When do you realistically expect to cruise again?

[kazu]

7 minutes ago, Despegue said:

Going ashore is for now only possible through ship’s excursions.

 

That is very unappealing especially to those of us who have been to Europe and want to do more than just see “highlights”.  

When we are comfortable, we may well just fly to Europe if that is the condition of other cruise lines.  Frankly, I feel that a crowded shore excursion carries more risk than being on one’s own or on a private tour but of course, I could be wrong 😉 

 

[iancal]

We would never cruise under these circumstances.  I expect that we will not cruise until many months after cruising commences. 

 

We already have land trips selected for post covid travel.  No thought of interspersing cruises in these trips.  These are travel  to and in  countries that have done a good job of combating covid.  Greece if we can do a fall or spring trips, Vietnam/Thailand for a winter trip.

 

The trick for us is making sure we get air that does not have a connection in the UK or in the US.  Both have been, and are, abysmal in the fight against covid.

Edited August 3, 2020 by iancal

[npcl]

On 7/30/2020 at 2:49 PM, Cruise NH said:

 

He was asked if wearing eye protection could help as a further measure and he answered the question, period.  Good grief! 

Personally if I were to fly or take mass transit I would wear eye protection as well as a mask.  

[KirkNC]

2 minutes ago, iancal said:

We would never cruise under these circumstances.  I expect that we will not cruise until many months after cruising commences. 

 

We already have land trips selected for post covid travel.  No thought of interspersing cruises in these trips.  These are travel  to and in  countries that have done a good job of combating covid.  Greece if we can do a fall or spring trips, Vietnam/Thailand for a winter trip.

 

The trick for us is making sure we get air that does not have a connection in the UK or in the US.  Both have been, and are, abysmal in the fight against covid.

Yes but even many countries that have done well with the virus (Japan, Vietnam, Australia to name a few) are having flare ups.  Nothing like the US but still it will/may impact travel.

[KirkNC]

It’s funny as I read threads how diverse the answer is to this threads question.  Some think they are cruising in the next month or two, some next year, others 2022 and some never.  My bet is mid 2021 but no one really knows.

 

 

 

 

[iancal]

The cruise lines are promoting much of the 'cruise early' sentiment IMHO.   Special offers, raising future prices artificially with the expectation that they will go even higher, etc to get people into the book/fcc/rebook/fcc, obc  mugs game.  People are booking cruises based on this where the itineraries, the on board environment, and now even the shore tour restrictions are unknowns.  It is akin to buying a pig in a poke.  No thanks.

 

Anything to ensure that their customers remain financially committed  with a booking , albeit tentative and artificial, instead of making plans to spend their travel budgets in other ways.

Edited August 3, 2020 by iancal

[RevNeal]

IF they get a vaccine approved and into production by the end of this year we'll see cruising becoming a realistic option again during the first half of 2021. Anyone who wants to cruise will have to show certification of having been vaccinated, and all crew will have to be vaccinated.

[KirkNC]

11 minutes ago, RevNeal said:

IF they get a vaccine approved and into production by the end of this year we'll see cruising becoming a realistic option again during the first half of 2021. Anyone who wants to cruise will have to show certification of having been vaccinated, and all crew will have to be vaccinated.

Reading this article may cause you to adjust your answer.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/08/02/covid-vaccine/

 

 

[dockman]

I predict general resumption of some cruises starting in May 2021 for alaska and europe....slow start then ramp up IF no problems

[carolyn22]

For me, there is a big difference between “when will cruising restart” and “when will I start cruising.”  Once cruising resumes I will probably wait at least a year or two before I book a cruise. I want to see what cruising will be like (the “new normal”) and what happens when someone on the ship inevitably comes down with Covid. If cruising changes too much, I may just start doing land vacations. The big caveat in all of this for me will be whether or not an effective vaccine is developed. That could be a game changer in my future cruising decisions. 

[dockman]

another early start problem...paul Gauguin

 

 https://thepointsguy.com/news/paul-gauguin-cruise-ship-covid-crisis/?tid=curated_01&utm_uniqid=*|UNIQID|*&utm_source=TPG Daily Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409843&utm_usr=c00230b5226c3aaefeb16c638c8720c4b6e3497a69b81e194aa12e5b5e7e68eb&utm_msg=7e4e9fd987ee44f39bc62d02e76b0cea&utm_date=2020-08-03

[crusinbanjo]

21 minutes ago, carolyn22 said:

For me, there is a big difference between “when will cruising restart” and “when will I start cruising.”  Once cruising resumes I will probably wait at least a year or two before I book a cruise. I want to see what cruising will be like (the “new normal”) and what happens when someone on the ship inevitably comes down with Covid. If cruising changes too much, I may just start doing land vacations. The big caveat in all of this for me will be whether or not an effective vaccine is developed. That could be a game changer in my future cruising decisions. 

Same here, Mrs Banjo and I want to wait and see what happens when cruising resumes and, importantly, what the new normal for cruising will be.  If it all seems too crazy, we will only be doing land tours, and then likely to be self drive land tours.

[durangoscots]

23 minutes ago, carolyn22 said:

For me, there is a big difference between “when will cruising restart” and “when will I start cruising.”  Once cruising resumes I will probably wait at least a year or two before I book a cruise. I want to see what cruising will be like (the “new normal”) and what happens when someone on the ship inevitably comes down with Covid. If cruising changes too much, I may just start doing land vacations. The big caveat in all of this for me will be whether or not an effective vaccine is developed. That could be a game changer in my future cruising decisions. 

This is my plan exactly....

[iancal]

The current testing will take 3 months to complete.  This does not even take into account the eval time.  OR the fact that the vaccines currently being tested may not be the ones selected for use depending on percentage effectiveness..  Others will be going into test over the upcoming months.

 

Even if a vaccine has passed testing and eval, say by Dec at the earliest there is then the manufacture and rollout.   Clearly health care workers etc and those at risk will be the first recipients.   I doubt that cruise ship workers will be as high on the priority list.

 

I really cannot see highly available, highly effective vaccines happening until at least the end of Feb/March timefrime.   Then there is the distribution issue.

 

Some counties cannot even get their covid testing done or  have results down to less than 5-10 days (at which point the test is useless).  This after six months of covid and apparently six months of 'planning'. 

 

 How do we expect those same countries to come up with an efficient, effective mass vaccine program over two or three months?  My confidence level is low.  

 

Edited August 3, 2020 by iancal

[chill6x6]

Earlier in the year I was practically certain my cruise aboard the Celebrity Apex would be a "go" for the last week of November.  Now...pretty sure that won't be the case.  NOW?? Well I have the 10-day Panama Canal Sunfarer aboard Zuiderdam booked for March 2021 and not even completely sure IT will be a "go."  If the cruise does in fact depart on schedule, we WILL go.  I have the deck 5 corner aft Neptune suite booked so I'll have no problem staying there most of the time if need be.   

 

After THAT....I have the Carnival Glory booked for the following October.  We can drive to the port and have a suite and can do similar to above if need be. Can't have real meals delivered but could make the best out of room service.  

 

So I'm PLANNING on cruising during 2021.  I fully expect to be on the Glory October 2021, worse case scenario. 

[npcl]

6 hours ago, iancal said:

The current testing will take 3 months to complete.  This does not even take into account the eval time.  OR the fact that the vaccines currently being tested may not be the ones selected for use depending on percentage effectiveness..  Others will be going into test over the upcoming months.

 

Even if a vaccine has passed testing and eval, say by Dec at the earliest there is then the manufacture and rollout.   Clearly health care workers etc and those at risk will be the first recipients.   I doubt that cruise ship workers will be as high on the priority list.

 

I really cannot see highly available, highly effective vaccines happening until at least the end of Feb/March timefrime.   Then there is the distribution issue.

 

Some counties cannot even get their covid testing done or  have results down to less than 5-10 days (at which point the test is useless).  This after six months of covid and apparently six months of 'planning'. 

 

 How do we expect those same countries to come up with an efficient, effective mass vaccine program over two or three months?  My confidence level is low.  

 

Fortunately injecting a vaccine does not need very expensive lab equipment and highly trained techs, like is necessary to do PCR test analysis. If you have the vaccine most medical personnel can perform the injection. 

 

Testing equipment, can take a while to get, especially when every other country in the world is also trying to order the same equipment. The high speed units are often custom built to order, not just on the shelf stock item.

[Gamelan1971]

Hoping for 2021 but realistically probably 2022.  In the meantime, I've been looking at some other travel options.  We want to do a land trip to Ireland and a trip to Bhutan.  I love cruising but I think I want to do these two trips once travel normalizes again and then consider cruises.  Cruising will probably take awhile to go back to any semblance of what it was before Covid.  Cruising could look a lot different once things settle down, especially if HAL disappears or changes in a radical way.  I'm pretty sure we'll still want to cruise, but we have enjoyed years of cruising on HAL.  We had considered going more upmarket after our last two cruises (in part because the quality difference was significant; both were on HAL but one was substantially better than the other), but now I think we'll want our "return" cruise to definitely be on HAL. 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Gamelan1971

[Horizon chaser 1957]

On 8/1/2020 at 11:23 AM, Mandalay1903 said:

 I'm interested in knowing the protocol for cruise lines when an outbreak is detected while underway. Will they be allowed to promptly dock and disembark somewhere, preferably at their turnaround port based on a prearranged agreement, or does it become another ship without a home situation like the Westerdam, Zaandam and others last spring.

 

For us, this is a key factor in when we’ll resume sailing. Cruise lines, and the countries they visit, need to have a concrete plan in place for on-board breakouts. Small ports can’t be expected to have enough facilities for a ship load of passengers. Major ports, especially embarkation ports, can and must.
A plane with an infected passenger isn’t isolated on the runway with everyone kept on board. Doing that to cruise passengers is in humane and unacceptable.

[grest]

On 7/22/2020 at 9:33 PM, Randyk47 said:

Princess just cancelled US cruises through mid December.  Will the rest of CCL follow suit?

 

 

 

I certainly hope so....we have a Dec. 9 HAL cruise that we do not plan on taking, but would prefer that the line cancel so that hopefully we can get back our deposit...

 

[iancal]

The bottom line for us is we simply do not  see enough data to even  guess when cruising may resume safely let alone when we may feel safe about cruising again.  Far too many ifs, and, or buts.

 

The other issue for us is confidence in the cruise lines.  Ours is very low so I suspect we will wait for some considerable time after cruising has commenced before considering a cruise.   

 

Just like the saying 'the only person who cares about your money is you' we also believe that the only person that cares about our health and well being is us.  Certainly not a for profit cruise line  conglomerate.

Edited August 4, 2020 by iancal

[seaoma]

1 hour ago, iancal said:

The bottom line for us is we simply do not  see enough data to even  guess when cruising may resume safely let alone when we may feel safe about cruising again.  Far too many ifs, and, or buts.

 

The other issue for us is confidence in the cruise lines.  Ours is very low so I suspect we will wait for some considerable time after cruising has commenced before considering a cruise.   

 

Just like the saying 'the only person who cares about your money is you' we also believe that the only person that cares about our health and well being is us.  Certainly not a for profit cruise line  conglomerate.

 

And sadly, I have to add, my fellow cruisers to that list. Even if the cruise line did everything in their power to the best of public health protocols to make cruising safe, I fear that I can no longer trust my fellow humans to care enough to abide by the individual requirements to make cruising safe.

[cat shepard]

5 minutes ago, wearesiamese said:

Where did you find this? I love it!

A friend sent it to me. 

[npcl]

26 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

They are in competition where I got my M.D.:  the University of Timbuktu!  

The University of Timbuktu in Mali was situated in a city that was already thriving in the 12th century.

 

At its peak, long before Europeans built universities, the university at Timbuktu had an average attendance of around 25 000 students within a city of around 100 000 people.
Within the university curriculum there were various degrees of learning called primary, secondary and superior as well as what they called the Circle of Knowledge. Other subjects included literature, science, mathematics and medicine

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, npcl said:

The University of Timbuktu in Mali was situated in a city that was already thriving in the 12th century.

 

At its peak, long before Europeans built universities, the university at Timbuktu had an average attendance of around 25 000 students within a city of around 100 000 people.
Within the university curriculum there were various degrees of learning called primary, secondary and superior as well as what they called the Circle of Knowledge. Other subjects included literature, science, mathematics and medicine

 

I didn't realize that my "medical degree" was from such a prestigious University.😀

Was it named University of Timbuktu or The University of Timbuktu (as The Ohio State University is properly named)?  😀  I want to be sure I "get it right".  😁

[howiefrommd]

That is actually the logo for the University of Maryland School of Medicine