Ship Relocation Points and New Itineraries?

[Georgia_Peaches]

Let's assume best case scenario for a minute and suppose that some cruising will resume in July....in the Caribbean, at least and maybe Alaska.  Currently, I can find only one ship with any Caribbean itineraries for late summer and that is the Equinox.  Not my favorite ship.  Apex has some Caribbean itineraries but not until November.  There may be others that I've missed.  Constellation is scheduled for dry dock in May.  Probably won't happen in May.  Just my guess....not that's she'd be in the Caribbean..  So what do you think Celebrity will do?  Bring more ships back to the Caribbean?   If so, which ones and to what embarkation ports?  I know this would be pure speculation (unless you have inside intel) but what are your thoughts?

Edited March 25, 2020 by Georgia_Peaches

[az_tchr]

If we use the timeline by the Surgeon General stated yesterday it will be 3 to 4 months before COVID is under control.  Then give it say a month with no cases and time to restart and get ships and crew ready.  That suggests cruises resuming in August at the earliest.

What I guess is important is it will require Covid19 be gone.  Could any cruiseline could risk another outbreak on board and no port will open if there is any risk of any onboard are infected?

 

 

[jelayne]

Unless the ports in Europe  open  there will be plenty of ships in the Caribbean

[Georgia_Peaches]

6 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Unless the ports in Europe  open  there will be plenty of ships in the Caribbean

That's my thinking too.  

[Georgia_Peaches]

12 minutes ago, az_tchr said:

If we use the timeline by the Surgeon General stated yesterday it will be 3 to 4 months before COVID is under control.  Then give it say a month with no cases and time to restart and get ships and crew ready.  That suggests cruises resuming in August at the earliest.

What I guess is important is it will require Covid19 be gone.  Could any cruiseline could risk another outbreak on board and no port will open if there is any risk of any onboard are infected?

 

 

Sounds reasonable.  But I'm guessing that Caribbean itineraries will be up and running by July.  I guess it could be August.  Certainly later for anything in Europe.

[kk99]

Here is a screenshot of the early Summit sailings with the changed itineraries in May-June 2020

 

[joeysmom220]

8 minutes ago, kk99 said:

Here is a screenshot of the early Summit sailings with the changed itineraries in May-June 2020

 

These are major changes!  How can they get away with that?  If I wanted to go to Bermuda or Nassau, that’s what I’d of booked. I booked Canada!!  A full refund should be offered-and not just FCC. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 minute ago, joeysmom220 said:

These are major changes!  How can they get away with that?  If I wanted to go to Bermuda or Nassau, that’s what I’d of booked. I booked Canada!!  A full refund should be offered-and not just FCC. 

I'm sure they are going to rely on the fine print which says that itineraries are subject to change at any time.  Doesn't make it right but that's my thought.  They are trying to do whatever they can to avoid having to refund more cruises.  

[Fouremco]

The Caribbean is several weeks later than the US and are only now starting to have confirmed cases of COVID-19. It's too early to know whether they will be spared a major outbreak or will be hit hard, but either way, there is a strong possibility that the islands will not be open for business for some months to come. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

Good point @Fouremco  I wasn't thinking about their number of infections or when they might peak...just ours.  

[Fouremco]

44 minutes ago, joeysmom220 said:

These are major changes!  How can they get away with that?  If I wanted to go to Bermuda or Nassau, that’s what I’d of booked. I booked Canada!!  A full refund should be offered-and not just FCC. 

I agree with you 100%. You might be interested in this thread:

 

 

[Wine-O]

45 minutes ago, joeysmom220 said:

These are major changes!  How can they get away with that?  If I wanted to go to Bermuda or Nassau, that’s what I’d of booked. I booked Canada!!  A full refund should be offered-and not just FCC. 

 

Probably not too late to cancel.  Canada closed its ports until July, so you can't go there.  Celebrity is providing an alternative.   🍷  

[az_tchr]

Cruisers come from many countries. All over the World. 

For cruising to resume there cannot be any Covid19. Anywhere!  Can you imagine the backlash and lawsuits if Covid19 recurred on another ship?

All ports in a geographic area must be reopened, borders opened and airline travel resumed.  How long after travel reopens can Celebrity reassemble crews?

Crummy cruises like the Canada cruises now to Bermuda or Bahamas won't work.

Can anyone see that happening soon? August?  September?  October?

 

[cruiserchuck]

I do not see any cruises departing by late May, especially from New Jersey, which is being hit hard by the virus.  

[Pushka]

Our Govt in Australia is preparing for a 6 months shut down. All our borders are closed indefinitely and so far we are behind USA in terms of rate of spread. There is no way the cruise line industry can even think of recommencing until September. If we have anyone who will actually want to cruise or who can now afford to.  Unemployment here projected in worse case to 15%. 

 

Re the Catch 22 thread - it will be interesting to see what cruiselines try to sell the Med cruises as, seeing as the Med is a hot spot right now. And there likely wont be any interest in non USA people travelling to the USA for quite some time.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Pushka

[az_tchr]

50 minutes ago, Pushka said:

Our Govt in Australia is preparing for a 6 months shut down. All our borders are closed indefinitely and so far we are behind USA in terms of rate of spread. There is no way the cruise line industry can even think of recommencing until September. If we have anyone who will actually want to cruise or who can now afford to.  Unemployment here projected in worse case to 15%. 

 

Re the Catch 22 thread - it will be interesting to see what cruiselines try to sell the Med cruises as, seeing as the Med is a hot spot right now. And there likely wont be any interest in non USA people travelling to the USA for quite some time.

Thanks for the Australia picture.  Would be hard to sell a Med cruise with closed borders.

Think some people should be grateful to be healthy and get most of their money either refunded or in credits.  FWIW we cancelled a 3 month trip to Europe with 2 cruises, 4 car rentals, 4 airline flights and some 30+ accommodations.  Beside the awful duty to cancel what we put together as a celebration of my DW being healthy again, we lost 580£ when Flybe went BK, 200£ in deposits on accomodations. Have lots of FCCs from Celebrity, United Airlines and a really neat B&B in the Orkneys.

Is it fair? Nope. But now is a time to hunker down and be safe.  Will plan to travel again AFTER this is over. Not until.

[Pushka]

8 minutes ago, az_tchr said:

Thanks for the Australia picture.  Would be hard to sell a Med cruise with closed borders.

Think some people should be grateful to be healthy and get most of their money either refunded or in credits.  FWIW we cancelled a 3 month trip to Europe with 2 cruises, 4 car rentals, 4 airline flights and some 30+ accommodations.  Beside the awful duty to cancel what we put together as a celebration of my DW being healthy again, we lost 580£ when Flybe went BK, 200£ in deposits on accomodations. Have lots of FCCs from Celebrity, United Airlines and a really neat B&B in the Orkneys.

Is it fair? Nope. But now is a time to hunker down and be safe.  Will plan to travel again AFTER this is over. Not until.

 

My annual goals have certainly been revised. To have all my family with me to be able to celebrate a happy Christmas (insert appropriate end of year commemoration).  Our 4 week med cruise is so unimportant and even irrelevant now. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Pushka

[paulh84]

At this point I would be very surprised if itinerary changes and ship redeployments didn’t effect cruises, even in the Caribbean, through next year at this time. This is going to be a huge test for cruise lines. 

[oneputt18]

15 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

 Currently, I can find only one ship with any Caribbean itineraries for late summer and that is the Equinox.  Not my favorite ship.  

Funny how opinions differ, Equinox is our favorite ship, we have sailed her 6 times. Always clean, great crew and friendly officers.

[Georgia_Peaches]

18 minutes ago, oneputt18 said:

Funny how opinions differ, Equinox is our favorite ship, we have sailed her 6 times. Always clean, great crew and friendly officers.

Lol, so true!  Let me say that we had a great time on her for sure!  It was our first Royal Suite experience and I was so excited by the fact that we had complimentary specialty dining as part of the package.  My disappointment was in the fact that Equinox doesn't have as many specialties as Silhouette and Reflection and cellar masters was a brew pub.  Now, all the S class ships are replacing Cellar Masters with the pub, but having the RS dining perk with fewer restaurants to choose from is what made me have that opinion.  All other things being equal, the ship was beautiful!

[mafig]

If most of the ships are in the Caribbean this summer and fall what happens in the event of a hurricane?

[Fouremco]

28 minutes ago, mafig said:

If most of the ships are in the Caribbean this summer and fall what happens in the event of a hurricane?

They can head for sheltered ports. For example, the very sheltered Bedford Basin in Halifax could hold all of them. During WWII, it was used as the gathering point for the North Atlantic convoys destined for Europe, the largest of which was 167 strong. The photo below shows only a small part of the Bedford Basin and one of the many convoys.

 

[ECCruise]

We have 10 cruises booked in the next 18 months or so and not sure we will be on any of them.  Wouldn't even think about getting on a ship until we are at zero new infections, which will likely be many months in the future.  Have less than zero interest in sailing the Caribbean at any time let alone in mid-summer, so no way we substitute that for European itineraries.  3 of them are crossings, so the deployments could deep six those along with the cruises that accompany them.

Can't believe that there is a chance that we will not be on a ship in the next 2 years.

[shipshape sam]

18 hours ago, az_tchr said:

If we use the timeline by the Surgeon General stated yesterday it will be 3 to 4 months before COVID is under control.  Then give it say a month with no cases and time to restart and get ships and crew ready.  That suggests cruises resuming in August at the earliest.

What I guess is important is it will require Covid19 be gone.  Could any cruiseline could risk another outbreak on board and no port will open if there is any risk of any onboard are infected?

 

 

A second outbreak would be a disaster.  I think you are right that they want to make sure Coronavirus is fully contained to the extent you can know.

[shipshape sam]

37 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

They can head for sheltered ports. For example, the very sheltered Bedford Basin in Halifax could hold all of them. During WWII, it was used as the gathering point for the North Atlantic convoys destined for Europe, the largest of which was 167 strong. The photo below shows only a small part of the Bedford Basin and one of the many convoys.

 

Pretty neat photo and great info!  Thanks!🙂