Can Royal be far behind as NCL freezes voyage bookings until Sept. 1, 2021

[Iamcruzin]

1 minute ago, firefly333 said:

Lol from Galveston jamaica is on the eastern. Western is cozumel, belize and Honduras or a 2nd mexican port. I usually also try and avoid eastern to avoid jamaica. Seen all I can for one thing. Done all the good excursions and not a port i enjoy wandering around. 

I was on a western itinerary when we went there.

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, Iamcruzin said:

I was on a western itinerary when we went there.

Yea that's what I meant. I saw you are on the coast. One ports eastern is the others western. I understood.

[MaritimeR&R]

One thing that will become perfectly clear to currently booked passengers is that if the CDC rejects NCL's proposal for a totally vaccinated ship, the possibility of any ship cruising out of the US until at least Nov. 1st will be a done deal.

There will be no more false "hope;" no more pep talks about being "confident we will sail soon" from Cruise Company Execs (at least none that will be believed; and no more hemming and hawing about cancelling cruises from U.S. ports until after final payments (at least not without sustaining a hit to their company's relationship with the general public)

Cruise lines will be stuck accepting the CDC's mandates and will have to step up to their responsibility to their customers.

[smokeybandit]

8 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

If that's the only way they can feel fit to start then so be it. This is all temporary. They may even gain new passengers who only want to sail on a fully vaccinated  ships.  NCL and Carnival do not provide the level of service I want. I would rather take a risk on Royal, Celebrity or Princess.  I think Pfizer is close to producing a vaccine for children.  The percentage of children who are getting covid is rising in comparison to adults since adults have be getting vaccinated.  

It might be temporary but it's a marketing angle RC should take advantage of.

 

And of course percentages are higher among younger people now. That's proof vaccines are working. That doesn't mean more younger people are getting it.

 

Pfizer did a small trial with kids. Probably not nearly enough to allow kids to get the vaccine any time soon since the FDA has a history of being much more critical of giving EUA for kids vaccines.

Edited April 6, 2021 by smokeybandit

[molly361]

17 hours ago, Heymarco said:

If CDC requires vaccines for those that aren’t available to cruise, then I’m going to start a petition to get a doctors note for those over 70 again. All in the name of safety for the overall population of course.

Is this because your thread on the NCL board about you never cruising with them again due to their no kids for now unless vaccinated is not getting the responses you had hoped for?😇

[Ourusualbeach]

12 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Lol from Galveston jamaica is on the eastern. Western is cozumel, belize and Honduras or a 2nd mexican port. I usually also try and avoid eastern to avoid jamaica. Seen all I can for one thing. Done all the good excursions and not a port i enjoy wandering around. 

 

The vaccine for 12 to 16 age group just waiting on fda approval. 

I know that you mean that it is East for you however Royal still refers to the cruises out of Galveston as Western Caribbean whether they include Jamaica or not

[Iamcruzin]

On 4/4/2021 at 10:01 PM, Ashland said:

Not all of it is on "them"... We booked a July 30, 2021 cruise in early Dec of 2019. I booked a NRD because not only of the huge price difference but I had no thought of cancelling my British Isles cruise with Celebrity at the time. No option has been given yet and our final is due May 1st. which is a lot of $$'s for my suite and business class air. I'm just hoping a decision by X is done before that or at least give me the option to move my $900 deposit to a 2023 X cruise as I'm completely booked up with RCI for 2022.

I'm confused. Can't you cancel or move the cruise under the Cruise with Confidence program?

[torpeedo]

14 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Pfizer did a small trial with kids. Probably not nearly enough to allow kids to get the vaccine any time soon since the FDA has a history of being much more critical of giving EUA for kids vaccines.

I have a friends who's grandson was involved in this study.  He is around 12 and he entered the trial late January.  He received 2 vaccinations and he has been seen quite a few times during and in follow up.  They take his blood each time also.  He was thrilled because he received $120 each time!! LOL!  Any event what they have learned is that the vaccine was extremely effective with no negative effects, at least in his experience..  His father is an MD and he had no problems with his son participating in the safe study.  Maybe kids will be able to get the vaccine at some point soon.  

Edited April 6, 2021 by torpeedo

[smokeybandit]

1 minute ago, torpeedo said:

I have a friends who's grandson was involved in this study.  He is around 12 and he entered the trial late January.  He received 2 vaccinations and he has been seen quite a few times during and in follow up.  They take his blood each time also.  He was thrilled because he received $120 each time!! LOL!  Any event what they have learned is that the vaccine was extremely effective with no negative effects, at least in his experience..  His father is an MD and he had no problems with his son participating in the safe study.  Maybe kids will be able to get the vaccine at some point soon.  

The vaccine may be safe, but is it necessary? Barely anyone in the placebo group got covid (1.5%)

[Joseph2017China]

13 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

No Molly, just honestly aggravated at people sacrificing the kiddos when it’s not even needed.

How is it a sacrifice?  Kids have been in school all year now and playing sports and I did not see any one having a serious issue (no more serious than a flue outbreak)

[torpeedo]

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

The vaccine may be safe, but is it necessary? Barely anyone in the placebo group got covid (1.5%)

Well it may be necessary to sail, who knows.  Maybe the variants might impact children in the future, who knows! 

[smokeybandit]

5 minutes ago, torpeedo said:

Well it may be necessary to sail, who knows.  Maybe the variants might impact children in the future, who knows! 

 

The variants have largely been a bust. They've been here for six months and most states that have seen a lot of the variant didn't see a rise in cases.

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I'm confused. Can't you cancel or move the cruise under the Cruise with Confidence program?

Possibly...but their sail by date 2022 may apply. As final gets close I'll try to move my deposit to a 2023 cruise if Celebrity doesn't cancel this cruise.. Not going to "cancel" and lose $900.

As I said above.

[rockmom]

John Heald (Carnival) just went live on FB to let people know they are pulling the plug on June and extending final payments for July that will now be due end of May, while they sort out what might happen with July.  

[Ashland]

4 minutes ago, rockmom said:

John Heald (Carnival) just went live on FB to let people know they are pulling the plug on June and extending final payments for July that will now be due end of May, while they sort out what might happen with July.  

Hoping Celebrity does this as well.

[HMR74]

On 4/4/2021 at 11:35 AM, rjrpar said:

I doubt that very much

RCL has a cash position  of over 2 billion, close to 3 billion. that's 10 months worth. But they can only borrow so much . They really have to be a full strength by November so their peak season is good.  IMO

[HMR74]

9 hours ago, Ashland said:

Hoping Celebrity does this as well.

my cancellations were on NRD-because it was worth $900 per cruise to me, a 16% discount,  to take the gamble that, with info I had late December 2019, it would be on us if we cancelled before the final payment.

 

point 1) I knew before the final payment  in Aug 2020, that the embarkation and disembarkation ports were going to be closed (Sydney, Singapore and a few of the other in between ports).  I asked Celebrity if it could defer final payment in view of this (hoping they would cancel it )and it was denied so I chose to get the 900 per cruise FCC. A week after the final payment date, Celebrity cancelled my cruises. But they knew.

 

Point 2) once you make final payment the NRD is no longer in effect. Everybody is the same.

 

Point 3) I tried to do a lift and shift but we never got to the details as they told me there was no cruise like my 2 cruises, a year later because they were not offering  the same. So I was SOL. 

 

Point 4) IN December 2020 when new cruises were offered that we liked, and they fit in the pre May 5 time deadline,  we booked them. And the NRD was the only option. So we have no additional money out.

 

However, the NRD "discount" was 500 per cruise vs 900 per cruise, the price did go up by 30% and I lost some nice "use or lose" OBC as well as 1700 of refundable OBC.

 

So the bottom line is I feel like I have an option in the April and May 2022 cruises. It is what it is

 

If it goes AND its acceptable to me under the covid conditions, and I do not mind paying the higher cost (TBD) , we go. But I have to make my decision on my option before the final payment dates. When it comes down to it, we do have limited time and a nice cruise vacation is something to cherish. But there are limits and we each look at that differently.

 

But, it feels every time I ask something of Celebrity, the answer is  no.  Then I realize my balance sheet is better than theirs. Not in size, but i have more liquid assets than liabilities. Which None of the cruise lines can say. Much less many regular companies and banks.

And I'd bet most people here have better balance sheets than the cruise lines too.

 

Not much is "cut and dry" in all this.