"Opening" of the "Down Under" Ports- locals please respond

[nini]

Hello to All of our friends "Down Under"-

 

We are scheduled on Princess, for a cruise in late March 2021. It is roundtrip

from Sydney and all of the ports are in New Zealand.

 

Please offer your thoughts as to when you think things may open up

in Australia and New Zealand. What also surprises me is that I see

that Princess is still offering cruises for these itineraries this coming

October and November. Will they be welcomed?

 

Thanks and Be Well!

[The_Big_M]

At this stage, ports are closed to Sept 17 this year for international cruises.

 

However, there's a general political mood against cruises at this point, so the risk either way is more likely towards extensions than reductions if that date changes. There hasn't been any indication about any general international travel so it's not possible to give any greater clarity of international travel opening up.

[Chiliburn]

Who knows.

We may have some cruises before Christmas contained in a quarantine area in our part of the world but overseas visitors will not be allowed.

Theres a testing of a vaccine that starts today . if it’s a goer there’s talk it maybe available at the end of the year??
 Until we have a vaccine,we will not be accepting international tourists.

 

Like I said who knows.
 

 

[ROWSE]

On 5/25/2020 at 9:14 AM, nini said:

Hello to All of our friends "Down Under"-

 

We are scheduled on Princess, for a cruise in late March 2021. It is roundtrip

from Sydney and all of the ports are in New Zealand.

 

Please offer your thoughts as to when you think things may open up

in Australia and New Zealand. What also surprises me is that I see

that Princess is still offering cruises for these itineraries this coming

October and November. Will they be welcomed?

 

Thanks and Be Well!

Nini,

Thank you for asking this, and I hope locals keep this one going and thank you to them for updates!

We have booked Jan. 24, 2021, on Majestic sounding just like the itinerary you have booked in March.  

 

Your cruise is farther out so better chance?  I will hope it is clear whether not it is possible

by final payments!

 

I want to be excited and research but hard to get hopes too high after two other of our cruises have 

already been cancelled by Princess.  

[Chiliburn]

3 hours ago, ROWSE said:

Nini,

Thank you for asking this, and I hope locals keep this one going and thank you to them for updates!

We have booked Jan. 24, 2021, on Majestic sounding just like the itinerary you have booked in March.  

 

Your cruise is farther out so better chance?  I will hope it is clear whether not it is possible

by final payments!

 

I want to be excited and research but hard to get hopes too high after two other of our cruises have 

already been cancelled by Princess.  

I hate to be pessimistic but have to be realistic.

Australia and New Zealand have taken a different path to the USA and are being super cautious in the way have closed the countries down.We still have some of the state boarders closed.We are getting unexplained cases popping up but most cases are from Australians returning home.

For the expectation of flying to Australia from the US and doing a cruise in January  , I wouldn’t  be getting your hopes up.

 I have a December cruise that doesn’t leave Australia and I don’t think it’s going to happen. Hopefully when final payment comes,I move it to next year.

[ROWSE]

13 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I hate to be pessimistic but have to be realistic.

Australia and New Zealand have taken a different path to the USA and are being super cautious in the way have closed the countries down.We still have some of the state boarders closed.We are getting unexplained cases popping up but most cases are from Australians returning home.

For the expectation of flying to Australia from the US and doing a cruise in January  , I wouldn’t  be getting your hopes up.

 I have a December cruise that doesn’t leave Australia and I don’t think it’s going to happen. Hopefully when final payment comes,I move it to next year.

Thank you Chiliburn for your reply.

I will probably be moving mine to the next year from our cruise date as well at final payment, but till then I will be following all your countries news and this thread for updates.

[PerfectlyPerth]

Nini it really isn't up to any of us to offer our thoughts as the thoughts are pure guesswork. At the end of the day it's all up to governments and it's literally a week to week ever changing situation. As it is all over the world. 
 

We all have to be practical and pragmatic about that and just get on with day to day life until governments make announcements. 
 

Sitting around guessing, and asking others to guess, just isn't practical. 
 

And like Chili - I have an "in Aus" cruise booked in Dec. I am giving it zero thought until such time as first the federal govt makes its decisions, second the state govts make their individual decisions, and third - the actual cruise companies make their decisions. 

[The_Big_M]

Some limited chatter of domestic cruises opening up in September. I suspect that's more optimism/keenness from the cruise operators to restart business, but it is still being discussed.

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

Some limited chatter of domestic cruises opening up in September. I suspect that's more optimism/keenness from the cruise operators to restart business, but it is still being discussed.

 

Are there ships with crews in place?  Or do they have to get permission to bring them in through quarantine?

[Chiliburn]

4 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Are there ships with crews in place?  Or do they have to get permission to bring them in through quarantine?

The ships are in Asia and are still trying to get some crew home.We have no cruise ships in Australian waters.

No permission , it’s only speculation.

Who knows????

[OzKiwiJJ]

5 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

It’s the Melbourne weather,it gets to them. LOL

The Sydney weather is getting to me at the moment! I wanna cruise!!!! Now! Actually I should have been cruising now if it wasn't for this damn virus. 😥

 

But, as everyone else has said, we can only hope and speculate. Local cruising will probably start up first, Australia and NZ, then possibly extend to the South Pacific - New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji. However those cruises will probably be restricted to Aus/NZ residents only ie no international visitors - that will take longer to happen. But first we have to overcome the political issues and our governments don't like cruise ships at the moment, and that attitude isn't helped by local media who take any opportunity to slam cruising.

 

When will this start to happen? Sorry, my crystal ball fogs out when I ask it that. I'd love to see cruising start mid-September but chances of that are slim. I hope it will restart at the end of this year or very early 2021. But wishes aren't realities, unfortunately. We just have to wait (not so patiently in my case) and see what happens.

[Chiliburn]

I think the weather has been fantastic in Sydney, those autumn blue sky’s are almost as beautiful as a crisp $100 note.

And yes I could do with a cruise.

[OzKiwiJJ]

22 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

I think the weather has been fantastic in Sydney, those autumn blue sky’s are almost as beautiful as a crisp $100 note.

And yes I could do with a cruise.

Not this week, it was cold, wet and miserable! Melbourne weather! And it's still only May!

 

In general I agree that Sydney has gorgeous autumns and winters but it seems to have turned colder much earlier this year, and with more rain.

[PerfectlyPerth]

I moved to Melb for the weather. It suits the polar traveller in me. Gorgeous and sunny here today. 

[possum52]

5 minutes ago, PerfectlyPerth said:

Gorgeous and sunny here today. 

But quite cool in the wind. This week Melbourne has had some lovely sunny days. Rain is expected overnight and for the next few days.Winter is coming!

 

Leigh

[PerfectlyPerth]

On 5/30/2020 at 7:03 PM, possum52 said:

But quite cool in the wind. This week Melbourne has had some lovely sunny days. Rain is expected overnight and for the next few days.Winter is coming!

 

Leigh

it's lovely. I've had all the windows open refreshing my apartment as most of next week is rainy so I have to keep everything closed up. 

[GUT2407]

I am another with a Dec cruise booked but not expecting it to happen. Even if it does I really don’t think our international boarders will be open for a while yet.

[Te Aroha]

On 5/26/2020 at 4:14 AM, nini said:

Hello to All of our friends "Down Under"-

 

We are scheduled on Princess, for a cruise in late March 2021. It is roundtrip

from Sydney and all of the ports are in New Zealand.

 

Please offer your thoughts as to when you think things may open up

in Australia and New Zealand. What also surprises me is that I see

that Princess is still offering cruises for these itineraries this coming

October and November. Will they be welcomed?

 

Thanks and Be Well!

Hi nini,

 

Welcome from New Zealand 🙂 Sadly I don't feel you will be cruising New Zealand for some time to come. Our PM has stated many times that until a reliable vaccine is in place International travel is off the cards both for us travelling and for visitors arriving.

 

We currently have 13 days without a case of Covid here in New Zealand and hopefully next week will be returning to a Level 1 situation here. Basically normal life but with strict border control.

 

Talk here is of a possible trans Tasman bubble opening in September but not any sooner, this of course is only if the government believe it is safe to do so and will require no quarantine between the two countries. I cannot see that either government would risk international visitors here without quarantine within the next year.

 

The hope you can hang onto is that a reliable vaccine is found and that would be the game changer for international travel. So asking if cruising will resume for International travelers is really dependent on a vaccine in my opinion.

 

I hope at a future date you do get to come and visit our beautiful country and people.

 

Kia kaha

 

 

[ROWSE]

12 hours ago, Te Aroha said:

Hi nini,

 

Welcome from New Zealand 🙂 Sadly I don't feel you will be cruising New Zealand for some time to come. Our PM has stated many times that until a reliable vaccine is in place International travel is off the cards both for us travelling and for visitors arriving.

 

We currently have 13 days without a case of Covid here in New Zealand and hopefully next week will be returning to a Level 1 situation here. Basically normal life but with strict border control.

 

Talk here is of a possible trans Tasman bubble opening in September but not any sooner, this of course is only if the government believe it is safe to do so and will require no quarantine between the two countries. I cannot see that either government would risk international visitors here without quarantine within the next year.

 

The hope you can hang onto is that a reliable vaccine is found and that would be the game changer for international travel. So asking if cruising will resume for International travelers is really dependent on a vaccine in my opinion.

 

I hope at a future date you do get to come and visit our beautiful country and people.

 

Kia kaha

 

 

Thank you for posting!

Any and all updates are so appreciated!

 

If we are not able to come and cruise in late January, 2021, we will definitely hope for sometime in the not to distant future! 

[SinbadThePorter]

On 5/26/2020 at 2:14 AM, nini said:

Please offer your thoughts as to when you think things may open up

in Australia and New Zealand.

 

As others have said we can only offer up informed opinion, and hope that it actually is informed.

 

But we need to keep in mind that the Ruby Princess debacle has left a deep imprint on our pollies. They are now extremely risk adverse when it comes to cruising. There is no upside in them allowing cruising back before a vaccine is found and delivered. What would be the result if they let a ship leave Sydney in December and covid broke out on board during the cruise? Where would the ship go? What would be done with the passengers? Who pays for the costs? They would kiss their chances of re-election goodbye for no good reason as far as they are concerned.

 

The short answer is that I think that politicians will not allow cruising from Australia until the insurance companies are willing to take on the financial risk of outbreaks onboard. Which process starts with an effective vaccine. In my opinion, early 2022. Although I may be being optimistic.

[rwright261]

Thanks for this thread.

 

We are due to fly from U.K. to Sydney on 10th December cruising on 14th for 10 nights then we are booked to stay in Sydney and fly home on 1st January. 

 

We booked a package through Virgin Holidays Crusies (UK) and at present they are only allowing changes upto 30th September and our balance is due 10th September so I'm hoping we will hear more then. 

 

We we are still partially in lockdown, schools have opened for only select years, non essential shops are closed and we must work at home if we can. We can meet 6 people onside, still not allowed inside anyone else's home. 

 

We we would love for our trip to go ahead and certainly cannot afford to lose what we have paid, so we will have to see what happens. 

 

Ill be reading this thread with great interest. Thank you.

[ROWSE]

24 minutes ago, rwright261 said:

Thanks for this thread.

 

We are due to fly from U.K. to Sydney on 10th December cruising on 14th for 10 nights then we are booked to stay in Sydney and fly home on 1st January. 

 

We booked a package through Virgin Holidays Crusies (UK) and at present they are only allowing changes upto 30th September and our balance is due 10th September so I'm hoping we will hear more then. 

 

We we are still partially in lockdown, schools have opened for only select years, non essential shops are closed and we must work at home if we can. We can meet 6 people onside, still not allowed inside anyone else's home. 

 

We we would love for our trip to go ahead and certainly cannot afford to lose what we have paid, so we will have to see what happens. 

 

Ill be reading this thread with great interest. Thank you.

Thank you too for giving us an update on UK.  We were suppose to have been visiting UK on the Regal Princess in May, but it was cancelled and we rebooked for next May 2021, on the Crown.  If our Australia/New Zealand in January, 2021 doesn't make it then that is where all my hopes are pinned!  

Fingers crossed that both your Dec. and our Jan. will be happening!   

[Chiliburn]

    @rwright26
Unless there’s a vaccine I doubt you will be allowed into Australia at that time.

If you can’t afford to loose the money you have paid,in my opinion you would probably be best to a B’ plan and roll it over to next year if it doesn’t happen.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Reminder:  it is a violation of Cruise Critic guidelines to mention a Travel Agent by name

[rwright261]

On 6/6/2020 at 11:27 PM, Chiliburn said:

    @rwright26
Unless there’s a vaccine I doubt you will be allowed into Australia at that time.

If you can’t afford to loose the money you have paid,in my opinion you would probably be best to a B’ plan and roll it over to next year if it doesn’t happen.

 

Thankfully we booked our trip before the pandemic... I'm hoping there a material change which means we can cancel or our insurance will cover us.... We have paid over £6000 so far in deposits so definitely can't afford to lose it!