Will the Jade make it to Africa?

[casofilia]

@mscdivina2016

 

I just checked the Suez schedule and even the Athens to Dubai transit is not confirmed. All other ships have a time slot, only 2 that don't is NCL and Seabourne cruise ships.

 

Interesting Steve.    I wonder if they ever had times.   If they did that would indicate a cancellation being expected.

 

Mike

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, casofilia said:

@mscdivina2016

 

I just checked the Suez schedule and even the Athens to Dubai transit is not confirmed. All other ships have a time slot, only 2 that don't is NCL and Seabourne cruise ships.

 

Interesting Steve.    I wonder if they ever had times.   If they did that would indicate a cancellation being expected.

 

Mike

 

[Lvntrvl]

Final payment for the Athens - Dubai precursor cruise is this week and NCL is still showing these itineraries for sale. I really expected either a cancellation or an updated itinerary by now.

[mscdivina2016]

2 hours ago, Lvntrvl said:

Final payment for the Athens - Dubai precursor cruise is this week and NCL is still showing these itineraries for sale. I really expected either a cancellation or an updated itinerary by now.

It's frustrating.

All of South Africa is closed to cruise ships due to the lockdown.

 It's currently at level 3.

 Even at level 1 cruise ships are still not allowed.

The ministry must declare Covid gone.

I feel sorry for those who booked the 7 day prior. Final was a few days ago.

 I understand that once they cancel, they loose 10,000 bookings.

Steve

[disneykins]

I think the  cruise will definitely be cancelled but not until after final payment on the Dubai to Capetown  cruise passes. I know they'll have to give out a lot of FCC but they will have that cash that they still need to "stay afloat". I dont think the cruise restart is as robust as we all hoped. No secret info but they're still only sailing half a fleet at half capacity.

I wont give them $10,000 in final payments next week for these possible itineraries. Instead I'll cancel and use the money on some last minute cruises closer to home.

Tony

[casofilia]

Interesting is that, here in New Zealand, they are now offering 4 Jade cruises in November and December each with an extra offer.  $250 off!!

 

FYI the Final Payment date for the Athens Round trip is Oct 8th, for the Athens-Dubai 18th Oct and for Dubai-Cape Town 3rd Nov.

Edited September 12, 2021 by casofilia

[Lvntrvl]

Interesting. The final payment dates in the US are different from NZ. Our final payment date for Dubai - Cape Town is 10/4.

[casofilia]

@Lvntrvl

 

I had actually queried "our" dates with my PCC in Sydney and he stated that each region can set many of its own details and that Final Payment Dates is one they set much later than others.

 

Mike

[Huntingdon1701]

As of 17th Sept, they're still expecting her to sail. I was told I could switch to another cruise, along with all the FCC and credits applied to the cruise, up until the final payment date (minus the UK's loss of deposit). 

 

They also offered an upgrade from inside to mid-ship balcony for an extra £50, so I took that. 😄

[aussie cruzer]

No chance...

[Huntingdon1701]

Does feel unlikely. Although specualtion in the UK is growing that South Africa will be taken off our red list, meaning we can travel there. The difficulty is all the intervening ports Jade would have to call at on the way out there. 

[casofilia]

@Huntingdon1701

 

The difficulty is all the intervening ports Jade would have to call at on the way out there. 

 

We were on the ill-fated Spirit cruise doing that run in 2020 and we only stopped once, to take on some supplies and to do a Medivac.   If NCL knew it would be a run straight from Muscat to Port Elizabeth they could make sure that they had supplies and fuel on board to do that.

 

I wouldn't like to do that cruise again without visiting the islands and I am sure lots of people feel the same.   Expect a lot of cancellations it they decided to do that.

[Huntingdon1701]

Yeah, I meant 'have to' from the point of not refunding passengers. I can't imagine many staying on board for a straight run.  

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

Yeah, I meant 'have to' from the point of not refunding passengers. I can't imagine many staying on board for a straight run.  

South Africa is closed to cruise ships indefinitely.  SA is in level 2 lockdown. Even at level 1, cruise ships are not allowed.

Steve

[PE851]

According to our South African travel agents, our ports are open. We are under level 2 restrictions and even under level 3, you could travel wherever you wanted to go by land. With summer coming and vaccinations increasing, we hope that out covid numbers will come down. I have just done a business trip from Port Elizabeth to Mossel Bay by road and there were absolutely no problems at all. 

[mscdivina2016]

8 minutes ago, PE851 said:

According to our South African travel agents, our ports are open. We are under level 2 restrictions and even under level 3, you could travel wherever you wanted to go by land. With summer coming and vaccinations increasing, we hope that out covid numbers will come down. I have just done a business trip from Port Elizabeth to Mossel Bay by road and there were absolutely no problems at all. 

That seems odd?  Your government states different. Please have the travel agents advise.

 

This is from the Government of South Africa's website, not a news outlet.

https://www.gov.za/covid-19/individuals-and-households/travel-coronavirus-covid-19

 

These are the level 1 restrictions and here is how it applies to us...   

Passenger ships visiting South African sea port

Passenger ships for international leisure purposes are prohibited from disembarking any international passengers at any South African sea port.

 

Keep in mind SA is at level 2 now as of 9/13/2021.   So even when the level gets down to 1, cruise ships are still not allowed.

 

Here is the level 3 to level 2 drop down rules    as of 9/13/2021

https://www.gov.za/coronavirus/alert-level-2

 

Table 3: Adjusted alert level 2

All persons who are able to work from home must do so. However, persons will be permitted to perform any type of work outside the home, and to travel to and from work and for work purposes under Adjusted Alert Level 2, subject to-
(a) strict adherence with health protocols and social distancing measures;
(b) the return to work being phased-in in order to put in place measures to make the workplace COVID-19 ready;
(c) the return to work being done in a manner that avoids and reduces risks of infection; and
(d) the work not being listed under the specific economic exclusions in this Table.

SPECIFIC EXCLUSIONS
1. Night clubs.
2. After-funeral and cremation  gatherings including "after-tears" gatherings.
3. Night clubs.
4. The land borders that remain closed, excluding the land borders contemplated in regulation 59(1).
5. Passenger ships for international leisure purposes, excluding small crafts, in line with health and border law enforcement
6. Attendance of any sporting event by spectators.
7. Exclusions relating to public transport services as set out in the directions issued by the Cabinet member responsible for transport.
8. Exclusions relating to education services as set out in the directions issued by the Cabinet members responsible for education.

 

So with the above, the Jade cannot go to Cape Town, or any other port in SA. This in turn means the next cruises that were doing South Africa until the return to Athens in February cannot happen. 

 Since the lowest level of 1 excludes ships it will take the ministry to convene and remove all covid restrictions as a full return to normal. In the next couple months the outlook of that seems bleak.

 

Steve

[PE851]

12 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

That seems odd?  Your government states different. Please have the travel agents advise.

 

This is from the Government of South Africa's website, not a news outlet.

https://www.gov.za/covid-19/individuals-and-households/travel-coronavirus-covid-19

 

These are the level 1 restrictions and here is how it applies to us...   

Passenger ships visiting South African sea port

Passenger ships for international leisure purposes are prohibited from disembarking any international passengers at any South African sea port.

 

Keep in mind SA is at level 2 now as of 9/13/2021.   So even when the level gets down to 1, cruise ships are still not allowed.

 

Here is the level 3 to level 2 drop down rules    as of 9/13/2021

https://www.gov.za/coronavirus/alert-level-2

 

Table 3: Adjusted alert level 2

All persons who are able to work from home must do so. However, persons will be permitted to perform any type of work outside the home, and to travel to and from work and for work purposes under Adjusted Alert Level 2, subject to-
(a) strict adherence with health protocols and social distancing measures;
(b) the return to work being phased-in in order to put in place measures to make the workplace COVID-19 ready;
(c) the return to work being done in a manner that avoids and reduces risks of infection; and
(d) the work not being listed under the specific economic exclusions in this Table.

SPECIFIC EXCLUSIONS
1. Night clubs.
2. After-funeral and cremation  gatherings including "after-tears" gatherings.
3. Night clubs.
4. The land borders that remain closed, excluding the land borders contemplated in regulation 59(1).
5. Passenger ships for international leisure purposes, excluding small crafts, in line with health and border law enforcement
6. Attendance of any sporting event by spectators.
7. Exclusions relating to public transport services as set out in the directions issued by the Cabinet member responsible for transport.
8. Exclusions relating to education services as set out in the directions issued by the Cabinet members responsible for education.

 

So with the above, the Jade cannot go to Cape Town, or any other port in SA. This in turn means the next cruises that were doing South Africa until the return to Athens in February cannot happen. 

 Since the lowest level of 1 excludes ships it will take the ministry to convene and remove all covid restrictions as a full return to normal. In the next couple months the outlook of that seems bleak.

 

Steve

Extremely odd. I will contact them in the morning. Our fares are fully paid!

[mscdivina2016]

10 minutes ago, PE851 said:

Extremely odd. I will contact them in the morning. Our fares are fully paid!

They just need to have you not cancel until after final payment because they get paid their commission regardless if the cruise line cancels.

Steve

[casofilia]

@mscdivina2016

 

When are the "Final Payment" dates for the Athens-Dubai and Dubai-Cape Town cruises in the American website?   It is no use me looking in NZ as those here are much later than yours.   Can anyone give us the same information for other regions; UK/Europe?

Surely NCL will have to make a decision before the earliest "Final Payment" date anywhere on the world and that must be quite close.

As the departure from Athens to Dubai is 15th Nov, it is now past the 60 days for that one.

[mscdivina2016]

14 minutes ago, casofilia said:

@mscdivina2016

 

When are the "Final Payment" dates for the Athens-Dubai and Dubai-Cape Town cruises in the American website?   It is no use me looking in NZ as those here are much later than yours.   Can anyone give us the same information for other regions; UK/Europe?

Surely NCL will have to make a decision before the earliest "Final Payment" date anywhere on the world and that must be quite close.

As the departure from Athens to Dubai is 15th Nov, it is now past the 60 days for that one.

Hi Mike,

 Your correct it's 60 days and it's passed.

 I think the cruise will sail, not to South Africa, actually not even to the UAE. 

 I am 100 percent FCC and have it booked as one 36 day cruise.

Steve

[Huntingdon1701]

1 hour ago, casofilia said:

@mscdivina2016

 

When are the "Final Payment" dates for the Athens-Dubai and Dubai-Cape Town cruises in the American website?   It is no use me looking in NZ as those here are much later than yours.   Can anyone give us the same information for other regions; UK/Europe?

Surely NCL will have to make a decision before the earliest "Final Payment" date anywhere on the world and that must be quite close.

As the departure from Athens to Dubai is 15th Nov, it is now past the 60 days for that one.

 

The earliest date I've seen for final payment for that was 15 September, so just gone. I was honestly expecting to have heard about cancellations immediately before/after - but so far no-one's said anything. 

 

The South African government website is very clear about no cruise ships allowed even at alert level 1. So it's a bit puzzling at this point.

 

I'm debating putting a deposit down on an MSC cruise for the same period, although even there a few islands are on the do not travel list, so it gets very complicated. May end up sailing the Greek islands yet again. 😂

[casofilia]

@mscdivina2016

 

...have it booked as one 36 day cruise.

 

Hello Steve

 

You have Athens-Dubai-Cape Town booked as one cruise?   Be very careful.

 

Last year we had the Spirit cruises; Dubai-Cape Town and Cape Town-Singapathens booked as a single cruise.

We received NO information about changes to the Cape Town-Singapathens cruise from NCL Miami directly, we only got it from Cruise Critic or actually on board.   Because we had a single booking through Sydney we were not actually in the data base in Miami for the second leg.

It actually took us 6 months and hundreds of emails between us and Sydney before the refunds, FCC transfers and so on were sorted out.   Luckily I had an excellent PCC in Sydney who admitted she only stayed with NCL till it was sorted and left the company as soon as it was.

We did get help from someone in NCL's British office's legal department who was brought in after about 5 months and sorted it out quite quickly.

 

All the best

 

Mike

[Huntingdon1701]

2 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

 

 

So with the above, the Jade cannot go to Cape Town, or any other port in SA. This in turn means the next cruises that were doing South Africa until the return to Athens in February cannot happen. 

 Since the lowest level of 1 excludes ships it will take the ministry to convene and remove all covid restrictions as a full return to normal. In the next couple months the outlook of that seems bleak.

 

Steve

 

I suppose it is worth reflecting that both the UK and US had that sort of language in place, but both subsequently permitted very regulated cruising before the complete removal of other restrictions. South Africa could conceivably do the same, if their cases drop rapidly in Summer. But I would have expected cruise lines to need more advance certainty than that. 

[casofilia]

@Huntingdon1701

 

Even IF South Africa did open up would you still travel if you couldn't go to the islands?

[Lvntrvl]

Just called to cancel our 12/3/21 Dubai to Cape Town cruise.  Very sad 😪 as this is an amazing itinerary, but I am not willing to risk 18 days at sea given the current port restrictions along the route.  I was hoping to hear something from NCL prior to final payment date of the precursor cruise to Dubai, which did not happen and I am not interested in banking FCC. However, I would like to retain our 10% discount from our previously cancelled South American cruise. Unfortunately, contacting our PCC has again proven futile.  Last time I tried to call her it took a week to respond, so when it went to her voice mail I hung up and immediately contacted the main number.  I was informed that they could not assist me and was transferred back to... you guessed it ... her voice mail. Now I am both sad and frustrated.

 

I would like to thank everyone here for posting their thoughts and updates.  If she does sail as planned, you should have an amazing time. We will try again in the future.