CupcakeSusie

I’m so glad I posted here, thanks again for all of the great info. 

Again, thank you for the replies! I don’t know that cruises weren’t going to Isle of Pines yet and it changes everything. Really appreciate that info. I think we will have to wait to book because I don’t want to be bumped to another island when it’s one of our non negotiable. The other places are nice but not the favourite. Combined with Noumea being such a short stop I think this might not be the right one for us 😞 

I’m really welcome to suggestions - there are a few non negotiable s for us:

Must stop at Noumea

Must stop at Isle of Pines

Must be during school holiday 😞 (I’m a teacher)

We are looking at December-January 2024-2025.

Does anyone know of any cruises which tick the boxes for us? I was so excited, thinking I’d found it. But we really do need longer than 7 hours in Noumea. Thanks for any help you can throw our way. 

Ooohhhhh I just looked more closely and the cruise j was looking at doesn’t get in to Noumea until 2pm, then leaves at 9pm. That’s not long enough (imo) for Amadee Island which is our favourite Noumea shore excursion 😞 

Thoughts and experiences welcome. 

Thank you so much for these amazing, helpful responses. Really appreciated and very good in steering us to being ready to book!

Thank you so much! It would be the Luminosa, sailing from Brisbane. 
 

excellent tips, really appreciate it. I didn’t know it was Aud, that’s good to know! 

I haven’t been able to find a Celebrity or Royal cruise that suits the time we have available, but I’ve found a great deal on Carnival in a Cloud9 suite which ticks nearly all of our boxes. We are empty nesters, it will be school holiday time (so the Cloud9 being 18+ only will suit us) … is there anything we should take into account in making a decision? 
 

Thanks for any advice! 

49 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

I think you will be happy with your decision.  Did you see Coral Princess currently has 100 crew positive and 4 passengers since boarding on Sunday? 

 

 

 

I did! It cemented in my mind that we have made the right decision for now. There will be plenty of cruises in the future.

We may change our minds but at this stage we would be more comfortable waiting a bit longer to see how things play out. We are looking at a Celebrity cruise 12

months later which sounds good and hopefully they will have similar protections in place as Royal Caribbean.

Thanks for all of your posts, I have lots of great points to consider. Very much appreciated. I’ll keep you posted re a decision.

Hubby and I are looking out for a deal for the Quantum sailing to the South Pacific on December 28 because it suits our work schedules.

Does anyone think it’s a bit risky?

I’m one of those ‘fully vaccinated and boosted, but has pre-existing health conditions so *really* doesn’t want to catch Covid again’ people (it really knocked me very badly last time) and now that Royal Caribbean is talking about scrapping the pre-cruise test in the USA I’m a bit worried that it will happen here. But Australia is opening up to unvaccinated travellers soon, so I’m not sure if my concern is misplaced.

Add to that, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are not open to cruise ships yet.

I want to make up my mind so that I can jump on a deal as soon as I see it.
 

I’m pretty torn. Thoughts and opinions please? 

Hubby and I did day cruises around the Whitsundays over summer but it wasn’t the same 😞 

I am hoping the the NZ travel bubble lets us do Aus-NZ cruises soon. 

Chiming in - it took 6 months, multiple very long phone calls, and finally 2 hours on the line with me insisting I be transferred to a supervisor, for me to receive my refund from Celebrity. They’ve probably blacklisted me, but the feeling is mutual.  

On 12/14/2020 at 2:40 PM, NSWP said:

They are getting desperate for the $. If they stir the Government up too much they will incur their wrath and the ban will just keep on getting stretched.

 

Voyages to nowhere are designed for a particular class of person, booze cruises, not much social distancing or mask wearing would take place, drinking, dancing and god only knows what else.🤐

 

It is my view that no cruising happens until Covid19 vaccine is rolled out and covid vaccination be a requirement to book a cruise and/or embark. If it takes a year or two, them's the breaks, the safe breaks.

I agree with you NSWP. I think passengers will need a vax certificate to board. Personally I don’t have a problem with that, I can’t wait to get the jab. 

I know it’s an ethical minefield but I would also be happy to have a Covid test 2 days before boarding and then a rapid test the morning of boarding as well, just to prove I’m not infected. I know lots of other people would have a problem with it though. 

We made the decision to cancel our January 3rd cruise. Originally we said we would wait until October to make our final decision but I think things are quite clear. We said that we wouldn’t cruise unless a vaccine or cure was available, and I’m keen to be back in a ship when things are safe 😞 

On 7/24/2020 at 3:35 PM, MMDown Under said:

I'm so happy I travelled overseas most of my working life, as I feel the corona virus is going to effect future travel for some time, both here and overseas.  NT and northern Qld. are looking more inviting by the day.  

We took a fly-drive trip to NT last winter and I can highly recommend it as a place to travel. We loved each and every day we were there. 

13 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

They are dreaming if they think the virus will be under control in the US in two months. Especially in Florida where most of the Caribbean cruises depart from.

I was just reading that Florida recorded the largest single day increase in positive cases of any state since the beginning of the pandemic (15,299 people in 24 hours). Before this it was California with 11,694 recently, and previously it was New York with 11,571 in mid April.

These numbers are so scary.

On 6/30/2020 at 7:55 AM, Chiliburn said:

We stayed a night in Eden last night and we had a walk around the dock.

 I talked to and asked some of the blokes if the cruise season will happen.

They said it hasn’t be announced but it is definitely canceled .

This isn’t surprising at all, but it’s is still disappointing.
 

I think the higher ups probably know (and have told some staff) it is too risky at this stage, because researchers just don’t know enough about the virus to be able to resume operations.

Hubby and I have said from the start that we would cancel our January cruise unless a cure or vaccine was available, but I don’t think we will have a choice - I think each day it is becoming more and more

likely that they will cancel it for us 😞 

Yes we are going to wait until October to make a final decision (it’s when final payment is due). I’m such a planner though, this does not work well with my need to feel like things are being planned nice and neatly 😄 

Oh - and so I don’t indulge too much in a pity party, we have decided that if we can’t take the cruise we will drive up to the Great Barrier Reef for a week.

And if that doesn’t work, next July we’ll fly to the NT for a week then over to Cairns.

But I’ll still cry 😉 

I’m so reluctant to hit the ‘cancel’ button on my cruise but I really don’t think we’ll be going. Even if Celebrity don’t cancel, hubby and I have decided that without a cure/treatment or vaccine we won’t be going because it’s too risky. 
 

But I can’t bring myself to cancel it. 
 

What do you think our chances are? Be brutally honest - you might help me along haha.

January 3, South Pacific with Celebrity Solstice.

I will be in tears the day I hit that button. This is our dream cruise.

On 5/14/2020 at 10:15 PM, possum52 said:

It is only this week that some children have returned to school in the Netherlands. Families have been in lockdown so any data is not really accurate. It also says that because Covid 19 is so new research will have to continue on how it affects children. It seems as though there is new research every other day on its effects on children. 
 

Leigh

I think it will definitely take time for data to be collected re children because - as you said - it is such new research. I am watching it VERY closely.

Offering my own story as a teacher (unrelated to the quote above) - last week I had one student absent from my class. All other students were at school every day. We are back to school as usual with extra hygiene, hand washing and temperatures being taken before anyone steps foot in the door.
 

I work in a small private school (NSW) and we have had very few local cases with only one community transmission (colleague of one of the other cases) and they have all recovered. Thousands and thousands of tests in the past few weeks have shown zero new cases ... so we are feeling quite safe.

It would be different if we still had cases in the community, but for now we are comfortable having students at school. We are lucky to have the flexibility to make those decisions, being a small independent school. I know that a lot of my colleagues in the public school feel 100% opposite to me. I respect them completely, but can I say that the past week has been so full of joy and happiness! I love having my students back - I missed them during remote learning. It was hard.

I might be being pessimistic but every day I doubt more and more that we’ll be going on our cruise next January. 

We are holding off until October to make a decision re our January cruise. Hoping (not just for selfish reasons) that things are starting to settle by then. 

I’m not sure ScoMo thought that one through thoroughly. Just like he didn’t think through his advice for school teachers to just tell students to stay 1.5m apart so they follow social distancing rules. Good luck kindergarten teachers!