when cruise ships start docking again.
I feel bad for all the people losing their business and people losing their jobs.

 

[jlwhitney]

Yes we do , however my wife and I were lucky enough to get a seven day Western Caribbean cruise two weeks before cruising in the United States shut down in 2020.
Lets hope 2021 gets better soon.

we went the first week of feb 2020 for a western also and so thankful we had that!

 

[otten]

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/...ontributed nearly,and 42.1% growth since 2008.

However, BC is weighing the revenue of that against the human cost of viral transmission, and making their decisions on that basis. Their decision may not be what you would choose in their place but it is their decision.

This. There is also a tremendous economic cost of viral transmission, from the cost of trying to operate an overwhelmed healthcare system to the cost of having to have tighter and longer restrictions after the tourist season if it resulted in out of control spread.

 

[otten]

That is a huge amount of money they are losing.
I hope local business can make it to when cruise ships start docking again.
I feel bad for all the people losing their business and people losing their jobs.

Other than strictly tourism related businesses like tour operators and hotels I’m not even sure the loss of tourism is even the thing hurting Downtown Vancouver businesses the most. Downtown is a ghost town with most companies having their employees working from home. It is a very hard time to be a downtown based business right now.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Great information. Thank you.

 

[jane01jp]

Meanwhile, in Carlsbad, CA:

https://www.aier.org/article/carlsbad-ca-says-no-more-to-lockdowns-may-it-be-a-national-model/

 

[bcwife76]

Meanwhile, in Carlsbad, CA:

https://www.aier.org/article/carlsbad-ca-says-no-more-to-lockdowns-may-it-be-a-national-model/

What does that have to do with Alaskan cruises?

 

[jane01jp]

What does that have to do with Alaskan cruises?

It shows that citizens can influence decisions. Ultimately, if citizens decide, en masse, that we should have Alaskan cruises again, we will have Alaskan cruises again,

 

[mevelandry]

Article

With that much uncertainty, I don't see how any company could reliably plan for business ops.

The reason they are doing it is to avoid last year’s spring break fiasco (this is when things go out of control here in Canada).

I doubt it will still be in effect this summer. For now, I still have some hope for a partial Alaska cruises season.

 

[mevelandry]

**Apologies... Wasn’t answering to the right person.**

 

[mevelandry]

Nothing new in this article. There are some very vocal provincial premiers that want an extremely hard line toward any kind of travel - inbound and outbound. This latest round is mostly about Canadians going away for "non-essential travel" as our land, sea and air borders are already close to all international travelers for non-essential travel. COVID-19 started to be a real thing in Canada around the time that Spring break hits (late February to mid-March) last year, and I can see a few provinces wanting to get ahead of this by making it nearly impossible to come back from a sun vacation in February and March without any kind of real consequences. The odds of an Alaskan cruising season will be dictated by 1) Current infection trends and infections rates within Canada... and especially BC as it relates to the Alaska cruising season and 2) Whatever happens in the US as most Alaska-bound cruisers are American. This was the case before, and will remain the cause. Now, there is a bit of social unrest, and strong comments from exhausted health care workers who have been unable to take a break/vacation which could ultimately alter people's attitude toward globetrotting and travel, but this trend is global in nature... not just something happening here

Our PM for sure.

When it comes to Canada, people always think Alaska but Canada and New England cruises are also affected (Nova Scotia, IPE, New Brunswick, Quebec) so I pay attention to all news related to cruising on the east side as well.

 

[mevelandry]

That is a huge amount of money they are losing.
I hope local business can make it to when cruise ships start docking again.
I feel bad for all the people losing their business and people losing their jobs.

At this point, we have to pick between the lives/health of our people and business, and it’s not an easy choice... but the obvious choice. It has a huge impact, including on mental health. All of us can’t wait to be back to normal life but we are all doing this so we can get back to normal life as soon as possible... We try to encourage our local business as much as possible until until tourism and cruising comes back.

I even visited the exterior or our new Montreal cruise terminal last summer. It looks amazing. (They did not get my money but they will get it in the future).

 

[mevelandry]

It shows that citizens can influence decisions. Ultimately, if citizens decide, en masse, that we should have Alaskan cruises again, we will have Alaskan cruises again,

That’s not how it works here in Canada. Health department feed government’s recommendations based on data. And anyone who will try to remain open when it’s forbidden will receive huge fines that they won’t be able to get annuled in court. (Oh and by the way, most business currently receive $ help so many of them should recover).

Canada Ports won’t reopen just because some shop owners want to reopen.

 

[yowcruiser]

Our PM for sure.

When it comes to Canada, people always think Alaska but Canada and New England cruises are also affected (Nova Scotia, IPE, New Brunswick, Quebec) so I pay attention to all news related to cruising on the east side as well.

True... and with the "bubble concept" that has been going on on the East Coast, you could make a case that they may be even more reluctant to cruising resuming

 

[KGmomoftwins]

We have a July 2021 Alaskan cruise booked - a rebooking from summer 2020. As soon as the 2022 Alaskan cruises open up for booking I'll be booking a cabin as a back up. We are doing our part to prevent the spread of the virus and that's all I can do.

That is what my plan is! Even though we have Alaska booked for August 2021 (and plan to go if it sails) I want the room category I want and am afraid if I wait to book Alaska for 2022 when they cancel 2021 nothing will be left and the price will skyrocket. Just stinks as I booked 2021 opening day using a placeholder that expires in August

 

[jlwhitney]

It shows that citizens can influence decisions. Ultimately, if citizens decide, en masse, that we should have Alaskan cruises again, we will have Alaskan cruises again,

Come summer, there will be a lot of fighting back by both businesses and people.

 

[Starwind]

A CBC article form this weekend... Since it will spin... the title is "Garneau won't rule out invoking Emergencies Act to limit pandemic travel"

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/garneau-emergencies-act-pandemic-travel-1.5885770
Even if they impose stricter restrictions and they were then to be lifted by the summer, keep in mind that the cruise lines are having to make decisions to go/no go the Alaska season sooner rather than later. They have to move and crew ships, have contracts in place for shore excursions etc. So things governments do how will have an impact on those decisions.

 

[mevelandry]

True... and with the "bubble concept" that has been going on on the East Coast, you could make a case that they may be even more reluctant to cruising resuming

True. Due to the bubbles, certain regions have been spared... It’s a good thing because the health care system over there cannot support a pandemic. We have to take that into account when reopening ports.

 

[mevelandry]

Come summer, there will be a lot of fighting back by both businesses and people.

No necessarily. Depending how the vaccination is progressing, we could return to an « almost normal« and some reopenings as soon as this spring.

That being said, here it is not the people nor the business who calls the shot but health departments. As I said earlier, the fines can be extremely rough on your wallet. And it still has absolutely no impact on port reopening.

When the government says the port isn’t reopening, it’s not reopening.

 

[mevelandry]

A CBC article form this weekend... Since it will spin... the title is "Garneau won't rule out invoking Emergencies Act to limit pandemic travel"

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/garneau-emergencies-act-pandemic-travel-1.5885770
Even if they impose stricter restrictions and they were then to be lifted by the summer, keep in mind that the cruise lines are having to make decisions to go/no go the Alaska season sooner rather than later. They have to move and crew ships, have contracts in place for shore excursions etc. So things governments do how will have an impact on those decisions.

Absolutely. There would be a delay for sure. On top of that, ships that usually do those itineraries could very much be reassigned elsewhere even if there is sudden availability.