Recently Retired - never expected all these cancelled cruises

[cellfree]

Am sure there are many others in the “same boat” - we are recently retired and about two years ago got into the cruise mode - were very excited about it - had both worked diligently for many years - hoping not too many more cancellations in our future - and that we will both stay healthy- just venting!

[CorbinCatFan]

I retired at the first of the year.  I did go on one cruise in January but then two cruises cancelled this year.  With two booked in the first half of next year, it's looking iffy.  But I still booked a cruise for next November.  I hoping that I get all three cruises in next year.

[firefly333]

I quit my job and moved from florida to texas and started to cruise then. Backwards. My dad got macular degeneration and my mom hates to drive, so I moved here to drive them and they pay for groceries and stuff and I got a little house near them .... but I sure do miss living on the ocean.

 

I got one ccl booked at what I consider overpriced and 6 great deals on rcl I hope I get to go on. Starting next april 25th.

 

Scaring me that covid seems to be getting worse here in dallas, we went back up to code red and almost 1k cases per day predicted by oct 23rd though I dont know based on what. Hospitalizations up 27%. I'd still cruise in a nano second but not sure with numbers growing cdc will agree with me.

 

I was watching one of those cruise blogs, I'm so desperate for cruise info. It said people werent allowed to swim in the pools. I think I missed that in all the complaints about masks and testing that the pools were closed to swimming onboard.

[elaineb]

19 hours ago, cellfree said:

Am sure there are many others in the “same boat” - we are recently retired and about two years ago got into the cruise mode - were very excited about it - had both worked diligently for many years - hoping not too many more cancellations in our future - and that we will both stay healthy- just venting!

I feel your pain.  DH is already retired and I am retiring in December.  We were looking forward to cruising next year, but have already cancelled our May cruise.  Hoping November is a go.  Cruising is our vacation of choice.  We are not lay on the beach all day or around a pool at an all inclusive.  If we cannot cruise safely, I am not sure what our future vacations will be.

[ronpes]

Yes we are very much in the same boat. 
We are from the U.K. and retired in May this year. We had one cruise on Harmony cancelled for March (no surprise) and our main retirement cruise which was a Transpacific to Australia and New Zealand for this autumn. (Today we should be in Sydney!)

We have now moved that to 2022. 
We have a cruise to Norway booked for June 2021 and hope that by that time things will be back to semi-normal-ish again. 
 

[Roz]

I planned to retire sometime between 2020 - 2022.  I'm so glad I decided to keep working and not retire in 2020 because it gives me something to occupy my days.  If I were stuck at home 24 hrs. a day with nothing to do or nowhere to go I would probably be stark raving mad by now.  

 

This past week I finally reached a level of acceptance that things aren't going back to the way they were for another year or two.  Bad news for those of us who had plans for retirement that included cruising and other types of travel.  I expect my January 2021 cruise will be canceled any day now, but am holding out hope for my December 2021 river cruise pending a vaccine being widely available. 

[Mary229]

@Roz   Me too.  I am self-employed and was planning 2020 to be my first "low income/low work" year.  3 monumental vacations cancelled and the worst is since my business is travel/trade show based I am now extraordinarily low income/no viable work.   Thank goodness for Jack Bogle's instructions.

[cb at sea]

Hey...there are PLENTY of things to do in the USA (if you are a citizen here...) or in your home country....doesn't HAVE to be a cruise.  Cruises are great...but they aren't the ONLY diversion!

 

[Mary229]

This was supposed to be my first mostly retired year (I am self employed). I had to cancel 3 major trips including a 32 day cruise that was supposed to start next week.    Since I spent my career traveling through the US and Canada I have pretty much seen everywhere ate least once.  We did a few small trips this year of small areas we had “meaning to get back to”.   

I am booked for next summer and if things clear up I will book a few more trips. 

 

[cellfree]

When we retired we did move to Florida so it is easy for us to book and re-book cruises as we do not have flights involved. Not sure how many cruises I have had cancelled to date, hope not too many more - ha! I have a January 3, 2021 and I expect to hear about that before too long. Surely we can get this all back on track. I know there are people very positive and people equally negative about the future of cruising. We do enjoy having a cruise to anticipate and have a few booked so maybe one them will make it.

[CruisingAlong4Now]

One advantage of being retired during the lock down phase is that I can't get fired from my job.  My pension and social security checks keep coming every month.  Income is very stable.

[Roz]

I'm targeting Nov. 30, 2022 as my last day of work, with a long cruise in either December of that same year or early in 2023.  By then I hope we have a modicum of normalcy.  In the meantime my SW Rapid Rewards points and Hilton Honors points stack up.  Too many points and nowhere to go.😁

[SargassoPirate]

On 11/15/2020 at 5:17 PM, CruisingAlong4Now said:

One advantage of being retired during the lock down phase is that I can't get fired from my job.  My pension and social security checks keep coming every month.  Income is very stable.

 

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I share your situation.  In reality, the only things different for us since April is we are not traveling - which means the ol' bank account keeps growing.  We don't eat out much so we haven't missed that, and we've only eaten out a couple of times at places that offer outside dining.  With the advent of cold weather, it'll be take out when the urge hits.  We've cancelled all travel for 2021.  Quite frankly, we've sort of enjoyed our downtime this year.  Working through a backlog of "honey-do" chores has kept both of us occupied.

 

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade (and add a jigger of gin to help ease the pain).

 

[cellfree]

Here we go again, Carnival has cancelled (and I suspect others will follow) all cruises through January 31, 2021. I did appreciate them informing us sooner than later this time around. So my new search begins. We have been healthy and feel blessed to live comfortably where we are. But we are not getting any younger - yikes!

[Blizzard54]

We retired in 2016 and were fortunate to get in about 160 nights per year on ships before Covid hit.   

We had set up an income stream to support out cruising so when about 120 night were canceled this year we came up with plan B.    We took the money we did not spend on cruising in 2020 and in July we purchased a motorhome.   We got 4 week long trips before packing it up for the winter.  We have quite a few cruises that we have shifted out to late 2021 and into 2022.  In the meantime, this spring we will head out in the RV and tour the US.  Going forward we will probably do a mix of cruising and RVing.  

[Roz]

My January 2021 cruise was, in fact, canceled along with a boatload (pun intended) of other HAL cruises.  The December 2021 river cruise is still on.  According to the TN Dept. of Health, I should be in the spring group (April - June) to get vaccinated.  Even if it spills over into summer, I should be good to go.  Just trying to make it thru the winter Covid-free.  I nearly lost a cousin last week.  She developed blood clots in her lungs 2-3 wks. after testing positive. 

 

Everyone, stay safe and healthy.

[Lois R]

I retired on Dec 31st and had multiple cruises booked for this year to celebrate said 

retirement.  We all know what happened to those cruises............😲.  It has been a crazy

year for us all.....I ended up going in the hospital 3 different times😧 (no, not for the 

virus). I am doing much better now👍 but of course wishing I could take a cruise!

[cellfree]

Lois, stay out of those hospitals, but glad your visits were not for the virus. I see you live in Florida as do we. I have found that makes it somewhat easier to re-book our cancelled cruises - lost track of number - as don't have to deal with flights, etc.

[Lois R]

54 minutes ago, cellfree said:

Lois, stay out of those hospitals, but glad your visits were not for the virus. I see you live in Florida as do we. I have found that makes it somewhat easier to re-book our cancelled cruises - lost track of number - as don't have to deal with flights, etc.

Hi, yes, I live here but to be honest, I normally fly out.......the cruise I have booked for next

October is in Europe. Will see what happens.........

 

As for hospitals.........all 3 times were emergency events so I had to go............

[cellfree]

Started this thread in October, here we are in January 2021, cancellations continue, keep rolling on with re-bookings, one of these days! But we are thankful to be keeping healthy.   We live on west coast of Florida and life out and about quite normal apart from masking up, restaurants during breakfast and lunch hours quiet, tend not go out out at dinner time. Will be on a cruise ship when we can but who knows when that will be. 

[cellfree]

Looks like cruising out of US starting before too long. Our next booked cruise out of a US Port is November 2021. Had a September 4, 2021 booked on MSC Meraviglia and as it turns out seven night cruises on Mera until September 18 were cancelled, poor timing on my part, isn’t that the way!

[Blizzard54]

It looks like our first time back onboard will be the Ovation in September. Looking forward to getting back at sea.

 

[Lois R]

I am sailing next month😃........around the Greek Isles. I fly out 2 weeks from today🙂