TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Protocols Delayed!!!

If they know they are going to require a 4-day quarantine, announce it now. Let everyone cancel and make plans to go elsewhere. We're planning to come for three months, but will probably cancel if quarantine is required. Not interested in paying $$$ to stay in some hotel, and can't see how they would get a security guard to our house.

I have to say...as I watch this all unfold - or perhaps unravel would be a better word - I am starting to hope the protocols make our December charter impossible.

With rumors that the tests will cost something like $250 and having to take it twice? On top of the one we’ll have to pay for before we fly? That’s another $1k + and what happens if one of you is positive (or false positive....)?

It isn’t worth risking - we will most likely push this one to June 2021....

We have a week planned for St. Thomas in January to check out marinas for our own boat so we can get a little USVI fix in the meantime.

If they charge more than $50 its over for me. it is up to government to have reasonable fees or no one will come down.

The government should pay the fees if they really want to get tourism going again but that’s basic logic.

....no one will go....

Can you just imagine? You get on the plane with your negative test in hand. You arrive and pay $$$ for another test on arrival. What if you’re positive this time?? - and we know that false positives are happening - how sophisticated do we think this BVI testing will be?? What happens then?? Or you are positive after your quarantine??

What happens to the money you’ve spent on the charter and everything that goes along with it?

It is just not worth the VERY costly risk!

The tourists here in Florida are ridiculous. I cannot imagine it would be any better in the BVI....

Those with property (like a charter boat) in the BVI will go. We have a booking Dec 8th and we will go unless they make it impossible to do so. Certainly willing to jump through a lot of hoops to be on our boat.

@MrEZgoin - howdy neighbor! Lake Stevens here!

Anxiously awaiting Monday's details. We are - trying - to close on a PowerCat before end of the year in Tortola. But, gotta put my actual hands on her before closing! Watching re-entry protocols closely. And, great excuse for a business trip!

If a 4 day quarantine is in place I expect that to drastically impact vacations that can be canceled.

European Covid cases are on the rise big time. Friends in Ireland state they are at L5 shutdown for 6 weeks. I expect BVI to follow more European approach to re-opening, which imho, is more conservative than US approach.

With that - I think there is an extreme push on the Gov to open Tourism and get the money flowing. So, anxiously waiting for tomorrow.

Will

Anybody know what time tomorrow the announcement is expected?

I was just looking . . . I haven't seen any mention of an announcement yet.

Sisterblysse, is this your first trip to the BVI? Even if they gave a time - as in "we'll announce it next Thursday" - it's meaningless. Best to check FB after the fact and see what happened.

And they need to provide ALL the details. Dribbling out length, location and cost of curfew, testing details, arrival protocols, etc. will not cut it.

Agree completely - we need clear cut details -- ALL of them -- no piecemeal B.S. here. I am extremely grateful that BVI Yacht Charters has told us we can reschedule AGAIN if the protocols are impossible for us to follow.

hi RatmansWife - not a first timer, I have been a regular visitor and have my boat out there. My December trip has been booked for nearly a year.
It will be what it will be but I just want to draw a line under all this now one way or the other and just wondered if someone here has inside intel about a time scheduled for announcement. Checking FB or here frequently in the hopes of news is a real energy drain. This endless speculation is exhausting for all.

My guess is that it will be end of the day - it seems to be when it happens most of the time.

I got the impression that the cabinet still has to meet to discuss and vote. If that's the case, I would agree it might be late in the day or even Tuesday by the time we hear. Frankly, until I see the official government gazette, I won't believe it.

And nothing predicts future behaviour than past behaviour ;-)

The problem is the issue isn't the recovery rate. That has always been part of it. The bigger issue is the rate is dependent upon those needing care getting it. That has always been the biggest issue. And just recently in Utah there was a woman who had a heart attack and needed ICU care and was delayed in getting it because the local hospital had no ICU space available due to covid. She ended up getting it but it likely put her in a worse situation. Imagine something like this in the BVI? Dying because of covid but never having had it?

THAT is the real issue. 1% fatality rate (and I've heard 2.5% from experts) is still also not anything to dismiss, that's 1 in 200 people. The younger one is, the better those odds become, but even those that get through it can have long term effects.

So I'm really not surprised the BVI hasn't made solid plans yet. With the US seeing a huge increase in cases and little being done in many areas to control it and Eurpoe now seeing additional restrictions because they too are seeing increased cases, I'll be surprised if they open in any reasonable way that allows tourists in. I think we're going to see them have restrictions in place that prevent tourists until a vaccine is available and then they'll require anyone coming in to have that as well as a negative test. Just my 2 cents.

This is not the proper forum to discuss the numerous problems with the handling of the COVID-19 issue but I would ask you to please refrain from posting unsubstantiated information about the issue. Obviously, Carol has the last call on this.

Vaccine availability for vacationers is probably 18 months away. That assumes they even get a working vaccine which is still very much in doubt. Can the BVI survive that long?

I understand the reluctance to make real protocols...what I dont understand is spending $$$$$$$$$ on a promotional video and posting it inviting everyone back on Dec 1..Talk about the cart before the horse..or in the BVI's probably the donkey before the goat..Waste of $$$ and even bigger waste of energy and momentum.
"Come on everyone..have some cake..oops we just ran out....now we are meeting to see if we can bake some more..sometime..maybe!

I agree, Mal —- but that should come as no surprise.

??? You must have some information noone else has. From everything I've seen published the vaccine should be widely available in '21. And you say a working vaccine is still very much in doubt - where does that come from? All of the trials seem to be going pretty well. Source please - I'd like to read about this.

I am just going by what I read. Attempts to create a corona virus vaccine have been in work for 20 years without success. Far more money and effort are now going into a vaccine which should help. Basically however we are just starting to test vaccine candidates to see if they actually work. Prior to this the testing has been to see if they were safe not if they were effective. When you read trials are going well it simply meant the vaccine was not killing people.
If a effective candidate emerges there are huge problems with distribution as the leading candidates require refrigeration capabilities that don’t exist on the scale needed. Initial distribution is planned and should be risk based. Normal healthy people will be far down the list. There are proposed distribution methods and a attempt to get the wealthier nations to agree to subsidize getting the vaccine to poorer nations with bad health care first. That is the right thing to do.

OK, obviously a corona virus vaccine has NOT been in the works for 20 years, since Covid 19 only appeared this year.

Regardless, this has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Will close this one here and wait for the actual protocols to be announced, hopefully soon.