Canada/New England Cruise without Canada?

[OttawaJohn]

My wife and I were/are to take the Pearl out of NYC on May 30th for a Canada/New England cruise.  Now however, Canadian ports will be closed until July 1.

 

I called NCL today to see what this means for our cruise and the woman I spoke to said she hadn't heard.  Which I find odd but ok.  And checking with her supervisor, they have no guidance on this and what it means.   I am guessing NCL is aware of this and just hasn't decided on what to do or told their people what they will do.  

 

Can't have the same cruise obviously without Halifax and St John.  Not sure if they will just cancel it and issue refunds or switch it to FCC or swap in more American ports?  Really not sure how they plan to handle this.  

 

Hope they let us know soon so we can make our own decisions on what to do.

[njhorseman]

Just now, OttawaJohn said:

My wife and I were/are to take the Pearl out of NYC on May 30th for a Canada/New England cruise.  Now however, Canadian ports will be closed until July 1.

 

I called NCL today to see what this means for our cruise and the woman I spoke to said she hadn't heard.  Which I find odd but ok.  And checking with her supervisor, they have no guidance on this and what it means.   I am guessing NCL is aware of this and just hasn't decided on what to do or told their people what they will do.  

 

Can't have the same cruise obviously without Halifax and St John.  Not sure if they will just cancel it and issue refunds or switch it to FCC or swap in more American ports?  Really not sure how they plan to handle this.  

 

Hope they let us know soon so we can make our own decisions on what to do.

They can't just add more US ports. The Passenger Vessel Services Act requires a port call in at least one foreign port.

There really aren't any good alternatives and right now NCL has bigger fish to fry with all the refunds they have to issue on the cruises that were already canceled.

I think the most likely result will be the cancellation of your cruise , but give them some time .

[ColeThornton]

Tough time right now.  Cruise lines have whole fleets of ships that they are trying to figure out what to do with.  Changing an itinerary isn't quite as easy as your average cruiser would think.  There are quite a bit of logistics involved.

Seems like you are in the same boat as a gazillion of us. (pun intended)   Hang in there.

 

[Loucat]

Will keep checking back here to see if anyone has real information on Canada/NE cruises. I did read they could ask for a waiver of the PVSA legislation, but would the feds approve given the magnitude of all issues involving this virus?

I did not expect they would have had time to plan changes in a May itinerary this early. 

[Turtles06]

Do you really think you will be cruising in May?

[Laszlo]

19 minutes ago, OttawaJohn said:

My wife and I were/are to take the Pearl out of NYC on May 30th for a Canada/New England cruise.  Now however, Canadian ports will be closed until July 1.

 

I called NCL today to see what this means for our cruise and the woman I spoke to said she hadn't heard.  Which I find odd but ok.  And checking with her supervisor, they have no guidance on this and what it means.   I am guessing NCL is aware of this and just hasn't decided on what to do or told their people what they will do.  

 

Can't have the same cruise obviously without Halifax and St John.  Not sure if they will just cancel it and issue refunds or switch it to FCC or swap in more American ports?  Really not sure how they plan to handle this.  

 

Hope they let us know soon so we can make our own decisions on what to do.

You never know, heck you might end up in Bermuda or do the Florida, Bahamas, GSC run

[njhorseman]

23 minutes ago, Loucat said:

Will keep checking back here to see if anyone has real information on Canada/NE cruises. I did read they could ask for a waiver of the PVSA legislation, but would the feds approve given the magnitude of all issues involving this virus?

I did not expect they would have had time to plan changes in a May itinerary this early. 

A waiver can only be granted for national security reasons.  No way it can be done for  a pleasure cruise.

Edited March 17, 2020 by njhorseman

[Loucat]

Laslo-We live in Florida and have done the Bahamas, GSC more than we need to do again. Would need to change for sure.

 

Turtleso6-Why not cruise in May? The NCL ships will sail again (as best we know) on April 12th, 2020.

[ColeThornton]

1 minute ago, Loucat said:

 

 

Turtleso6-Why not cruise in May? The NCL ships will sail again (as best we know) on April 12th, 2020.

 

I wouldn't bet the farm on that.

[zqvol]

40 minutes ago, OttawaJohn said:

My wife and I were/are to take the Pearl out of NYC on May 30th for a Canada/New England cruise.  Now however, Canadian ports will be closed until July 1.

 

I called NCL today to see what this means for our cruise and the woman I spoke to said she hadn't heard.  Which I find odd but ok.  And checking with her supervisor, they have no guidance on this and what it means.   I am guessing NCL is aware of this and just hasn't decided on what to do or told their people what they will do.  

 

Can't have the same cruise obviously without Halifax and St John.  Not sure if they will just cancel it and issue refunds or switch it to FCC or swap in more American ports?  Really not sure how they plan to handle this.  

 

Hope they let us know soon so we can make our own decisions on what to do.

 

The cruise has to go to a Canadian port, or a distant foreign port, which I am guessing would be Iceland. The most likely scenario is that it will be turned into a Caribbean or Bahamas cruise. 

[Newleno]

2 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

I wouldn't bet the farm on that.

nor a tiddlywink 

[Turtles06]

6 minutes ago, Loucat said:

Turtleso6-Why not cruise in May? The NCL ships will sail again (as best we know) on April 12th, 2020.

 

5 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

I wouldn't bet the farm on that.

 

2 minutes ago, Newleno said:

nor a tiddlywink 

 

Yes, not a tiddlywink.

 

@Loucat we are in the middle of a global pandemic; we haven't reached the peak, and there will certainly be no vaccine available on April 12, 2020, nor in May 2020.   Let's hope there's one widely available by May 2021.

[njhorseman]

6 minutes ago, zqvol said:

 

The cruise has to go to a Canadian port, or a distant foreign port, which I am guessing would be Iceland. The most likely scenario is that it will be turned into a Caribbean or Bahamas cruise. 

It doesn't have to go to a distant foreign port, just any foreign port. You can't get to Iceland and back on a one week cruise. You could get to St. Pierre and Miquelon, which is just off the coast of Newfoudland and is part of France so not subject to Canada's port closure. Whether they would be willing to take a ship during the current crisis is open to question.

[njhorseman]

6 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

 

 

Yes, not a tiddlywink.

 

@Loucat we are in the middle of a global pandemic; we haven't reached the peak, and there will certainly be no vaccine available on April 12, 2020, nor in May 2020.   Let's hope there's one widely available by May 2021.

With the first vaccine trial just having started today even with an expedited approval process May 2021 would be nothing short of miraculous.

[mking8288]

Given the viral tracking trends from China, Italy, France & Spain, which our "leadership" are hopefully learning & adopting (NOT) - and as some governors & top health experts are warning of, there is virtually no chance of cruise lines and ships sailing anytime soon, not next month for Spring break, not May and very doubtful even for June, maybe July but I won't bet on it.  POTUS finally acknowledged himself today that this isn't going to ease up until July or August.  

 

Forgetaboutit.  The transition will be slow and gradual, and priorities will be to restore and put the economy back into gears, not to worry about leisure travel or vacations, and cruising for that matter.  Sorry, I apologize as this isn't the answers some of us wanted to hear or believe in, or listen to - it is what it is.  And, we, ourselves don't like this any better than many of you.  

 

Published (limited) clinical findings from China warned of recovered patients being RE-infected again with COVID-19 and some of the patients permanently losing 20 to 30% of their lung capacity ... this is somewhat familiar, like the deadly 2002-03 SARS virus (and, there is still no vaccine for that.)  

[bonvoyagie]

I agree that even if the virus does not spread as fast or as far as the experts are predicting the ramp up for cruising will be slow. I doubt if there will be any AK season or NE.

[Nola26]

3 hours ago, Laszlo said:

You never know, heck you might end up in Bermuda or do the Florida, Bahamas, GSC run

I would expect Bermuda as that would be the closest international port from NY/Boston if Canada isn't an option. I seem to recall that something like this happened a few years ago.

[seaman11]

This might be good for those with a record. Canada is tough even on dwi and such offenses. 

[Named-Tawny]

3 hours ago, zqvol said:

 

The cruise has to go to a Canadian port, or a distant foreign port, which I am guessing would be Iceland. The most likely scenario is that it will be turned into a Caribbean or Bahamas cruise. 

The nearest non-Canadian foreignport is St Pierre et Miquelon - if they keep running it as a 'new england' cruise, it would probably end up going there (or get the itinerary switched entirely)

[mugtech]

1 hour ago, Named-Tawny said:

The nearest non-Canadian foreignport is St Pierre et Miquelon - if they keep running it as a 'new england' cruise, it would probably end up going there (or get the itinerary switched entirely)

And the change of itinerary could be the day you get on the ship.

[LaCal]

I’d hope they would make a stop at Bermuda but honestly don’t think cruises will be happening by May 

[JVD2]

10 hours ago, zqvol said:

 

The cruise has to go to a Canadian port, or a distant foreign port, which I am guessing would be Iceland. The most likely scenario is that it will be turned into a Caribbean or Bahamas cruise. 

There are two French Islands off the south coast of Newfoundland, you could pay a visit there and then be legal,

[OttawaJohn]

Thanks for all the input.  If I get anything official from NCL I will update.

 

May not be the best package but at least the peace of mind option is there.

 

And I'm realistic but trying to stay optimistic :)

[Quencups]

3 hours ago, OttawaJohn said:

Thanks for all the input.  If I get anything official from NCL I will update.

 

May not be the best package but at least the peace of mind option is there.

 

And I'm realistic but trying to stay optimistic :)

Us too John...we are/were on that cruise as well in a Garden Villa....(sigh),,,it is what it is,,,most important thing is keeping as many people safe as we can...everyone hang in there!!!!

[tomk3212]

We're booked right now on the Escape TA to Europe which is scheduled to depart NYC on 4/18.  We haven't cancelled (yet...) 'cause we're waiting for NCL to "officially" cancel it so we can get the choice of a refund or the 125% FCC.  We're still "on the fence" on which we'll take at this point.  We also have the return flight from Rome booked via Priceline & a 2 day hotel stay in Rome via Hotwire.  Both have sent us emails stating unless we're traveling in the next 72 hours to wait.  So we'll wait.

 

It's a tough time for everybody who's got a cruise booked right now.