I guess we continue to wait!

[npcl]

11 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

I thought so a few weeks ago. I read the news just which said that China no longer has pandemic. I guess in a few weeks the US and Europe will recover and everything will be alright. As far as Princess go, they will certainly refund all their passengers, but I would rather get better deals from them. Hope they will come up with a better offer for returning passengers  

However, China is still getting new cases.  Just as is every other country where this has appeared.

 

Are cruise lines going to be able to sail while cases are appearing?  Are people going to want to get on a cruise ship with the concern that one of those new cases might just appear on that ship?  Are ports going to open with that possibility?

 

The cruise lines shutdown when their were relatively few cases appearing outside of China, how low do those numbers really need to be before governments let them cruise openly again.

 

I expect Princess and other CCL to speed up their refund rate IF CCL is successful in raising their 7 billion that they are in negotiations for.

Edited March 29, 2020 by npcl

[beg3yrs]

2 hours ago, Roger88 said:

I thought so a few weeks ago. I read the news just which said that China no longer has pandemic. I guess in a few weeks the US and Europe will recover and everything will be alright. As far as Princess go, they will certainly refund all their passengers, but I would rather get better deals from them. Hope they will come up with a better offer for returning passengers  

I wouldn't believe much of what China says about their level of the disease. They're claiming zero new cases. Kind of hard to believe.

[d9704011]

6 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

I wouldn't believe much of what China says about their level of the disease. They're claiming zero new cases. Kind of hard to believe.

I don’t believe everything (much, for that matter) that comes out of China but they are not claiming zero new cases.

Edited March 29, 2020 by d9704011

[onboard2005]

Hard to believe it would be zero new cases already for the whole country.

[dog]

32 minutes ago, onboard2005 said:

Hard to believe it would be zero new cases already for the whole country.

Yes, and there is a lot of misinformation being posted online. 

[onboard2005]

5 minutes ago, dog said:

Yes, and there is a lot of misinformation being posted online. 

And people are getting upset and repeating things over and over. No doubt cruising is going to be very different with more requirements. I'm in no hurry to cruise for awhile.  

[By The Bay]

19 hours ago, Schonert said:

At least we know it will be coming, and we are in for 10k also.

I wish I had your confidence in receiving the $$$$'s. I'm waiting for my $30K. 🤑  What are my chances?

[caribill]

Will cruising ever get back to the old "normal?"

 

Hard to say, but to even get going again in a meaningful manner:

a) Embarkation/disembarkation ports need to be open again to cruise ships.

b) Flights to/from these ports need to be going again with no restriction on where the passengers are coming from.

c) Ports on the voyage itinerary need to be welcoming to cruise ships and their passengers.

 

With the USA now having the highest number of Covid-19 positives in the world, will other countries forbid entry to Americans?

 

Yes, a Covid-19 vaccine would help, but not everyone will have one and it might not be 100% effective.

[downsmead]

16 hours ago, Roger88 said:

I thought so a few weeks ago. I read the news just which said that China no longer has pandemic. I guess in a few weeks the US and Europe will recover and everything will be alright. As far as Princess go, they will certainly refund all their passengers, but I would rather get better deals from them. Hope they will come up with a better offer for returning passengers  

The UK do not expect to recover in a few weeks. We are now being told to prepare for things to last 6 months, though not necessarily an almost total lockdown as at present. Spain and Italy are hit badly, so I don’t see a quick recovery there either.

The cruise companies are refunding at present, albeit slowly, though I can appreciate why it is taking so long. When cruising will recommence is anyone’s guess. The companies have a hard decision - if they start too soon and are hit with another infection on board then they will be lambasted. However every day not cruising means lost revenue and the issues that brings. They will be between a rock and a hard place!
As regards to offers for returning passengers -? At present most comments are that the cruises for 2021 are, in general, more expensive than even the FCC will cover. Will people book at those enhanced prices, only time will tell. 

[bronzey214]

Looks like the announcement was only to cancel Carnival through May 11. Princess is already there so I'm assuming nothing changed.

[CRUZBUDS]

still wondering about Alaska cruises prior to July 1st.  Royal and Celebrity have already canceled theirs.  

[lderochi]

Yep, pretty underwhelming announcement from Carnival. No mention of Alaska at all. 

[susancruzs]

I think people were assuming it was going to be a sweeping announcement by Carnival Corp., however, as someone pointed out, it was going to be the cruise line not the corporation.  Princess was ahead of the game going 60 days at the start, now other lines are having to catch up, go to mid-May.

[lderochi]

That’s true, but I also think there was a reasonable expectation that sailings to Alaska would be addressed, in light of the fact that RCCL and Celebrity addressed Alaska when they announced their extensions. 

[spyro1952]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

Will cruising ever get back to the old "normal?"

 

Hard to say, but to even get going again in a meaningful manner:

a) Embarkation/disembarkation ports need to be open again to cruise ships.

b) Flights to/from these ports need to be going again with no restriction on where the passengers are coming from.

c) Ports on the voyage itinerary need to be welcoming to cruise ships and their passengers.

 

With the USA now having the highest number of Covid-19 positives in the world, will other countries forbid entry to Americans?

 

Yes, a Covid-19 vaccine would help, but not everyone will have one and it might not be 100% effective.

No vaccine is 💯% effective.  There may be some people with pre-existing conditions that will not be able to get vaccinated.   But for the most part if MOST     Would get vaccinated herd immunity then would protect those unvaccinated.   

[cruising deacon]

I agree that the Carnival (cruise line) announcement was pretty underwhelming.  I would guess now that we will continue to hear nothing from Princess.  I guess a lot depends on if Carnival Corp is able to secure the $7B in loans they are looking for to survive.

[Cruise Raider]

20 minutes ago, cruising deacon said:

I agree that the Carnival (cruise line) announcement was pretty underwhelming.  I would guess now that we will continue to hear nothing from Princess.  I guess a lot depends on if Carnival Corp is able to secure the $7B in loans they are looking for to survive.

 

Maybe they are all trying to lay low but, you are right ... very underwhelming!  And, they are still selling their Alaska sailings for early May.  What??  

[Cruise Raider]

So ... no word from Carnival, Holland or Princess as of yet on their Alaska sailings .. although, I did see the following on the HAL website!  

Transport Canada has suspended the cruise season across Canada until July 1, 2020. 
We will be evaluating our Alaska and Canada & New England cruises scheduled within this time frame and will share more information as soon as we have it.

[caribill]

20 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

We will be evaluating our Alaska and Canada & New England cruises scheduled within this time frame and will share more information as soon as we have it.

 

It seams that Princess, like HAL,  has made no decisions yet and thus has no news to pass on.

[CRUZBUDS]

I saw on the Carnival board that the Carnival Spirit canceled Alaska cruies until July a week or so ago.  The Spirit sails under the Carnival Australia banner.  

[hel0013]

I'm trying to stay positive but.... These dates being put out are arbitrary where they're going to continue to kick the can down the road a month at a time until more certainty is known. With the attention Cruise ships are getting, at the very least an effective vaccine will need to be available which the experts say could be/is a year away.

 

Another point is travel insurance... It's going to take more than just numbers dropping before any country will lift the cruise ship travel advisories already in place especially when the ships are known petri dishes. The company I use for travel insurance sent out this pretty much standard notice a few weeks ago so.... for us anyway, there's no way I'm going to set foot on any ship if I'm not going to be medically covered.

 

"As of March 9, 2020, the Government of Canada advised Canadians to avoid all cruise travel due to coronavirus (COVID-19). As a result, we now consider all cruise ships to be regions or areas with COVID-19 related travel advisories. If you take a cruise after this date, and there is an avoid “all” or “non-essential” travel advisory in place for cruise ships before you leave, emergency medical coverage will not be provided if your illness or injury is directly or indirectly related to COVID-19."

 

This too shall pass.... when is anybody's guess... It's going to interesting what changes the cruise lines will implement when this finally ends. I.e. Self serve buffets?

 

[hobbyfarmer2]

On 3/29/2020 at 3:04 PM, beg3yrs said:

I wouldn't believe much of what China says about their level of the disease. They're claiming zero new cases. Kind of hard to believe.

I have been checking several times a day.  There have been zero days when China has reported zero cases.  The daily counters reset at 0 hrs Zulu/GMT each day.  It is best to look at the total numbers because of the reset and time zone action.

 

Also, China more or less shut the country down and quarantined Hubei province.  This very aggressive action allowed them to just about plank the growth curve in a month.  South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore have done same.

[Ride-The-Waves]

10 minutes ago, hobbyfarmer2 said:

I have been checking several times a day.  There have been zero days when China has reported zero cases.  The daily counters reset at 0 hrs Zulu/GMT each day.  It is best to look at the total numbers because of the reset and time zone action.

 

Also, China more or less shut the country down and quarantined Hubei province.  This very aggressive action allowed them to just about plank the growth curve in a month.  South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore have done same.

We also must remember that these totalitarian countries like to "hide" bad news.  The Russians tried to hide then disavow Chernobyl. 

[DrivesLikeMario]

19 minutes ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

We also must remember that these totalitarian countries like to "hide" bad news.  The Russians tried to hide then disavow Chernobyl. 

Exactly!  You cannot trust information that comes out of China.  It's skewed.

[lyndarra]

1 hour ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

We also must remember that these totalitarian countries like to "hide" bad news.  The Russians tried to hide then disavow Chernobyl. 

And we should remind ourselves that some non totalitarian countries ignore bad news, to their even greater detriment.