SHOULD WE BOOK A CRUISE FOR LATER ON THIS YEAR?

[sanger727]

I am personally in odds about whether or not we should continue with our plans. Luckily, we have nothing booked. Had a maybe idea for September/October but I'm fine on that with waiting until the last minute to decide. We had pretty definitive plans to travel to SouthEast Asian next Feb/March. We hopped to start booking in May. But really unsure if we should move forward at that point or not. Guess we will wait till May and see how thing are looking. Luckily, I don't think anything will be booking up so we probably have some extra time to decide.

[ECCruise]

11 sailings booked in the next 18 months or so.  

Will peel them off one-by-one as we get closer if things do not appreciably change.  No way we would be adding more now. 😧

[davekathy]

We've still got one Celebrity cruise for September 2020, two RC cruise for March 2021 and another Celebrity cruise for September 2021. No plans for booking any future cruises. We won't cancel any of our booked cruises. Plan on waiting to see if Celebrity and RC cancel on us. We waited until Celebrity cancelled our Summit B2B cruise for 28 March and 4 April. Took the 100% cash refund for both those cruises.  We've also got three land trips planned for this year. Two require flying. Chilling out and taking this whole mess one day at a time. 

[MarLieb]

Nope.  We have one booked for December with a NRD.  Really hoping it's cancelled or they offer some type of flexibility with the deposit.  I have zero interest in getting on a cruise ship in the near future.

 

I mean, sure, if it will brighten your spirits.  I have a few other trips booked this year and I'm actually fatigued with trying to keep track of everything - credits, NRD, etc.  I'm not looking forward to any of them at this point as I'm very skeptical any of them will actually happen and would love to just have my cash back.

[hvbaskey]

We have one booked for January 2021 (from previous sailing) and most likely we will push it out.   We have FCC coming to us from a cruise we cancelled (May 2020) that we will let sit until we have a final answer of when we feel comfortable cruising again and will apply it either to Jan 2021 OR to the cruise we push out to.

 

No rush.  No worries.  I’ve already cancelled one cruise and don’t feel like playing that game again, anytime soon.

[edgekid]

Yeah I'm starting to agree...I was thinking about trying to coordinate my Celebrity Cruise credit with my Delta airlines credit.

Hopefully Delta will change its parameters as they're only giving us until the end of this year to use the credit . Maybe we'll hit an all-inclusive somewhere in December

Edited March 23, 2020 by edgekid

[bigbenboys]

As the suite prices had been going up so much in the last year. I had planned to do more land based vacations. I booked airfare 6 months ago. Plans changed, so I looked at vacationing at Disney Paris or flying to Germany. I ended up booking a cruise out of Ireland for May 2020 that friends were already booked on. I then canceled and took the FCC. I have not done anything yet with BA and flights. We are to fly to London on May 13 and home June 2. Our next cruise is Feb 2021 round trip NZ. Then June 2021 is Alaska. March 2022 is Chile to Argentina.

As I had planned to do more land vacations. I have bought tickets for The Music Man in NYC for Sept 2020. We are hopeful that Broadway will be up and running by Sept.

On a personal side we are both doing fine and so are our families. We are both retired. I've spent the last 3 days working in the yard/garden. I did my our taxes this year and sent a check on March 15. It has been great. I see this as a nice reset at least for myself. I have not spent a whole summer in Seattle in over 30 years. I'm liking this so far, and it is not summer yet. Stay safe.

[GeorgesGal]

21 hours ago, edgekid said:

I don't think it's a stretch to say that Celebrity and all other cruise lines will be out of commission for at least the next two to three months.  I'm thinking about using my FCC to book a cruise in November or December of this year, if for no other reason than to have something positive to look forward to.  From what I see the pricing for this year is considerably less than a similar cruise in 2021. Any thoughts??

 

We just booked a cruise for December of this year, and will be using FCC received from Oceania for our cancelled cruise this month.  I may be being optimistic on this one, but I haven't yet cancelled my Sept cruise on Millie either!

[janetz]

We have been looking at December/January 

Celebrity and most others have increased in price.

Those cruises we had looked at before this mess happened were priced lower:

😔

[ECCruise]

18 minutes ago, janetz said:

We have been looking at December/January 

Celebrity and most others have increased in price.

Those cruises we had looked at before this mess happened were priced lower:

😔

Don't worry.  When this all shakes out, they will be lower.  Likely much lower.  Otherwise they won't fill the ships.

[jonthomas]

Prices will not be lower as so many will be trying to use their FCCs. Even right now, its incredible how much  inventory is taken up with FCCs. No need to lower prices. 

[deliver42]

As of right now, the pricing is beyond my comfort zone. If and when they come down, I'll book.

[George C]

We have a msc cruise in late November and a celebrity cruise in late February hopefully we can do both would be surprised if this situation is not resolved by then .

[Doubt It]

Prices go down. No. Not. With the FCC, prices will be as high or higher.

 

Further, the on board experience will be degraded even further cause the cruise lines know there will be pent up demand with all the FCC's. It is totally brilliant by the cruise lines.

 

Seriously folks, it is NOT about you. It has not been about the customer since about 2015 with the positive market expansion. That is when the cutbacks started on all lines.

 

March 2020 forward - It is about making back $, $ to pay back their recent loans (check RCL's announcement today) and increasing revenue.

 

No thank you cruise lines.

[bateau4]

 Daydream yes, pay no.

 

[Jeremiah1212]

We already booked for February ‘21 and I’m being cautiously optimistic about that. Depending on how much the market is impacted, I could see some big shifts in itineraries  and ships eventually being announced even on short notice. Depending on the financial damage this situation does, they may have to go into survival mode when they are allowed to sail again. 

[royalcruz]

I'm feeling optimistic about December.

[sgmn]

On 3/24/2020 at 1:28 AM, Doubt It said:

Prices go down. No. Not. With the FCC, prices will be as high or higher.

 

March 2020 forward - It is about making back $, $ to pay back their recent loans (check RCL's announcement today) and increasing revenue.

 

I agree, initially I think 2021 prices will be high as people use the vast amount of FCC that has been issued. Maybe this, may put new cruisers off and maybe prices will drop in 2022 but once things are back to normal and a vaccine has been developed I think the cruises will be full again and prices will remain stable 

[Moby Jones]

On 3/22/2020 at 10:55 PM, edgekid said:

I don't think it's a stretch to say that Celebrity and all other cruise lines will be out of commission for at least the next two to three months.  I'm thinking about using my FCC to book a cruise in November or December of this year, if for no other reason than to have something positive to look forward to.  From what I see the pricing for this year is considerably less than a similar cruise in 2021. Any thoughts??

 

I've not read other replies but I would. Assuming the following :-

You're happy with the itinerary, room and price available to you (Stating the obvious I know).

That you're comfortable with the fact that the cruise may have its itinerary changed or cancelled. 

You have a plan B and suitable insurance in place to deal with any disappointment you experience. 

[MEcruzr]

Book with a refundable deposit... but do NOT apply your FCC until you are 100% sure the cruise will happen. FCC will not be reissued. Once you use your certificate it's like a coupon and is considered "redeemed". We will not be gambling with our FCC. I'd be comfortable with a refundable deposit for 2021, but nothing else at this time.

[LorraineP]

2 minutes ago, MEcruzr said:

Book with a refundable deposit... but do NOT apply your FCC until you are 100% sure the cruise will happen. FCC will not be reissued. Once you use your certificate it's like a coupon and is considered "redeemed". We will not be gambling with our FCC. I'd be comfortable with a refundable deposit for 2021, but nothing else at this time.

Not sure about this. I read that once you use it & the cruise is cancelled the FCC goes back to the original expiration date. Will try & find the wording. 

[Moby Jones]

1 minute ago, LorraineP said:

Not sure about this. I read that once you use it & the cruise is cancelled the FCC goes back to the original expiration date. Will try & find the wording. 

 

That's my understanding also. 

[hcat]

We are looking for a short cruise in 2021,  with  a low Refundable  deposit. We would  use  it with our FCC in case our Jan 2021 cruise does not work out for using it up,  or if there's a credit overage.

 

Hate to give X more money while waiting  still for our refund to our card  but  we'll keep checking....

 

How do folks plan to use their FCCs before the deadline.?

[dani negreanu]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

How do folks plan to use their FCCs before the deadline.?

 

I've immediately rebooked another Apex cruise for May 2021, instead of our "taster" April 1st.

 

I've cancelled with CWC, since we already were in 75% penalty. A week later X cancelled the cruise ....

 

I think I got a reasonable rate for an IV (5050$) 9 nights cruise v. 2460$ for same cabin in a 4 days cruise😁

[Georgia_Peaches]

I plan to wait until they are up and running again.  For some ships I am expecting revised itineraries and home ports and this wont shake out until they know more about which ports will be open world-wide.  I am hopeful to be on a cruise later this year but just not booking one right now.