Neaxan

Just to clarify again - crew tested positive was for AIDA ships, not TUI. These cruises to nowhere are now starting for 3 German cruise lines: TUI  Cruises (50% Royal Caribbean, 50% TUI), AIDA Cruises (belongs to Carnival) and Hapag Lloyd  Kreuzfahrten (German luxury cruise line, owned 100% by TUI). Safety measures should be quite similar on all 3 lines as they were negotiated by the German branch of CLIA.
Looking forward to a conclusion video by one of my favourite Youtubers - he's on Mein Schiff 2's first cruise. The video is scheduled for tomorrow, 8.30 pm (CEST). I'll report back anything interesting.

Just to clarify again - crew tested positive was for AIDA ships, not TUI. These cruises to nowhere are now starting for 3 German cruise lines: TUI  Cruises (50% Royal Caribbean, 50% TUI), AIDA Cruises (belongs to Carnival) and Hapag Lloyd  Kreuzfahrten (German luxury cruise line, owned 100% by TUI). Safety measures should be quite similar on all 3 lines as they were negotiated by the German branch of CLIA.
Looking forward to a conclusion video by one of my favourite Youtubers - he's on Mein Schiff 2's first cruise. The video is scheduled for tomorrow, 8.30 pm (CEST). I'll report back anything interesting.

What does Aida have to do with TUI?  Completely different ship and cruise line.  

TUI Cruises is starting July 24th  with 3 and 4 night cruises to nowhere from Hamburg. 60% capacity - they only offer balcony cabins, junior suites and suites. Masks only where social distancing (1.5m) isn't possible. Sadly have no leave days left, otherwise we might have used the opportunity to sail on Mein Schiff 2 for the first time.

TUI Cruises is starting July 24th  with 3 and 4 night cruises to nowhere from Hamburg. 60% capacity - they only offer balcony cabins, junior suites and suites. Masks only where social distancing (1.5m) isn't possible. Sadly have no leave days left, otherwise we might have used the opportunity to sail on Mein Schiff 2 for the first time.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but apparently all Pullmantur ships will be dismantled in Turkey ?
https://www.elrincondeltripulante.xyz/2020/06/pullmanturs-ships-will-be-disposed-in.html

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but apparently all Pullmantur ships will be dismantled in Turkey ?
https://www.elrincondeltripulante.xyz/2020/06/pullmanturs-ships-will-be-disposed-in.html

I doubt that Odyssey's new inaugural has much to do with the rest of the fleet. I'm guessing even if they could speed up Odyssey a bit more, that wouldn't help much because a late transatlantic and shortened Caribbean season just isn't financially viable. Cruise lines also tend to avoid Mediterranean sailings in winter. So the only valid winter option based on weather and distance would be the Canary Islands and it might be difficult to fit Odyssey in the port schedules on a short notice. Maybe they'll add some earlier cruises for Odyssey once they're sure of  Meyer Werft's progress and COVID restrictions.

@rshov, here are a couple of other suggestions for you.
Marseille: I do like the city and if you prefer not to venture farther afield there are a few things you might like to do.
First of all, know that the ship does not dock right in town. There is (or at least used to be) a free bus service from just outside the port gates but to be honest, there are loads of taxis and the last time we were there it was about 20 euros each way in a taxi. There are marshalls organising the queue so it's not a free-for-all like you find at some ports. If you take a taxi, you want to tell the driver to take you to the Vieux Port (which means Old Port) and you will be dropped at the taxi rank there, which is nicely central and from which you have several options.
There is a free walking tour from the top end of the Vieux Port which my daughter has done and said was very good. No pre-booking was required for this pre-Covid and there were normally two separate daily tours, one in English and one in Spanish. However, at the moment you do have to pre-book and there appears to be only one bilingual tour. Anyway, you can browse their website here: https://marseillefreewalkingtour.com/marseille-free-tour/
Right by where the taxi would drop you is the terminus of the Petit Train (Little Train), which covers several routes. The one we did takes you around the port area and up to the Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica on a hilltop overlooking the city. This is not a HoHo service. Everybody has to get off at the Basilica and then you catch another train to complete the circuit. Tickets for the train can be bought from one of the agents working the queue. I can't remember how much it cost us but it wasn't expensive and it was an enjoyable trip.
Here's the Petit Train website: http://petit-train-marseille.com/en/home-7/ 
Unfortunately the Basilica's website is not working at the moment but you can look it up on Google and you'll get hits from the big travel sites like TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet, etc.




If you enjoy museums, MUCEM (Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean) is also very close to the Vieux Port. They are currently closed, again because of Covid, but you can see their website here: https://www.mucem.org/en/your-visit
I don't know if you know, but Marseille is famous for its soap (savon de Marseille) and there is a soap factory/museum (Musée du Savon) on the opposite side of the Vieux Port from where the petit train departs. Unfortunately, the website appears to be only in French, but here is the link to it anyway because it has a short video of the museum on the site: https://www.savon-de-marseille-licorne.com/le-musee-du-savon-de-marseille-vieux-port-de-marseille
My daughter visited this too. There are three options: just visit the factory shop - no charge, pay only for what you buy; visit the museum - entry fee includes a bar of soap; visit the museum and the factory - entry fee includes your own personalised soap (you can see them doing this in the video).
Here's a photo of my daughter's:

So that's it for Marseille.
On now to the other port I have a recommendation for and that's La Spezia.
Yes, you could go to Florence from here but it's a long way. You'll be spending ages on a bus and when you get there you won't have time to even scratch the surface, let alone do the city justice so, unless you're really enthusiastic about architecture and history and know you won't get another chance to visit, I would recommend giving it a miss.
La Spezia is the gateway to Cinque Terre: https://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/ and Cinque Terre is unmissable.
If you're reasonably mobile you can skip the expensive cruise line excursions and do it yourself by train. You can walk from the port to the train station in about 20 minutes. Inside the train station there is a dedicated Cinque Terre ticket office with very helpful English-speaking staff. They will sell you the train tickets and give you a free map and timetable. There are reduced fares for (if I remember right) 65 years and up. You can also buy souvenirs or a little guide book like the one in my pic.

You must validate your ticket by sticking it into one of the yellow machines on the platform and then you're good to go.
It works a bit like a HoHo bus; you can get on and off the train at the different stations along the route, spend some time in each village and get back on the train again at the end. We have done this twice. The first time we got off the ship quite late so we didn't make it to the last village, Monterosso. The second time we used a different strategy. We visited the first village, Riomaggiore, which had been our favourite on the previous trip, and then went all the way to Monterosso, where we spent a bit longer and had a tasty panini lunch at a beachside restaurant. If you enjoy beaches and think you might want to spend some time there, it might be worth sticking a towel in your bag and wearing a bathing costume under your clothes.


Doing this had an additional benefit. The trains get quite busy in the afternoon with people making their way back to La Spezia. Since Monterosso is the last of the five villages, it's the first one on the way back, so we got seats on the train. From the second village onwards, it was standing room only. That said, the total journey time is only about half an hour.
Anyway, apologies for the length of this post, but I wanted to give you plenty of information in the hope that it would help you in your planning. Feel free to ask any questions; if I know the answers, I'll be happy to respond. 

Some possibilities for your ports:
Nice: either walk into town for Promenade d'Anglais and old town or make a trip to Monte Carlo. Personally, I don't care much about Monte Carlo but apparently that's just me ? 
Marseille: I don't like the city so I'd suggest a trip - both Avignon and Aix-en-Provence are not too far and much more worthwhile. Personally, I'd prefer Avignon. Bonus point for Avignon:  depending on when you're cruising you could see the lavender fields (June/July).
La Spezia: Florence is definitely worth a trip but it's 2 hours from La Spezia. Lucca might be an alternative - only an hour away and a beautiful city. Pisa is also only an hour away but for me it'd be only 3rd choice.
I assume you're from the US, so another piece of advice:: if you're planning on renting a car make sure you book one with automatic transmission. Manual transmission is pretty common in Europe, automatic is usually an extra with costs.
 

Some possibilities for your ports:
Nice: either walk into town for Promenade d'Anglais and old town or make a trip to Monte Carlo. Personally, I don't care much about Monte Carlo but apparently that's just me ? 
Marseille: I don't like the city so I'd suggest a trip - both Avignon and Aix-en-Provence are not too far and much more worthwhile. Personally, I'd prefer Avignon. Bonus point for Avignon:  depending on when you're cruising you could see the lavender fields (June/July).
La Spezia: Florence is definitely worth a trip but it's 2 hours from La Spezia. Lucca might be an alternative - only an hour away and a beautiful city. Pisa is also only an hour away but for me it'd be only 3rd choice.
I assume you're from the US, so another piece of advice:: if you're planning on renting a car make sure you book one with automatic transmission. Manual transmission is pretty common in Europe, automatic is usually an extra with costs.
 

I think you're onto something. I got the notice when booking my Eastern Med cruise on Odyssey - hubby and me were comparing itineraries for 10 minutes and couldn't figure out what had changed. We have an overnight in Athens, so this most likely triggered the notice.

Some possibilities for your ports:
Nice: either walk into town for Promenade d'Anglais and old town or make a trip to Monte Carlo. Personally, I don't care much about Monte Carlo but apparently that's just me ? 
Marseille: I don't like the city so I'd suggest a trip - both Avignon and Aix-en-Provence are not too far and much more worthwhile. Personally, I'd prefer Avignon. Bonus point for Avignon:  depending on when you're cruising you could see the lavender fields (June/July).
La Spezia: Florence is definitely worth a trip but it's 2 hours from La Spezia. Lucca might be an alternative - only an hour away and a beautiful city. Pisa is also only an hour away but for me it'd be only 3rd choice.
I assume you're from the US, so another piece of advice:: if you're planning on renting a car make sure you book one with automatic transmission. Manual transmission is pretty common in Europe, automatic is usually an extra with costs.
 

Okay, I'm just relieved that this is direction this thread is headed in...

We did Symphony's TA in an interior stateroom and absolutely loved it. For us it was spacious enough and as we only used it for sleeping & showering - so no need for more expensive staterooms. Our favourite spot were Playmakers and Central Park.

Unless you're at Jamie's and your waiter really likes you.  I'm pretty sure that ours was trying to kill us with food.

Some pics of the gorge in Watkins Glen State Park in western New York right on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes Region. A beautiful place to visit, camp, see a NASCAR race, visit wineries, etc.










 
... not my pic, but here is the racetrack... Watkins Glen International...

Swallow Falls, Muddy Creek Falls (highest waterfall in Maryland), the Lower Falls and Tolliver Falls can all be found in Swallow Falls State Park, located in Garrett County (the furthest county to the west).  These are also about a half hour from my home.  Swallow Falls and the Lower Falls are all part of the Youghigheny River, while Muddy Creek and Tolliver both feed into the Yough. (prounced Yock...rhymes with Lock)

I think you're onto something. I got the notice when booking my Eastern Med cruise on Odyssey - hubby and me were comparing itineraries for 10 minutes and couldn't figure out what had changed. We have an overnight in Athens, so this most likely triggered the notice.

I think you're onto something. I got the notice when booking my Eastern Med cruise on Odyssey - hubby and me were comparing itineraries for 10 minutes and couldn't figure out what had changed. We have an overnight in Athens, so this most likely triggered the notice.

DING DING DING! I just verified. If there is ANYTHING extra it flags it. IE: 5 day to Bermuda from NJ it catches it because of 2 Bermuda days... BUT, 4 day Bahamas & Perfect Day from FLL, it doesn't. 

Pick and choose your travel agency wisely. Ask questions and read the fine print! Last year I reached out to @AnnetteJackson at MEI regarding a possible upcoming cruise. She had booked several cruises for us over the last few years, but I stumbled across a deal from a Big Box online travel agency that seemed to good to be true. Unfortunately she was unable to match the Big Box travel agencies low low "clearance" price so I thought wth, I will give them a try. The deal seemed so good that I started researching other sailings and booked two. Doh! All good until you need to make changes or cancel. A few of the fees that I can think of that we have been hit with: $50 per person to cancel $35 for a date change $35 for a ship change $25 if you replace passenger with someone else $25 to adjust for price drops $25 for cabin changes Next I fear they will start charging a fee for calling! The discounted upfront cruise rate was eventually eaten up with fees. The lack of customer service is laughable. You never talk to the same person and wait for days to get a reply via phone or email. This was even before the virus. Now it's longer. Still waiting for a reply to an email I sent last Friday. MEI has never charged me or anyone I have referred to them a single penny for the above listed services. That's because they don't charge any fees. I learned my lesson and wanted to warn others who might think about trying one of the so called discount online agencies.  

The CDC seems to be a real problem. European cruises might be coming back earlier than cruises from the US. European river cruises have already resumed, Hurtigruten plans to resume the postal ship cruises mid-June. TUI Cruises hopes to resume at least part of their cruises in August.

We've booked an Eastern Med cruise on Odyssey for September 2021 - hopefully the covid craze will be over by then. 
@Ian T  Thanks for mentioning booking through  MEI - I had no idea they could handle bookings for non-US residents and thought I had only read about an exception for the group cruises.  Will definetely consider this for our next cruise - especially if this makes repricing possible .

Never thought of that! Being scottish i just looked at the price lol 
Im pretty sure ABTA/ATOL is not for US Market however MEI cannot be faulted for the work they did, every sale in US i received an email informing me whether i could save money or not.