New Zealand Cruises

[Scrumps]

I would be surprised if the 2021 season goes ahead. I just can't see either Australia or New Zealand opening up anytime soon.. I normally book trips like this way in advance and it's a huge cost from the east side of the US, so I can't imagine waiting until the last minute to know if our Jan cruise will be cancelled. Anyone else booked on NZ or Aus cruises?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52540733

[F1guynz]

We have a B2B scheduled on Ovation for November.

while our case count has been 0 the last couple of days it is still too soon to see how the cruise season might pan out.

There is talk of a trans Tasman travel bubble but this would be limited to Australian and New Zealand citizens I think.

i am not hopeful that our cruise will go ahead at this stage. I think it will be a couple of months at least before things will become clearer.about travel options and tourism in general.

[Allen2]

Hope those thoughts about 2021 for New Zealand (and Australia) not opening are proven to be a bad estimate.  We missed three B2B2B cruises from Sydney which included stops in New Zealand, starting early in April, 2020, and ending in Vancouver in May.  Being hopeful, we have booked roughly the same three in 2021.  Questions to ask: the Australian Visa (which we could not use) will expire.  Will the government extend?  Should we buy airfare (or use frequent flyer miles) at the 331 day mark?  Any opinions?

[GrandmaAirplane]

2 hours ago, F1guynz said:

There is talk of a trans Tasman travel bubble but this would be limited to Australian and New Zealand citizens I think.

I do think that this will come to pass, as part of a “soft” re-opening of the tourism sector. I don’t doubt that a robust campaign to promote domestic tourism will ensue. However, I’m not sure that cruises will begin again very quickly, given the public sentiment and lack of trust right now - especially as it’s played out in the Australian media. Maybe RCI, versus Carnival (Princess) *may* be received a tad better, who knows...

I anticipate that the borders to Australia and NZ will re-open selectively; with citizens of countries that still have active outbreaks (as well as others who have recently been) being kept out indefinitely. That could simply take the form of a more blanket regional moratorium, such as the EU or the Americas, for example. You may have UK citizens allowed in before Americans or Canadians - depending on the future conditions for how these countries have managed their outbreak and subsequent “flare-ups”.

[Scrumps]

Well, we decided to cancel our cruise last night.  I just can't see us planning such a trip at the last moment and still not being 100% sure it will happen, if flights would be refunded etc.. and there is no guarantee that RC would even have the cash to refund at the end of the year. If by some miracle everything clears up and we are all flying and cruising again, I am pretty sure we can rebook later in the year.