steverk

7 hours ago, cruisellama said:

10/23

US Representative for Alaska, Don Young, proposes rule changes that would permit cruises to Alaska in 2021, even if Canada’s ports remained closed to cruise traffic. Under the 100-year old maritime law, foreign-flag ships must stop at a foreign port to legally call in Alaska.

Any chance you can share your source for this news? I like to think it is true, but I'd also like to read the source material.

Thanks!

I live 30 minutes from Galveston, so driving is a no brainer. I'd like to try Miami as a cruise port, but that seems silly at the moment. 

Here's hoping for my Liberty of the Seas cruise in January too!

My guess on how the booting will happen:

Royal announces itineraries in mid October.  They are different than currently scheduled so everyone is canceled. When people rebook, Royal can shut down the process when they get the desired results. 

I hope this is wrong, but it's what I expect 

41 minutes ago, jticarruthers said:

I wish they would publish the proposed actual sailing schedule so that those of us that are willing to be guinea pigs could get in line.

I get why they cant/wont ... still no certainty from the CDC side so it would only be the plan not final and massive refunding and bad press in a time when they can ill afford it due to all the currently scheduled cruises getting cancelled but it would be nice to have a dream that might actually happen rather than just futilely throwing deposits (and final payments at this stage) on ships that Royal (and other lines) know arent going to be sailing no matter what.

Agreed! 

We are getting close to sailing, so let's start speculating on what ships will be first!

8 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

Name a Caribbean island with the infrastructure to embark a cruise ship. 

I don't begin to know what infrastructure is required,  but if Puerto Rico can, then there must be others. (Yes, I do know that Puerto Rico is in the USA and doesn't count) 

I still don't understand why the cruise lines can't sail out of non USA ports. I'm sure there are some logistical issues with departing a Caribbean port, but it would get them sailing again. If they don't dock in the USA then what can the  CDC Say or do about it? 

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!!!

The CDC may never declare cruising safe, because nothing in the world is completely risk free.  Therefore the  bureaucratic mindset says "don't declare it safe because someone  somewhere will get hurt or sick"

Of course cdc only controls us ports...anyone up for a cruise OUT of the Bahamas? 

My crystal ball hasn't been real reliable lately, but it says Galveston really wants to become the 3rd largest cruise port in the United states. They need the terminal to do it. 

18 hours ago, USFFrank said:

 Funny thing I heard about that flu was, (not to make this political, but) for the most part, it was never reported on the news. The Vietnam war was the big newsmaker back then.

I was too young to have paid attention to the news at the time. I mostly referenced iconic events of the time.  Next time I talk to my aunt, I'll ask her though. 

Certainly, the 1968/1969 is not known for the pandemic that occurred, so it probably wasn't a big news story like Covid.

15 hours ago, Marlena said:

I also dont think it's going away any time soon. We need to find a way to live with it and not keep ourselves locked inside for years. 

As I understand it, the Hong Kong flu, the Spanish flu, SARS, MERS and most others are still with us and are part of our regular annual flu season.  They come back, but we've worked up enough immunity (or they've mutated to be less dangerous) so they are no big deal.  Eventually, Covid will probably do the same.

It's interesting to theorize why we are treating this one so different and if we'll ever get over it (from a medical perspective, we will.  From a social/economic perspective?). I'm convinced we will and quicker than most think. I just hope we don't lose too many more people between now and the "end."

I think we need to keep perspective here. This isn't the first pandemic, or even the worst pandemic we've faced.

Most recent one I remember is the Hong Kong flu of 1968/69. It is remarkably similar to Covid in many ways.

The US death toll was 100,000, which on a percentage basis is worse.

How did we respond then? We put men on the moon and celebrated with a ticker tape parade in Times Square.  We held Woodstock.  Royal Caribbean started sailing just a few years later.

A vaccine was in development, but the virus burned out before it was available. 

I expect something similar with Covid 

Thank you both for you suggestions.  For the moment, I'm going to wait until August to make a final decision, but I'm thinking it is unlikely that the cruise will actually happen.

The airfare is "refundable" until August.  After that, it is only partially refundable. 

I'm really looking forward to my Nov 23 cruise on Celebrity Solstice from Auckland to Sydney.  But then again, I see Matt's article about Australia being closed until at least mid September.

I've already paid for the cruise, but not the airfare portion, and have a non-refundable deposit.

My final payment date is August 24, so, I'm soon going to have to make a tough decision. Do I cancel? Do I keep it scheduled, pay the remaining balance and hope for the best? Do I cancel the air portion but keep the rest assuming the cruise will cancel or that I can get a future cruise credit?

What does everyone think?

I'd love to go on a cruise asap. This virus is bad, but not nearly as bad as we thought a few months ago.  

My only concern is getting stuck in quarantine which eats up all of my vacation time. 

I'm a little confused about the recurring theme to get higher occupancy rates on the ships.  

It's a little counter intuitive, but I believe the cruise lines aren't really looking to fill the ships, at least not right away.  In fact, I think they'll limit occupancy to about 50% until they can work out social distancing and prove that cruising really is safe.

If that's really the intent, then having good, open airports nearby is less of a concern.  Taking Galveston as an extreme example, more than 70% of the cruise passengers normally drive to the port of Galveston.  Therefore, getting to 50% occupancy with just drive ins would be very doable.

Given the uncertainty, I'd use royal Caribbean to book the flight. I booked a new Zealand flight through celebrity and the terms were exceptionally generous and price was better than travelocity 

Another point that might come in to play.  Royal has asked Galveston to delay the new cruise terminal.  Without it, I don't see how allure will make it into Galveston. The sailings still show availability,  but I expect they will have to cancel them.

I booked my airfare for a Celebrity cruise just before everything went crazy.  I'm very pleased.  I got a great price, 2 checked bags, and it is refundable up until 90 prior to departure. (In fact, payment isn't even required until 90 days in advance).

If you got a cruise coming up, I'd suggest calling the air 2 sea people and see what happens.

16 hours ago, F1guynz said:

There are no restrictions that would prevent a cruise out of Auckland around NZ but generally if a cruise does depart Auckland it will either go to Australia or up to the a South Pacific. P&O, Princess and Celebrity occasionally depart Auckland and I have seen Royal once or twice but not recently.

The main reasons I think it is not offered are

• cruises over 7 nights would be primarily limited to the North Island and the tip of the South Island due to time constraints
• Most Royal cruisers are Australian and with Auckland’s population being Just over 1 million it would not be economic to have regular cruises from here. P&O originally did have a ship home ported in Auckland but it moved to Australia so that suggests a better return on investment.
• it is cheap to fly around NZ so most kiwis would just fly or drive to see NZ. Also generally if we do travel we prefer to go overseas.
• a large part of our tourism is based on Australians coming here for their holidays.

These are just my thoughts but I wouldn’t expect any Auckland departures in the near future.

8 hours ago, Shanenz84 said:

Actually Dream Cruises based the ‘Explorer Dream’ out of Auckland over the summer 2019-20 for a series of 7 night cruises, from what I heard they were very popular! They did a total of 7 sailings and they went down to Milford & Doubtful Sound and a few other ports around NZ.

Thank you both for your thoughtful and informative replies. 

I'm planning to take a Celebrity cruise from Auckland to Sydney in November (assuming the COVID gods don't intervene!) and that's what got me thinking about this.  I'm looking forward to both the NZ and Australian ports, but have to say the NZ ports look more interesting, and that's what got me thinking about this.

Please note, that flying from the USA to Australia or New Zealand is about equally painful, so a shorter cruise hitting the most interesting ports would have been attractive.

Any thoughts on NZ and Australia being open to cruising by November?

I've been trying to figure out why nobody, including Royal, sails a 7 night New Zealand cruise.  Why doesn't someone sail out of Auckland, hit New Zealand ports and return to Auckland.  Is there a reason that all of the cruises sail several days to reach Australia?

My guess: By mid April, cases of the Mexican Beer Virus will be trending down dramatically, both in the US and worldwide.  

How long after that until the bureaucrats and authorities decide it is safe to go outside? I don't know.  However, Royal will start sailing as soon as they can afterward.

Liberty of the Seas, Jan 2017. I took my family on a cruise to the Western Caribbean.  We were blown away by the ship and had a spectacular time.  

Close second: Radiance of the Seas June 2006. My in-laws took the whole family to Alaska.  Incredible!