Europe 2021.... all canceled?

[BlerkOne]

Consider it isn't Carnival cancelling, but Europe? There are only like 9 countries on the planet where Americans can travel without restrictions and none in Europe.

 

[maryann2]

9 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Thats why I said it.  If you check my history, you can see nobody gives John more kudos than me

I know. He is always put in a difficult position having to say what the beards tell him.  Just gives a lot of wrong information.

[Cruisesfun65]

Pure speculation, but Radiance sailings are now unavailable for booking between May 2 - Dec 10th 2021 and are all longer cruises. 

Might be a possibility that Carnival is sending Radiance to Europe!

[Cruisesfun65]

1 minute ago, fyree39 said:

I thought the Radiance was replacing the Inspiration and Imagination on the west coast for the 3/4 day rotation.

 

That was the plan. But now for Summer and Fall 2021 all sailings are 9+ days and there is one 12 day and a 14 day cruise scheduled. So, that's not the Inspiration/Imagination itineraries. 

[jimbo5544]

Not sure if this is allowed, but here is the Chief communication officers interview with John on his FB page where they discuss the Legend European sailings.

 

With everything that has been happening these past few days I felt it was time for an update of our senior beard and our Chief Communications Officer

So Chris, over to you sir.

JOHN:  We have recently canceled our October cruises and while many people are booking again some guests are waiting on refunds from previous cruises. What is the latest status of the refund process please?

CHRIS:  The team has put in tremendous work to clear through the backlog and also automate the process where we can.  And I’ve been seeing more and more of your fans posting that they’re refunds have been received.  As we’ve said before, the volume of cancellations is something we have never seen, and frankly, could never have imagined.  We annually sail more than 5 million guests.  We have cancelled cruises for more than six months – from March through October, including the very busy spring break and summer vacation periods.  So our guests can easily do the math with regard to the millions of cancellations we have had to process (and continue to process).  There might still be some small pockets of refunds that are still being processed from this spring and that is due to some back end technical glitches where the refunds were literally stuck in a queue that we could not see.  So we have had to go in and manually pull, sort and process them.  These were mostly transactions where guests had used multiple forms of payment, or some group bookings.  So if you’re one of those several hundred guests still waiting, we apologize and promise that we are working them as quickly as possible.  But I’m not going to make excuses here.  Just offer our apologies for those few still waiting, our appreciation for those who were or have been so patient, and our commitment to handle these new cancellations in an efficient manner.

JOHN: Our Carnival Legend European season is something so many of my readers have booked. They are now concerned that these cruises have been canceled as they no longer show on Carnival.com.  Please can you reassure them that these cruises are still going ahead?

CHRIS:  Unfortunately, we are in a rather unprecedented period where no one can make any assurances about anything – cruises, school, the economy or life in general.  But what I can say with regard to Legend is this.  The 2021 European season is scheduled to follow on to a major dry dock in Europe.  The pandemic and business closures have put shipyard scheduling and availability into a giant salad spinner like so many other things.  So we are looking at all our dry dock and deployment options across the fleet and across the globe.  Meanwhile, those Legend itineraries have been very popular – especially with so many of our guests anxiously awaiting to get back on board with us.  So they’ve reached their self-imposed capacity limits and we are not going to book MORE guests on those sailings given new protocols we continue to think about.  We know our guests get anxious the moment some change is made online.  It does not mean we have made a decision.  But we are carefully managing inventory as we work through these decisions.  

JOHN: One of the most commonly asked questions each day is “what procedures will be in place when we cruise again?”  They are of course talking about facemasks and social distancing etc. Is there an update on this please?

CHRIS:  I think you’ve asked me this every time we’ve had one of these chats, and I’m afraid I probably sound like a broken record.  The protocols and procedures continue to be refined.  We remain hopeful that our sister lines at Costa and AIDA are going to return to operations in Europe over the coming days.  Their protocols are a template for what we and other Carnival Corp. brands in North America might eventually implement.  The difference is that we will need to have agreement from the CDC for our procedures.  We’ve updated our Health & Safety Advisory page on carnival.com.  While there are not details yet, there is discussion about the broad elements and the foundation for our plan at carnival.com/health-and-sailing-updates.  But one thing is clear.  We aren’t in a position to be a referee in the debate about wearing a mask.  We’re going to follow the science. If the science says masks will promote public health and we ask our guests to wear them in the casino, the elevator, the theater or the comedy club, we are going to need our guests to support those decisions.  Just like our smoking rules are made in the interests of public safety, our protocols and guidelines will be made in the interests of public health and the collective good of the guests and crew.

JOHN: Finally, what is your personal take on Covid-19 and where we are with it in the world today?
 
CHRIS:  I’ve worked in the travel industry for almost 30 years. That covers a lot of things.  9-11. SARS. The Gulf War. Global recession.  Ebola.  Hurricanes.  I’ve never seen anything like this current situation.   But in each of those situations, the travel industry adapted and recovered.  Travel is too important in our lives today for it not to recover.  We will adapt again. And we will be back. And certainly the tremendous support of Carnival guests will be a critical part of getting us through this challenge.  The loyalty of our guests and crew really are our secret weapons, and for that we are immensely lucky and grateful.

-----

Thanks so much Chris for taking the time to do this and I am sure we will be hearing much more from him over the next few weeks as we get closer to the Fun returning

#carnivalfamily

Edited August 7, 2020 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

9 hours ago, maryann2 said:

I know. He is always put in a difficult position having to say what the beards tell him.  Just gives a lot of wrong information.

Or info that might be true at the time he says it but changes.....see my post above.

[cruizergal70]

So the Europe cruises are at capacity? Good thing we booked in 2019 and used our FCC to pay for it. I'm in before the lock.

[sanger727]

15 hours ago, mark316 said:

Thanks for the update. I hope that everything you have been told is correct. We will be on the August 6, 2021 Legend with you. I could understand Carnival not letting you book a particular ship because of limitations, but why would they pull ALL European bookings?

 

Right, If they want to impose capacity limitations, it would follow that several sailings would already be at capacity and others would sell out more quickly. But I find it highly suspicious when an entire month/ship/season gets pulled all at the same time for "capacity". 

[Cruisesfun65]

6 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

But I find it highly suspicious when an entire month/ship/season gets pulled all at the same time for "capacity". 

 

I'm with you on this. And how come the Capacity Rule only applies to certain ships???

[Cruising_Addict]

On 8/4/2020 at 9:00 PM, jimbo5544 said:

The Europe sailings for 2021 are still on, without a doubt

 

The Europe sailings for 2021 are cancelled.  Period.  They just haven't made the official announcement yet.  When cruises like this are removed from the website, it means that they are cancelled.  They always remove them prior to announcing the cancellations.  So either they are going to make the announcement between the October and November cancellation announcements, or they are going to make it in conjunction with the November cancellations.  My guess is the latter, because it will mean that I'll get to find out that both my Thanksgiving 2020 and Norway June 2021 cruises are cancelled at the same time.  But mark my words, they are indeed cancelled.

[cruizergal70]

52 minutes ago, fyree39 said:

They are being locked to not accept more bookings. Less bookings mean less refunds being processed if that happens. Are you under the assumption that no matter what your cruise is going? Many here seem to be under that impression.

 Not hardly. I don't know if the cruise will go, if Europe will let in Americans, etc. All I know is I'm booked and paid in full.

 

Honestly, I'm not rushing to get back on a ship with the pandemic. If we didn't already have this cruise on the books, we wouldn't have booked it new. 

[SwissMrs]

I too believe all the 2021 Legend Europe cruises will eventually be cancelled.  Have started looking at what sailings to transfer my deposits to so I'm prepared when this happens. 

[HaveWeMetYet]

The European cruises are neither cancelled or have reached capacity, they are simply suspending bookings for now. It is a good move since they don't know what protocols will be in place next summer. Very likely that European cruises will be restricted to EU citizens for awhile. Carnival may want to pull out of Europe for a year or two or perhaps sail in the Med on HAL only.

[mark316]

1 hour ago, Cruising_Addict said:

 

The Europe sailings for 2021 are cancelled.  Period.  They just haven't made the official announcement yet.  When cruises like this are removed from the website, it means that they are cancelled.  They always remove them prior to announcing the cancellations.  So either they are going to make the announcement between the October and November cancellation announcements, or they are going to make it in conjunction with the November cancellations.  My guess is the latter, because it will mean that I'll get to find out that both my Thanksgiving 2020 and Norway June 2021 cruises are cancelled at the same time.  But mark my words, they are indeed cancelled.

Thanks for the buzz kill! Next thing your going to tell me is that Santa isn’t real...

[quickrate]

On 8/4/2020 at 5:50 PM, ninjacat123 said:

My Legend Sept 2021 out of Rome is still showing in my Cruise Manager.

Unfortunately, my October 2020 is still in my cruise manager and it was cancelled months ago.

Pat

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, Cruising_Addict said:

 

The Europe sailings for 2021 are cancelled.  Period.  They just haven't made the official announcement yet.  When cruises like this are removed from the website, it means that they are cancelled.  They always remove them prior to announcing the cancellations.  So either they are going to make the announcement between the October and November cancellation announcements, or they are going to make it in conjunction with the November cancellations.  My guess is the latter, because it will mean that I'll get to find out that both my Thanksgiving 2020 and Norway June 2021 cruises are cancelled at the same time.  But mark my words, they are indeed cancelled.

Mine isn't. And I predict it won't be. Maybe you'll eventually be proven right, or maybe you won't. Only time will tell.

(FYI my sailing isn't with Carnival)...

 

[quickrate]

On 8/5/2020 at 1:13 PM, NCTribeFan said:

Speculation.  Such a waste of energy but what else do avid cruisers have to do with their time.  Me, I'm working from home and need to get back at it!

 

Legend Med/TA 2020 was cancelled.  Re-booked Legend Med/TA 2021.  My uneducated guess is that, again, she won't be sent to Europe and will remain in Tampa or relocate somewhere else in the States.

 

If that happens, I'll be disappointed, but that means I probably won't cancel my NCL Escape TA April 2021 and will have more funds to apply to the OZ/NZ Feb 2022 Spirit/Splendor sailings.

Exactly my thoughts, Joan, since we have the same cruises booked!

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, Cruising_Addict said:

 

The Europe sailings for 2021 are cancelled.  Period.  They just haven't made the official announcement yet.  When cruises like this are removed from the website, it means that they are cancelled.  They always remove them prior to announcing the cancellations.  So either they are going to make the announcement between the October and November cancellation announcements, or they are going to make it in conjunction with the November cancellations.  My guess is the latter, because it will mean that I'll get to find out that both my Thanksgiving 2020 and Norway June 2021 cruises are cancelled at the same time.  But mark my words, they are indeed cancelled.

 

Because everything you read on the Internet must be true? Are your words written in Sharpie? Now I know the cruises aren't cancelled. Carnival could easily slap a coat of paint on Fascination and substitute the ship. Carnival could hold up Radiance and do a Europe season first. Carnival could transfer a ship from another Carnival brand.

[Eli_6]

Someone on a Facebook page I am on talked to someone directly with Carnival who is in the know and told them that they aren't canceled yet, but because of several issues related to not knowing what passenger capacity will be (may be different in different countries) or having to switch ships due to scheduling of the dry dock (Legend was supposed to be dry docked in April but this may be pushed back), they pulled them until they sort it out. It is certainly a possibility that they may be cancelled, but my impression is that for now they are trying to make it work.  Also, some countries ban entrance to their country if you have been in another country. For example, Norway won't let you in if you have been in Portugal. That would affect people on B2B May 25 and June 4 and crew.  That may change between now and then, but who knows.

 

Basically, I don't think that anyone can assume it has been cancelled or that it is going forward. I would not book any new excursions or airfare, but I also would not cancel anything already booked either.

Edited August 7, 2020 by Eli_6

[Eli_6]

4 hours ago, fyree39 said:

Royal is absolutely a wonderful line for families. You've cruised with them, right? I'd just plan on cruising with Royal when things open up.

 

I visited Stonehenge back before they fenced it off. We climbed on the monoliths that had fallen over, traced carvings in the rock with our fingers, raced around the whole monument. No wonder they fenced it off!

Yes, but it has been awhile. I will have a FCC with Celebrity, too, if they cancel December because I am supposed to cruise on their new ship (Apex) this New Years so I could potentially use that on one for Europe. Honestly, I have not even looked into it yet.  I am sure there are several routes.

 

If they let Americans in at all...  I think there will be a vaccine by next summer but not sure if it will be widely available. I imagine high risk (pre-existing conditions and elderly) and front line workers will get it first. My husband would qualify as the later, but I would not.  

 

At a minimum, we could always probably do the UK by land. My husband and I have been there before but my kids have not and there are so many things to see or worth seeing again. Again, assuming they are open to Americans.

[maryann2]

4 hours ago, Cruisesfun65 said:

Pure speculation, but Radiance sailings are now unavailable for booking between May 2 - Dec 10th 2021 and are all longer cruises. 

Might be a possibility that Carnival is sending Radiance to Europe!

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the Radiance already in Europe awaiting refurbishment?

That would make sense changing to the Radiance.

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, maryann2 said:

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the Radiance already in Europe awaiting refurbishment?

That would make sense changing to the Radiance.

 

Radiance is in Cadiz as is Fascination, and Fascination has nothing better to do. I don't currently see any sailings for Radiance in 2021, although it is supposed to be in Long Beach next spring.

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, Cruisesfun65 said:

 

I'm with you on this. And how come the Capacity Rule only applies to certain ships???

Umm, in this case, the Legend is the only ship that is sailing in Europe. She is also the only ship (left anyways) that was going for a drydock before the sailings.  Sometimes, what actually things appear to be are reality, but that is just my crazy view.  

[jimbo5544]

4 hours ago, fyree39 said:

They are being locked to not accept more bookings. Less bookings mean less refunds being processed if that happens. Are you under the assumption that no matter what your cruise is going? Many here seem to be under that impression.

Well, that makes sense except it cuts against the grain of Carnival accepting bookings for that very reason.  I guess rumors need no logic.😉

[trvlgirlmq]

I find the capacity thing a bit weird. My June sailing is pretty booked. Could barely still find a room.  But, the September/October sailings had lots of rooms, even some of the "better" rooms like bowling alley balconies.  I think we are looking at cancellation at this point.  I have also tried to use Fly2Fun and it's not available yet but flights are out on all the US and European carriers.