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So if this happens is that the end of the Mediterranean cruises?


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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tamarathiessen/2020/04/11/europe-borders-may-close-to-september-due-to-us-covid-19-threat/#9555056431f7
 

Yet another hypothetical situation at this point but if the European countries close their borders as this article describes COULD happen anyone thinking Royal will immediately cancel all summer Mediterranean cruises? Curious as we have one scheduled in August which we have our final payment coming up in May. I have no intention of going on it, too many unknowns to hand over that much money this early in this reality we have going on. Of course we booked with a non refundable deposit never thinking this situation would come up. I’m hoping IF this happens Royal will cancel before our May final payment is due and we can get our $750 back. Wishful thinking I’m sure. 

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3 hours ago, bhoffman said:

I agree. I am just hoping they cancel the summer before our final payment in May but I think the odds of that happening are low to none. I think they will continue to go 30 days by 30 days.


I think they’ll cancel in 30 day chunks as well, unless the government issues a “no travel” restriction for a longer period of time. If they don’t cancel your cruise before final payment, I would cancel and take the loss of your deposit. If you pay final payment, you’re risking more money to a potential bankruptcy, so unless you’re willing to risk losing all of it, I’d cut my losses if I were you.

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Not a cat in hell's chance of cruising in the Med this summer

 

And if there is, the restrictions on ports will mean it can't go hardly anywhere and stringent health and safety on board will limit any enjoyment

 

I know people are still clinging to hope for their vacations but it's crazy to be optimistic for anything this year

Edited by compman9
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I don't think there will be any cruises in Europe this summer. The governments in Europe seem to have much stricter lockdowns than you have in the US and I think they will only be lifted very, very gradually. Cruising and international travel generally will be one of the last things to come back and I get the impression that will take many months.

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Cruises will continue but you will have no opportunity to land in any Eropean country. So, most of the cruises will be soley sea based and have all the necessary attractions on board. Well I guess here and there they will organise some ways to get out, maybe some lone beaches or islands or something.. Baltic states and Scandinavia will be closed for sure. Honestly, I dont even know what to think and what to say. The situation escalated too quickly 

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3 hours ago, Roger88 said:

Cruises will continue but you will have no opportunity to land in any Eropean country. So, most of the cruises will be soley sea based and have all the necessary attractions on board. Well I guess here and there they will organise some ways to get out, maybe some lone beaches or islands or something.. Baltic states and Scandinavia will be closed for sure. Honestly, I dont even know what to think and what to say. The situation escalated too quickly 

Where do you get your information from? nothing of this makes sense..

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3 hours ago, Roger88 said:

Cruises will continue but you will have no opportunity to land in any Eropean country. So, most of the cruises will be soley sea based and have all the necessary attractions on board. Well I guess here and there they will organise some ways to get out, maybe some lone beaches or islands or something.. Baltic states and Scandinavia will be closed for sure. Honestly, I dont even know what to think and what to say. The situation escalated too quickly 

I'd love to know where these 'lone beaches or islands' are in Europe that are big enough to accommodate Allure et al?   And if you cannot 'land in any European country' how on earth are people going to board in any European country?

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Hello,

 

Many years ago I formed the view, after listening to 'phone-in' programmes on local radio, that people should have to get a note from their doctor saying they were of 'sound mind' before they were allowed to have a telephone.

 

Now I think that restriction should apply to owners of computers, or at least ones with internet connections.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

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4 hours ago, Roger88 said:

Cruises will continue but you will have no opportunity to land in any Eropean country. So, most of the cruises will be soley sea based and have all the necessary attractions on board. Well I guess here and there they will organise some ways to get out, maybe some lone beaches or islands or something.. Baltic states and Scandinavia will be closed for sure. Honestly, I dont even know what to think and what to say. The situation escalated too quickly 

Chances of this scenario - 0%.

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And the current forecast is that Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic area improve first so cruising, if it starts, could start here before Med or the UK or America but we will see, no one knows.. E.g. Sweden and Denmark still allow crew changes which is very human and fair for the poor seamen who want to go back to their families after many months.

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2 hours ago, Saab4444 said:

Where do you get your information from? nothing of this makes sense..

In most cruise line contracts, it states that they can change cruise ports at

their discretion. Once I had a phone call from a cruise line that told me that

my Baltic cruise WAS NOT CANCELLED but instead it was going to the

caribbean. I already had hotels, flights etc booked in Europe. Yes, they

can find other ports or miss ports and stay at sea (called a cruise to nowhere).

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11 hours ago, bhoffman said:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tamarathiessen/2020/04/11/europe-borders-may-close-to-september-due-to-us-covid-19-threat/#9555056431f7
 

Yet another hypothetical situation at this point but if the European countries close their borders as this article describes COULD happen anyone thinking Royal will immediately cancel all summer Mediterranean cruises? Curious as we have one scheduled in August which we have our final payment coming up in May. I have no intention of going on it, too many unknowns to hand over that much money this early in this reality we have going on. Of course we booked with a non refundable deposit never thinking this situation would come up. I’m hoping IF this happens Royal will cancel before our May final payment is due and we can get our $750 back. Wishful thinking I’m sure. 

The cruise with confidence is up till September 1st so you will get a FCC to the value of your deposit.

We cancelled our June Allure cruise last week and our £300 deposit is now a FCC to be used before 31st December 2021.

Graham

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1 minute ago, matj2000 said:

 

Why did you do that?

Why did we book with a non refundable deposit? Honestly we didn’t even know there was an option. We booked this upcoming cruise while on another cruise and they never asked if we wanted to or not. Saying that, I’m sure it afforded us a cheaper price (I’m guessing) and we have trip insurance for normal cancellation issues which in this case of course it doesn’t help. It covers the normal issues one might have with travel. So I’m sure we would have booked with the non refundable fare based on that insurance anyway. Silly us, we didn’t see a world wide pandemic coming. I’m less concerned with the $750 deposit then the $13,000 in air fare we have Booked to get to the cruise although getting the $750 back would be nice too. 

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9 minutes ago, bhoffman said:

Why did we book with a non refundable deposit? Honestly we didn’t even know there was an option. We booked this upcoming cruise while on another cruise and they never asked if we wanted to or not. Saying that, I’m sure it afforded us a cheaper price (I’m guessing) and we have trip insurance for normal cancellation issues which in this case of course it doesn’t help. It covers the normal issues one might have with travel. So I’m sure we would have booked with the non refundable fare based on that insurance anyway. Silly us, we didn’t see a world wide pandemic coming. I’m less concerned with the $750 deposit then the $13,000 in air fare we have Booked to get to the cruise although getting the $750 back would be nice too. 

I thought the airlines were allowing cancelations?

 

I had airline tix for a trip in June.   They were the cheapest basic economy seats and they gave me a credit.

 

As for booking,  Never book directly with the cruise line itself.. 

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At this point our only option with the airlines since it is so far out (August) is getting a credit minus a $450 fee per ticket. I’m sure that will either change to getting a credit without the fee or if they cancel the flight or move it more then 1 1/2 hours we can get a cash refund. As it gets closer I’m sure our options will be better then they are now. Basically playing chicken with the airline now waiting until it gets closer to deal with the tickets.


We booked with the cruise line then immediately moved the reservation to our travel agent. We have an incredible price plus a ton in onboard credit so it pains me to give up the cruise but no way am I chancing them having a 5 figure hold on my money to chance getting $750 back. 

Edited by bhoffman
Forgot a detail
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11 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

I'm guessing the Med this year is toast. Even the Allure might just get fixed and inspected then come home

I wonder if the fact the President's Cruise is on Allure they might still sail from September or make the President's Cruise the TA back to the US?

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Timelines are unpredictable in these times. But one thing is sure: Europeans have learned their share and mistakes hopefully will not repeated: the pandemic incrementally moved from East to West with the center of the pandemic now overwhelming the USA.

So the situation most likely will improve in Europe before it does in the USA.

Certainly Europe (w/o UK) will ban foreign national US citizens from entering Europe as long as the pandemic rages in the US, especially when Europe is recovering (before the US).

The political discussions here in Europe also clearly are trending against the cruise industry re starting business until a vaccine is developed. Just check the news when football stadiums are re-opened -the cruise industry will be allowed to follow suit.

 

So forget the summer cruise season in Europe (and Florida), and if they resume ops - yes, most likely its a Europe first (but w/o US foreign nationals). So for European cruise lines like MSC, Aida TUI, Costa etc it is more easy to fill ships, with US foreign nationals restricted entry, companies like RCI cannot fill their ships here......

 

 

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1 hour ago, matj2000 said:

 

Why did you do that?

I booked with a NR also for a November Oasis cruise. I also bought insurance and the worst thing I could imagine is either my husband or I would get sick and not be able to cruise, so we were covered.  We've been on 65+ cruises and never had to cancel for a health or emergency reason, so the odds seemed  to be in our  favor.

The cruise was booked last October, so long before even the earliest news was coming from China.

Edited by mek
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1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

I wonder if the fact the President's Cruise is on Allure they might still sail from September or make the President's Cruise the TA back to the US?


I think the current CDC rules regarding what it will take to lift the no sail order will kill any cruising to or from or around the US until a vaccine comes.  I am betting other nations will follow the CDC as well.

 

A vaccine is pretty much the only hope for cruising at this point, as there is pretty much zero chance the cruise ships will be able to accommodate the most recent CDC requirements

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7 hours ago, kernow said:

I don't think there will be any cruises in Europe this summer. The governments in Europe seem to have much stricter lockdowns than you have in the US and I think they will only be lifted very, very gradually. Cruising and international travel generally will be one of the last things to come back and I get the impression that will take many months.

Already begun in Spain, as Madrid lockdown was slightly lifted.

 

https://www.stltoday.com/news/world/hundreds-of-thousands-return-to-work-as-spain-relaxes-coronavirus-lockdown/article_013ab6f3-399e-5f62-b03f-be482674a3a7.html

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