jspitz1

I'm super annoyed about the switch too, but for us it's going from Royal Princess to Sapphire Princess.  We had a great cabin on Royal Princess for our 10th wedding anniversary for an Australian cruise September 2022, but because of the redeployment it's changed to Sapphire Princess.  I prefer bigger, newer ships and have not been on a Princess ship as large as Royal Princess, so I've cancelled our booking.  

Yes, I'm finding it really unsettling the cancelling and re-booking constantly.  Then when you do re-book the prices of hotels, airfares etc have gone up as you're booking them with short notice.  Our one week domestic trip we have had to re-book 3 times has gone up $3500 for the exact same holiday!  Normally I wouldn't be paying this and would just cancel, but I'm so desperate to get away!!!!!  

I can totally sympathise with you Cruisen Elf.  We are booked on a "trip of a lifetime" opposite to you.  We have a Caribbean cruise/California trip booked for next year in October and I'm wondering if we will be even allowed out of Oz by then.  I have just re-booked an Australian domestic trip for the third time due to constant lock downs in Victoria where we live.  Is hard to get excited about any trip at the moment for us, as it's just cancellation after cancellation.  

Thanks Cruisen Elf, seeing a lot of other people wondering the same thing as me has been helpful (but still super disappointed our cruise probably won't happen). 

Yes, we are still unable to leave the country, apart from going to New Zealand unfortunately.  Our cruise is from Brisbane to Sydney and then is doing other cruises around Australia and New Zealand until March 2022, I think.  I had hoped they would at least be doing cruises domestically and in NZ towards the end of the year, but who knows now.  I also have a cruise booked in the Caribbean October 2022 and I even wonder if that will happen as the government is talking about not opening our borders until mid next year at the earliest (and that date has been extended a couple of times already).   I am fully vaccinated and would love for our travel options to widen soon.  Hope you get to Australia in the future Roger88.  

Our cruise is only in Australia.  I had hoped they would do domestic cruises by the end of the year but that is looking more and more unlikely.  I spoke to Princess cruises today and they said they are trying to negotiate with the government but no further information yet.  

We are booked on the Royal Princess in November but I'm starting to feel like it's getting less and less likely to be sailing.  The Australian government has just extended the Australian cruise ship ban until September 17th and we are meant to be leaving on the 2nd November from Brisbane.  I imagine it will be almost impossible to get the ship here, ready to sail 6 weeks later,  if the government allows cruising after September 17th.  The cruises are all still showing on the Princess website but I'm wondering whether to book something else if it's unlikely to sail.  So disappointing if it's not happening-was really looking forward to this ship.  

We booked to go on Harmony of the seas in October 2022,  late last year.  I have been tracking the prices daily ever since and there have been a couple of small price drops since then,  which Royal Caribbean has adjusted the price for me.  The price that we paid last year has not changed more than $150AUD either way since we booked.  But today when I checked (just as the new cruise itinerary's have been announced) the price has gone up $800AUD for the same category balcony cabin.  Is anyone else finding prices have just increased-I'm glad we locked in the price last year if this is the case! 

Hoping you're all right, in that there will be cruising by the end of the year for us all.  It would so lovely to have something to look forward to after such a challenging 2020/2021.  I think the hardest thing during all this has been the uncertainty of everything and not being able to plan and having something nice to think about doing at the end of all this.  I am very encouraged that the U.S. are talking about herd immunity soon.  Australia is finally starting vaccinations from Monday and I'm praying this will be the answer to stopping the constant lockdowns/holiday & event cancellations here in Oz.  I started planning this big family Caribbean cruise trip 2 years ago (to do it before my oldest son starts high school) and am hoping like crazy it might finally happen in 2022.  Good wishes to you all-so comforting to chat to other people feeling equally sad and frustrated about not being able to cruise!!!!!

Thanks so much for your positive messages. I know this will pass and hopefully we,re all on the ocean again soon!

We have a November 2021 cruise within Australia and an October 2022 cruise on Harmony of the seas booked in the Caribbean and I wonder if either will sail?  We have always had a cruise to look forward to but today I'm feeling like there is no end in in sight for cancellations and travel outside Australia.  I have been working as a nurse through a difficult year of COVID, and feel fortunate that we never had the cases like the U.S./Europe, but now, even with the vaccine finally being rolled out in Australia next week, I wonder if our borders will open in the next 1-3 years?  We still have thousands of Australians unable to return home, so I can't imagine opening our borders for cruising is going to happen anytime soon.  I am grateful we are relatively safe from COVID in Australia, but still having a flat day.......