Any recent cruisers notice less people due to virus?

[sdrocks]

Our b2b on Oasis Feb 9 - Feb 23rd we're at max or close to max capacity.  We enjoyed every minute. No illnesses that

we were aware of.  Did have an evacuation on the first week, but do not know why.  Apparently something other than

flu, etc.  

[ticketsunlimited]

4 Day 3/26 sailing on Brilliance has gone up over 300.00 per person for ocean view and 450.00 per person for balcony.  Thats almost double of what we paid 2 weeks ago.  Kinda blows my mind.

[hotsauce126]

It seems like so many are canceling because the chicken littles are much more vocal

[Scotty G]

My TA told me this week that future booking business is down significantly. He works at a large brick and mortar agency.

[cruiselvr04]

Future bookings may be down but just off the Enchantment today and it seemed full. I actually saw less people with cold/flu symptoms then usual.  We used lots of hand sanitizer and noted other people did too.

[Littleone15]

Currently on Symphony and have been told by a Guest services crew that it is a full ship. 

[ticketsunlimited]

Unless the Caribbean gets hit with this "novel Flu" I really think that RCCL is going to jack up the island cruises to make up for their overseas losses.  If that's the "safe haven" to vacation the ships will sail full and will be "mediterranean cruise  pricing" unfortunately.

[mac66]

The odds are pretty slim of contracting the Wu Flu if you don't go to places where people are infected.

 

We have three cruises booked for this year and two for next year.  Not considering canceling unless things get a lot worse.

[SG65CB]

Liberty of the Seas Feb 16 - there was a group on board of 80 people, one of them told us that 14 members of their group canceled.

 

Of course nobody on the ship had CV, meaning we were safer being on board than those 14 people were at home!

 

By the way that group brought their own band who played on the pool deck for everyone on the last sea day. 

 

 

[PhoenixCruiser]

We are on Harmony in 2 weeks with a large group. Almost all are considering canceling due to this virus scare. When you read these boards or call RCCL, they make it seem like nobody’s canceling. I find that hard to believe. Does anyone have recent experience that can comment on the numbers that may no be showing up? Thanks
 
 
 
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Hard to believe that a large part of your group would cancel, that is a lot of money to give Royal. I'm sure they would appreciate it, however [emoji16]

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[Merion_Mom]

There are not fewer people on my current Grandeur cruise.  But out of curiosity, I looked online at the next cruise.  It's a 12 night Southern Caribbean, which is VERY popular and always sells out well in advance.

 

I could have my choice of any number of cabins for that cruise if I wanted to stay on. 😮 

[The_Big_M]

Indeed. Cruise lines are also very good at filling last minute vacancies with e.g. travel industry and standby positions placed.

 

There's a distinction between the bookings being down, which relates to the future, and how full the ship is, which is the present. Another big distinction is domestic and international with international much more affected than domestic.

[vacationlover_mn]

Oasis seemed full last week 🙂. My friend tried to upgrade to a balcony upon embarkation, and they said non were available

[fred30]

We are not going to know if new bookings are declining because the cruise lines are not going to show their hand about demand.  I'm sure that would be the last thing they want people to think. 

 

Just from general conversations I hear a lot of people saying they are holding off making new plans about travel until they see how this pans out.

 

 

[JanNSteH]

Just got off of the Harmony this past Sunday.  Over by Guest Relations, there was a sign posted when we first boarded saying no upgrades were available as the ship was full.  There was lots of families sailing.  Not sure if some schools were on winter break but noticed lots of families onboard.

[Cruise4Twos]

On 3/2/2020 at 10:48 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

 

I can tell you for a fact that future cruise bookings are down.  Ask any large travel agency.  Are they down short term..no, are the ships still sailing full in the Caribbean...yes however this has definitely impacted future bookings.

 

NCL for one has already come out and stated that they will not lower pricing because of this and I expect Royal to do the same.  There are already a lot more rates available to travel agents at discounted rates than there usually are.  Royals not about to drop prices drastically across the board very far into the future at this point.  If this continues another 6 months it could very well be a different story

NCL is offering more perks and onboard credit rather than lowering the prices.

[CruiseWendy]

On 3/2/2020 at 5:26 AM, springfire said:

Future bookings are down!   Many cruisers are not booking future cruises until everyone gets a handle on this situation.  

The future bookings desk was packed everyday on Harmony two weeks ago.  Busiest I’ve ever seen it.

[time4u2go]

Several large travel agent organizations are reporting significant drops in future bookings:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/travel/coronavirus-cruises-travel.html

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by time4u2go

[soremekun]

There are some great deals for Symphony of the Seas during spring break 2020!

 

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, CruiseWendy said:

The future bookings desk was packed everyday on Harmony two weeks ago.  Busiest I’ve ever seen it.

That is a minuscule amount of the overall business and is not indicative of the industry trend. 

[soremekun]

My Oasis final payment is April 26.  I'm holding off on final payment although the price drops probably won't appear until after final payment.

[The_Big_M]

8 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

That is a minuscule amount of the overall business and is not indicative of the industry trend. 

 

I'd be curious why it would be the busiest ever seen in any case.

 

It's not like there are massive bargains right now, and I can't imagine people are going coronavirus, health checks, cancelled cruises... let's book!

[mek]

On 3/2/2020 at 8:26 AM, springfire said:

Future bookings are down!   Many cruisers are not booking future cruises until everyone gets a handle on this situation.  

And I'm not one of them.  Booked a June cruise last week and if I had the time, I would hop on a cruise right now.

[Ourusualbeach]

33 minutes ago, soremekun said:

My Oasis final payment is April 26.  I'm holding off on final payment although the price drops probably won't appear until after final payment.

You can still get price drops even though you’ve paid your cruise in full.  It only matters what the actual final payment date is not whether you paid it early. 

[springfire]

23 minutes ago, mek said:

And I'm not one of them.  Booked a June cruise last week and if I had the time, I would hop on a cruise right now.

Good for you and anyone else who wishes to cruise.  It will be interesting to hear from others in the next few weeks to see if the ships are going out full for Spring Break.