Sailings being "Paused"

[jimgev]

I was looking into a Transatlantic cruise this November on the Nieuw Statendam. I got the basic informatin on the HAL website and then contacted my TA. She tried to get access to book the cruise but she was blocked. She called the HAL office and was told that this and some other cruises were being "paused" and were not available for bookings. My TA assumes that this has something to do with CDC restrictions. It is strange, however, that the cruise is still listed on the HAL website.

Anyone else encounter such a problem?

[Mary229]

Perhaps they are limiting capacity.  

[jimgev]

12 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Perhaps they are limiting capacity.  

The TA was told that the sailing itself was being paused.

 

[jimgev]

The transatlantic sailing has just been removed from the HAL website. It was there an hour ago.

[PoolSlider]

Does paused mean cancelled? 

[jimgev]

3 minutes ago, PoolSlider said:

Does paused mean cancelled? 

Good question. I am wondering the same thing.

 

[PoolSlider]

I can still get in to look at my October booking in the Med Sea but it does appear blocked for new bookings. I am assuming we will be cancelled. The ship is in the Bahamas still to obtain CDC approval. Probably want to redeploy to the Carib. Of course this is pure speculation right now.

[AKJonesy]

50 minutes ago, jimgev said:

I was looking into a Transatlantic cruise this November on the Nieuw Statendam. I got the basic informatin on the HAL website and then contacted my TA. She tried to get access to book the cruise but she was blocked. She called the HAL office and was told that this and some other cruises were being "paused" and were not available for bookings. My TA assumes that this has something to do with CDC restrictions. It is strange, however, that the cruise is still listed on the HAL website.

Anyone else encounter such a problem?

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6179/

Sailings have been adjusted for European cruises.  See news article. 

[colonialinnkeeper]

We are booked on Rotterdam in October and now I am wondering what the odds are of that cruise happening.

[leerathje]

This is the message from Seth Wayne on his Facebook page:

 

Good Morning, friends -- as much as I LOVE sharing good news, I've got to pass along the "not so good", too!

First up, Rotterdam. She will still be delivered at the end of July -- but will now be in "non-guest" operations until the Sept. 26 cruise from Amsterdam. Plans for Rotterdam’s naming ceremony are being finalized. I'll continue our "Ramp up to Rotterdam" series on June 28th and pass along any other information I receive.

Meanwhile, we're still working with governments and port authorities across the world, and unfortunately are canceling the remainder of the 2021 European summer sailings aboard Nieuw Statendam and Volendam.

There are MANY options/offers to still cruise if you're booked on one of these sailings. Call your travel advisor, Personal Cruise Consultant or 877-724-5425 to find out more.

Remember, we're in this together and I'm always here to answer your questions.

[WisRiver]

We are booked on the October 20, 2021 transatlantic on the Rotterdam.  I hope it sails.

[kazu]

8 minutes ago, WisRiver said:

We are booked on the October 20, 2021 transatlantic on the Rotterdam.  I hope it sails.

 

I think it should be according to the HAL Blog\

 

 

 

[wdw1972]

Since Nieuw Statendam has been hovering in the Bahamas (with occasional trips into FL for provisions), and the rest of the Europe season is canceled, I would assume HAL's not going to bring the ship over there just to do a transatlantic back to FL.  My guess would be NS starts up with the caribbean season from Ft Lauderdale, unless they tack on some earlier cruises from FL.  Of course, we don't know how it will play out with vaccinated vs unvaccinated & the FL governor's law preventing cruise ships from asking that question.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, PoolSlider said:

Does paused mean cancelled? 

By definition, paused would mean temporarily. But we all have seen how temporary can become permanent.

[dockman]

Does anyone have any info on the Asian sailings of October 11, Oct 25, or Nov 8 sailings of the Noordam....they all seem to have tons of cabins still available.

 

What are the odds they will all be cancelled?  Japan seems way behind on covid shots and there also seem to still be lots of covid problems with Hong Kong, Thailand, Viet Nam and the Philippines.

[KirkNC]

Only 6% of the world is fully vaccinated.  I suspect that number drops a lot if you back out the US and UK which are both around 43%.  Bottom line is it will take a while, possibly a long while before the world gets caught up with the US.

[Lido deck main]

We are supposed to be on Volendam for Grand S.A. on January 4th, 2022, if it goes I guess it might be on the Eurodam.

[HAL4NOW]

3 hours ago, PoolSlider said:

Does paused mean cancelled? 

It has meant that, so far, for four cruises we booked with HAL that were paused. 

[Vict0riann]

I imagine they are learning that it is going to be really difficult to get their staffing levels back to where they once were.  It will be more efficient for them to have one ship cruising, fully staffed (and passengered!) than three that are  only partially filled.

[StLouisCruisers]

12 minutes ago, Lido deck main said:

We are supposed to be on Volendam for Grand S.A. on January 4th, 2022, if it goes I guess it might be on the Eurodam.

 

Why do you think they will substitute the Eurodam for the Grand S.A.?  Just curious.  We are booked on that cruise too.

[ATC]

If when you first go on the HAL site you hit Plan+Find a cruise it shows the quantity of cruises available.

It had been 594-5 for several days. This afternoon it shows 559.

[Lido deck main]

6 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

Why do you think they will substitute the Eurodam for the Grand S.A.?  Just curious.  We are booked on that cruise too.

Volendam is not doing the T.A. this fall, we could be on Westerdam. Zuiderdam, or N.A.  those are the ships that are here.  The Eurodam is now doing the T.A so that is why I thought it might be Eurodam.

[StLouisCruisers]

5 minutes ago, Lido deck main said:

Volendam is not doing the T.A. this fall, we could be on Westerdam. Zuiderdam, or N.A.  those are the ships that are here.  The Eurodam is now doing the T.A so that is why I thought it might be Eurodam.

 

Thank you for your reply.  It sure is hard to keep up with all the changes going on!  I'll be glad when our lives get back to normal and cruising is included in that.

[DaveOKC]

We are scheduled for the NS in Dec and given the shortened Europe season she was scheduled for, I sort of expected that to be cancelled, for purely economic reasons.  I just hope that she starts the Caribbean season in Nov.

 

[kazu]

9 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

I imagine they are learning that it is going to be really difficult to get their staffing levels back to where they once were.  It will be more efficient for them to have one ship cruising, fully staffed (and passengered!) than three that are  only partially filled.

 

I suspect you are right on the staffing Ann along with the need to vaccinate and re-train but honestly, the Volendam just cancelled was not partially filled.  Everything was booked solid except for a couple of insides, Vistas and the PS.  Everything else was sold out.  It too me 6 months to get my cabin changed after they re-assigned us from the Zuiderdam.  Someone cancelled, thankfully and the minute I did that our category was sold out again.