CANADA SAYS 100% VACCINATED FOR CRUISES IN 2022

[mmouse37]

Canada's new regulations an obstacle for cruises to Alaska in 2022: Travel Weekly

Oh, boy....another hiccup in the plans. We are on the Hawaii to Vancouver cruise and this will surely affect it.

Sorry if this was posted already.

MJ

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Are they literally banning children under 5?

 

[mmouse37]

This is the text from the article

The Canadian government unrolled a new set of guidelines for cruise ships that require a 100% vaccination rate for all ships stopping at its ports, potentially complicating the 2022 Alaska cruise season.
Transport Canada, the nation's transportation agency, said more announcements will be coming soon.
"As we look to the 2022 season, Transport Canada remains focused on keeping Canadians safe. We also value the cruise industry and the economic contribution it makes to Canada," said Transport Canada spokeswoman Sau Sau Liu.
Canada's guidelines create a higher standard for cruising than the CDC. Last week, the CDC said it was grading ships based on their vaccination rates. The CDC will label ships with at least 95% of passengers and crew with two initial doses as "highly vaccinated" and ships with 95% of passengers and crew with two doses plus a booster shot as "standard of excellence" ships. Those that don't meet these criteria are labeled "not highly vaccinated."
Cruise ships were banned from Canada in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. Because foreign-flagged ships are required to stop at an international port for cruises departing from the United States, U.S. lawmakers passed a law to temporarily allow ships to skip the perfunctory stop in Canada on Alaska cruises. Without the waiver, cruise lines would not have been able to salvage the 2021 Alaska cruise season.
Alaska lawmakers are working on new legislation that would allow cruise ships to continue to sail past Canada without the required stop.
John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line's brand ambassador and senior cruise director, took to Facebook on Wednesday to say details are still being worked out for Alaska cruises, but Canada's regulations are a sticking point.
"The issue at the moment is still about resolving Canadian government requirements. If that cannot be worked out promptly, the industry will seek to have government regulations suspended like what took place last year, and our itineraries will bypass Canada altogether," he wrote.
The Alaska cruise season runs from May to September.


I guess more info to come but right now, yeah, kids under 5 would not be able to sail

MJ

 

[Calantha]

Sorry if this was posted already.

Yes, there are 2 other threads about this right now:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/alaska-cruise-covid-testing-question.3870440/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/will-disney-cancel-alaska-this-summer.3873320/page-2#post-63809183

 

[bcwife76]

"At the moment, Canada does not have guidance on whether booster shots will be required to be considered "fully vaccinated." Transport Canada's guidance notes that some exemptions -- for medical and religious reasons -- could be allowed. The release does not mention what will happen to those who are unable to be vaccinated, specifically children under the age of five -- though it is likely they will be eligible to cruise as long as they are accompanied by fully-vaccinated parents. "

So we don't know for sure if kids who are not eligible to be vaccinated will be allowed or not. Talk about murky waters!

 

[mmouse37]

"At the moment, Canada does not have guidance on whether booster shots will be required to be considered "fully vaccinated." Transport Canada's guidance notes that some exemptions -- for medical and religious reasons -- could be allowed. The release does not mention what will happen to those who are unable to be vaccinated, specifically children under the age of five -- though it is likely they will be eligible to cruise as long as they are accompanied by fully-vaccinated parents. "

So we don't know for sure if kids who are not eligible to be vaccinated will be allowed or not. Talk about murky waters!

As clear as mud!!!

MJ

 

[_auroraborealis_]

TBH I'm pretty sure if lines have the option of "no under 5s" or "no sailing," they will absolutely take the cancels of the families with under-5s (and unvaccinated over-5s) and float the boat.

 

[LeslieG]

No info about any testing requirements to enter Canada? Specifically wondering about the Honolulu to Vancouver sailing.

 

[JAM9842]

No info about any testing requirements to enter Canada? Specifically wondering about the Honolulu to Vancouver sailing.

We are on that cruise also and I am curious about the same thing.

 

[Intr3pid]

Again, none of this is new. All these requirements are from a while ago. That linked document itself was posted earlier in February.

Fully vaccinated guests and crews have been a part of Canada's cruising restart rules from last October. Dunno why these articles keep selling them as something new - and folks keep falling for it.

 

[KashasMom]

Not sure why this would be a problem? Aren't vaccines for under 5s supposed to be approved soon? So then....?

 

[Kwami]

Not sure why this would be a problem? Aren't vaccines for under 5s supposed to be approved soon? So then....?

Pfizer withdrew its application for under 5s just a couple of weeks ago, so it'll be a while. Plus, recent studies showed that the vaccine basically did nothing for 5-12s, so that's probably going to delay the under 5s even longer. But we can't keep talking about that because we'll probably cross the line on speculation and whatnot.

 

[mousefan73]

No info about any testing requirements to enter Canada? Specifically wondering about the Honolulu to Vancouver sailing.

Go to Canada’s travel site and it’s all there.

 

[mousefan73]

People are blowing Canada's requirements waay out of proportion. All they are asking for is vaccination and testing. Nothing that hasn't been required or done for maybe 99% of cruisers so far.
The only issue they need to clarify is vaccine eligable vs. everyone thing. That would impact families with small children who cannot get vaxxed from sailing if the requirements is ALL passengers, not ELIGABLE passsengers. .

testing is something that is a PIA but IMO nothing cruise lines cannot figure out together with Canada.
So maybe 5% of cruisers this will impact but not destroy the industry like many healdiners like to put out there for click bait

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Aren't vaccines for under 5s supposed to be approved soon?

Nope.

The only issue they need to clarify is vaccine eligable vs. everyone thing.

We know that's the only issue. But it's not a small thing.

 

[nancipants]

Not sure why this would be a problem? Aren't vaccines for under 5s supposed to be approved soon? So then....?

I wish.

 

[mmouse37]

We are on that cruise also and I am curious about the same thing.

Yep, me too!

MJ

 

[mmouse37]

Again, none of this is new. All these requirements are from a while ago. That linked document itself was posted earlier in February.

Fully vaccinated guests and crews have been a part of Canada's cruising restart rules from last October. Dunno why these articles keep selling them as something new - and folks keep falling for it.

I honestly thought it was a new article when I posted....then I saw that it was from Feb 25th. Sorry!!

MJ

 

[mullysisters]

Again, none of this is new. All these requirements are from a while ago. That linked document itself was posted earlier in February.

Fully vaccinated guests and crews have been a part of Canada's cruising restart rules from last October. Dunno why these articles keep selling them as something new - and folks keep falling for it.

Right? These are journalists reading the same goverment statements we are and repeating them in a misleading the public. All fully vaccinated people can enter Canada. Read the regulations( which are changing all the time) Ontario is talking about removing masking requirements this month.

 

[tidefan]

I guess what I don't get about all this is since both vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers can transmit the virus, why does this even matter anymore? The main reason I can think of is hospitalization capacity, but since vaccinated/boosted probability of this is (according to the CDC) so low, if you had a few unvaccinated on board, why does it matter, as long as you didn't have, say over 5-10% that "could" get sick enough to require hospitalization? This is the logic that drove Hawaii's Safe Travels program, and I completely got that since there was limited hospital space.

Full disclosure, we are all vaccinated/boosted, so the data shows we are pretty protected. It doesn't bother me to be around unvaccinated people. Am I missing something here? Seems to me, if you are unvaccinated, you are just creating your own risk calculus, though some (kids, those with medicine interaction conflicts, etc.) can't get it anyway...