Bonaire Port Closed

[kbartges]

I am currently scheduled for the Equinox in October going to the ABC islands.  At this time, Bonaire port is closed and Aruba and Curaco are both raised to Level 4 travel advisory .  Anyone else hear this?

[jdvmd]

https://infobonaire.com/getting-to-bonaire/cruises/.

 

I know Aruba is a 4 now but had not heard about Curacao.

 

[Fouremco]

Bonaire has the lowest advisory level of the three and wants to keep it that way. ABC cruises will need adjustments for the near future.

[Oceangoer2]

15 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Bonaire has the lowest advisory level of the three and wants to keep it that way. ABC cruises will need adjustments for the near future.

I've been following the ports our ship will be visiting...most are 3 or 4 excluding St Maartin Dutch side;  with Canadian advisory to avoid cruise ship sailing still in place, and now the 14 day passenger restriction on any ship sailing to the US through international waters, Caribbean sailings may be in jeopardy for a while.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Oceangoer2

[PinkSandGirl]

Hi!  The cruise port is currently closed but when I looked about a month ago, there was only 1 sailing in August, which is still the same as of today so I thought maybe they weren't planning on cruise ships arriving now anyway.   There are cruise ships scheduled to arrive in September & October.  Bonaire currently has a mandatory negative test to arrive, even for vaccinated people.  It was 72 hours prior, now it's 48 hours.  Officials raised their own alert level to 2 the end of July, which has restrictions but not a total lockdown and they will assess as needed.  There is a travel bubble between the ABC's but the requirements have also recently changed.  

 

There are many questions and theories based on how other port openings, closures and restrictions are/have been handled but the answer to Bonaire is unknown at this time...as for the fall sailings.  So much can and will likely change from now until your cruise, my cruise, etc...

 

I have noticed on Celebrity protocols regarding the Caribbean islands, when they note if you can explore on your own or via ship "bubble" tours, Bonaire is not mentioned.  They mention Aruba & Curacao but not Bonaire.  Perhaps it's because the cruise port hasn't opened back up yet after the cruise ship lockdown and/or Celebrity ships aren't scheduled to go to Bonaire until September.   ???

 

I hope Bonaire is open as I am looking forward to it on my Celebrity ABC cruise, I mean it is the "B" after all.  😉  

 

🍹

Edited August 10, 2021 by PinkSandGirl

[Fouremco]

8 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I've been following the ports our ship will be visiting...most are 3 or 4 excluding St Maartin Dutch side;  with Canadian advisory to avoid cruise ship sailing still in place, and now the 14 day passenger restriction on any ship sailing to the US through international waters, Caribbean sailings may be in jeopardy for a while.

A flurry of speculation since this morning, but I'd let the dust settle. Clearly, every cruise out of the US enters international waters, and IMO the CDC has no intention of making every cruise ship take a 14-day stand down between sailings with passengers.

[Fouremco]

7 minutes ago, PinkSandGirl said:

I hope Bonaire is open as I am looking forward to it on my Celebrity ABC cruise, I mean it is the "B" after all.  😉 

Unfortunately, it's still closed to cruise ships and there is no indication that the restriction will be lifted any time soon. 😢

[PinkSandGirl]

11 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Unfortunately, it's still closed to cruise ships and there is no indication that the restriction will be lifted any time soon. 😢

I am being cautiously optimistic with Bonaire.  For my sailing, Grand Cayman was replaced with Nassau since Grand Cayman is closed until early 2022 so even though Bonaire is currently closed they don't have an "earliest date to be open" like Grand Cayman...that gives me hope they will open.  Rather than lock themselves into a date, they are leaving it open ended.  ???

 

🍹

Edited August 10, 2021 by PinkSandGirl

[smaheu11]

I have been in close contact with my tour company in Bonaire

They have assured me that the port is going to be open for our cruise ship being the first one

The arrival date is 9/2/2021. Fingers crossed this does not change but as far as today it will be open..

[Fouremco]

2 minutes ago, smaheu11 said:

I have been in close contact with my tour company in Bonaire

They have assured me that the port is going to be open for our cruise ship being the first one

The arrival date is 9/2/2021. Fingers crossed this does not change but as far as today it will be open..

Well, that's definitely good news! 👍

[Oceangoer2]

37 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

A flurry of speculation since this morning, but I'd let the dust settle. Clearly, every cruise out of the US enters international waters, and IMO the CDC has no intention of making every cruise ship take a 14-day stand down between sailings with passengers.

My concern is more that the new CDC dictum seems to relate to the ships sailing INTO US waters...that would cover the Silhouette sailing from Southampton Eng. across the Atlantic arriving FLL 11 days later.  That would most likely scupper my Nov. 12 cruise.  I see your point re the 14 day stand down in between sailings.

[Fouremco]

15 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

My concern is more that the new CDC dictum seems to relate to the ships sailing INTO US waters...that would cover the Silhouette sailing from Southampton Eng. across the Atlantic arriving FLL 11 days later.  That would most likely scupper my Nov. 12 cruise.  I see your point re the 14 day stand down in between sailings.

So many possibilities. Cancel the TA and slowly deadhead back to the US to meet the requirement, or cancel a couple of November cruises? I wonder which would result in more booking revenue being lost.

 

Yes, sailings INTO US waters, but all Caribbean, Alaskan and Canada/New England cruises sail INTO US waters having first sailed out.

 

We decided to L&S our next booking to March 2022, in the hope that by time final payment was due in December, these types of issues would have been resolved. The longer we go, the less I'm confident that will be the case. 

[Oceangoer2]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

So many possibilities. Cancel the TA and slowly deadhead back to the US to meet the requirement, or cancel a couple of November cruises? I wonder which would result in more booking revenue being lost.

 

Yes, sailings INTO US waters, but all Caribbean, Alaskan and Canada/New England cruises sail INTO US waters having first sailed out.

 

We decided to L&S our next booking to March 2022, in the hope that by time final payment was due in December, these types of issues would have been resolved. The longer we go, the less I'm confident that will be the case. 

Did you L&S to next March, or was that a corresponding date in 2021 to 2022?  I think we'll cancel the Nov. cruise, or L&S if that's what it's called, to our existing June 2022 cruise if that's allowable.  Or just wait for them to cancel?

[Fouremco]

2 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Did you L&S to next March, or was that a corresponding date in 2021 to 2022?  I think we'll cancel the Nov. cruise, or L&S if that's what it's called, to our existing June 2022 cruise if that's allowable.  Or just wait for them to cancel?

We had a March 2021 cruise booked a year earlier, before anyone knew how long cruising would be effected.. Then when they first announced the L&S program last year, we found the identical cruise in March 2022 and immediately did the L&S, keeping all of the original perks and pricing.

 

I've not kept track of the L&S program and any subsequent changes they might have made, but it previously wouldn't have been an option with the circumstances you are describing. There are other options, but I've not paid close enough attention to all of the changes and don't feel that it would be right to make suggestions right now.

[Oceangoer2]

deleted

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Oceangoer2

[Oceangoer2]

11 hours ago, Fouremco said:

I've not kept track of the L&S program and any subsequent changes they might have made, but it previously wouldn't have been an option with the circumstances you are describing. There are other options, but I've not paid close enough attention to all of the changes and don't feel that it would be right to make suggestions right now.

The simplest would be to cancel Nov. cruise now.  If we wait until X cancels, they might offer L&S to next Nov, which we're not interested in doing.  If it's a FCC or a refund, that would be applied to next June cruise.  With the variant virus emerging right now I think it's too iffy to cruise from Florida and to the ports even if the Nov. 12 cruise does sail.