Mandalay1903

On 6/22/2021 at 2:38 AM, sambamama said:

It doesn't look good for the January 2022 Asia sailings. Why don't they just pull the plug on those too? My Noordam sailing is January 17th.I would rather they cancel now-do they really think things will be better a month later? 

Likewise for us on January 17th. Mid-January in Singapore for a restart of the Noordam seems odd to me. Same issue for restarting the Westerdam in Santiago on January 5th. I have low expectations for these itineraries happening as scheduled.

Hello Jacqui:

We're glad to have booked the 14-night Idyllic Greek Isles & Ancient Wonders collector cruise on the Eurodam departing Athens 8/22/2021. Looking forward to getting back abroad and aboard. I hope the imminent HAL restart keeps you very busy in your Bon Voyage duties!

Thanks,

Lee

No

Hi Jacqui:

Yesterday we booked the 28-day Southern Japan & Russia Collector cruise departing 3/27/2023 on the Westerdam. Would appreciate it if you'd add it to your list.

Thanks so much!

Lee

All else being equal, I'd prefer that vaccinations be required for cruise ship passengers and crew.

40 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

And to counteract the soreness in the vaccination arm.

What soreness?  😀 We had just finished our "safer at home" cocktail hour when our friends called about the vaccine availability.  😜

So happy to report that our friends called from our local grocery store pharmacy yesterday early evening to say that the pharmacy had a couple of available first dose vaccines due to appointment cancellations, if we could get down there in a few minutes. Even though we're retired but a ways from being 65, they took us in and gave us our shots with no wait. The County we live in is now offering vaccines to everyone 65 and over, health care workers, plus certain essential worker groups--food & agriculture, educators & childcare, and emergency services.

We probably would not have been eligible to receive the vaccine until, maybe, mid-April when our age group might be called. But, the pharmacist said had we not stepped in for these last minute doses just before their closing time they would have expired from being out of the freezer too long (overnight).

Now we'll shop for a nice bourbon, or some Guinness, to help celebrate the season with our friends...

Thank you!

Today we booked the 35-Day Australia Circumnavigation cruise on the Noordam departing November 12, 2022.  Please add me to your list.  Thank you!

Thanks for posting this information. Looking forward to seeing what they'll offer.

9 hours ago, cruzngal said:

Right now the window for booking airfare has just opened, so it's still early.  Our home airline, Delta, does not even have any offerings through HAL.  Not sure if more airlines are offered as time goes on, or if what is there at the beginning is what there is.

Delta flights are often offered through HAL Flight Ease in all classes of service.  I think the US to Australia air market is a little off right now because of the border closures, but as things open up I'd expect more flight options to arise. We're booked on Hawaiian Airlines, and Qantas was our next best option.  Good luck with getting things booked.

5 hours ago, zelker said:

I wouldn't be worried about buying air tickets quite yet.  Several Aussie friends have told us in the past couple of days that it's unlikely that OZ and NZ will open to international travel before 2022 - and that means even they can't travel. I would give that cruise way less than a 50-50 chance of sailing right now.

I agree with this comment, too. We're booked on this cruise, but based on what I'm reading these days I am doubtful that it will sail.

Nevertheless, we booked our Sydney air through HAL last week and since then the air prices for all flights have increased by almost 10%. As a matter of course, I check back with HAL on air prices regularly and usually get good price reductions along the way. When booking flexible fares through HAL there no cancellation or change costs until payments are due, so it pays to book early.

2 hours ago, KirkNC said:

Hope springs eternal.

...and these days we're living our lives vicariously by planning trips that will probably get cancelled... 😞

We re-booked our canceled 2021 Mediterranean cruise for a similar one in Sept/Oct 2022.  We're both in finance, too, and like hearing the bad news early. That said, we've been optimistic enough to have booked cruises (all non-US) hitting most months from November 2021 through October 2022--but not May 2022! (Maybe I shouldn't be replying to this thread... 😀) 

I think any one of our booked cruises has a better than 50/50 chance of sailing--with rule modifications (masks, vaccines, etc.)--except for November/December 2021 Australia. I think Australia's borders will still be closed at that time.

My Magic 8-Ball reply is hazy, too, but I think cruising involving international travel will be a bust in 2021. I think 2022 still has a fighting chance.

1 minute ago, kevingastreich said:

You sure it wasn't Covid?  It was a thing before it was officially a thing.  We took a Caribbean cruise in Feb and both got a bad case of the "Crud" too.  We now think it may have been Covid.

Yup. We got ourselves tested after the fact with "negative" as the result.

I'm OK if masks are required, just so the same rule is applied for everyone aboard.  I plan to wear a mask on planes and at the Main Stages or other crowded venues of my future cruises, whether required or not. Not just because of Covid. I'm tired of getting the "cruise crud" on our travels from so many people coughing as the trip progresses. We got a bad case of cruise crud last January after a Caribean cruise, before the Covid became an issue. Over the past year wearing masks and distancing we haven't been sick once, and I think the masks really helped.

13 hours ago, sppunk said:

The issue cruise lines will face is where to go. Many - many - countries aren’t letting cruises in this year at all imo and 2022 is skeptical for many. 
 

It’ll be the Caribbean, and that’s about it I think, that allows cruises before 2022. The virus isn’t going away this year. 

Last August (2020) after enduring several cancellations we felt optimistic and booked the November 2021 Australia Circumnavigation cruise. Now I feel much less than 50/50 that this will happen even though I expect we'll be vaccinated well before then. The Australian Health Minister (browsing through "health.au.gov/news/health-alerts") was talking in January 2021 about not allowing foreign travel, other than a possible regional bubble, until very late if at all in 2021.

We as travelers may get vaccinated and feel ready to go even though our country may be far from fully vaccinated (I'm referring mostly to the US with this comment). The destination countries may show much better numbers, but they will still be very careful about allowing incoming foreign travel this year.  At this point I think 2021 is going to be another bust, unless you're willing to try a 7-day Caribbean cruise.

Thank you so much!

Our May 2021 Mediterranean cruise on the Westerdam was cancelled when HAL made their pause-extension announcement on January 6, 2021. Today HAL issued our FCC for the deposits (FCDs) which we'd applied to that cruise. Our cancelled prepaid shore excursions were also refunded by HAL within three business days.  Getting the FCCs issued within three weeks is very good in my book. Great work by our PCC and the HAL back office.

Hi Jacqui,

Yesterday we booked the 40-day Grand South America & Antarctica Voyage cruise on the Volendam departing 1/3/2023.  Yikes! 2023 is two years from now...  Hope to take the side trip to Machu Picchu on this cruise.

Thanks for adding us to your list!

I hope this becomes the requirement.  Not only do I not want to get the virus, or unintentionally spread it, I selfishly want to significantly reduce the chance of someone contracting the virus and having the cruise halted early.  I also think that a fully-vaccinated cruise ship (or cruise line) would be much more likely to be welcomed into a foreign country, and being from the US that's where I am most interested in travel. A vaccine won't prevent 100% of the cases, but it significantly reduces the likelihood of spread.

In time when the pandemic is fully controlled, this rule could be relaxed.

I agree with @NCTribeFanand @Crazy For Cats, and use a spreadsheet for everything. I'm a retired accountant and travel a lot [pre-Covid]. I log all the payments, reservations, flights, confirmation numbers on a spreadsheet, and verify that all of the refunds/FCCs are received when due. Saves a lot of headaches.

Thank you!  😀

Hi Kazu,

We have also booked the 35-day Spitsbergen, Icelandic Fjords & North Cape Explorer collector cruise on the Volendam departing 6/12/2022.

Thanks so much for logging this!

9 minutes ago, bennybear said:

wishing you good luck next year.

Thanks for the wishes. We are looking forward to a land trip on or own booked in Scotland in August/Sept 2021, similar to the one we had to cancel for the same dates in 2020. Hopefully this can take place. Our next cruise is November/Oosterdam/Australia. Looking forward to that...we shall see. 

Good luck to you next year on the Westerdam.

I re-booked my May 2021 cruise on a September 2022 sailing of the Volendam. I read today in a separate CC thread that that Carnival Corp is now considering selling another four of their "less efficient" cruise ships. Sure hope Volendam isn't one of them...