Anyone else just giving up on a cruise for a while?

[garyl62]

I'm booked on a March of 2021 and again in March of 2022 (actually 3 then, but 2 are really just placeholders) and last week I added a August of 2021 for Alaska.  We booked everything after the shutdown this year, and decided the August trip was worth a shot since final payment isn't due until after we see how our March trip goes.  Now, if sailings don't happen by March of 2021 we could end up moving or canceling them all.  As long as we know the procedures/restrictions before we sail, we figure it's our choice and we all live by the choices we make. 

 

One added note, we've made sure to book cabins with larger than normal balconies (from ones on the slant, to larger suites depending on the trip) so we can always just sit outside, get away from reality, eat a relaxing breakfast or dinner and watch the waves go by...….

[terrydtx]

My wife and  I retired this year at the age of 70, with the intention of spending the next 12 to 15 years traveling 2 or 3 times a year, not all being cruises. This year we have already cancelled a cruise to Greece and 2 land trips we planned. We worked hard the last 20 years to save and invest so that we could spend our "Golden" years traveling and living the lifestyle we chose. We already lost one full year and do not intend to lose anymore. We have 2 Celebrity cruises for next year, May, a Greek cruise and August a Spain and Portugal cruise, plus 1 land trip to New England and Niagara Falls. If a proven vaccine becomes available we will be vaccinated without fear. If we have to have a rapid Covid test at the dock we will do it without fear. If we have to wear a mask and social distance on a cruise or land, we will do it without fear. Yes a lot of people have died from Covid but also 99% of those infected have survived, so we will continue to live our lives but take reasonable precautions without fear.  Franklin Roosevelt said the famous line at in his first inaugural address in March 1933 “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself". Our country was in the midst of the worst economic depression in history and these words are just as true today as they were in 1933.

Edited October 6, 2020 by terrydtx

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

My wife and  I retired this year at the age of 70, with the intention of spending the next 12 to 15 years traveling 2 or 3 times a year, not all being cruises. This year we have already cancelled a cruise to Greece and 2 land trips we planned. We worked hard the last 20 years to save and invest so that we could spend our "Golden" years traveling and living the lifestyle we chose. We already lost one full year and do not intend to lose anymore. We have 2 Celebrity cruises for next year, May, a Greek cruise and August a Spain and Portugal cruise, plus 1 land trip to New England and Niagara Falls. If a proven vaccine becomes available we will be vaccinated without fear. If we have to have a rapid Covid test at the dock we will do it without fear. If we have to wear a mask and social distance on a cruise or land, we will do it without fear. Yes a lot of people have died from Covid but also 99% of those infected have survived, so we will continue to live our lives but take reasonable precautions without fear.  Franklin Roosevelt said the famous line at in his first inaugural address in March 1933 “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself". Our country was in the midst of the worst economic depression in history and these words are just as true today as they were in 1933.

 

While I think your plans sound perfectly justified given your particular situation, I (as an armchair historian) have a small quibble with your use of FDR's quote.  The situation he was applying it to was the Great Depression and the run on the banks, which was prompted by peoples' fear of not having access to their money. It's an entirely different thing than assessing and giving proper due to a credible health risk which should not be downplayed, especially by those in higher risk groups (for whom mortality is certainly much higher than 1%).

 

There is unjustified fear and then there is fear that is appropriate to the situated and risks. Being able to tell the difference between reasonable and unreasonable fears is one way we have survived (and thrived) as a species.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by cruisemom42

[mac_tlc]

6 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

While I think your plans sound perfectly justified given your particular situation, I (as an armchair historian) have a small quibble with your use of FDR's quote.  The situation he was applying it to was the Great Depression and the run on the banks, which was prompted by peoples' fear of not having access to their money. It's an entirely different thing than assessing and giving proper due to a credible health risk which should not be downplayed, especially by those in higher risk groups (for whom mortality is certainly much higher than 1%).

 

There is unjustified fear and then there is fear that is appropriate to the situated and risks. Being able to tell the difference between reasonable and unreasonable fears is one way we have survived (and thrived) as a species.

 

 

 

 

Fantastic post. I am quite sick of people throwing around the “live in fear” phrase when it is just a personal assessment of the risk of the situation. Bravo!

 

In the current state of things, to me a cruise is not worth the risk. That doesn’t mean I am cowering in my basement and afraid to go out. 

 

mac_tlc

Edited October 6, 2020 by mac_tlc

[upwarduk]

Well, no ones going any where prior to November 30th any rate, as Celebrity have just cancelled all sailings.

Edited October 6, 2020 by upwarduk

[ABoatNerd]

Well I am out and about with N95, shield and gloves. Will live and thrive and drink wine and feed the birds and have the biggest friggin turkey Canada has ever seen.

 

We are not assured of the next second, not the next second. 

At some point this virus and the next virus and the next will have to be dealt with and it is not about closing down society on a repetitive basis.

Do what each of you have to. 

We have no guarantee about life. 

Protect the seniors and those with health issues, otherwise, move onwards.

Question everything, everything. Accept nothing until you are assured it is real, real.

 

This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada - moving onwards and giving thanks. Got to live and thrive and excel.

[upwarduk]

7 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada - moving onwards and giving thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians. Hope you remain healthy to enjoy your celebrations- that’s if you can meet with family.

[Quo Vadis?]

On 10/4/2020 at 12:42 PM, mnocket said:

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you🙂

 

We don't want to be in anyone's boat for the unforeseeable future.

[OnTheJourney]

On 10/5/2020 at 5:05 PM, garyl62 said:

As long as we know the procedures/restrictions before we sail, we figure it's our choice and we all live by the choices we make. 

 

This pretty much sums it up...good thought. 

[OnTheJourney]

On 10/6/2020 at 8:40 AM, terrydtx said:

We already lost one full year and do not intend to lose anymore.

 

I totally understand how you're feeling, and believe I touched on some of your same thoughts in my rather long and rambling post. 

[islandgirlejfan]

We have a European cruise on the books for the Apex in July and we hope to be in Europe for three weeks.  The only money I have been willing to put down is the deposit for the cruise.  There are so many things that are still on the dark side of going.....it's just crazy!   I have four hotels reserved for the other legs of our vacation.  I'm praying that before final payment, we have a better idea of how things will look.  I want to be optimistic, but I am just not quite sure where I am....my realism takes over and says do I really want to be on a vacation with a mask and I can't say I am quite sure.  If it doesn't happen, we have going west in our tiny teardrop....that's on our bucket list as well.  I'll just switch everything till 2022.

Praying this comes to a swift end.  I have two friends that are part of the Pfizer trials and they believe they got the vaccine and not the placebo.  It's been interesting seeing their take on it in social media.  

[dani negreanu]

On 10/5/2020 at 9:46 PM, OnTheJourney said:

For the occasional traveler who has done some, but for whom it isn't a passion, much easier to say 'I'll just pass on this till things get better'. But, for someone like myself - and I suspect many of us - who in a big way LIVE to travel - and for whom it constitutes a large part of who we are, the question takes on much greater magnitude, not to mention being accompanied by the rather sinking feeling of precious time being lost that can't be bought back with future cruise vouchers. 

 

Every word.... and I'll be 70 next March 😬

[VACruiser123]

Nope, not gonna do it until sanity returns. On a cruise

1. NOT wearing a mask

2. NOT social distancing

3. NOT going to viewed as a pariah in a port

4. NOT going to be bothered by Covid Karen as I try to relax on vacation.

 

Just not down with a vacation plan that has those elements. Staycations as it turns out are very underrated. 

[vivian02]

I to feel like I will pass until I can see some kind of stability within the cruise industry. At the moment I am kind of feed up with Celebrity because trying to find a cruise that will fit my needs just isn't out there. Today I saw a new cruise release but on a different Cruiseline. Since I have a $500 deposit still left from my Celebrity cruise that had been canceled before final payment I called to see if I could take the penalty ($100 per person a total of $200 ) and place the remaining $300 on a differerent cruise and different cruiseline. I have know found out "no" Celebrity is the only cruiseline I can use use the $500 or lose it. At this point I am really mad at Celebrity for not letting me know the full conditions after my cancelation before final payment. I still have three months to apply the deposit to a cruise but really need some kind of verification that cruising will start up again next year. At this point Celebrity is on my you know what list. Like everyone else I am feeling down because I like taking the wife cruising. As far as the Cruiseline getting anymore cash out of me is highly unlikely. I may be out of my deposit but Celebrity might lose a customer. Something tells me there are not a lot of happy customers out there as I type this out. I wish everyone some kind of clarity back to normal but when the cruiselines want to just keep your deposit no matter what this is hard to swallow. Everyone stay safe. Tim

[terrydtx]

For those of you who say you will not cruise again until "Sanity" or "Normal" is restored, if too many think like you there may not be any cruise industry left to cruise with.  Another year like this will bankrupt every cruise company in existence. 

[d9704011]

9 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

For those of you who say you will not cruise again until "Sanity" or "Normal" is restored, if too many think like you there may not be any cruise industry left to cruise with.  Another year like this will bankrupt every cruise company in existence. 

If a lot of people (too many in your words) think that way, what does it say to you?

[Mary229]

8 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

For those of you who say you will not cruise again until "Sanity" or "Normal" is restored, if too many think like you there may not be any cruise industry left to cruise with.  Another year like this will bankrupt every cruise company in existence. 

I don’t know where to find the information but I speculate that the average age of regular users of this forum is above 65 and that may account for the aversion to health risk.   Cruise lines continue to say booking for future cruises are brisk.  

[Tapi]

Not giving up on cruising, but I’m modifying the type of cruise that I’ll be willing to take with the proposed protocols in place. 
 

I won’t take an extended, port intensive itinerary to far away destinations that invite deeper exploration. But I will take an inexpensive cruise close to home that visits ports that I have already been to, private islands, or where I won’t feel like I’m missing out if I take a ship sponsored excursion. 
 

My only cruise booked for 2021 (as a trial run) is a back to back on MSC Seaside. Covid permitting, I’ll be visiting Nassau twice and Ocean Cay twice. In Ocean Cay, hopefully I’ll be allowed to roam without needing an excursion, and in Nassau, I’ll treat it as a sea day the first time, and I’ll do a snorkeling excursion the second time (something that I would do anyway, with or without restrictions). 
 

Hopefully the impact of all these protocols on such an itinerary will be minimal. 
 

 

[Fouremco]

24 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Cruise lines continue to say booking for future cruises are brisk.  

I'm sure they do, as they need to put on as positive a face as possible. I wonder how many of these bookings are actually the result of L&S, and whether any of these brisk new bookings are for cruises scheduled before next summer. It would also be interesting to know if cancellations are equally brisk.

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I'm sure they do, as they need to put on as positive a face as possible. I wonder how many of these bookings are actually the result of L&S, and whether any of these brisk new bookings are for cruises scheduled before next summer. It would also be interesting to know if cancellations are equally brisk.

And you ignored the first part of my comment.   They are making these reports to shareholders as part of earnings guidance.  I think they may be optimistic but the threat of an SEC throttle certainly keeps them from being overly optimistic.   I have never considered the big three publicly held cruise lines to be scamsters or fraudsters.  If I did I wouldn’t cruise with them even in the best of times. COVID is not the only very bad risk in cruising.   

[Fouremco]

2 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

And you ignored the first part of my comment.   They are making these reports to shareholders as part of earnings guidance.  I think they may be optimistic but the threat of an SEC throttle certainly keeps them from being overly optimistic.   I have never considered the big three publicly held cruise lines to be scamsters or fraudsters.  If I did I wouldn’t cruise with them even in the best of times. COVID is not the only very bad risk in cruising.   

LOL. It's very common not to address all parts of someone's post. I didn't ignore your guesstimate of the age of CC members, it just wasn't of interest to me. As for the cruise lines, there's a big difference between putting a potentially misleading positive spin on information and conducting fraud. Neither of us would suggest that these lines are guilty of the latter. 😷

[davekathy]

8 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Every word.... and I'll be 70 next March 😬

Happy almost Happy Birthday. 🥂🎂

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

I don’t know where to find the information but I speculate that the average age of regular users of this forum is above 65 and that may account for the aversion to health risk.   Cruise lines continue to say booking for future cruises are brisk.  

 

Of course they're brisk.  Everybody has all those FCCs to use up.

 

[Mary229]

3 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

Of course they're brisk.  Everybody has all those FCCs to use up.

 

Yes but pax are choosing to rebook instead of refunding.   How it is happening, though important, is not as important as it is happening 

[davekathy]

4 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

Of course they're brisk.  Everybody has all those FCCs to use up.

 

Not us. We took the refunds instead of FCCs for all our Celebrity cancelled cruises.