Are our cruising days over? (merged topics re: health and age restrictions)

[mimip]

52 minutes ago, Big Tiger Fan said:

Well, folks. We can always do what our Beloved Leader says and stop testing so many people. That way the number of people testing positive will drop. 
Problem solved!!

🙀

😷💕

[mimip]

7 minutes ago, Big Tiger Fan said:

I apologize for the last post. I just saw the posted warning about political statements. The Devil made me do it and I did not resist as I should have.

I won’t do it again...on CC.
 

😂🤣😅😆

[AF-1]

Doubt It;   my wife does escorted land travel with her sisters every two years.  They all rave about it.  Some companies really take care of everything and spoil the group.  So that is an option for anyone who wants a diversion from cruising.

[FlorenceItaly]

19 minutes ago, AF-1 said:

Doubt It;   my wife does escorted land travel with her sisters every two years.  They all rave about it.  Some companies really take care of everything and spoil the group.  So that is an option for anyone who wants a diversion from cruising.

Which company do they use?  Thank you.

[AF-1]

2 hours ago, FlorenceItaly said:

Which company do they use?  Thank you.

gate1

[MissP22]

6 hours ago, Big Tiger Fan said:

I apologize for the last post. I just saw the posted warning about political statements. The Devil made me do it and I did not resist as I should have.

I won’t do it again...on CC.
 

You can always just say it yourself & no one would complain. 😁

[Roger88]

6 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Doubt It;   my wife does escorted land travel with her sisters every two years.  They all rave about it.  Some companies really take care of everything and spoil the group.  So that is an option for anyone who wants a diversion from cruising.

Diversity during cruising is very important. It would be super boring if cruising was only about cruising. I mean sometimes you want to have some action both on aboard and outside the board of the ship. Go somewhere, stay somewhere for a night and then return back to your favorite ship 

[caribill]

17 hours ago, FlorenceItaly said:

Which company do they use?  Thank you.

 

14 hours ago, AF-1 said:

gate1

 

We have used Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT).

 

They limit each group to 16 people. Pre-trip and post-trip optional extensions are limited to 8 people. Being in a small group makes a big difference.

[AF-1]

Caribill;  wow that is a small group

[loge23]

On 7/11/2020 at 12:39 PM, Elevatorman said:

We feel as though we experienced the “golden age “ of cruising, the near future at least the next 4 or 5 years won’t be the cruising we knew.  We don’t think the ships handled norovirus outbreaks well let alone coronavirus. From what I’ve read in press releases buffets aren’t figured out yet, having pax seated and handed menus or digital menus and having servers bring you the food, is an option they are considering. The biggest hurdle seems to be the elevators and how to keep people safe in a small space, without everyone crammed in. The boarding and debarking too. It’s a challenge all the way around. 

Good point about the norovirus, which cruise lines and cruisers have apparently learned to live with, as unsettling an outcome as that is. Frankly, we never should have accepted that outcome, but we did. We were happy and relieved to exit our last extended cruise without any shipboard maladies, although the ambulances (plural) still met the cruise ship upon our arrival. There have been too many trips that left one or both of us with a persistent cough, fever, or intestinal bug whilst onboard.

That brings up our current virus crisis and acute vulnerability of cruise travel to these outbreaks.  

The elephant in the ICU here is the probability of more pandemics after COVID-19. Whether it's due to climate change, over-population, lower personal hygiene standards, or etc. - I don't think we've seen the last of the unprecedented viruses.  

As you noted, it's difficult to imagine right now a scenario that returns us to that golden age - it appears that that ship has sailed.

Already, I cringe when I see mass gatherings of people in old movies/TV shows - I can't even imagine what cruising will be like if and when it returns. I do yearn for a return to cruises, but it's becoming increasingly evident that what I know about cruising is not what I will see if we ever return. 

 

 

[npcl]

On 7/12/2020 at 9:32 AM, AF-1 said:

gate1

I will also endorse Gate1.  We have used them for land tours on multiple continents as well as their Danube River cruise.

 

They provide very good service at a very good price point.  We found their Danube River cruise to be as good as the Viking River Cruise at a price point about 35% less.  We found their land tours as good as the trip we did on Collette, but again at a lower price point.

 

We had actually booked an Antarctica Cruise with them (on a Hurtigruten ship) for this November at a lower price then we could get going directly with Hurtigruten, but of course, that Gate1 has canceled that trip.

[Roger88]

Cruising day will never be over my friends. This multi-billion industry that provides over a million jobs for citizen of third world countries will continue to make its way to the top of businesses to invest in. It provides for so many different fields. Sometimes when I think about it its amazing how say one company can help a whole country to give jobs to their citizens. 

[MissP22]

15 hours ago, Roger88 said:

Cruising day will never be over my friends. This multi-billion industry that provides over a million jobs for citizen of third world countries will continue to make its way to the top of businesses to invest in. It provides for so many different fields. Sometimes when I think about it its amazing how say one company can help a whole country to give jobs to their citizens. 

I really hope you're correct but unless there's a vaccine to totally eradicate this  virus, even one more cruise where an incident breaks out will finally end cruise ship travel for everyone. Looking at the news today it doesn't seem encouraging at all. 

Can the cruise industry continue to hold out without any source of income? 

 

I just read this interesting article after I posted.

Mystery as Argentine sailors infected with virus after 35 days at sea

https://news.yahoo.com/mystery-argentine-sailors-infected-virus-35-days-sea-035702418.html

Edited July 14, 2020 by MissP22

[AF-1]

MissP22;   that article is interesting;  that is quite a few sailors that were infected.

[AF-1]

npcl;  you are correct with pricing.  That company has very competitive pricing.

[Doubt It]

We, and our friends, have not cruised in years due to the constant downgrading of the product with increased prices. We went up to Oceania thinking we would get a much better product - Not. Those cruises were overhyped, overpriced with repeated cancellation of ports, and very arrogant on board staff and officers. Not again.

 

Moved on to escorted land tours. Have done Gate 1 as well as Globus. Globus seems to focus on North Americans and Aussies, so the experience is really tailored to what we would typically want to see. Globus was a 10/10 as well as Gate 1.

 

Our land tours beat the heck out of the cruises - what you saw, being able to eat in real restaurants with local food (we ate in a restaurant in Salzburg that had been serving food for over 1,000 years!), having the evenings, and some days and 1/2 days to explore on your own, top quality hotels......

 

It would take a miracle to get me on a cruise again because of the fakeness and insular nature of cruising in comparison to land travel. I admit that there are a few geographic circumstances where cruising makes sense, Panama Canal, Alaska, Norway, South America, but the rest of the world can be done via air and land travel.

 

None of our friends will consider a cruise anymore, all have stopped mailings from various lines etc.  These actions were before the virus.