Cruising March 2021???

[DPTexas]

I am fairly new to cruising and sure wish I had discovered it earlier in my life.   I am quite envious when I read other cruisers' comments about cruising since 1965 or even 1985!   My 2nd cruise was to the Western Caribbean in early February of this year when the discussion of the COVID-19 was in the early stages.   I thoroughly enjoyed that cruise, as well as my first cruise which was in late January/early February 2019, and found them both to be the most-relaxing vacations I have ever had.   So, I decided cruising was going to be my "get away vacations" each year with plans to cruise 2x a year as work allows.  I am a single cruiser - planning one cruise a year with my youngest DD who is the one who got me hooked on cruising, and then a 2nd cruise as a solo.    (I am not going to comment on having to pay the double occupancy rate because "it is what it is".)  I had a September 2020 cruise planned which cancelled, so I optimistically rebooked for early March 2021.   My first, middle and last name should be "Pollyanna", so I sure hope that cruise goes.  My other vacations revolve around visiting or hosting family visits (weddings, holidays, etc.) which are a delight and I love them, but they are not so relaxing.  If the March 2021 cruise cancels, I am not sure what I will do, but certainly expect to rebook another cruise (or two at that time).  I keep joking with my DD that if the March 2021 cancels, I may try swimming the English Channel just to at least get rescued by "some type of ship or boat"!  LOL!  I guess I am writing this comment to express my appreciation for all the positive comments on this board about cruising and posting this comment somehow makes my March 2021 cruise seem more-probable.   Again, "I am Pollyanna", paying for FTTF, planning to eat at the Chef's Table, (again), looking at excursions and counting the days until my next cruise (189!).   My apologies for this long post and for my rattling on and on about cruising.  

[bury me at sea]

DPT we cruise for many of the same reasons.  My next one is scheduled for April and after having had 3 cancelled I am still hopeful about that one.

 

I just miss it!

[Joe817]

DP, welcome to Cruise Critic's Carnival Cruise Line Forum! Glad to have you with us. Thanks for your comments. I share many of your sentiments regarding cruising. But I don't think I'd want to swim the English Channel! 

 

I hope you get to cruise too! We are booked on the Freedom end of Feb/1st of March. So here's hoping we ALL get to cruise! 🤞

[pjhootch]

Well I hope we are cruising by March 2021.  My guess is as uneducated as everyone else's at this point so I will cross my fingers and see what happens.  

 

I was really excited that 2020 was going to be the year that I actually scheduled and took 4 vacations.  I am self employed and that is difficult to do, but I was going to set aside the time for it and make sure I took 7 weeks off this year after 20 years in business.  Three vacations were cruises and one was a camping trip to Yellowstone.  

 

oops.

 

We did get to cruise the last week in January and we were with a group of friends and had a great time.  Our May cruise was cancelled, Yellowstone did not open and I cancelled it because when they were starting to talk about opening it, there was a good chance it was going to be insanely busy. We are scheduled for 14 day cruise at the end of November, and I do not think there is a chance on earth it is going to happen, since it is supposed to sail from New Orleans. Carnival has not even started to plan how to cruise out of New Orleans again at this point.  

 

So we are coming up on final payment date for November and I am going to ask for an extension.  I do not want to go through the refund process again.  I am still waiting on about $1000 from our May cruise, cancelled in March- to be refunded in gift cards.  I just keep reshuffling dates an FCC as things don't pan out.  And no-  I never booked a cruise with the intent of it being cancelled so I could get an OBC.  At this point, I just want to travel.  St. Lucia IS the best, by the way.

 

The way things are scheduled now, when cruising starts up- I think we are sailing every other month until the middle of 2022!  LOL.  

[drsel]

I also requested for an extension in the final payment date but the call centre executive said they cannot oblige

[DPTexas]

On 8/22/2020 at 4:12 PM, bury me at sea said:

DPT we cruise for many of the same reasons.  My next one is scheduled for April and after having had 3 cancelled I am still hopeful about that one.

 

I just miss it!

 

On 8/22/2020 at 4:22 PM, Joe817 said:

DP, welcome to Cruise Critic's Carnival Cruise Line Forum! Glad to have you with us. Thanks for your comments. I share many of your sentiments regarding cruising. But I don't think I'd want to swim the English Channel! 

 

I hope you get to cruise too! We are booked on the Freedom end of Feb/1st of March. So here's hoping we ALL get to cruise! 🤞

 

Thank you, both, for the welcome and comments.   

Bury me, you said it plain and simple.   I know I am not alone in missing  cruising and believe the companies know that, but not so sure about the "powers that be".    Yes, it's when I make comments like the "English Channel" one that my adult kids rolls their eyes like they were teenagers again. 

 

Joel817, crossing my fingers that we all get to cruise the first of the year.   I told my DD I wasn't sure what I would do if my early March 2021 cancels, but I know I would simply contact my super PVP, rebook another one - hopefully not too far out - and keep up my Pollyanna thinking & wishing.    

 

pjhootch, I can only dream of being able to book more than 2 cruises each year because of family and work commitments.  I was sorry to hear that your plans changed, but love your idea of sailing every other month when it starts back up.  I love reading when others have so many booked, but sad that they are shuffling reservations, etc. around because of cancellations,     

 

Take care, everyone, happy cruising memories and future plans. 

[Bgcruising]

I'm thinking we will be cruising before the end of the year. 

[DPTexas]

33 minutes ago, Bgcruising said:

I'm thinking we will be cruising before the end of the year. 

Bgcruising, I know no one can say for sure, but I do believe there are a lot of people wishing and hoping the same thing!  

[zqvol]

On 8/6/2020 at 1:33 PM, beshears said:

I would love for my family and I to be able to cruise in March of next year.  My PVP called and left a message, wanting to help me in deciding WHEN to book another cruise. I am still AFRAID to book until "maybe" 6 or less months before the cruise, as I don't know what this virus is going to do.  I just don't want to go through all the mess of trying to get ALL my money back again, as I did NOT book any other cruise to get an OBC, which with the virus, does not mean that much to me right now. To top this off, if you can call it that, I wanted to do the Fascination as it was going to St. Lucia, but it is GONE for good now. 😞

Pure speculation on my part but I think that there is maybe a 20% chance that cruises have started as early as March 2021.

[zqvol]

On 8/6/2020 at 3:20 PM, seaman11 said:

sooner or later they will realize corona is here to stay and just deal with it as best we can and carry on, i dont see it going away at all.  my guess is sometime early next year the cdc will allow it because we could get it anywhere buses, trains, airplanes. 

If people would take proper precautions especially staying six feet apart and wearing masks things could return to a sense of normalcy much sooner.  If you don't wear a mask, then don't expect cruising to start anytime soon.

[drsel]

Cruising has already started in Europe, both MSc and TUI have completed their first restart Cruise

[seaman11]

20 hours ago, zqvol said:

If people would take proper precautions especially staying six feet apart and wearing masks things could return to a sense of normalcy much sooner.  If you don't wear a mask, then don't expect cruising to start anytime soon.

I agree however many Americans are stubborn and do not want to listen.  Its why Europe is doing much better. Msc started back up slowly. 

[sanger727]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/08/25/cunard-line-extends-sailing-suspension-into-spring-2021/5630643002/

[TNcruising02]

4 hours ago, sanger727 said:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/08/25/cunard-line-extends-sailing-suspension-into-spring-2021/5630643002/

Interesting that they are opting for shorter cruises.  That makes sense because shorter cruises are easier to manage than their very long ones.

[Gma&Gpa]

We booked last November for October 2021.  We had been going yearly, but decided to skip 2020 (and needless to say, glad we did).  We will be on the Freedom out of Lauderdale for an 8 day cruise.  I'm still hopeful that by next fall (13 months away) things will be better and getting back to normal and we'll actually get to take this cruise.  Fingers crossed for sure.  If not, then I guess it gets cancelled and we rebook for a few months later.