MidwestIA Posted May 10, 2022 Report Share Posted May 10, 2022 Hi! We booked a cruise for this December on the Harmony way back in December of 2020 *hoping* that restrictions and the like would be gone in two years. Sadly they seem to be sticking around and we are conflicted about whether we should cancel our Dec cruise now and re-plan our vacation because we aren't vaccinated. Obviously, I am not asking for health advice on this and we have no problem following mandates so if we can't go, we can't go. BUT we have love cruising so I have been holding out hope that we would still be able to go. If the vaccine requirements stay in place, we have a trip planned for the ABC islands which would be magical but I have held back on doing some of the more expensive parts of booking until I cancel that cruise. I can transfer my deposit (minus the fees) to a new booking years out, I just haven't yet because I was hoping that the restrictions would leave this year. Would you cancel the cruise now and continue planning a different trip or would you keep the booking until the last minute because the restrictions might be relaxed further? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted May 10, 2022 Report Share Posted May 10, 2022 I think you'll see testing go away before vaccinations. With such a gigantic majority of covid cases on board being mild at worst, it's quickly becoming just another bug along with the flu, norovirus and all the other nuisance viruses on board. Pooch, Kirsten and WAAAYTOOO 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitsmom Posted May 10, 2022 Report Share Posted May 10, 2022 7 minutes ago, smokeybandit said: I think you'll see testing go away before vaccinations. With such a gigantic majority of covid cases on board being mild at worst, it's quickly becoming just another bug along with the flu, norovirus and all the other nuisance viruses on board. i feel the same way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AspiringCruisePlanner Posted May 10, 2022 Report Share Posted May 10, 2022 I think it might be a little early to be throwing in the towel on the reservation. More and more Caribbean nations are lifting vaccine mandates which certainly play a role in the decision making of the cruise protocols. December is a ways out, so a lot could change. I don't think it would be a bad idea to look for alternatives if you were looking forward to a vacation this December and you can't cruise, but I wouldn't cancel the reservation yet. The refund for your deposit you would receive if you cancel right now is a future cruise credit and expires 12 months from issue date. So it's not like you can plan a vacation for the end of next year even. Like @WAAAYTOOO mentioned, once protocols for your sailing are released for your sailing (assuming they get extended), you can request a cash refund for your deposit rather than a future cruise credit. WAAAYTOOO and MidwestIA 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted May 10, 2022 Report Share Posted May 10, 2022 14 minutes ago, Pooch said: Raye! Are you back from Disney? Have you gone yet? How was the trip? Yes ! We were there from 29 April - 4 May. Had a great time. Thanks for asking ! The Poly was pretty much as I remember but the rooms had obviously been recently renovated. The food [everywhere] sucked but other than that, we had a wonderful time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidwestIA Posted May 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2022 36 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: I think you are wise to hold off on booking anything further at this time (meaning excursions, airfare, etc). Once the vax protocols are announced, you should be able to request a full cash refund. We had planned to sail with family members (who are vaccinated) so my natural inclination was to wait it out and hope for the best however my husband doesn't have an appetite for the risk of no cash refund. We have multiple 2024 cruises booked and I had planned on going on a booking frenzy for 2023 as soon as they removed the vaccination requirement but as this year goes on, I think it is more likely that we have to continue to book vacations on the islands directly and dream of cruising again. We managed to do a wonderful Turks & Caicos Beaches vacation with our kids and family before they required vaccines and we've got a Sandals trip on Grenada planned as well. Cruising is more economical for us because we are Diamond Plus and we decide how much extra spending we do so we are really looking forward to being able to do so again! WAAAYTOOO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted May 10, 2022 Report Share Posted May 10, 2022 8 minutes ago, MidwestIA said: We had planned to sail with family members (who are vaccinated) so my natural inclination was to wait it out and hope for the best however my husband doesn't have an appetite for the risk of no cash refund. We have multiple 2024 cruises booked and I had planned on going on a booking frenzy for 2023 as soon as they removed the vaccination requirement but as this year goes on, I think it is more likely that we have to continue to book vacations on the islands directly and dream of cruising again. We managed to do a wonderful Turks & Caicos Beaches vacation with our kids and family before they required vaccines and we've got a Sandals trip on Grenada planned as well. Cruising is more economical for us because we are Diamond Plus and we decide how much extra spending we do so we are really looking forward to being able to do so again! Sounds great. For us, we will require that both vaccination and testing requirements be eliminated, so even if we were able to get OUT of the US and onto an island (or foreign country), we couldn’t get BACK (yet, anyway) b/c of testing requirements. So for now, we wait. We also have 2023 and 2024 cruise bookings but I am really not confident (sorry to say) that the vax/testing requirements are ever going away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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