Would you book Australia for May 2021...Free Interior

[MMDown Under]

4 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Don't count on that! People are booking. Around a month ago we decided to book a P&O cruise for next May. I said to the TA that we wanted to book it but we wanted to make sure that a promised FCC was in our account. I thought we had plenty of time before locking in the booking. Wrong! When I followed up on it a few days later, the cruise was booked out. We then booked for August.

When Princess opened their bookings for 2022 there was a feeding frenzy. When bookings opened on Tuesday 15th for Elite members of the Captain's Circle, I was only able to book one of the two segments of the world cruise that I wanted, but the other segment was fully booked. The next morning when general bookings opened (with more cabins now available), at first the message was that the type of cabin I wanted was booked out. Eventually my TA managed to get me a guarantee.

I guess people are wanting to use their FCCs.  In my experience, in the past, cruises were rarely booked out, just the particular TAs allocation had been exhausted.  Did you try the cruise line direct for next May?  You may find TAs have to return their allocations by a certain date, if they haven't sold them.  Those cabins then become available.  TA told my friend winter cruise from Perth to Brisbane was sold out and encouraged her to book November cruise.  I suggested she wait and she got cabins on her preferred winter cruise later.  

Glad you got your bookings on World Cruise 2022 segments, which will be nice to look forward to.  I understand that it is difficult to get segment bookings on a World Cruise in advance.  It would be a matter of luck if you were able to get your preferred cabin on a sector of 2022 world cruise later.  It would depend on the number of whole world cruise bookings.  

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

I guess people are wanting to use their FCCs.  In my experience, in the past, cruises were rarely booked out, just the particular TAs allocation had been exhausted.  Did you try the cruise line direct for next May?  You may find TAs have to return their allocations by a certain date, if they haven't sold them.  Those cabins then become available.  TA told my friend winter cruise from Perth to Brisbane was sold out and encouraged her to book November cruise.  I suggested she wait and she got cabins on her preferred winter cruise later.  

Glad you got your bookings on World Cruise 2022 segments, which will be nice to look forward to.  I understand that it is difficult to get segment bookings on a World Cruise in advance.  It would be a matter of luck if you were able to get your preferred cabin on a sector of 2022 world cruise later.  It would depend on the number of whole world cruise bookings.  

I am not wanting to use my FCC, just go on a cruise before I get too old!

 

I didn't try to book direct with P&O for the May cruise after the TA told me that the balconies were sold out. Other categories were available, but the balconies were at a great price on a promotion and that is probably why they sold quickly. Even if the TA's allocation was sold out, if P&O had balconies available, I think the TA would have booked it for me to get the sale.

 

On the world cruise, I wasn't trying to book a particular cabin, just an inside as I will be going on that as a solo (paying almost double). Princess reserves a lot of cabins for people booking the whole cruise, reducing the number available for segments. With not a lot of inside cabins on the Coral Princess, I realised that I had to book quickly to secure a cabin on two consecutive segments that would probably be the most popular segments. I booked Dubai to UK (includes some new ports for me) and UK to NYC (including Norway and Iceland). A lot of people on the Roll Call have made the comment that they were "lucky to get a cabin" etc, indicating that others also found

[MicCanberra]

I want to cruise in May but not next year, perhaps 2022.

[Aus Traveller]

21 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I want to cruise in May but not next year, perhaps 2022.

I think it is pretty certain the May 2021 cruise will not go ahead, so maybe it is best for us that we booked in August 2021. We got a great deal on a balcony, but a cruise scheduled for August 2021 also may not happen.

[MicCanberra]

2 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I think it is pretty certain the May 2021 cruise will not go ahead, so maybe it is best for us that we booked in August 2021. We got a great deal on a balcony, but a cruise scheduled for August 2021 also may not happen.

I wouldn't count on it, but would be pleasantly surprised if it did.

[Aus Traveller]

36 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I wouldn't count on it, but would be pleasantly surprised if it did.

The August cruise is booked on a non-refundable deposit - $1 each. If the cruise is cancelled or we decide to cancel, I don't care if they keep the deposit. 🙂

[NCbmwmom]

Hopefully Americans will be allowed in on June 27. LoL just booked Splendor for a Premiere Cruise interior spa cabin for 1400 USD with 1,000 AUD OBC and free drinks in the casino. We will definitely be waiting on airfare however. Flying from Atlanta Georgia, so that’s a big commitment. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

5 hours ago, NCbmwmom said:

Hopefully Americans will be allowed in on June 27. LoL just booked Splendor for a Premiere Cruise interior spa cabin for 1400 USD with 1,000 AUD OBC and free drinks in the casino. We will definitely be waiting on airfare however. Flying from Atlanta Georgia, so that’s a big commitment. 

I think it will be very unlikely that the Australian border will be open to Americans by then. It may take until 2022 for that to happen given there has been no signs of any significant improvement in the number of Covid-19 cases in your country.

[Docker123]

Comments by the Australian Treasurer:

 

International travel, including by tourists and international students, is assumed to remain largely closed off until late next year,’ said treasurer Josh Frydenberg in a statement following the annual federal budget. This is because Australia is waiting for a vaccine to become widely available before reopening its borders: ‘A vaccine to be available around the end of 2021 is one of the assumptions in the budget.’

 

Note that the treasurer and prime minister have also said that there would be a gradual opening with countries and regions where Covid is under control. They explicitly excluded Europe and the USA.

 

Also note, that means it is not just tourists coming in.  we are not allowed to leave, either. 

 

[MMDown Under]

6 hours ago, NCbmwmom said:

Hopefully Americans will be allowed in on June 27. LoL just booked Splendor for a Premiere Cruise interior spa cabin for 1400 USD with 1,000 AUD OBC and free drinks in the casino. We will definitely be waiting on airfare however. Flying from Atlanta Georgia, so that’s a big commitment. 

Is your booking refundable or transferable?

I am disappointed that the cruise lines are taking bookings for these cruises knowing there is no guarantee they will sail.  

Good idea not to book air fare until you know Australia has opened its border to international visitors (US in particular).

[NCbmwmom]

13 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Is your booking refundable or transferable?

I am disappointed that the cruise lines are taking bookings for these cruises knowing there is no guarantee they will sail.  

Good idea not to book air fare until you know Australia has opened its border to international visitors (US in particular).

It was only 100pp deposit, so we aren’t out too much money. But it’s neither refundable or transferable, so we will just wait and let Carnival cancel to be refunded. Which hopefully will be before final payment is due. LoL 

[getting older slowly]

A free interior....... a windowless room with a bed....... sorry No..... that is it...... Don