whenismynextcruise

do folks feel it is realistic that cruises out of the US will return in 2021? Does the science support that? Even IF a vaccine comes in early 2021 CDC is saying that it wont be very ready for wide distribution until mid to late 2021. I do not see the cruise industry opening in a meaningful way until that happens. Thoughts? 

I miss Anthem. We have been on her for the past 4 Thanksgivings and have really enjoyed the trips. Crossing out fingers that we will be able to take that Thanksgiving cruise in 2021. With the way things are going right now things are not getting much better. I doubt cruising from the US will open before Spring of 2021....

Brilliant and I very much appreciate the funny!!!

Not surprising at all. I would actually expect that there would be more countries/places closing its borders. Although the article is specifically geared towards the cruise industry many countries are banning tourism itself for some time.

Nope. 

I have a very strong belief that the CDC will extend because "they really feel they need to" and I am in agreement with them. IMHO I would rather have long term safety and stability in the cruise industry over our collective want to get back to 'normal'. 

1 minute ago, AGSLC5 said:

The CDC No sail order is over July 24.. So ships could resume right away at that point.. This is Why Disney said they want to resume July 27 and Carnival said Aug 1.. That way they are complying with the CDC order.. I have a feeling Royal will Follow suit and Start either July 30 or Aug 1... Today Michael Bayley told travel agents he would start from Florida and start with the ships that go to Coco Cay.. Which is pretty much what I guessed and is what Carnival is doing with having 8 ships leave out of Florida and Texas... I think Royal will do exact same thing... I think they will have Symphony, Harmony, Navigator, Independence, Mariner out of Florida and Liberty out of Texas.. I think those are the ships they will start with first.. This is just a guess of course and we need to wait for official announcement but its what I think could happen.. 

All of this is predicated on the CDC not extending the order correct?

5 hours ago, Pima1988 said:

I think that is also a problem with RCL.  I am loyal to Royal, but every ship is different.

They did not do that on my Anthem or Adventure  that we took within 9 months of each other.  I sailed Adventure 2018.  

Been on anthem a lot. Most times there has been some sort of ice cream attendant. 

On 5/11/2020 at 9:00 AM, AGSLC5 said:

Well I can tell you the Ships would sail from Florida... I live in Florida.. I can tell you Our governor sadly is a Mini Trump. And since Trump believes things should open Most of Florida is open.. South Florida is stated to open May 18.. I could see us being in phase 2 by Mid June... Tourism can resume in phase 2 and I have a feeling by end of July we absolutely will be ready to have ships.. Where do I think they will go probably Bahamas, Coco Cay, Labadee, Mexico, and wherever the Caribbean will let boats dock.. They also could very well leave out of Texas as their Governor also lets things be open.. Everywhere else I think not but that's exactly why Carnival said they will sail out of Florida and Galveston because those are the only 2 places that will let cruise ships lol.. I Strongly feel by End of July Early August ships will leave from Florida and Texas.. 

Thanks @AGSLC5  Sadly I have watched your governor from afar so fully understand what you are saying. Doesnt the CDC have something to do with this? Is there any inkling from them if they will extend the order or not?

On 5/5/2020 at 10:39 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

I read an article this morning that indicated that the CDC had no knowledge of Carnivals plan to resume cruising and that Carnival had not consulted with them (CDC) about this plan.  Makes me wonder if it was ever real to begin with.

I agree with you @WAAAYTOOO that I wonder if this is even remotely true that Carnical will begin sailing then. Sadly I think this is wishful thinking on everyones part. We are still deep in the pandemic worldwide. First, where will the ships sail from? No port in the US is prepared to open any time soon. And secondly, what countries are willing to recieve cruise ships? It would be interesting to see what itineraries Carnival is booking to what countries and then check those countries policies. I think this is a marketing move on thier part. Put it out there "We are sailing!" and guage interest and collect a lot of deposits with no real plan to be able to actually execute the cruise until the CDC approves them again. With all of the threads here about FCC's and the disposition of them I dont think I would be in a rush to give anyone any money on what is bascially wishful thinking right now.

Maybe thier intentions are honorable here about sailing. I also have honorable intentions of winning the powerball jackpot every weekend but that hasnt happened yet either.

should be on our way to Bermuda from a very cool and rainy Boston area. We have gone every year for 6 years and will certainly miss it. We usually plan for thanksgiving in the bahamas as well but I am not sure that is going to happen this year either. there is encouraging news about treatments and vaccines that have come out in the past few days. They will be the magic ticket for travel to open up for sure. we just need to hold out a little longer. I hope that the cruise industry is able to make it. Its a 50 billion dollar a year business. Too big to fail?

Its a cruise lifestyle choice to me. We have been in the Jr Suites w/Large balcony many times and enjoy them. We are balcony people and not pool people. The pool is loud and croweded and the larger balcony offers us some peace and quiet and enough room to lounge/sun ourselves. We also enjoy the added space from the balcony. Sitting on a regular balcony can be a little cramped. If you are an occasional balcony person and dont plan to spend much time in your room then I would say its not worth the money for you. But if you are like us, enjoy a quiet dinner out there (even Johnny Rockets takeout) or prefer less crowded areas it can be great. We tend to book the 232 cabin on deck 10 or 9. We are not super fussy about the walk to wherever. We dont really have a preference on being close to anything in particular and we are mid ship so its all relative. Good luck booking and have a great trip. Thanksgiving on anthem is a great trip. 

20 hours ago, whitsmom said:

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/disney-theme-parks-may-not-reopen-until-2021-wall-street-analyst-says

Ahh from FOX News. That explains it. Must be trues then.

I seriously doubt that any ship is going to be able to leave port anywhere before the fall so the question is almost moot. Experts even putting a hard maybe on domestic travel within the US until late summer and even into early fall. The PM of Canada has said the restriction could even last up to 18 months there. I am hopeful for your hypothetical but I think it will remain only a hypothetical for quite some time.

On 4/3/2020 at 10:12 PM, loki007 said:

I wish they'd just ban it all together. Nothing I cant stand more than smelling smoke on the pool deck.

 

I wish they would limit the amount of alcohol people can have one day. Nothing I cant stand more that obnoxious drunks on the pool deck

On 3/25/2020 at 8:07 AM, AGSLC5 said:

Don't go with Enchantment for the bed.. She is an old small ship.. Do you like small ships? If not don't pick that ship

Thanks @AGSLC5 I am actually not a fan of the older smaller ships anymore so thanks for that tip!

14 hours ago, melmar02 said:

Grand 2 BR on Liberty last Sept. was a thin, firm mattress. Grand 2 BR on Enchantment 2 months ago was an amazing cloud on which I could rest my head every night.  

Thanks!!! I was looking at a 2 BR on Anthem for Thanksgiving this year. Trying to be hopeful here. I am certainly willing to pay for a better cabin with a better matress at this point! I will look at the Enchantment sailings to see what she is offering,

17 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Star Class definitely have awesome mattresses but I have had some pretty bad mattresses even in Owners Suites.  You really never know what you’re getting except with SC.

Thanks @WAAAYTOOO - from your posts on SC I was hoping you had insight actually. Sounds like it is a crap shoot on the matresses otherwise though which is what I thought

I am wondering what people can say about matresses on RCL ships. Specifically Anthem. I have sailed on her before and have found the matresses to be like sleeping on a hard bench. In a word they suck. I realize this is a personal opinion of mine. What can people tell me about the upper classes? Does anyone have direct mattress to matrees compare information? I have zero interest in schlepping some funky mattress pad with me. I have stayed in balcony cabins and mini-suites (which claim to have luxury pillow top matresses and they dont. Its the same matress) 

Is there a softer sleep out there in the Star Class? I am not really looking for "how you do it" answers here. I have read most of them (towels, egg crate things, etc) on the boards here.

thanks

Trying to be optimistic about cruising again or even some sort of good news about the world! I keep wondering about the magic week in April!! What will change by then? Will this peak and then its just over and the world is clean and safe again for everyone to begin traveling again? What is keeping everyone so optimistic? I get that we need things to look forward too, I LOVE the lead up to my usual next cruise, but I am also trying to be realistic here. 

Is Royal getting different news that the rest of the world? Are they aware of when a vaccine will be introduced and are able to make promises based off of that? I think not. Until a vaccine is found, distributed world wide and there has been a true settling of growing cases I dont think any part of the travel industry is going to "open up" for real. They are in the business of making money. They have a corporation to to protect. They will say anything right now to 1) Keep booked passenger $$ and 2) Continue to create interest in what is right now an unknown product.

there is no definite news on anything right now other than confirmed cases keep rising. The smartest people in the world are working on this 24/7. What makes us think that Royal knows best here?

Is a bail out from "the government a reality here? These are not US based companies right? Most of the cruise companies register thier ships at forerign ports. At least that is how it seems to me. I fully admit that I could be wrong here. I am sure one of the experts here can speak to the details.

Looks like Royal is suspending operations from US embarkation points now 

On 2/29/2020 at 10:09 AM, Allanpc said:

I recently booked a cruise directly with RCCL and now I'm curious. What benefits might I expect if I were to move it to a travel agent like MEI? It is a 1 bedroom aqua theater suite.

Yes and a free excursions LOL.

I am with @princevaliantus on this one........

I have done both. Booked on my own and used a travel agent. I saw no realized benefit to using a travel agent. I read post of the millions of $$ that travel agents save so many posters. Its never happened to me.

It can take some time and patience to book but I dont mind that at all. I would say on average total time from research of where we want to go to finding a deal that works for us is probably a couple of hours. Have I screwed up before? Yes. But I have had a travel agent book me plane tickets to Dayton, OH when I asked for tickets to Daytona Beach. Stuff happens.

People mention that a TA repriced and rebooked trips for them. I can do that with either a few clicks on a website or a call to the TA's at Royal.

For something like a grand vacation trip to Europe for a couple of weeks of many countries and flights, hotels, trains, etc. I can see value of having someone with tribal knowledge but for a cruise? Not really. For most its a closed ended vacation. Board this day and exit on this day. Royal does all the planning in between for you. That is a benefit of staying loyal to Royal. You know what to expect from experts and they have wonderful staff to fill your days and nights with activities and excursions that you can pick and choose literally from a menu that is delivered to your cabin daily.

I have no idea how many people actually belong to this board (it really is the best!!!) but there is a wealth of information here from a lot of "amateur TA's". So many people here with so much experience and a willingness to help others out with information is amazing. A well traveled persons thoughts and opinions and real life experiences are just as valuable to me.

Very interesting indeed. We have been to nassau many times in the past few years on anthem and she seems to always park in the same birth and our side of the ship faces this little piece of land. I have noticed the same houses that look in total disrepair for YEARS and could not really understand why they had not been fixed up. This seems to make some sense.

People can muster any statistics they like for or against something and they will push their agenda on others. Make your own decisions.

Before this all got the coverage it was getting now in the world people didn't have the information or really understand what the disease was. Those folks were not as informed as we all are now.

There is a clearly a health risk in the world. A simple way to avoid it is to avoid it. For us, we have chosen to avoid it and skip cruising for a bit. 

Almost everything in life comes with risk. Whatever your choice is it will be the right one for you.

When it comes down to it we are just talking about vacations here. People are actually getting very sick and many have died. We should keep that in perspective here.

.