When, where and under what conditions will you make another cruise reservation?

[Toofarfromthesea]

13 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Maybe he made it that small on purpose as he would only put down an extremely small deposit.😃

 

Based on what he said, I thought he was whispering so he wouldn't draw the ire of the dreaded travel shamers.

[Warm Breezes]

I have 2 cruises currently booked.  The first is to replace our Mardi Gras cruise that was canceled for December and we rebooked for Oct. 2021.  Then I booked NCL Encore for Feb. 2022 to use our Cruise Next certificates that expire in 2022.  Money was already invested in both, so no harm in getting them booked early and getting the rooms we wanted (Aft Balcony on Mardi Gras and Large Balcony on Encore.)  I highly doubt I will ever book another cruise without a balcony.  The only way I'd want to be stranded on a ship for a few weeks.😁😉

[navybankerteacher]

21 minutes ago, Warm Breezes said:

I have 2 cruises currently booked.  The first is to replace our Mardi Gras cruise that was canceled for December and we rebooked for Oct. 2021.  Then I booked NCL Encore for Feb. 2022 to use our Cruise Next certificates that expire in 2022.  Money was already invested in both, so no harm in getting them booked early and getting the rooms we wanted (Aft Balcony on Mardi Gras and Large Balcony on Encore.)  I highly doubt I will ever book another cruise without a balcony.  The only way I'd want to be stranded on a ship for a few weeks.😁😉

I agree that, if stranded on a ship for a few weeks, a balcony would be essential.  But, then, I do not think I would contemplate booking ANY accommodations on a cruise ship if I thought there was a prospect of being stranded on it for a few weeks.  I think I’ll wait until the whole COVID thing is in the past before putting money down on a cruise.

[Ashland]

I have booked :

July 2021 British Isles

Oct 2021 Canada New England

Dec 2021 Xmas Market land tour.

March 2022 B2B Southern Caribbean

April 2022 Eastern Caribbean

 

And will book when the schedule's open for more of 2022 & 2023

I got great deals on these but will make any changes as it becomes necessary.

[FredT]

We booked an October 21 Greek Islands Star Clipper cruise.....  AFTER I confirmed with our CC company that we could get our deposit back if the company went belly up...    The $800.00 we put down was a small price to pay to have SOMETHING to look forward to, to plan over, to research....   It helps... it REALLY helps!  😎

[sail7seas]

On 9/7/2020 at 1:15 PM, Aquahound said:

 

You do know it's possible now, and has been all along, right? 

I Do I  know  I was booked and supposed to be just completing a cruise  BUT  it was cancelled.  

right !

 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by sail7seas

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, Ashland said:

I have booked :

July 2021 British Isles

Oct 2021 Canada New England

Dec 2021 Xmas Market land tour.

March 2022 B2B Southern Caribbean

April 2022 Eastern Caribbean

 

And will book when the schedule's open for more of 2022 & 2023

I got great deals on these but will make any changes as it becomes necessary.

 

Nice!  Was booking airfare for the July cruise pretty straightforward?  (if you don't mind my asking).  

[Sea42]

We had booked a cruise for January of 2022 in early February. We have kept that booking and are cautiously optimistic that it will be a go. If the rolling cancellations are still happening when our full payment is due we will cancel at that point. For now, planning for other land based trips keeps me busy.

[pris993]

Booked on board the Grand for 10 day on Ruby 2/21. re booked for 1/22.  Will see how it goes whether we keep the reservation or not  for 1/2022.   We will watch closely to see how cruising is and see if it is what we think is enjoyable.  If it is, we will go if not we cancel. Hope we have a vaccine by then and this is all a distant bad memory. 

 

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Nice!  Was booking airfare for the July cruise pretty straightforward?  (if you don't mind my asking).  

Thanks....My return date isn't open yet. I'm considering using DL (KLM) booking directly or with X Air2Sea depending on pricing. Will more than likely not book any air until first of the year.

[cruznjan]

We are booked on a cruise September 2021, but if there isn't a reliable COVID-19 vaccine available we're not going.

[clo]

1 hour ago, cruznjan said:

We are booked on a cruise September 2021, but if there isn't a reliable COVID-19 vaccine available we're not going.

Same for us. We have until early June to cancel with refund of deposit and I'm guessing that we'll know well before then what our decision will be. I really doubt we'll be going.

[navybankerteacher]

8 minutes ago, clo said:

Same for us. We have until early June to cancel with refund of deposit and I'm guessing that we'll know well before then what our decision will be. I really doubt we'll be going.

September 2021 is probably a bit early -  but there is a fair chance.

I will start seriously thinking of sailings in  Spring and Summer of 2022.

[clo]

30 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

September 2021 is probably a bit early -  but there is a fair chance.

I will start seriously thinking of sailings in  Spring and Summer of 2022.

Yeah. I think that's more realistic. If there'd been sufficient emphasis put on mitigation....  If we cancel we won't wait til the deadline for a refund.

[ldubs]

On 9/10/2020 at 6:27 PM, Ashland said:

Thanks....My return date isn't open yet. I'm considering using DL (KLM) booking directly or with X Air2Sea depending on pricing. Will more than likely not book any air until first of the year.

 

British Isles is one of my favorite itineraries.  I hope it works out for you.  

[clo]

45 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

British Isles is one of my favorite itineraries.  I hope it works out for you.  

We've done land trips, DIY, in England, Ireland, Scotand and Wales. Driving. I can't imagine doing any of it as part of a cruise. 

[ilikeanswers]

1 hour ago, clo said:

We've done land trips, DIY, in England, Ireland, Scotand and Wales. Driving. I can't imagine doing any of it as part of a cruise. 

 

Britain has lots of little islands and archipelagos that are great (perhaps even more convenient) for cruising around. 

[KnowTheScore]

"When, where and under what conditions will you make another cruise reservation?"

 

For me personally the conditions are simply that the cruise line puts out a clear an unambiguous statement to passengers, in writing, that explains exactly how they would deal with cases of COVID on-board.

 

Specifically :

 

- Whether or not ALL passengers would be quarantined, or whether that would only happen when a certain number of cases arise and if so what is that number of cases?

 

- Whether those infected will be forcibly taken off the ship and dumped in onshore hospitals or whether they will be allowed to remain on the ship in isolation.

 

- Whether there exists the possibility that you will be made to fly home rather than cruise home

 

- Whether the cruise line will pay passengers compensation for any ports missed due to port authorities refusing entry to the ship due to on-board cases of Covid

 

 

Until a cruise line is prepared to make such statements instead of hiding behind the smoke screen of increased safety measures like mask wearing, social distancing and hand gel, then the entire cruising proposition for me no longer exists.

 

It's an absolute certainty that cases of COVID WILL appear on cruises.  Therefore passengers must be told how cruise lines will deal with that and it should form part of the contract between passenger and cruise line.

 

.

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2020 by KnowTheScore

[momofmab]

I'm not willing to cruise again until I am reassured that I won't be stranded onboard for weeks in a small cabin because someone has tested positive.

[KnowTheScore]

2 minutes ago, momofmab said:

I'm not willing to cruise again until I am reassured that I won't be stranded onboard for weeks in a small cabin because someone has tested positive.

 

Exactly

 

and reassured in legally binding black and white writing

Edited September 12, 2020 by KnowTheScore

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, clo said:

We've done land trips, DIY, in England, Ireland, Scotand and Wales. Driving. I can't imagine doing any of it as part of a cruise. 

Been to both London and Scotland in land trips and also a British Isles cruise.

 

The cruise was excellent. We saw among other things the Scottish Military Tattoo in Edinburgh and the Book of Kells in Ireland. It was definitely one of our best cruises (on the small former Ocean Princess).

[clo]

9 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Britain has lots of little islands and archipelagos that are great (perhaps even more convenient) for cruising around. 

I assume those are drive-by's? We rarely made reservations in advance and sometimes changed our itinerary the night before 🙂

[cruisemom42]

13 hours ago, clo said:

We've done land trips, DIY, in England, Ireland, Scotand and Wales. Driving. I can't imagine doing any of it as part of a cruise. 

 

I've enjoyed spending quite a bit of time in and around the British Isles, including varying amounts of time in all areas (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland) adding up to several months over the years.

 

Cruising may not be the best way to visit the Lake District or the Cotswalds or the Highlands. That doesn't mean that I have not also enjoyed cruising round the coasts -- Jersey, Guernsey on one cruise; Shetlands and Orkneys on another.

 

Same holds with coastal Japan or even coastal Turkey. There are some areas you may visit well by sea that you tend to skip -- or that are inconvenient to get to -- by land.

 

You seem to want to make it an "either/or" equation. 

 

[dogs4fun]

13 hours ago, clo said:

We've done land trips, DIY, in England, Ireland, Scotand and Wales. Driving. I can't imagine doing any of it as part of a cruise. 

I love the UK - particularly Scotland (two of my great grandparents were immigrants from Scotland). In fact, on one trip many eons ago, I spent 3 months in the UK (with a good portion of the time spent in Scotland). I have visited the UK only via land - never via cruise (exception being Southampton) & I loved our drives through the Lake District, the Loch Region, etc. I would, however, not be adverse to a British Isles cruise as I am sure that there would be sites of interest I have not yet experienced. 😎

[clo]

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

You seem to want to make it an "either/or" equation. 

 

Not at all. But if I had to choose I'd take land for that itinerary. Whereas we had a cruise booked (canceled) for the Baltic and Scandanavian area. We're at a point in our lives where we may be needing to be selective about our destinations. And, as we all know, a "port" can be a very long haul to anything of interest.