Med cruise

[Agathabumble]

Hi, due to cruise on the Explorer in August, do you think now the 100 day rule has come into force that the ship will not come over to the med at all as it will be too late to start the season. Just wondering wether to pay the full payment in  a few weeks. Thank you

[Biker19]

8 minutes ago, Agathabumble said:

Hi, due to cruise on the Explorer in August, do you think now the 100 day rule has come into force that the ship will not come over to the med at all as it will be too late to start the season.

Not sure that rule has much affect on Med sailings - Explorer needs to go to Europe for a dry dock, so it will likely be there anyway.

[luckybecky]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Not sure that rule has much affect on Med sailings - Explorer needs to go to Europe for a dry dock, so it will likely be there anyway.

 

Explorer dry dock has been put "on hold" indefinitely.  Not sure it is going to happen this year at all. The ship is currently in Bonaire. She should have been in dry dock already in order to be ready for the summer season. 

 

Edited to say, one cruise tracker I checked said bonaire, but cruisemapper shows Explorer being off the coast of Florida. Either way, she is in the Western hemisphere and has not made her way to Europe for the dry dock. 

Edited April 11, 2020 by luckybecky

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, Agathabumble said:

Hi, due to cruise on the Explorer in August, do you think now the 100 day rule has come into force that the ship will not come over to the med at all as it will be too late to start the season. Just wondering wether to pay the full payment in  a few weeks. Thank you

Europe is very badly affected by the coronavirus with tens of thousands of deaths and hospitals overwhelmed.

We cancelled our Allure cruise from Barcelona in June 2 days ago before final payment.

My advice is keep away and take the RC cruise with confidence and get a FCC for any monies already paid and wait till next year.

Graham

[Billy Baltic]

There are so many unknowns. My guess at the moment is that the numbers will gradually reduce in Europe over the next month. Through economic necessity the restrictions will be lifted country by country. They will involve small changes at first. Depending on the numbers, other restrictions will be removed or old ones reinstated. I think there will be recreational travel at some stage over the summer but with social distancing.

We are due to be on Explorer in Sept. As it stands we don’t know if it’ll be in Europe, will it be in dry dock at that time and will RC have figured out controls that match the status of the virus at that time. I’m keeping my fingers crossed but prepared for alternatives. 

[lovemylab]

We have a cruise booked on the Explorer in October and I'm not optimistic that ships will be sailing in the Med this year.   Our plan is to cancel (we've already cancelled the purchases made through the cruise planner along with our precruise hotel).   

 

The situation in Italy is bad and I don't see how there will be cruises from there anytime soon.   Assuming you can even find ports to accept the ships.

 

 

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, luckybecky said:

Explorer dry dock has been put "on hold" indefinitely.  Not sure it is going to happen this year at all.

The Apmplification has been put on hold, the dry dock has to happen - pretty sure she can't sail without it. The only question is whether it happens as planned in Holland or some place else.

[LXA350]

If things will improve we will see most countries withn Europe to reduce restrictions in order to get back to daily life step by step as of May. Nevertheless one of the last things will likely be the opening up of borders and facilities such as ports to be opened for cruise ships. When you hear what certain countries are planing this summer such as Austria, the idea will be that summer holidays will be possible given the current status of the virus within the country but most likely within their own country.

 

Hence, it's very likely that we will not get a cruising season this year in Europe and probably in the US and globaly cruises will not start to operate before the autumn assuming numbers continue to go down and no new wave of increasing infections will occur. Besides that, simmilar as what we will see with the airlines once operations will restart the offering will be limited and be increaed step by step over time as demand rises. Hence i guess we will see various ships in the fleet out of service for a longer period maybe.

[sellwingri]

1 hour ago, lovemylab said:

We have a cruise booked on the Explorer in October and I'm not optimistic that ships will be sailing in the Med this year.   Our plan is to cancel (we've already cancelled the purchases made through the cruise planner along with our precruise hotel).   

 

The situation in Italy is bad and I don't see how there will be cruises from there anytime soon.   Assuming you can even find ports to accept the ships.

 

 

We’re also sailing on Explorer in October and feel comfortable that we’ll be going.  Italy is already ahead of the US in stopping the virus. 

[bobmacliberty]

We're on the Aug 30 Explorer cruise.  The current model for Italy shows deaths ending in about a month, with only single digit patients in hospital across the country at that point.  If that holds, it comes down to how quickly Italy wants to restore their economy to something closer to normal, when they would open their borders, and what restrictions they will have in place.  No one, probably including the Italian government, has a really good idea at this point (I'm sure they have several plans).  I'm 80-90% intellectually believing that our cruise will be cancelled.  Too many variables still in play and Italy will likely err on the side of being overly cautious.  I'm 10-20% emotionally hoping that, with 3 months for Italy to recover, my cruise will still happen and will be safe enough for us to cruise.  I'm not holding my breath.

[pyrateslife4me84]

You also have to ask yourself, “what kind of Europe do I want to see?” Italy has stated they are embarking on Phase 2 of 3 in their recovery. This will last 6-8 months, with international tourism certainly being among the lowest priorities. If you can even travel, sites will likely be closed and you may have to wear a mask. Social distancing will certainly persist for the rest of 2020. 
 

For us, we decided it was better to delay to summer 2021. By moving now, we were still able to get a stateroom to our liking on Harmony. I suspect as cancellations extend (and they surely will), more will move to a cruise next year, limiting availability. My wife and I work in education, and I teach in the summer in addition to the school year, so we can’t travel whenever we like. To get the dates we need, we moved now from Allure to Harmony. 

[Agathabumble]

Thank you everyone for all your replies, I'm now thinking it would probably be best to transfer the cruise to next summer but it is so much more expensive than the price we paid. If we postpone the cruise do we have to rebook immediatly or will we be offered a credit to apply at a later date? In the UK we don't have the option to take advantage of price drops so the price is locked in when we book.

[pyrateslife4me84]

5 minutes ago, Agathabumble said:

Thank you everyone for all your replies, I'm now thinking it would probably be best to transfer the cruise to next summer but it is so much more expensive than the price we paid. If we postpone the cruise do we have to rebook immediatly or will we be offered a credit to apply at a later date? In the UK we don't have the option to take advantage of price drops so the price is locked in when we book.

You can wait to book. 

[grapau27]

23 minutes ago, Agathabumble said:

Thank you everyone for all your replies, I'm now thinking it would probably be best to transfer the cruise to next summer but it is so much more expensive than the price we paid. If we postpone the cruise do we have to rebook immediatly or will we be offered a credit to apply at a later date? In the UK we don't have the option to take advantage of price drops so the price is locked in when we book.

We were told on Thursday that the cruise had to be taken by December 2021.

Register on line with several cruise agents and you will get lots of special offers.

Edited April 11, 2020 by grapau27

[little britain]

30 minutes ago, Agathabumble said:

Thank you everyone for all your replies, I'm now thinking it would probably be best to transfer the cruise to next summer but it is so much more expensive than the price we paid. If we postpone the cruise do we have to rebook immediatly or will we be offered a credit to apply at a later date? In the UK we don't have the option to take advantage of price drops so the price is locked in when we book.

When I book direct with X UK I am told I can have one free move and one price drop. I don’t see why booking with RCI UK (Guatemala) would be different? May be worth asking them? 
 

Future Cruise Credits must be redeemed on sailings departing on-or-before 31 December 2021.

[Agathabumble]

Thank you littlebritain I didn’t know we could use price drop in the UK. I booked with cruise.co.uk but have found it impossible to get hold of them at the moment to ask questions. 

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, Agathabumble said:

Thank you littlebritain I didn’t know we could use price drop in the UK. I booked with cruise.co.uk but have found it impossible to get hold of them at the moment to ask questions. 

They send me emails every day still but never used them.

A lot of agents work from home.

Edited April 11, 2020 by grapau27

[Zendeck]

5 hours ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

For us, we decided it was better to delay to summer 2021. By moving now, we were still able to get a stateroom to our liking on Harmony. I suspect as cancellations extend (and they surely will), more will move to a cruise next year, limiting availability. .....To get the dates we need, we moved now from Allure to Harmony. 

We did Exactly the same!  Rebooked our Med June Allure to next year on Harmony and moved our deposit.  It was an easy decision for us given the stats that we are all seeing now.  
 

I did experience the increase in price as well however being from US I hope it will drop.  
 

I would not go on a cruise this year and although my deposit is out there for next year now, if for some reason we don’t have a cure/vaccine by then and it is still a high threat, I’ll be canceling that too with no hesitation. 

[grapau27]

6 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

We're on the Aug 30 Explorer cruise.  The current model for Italy shows deaths ending in about a month, with only single digit patients in hospital across the country at that point.  If that holds, it comes down to how quickly Italy wants to restore their economy to something closer to normal, when they would open their borders, and what restrictions they will have in place.  No one, probably including the Italian government, has a really good idea at this point (I'm sure they have several plans).  I'm 80-90% intellectually believing that our cruise will be cancelled.  Too many variables still in play and Italy will likely err on the side of being overly cautious.  I'm 10-20% emotionally hoping that, with 3 months for Italy to recover, my cruise will still happen and will be safe enough for us to cruise.  I'm not holding my breath.

Things are still desperate in Italy.

 

[little britain]

4 hours ago, Agathabumble said:

Thank you littlebritain I didn’t know we could use price drop in the UK. I booked with cruise.co.uk but have found it impossible to get hold of them at the moment to ask questions. 

When you get your FCC it will be assigned to you, not to your agent, do you are not tied to using them again. 
 

Personally  I used that specific company once, and wouldn’t again! 

Edited April 11, 2020 by little britain

[Agathabumble]

I hadn’t realised that little Britain, I had assumed I would have to rebook with the same travel agent. Thanks for the info  that’s good to know. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

3 hours ago, little britain said:

When you get your FCC it will be assigned to you, not to your agent, do you are not tied to using them again. 
 

Personally  I used that specific company once, and wouldn’t again! 

Nor would I.

[Norwich Cruiser]

6 hours ago, grapau27 said:

They send me emails every day still but never used them.

A lot of agents work from home.

We still get them everyday also.

Used once that was enough.

[LXA350]

People considering to travel / cruise in Europe for the first time should really consider to postpone for next year to get the full experience. Firstly, it's very likely that there will be no cruise season in Europe this year but also if there will be it's very possible that not all countries / ports will allow cruise ships in already and ending up with sea days and missed out ports is not the experience you are looking for especially in Europe.