HalifaxUKFirstTimers

I would be interested to know when it may become available to recreate the trip which I think we will be cancelling. 
 

I suspect more likely that it will be 2022 before we can look at this cruise again, once the schedules are back to normal.

For example - I am not sure Regal will get to the UK this summer and from what others have said regarding NZ, then probably not to Sydney this fall so the summer down under into 2021 as planned.

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

38 nights to Singapore (our end port) and I think another 14 to Sydney.

Think it is 18 Singapore to Sydney.

we are currently booked Singapore To Brisbane which is 16 days but as Steelers says, unlikely to happen this fall. 

Agree the age is irrelevant- health issues are the thing that will make you more vulnerable 

If it goes through, they are all in trouble. Mind you, I suspect that over the next few months, then we will all  be in a degree of trouble.

4 minutes ago, sunshine 229 said:

One of the stupidest suggestions I've heard. It just lets younger people cruise, pass around the virus, and then bring it home to all the older or immune compromised people in their home neighbourhood. Not to mention all the places they pass through on their way home. What idiots suggested this??

Agree - it is the cruise lines trying to find a way to keep their cruise liners going during the current situation. Can’t blame them for that but it sounds a daft idea as you highlight.

Maybe they should accept that there will be a period of pain for a period, mothball some ships and wait until the position has settled down. If governments say that large gathering of 1000 or more are banned then surely that means a cruise ship or a large holiday complex? 

29 minutes ago, Lauraa88 said:

Is there any point in people arguing about this? Let’s all just be nice to each other and use this thread to share useful information about princess ships & coronavirus. None of us are exactly experts on this (that I know of) 😆. It’s a difficult time for everyone at the moment and bickering won’t help. 

Totally agree Laura. It is a horrible situation for everybody who is either on a cruise ship such as the Grand (and others) and those who are thinking of cancelling a cruise and potentially losing money along with a holiday.

The situation is all very fluid and will continue to be so for a while yet. Meanwhile people are dying of the virus and that will have an impact on their loved ones.

At times like this, hard as it seems, there are actually more important things than getting  worked up about something we can’t control. People are losing their lives and I for one would rather stay alive and healthy than lose some money.

My take is that the Cruise Lines are in a no win situation. Clearly, they need to keep customers happy but also need to keep their cash flow positive in what must be difficult and testing times. 
 

They are faced with a perfect storm of having to cancel cruises with the resulting loss of income and also knowing that folk will not be as keen to book future cruises, Add to that the stock market’s collapse and easy to see why they would not want to jeopardize their future income.

Carnival are the biggest Cruise company and one hopes that they have the resources to ride this out but for sure it is going to be a difficult period and in the future we will probably see a reduction in ships.

one final point, as first time cruisers who have our first ever cruise booked for November, the current position is making me a little nervous to be honest.

Just a further thought from me based in some other comments. Agree that a cruise without any ports would not be enjoyable and the fact that you may not get off at the end!
 

We have until July to pay for our cruise although if I had to pay for a cruise right now, then I would take the hit on the money have have paid to our TA rather than have the potential for disruption when our 16 night cruise is just a part of an 4 week trip. 
 

 No one really knows right now how this is going to pan out and how the situation will look in a few months. 
 

Thoughts go out to all those who are directly affected and have lost loved ones.

The comment from the Chief Medical Officer does not entirely make sense. My immediate observation would be what are the staff going to do?  Going to make serving people a tad difficult I would say.

The cruise industry is going to have real problems if it is not careful. Princess have already found out, to their cost, that moving staff from ship to ship was not a great move.

There are a lot of people canceling cruises and whilst they will do whatever they can to mitigate this, saying that you must practice social distancing will not work on a ship!