Further Navigator Schedule Manipulation

After reading a report that said that Navigator will do three cruises, from Vancouver to San Francisco, San Francisco to Miami and then Miami to Montreal; I now see that the Montreal to Reykjavik and full 60 night Montreal to NYC are set to full waitlist. All cruises commencing with the Reykjavik to Stockholm cruise on 1 September are still available for booking.

I wonder what Regent will do? Can't believe they would impact the 60 night cruise as it is one of the few Grand Voyages left and a new itinerary. Time will tell.

Marc

I think i figured out what Regent is doing. I believe they are going to make the 60 day cruise (maybe a few days longer) New York to New York instead of starting from Montreal. No reason to head to Montreal in early August.

Any other thoughts? Of course, we will know the real answer in a few days.

Marc

A strange and interesting tactic the Regent is now using to show the voyage as wait listed rather than taking it down. If you call Regent and ask what is going on they say the ship is full. If you press them further they say they don't know.

j

Interesting. I really wanted to the NW Passage, but I had neither the time nor the funds. So now I wait to see what they do instead to get the ship back to the east coast. Perhaps there will be something else interesting and new.

Regent has now tweaked its itineraries necessitated by the cancellation of the NW Passage trip. The ship now leaves Miami for Vancouver and heads back again. The last cruise before the scheduled Montreal-Iceland trip, which I am booked on, is now Miami (or NYC) to Montreal.

I doubt if there's anything in the new itineraries to satisfy those booked on the NW Passage trip. Nor can I see a rush for cabins on the NYC-Montreal trip given the time of year - much too early for the fall colors.

Oh, but the weather in New England and the Maritimes should be very nice in August, a real treat. But then again, weather in Miami, New York and Montreal will be sweltering, no doubt. There might be whale-watching opportunities too in the St Lawrence.

I read somewhere that, due to the issues in the Med., that more itineraries will be in other parts of the world, including more Panama Canal cruises and sailing in the Caribbean during times of the year that it does not typically sail there (meaning times of the year that many seasoned travelers would avoid the Caribbean). I wonder if some of these rather "ho-hum" itineraries will sell.

I read somewhere that, due to the issues in the Med., that more itineraries will be in other parts of the world, including more Panama Canal cruises and sailing in the Caribbean during times of the year that it does not typically sail there (meaning times of the year that many seasoned travelers would avoid the Caribbean). I wonder if some of these rather "ho-hum" itineraries will sell.

Zika should put a monkey wrench in those plans! Don't even want to be in South Florida anytime but winter.

Zika should put a monkey wrench in those plans! Don't even want to be in South Florida anytime but winter.

Good point. Now I'm wondering where else in the world the ships can travel that will attract more customers. Asia is great but fares are high and most ships only sail there a few months of the year.

Good point. Now I'm wondering where else in the world the ships can travel that will attract more customers. Asia is great but fares are high and most ships only sail there a few months of the year.

There are lots of options:

Bring back Grand Asia Pacific; hopefully on Mariner.

Two ships in Northern Europe (they are doing this next year)

Summer Bermuda season (hurricane bait)

LA - Vancouver - Hawaii

Pacific Islands

Circle Australia

South Atlantic

I don't know why they need 18 cruises through Panama Canal; GAP would be much nicer.

Marc

Nor can I see a rush for cabins on the NYC-Montreal trip given the time of year - much too early for the fall colors.

Just a note or two ...

The new 18 day Panama Canal itinerary goes to Acapulco. So if they were going to phase that out to some other port, as some speculated, then surely they would not have added another cruise there.

Also about the new Panama Canal itinerary - I'm guessing that is the lowest priced Regent itinerary on a per day basis - $311 with air, and would be much lower without air. Crystal had a similar situation - a Panama Canal cruise in the summer priced under $200 per day, and it became very popular! For someone who just likes using the ship as all at sea days, these are very attractive options.

And the new Miami to Montreal itinerary is the lowest price itinerary, excluding 7 day itineraries, on any Regent ship.

There are lots of options:

 

Bring back Grand Asia Pacific; hopefully on Mariner.

 

Two ships in Northern Europe (they are doing this next year)

 

Summer Bermuda season (hurricane bait)

 

LA - Vancouver - Hawaii

 

Pacific Islands

 

Circle Australia

 

South Atlantic

 

I don't know why they need 18 cruises through Panama Canal; GAP would be much nicer.

 

Marc

Agree with your itineraries except that I would love to see them on the Voyager or Explorer (personal preference). I do wish that Australia and New Zealand itineraries were not so pricey. We do love part of the world and have traveled there by cruise ship as well as on land trips.

The prices are pretty amazing. I was really hoping for aiming really new or unusual in Alaska with some really long port days and or overnights. Oh well I guess we stick to the cruise I have.

Zika has really affected cruise lines' schedules, as if terrorism weren't bad enough. So now the Med, much of the Middle East, South America and the Caribbean are bad risks. Maybe we should return to the forties when ships just did constant TAs with no ports at all.

Zika has really affected cruise lines' schedules, as if terrorism weren't bad enough. So now the Med, much of the Middle East, South America and the Caribbean are bad risks. Maybe we should return to the forties when ships just did constant TAs with no ports at all.

Agree with you! Hopefully preventative measures will soon be available that will at least repel the mosquito that causes Zika (much as has been done with the mosquito that transmits Chikungunya which has spread not only throughout the Caribbean but Asia some of the U.S., and many other parts of the world as well).

As for GAP or any parts, most of Polynesian, Micronesia has misquito problems too.

From New Zealand Official travel site.

Since 2014, there has been an increase in confirmed cases of dengue, chikungunya and Zika virus infection in many Pacific Islands including the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. In November 2015, cases of Dengue fever were reported by the Hawaii Department of Health on Hawaii Island (also known as the Big Island). Zika is spreading to many tropical and sub-tropical countries. According to the information available, including the cases reported in New Zealand, the three Pacific countries where Zika virus infections are currently occurring are America Samoa, Samoa and Tonga, and this list will be updated as the situation changes.

Also in Tahiti during the 2013-14 Zika outbreak the number of Guillain-Barre cases in French Polynesia jumped from an average of two a year to 42.

I am going someplace cold...........

j

Unless I'm mistaken, the mosquito which transmits chikungunya (aedes aegypti) is the same little bugger that transmits Zika (plus a number of other charmers).

Yeh! Someplace cold, e.g., a new wonderful Alaska itinerary, as someone has suggested, or Voyager back in Norway exploring the fjords up close and personal!

Cheers from a Sound Floridian (where it is not so very cheerful in summertime)

That was, of course, meant to read South Floridian. Not too "sound" anymore, it sometimes seems.

And Singapore now has a handful of Zika cases. So it will be spreading across SE Asia fairly soon I would think.

Wendy, I think you posted that you would not want to be in Florida during the summer because of Zika or mosquitos or ??? It could be on this thread but I'm rushing to get out of here and want to ask this question. Is there a season for the mosquitos in Florida? While this sounds like an odd question, I understand that winter in most parts of the world is cold but this is not always the case in Florida, Singapore (as you mentioned) and some other parts of the world.

I think we need Rachel to pop in and give us her take on Zika, etc. A professional opinion would be helpful right now.

Thank you for your response. One more question. I have heard that some types of mosquitos are active all times of the day. Do you know if the mosquitos that spread Zika are active all the time or only certain times of the day? I'm asking because most Regent ships are not docked/tendered during the times when mosquitos are typically active.

Thank you for your response. One more question. I have heard that some types of mosquitos are active all times of the day. Do you know if the mosquitos that spread Zika are active all the time or only certain times of the day? I'm asking because most Regent ships are not docked/tendered during the times when mosquitos are typically active.

Mosquitoes that spread Zika virus bite mostly actively during the daytime, but can bite at night. Mosquitoes that spread Zika virus also spread dengue and chikungunya viruses.

According to CDC the two areas the are now "ground zero" are in Miami and Miami Beach on either side of Dodge island where the ship docks.

J

CDC Zika Map for Miami

(Cruise ship dock is about where the "a" is in Mi"a"mi between the red squares.)

After reading a report that said that Navigator will do three cruises, from Vancouver to San Francisco, San Francisco to Miami and then Miami to Montreal; I now see that the Montreal to Reykjavik and full 60 night Montreal to NYC are set to full waitlist. All cruises commencing with the Reykjavik to Stockholm cruise on 1 September are still available for booking.

 

I wonder what Regent will do? Can't believe they would impact the 60 night cruise as it is one of the few Grand Voyages left and a new itinerary. Time will tell.

 

Marc

It appears that when the NWP cruise was cancelled, both of the above cruises were set to waitlist, as Marc observed, but now, even after the cruise re-routes have been clarified, these cruises are still shown at full waitlist, while almost all of the other Navigator cruises in the April through August window have lots of availability. Makes me wonder if there is going to be a change to the aforementioned waitlisted cruises. If Regent was going to make a change, I would have thought it would have been done by now. If not, strange all are still waitlisted--unless a bunch of NWP passengers switched, or were offered a deal and they jumped on it... Anyone have any insight?

While onboard the Mariner last week the Cruise Consultant said those two sailings were full and she couldn't even wait list us.

Wow! That sounds so strange: that they would not waitlist a cruise in any category that is one year away... Hmm, methinks something is rotten in the state of Denmark.:confused: