Cancel or Go? For sailings between now and July 30, 2020?

[STIguy]

July 4th for us. 

Its go at throttle up. 

You can get infected at the movies, 7-11, your doctor 's office etc....

As long as that ship is leaving and we aren’t under martial law, we go. 

[villauk]

34 minutes ago, STIguy said:

July 4th for us. 

Its go at throttle up. 

You can get infected at the movies, 7-11, your doctor 's office etc....

As long as that ship is leaving and we aren’t under martial law, we go. 

 

 

Yes, but once you’re in the cinema, you can watch the film and go home. No guarantees the ship will be able to dock, or that you’ll be able to fly home, or there aren’t protests against your ship at the docks like Sun Princess - that’s the difference. It’s not just about catching the virus when cruising, that’s only a part of it.

[Mystictraveler]

2 hours ago, CruiserMickey said:

 

We are going to be on that cruise with you (note the optimism?) and that leg will be our second in a b2b. Our final payment date has been pushed back a month, so I feel better about waiting to make a decision about the trip. I am really hoping things will be under control and the travel advisories will be lifted.

Did the Celebrity Travel Planner happen to mention if they were giving the extra time because Rome was involved or are they extending the same courtesy to other non-Italian itineraries as well? We have a Southampton departure set for June 13th.

[CruiserMickey]

10 minutes ago, Mystictraveler said:

Did the Celebrity Travel Planner happen to mention if they were giving the extra time because Rome was involved or are they extending the same courtesy to other non-Italian itineraries as well? We have a Southampton departure set for June 13th.

 

I didn’t ask about Southampton and she didn’t mention anything about the rest of Europe because both of our cruises are out of Italy.

 

If you are wondering, I would call Celebrity to find out. 

[STIguy]

2 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

Yes, but once you’re in the cinema, you can watch the film and go home. No guarantees the ship will be able to dock, or that you’ll be able to fly home, or there aren’t protests against your ship at the docks like Sun Princess - that’s the difference. It’s not just about catching the virus when cruising, that’s only a part of it.

Fine. 

To quote Red in Shawshank "Get busy living or get busy dying. "

I don’t think the USA will deny disembarkation if the ship originated there. 

 

[Pushka]

Not worried about catching the virus. I am worried about cruises to nowhere, getting stuck on a ship for 14 days in quarantine and having to spend another 14 days before getting back to my home country. 

[Fairgarth]

16 minutes ago, Pushka said:

Not worried about catching the virus. I am worried about cruises to nowhere, getting stuck on a ship for 14 days in quarantine and having to spend another 14 days before getting back to my home country. 

 

Exactly!!  

[cruisepsycho]

Well I’ m done. Made my decision. Love to cruise, but this is not like love in the time of cholera. I will be canceling my pacific coastal cruise on the Eclipse set for later this month. I will not subject myself and wife to a potential floating Petri dish for Covid -19. Screening asymptomatic passengers is no guarantee of no infection. For me  the risk ,although some feel may be small, is not worth it. There will always be another cruise on the horizon during safer times. To those of you who have decided to cruise during these uncertain times, I wish you all safe journey, fair winds and following seas.

[SeaPink0409]

We leave on April 5th on Silhouette from FLL on a 12 day Southern Caribbean cruise. As of now we are going. We are celebrating our 15th anniversary, and interestingly, had originally booked an All Inclusive in Cancun for a week. We ALWAYS cruise. Thought we would try something different.  The day we decided to cancel and change to a cruise, I *literally*  told my husband “I just have a weird feeling that we shouldn’t go to Mexico”  We booked it LAST MAY.  Now there are talks about placing travel restrictions to Mexico, if I have heard correctly. 
 

Also, I don’t believe in coincidences. 

With that being said,, I hope & pray that things start to calm down soon. I am not uneasy about our trip, but I’m totally down for an uneventful cruise 🙏🏼🙏🏼🌊🌊🌊⛴ 

This girl needs some Vitamin SEA-

 

 

[helen haywood]

We are on that Silhouette cruise as well.  If Celebrity is sailing I’ll be aboard.

[Denny01]

I hadn’t canceled any cruise, but it looks as if the cruises will cancel under me! We are booked on a Silverseas cruise (a company under the RCL umbrella) just expanded the restrictions of boarding from the 3 northern Italian Regions and made all of Italy as restricted. You are restricted from boarding a Silverseas ship if you have traveled or visited (or flown into) Italy 15 days prior boarding, which kind or makes it interesting for my 23 April departure out of Rome and visiting many Italian ports of call. Waiting to see what the options of cancelling and getting full refund, and FCC.

 

then got an email from Viking that we can cancel any cruise with Viking up to 24hrs prior to departure and receive a FCC and require a 2yr booking. We have a departure out of Bucharest going to Budapest departing here on 18 March....so I have only a few days to make that call. 

 

All very interesting for us. None of this is Celebrity, but last week, Celebrity posted on restricting northern Italy on 26 Feb and a day later Silverseas did the same Now Silverseas, an RCL company, posted and I’ll assume Celebrity will do the same. RCL has already posted the same as Silverseas blocking Italy as an option. 

 

Boy, I can go on and on about continuing to cruise, but looks as if the cruises are dropping away. May have to rethink where we are cruising. 

 

Den

[Bruin Steve]

I am scheduled to take two back-to-back cruises in July on Infinity out of Italy.  I am planning on going.  Hoping things settle down a bit by then...

If Celebrity cancels or alters the itineraries, then we'll have to deal with it...We'll go somewhere else if we have to.  I lose on one pre-paid hotel for 3 nights pre-cruise in Portovenere and a pre-paid rental car.  The rest of my planning I will have to deal with and re-plan.

But, I'm not going to be a hermit and not travel due to this.  I could catch this illness staying home as well--there are reported cases right here in the US.  And, even though it hit the Diamond Princess, I do NOT connect any of these outbreaks with cruising.  Not this, not Norovirus, nothing.  An outbreak can occur ANYWHERE you have large numbers of people congregating and touching things--doorknobs, handrails, etc.  Same outbreaks occur at Disneyland, at the big Las Vegas hotel/casinos, at football and baseball stadiums...or even just in any large town or city...It's just more noticeable when it hits a cruise ship because that's the one venue where everyone is together for a week or more.  If this hits in a Vegas hotel or at Disneyland, those populations are constantly arriving and departing--attendance is short or staggered.  People contract a flu or virus, go home and discover it several days later...no one connects the dots.

 

We take these risks of contracting something EVERYWHERE we go and in everything we do.

 

So, we should all learn a little--pay more attention to frequently washing our hands, to not touching things when there is an option, etc.

 

Past all that, it seems, from the death vs. recovery statistics, the real danger zone is among those 80- years of age or up...dropping a bit to 70 and up...

For anyone younger, the odds are far better...

 

I am expecting Celebrity will take extra precautions.  If the risk remains very high, they will alter the itineraries.  I don't think they will put all the ships in drydock and close down the business...So, we are going SOMEWHERE.  I just hope it's the itinerary we signed up for--because I've put so much planning into it...and pre-paid a bit of money.

 

But I am certainly not panicking and cancelling everything and becoming a hermit..

[Von & John]

41 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

I hadn’t canceled any cruise, but it looks as if the cruises will cancel under me! We are booked on a Silverseas cruise (a company under the RCL umbrella) just expanded the restrictions of boarding from the 3 northern Italian Regions and made all of Italy as restricted. You are restricted from boarding a Silverseas ship if you have traveled or visited (or flown into) Italy 15 days prior boarding, which kind or makes it interesting for my 23 April departure out of Rome and visiting many Italian ports of call. Waiting to see what the options of cancelling and getting full refund, and FCC.

 

then got an email from Viking that we can cancel any cruise with Viking up to 24hrs prior to departure and receive a FCC and require a 2yr booking. We have a departure out of Bucharest going to Budapest departing here on 18 March....so I have only a few days to make that call. 

 

All very interesting for us. None of this is Celebrity, but last week, Celebrity posted on restricting northern Italy on 26 Feb and a day later Silverseas did the same Now Silverseas, an RCL company, posted and I’ll assume Celebrity will do the same. RCL has already posted the same as Silverseas blocking Italy as an option. 

 

Boy, I can go on and on about continuing to cruise, but looks as if the cruises are dropping away. May have to rethink where we are cruising. 

 

Den

 

Just looked at Celebrity & they have not updated the Travel Advisory, since Wed-02/26...
Maybe they will update later tonight or tomorrow...

[NMTraveller]

So I wonder how Celebrity would do an Eastern Med cruise or Western Med cruise without Italy?

[Pushka]

30 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

So I wonder how Celebrity would do an Eastern Med cruise or Western Med cruise without Italy?

Our cruise embarks and disembarks from Rome on Edge. And multiple Italian ports and a couple of Greek ones and Malta. 

[Bruin Steve]

6 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

So I wonder how Celebrity would do an Eastern Med cruise or Western Med cruise without Italy?

There are so many ports in the Mediterranean that you could configure an itinerary in almost countless ways. Cruises start in Barcelona, Athens, Istanbul and visit ports in Spain, France, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Turkey, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Malta...including various islands like Mallorca, Corsica, Ibiza, Crete, Cyprus, etc...I'm not worried about Celebrity being able to adjust the itineraries.  Problem is, for us, is that we choose the cruises based on particular ports we're interested in visiting each time...and plan around them with land pre- and post cruise stays.

 

If they change our itinerary, we'll adjust to it...

 

Either we'll just take the new itinerary...or we'll look for a completely different cruise...Of course, if we change the cruise...or perhaps even if Celebrity changes the cruise, we have no idea if they will honor the "deals" we got when we booked quite a long time ago...especially if we opt for a different itinerary.  Perhaps they'll just say we get a "refund" and are free to book something else?

 

BUT, we'll likely get stuck with non-cancelable charges for pre-paid hotels and rental cars...AND the airline reservations we made almost a year early--at low rates--to fly into Milan and out of Rome--will, no doubt, be significantly higher if, say, we now have to fly in and out of Athens--making the reservations within only a short time prior to the cruise.  All of the shore excursions booked at Celebrity sale prices and on OBC received as part of the deal will have to be replaced with different tours at possibly higher prices in new ports--and who knows how Celebrity will deal with perks given--like the OBC, free gratuities and drink packages we got as part of our deals?

 

There are a LOT of "moving parts" to this...

[Menunes222]

On 2/29/2020 at 2:47 PM, Hllb said:

July cruise out of Venice. I have a month before final payment. I’d still lose air/hotel package though. I’m leaning towards going but have warmed my daughter it may not happen. We are not in a high risk group (I wouldn’t cancel for a flu outbreak and for us, the numbers are similar). But I worry about missing ports or everything being shut down. I’m hoping that in a month, it’s either looking better in Italy or celebrity extends the final payment date.

I read an article yesterday by a travel blogger out of Italy whi made some good points. Italy has been screening everyone since the outbreak began, so its logical the have more cases because they are looking. Typically viruses die off in hot temps, so by summer should be settled. Hang in there!

[BigAl94]

Looks like the summer could be the worst https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-03/coronavirus-government-works-to-make-sure-any-covid-19-epidemic-is-delayed-to-summer-writes-robert-peston/

[di T]

14 hours ago, CruiserMickey said:

 

For me, it’s the only way to look at it. I have spent five years planning for this trip and will be heartbroken if we have to cancel.

CruiserMicky, we will be on the same b2 b as you! Though I’ve paid for both early. Before the virus was common knowledge. Optimistic as well! Dianne

[mic123]

9 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

I am scheduled to take two back-to-back cruises in July on Infinity out of Italy.  I am planning on going.  Hoping things settle down a bit by then...

If Celebrity cancels or alters the itineraries, then we'll have to deal with it...We'll go somewhere else if we have to.  I lose on one pre-paid hotel for 3 nights pre-cruise in Portovenere and a pre-paid rental car.  The rest of my planning I will have to deal with and re-plan.

But, I'm not going to be a hermit and not travel due to this.  I could catch this illness staying home as well--there are reported cases right here in the US.  And, even though it hit the Diamond Princess, I do NOT connect any of these outbreaks with cruising.  Not this, not Norovirus, nothing.  An outbreak can occur ANYWHERE you have large numbers of people congregating and touching things--doorknobs, handrails, etc.  Same outbreaks occur at Disneyland, at the big Las Vegas hotel/casinos, at football and baseball stadiums...or even just in any large town or city...It's just more noticeable when it hits a cruise ship because that's the one venue where everyone is together for a week or more.  If this hits in a Vegas hotel or at Disneyland, those populations are constantly arriving and departing--attendance is short or staggered.  People contract a flu or virus, go home and discover it several days later...no one connects the dots.

 

We take these risks of contracting something EVERYWHERE we go and in everything we do.

 

So, we should all learn a little--pay more attention to frequently washing our hands, to not touching things when there is an option, etc.

 

Past all that, it seems, from the death vs. recovery statistics, the real danger zone is among those 80- years of age or up...dropping a bit to 70 and up...

For anyone younger, the odds are far better...

 

I am expecting Celebrity will take extra precautions.  If the risk remains very high, they will alter the itineraries.  I don't think they will put all the ships in drydock and close down the business...So, we are going SOMEWHERE.  I just hope it's the itinerary we signed up for--because I've put so much planning into it...and pre-paid a bit of money.

 

But I am certainly not panicking and cancelling everything and becoming a hermit..

This!

[villauk]

Cruise ship in Norway is being held with suspected positive passengers:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-51716375

 

It will be interesting to see what happens, whether it will be different to the Diamond Princess if they are confirmed.

Edited March 3, 2020 by villauk

[Laurab23]

• We cruise May 9 to Rhode Island, Charleston and Bermuda. I figure if anything does happen we are close to home and I feel at this point we should be ok. Of course it i concerning.

Laura

[Hllb]

3 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

There are so many ports in the Mediterranean that you could configure an itinerary in almost countless ways. Cruises start in Barcelona, Athens, Istanbul and visit ports in Spain, France, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Turkey, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Malta...including various islands like Mallorca, Corsica, Ibiza, Crete, Cyprus, etc...I'm not worried about Celebrity being able to adjust the itineraries.  Problem is, for us, is that we choose the cruises based on particular ports we're interested in visiting each time...and plan around them with land pre- and post cruise stays.

 

If they change our itinerary, we'll adjust to it...

 

Either we'll just take the new itinerary...or we'll look for a completely different cruise...Of course, if we change the cruise...or perhaps even if Celebrity changes the cruise, we have no idea if they will honor the "deals" we got when we booked quite a long time ago...especially if we opt for a different itinerary.  Perhaps they'll just say we get a "refund" and are free to book something else?

 

BUT, we'll likely get stuck with non-cancelable charges for pre-paid hotels and rental cars...AND the airline reservations we made almost a year early--at low rates--to fly into Milan and out of Rome--will, no doubt, be significantly higher if, say, we now have to fly in and out of Athens--making the reservations within only a short time prior to the cruise.  All of the shore excursions booked at Celebrity sale prices and on OBC received as part of the deal will have to be replaced with different tours at possibly higher prices in new ports--and who knows how Celebrity will deal with perks given--like the OBC, free gratuities and drink packages we got as part of our deals?

 

There are a LOT of "moving parts" to this...

 

I would hope they'd be doing refunds rather than change the itineraries significantly. We wanted to tour Italy.  Our cruise is stopping at a couple of other places, but those were not our priority.  I never would have booked a cruise that didn't go to Italy, as that's our focus, including 5 days on land.  

[CruiserMickey]

4 hours ago, di T said:

CruiserMicky, we will be on the same b2 b as you! Though I’ve paid for both early. Before the virus was common knowledge. Optimistic as well! Dianne

 

That glass of bubbly when we first step on the ship will certainly be extra special this time!

[di T]

21 minutes ago, CruiserMickey said:

 

That glass of bubbly when we first step on the ship will certainly be extra special this time!

You bet🥂