For those Cruising before May 31, Cruising or Cancelling?

[Dwang]

I am booked on a cruise in April, but with all the headlines, I am starting to get concerned - the combination of Covid and the potential to get stuck on onboard seems unappealing.  That said, the credit doesn't help that much because I would also take a flight cancellation fee ...  

 

With everything going on, are you planning to cruise or cancel and why? 

 

I understand that there are other forum topics on this, but I don't think any of them included a poll to make it easier to see what most people are doing

Edited March 10, 2020 by Dwang

[jb58]

Cancelling and rebooking.  My DD has type 1 diabetes, with recommendation from her doctor, we decided to cancel/postpone.  The idea of possible quarantine, although unlikely, has severe implications as well.  

[nissach]

Still planning on cruising on March 28 out of Long Beach.

[prekcruiser]

I'm still planning on going unless things get way worse.  I will wait until end of March to decide, however, I'm a little worried about availability of future cruises.  If a lot of people change, future cruises will be packed like sardines.

[Barbarella14u]

Cancelled and re-booked my May cruise for the end of next March. Would rather have been able to book for May again but as per the cancellation letter we had to sail by the end of March.

Aside from the obvious possibility of getting sick, I can't take the chance of being stuck on the ship and really don't want to get turned away from any ports of call.

Hopefully this will all be behind us by then.

[UGACamper]

Still planning on cruising.  I am not concerned with the virus (anyone remember some other viruses like influenza, HIV, RSV, Noro, Roto, Hepatitis, Ebola, etc. ???)  but understand that others are and I do not disagree nor would ever speak poorly of personal decisions to cancel.  I will be sad if we end up on a "cruise to nowhere" but I just don't see that happening with tourism being practically the entire base of the economy of so much of the Caribbean.  

 

I do recognize that we could be carriers of the virus, but it's just me and the hubs, kids are grown and gone, no elderly around.  We drive to and from the port and know how to keep proper social distances.  We wash our hands.  We have enough sick time accrued if a faced with a quarantine and have a stocked home for "self-quarantine".  If quarantined on the ship, we have aft wrap.

 

The ove $3K discount i am getting on the cruise is worth the risk for me.  

 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

All our cruises are Bahamas, East and West Caribbean. So we will not cancel. No reason to at all.

[xostacylee]

I plan on cruising unless they cancel the cruise (3-day out of Long Beach). There are 7 of us going for my bachelorette... I've told the girls they can cancel if they don't feel comfortable, but nobody has cancelled yet.

 

Cruises are still currently running, though it may be interesting to see what happens in the event Stagecoach + Coachella cancel. I work in LA and our IT is making the rounds to ensure we all have access to work from home if necessary. So that's a little worrisome. But I'm not afraid of getting sick, I'm really only just afraid of being quarantined for two weeks. Needless to say I'm bringing my laptop, extra medicine AND extra underwear LOL. 

[1kaper]

I was firmly in the "if the ship sails, I'm on it" until the Canadian government recommended Canadians (all, not just those in the high risk category) avoid cruises.  Because of this they may not assist Canadians with getting home.  
I was not concerned about being quarantined on a cruise ship because I didn't think they would do that again (and it seems they aren't). 

But if I can't get home to Canada, that means 2 week quarantine wherever I land and a possible 2 week quarantine when I return to Canada.  

2 weeks, I could manage.  4 weeks is a lot. 

I'm still waiting to see how the next two weeks pan out.  That could change, maybe relax.  Or it could get worse.  

 

Of course, part of worrying about being quarantined is where the virus is active.  Right now, it isn't a concern were I am sailing from and going to.  

[1kaper]

Ironically, the CBC article today about why Canadians shouldn't cruise made me feel better.  
One of the points they made was that the regular preventions cruises had in place wouldn't work for this.  But I do know there have been a lot of changes recently so maybe that will help. 

 

[ericrz]

Canceling our Horizon 4/4/20 cruise.  My 74yo dad has underlying medical concerns (including breathing issues) and it's just not worth the risk.  I also don't want to miss multiple (or all!) ports.  Not interested in an 8 day cruise to nowhere.

 

Still trying to determine when to rebook -- for us, that week is spring break for our daughter and the best time to go.  Since you have to use the future cruise credit within a year, we can't rebook for spring break 2021.  So now looking at late summer (though I'm not at all convinced COVID-19 will be gone by then), Thanksgiving, or Christmas.

[Onesoaringspirit]

I’m betting on the curve flattening out. Or the cruise line cancelling with 100% refund to the customer. On an average the cruise lines only make a 19% profit margin. If many cancel because of the virus this will put them in a “negative” cruise and they will regretfully cancel the cruise.


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[Yankeegirl49]

I have one scheduled for May and as of this moment I have no intention of canceling.

[1kaper]

Oh, my other issue is we are booked for April.  We don't want to sail next March.  We'd want to go in April again.  So the current FCC doesn't work well for us. 

[Grillfish]

I have a cruise end of June out of London.  Will make my final payment on the due date and then go from there.  But this came in today from Twitter.

 

Florida Dept. Health‏Verified account @HealthyFla 2h2 hours ago

More

DOH has identified 3 cases of #COVID19 who work at Port Everglades. Individuals experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 who recently traveled through Port Everglades should self-isolate until healthy and contact their healthcare provider prior to seeking care.

[RenoNanaOz]

47 minutes ago, xostacylee said:

I plan on cruising unless they cancel the cruise (3-day out of Long Beach). There are 7 of us going for my bachelorette... I've told the girls they can cancel if they don't feel comfortable, but nobody has cancelled yet.

 

Cruises are still currently running, though it may be interesting to see what happens in the event Stagecoach + Coachella cancel. I work in LA and our IT is making the rounds to ensure we all have access to work from home if necessary. So that's a little worrisome. But I'm not afraid of getting sick, I'm really only just afraid of being quarantined for two weeks. Needless to say I'm bringing my laptop, extra medicine AND extra underwear LOL. 

I am right there with you(not bachelorette party, mine was 41 years ago)! We cruise May 16th and have no plans to cancel. I also work in IT and we have always been encouraged to work from home when sick, way before this. We are on a 7 day and have a Balcony, I too will bring my laptop just in case. Congratulations and enjoy your Cruise!

[momof3hungryboys]

I canceled today.  I used the online option to cancel.  But others reported they got an email about the cancelation shortly afterwards and I've received nothing.  I really don't want to spend hours trying to call Carnival. 

I pulled the trigger while I would only lose the deposits because I'm not even sure we would be able to use the FCC by the date given.  I still need to figure out where the FCC is - do I need to contact Carnival?  And did I read it correctly that to use the FCC I'd have to rebook by the end of the month?  I don't even know everyone's schedule to be able to rebook.

The whole thing has been frustrating.

[Ihearttravel11]

38 minutes ago, Yankeegirl49 said:

I have one scheduled for May and as of this moment I have no intention of canceling.

Same. We have 3 more weeks to see what comes of things. I already made up my mind that if we do have to cancel, we will be doing a totally different cruise. As of now though, no plans to cancel.

[Dwang]

What's the chances they end up closing the ports / cancelling everything!?

 

17 hours ago, Grillfish said:

I have a cruise end of June out of London.  Will make my final payment on the due date and then go from there.  But this came in today from Twitter.

 

Florida Dept. Health‏Verified account @HealthyFla 2h2 hours ago

More

DOH has identified 3 cases of #COVID19 who work at Port Everglades. Individuals experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 who recently traveled through Port Everglades should self-isolate until healthy and contact their healthcare provider prior to seeking care.

 

[Newfun4me]

We are cruising unless something crazy happens in the next week.  The only real concern I had was quarantine and there are lots of ships still continuing to do their thing and get people home without quarantine.  I also spoke with an Infectious Disease physician I know yesterday afternoon.  He was in DC last week meeting with the CDC, NIH, DOD, and the White House and he said he thinks it is all overblown and has been a snowball effect.  He lives in Seattle and said he and his family aren't doing anything differently.  He said that it will get worse before it gets better as it spreads and more testing is done, but he said that he doesn't expect it to be any worse than the seasonal flu.  That conversation really set my mind at ease.  

[nissach]

18 hours ago, 1kaper said:

I was firmly in the "if the ship sails, I'm on it" until the Canadian government recommended Canadians (all, not just those in the high risk category) avoid cruises.  Because of this they may not assist Canadians with getting home.  
I was not concerned about being quarantined on a cruise ship because I didn't think they would do that again (and it seems they aren't). 

But if I can't get home to Canada, that means 2 week quarantine wherever I land and a possible 2 week quarantine when I return to Canada.  

2 weeks, I could manage.  4 weeks is a lot. 

I'm still waiting to see how the next two weeks pan out.  That could change, maybe relax.  Or it could get worse.  

 

Of course, part of worrying about being quarantined is where the virus is active.  Right now, it isn't a concern were I am sailing from and going to.  

I hear you 1kaper.  I am in the same mentality as you "if the ship sails' I am onit!"  But I am now concerned about our travel insurance covering us(or not) if we do decide to leave Canada and head to the US to cruise.  I  am currently checking into it.  That would be the deal breaker for me....no coverage, cancelled trip!

[five.]

We cruise Alaska in May out of Seattle and currently are not planning to cancel, because the re-booking is only through March, so Alaska cruisers are SOL. I don't understand why they put that limitation.

 

For just me and my wife, we wouldn't care and would cruise anywhere. But my in-laws are also going and will only cruise Alaska. If I could receive both credits and use them for us, I might would cancel both and pay them back for their portion. I might call once everything settles down and can reach easily enough. From what I understand the call volume has been insane last few days.

 

[1kaper]

22 minutes ago, nissach said:

I hear you 1kaper.  I am in the same mentality as you "if the ship sails' I am onit!"  But I am now concerned about our travel insurance covering us(or not) if we do decide to leave Canada and head to the US to cruise.  I  am currently checking into it.  That would be the deal breaker for me....no coverage, cancelled trip!

yes.  I’m there too. 
it might be a catch 22. 
It’s not an official advisory but it’s a warning. So I might not get cancelation insurance on the cruise part which I’d rather as opposed to FCC But it might invalidate my health insurance. Also looking into that as well. 

[IonImplantTech]

Cruising.  April 19th.  I almost wouldn't mind being stuck on board as long as everything works lol, not like the poop cruise.

[nissach]

1 minute ago, 1kaper said:

yes.  I’m there too. 
it might be a catch 22. 
It’s not an official advisory but it’s a warning. So I might not get cancelation insurance on the cruise part which I’d rather as opposed to FCC But it might invalidate my health insurance. Also looking into that as well. 

Exactly!  I am concerned about Blue Cross outright cancelling any health coverage that I currently have.  My work Blue Cross has informed me that there are no changes as of today and it is 'unlimited travel coverage'.  My extra travel insurance, also Blue Cross, I am waiting to talk to and see if there have been any changes to coverage due to the coronavirus. 🤬