Anybody relieved to cancel a cruise trip

[TKS]

I've been searching recently for 'our next cruise' (after a May, 2016 cruise to Alaska aboard Solstice). I'm having a hard time finding one that suits us both. So my 'problem' is not cancelling, but finding a product I'm excited about booking.

 

I wonder if part of my problem is boredom with cruising, the rapidly increasing costs vs. declining quality (according to many CC posts on multiple lines), my increasing age, or if the planning part is getting to me. Like several others here, I do all the planning. DH loves to get on the plane and take part, but isn't really interested until then. Stress? Well maybe, but I tend to plan a year, or more, in advance, and I enjoy the learning process which takes place during that planning phase, so the stress is pretty minor. The last cruise we took I was pretty unhappy with the overpopulation of cruise ships in ports (now, admittedly that was the Carribean in January - not my choice, a group cruise my husband really enjoyed), so maybe that one 'so-so' experience is still resonating. The Alaska cruise we booked has ended up with a total of 12 people joining us, so while it will be fun, guess who will be doing most of the planning? (That is definitely a source of stress!)

 

Anyway, at least right now, I seem to be having a hard time getting excited about ANY next cruise.

Edited September 21, 2015 by TKS

[Flafun888]

"DH loves to get on the plane and take part, but isn't really interested until then" Excuse me...are we married to the same man? ;)

 

I often fantasize about how wonderful it must be to have someone else do all the research, trip planning, logistics, not to mention the "contingency planning" (thinking through all the "what ifs" and being prepared for as many as possible.) Just give me the vacation dates and let me pack! My DH always says he'd be more than happy to do all the planning, but I'd just redo everything he planned anyway! (He's probably right - only because planning is NOT one of his strengths - the one wknd trip he planned as a surprise ended up costing more $$ for a lot less than I found.) :D

Edited September 21, 2015 by Flafun888

[Jane2357]

Next year we are considering Alaska, but I'm so confused. Don't think we'd visit there twice and want to do it right.

 

Much as I love planning our Caribbean cruises and excursions, Alaska really is overwhelming to me.

 

Take a look at our cruise! :D 5/27/16 Northbound on Millie from Vancouver to Seward. For that northbound try to book on the starboard side if you can or aft. We are doing a 6 night post cruise tour 7A - called the Great Heartland. It is a GREAT itin with nights in Seward, Anchorage, Talkeetna, Denali and Fairbanks.

 

We've got a very friendly roll call going! Join us!!!

 

The post tours (and pre) are booked together with your cruise - this is not something that gets added. So when you search - make sure you are clicking cruise tours.

[Jane2357]

We've had to cancel cruises for one reason or another :o and each and every time while I was sad that we weren't on the ship - if the circumstances were not right then it was for the best.

 

We booked a cruise on Dec. 2, 2014 for a Panama Canal cruise on April 2, 2017 :eek: - that is 852 days!!!!! Who knows what life can throw at you at any given point. I do attempt to not book and tie up a cabin unless I intend to go.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Jane2357

[Cruising Finn]

I think part of this planning and cancellation stress may be caused by the fact that Americans do not have so many vacation weeks during their young and active working years. I have heard that you have two weeks vacation from work in a year (unpaid?). In the northern Europe employees have 5 weeks paid vacation a year and you may use it also during the winter months, for example two weeks in the winter, which is quite common.

 

The travel culture is also therefore different. We have taken all our active and "see and explore the world" trips usually by the time we are 40 or 50. In USA you have to experience all those long trips during the retirement years and unfortunately the energy and physical condition may not be the same any more. Unexpected heath issues may also occur. Of course this is not a rule, but this is what I am sensing from this long discussion thread. None of my family or people I know do so long and stressful vacation journeys any more when they are 60-80 years of age, as I have seen American cruise passengers do.

 

To be honest, I could not believe my eyes when we were on a longer cruise for the first time. If some of the passengers were my elderly family, I would not allow them to travel any more. However I wish I could keep traveling for a long long time, I am now 44 :) .

[Texed]

I get "relieved" when I book a cruise. ;)

[hvsteve1]

We never cancelled a cruise but did have a really last minute cancellation of a land tour.

 

We had wanted to see Russia and originally were looking a a Viking River cruise. We actually booked it early but found the commuting from the boat into the city in notoriously bad traffic and warnings from Viking about the difficulty of keeping up with their groups, especially on the Golden Ring stops, we decided it might be too iffy for my wife who, while not disabled, has trouble doing a lot of walking. We then booked it as a total land tour, staying in five star hotels in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. We were to be picked up each day by a tour guide and driver for an individually customized tour. We even got a good price on business class air. It was a very pricey trip but, surprisingly, not all that much more than the cruise had we chosen a more upscale cabin.

 

My wife developed some health problems and only 48 hours before our flight, the doctor told her she could not travel.

 

When we booked the trip a year ahead, relations with Russia seemed to be getting warm and fuzzy. We would have been there when Russia went into the Ukrain and shot down that plane. Our opinion of Russia changed drastically and we have no desire to reschedule.

 

We had purchased travel insurance from our TA and the company refunded every dime without an argument. Due to the last minute cancellation, nothing had been refundable and it was significant money. All we lost was a few hundred dollars of non-refundable cheap airfare to get to our international flight in NY. The lesson from this is for all those who start posts with the question of needing insurance....BUY IT!

[BEAV]

About a month ago we booked and put down a deposit on what would have been our first Carnival cruise. :eek: :confused: :eek:

 

Over the next few days we read a bunch of Carnival reviews. :rolleyes:

 

Less than a week later we decided to cancel it. ;)

 

We've never been more relieved to cancel a cruise......:)

[chisoxfan]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on such a terribly stressful and challenging situation. :(

 

Unfortunately, this horribly unjust world dictates we all must endure difficult circumstances from time to time.

 

I'm sure people all over the world can relate to your plight, and they're hoping your troubling situation improves. ;)

 

Actually we have had more stressful situations including:

 

-what color the new Bentley should be

-if we provide a full time nanny for our new granddaughter or make the kids pay out of their trust fund

-whether to expand our summer home in the Hamptons or just tear down completely and rebuild

-whether to stay at the Ritz or St. George in Paris since the Imperial suite at the Ritz is occupied during our visit

-first class commercial or chartered jet

 

So yeah life is tough and thanks for caring.

[Adammara]

We booked 2 cruises for 2012 on Eclipse. The first one in May was one of the 'loud music' cruises, which really was not to our taste. We decided to swap our autumn cruise to Connie instead. What a mistake!, we booked from a Celebrity brochure, which failed to mention we had a restricted balcony, only suitable for limbo dancers!

 

We had many other issues on the cruise and it turned out to be the worst of our 39 cruises. We decided to take a sabbatical from cruising, and cancelled the following years 2 Eclipse cruises on our return home.

 

We enjoyed land based holidays for two years, and then decided to try Eclipse again and booked the Fjords cruise on Eclipse May 2015 to celebrate our Golden Wedding.

 

Travel insurance has been difficult to obtain since my wife had cancer, and we could only find one company that would cover us. Fate took a hand, and I had a health scare at Christmas, the doctor was not concerned, but the Travel Insurance company took a different view and cancelled our yearly travel insurance, so we had to cancel the planned cruise. They told me to try for cover again after 6 months, so I did, only to find that they had lowered their maximum age from 80 to 75, so that's cruising out for us!