Tira04

back to the original question, I've had a June 2021 Norwegian Fjords/Arctic circle cruise booked since late last year.
35th anniversary.  Really looking forward to it!!!

My upcoming Fjord cruise was cancelled and its sail date coming up at the end of June....
I booked a similar cruise for August 2021! Adventure of the Seas from Copenhagen to Amsterdam! Reduced fare and covered by CWC. I'm determined to stay positive that we will be able to travel and cruise again next year. 
Anyone else planning for 2021?

April, 2021 Southern Caribbean/ABC islands on Freedom, fingers crossed!! We booked this last summer way before COVID was a thing.  Fortunately we were taking 2020 off from cruising so we haven't had to deal with any cancellations. Hope things are sailing smoother by 2021.  

Yes! We were supposed to sail to Bermuda on Adventure 2 weeks ago, but when it got canceled we booked the same cruise for June 2021 on Freedom. We thought about booking later in 2020 but we didn’t want to have to worry and wait again so thought pushing it a year out would give us peace and something to look forward to once this mess is over.  If it’s still a factor in 365 days I think a cruise isn’t going to be our biggest concern.

I’ll put in a very unpopular opinion:
Your optimism, JeffB, although based on educated assumptions, is flawed in its implicit belief that people will be rational, reasoned and responsible. Too many cruise guests simply won’t “behave”: they will defy recommendations to maintain even basic hygiene and “masking or distancing” requirements, aimed at preventing the spread of infection; some will lie; and quite a few simply will not care. Enough of them don’t even believe that there is any issue around this “flu” (that it’s all hyped “fake news”) - just listening to interviews with the Tulsa rally attendees made me shake my head.
Communities will be playing whack-a-mole with cyclical flare-ups of this virus for *at least* another year or two - at least until an effective vaccine is developed (and adopted) - or better yet - an effective treatment protocol is found to properly deal with the more severe cases, as well as dealing with the persistent effects of the “milder” cases.
What has clearly emerged is that tourism played a big role in this virus’ spread across the globe. Many countries will not be very quick to welcome back unrestrained tourism, or permit their citizens to travel without conditions in the short-term. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some yo-yo action, forward and backward between phases, in some’s efforts in reopening to tourism. The emphasis on regional “bubbles” for unrestrained travel is going to greatly complicate the future market for cruises. Reduced numbers of available flights and routes, well into 2021, will also have an impact. I am certain that analysts within the cruise lines and CLIA are taking all of this into account, beyond just dealing with the CDC.
The majority of cruisers are itinerary motivated. The average cruiser will chose a cruise vacation based on all the perks of cruises (versus a land-based vacation), which the new protocols will severely restrict (such as buffets, pools, activities, entertainment venues, etc.). People in forums like this one are neither the majority nor the “average” cruiser - we’re the keeners. FCC and “Lift and Shift” were the only ways to keep the majority of existing 2020-21 cruise reservations on the books into 2021, and prevented a fatal cash flow hemorrhage.
As well, travel insurance and cruise contract “fine print” will unfortunately not be kind to cruisers going forward. Guests hoping for relief should Covid-19 interfere with their new vacation plans or, worse yet, get their vacation interrupted/complicated because of a flare up, are likely to be left holding the bag.
The cruise companies know their market$, so I am 100% certain that the CDC is no more than just another factor in the business decisions that they are forced to make right now.

Mike after booking my cruise ( which should have been in 11 days time ??) with MEI i compared every sale in US / UK to see what was best and posted on a thread i created here.
For my booking ( Balcony Cabin ) every sale from time of booking ( as soon as it was available) it was less expensive to book in US, HOWEVER if i had booked an interior or Oceanview stateroom, then once and only once would it have been better to book on UK site, this was when drinks package was included in price FOC. The cost for cabin on both sites was about the same however as UK site had thrown in Drinks Package the savings amounted to about £700 for a couple. 

My upcoming Fjord cruise was cancelled and its sail date coming up at the end of June....
I booked a similar cruise for August 2021! Adventure of the Seas from Copenhagen to Amsterdam! Reduced fare and covered by CWC. I'm determined to stay positive that we will be able to travel and cruise again next year. 
Anyone else planning for 2021?

I used Lift & Shift to move my Iceland & Greenland cruise on Celebrity from Aug 2 of this year to Aug 1 of next year. Not 100% the same cruise -- Sydney, NS replaced with Kirkwall, Scotland; and the disembark is now in Southampton instead of Dublin. But close enough for government work, as my advisor in college always said. ? 

We rescheduled our Greek Isles cruise from Sept/Oct 2020 to October 2021 on the new Odyssey of the Seas. We are once again looking forward to it! We also have our first Star Class cruise booked January 2022 on Oasis of the Seas. Made that reservation last November when the itineraries were released. Counting the days but hate that all my cruises show more than a year away on my cruise planner.

Yep. We have an 8 day sailing to Bahamas/CocoCay in Feb and a 12 day Southern Caribbean in Dec, both on Anthem out of Port Liberty.
We got a great deal on the Dec sailing in this past weekend's sale and my better half is super happy as both of our adult sons and their partners, along with good friends of ours (a family of four who will be cruising for the very first time ☺️), have also booked to join us ? 
Given that this trip is a lot more involved than our usual couples booking we entrusting the arrangements to @michelle at MEI for the first time, to whom I must give a big shout out for sorting everything so efficiently at such short notice (replying to my initial enquiry on a Sunday and then liaising with me here in the UK re the details on the very last day of the sale).
It remains to be seen whether our Oct 2020 Canaries cruise out of Southampton (also on Anthem... it's just the way the cards have fallen) happens of course, but we are determined to stay positive! ?
 

Wasn't aware that MEI could help us here in the UK, may be giving them a try when I finally see my FCC arrive

My upcoming Fjord cruise was cancelled and its sail date coming up at the end of June....
I booked a similar cruise for August 2021! Adventure of the Seas from Copenhagen to Amsterdam! Reduced fare and covered by CWC. I'm determined to stay positive that we will be able to travel and cruise again next year. 
Anyone else planning for 2021?

Oh, what a shame. I know how you feel. Our long-awaited Norwegian fjords cruise on P&O's new-build Iona was supposed to have been this weekend ?
We have not rescheduled it yet because we don't know the availability of one of the members of our party going forward, but we definitely will, whether it's on that ship or a different one.
We also had a Med cruise booked on Allure of the Seas for this coming September which we shifted to the same time next year on Harmony, thus locking in a great rate.
Hopefully all this C-stuff will be under control by then, so we can get back to cruising. In the meantime, I think we will be replacing our postponed September cruise for a staycation here in the beautiful Algarve, which we are lucky enough to call home.

Us poor people go to the windjammer for a cheese burger.

If you can’t drink enough to make the package worth it, you don’t have to abstain on your cruise.  Pay as you go and drink as you normally would.  This will also give you an excellent idea of what you actually spend so you’ll know what your break even point is in the future.

I'll start.
I am now fully in LOVE with InstaCart (and similar services) !!!  I realize that they had been around for a while prior to this madness, but since the plague, I have realized what a WONDERFUL service this is.  I no longer have to go to the grocery story and I LOVE IT !  Today I was able to get 3 cases of beer, 2 bags of potting soil and nifty new slicer/shredder (oh....plus some food) delivered.  Only in America !!!   I intend to keep using this service even after the plague has subsided.

What an awesome example of good old fashioned Yankee capitalism !  We WILL get through this, stronger than ever.

Hi! These are vary valid questions. Unfortunately, the answer cannot be summed up in a meme. If you are really interested in the answer, feel free to review the literature below. These are all peer-reviewed research articles (and some of them are systematic reviews and meta-analysis). 
The TLDR: Masks work, but we use 6 ft because not everyone can/will a mask. 6ft work because science has shown social distancing to be the easiest intervention to implement on a grand scale. Social distancing COMBINED with masks substantially decreases the likelihood of spreading the virus. The lockdown is in place because science has shown that to be the BEST method to prevent the pandemic from spreading. 
 
Ahmed, F., Zviedrite, N., & Uzicanin, A. (2018). Effectiveness of workplace social distancing measures in reducing influenza transmission: a systematic review. BMC Public Health, 18(1), N.PAG. doi:10.1186/s12889-018-5446-1
Greer, A. L. (2013). Can informal social distancing interventions minimize demand for antiviral treatment during a severe pandemic? BMC Public Health, 13(1). doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-669
Hatchett, R., Mecher, C., & Lipsitch, M. (2007). Public health interventions and epidemic intensity during the 1918 influenza pandemic. The National Academy of Sciences, 104(18), 75825-7587. doi:10.1073/pnas.0610941104
Jefferson, T., Foxlee, R., Del Mar, C., Dooley, L., Ferroni, E., Hewak, B., & Rivetti, A. (2007). Interventions for the interruption or reduction of the spread of respiratory viruses. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2007(4), 1-162. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD006207 pub4/full
Kelso, J. K., Milne, G. J., & Kelly, H. (2009). Simulation suggests that rapid activation of social distancing can arrest epidemic development due to a novel strain of influenza. BMC Public Health, 9(1). doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-9-117
Nicol, G. E., Piccirillo, J. F., Mulsant, B. H., & Lenze, E. J. (2020). Action at a Distance: Geriatric Research during a Pandemic. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. doi: doi: 10.1111/jgs.16443

Really guilty until innocent. Here in Australia we have had a 14 day quarantine on all returning travellers put in hotels by the Govt and enforced. So far there have been over 500 cases out of these travellers who had no symptoms on return but were found to be positive some time during this quarantine period. So what happens when you first return home, you nee to get shopping done so you are out in the public and exponentially could be infecting hundreds of people.

I guess this is why our country has been so successful in combating this virus.
 
 
 

I was supposed to go on a cruise to the Baltics in June. We planned on doing a 2-day tour of St. Petersburg with a Russian tour company. Usually I like to stick to the cruise ship excursions, however, the price for a full day tour is so expensive with Royal just to be on a tour bus with ~50 people.
I definitely suggest looking into other tour companies that go to the exact same places and more over 2 days with less than 20 people. Most of these companies will take care of the visa for you.

As soon as I step on board,  grabbing a coffee and exploring!
Also, vintages,  anywhere I can grab a quiet chair in the shade to read. Amd best of all quality time with the hubby

As soon as I step on board,  grabbing a coffee and exploring!
Also, vintages,  anywhere I can grab a quiet chair in the shade to read. Amd best of all quality time with the hubby

I invested in the metal and silicone straws because I hate the way paper feels. I also want to do my part for the environment. Amazon sells some for like $5 that include a cleaner.

This is all your fault:
https://www.10news.com/news/some-americans-refusing-to-buy-or-drink-corona-beer-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-according-to-survey
 

I love this post!!
I love cruising for the ports of call - I've been lucky enough to visit Cuba,  Russia and the Baltic so far. Places that I probably wouldn't have been able to visit otherwise.  My next cruise is Norwegian fjords in July. 
I'd love to do more cruises in the Caribbean and Alaksa is definitely on my list. If I could teleport over from the UK I'd do it in a heartbeat.  Haha.

Look, people...this is supposed to be our happy place, where we talk about things that make us happy. A sanctuary from the outside nonsense of the world. Our distraction from the chaos.  I have participated in, and observed a lot of division of opinion and ideology on this board lately.....so I figured Id give us something to talk about that we can all agree on. WE LOVE CRUISING!  So, im going to pose a couple questions to you.....
1. Whats your favorite thing about cruising? Relaxation, seeing parts of the world, the food, the party? 
2. If you could go on a cruise, anywhere in the world, right now.....where would you go and on which ship? 
Kumbaya, Peace be with you, Woosah, Hakuna matata.......