Flying-Dragon

My partner and I were on the 8-20 June Alaskan cruise on QE.  As before, we each brought on 2 bottles of wine in our carry-on luggage, and used them only in our cabin.  There was no checking (though in many cases the port inspection of bags is done by port authorities who don't care about bottles).

We were pleased that we're not subjected to the "bottle police" and so we were happy to buy a Cunard 12-bottle wine package for use in the dining room.  If more cruise lines treated us civilly in this area, we would reward them too with more on-board purchasing.

We were on the 8 -20 June Alaska sailing this past month on QE, and they had open-toed slippers with logo in the cabin for both of us, tucked into the bathrobe pockets.

Yes, I am seeing that too.  I counted - 1,000 emails in two years, or an average of 1.4 per day.  It varies from one to three a day, and has been a complete turn-off.  I not only don't read them, but it tells me that they are obsessed with their bottom line.  We are Elite with them but don't see cruising with them any more.

6 minutes ago, Starstruckharper said:

Hello, 

 

I'll be going transatlantic this coming summer, and am curious about how many different outfits I should plan on bringing. 

 

My partner and I love formal nights, but we just bring a tuxedo and a sports jacket with dress pants for the other evenings.  Where we ring the changes is in the number of sets of cummerbunds and bow ties we bring along.  It allows us to look a little different each formal night (for 2 formals, we'd bring 2 sets) without taking up much space in the suitcase.

21 hours ago, 57eric said:

I see the same is true for the US.  What I'm unclear on is if this final payment schedule is available on existing bookings.  Does anyone know?

I just called Cunard and the agent said that there are no changes for my mid-June Alaskan which has a mid-February final payment date, but she thinks we'll see changes to the final payment date once we get into the New Year.

On 10/7/2021 at 8:58 AM, FlorenceItaly said:

Thank you for the update.  It seems we made the right decision last month in cancelling our HAL Feb 16, 2022 cruise.  We are vaccinated, and mask here when required, but, do not want to mask while on vacation.  Our refund was processed in 10 days.

In Feb 2021 we booked our first new cruise for June 2022 (Alaska), figuring that 16 months out was plenty for the pandemic to be over.  Wrong!  While things can change in the 4 months left before final payment, we are getting ready for having to cancel.

While we are both fully vaccinated and are accustomed to masking anytime we are indoors, for us there are two issues:  will we have to mask/distance etc  on the ship, in which case it is not a holiday or relaxing - we can do that for free downtown in our own city.  The other item, for us, is the destination itself and the high infection and case rate - not fun for going ashore.

We're prepared to sit it out and keep ourselves safe for now.

On 6/17/2021 at 6:05 PM, tuolumne couple said:

We are happy with whatever, however, in 2012, when this pic was taken, we felt like smugglers. On a 16 night Caribbean, and we celebrated like pirates and generously. Now of course we do not need to carry on that much any longer, but then, it was so worth it to have wine on our balcony pre- dinner. Anyone else carry on more than a case of wine back in the day?

In 2009 on a Westerdam Panama cruise, we carried on 16 bottles of wine in a suitcase bought for the purpose.  I had worked out the maximum weight, but then had to lift it onto the baggage belt for the security check.  While the wine was okay and legal, my back wasn't for three days afterwards!  🙂

22 minutes ago, rucrazy said:

My husband and I are on the Zuiderdam October 3- November 17 round trip San Diego.. 45 day South Pacific adventure!

Sounds fabulous.  The two of us did a trans-Pacific a few years ago and loved it - key memory, the infinity pool at the Bora Bora Yacht Club with our ship in the background.

2 hours ago, rucrazy said:

That is our position as well .. Our next adventure also begins October 2022

My partner and I will be on the Nieuw Statendam from Quebec to Fort Lauderdale, 8 - 22 October 2022.  Which cruise is yours?

I got it yesterday and replied to it.  I was impressed that they asked the very questions that have been going through my own mind as we plan for future cruises.  

We are 3-Star Mariners, and are booked with HAL in October 2022.  We will cancel by final payment time if we're still having to mask, distance, temperature check, etc, because we want cruises to be relaxing and low-stress.  

We can afford to wait until "the coast is clear", but we think mid-2022 should be well beyond Covid concerns, and so we've also booked a June 2022 Cunard cruise.

6 hours ago, aliaschief said:

Do you think the fire boats will welcome us with spray? 😁🛳

 

 

But it will be sanitizer, not water.

2 hours ago, john2003 said:

There are reasons why sometimes non-elected officials are granted certain powers. Probably because politicians might not always act in our best interest. You could build a cheaper  bridge if the politicians were the structural engineers. Would you drive on it? 

Please explain what I am missing.

 

There are lawmakers and there are regulators.  The politicians are the lawmakers, and the public service are the regulators.  That maintains consistency in applying the law. My background was aviation regulation, so I think health regulation and marine regulation similarly all fall to the public servants to carry out.  The politicians are at liberty to change the law because they have been given the electoral mandate, but they don't get to apply it, day to day.

On 10/31/2020 at 12:53 PM, K_e_short said:

 

The Canadian ports don't rely heavily on cruise tourists. There are enough people driving or flying to those places.

 

For 2019 in Vancouver, about 1 million passengers and over 800 million dollars to the local economy.  The difference in the number of people in town this year is very noticeable.  Cruise tourism is big here.

5 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Sorry but not everyone who cruises whatever their age want "bells and whistles" and climbing walls and theme parks on the top deck. We are all different and of the many TAs I have done with Cunard they always seem to be very popular either one way ...

I agree.  We cruise Celebrity, HAL and last year our first Cunard (QE Alaska).  We are in our 70s and have no interest in rock walls, water slides, and similar items - we steer clear of ships which have those.  There are specific cruise lines that serve that demographic, but our demographic is elegance, fine craftsmanship, good service, good food, and dressing smartly in the evenings.  I like that Cunard sees the importance of retaining its traditions, because not all cruise lines should be the same, since it's okay to have a different type of atmosphere.

53 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

On the Reflection they took part of the Sky Lounge away to add some suites.  I have not seen it affected on other ships on recent cruises, but have not sailed Edge class.  I'm sure others can add more info to this topic as of course I have not sailed all the ships recently.

When we took Infinity in 2016 for a Pacific Coastal, they had split off the port side of the Sky Lounge in the same way as Reflection.  I forget whether it was for suites or a children's area.  It makes the room lopsided IMHO, and on Reflection (2018 for me), the Elite happy hour no longer had enough space and had to be spread across all other bars.

We're finding that there are several issues that have us looking at late 2021 at the earliest or more likely 2022 for our next cruise.  

First is the risk of taking flights anywhere - currently 60-70 flights per month just here in our province with proven Covid cases on board, so until there's a vaccine we'll only consider ports we can drive to.  

Second is the lack of stability of schedules and fleets - too many ongoing cancellations, closed ports, sales of ships, juggling of cruise schedules etc..  After the length of time it took to get refunds this spring, we're not going to be paying any money to anyone with the current near-certainty that a booking will be cancelled.

Third is the progress of the virus - I don't think we'll see a proven vaccine and be able to see new cases dropping dramatically until summer 2021 at the earliest, so little point in our going cruising before then.  

Fourth is masking all day on board, not being able to explore ports on our own, and along with the questionable distancing possible in the dining room, theatre, pool deck etc., it does not make for a low-stress holiday, especially given the cost.

And finally, fifth, if we test positive at pier side, how do we get home again, and do we get a refund - no word from any cruise lines on that.

So, driving holidays for now, saving plenty while not cruising, and we're just patiently waiting.  Pandemics take a while to run their course.

13 hours ago, Boatdrill said:

Friends who cancelled a May cruise on March 31 have received their refunds and FCCs. They were told at the time of cancellation the refund may take up to 60 days. It took 67 days. 

 

I understand not wanting to give HAL more money at this time.

However refunds ARE being paid out.   

76 days and counting here from a 30 March Hal-initiated cancellation for April and May cruises.  Nothing yet.

45 minutes ago, Crazy For Cats said:

Cunard, another member of the Carnival family has cancelled more cruises.  All sailings have been cancelled for Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria up to November 1, and for Queen Elizabeth up to November 23.  

 

I wonder if HAL will eventually follow suit.  Certainly hope not since I have November and December cruises booked.

HAL's website is way out of date.  They have cruises still scheduled as early as September, and several ships leaving/arriving in Vancouver and Victoria, despite the fact that Canadian ports, for several weeks now,  have been closed to cruise ships until 31 October.

45 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

No,absolutely not .That would not be a vacation and would not be fun.

We're finding in Vancouver that we drive to quiet neighbourhoods for a walk, just to avoid the stress of passing people on the sidewalk who simply will not distance themselves.  There are too many places in a ship which can't allow for proper distancing, and we can do without that constant anxiety, especially when we're paying for the privilege.  We're not looking at cruising until 2022.

22 hours ago, cbr663 said:

We would not cruise with social distancing in place.  We all are experiencing social distancing in our own communities and it isn't enjoyable.  It isn't enjoyable to grocery shop and social distance. 

I'd love to know how one passes someone in a stateroom corridor staying 6 feet apart when the corridor is only 4 feet wide!  One way corridors perhaps?

On 5/29/2020 at 8:27 AM, KirkNC said:

I think the assumption that cruise ships are financial windfalls for a port is often incorrect.  Sure in the Carribean that maybe true but for many ports not so much.  You dump off a bunch of people, many go on excursions.  The rest buy a few trinkets and a few buy lunch.  Outside of being a guide, I don’t see how the ship actually leaves that much money when it leaves.  

Actually here in Vancouver they estimate about $2M per cruise ship in economic benefit.  Things like hotels, taxes and employment are included, not just souvenirs.  Here is a complete report done by the Port Authority - https://www.portvancouver.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2016-Port-of-Vancouver-Economic-Impact-Study.pdf

On 5/16/2020 at 6:03 AM, Doubt It said:

Flying - with the bull regarding Canadian airlines not giving refunds (I have joined the class action suit), I will not be patronizing Cdn airlines in the future either. If I need to fly, will drive to the USA and take a flight there just to screw the Cdn airlines and the anti consumer CTA.

Actually, on our recently cancelled two cruises, flights were with Delta, KLM and Air Transat, and none of them gave refunds, only future credit, time-limited.  It's not a purely Canadian problem.

14 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

A sound approach.  However, reviews written by early cruisers might need to be taken with a grain of salt.  They are most likely to be most strongly addicted - willing to accept whatever just to get on board a ship again - and possibly reluctant to acknowledge having made a mistake.

Yes, that's quite true.  Our plan is to check reviews for much of 2010 and not make a decision until near the end of the year.

Late 2021 was my choice since it was the closest to our thinking.  We will wait until spring 2021 before even thinking of another cruise, to give time for the virus cases to drop in most places, and to get past any second and third waves.  

About then we'll get a better read on the state of the cruise industry.  While Cunard should be safe with only 3 ships, many of the others will end up mothballing half their fleets, in my opinion, and their sailing schedules will be a lot different from what they are proposing right now, plus there may be areas of the world they will not be allowed to cruise to or which are still unsafe.  

Finally I want to read reviews from early cruisers to see what their reaction is to distancing protocols on board - what worked, what didn't, whether the experience was indeed relaxing and enjoyable, and of course whether there are any virus cases emerging with the opening up of cruising.

Our best guess is late 2021 and more likely 2022, but it's based on these reasons above.

4 hours ago, rafinmd said:

The other thing is I don't think cruising will be the same as it was in 2019 for a long time.  It's really too early to predict what changes there  will be (both for a transition and permanently) but life at home will not be the same either so I doubt if I'll ever say I won't go back until it's like it was in the old days.

 

I think you are quite right.  I found a useful Youtube post by Gary Bembridge which addressed some of my own thoughts and concerns.  The state of the virus in the places one wants to go to, whether there will be second and third waves, what the industry will look like in a year's time, what sailings they will even have compared to what is currently offered on their website, how it will feel to be on a ship where distancing is needed, and of course what changes to pricing will happen.  It's a good head's up.