Alaska season.....? Is there one....?

[mkkao924]

2 hours ago, MudderBear said:

What is your cruise date?

 

Mine is June 7. 

 

The deadline to cancel my VRBO is 4/6 without penalty. So I want to know if we will have the final answer from HAL before then.

[kennystwin]

Like RuthC said, anything is possible.

 

I'm booked on the Noordam southbound to Vancouver on May 17, but I'm waiting before making any decisions. Lots can happen in 2 months:

- The Noordam is currently docked in the South Pacific and may not even make it for the season.

- The pandemic has been fast moving and we may be on the downward side in North America by May. Risk factors may be lowered or mitigated to make domestic travel safe by then.

- I wouldn't be surprised if President Trump issue a temporary PVSA waiver while the Canadian ports are closed to throw a bone to the beleaguered cruise industry. I suspect this would only happen if it were deemed safe, so it's not something I expect to be announced soon. It would resurrect the Alaska cruise season for at least the Seattle round trips.

 

So I'm patiently waiting to see what happens.My possibilities include: 

-The pandemic blows over enough that my scheduled cruise happens. Great. I'll go.

-The pandemic remains in full swing and HAL cancels. OK. I'll get my money back. I can cancel by pre-trip Airbnb my May 1 with no penalty and the airlines have been waiving their cancellation fees.

-HAL cancels for operational reasons but travel is deemed safe. Great. I'll take my flight up (free ticket with points that are recoverable; return is through FlightEase so HAL will cancel), rent a car, and have a great time on the Kenai peninsula for a week or so.

 

As immortalized in large, friendly letters in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Don't Panic

 

[NapTown Jim]

On 3/13/2020 at 5:36 AM, sam73 said:

We are booked for Alaska,but not till September. Im thinking (hoping) this will be all done. we havent bought air yet. Holdin off on that for a minute

 

We're on the September 13 sailing on the Oosterdam.  We already made our travel arrangements with Amtrak a few months ago....so I'm really hoping that they cruise doesn't get scrubbed.

 

 

[bEwAbG]

1 hour ago, mkkao924 said:

Mine is June 7. 

 

The deadline to cancel my VRBO is 4/6 without penalty. So I want to know if we will have the final answer from HAL before then.

 

I would cancel anything and everything you can if it's without penalty.  You have a few more weeks to see how things progress but I wouldn't leave it to the last minute.  Best case would be that your cruise happens and you could rebook, probably for a lower cost.  However, I seriously doubt that any trip before July is going to happen.  Realistically, they're talking about end of April for this to peak in North America, but that doesn't mean the restrictions will be over.  Recommendation currently is no gatherings over 50 people for 8 weeks, which is the second week of May.  Will everything be up and running just 3 weeks later?  I'm guessing it's going to be a very slow crawl back to "normal" unless the virus peters out sooner than expected.  Even then, there will not be vaccines for it until next year, so the fear all summer will be what happens in the fall & beyond.  The Spanish Flu in 1918 came roaring back at the end of August with its highest death toll in October - November timeframe.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I posted the below on another thread but feel it is also relevant to this discussion:

 

NONE of the cruise lines have announced any cancellations/modifications  for the Alaska season (As it relates to the Canadian port closures) and all are still showing the April-June cruises bookable on their websites.  They are working through MUCH more urgent matters related to the 30 days shutdown. It will probably be 10-14 days at a MINIMUM before we know anything about Alaska sailings. A May 2020 sailing might as well be August 3576 at this point as so much is changing HOURLY. 
 

Everyone needs to be calm and patient. Eventually we will have answers.

Edited March 16, 2020 by AtlantaCruiser72

[Copper10-8]

5 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

I posted the below on another thread but feel it is also relevant to this discussion:

 

NONE of the cruise lines have announced any cancellations/modifications  for the Alaska season (As it relates to the Canadian port closures) and all are still showing the April-June cruises bookable on their websites.  They are working through MUCH more urgent matters related to the 30 days shutdown. It will probably be 10-14 days at a MINIMUM before we know anything about Alaska sailings. A May 2020 sailing might as well be August 3576 at this point as so much is changing HOURLY. 
 

Everyone needs to be calm and patient. Eventually we will have answers.

 

 

Spot on, especially the last sentence!

[Snowerin999]

On 3/16/2020 at 7:26 PM, Copper10-8 said:

 

 

Spot on, especially the last sentence!

As long as it’s before their self imposed 3/31/ cancellation date! 🤣