Soft Reopening Dates - Caribbean, Europe, Alaska

[flyguyjake]

Our Miami hotel was cancelled over a week ago and now today our AA flights were cancelled. Our May 16th sailing on Symphony however is still pending. Absolutely certain it will cancel within a couple of weeks.

[flyguyjake]

Sure hope this thing doesn't hit our Cow, Pig & Chicken farms. Good gravy this is taking a new twist every week.

[mugtech]

4 hours ago, maaaaattt said:

I have Oceanside property in Arizona for anyone who believes this thread. 

Thanks for giving it to us Strait (George).

[fla gang]

11 hours ago, Hobby3333 said:

Only if you believe in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, would you believe that any cruises will start before September.  People will still be dying from COVID19 and there is no way that a cruise line would remotely consider cruising while people are still getting sick and even still dying from this virus.  Besides, after watching ships limp in with sick and dead passengers, cruising in the next few months is not top on my to do list.  Can anyone imagine being on a ship with sick people and not being able to get off.  I love cruising and have been on almost 50 with various lines but I am not dyin* to go on a cruise anytime soon.  Please excuse me, I have to go hide eggs.

I agree 100%. Why take the chance of being stranded for several weeks. This isn't going away any time soon!

[ReneeFLL]

There is no way they will start cruising in May. Too many variables against them.

[compman9]

Discussions are one thing, but reality is another

 

There will be no cruising until there is an effective treatment or vaccine

 

The reasons for this are simple:

1. A quarantine staff approach cannot work if just one staff member arrives with the virus

2. Litigation if a guest catches it

3. Ports of call will have the virus

4. Countries won't allow cruise ships to visit

5. Ships will not be filled until the public are sure they are safe

 

All the rest is just noise and gossip

 

We may see cruises to nowhere by the end of the year, but I repeat, not until an effective treatment or a vaccine is available will cruising start again

[chengkp75]

18 hours ago, Kokomo91165 said:

In discussions with current officers and crews onboard various ships throughout the world, it looks like Royal will be doing “soft” opening dates - meaning cruising isn’t going to all resume on May 11th fleetwide. This has also highlighted by a recent article about Carnival, discussing “hot” and “cold” layups of various ships - meaning keeping some ships with full crew and keeping other ships with just the essentials. It will take 3-6 weeks to get “cold” layup ships (essential crew only) to get all crew back, 2-3 week quarantine of crew, and then provisioning. 
 

RCL is choosing specific ships to keep “hot” and “cold”:

 

Symphony, Anthem, Navigator, Mariner, Majesty, Explorer - keeping fully operational as possible. 
 

Oasis, Allure, Jewel, Brilliance, Voyager, Ovation, and Radiance - keeping essential people only 

 

The bet is Europe will be open before US cruising, but I remain skeptical about both to be honest. 

Just to be accurate, none of any cruise lines' ships are planned for "cold layup".  What you are describing is "hot layup" where the ship is ready almost instantly, and warm layup where the technical crew remains onboard, and the equipment is kept running, hence "warm".  Carnival did not say anything about "cold layup", just layup with reduced crew (warm), it was the article's author who brought up "cold layup", which involves millions of dollars in preparation, and weeks of time to initiate, and similar amounts to re-activate.

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, compman9 said:

Discussions are one thing, but reality is another

 

There will be no cruising until there is an effective treatment or vaccine

 

The reasons for this are simple:

1. A quarantine staff approach cannot work if just one staff member arrives with the virus

2. Litigation if a guest catches it

3. Ports of call will have the virus

4. Countries won't allow cruise ships to visit

5. Ships will not be filled until the public are sure they are safe

 

All the rest is just noise and gossip

 

We may see cruises to nowhere by the end of the year, but I repeat, not until an effective treatment or a vaccine is available will cruising start again

Quarantine can work if the crew are brought to the ship in a more concentrated fashion than previously (more each time, less frequent crew changes), and quarantined ashore prior to joining the vessel.  This will cost, but is feasible.

 

Cruises to nowhere won't happen in the US, nor for the most part in Europe as well.  In the US there are visa restrictions limiting them, and in the EU, only EU member flag ships could make these cruises.  UK flag ships could do them from UK ports, and Norwegian flag ships from Norway, and HAL ships from any EU port.

[Ourusualbeach]

20 hours ago, Kokomo91165 said:

RCL is choosing specific ships to keep “hot” and “cold”:

 

Symphony, Anthem, Navigator, Mariner, Majesty, Explorer - keeping fully operational as possible. 
 

Oasis, Allure, Jewel, Brilliance, Voyager, Ovation, and Radiance - keeping essential people only 

I’m wondering if the ships heat “hot” vs “warm” will be dictated by outbreaks on the ship.  

[orville99]

12 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

 

We have a suite (NRD) for October of this year, on Symphony.  I’m really considering not paying final in June depending on the cancellation situation then. I’m thinking I could always book last minute, if cruises are going.  I just don’t feel like parting with the money today, only to have it cancelled later, and out of my hands for the time in between. We have our flights booked already and can cancel them last minute.
 

As it stands I already have flight credits with AC and Delta, over and above this trip. The last thing I want is more with RC. 

We're in the same boat. Have suites booked for late September and late November. Holding off until the last minute to either pay them off or cancel and lose the $$ cancellation fees. Don't want or need any more FCCs sitting around gathering dust.

[irishgal432]

10 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We're in the same boat. Have suites booked for late September and late November. Holding off until the last minute to either pay them off or cancel and lose the $$ cancellation fees. Don't want or need any more FCCs sitting around gathering dust.

We are booked on the Presidents Cruise in October in Barcelona. Final payment is in July. I booked the new panoramic suite that was suppose to have been built in dry dock. It is a nrd, but I am assuming I get the deposit back since they no longer have the room and have no other Star Class suites. I agree about the fcc. I still have a big one from Dorian that I was planning on using in this sailing. 

[Ourusualbeach]

22 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Holding off until the last minute to either pay them off or cancel and lose the $$ cancellation fees. Don't want or need any more FCCs sitting around gathering dust.

You will still have FCC’s for the deposit if you cancel.  $100pp cancel fee and the balance to a FCC valid for 1 year for the remainder.  If they extend the cruise with confidence policy then the $100pp fee waived but the entire deposit is still FCC. 

[not-enough-cruising]

8 hours ago, flyguyjake said:

Our Miami hotel was cancelled over a week ago and now today our AA flights were cancelled. Our May 16th sailing on Symphony however is still pending. Absolutely certain it will cancel within a couple of weeks.

Have also had AA flights cancelled as well as SWA

The Southwest fare was credited to my card next business day. AA is making us jump through crazy hoops and a multi step, multi website cancellation process. It’s maddening. 

[Iamcruzin]

9 hours ago, flyguyjake said:

Our Miami hotel was cancelled over a week ago and now today our AA flights were cancelled. Our May 16th sailing on Symphony however is still pending. Absolutely certain it will cancel within a couple of weeks.

Did you cancel your flights or did the airlines? If the airlines canceled did you receive a refund? We have a flight to Florida on June 5th. My son was supposed to graduate college which was canceled. We received a refund from the hotel but I'm hoping the airlines cancels the flight.

[ECCruise]

Assuming this very unverified time line, would anyone seriously consider sailing on a cruise ship on those estimated dates?

[NancyIL]

50 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Have also had AA flights cancelled as well as SWA

The Southwest fare was credited to my card next business day. AA is making us jump through crazy hoops and a multi step, multi website cancellation process. It’s maddening. 

 

We have had several AA flights that were recently cancelled and then rebooked. American doesn't like giving refunds, but they have to if they cancel. Go to https://prefunds.aa.com/refunds/ and enter your cancelled ticket number. For one flight we had to quote their Conditions of Carriage to get the refund approved. For our flight home from Europe in May that changed from a nonstop to a connection - the web site recognized immediately that we qualified for a refund. That didn't stop it from trying to get us to accept a voucher! Good luck!

[orville99]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You will still have FCC’s for the deposit if you cancel.  $100pp cancel fee and the balance to a FCC valid for 1 year for the remainder.  If they extend the cruise with confidence policy then the $100pp fee waived but the entire deposit is still FCC. 

True, in principle, but when I booked those cruises onboard, they only took a $200 deposit for each cruise (I didn't ask why, and they never asked for the full suite deposits), so if I lose the $100/pp cancellation fee, there is no FCC stub left over.

Edited April 6, 2020 by orville99

[Charles4515]

Did you cancel your flights or did the airlines? If the airlines canceled did you receive a refund? We have a flight to Florida on June 5th. My son was supposed to graduate college which was canceled. We received a refund from the hotel but I'm hoping the airlines cancels the flight.

If the airline cancels they have to give you a refund.


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[molly361]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

True, in principle, but when I booked those cruises online, they only took a $200 deposit for each cruise (I didn't ask why, and they never asked for the full suite deposits), so if I lose the $100/pp cancellation fee, there is no FCC stub left over.

If your cruise is five days or less the deposit is $100 pp

[orville99]

3 minutes ago, molly361 said:

If your cruise is five days or less the deposit is $100 pp

Both are 7-night Harmony cruises.

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, orville99 said:

True, in principle, but when I booked those cruises onboard, they only took a $200 deposit for each cruise (I didn't ask why, and they never asked for the full suite deposits), so if I lose the $100/pp cancellation fee, there is no FCC stub left over.

That was a bonus. 

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I’m wondering if the ships heat “hot” vs “warm” will be dictated by outbreaks on the ship.  

More likely by the profitability of each ship's itinerary, and the number of FCC for each ship.

[molly361]

8 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Both are 7-night Harmony cruises.

Score!!

[Coopdog08]

10 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

If the airline cancels they have to give you a refund.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

what constitutes as a cancel? If the airline changes the time of your flight as well as the flight number to a new time and new flight but on same day is that a cancel or change? Our May cruise, which won’t happen, has had our return flight now changed twice. Was a 1pm departure, what I booked, then changed to 1130am, now it is 930am. 

10 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

 

[gatour]

20 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I can't even believe with where we are today that people are still throwing good money after bad on upgrades that won't happen. If after reading the thread about slow refunds doesn't jolt you into reality I don't know what will.  If unemployment, a government agency can process an excessive amount of unemployment claims in a week why can't Royal Caribbean process a refund in less tha in 30 days? It's because they don't have the money. 

I just watch the tail in of report with the Governor of Florida asking questions to the head of the unemployment agencies.  They are behind even with after throwing more servers at them over the weekend.