The Italy Catch-22

[Hllb]

7 minutes ago, GastroGnome said:

 

RCCL have just announced a policy to cancel for any reason up to 48 hours before and receive a full refund as FCC.

 

OOps - sorry cross posted!

Yes, I was responding to a person who is unhappy with the offer being future cruise credit.  I am very happy with the new policy.

[cirpi]

14 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

I'm trying to just keep cool, play wait and see, etc...BUT, with final payment due in less than a month...and with flight reservations through Celebrity Air, we've got back-to-back cruises in July from Italy--Rome to Venice and Venice to Rome...

 

Celebrity extended the final payments for earlier cruises--but not yet for July.

 

We don't know, therefore, whether the cruises are on or off...or if the itineraries will be changed r remain the same...So, we're sort of waiting to see what shakes out...and I guess so is Celebrity...

 

I saw the new notices today...and this is interesting.  They say, in part:

"We have also increased secondary health screening requirements. The following guests will need to undergo extra screenings at the cruise terminal: 

• Any person who is uncertain about contact with individuals who have traveled in the 15 days prior to embarkation to, from, or through mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Iran, Italy, South Korea, Japan, or Thailand."

So, basically, you can't go to Italy and you can't even be in contact with anyone who's been to Italy...But, wait a second:  These cruises both embark and disembark in Italy!  So, assuming these cruises are a go, isn't EVERYBODY going to have to have both been in Italy AND been in contact with people who have been in Italy???  Sort of hard to avoid that!

 

Okay, we also have flight reservations that we made some time ago (at a considerably lower rate than what is available today) to fly into MILAN, 10 days before the first cruise.  I am assuming that, if the cruise remains a go, either 1)  It could be a bad idea to fly into Milan--since Northern Italy is where the numbers are...But, OTOH, the cruises each end or start in Venice...so, if they were still on? 2)  It could be a bad idea to spend a long pre-cruise in Italy?  If they do cruise out of Italy, should they tell everyone to fly in, be in minimal contact with people as possible and just go airport to ship?

 

Of course, in the meanwhile, I've got to worry whether the cruise is on or not...whether I can fly into Milan...or change to FCO...and, if so, would I be just messing with my reservations for nothing?  And, assuming we have to do the final payment, we are supposed to pay for the Flights by Celebrity as well...Will they even complete the booking to Milan?  Or, if they later cancel everything, are we stuck with the air flights anyway?

 

Hoping things change and everything is cleared up...but, right now, they're about to ask for final payment and airfare from thousands of people into a country they are also telling us not to go to or even be in contact with people who have been there!

Steve, Our predicament is similar. We are booked on the June 28 Infinity sailing from Venice with hopes of visiting Italian friends in Rome and Padova. To complicate matters more, we also are expected to attend our granddaughter's wedding in Portugal a few days before the cruise. If we cancel before  March 30, we will have no hope for a refund on air fare. 

[upwarduk]

1 hour ago, GastroGnome said:

 

RCCL have just announced a policy to cancel for any reason up to 48 hours before and receive a full refund as FCC.

Just wonder if this is for the UK as well, as we have different T&C’s.

[cpgrneyes]

14 hours ago, tomcruiser1234 said:

Just gotta wait

 

Who knows, the warm weather may slow things down.

It’s a “false hope” that coronavirus will be seasonal and subside in the summer, like the flu, the World Health Organization said Friday. “We have to assume that the virus will continue to have the capacity to spread,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program, said at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva. “It’s a false hope to say, yes, that it will disappear like the flu.” Earlier in the outbreak, U.S. health officials said there was a hypothesis among mathematical modelers that the outbreak “

[luckyinpa]

as of yesterday NCL had a TA in april ending in italy for 300 for an inside.  would be interesting to see how that turns out

[PhillyTravelBug]

I have the apex booked for June 20 sailing and it seems like the airlines and cruise industry are both doing a future credit. I’m not going to be surprised if this just may be pushed back until next year if  both give us a future credit. America airlines see. To have it so it has to be the exact same stops or another flight that is equal to or less than the amount for them to cover.