2021 itineraries ??

[VacationCharlene]

Anyone know....WHEN it will become available to book and WHAT SHIP may be used for the 2021 Voyage of the Vikings?  Bill and I are going to do it again peeps so be ready !!

 

Also....do you foresee the 21 day Alaska roundtrip San Francisco becoming available again?

 

THANKS

[RuthC]

Word is that the three 21-day Alaska cruises this year had trouble selling, so it's unlikely that it will reappear. 
Pity, too, as it was a fabulous itinerary, and I would love to take it again. Even if they had it only once a year would be better than nothing. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

HAL does not publish a schedule of when future deployments will be announced/open for sale.

 

They were unusually early in their release of summer 2021 Alaska Cruise Only Itineraries earlier this year. 2021 Alaska Cruise Tours are not yet available.

 

I would expect the next release to be Ryndam Europe 2021, followed by remaining Europe / Transatlantic several weeks later, possibly before the end of this year. That may or may not include the Voyage of the Vikings for 2021. 

 

When this happens is anyones guess. Usually itineraries just show up on the HAL website with little to no fanfare. It could be tomorrow or it could be next June, or anywhere in between.....

[AtlantaCruiser72]

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

Word is that the three 21-day Alaska cruises this year had trouble selling, so it's unlikely that it will reappear. 
Pity, too, as it was a fabulous itinerary, and I would love to take it again. Even if they had it only once a year would be better than nothing. 

 

HAL struggles to fill the 14 day sailings that they have operated from Seattle for years, and the 21 day ones on Maasdam in 2019 did not go out anywhere near full either. As Maasdam is scheduled to do the 14 day the next 2 years (from Vancouver instead of Seattle) I do not anticipate the 21 day option returning anytime in the near future. 

[westcoastcruiser]

4 hours ago, RuthC said:

Word is that the three 21-day Alaska cruises this year had trouble selling, so it's unlikely that it will reappear. 
Pity, too, as it was a fabulous itinerary, and I would love to take it again. Even if they had it only once a year would be better than nothing. 

That is disappointing to us as well.  was hoping for at least an every other year sailing.  Guess we missed our chance...

[Hobcat]

22 hours ago, RuthC said:

Word is that the three 21-day Alaska cruises this year had trouble selling, so it's unlikely that it will reappear. 
Pity, too, as it was a fabulous itinerary, and I would love to take it again. Even if they had it only once a year would be better than nothing. 

I agree, Ruth. Thoroughly enjoyed this cruise. We would book it again next year if it were offered. 

[Mary229]

Judging by the frequency of Alaska cruises showing up on the top ten deals and bargain websites it seems the Alaska market is perhaps flooded as is the Caribbean. I am not surprised that they are reconsidering their offerings.   
 

where are the Europe cruises! Is my question.   I keep checking. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

24 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Judging by the frequency of Alaska cruises showing up on the top ten deals and bargain websites it seems the Alaska market is perhaps flooded as is the Caribbean. I am not surprised that they are reconsidering their offerings.   
 

where are the Europe cruises! Is my question.   I keep checking. 

 

I'm expecting Ryndam Europe 2021 to release first - hopefully by end of November/Early December, followed by the remaining 2021 Europe schedule sometime in Late December or Early January.  I have no source, but that is my "hunch" .... that said they could wait and deploy until mid Q1 2020 to see how the 2020 sailings are doing and see if they need to change any deployment away from Turkey & the Black Sea due to political conditions.

 

Funny that everyone (passengers of all cruise lines not just HAL) is so antsy these days - it use to be "early" to get a mid Q1 announcement for the following calendar year summer/fall/winter (about 15-18 months out) - now everyone complains when it's not released by end of Q2 or Early Q3 for 18-24+ months out .....  The further in advance itineraries are published, the more likely the cruise lines are to change deployments, cancel cruises for charters, drydocks or port issues, etc.

[madera1]

Our 50th wedding anniversary is late June 2021 and we want to take family on a cruise so anxiously awaiting the summer itineraries for Europe! We took our daughters on a Baltic cruise for our 40th and had a fabulous time.

[cruisemom42]

5 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

 

Funny that everyone (passengers of all cruise lines not just HAL) is so antsy these days - it use to be "early" to get a mid Q1 announcement for the following calendar year summer/fall/winter (about 15-18 months out) - now everyone complains when it's not released by end of Q2 or Early Q3 for 18-24+ months out .....  The further in advance itineraries are published, the more likely the cruise lines are to change deployments, cancel cruises for charters, drydocks or port issues, etc.

 

Agree -- what is the huge rush all about??

[sevenseasnomad]

2 hours ago, madera1 said:

Our 50th wedding anniversary is late June 2021 and we want to take family on a cruise so anxiously awaiting the summer itineraries for Europe! We took our daughters on a Baltic cruise for our 40th and had a fabulous time.

Please adopt me!

[sevenseasnomad]

3 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Agree -- what is the huge rush all about??

Some of us like to plan ahead and reserve a particular cabin.  My son and I are eager to see the Ryndam schedule.  We have decided to sail one of her itineraries during 2021; we don't know if it will be in the summer or at Christmas.  I suppose we want to have our plans firm so we can start daydreaming about the adventure on the new ship.  

[cruisemom42]

3 minutes ago, sevenseasnomad said:

Some of us like to plan ahead and reserve a particular cabin.  My son and I are eager to see the Ryndam schedule.  We have decided to sail one of her itineraries during 2021; we don't know if it will be in the summer or at Christmas.  I suppose we want to have our plans firm so we can start daydreaming about the adventure on the new ship.  

 

I see -- I am not so picky re: cabins!

 

As I cruise and travel in several modes, I usually like to wait until closer to the actual travel time to work out my overall itinerary for the year -- between land trips vs. cruises, maximizing PTO and ensuring I spread out my travel throughout the year, it requires some planning, but it's planning that is better done when I have all of the info. Otherwise I end up cancelling things when better alternatives show up...

 

 

[sevenseasnomad]

2 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I see -- I am not so picky re: cabins!

 

As I cruise and travel in several modes, I usually like to wait until closer to the actual travel time to work out my overall itinerary for the year -- between land trips vs. cruises, maximizing PTO and ensuring I spread out my travel throughout the year, it requires some planning, but it's planning that is better done when I have all of the info. Otherwise I end up cancelling things when better alternatives show up...

 

 

Are you retired?  If so, you can travel more frequently, yes?  Sometimes you can receive nice discounts waiting to book closer to the travel dates.  I'd love to do that, but alas, I'm still working and must give notice if I'm going to miss any teaching days, which occasionally happens.  I try to cruise during our breaks, but one or two days, either before or after the cruise when we're traveling to or from the port may not coincide with those days off.  I have my principal's full support and good will for my travel, something I don't want to squander by suddenly asking for time off too soon before the cruise.  

 

I'd love to do it the way you do, and someday, I'll be able to plan on the spur-of-the-moment too.  Looking forward to it at some point.

[cruisemom42]

1 minute ago, sevenseasnomad said:

Are you retired?  If so, you can travel more frequently, yes?  Sometimes you can receive nice discounts waiting to book closer to the travel dates.  I'd love to do that, but alas, I'm still working and must give notice if I'm going to miss any teaching days, which occasionally happens.  I try to cruise during our breaks, but one or two days, either before or after the cruise when we're traveling to or from the port may not coincide with those days off.  I have my principal's full support and good will for my travel, something I don't want to squander by suddenly asking for time off too soon before the cruise.  

 

I'd love to do it the way you do, and someday, I'll be able to plan on the spur-of-the-moment too.  Looking forward to it at some point.

 

Not retired. It's funny, but I was thinking the opposite -- that I'd be able to plan further in advance once I was retired (as well as longer trips). As it is now, I can't plan TOO far ahead in case something major at work comes up that takes precedence....

 

I do usually try to plan ahead but only in the 6-12 months out timeframe.

[Mary229]

Maybe we are talking about different types of cruises.  I like a long planning/reading time for my "epic" voyages of 30 days or more.  I usually grab last minute deals or Cyber Monday deals on shorter durations.

 

Edited: sure  I could plan/read before booking but my brain doesn't work that way😀

Edited October 19, 2019 by Mary229

[Ulsteinvik]

Ryndam is booked now almost weekly in Amsterdam from June to October 2021. Looks like she will replace Nieuw Statendam.

[AncientWanderer]

On 10/19/2019 at 11:00 AM, Mary229 said:

Maybe we are talking about different types of cruises.  I like a long planning/reading time for my "epic" voyages of 30 days or more.  I usually grab last minute deals or Cyber Monday deals on shorter durations.

 

Edited: sure  I could plan/read before booking but my brain doesn't work that way😀

 

Me, too, Mary.  We usually do long cruises and I like to really immerse myself in books and movies before I make the trip.  I think it adds so much to my enjoyment!  DH always takes the books along with him and reads about the places as we travel, but I think it's too late by then.

[VacationCharlene]

Thanks everyone for your participation!  I guess I need to just be patient and continue to watch and follow along.  Hoping to make our reservation for the 2021 VOV soon,  One of the reasons for OUR booking early, is because we then have lots of time to pay for it and make it less painful lol.  We also actually LIKE booking our cruises far in advance.  We like to read about the specific ports etc. Start planning private shore excursions etc.  Get a specific room possibly that might be popular. So for those questioning WHY we are anxious to book....we all have different reasons.

Bummer about the possibility of the 21 day roundtrip San Francisco Alaska itinerary possibly not returning.  We would book that in a heartbeat.

Save travels and happy cruise days to all the cruisers.  Always enjoy reading the comments and opinions of others.

[crazytomatoes]

VacationingCharlene,

We too are anxious to find out when this cruise will be released for the very same reasons. We always book this far in advance for various reasons, one of them being cabin selection. We are working people in our 40's who have to save for two years to go on these bigger cruises and it is motivating to save for something that is already booked. We tend to always have one booked in advance, that way we get exactly what we want. 

 

Fingers crossed it comes out soon! 

Also Charlene 

[newbie53]

I looked at my booking confirmation for when I booked this year's VOV, and it's dated Oct 9, 2017.  I know we booked as soon as it came out, so I would think 2021 should be any day now.

 

Sue

[AtlantaCruiser72]

No "proof" but my gut instinct tells me Ryndam Europe 2021 will open early November, with remaining Europe 2021 about 2-3 weeks later right before Black Friday/Cyber Week