Jump to content

2021


Tira04

Recommended Posts

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a couple of 2021 cruises planned. I was supposed to do Oct/Nov this year but a combination of factors stopped that. I promised that if things aren't to bad we would do Wisconsin Dell's in Sept/Oct but I will be booking later as so much needs to happen and can happen before then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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! ?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Ian T said:

@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).

 

 

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Mike.s said:

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

I wasn't aware at first either so enquired on here and was delighted to discover that they can. One thing to bear in mind however is you need to be able to pay for everything in US$ so make sure your card issuer provides this option (most do I believe, but best of course to be sure).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Mike.s said:

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

Yes, MEI has a special arrangement with <whomever it happens to be !!> to be able to book for non-US clients. The only stipulation is that you must pay in US $$.

Michelle Cunningham  [email protected]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Tira04 said:

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. ? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Tira04 said:

Anyone else planning for 2021?

We cancelled all our cruises and got our money refunded.  We will not book again until an active covid case does not result in the entire ship being quarantined and struggling to dock at the final port, and my wife being forced into 2 weeks unpaid self isolation on her return home.  We just booked our first US based vacation for years. Cost more than a cruise ? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Va4fam said:

MEI is excellent and highly recommended no matter where you live.

 

Yup. Can’t wait to get out from under the Big Box online agency we are dealing with. Their clearance cabin prices were cheap cheap cheap, but their customer service sux! The fees are ridiculous and eat into that cheap cruise rate making it “no deal”. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Ian T said:

I wasn't aware at first either so enquired on here and was delighted to discover that they can. One thing to bear in mind however is you need to be able to pay for everything in US$ so make sure your card issuer provides this option (most do I believe, but best of course to be sure).

The Revolut card is great for this, top up in GBP, exchange at a better rate than most banks to whatever currency you require then pay for what you need ie flights, hotels, cruise etc 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Mike.s said:

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

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, Mike.s said:

Ray, I assume by booking via the US we lose out on ABTA/ATOL protection but get the benefit of being able to reprice?

Yes, you lose any UK protections like ABTA/ATOL when booking through a US or out of country agent. I personally have done it in the past, but with the way things are going this year, I'm glad I am protected.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Mike.s said:

Ray, I assume by booking via the US we lose out on ABTA/ATOL protection but get the benefit of being able to reprice?

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/16/2020 at 9:12 PM, Va4fam said:

We are booked on 3 cruises in 2021 (11 nit Anthem in January, 8 nt Empress in Feb, and 7 nt. Symphony in October).   Not super confident that we will be on the first 2 cruises.

MEI is excellent and highly recommended no matter where you live.

 

Thank you for sticking with us!  we appreciated the support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/16/2020 at 12:39 PM, Mike.s said:

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

Yes, MEI are great - very proactive, which is something that doesn't happen in the UK. However, they were unable to use my FCCs as they were in GBP and Royal doesn't allow them to be used in another country.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/16/2020 at 3:16 AM, Tira04 said:

 

Anyone else planning for 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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, JohnUK said:

Yes, MEI are great - very proactive, which is something that doesn't happen in the UK. However, they were unable to use my FCCs as they were in GBP and Royal doesn't allow them to be used in another country.

Thanks, John, I hadn't realised RC wouldn't allow FCC change of currency, perhaps next time I book a "normal" cruise I'll give them a try.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We would have been on the Allure out of Barcelona 3 weeks today. Lifted and shifted to the Harmony out of Barcelona on July 11 2021. We booked through Hays travel and they sorted everything out inc. flights and transfers. The only thing we weren’t aware of is that lift and shift is only the cruise price that is protected. We’ve had to pay extra because of port taxes and also the flights have been increased (which we were aware of). But now got something else to look forward to now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...