JoCoCruise Postponed
Posted on July 23, 2020 Posted by John Scalzi 16 Comments
Well, this is sad news for me and about 2,000 other nerds:
Sad, but of course necessary. While I would like to think by next March we’ll be seeing the light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel, given how well this country has managed its response to the pandemic so far (and Florida in particular, as that is where the cruise would launch from), it’s best to assume that the Covid tunnel is long, and the light further away than we would like it to be. Nothing would ruin a cruise like everyone on it confined to quarters the entire time.
It’s still disappointing. I’ll miss my friends and I’ll miss the community that has spring up on the JoCoCruise over the years. I feel pretty strongly that this community will keep itself intact even though it will be necessary to skip over a year, however, so that when we reconvene in 2022 (knocks on wood) it will be, well, not like no time has passed, but at least that the absence will have in fact made hearts grow fonder.
As an aside, this now means that officially and finally I have no conventions or events scheduled for more than a year from today, and (equally obviously), had none scheduled since I got off the JoCoCruise in March. This is the longest I’ve gone between a convention or event since (checks calendar) 2003. That’s just wild. Fortunately I like my house, and the people in it. Even so.
Are you likely to do (virtual) Worldcon?
I missed the deadline to do programming because of my own obliviousness, plus events happening in my real world, so I will not be attending Worldcon, virtually or otherwise, this year. I may attend Worldcon in 2021 in DC, but again so much is contingent on events.
I should note I do have online/virtual events scheduled this year, but that’s different from actually going somewhere and showing up for something.
JoCo virtual con? Someone should do that….
I’ve had a cruise booked for mid-February 2021 for quite some time and fully expect not to go. At this point we haven’t canceled because Royal Caribbean keeps extending its Cruise with Confidence program so you can cancel 48 hours ahead of the cruise and just reschedule for within a year. I was just watching a video about the industry that came out today that suggested the industry is showing all signs of not getting going until 2021, if then, currently have no ongoing talks with the CDC and most ports are shut down to Americans anyway. Sad, but then again, so is dying from COVID-19, so overall I can live with the disappointment.
Hm. I have to say that this seems premature, though of course I’m not privy to their exact reasoning. But I don’t think it is at all out of the question that this pandemic is under control by March 2021. The US only (yes, “only”) been dealing with the pandemic for about four months at this point; March is 8 months away.
Maybe I’m just being naive, or overly optimistic. But I guess I have to be.
“I have no conventions or events scheduled for more than a year from today, and (equally obviously), had none scheduled since I got off the JoCoCruise in March. This is the longest I’ve gone between a convention or event since (checks calendar) 2003.”
In the Before Time I traveled for stories about every other week, and left the country about every other month. I haven’t gone this long without traveling in… a really long time? At least 15 years.
I missed 2020, and sad to see 2021 not happening, but glad that THO decided to postpone. The social media groups have been good about keeping everyone connected, and should be even better when we can get back together safely.
In the civilized world (i.e. outside the US, except for Brazil and Venezuela ) things are close to normal. Due to the acting presidents complete incompetence and failure to lead, there are now more cases per day in Florida than the whole EU. So basically we blew up the economy with a half-assed shutdown, gave up and opened up ahead of time, and so are prolonging the agony. And still have no national plan, no national supply program, no scaled up testing.
Cancelling seems to be the best option at the moment, unfortunately.
Well, if there comes a vaccine that’s, oh, 70 percent effective, how’s that going to work out on a cruise?
In other Ohio news, stranger than fiction:
http://www.icontact-archive.com/archive?c=946851&f=24688&s=46345&m=2657970&t=ea2f448966dd9bf085083b43084b3da176d00d5c185514ff465f51d1e38c231a
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A dirty battle for a nuclear bailout in Ohio
Yesterday, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four others were arrested on bribery charges in connection with the bailout of two nuclear energy plants. This recent Bulletin piece by Shakiba Fadaie and M. V. Ramana tracks the convoluted background behind that bailout….
Hank, please don’t do that “in other news” thing to introduce something that has nothing to do with the subject under discussion. The other comment thread for which this would actually be relevant is still open.
I wish it was unexpected.
See you in 2022. I’ve got my 2021 badge…. I guess those’ll be collector’s items.
2020 was to be our third JoCo but we had already cancelled based on the COVID and political situation in the US. We’re going to play 2021 by ear and see how it goes.
I’m moderately disappointed, because the first JoCo Cruise (back when it was still CRAZY) was a gift from my family for a combined 40th birthday and 41st Christmas present, which sounds weird until you realize those dates are exactly one day apart. Also, I specifically ask them months in advance, and they graciously gave me my nerd week with (at that point) a few hundred friends, new and old. I was looking forward to a possible 50th/51st celebratory reprisal, which is now not going to happen (although I guess a 51st/52d is now in the cards).
That said, I applaud their early, safe decision given that we have no reason to believe that the Complainer in Chief is going to do anything about fixing this problem during his remaining time in office, and that’s going to be a long, slow trip back to safety for our country from which a large percentage of the JoCo faithfuls (and our always welcome new attendees) reside. As much fun as the cruise was likely to be, a cruise without the specter of deadly virus infections hovering over us is the best choice.
Not personally a JoCoNaut, more’s the pity, but kudos to the Cruise for displaying an actual “abundance of caution.” I’ve seen so many institutions going “La la la, we’re going to act on the assumption that everything will be OK by the time [planned event] rolls round,” only to scramble at the last minute to tack on accommodations that should have been baked in months before. [Source: am a parent of public-school kids, and work at a higher-ed institution.] This is pretty much the first example I’ve seen of planners saying “You know what, I’m not liking our chances here, so let’s just give it a miss and try again when the dust settles.”
Considering what was going on last cruise, probably for the best. A lot of things are going to be cancelled/postponed/heavily restricted until there is a vaccine
Under covid, right now, it’s strange to have two emotions at once. Mostly I have “trapped glumness” but also glimmerings of gratitude that I’m not trapped as badly as I have been in the past from poverty and other things. I suppose we sf and f fans could imagine strong radiant reasons to be grateful, but I am not in such a head space just now.