When cruising begins again... What will be different?

[tartantiara]

15 hours ago, Sam.Seattle said:

Well, you were not on the same ship I was on... 

It was on Celebrity Eclipse, and on the Edge 

[CGTNORMANDIE]

5 hours ago, Coquitlam Cruiser said:

My cruising days are over.  Being over 70 places me in the high risk group.  I am grateful for all the wonderful experiences I have encountered with Celebrity, RCCL and Azamara.  The places I have seen would not have been possible had I not discovered the joys of cruising many decades ago.  Now, I look at the photos screening on my TV and relive the experience in a small way.  I am truly grateful.

“The darkest hour is just before dawn.”  Despair not...your best days are still ahead of you.  You will cruise again.  Take a deep breath and prepare to press on.🙂

[gabbygrrl]

On 4/19/2020 at 7:05 PM, phoenix_dream said:

First of all, who in the heck would want to cruise at all with all these restrictions?  Not me.  If I wanted that much regimentation I'd join the Army (or would if I was not over 65 years old😉).  And what good do all these restrictions do if you are sitting next to people in lounges, riding with them in elevators, swimming with them in pools and on and on.  There is no way to social distance on a cruise ship - period.  Certainly some other precautions will take place, but until we can sail without needing to social distance the ships will not sail.

I disagree with you a bit here.  I have been cruising for decades and I have always employed my own "social distancing".   I'm a bit of a germaphobe.  My only struggle used to be eating at a table with others, but those days are gone.

Now, we have a table for 2, lounge by the pool but do not swim (I can't count the number of people sucking down drinks but somehow never getting out to use the restroom 😱), sit away from others in the lounge or at a show, spend a ton of time on our balcony, use the hand sanitizer machines VERY often in the casino (and even when walking through the casino to go elsewhere) and never, ever eat in the buffet.  One of the reasons cruising is so relaxing for us is that we can drink, enjoy fantastic food and a variety of destinations, all while feeling like we have the ship to ourselves.  I don't know how it will return, or when, but even before all of this, cruising had the ability (for me) to be as safe as staying at a resort.

[Doubt It]

For our household there are 4 key elements in the decision to cruise versus other vacation options, post virus:

1) Accessibility to health services

2) Flexibility to control the experience and make adjustments based on customer service and other issues that may emerge

3) Industry sector reputation for customer service, providing refunds in poor circumstances etc

4) Predictability of getting what was advertised, every single time - consistency is important

 

Cruising fails on all 4. 

 

Cruising is more of a "hostage" situation as it were and that does not sit well with us, nor our friends for that matter. Increasingly cruising has hid behind the "contract" to avoid having to deal with many issues. We also find the cruise companies becoming very arrogant and that is not acceptable.

 

For us, the virus is the icing on the cake regarding our increasing dissatisfaction with cruising.

 

We are currently exploring other travel options with cruising being left out of the evaluation. 

 

 

 

[Pinboy]

53 minutes ago, Doubt It said:

For our household there are 4 key elements in the decision to cruise versus other vacation options, post virus:

1) Accessibility to health services

2) Flexibility to control the experience and make adjustments based on customer service and other issues that may emerge

3) Industry sector reputation for customer service, providing refunds in poor circumstances etc

4) Predictability of getting what was advertised, every single time - consistency is important

 

Cruising fails on all 4. 

 

Cruising is more of a "hostage" situation as it were and that does not sit well with us, nor our friends for that matter. Increasingly cruising has hid behind the "contract" to avoid having to deal with many issues. We also find the cruise companies becoming very arrogant and that is not acceptable.

 

For us, the virus is the icing on the cake regarding our increasing dissatisfaction with cruising.

 

We are currently exploring other travel options with cruising being left out of the evaluation. 

 

 

 

"  We are currently exploring other travel options "

How does Banff, Lake Louise , Victoria , Ottawa , Montreal , Eastern Canada, sound  ?

Notice I left out ------ oops, that would be against the Guidelines .

[Doubt It]

Pinboy, everyone, there is a big world to explore (fingers crossed). Cruising is only one way.

 

Sometimes things happen for a reason, this virus is and has launched many to expand horizons - expanding horizons includes travel away from cruising.

 

Pinboy, love your post. Safe travels.

[madmacs]

The UK Chief Medical Officer has today said that social distancing rules will be with us all year, in all probability. We are due to cruise in October so can cruise lines operate with social distancing guidelines. In the UK that means being two metres apart. So in MDRs that would mean, I guess, tables for families only, Much less people in buffets and the theatre, restrictions on numbers by and in pools, bars etc. I presume that this would mean restrictions on numbers on ships - would it be commercially viable to have say half full ships, presumably better than having ships not running. Very difficult decisions ahead for cruise line MDs and senior management. I have read that Carnival can afford not to operate for the rest of the year and survive. We will have to wait and see,

 

Of course of more importance is that we try to minimise loss of life and protect our economies as best we can - challenges for our governments. 

[zanderblue]

I’d expect one of the challenges would be around crew social distancing, never mind the guests.

Most of the crew live in very small 2 person cabins. I just can’t see how they can comply with the 2m rule with existing arrangements. 

[Captain Rob]

Don't be to optimistic about a early return P&O a Carnival have cancelled July cruises

 

www.pocruises.com/

[Bo1953]

11 hours ago, zanderblue said:

I’d expect one of the challenges would be around crew social distancing, never mind the guests.

Most of the crew live in very small 2 person cabins. I just can’t see how they can comply with the 2m rule with existing arrangements. 

Maybe they can get a few of the passenger cabins to help alleviate the issue as posted...  LOL

 

In health and bon voyage