Which itinerary for first post-shutdown cruise?

[Tapi]

This thread is purely for speculation, fully understanding that none of us knows the right answer, but I would greatly appreciate your thoughts. 
 

We are currently booked on a Caribbean cruise for February 2021. Needless to say, that sailing is looking more and more doubtful with every passing day, and even if it does go, I don’t want to be on (what could potentially be) one of the first few post-shutdown sailings. So I’m contemplating canceling it before final payment, and I’m looking at summer cruises instead. Two that have caught my attention are for the month of June, and both are on Princess:

 

- Caribbean Princess: Visiting Princess Cay, St Thomas and St Kitts

 

or

 

- Crown Princess: Visiting San Francisco, Catalina, San Diego, and Ensenada 

 

I feel like Crown Princess may be a more likely bet by next summer since it only touches Ensenada outside the USA, but I may be completely off. Also, I think that a cruise that calls mostly at US ports may be a good way to get back to cruising. 
 

Any thoughts, recommendations, or words of wisdom? 

[HaveWeMetYet]

17 minutes ago, Tapi said:

This thread is purely for speculation, fully understanding that none of us knows the right answer, but I would greatly appreciate your thoughts. 
 

We are currently booked on a Caribbean cruise for February 2021. Needless to say, that sailing is looking more and more doubtful with every passing day, and even if it does go, I don’t want to be on (what could potentially be) one of the first few post-shutdown sailings. So I’m contemplating canceling it before final payment, and I’m looking at summer cruises instead. Two that have caught my attention are for the month of June, and both are on Princess:

 

- Caribbean Princess: Visiting Princess Cay, St Thomas and St Kitts

 

or

 

- Crown Princess: Visiting San Francisco, Catalina, San Diego, and Ensenada 

 

I feel like Crown Princess may be a more likely bet by next summer since it only touches Ensenada outside the USA, but I may be completely off. Also, I think that a cruise that calls mostly at US ports may be a good way to get back to cruising. 
 

Any thoughts, recommendations, or words of wisdom? 

First, the likely hood of your February cruise isn't decreasing with each passing day. It has gone to zero the last several days.

Stick with the Carribean for summer cruises. West coast will be among the last to start up in my opinion. Florida to private islands for the first several months is the best chance.

[Thrak]

First new itinerary: One that doesn't require masks all the time an allows us to do whatever the heck we want to do at the port stops. Until then I just don't see us cruising.

 

Edited November 19, 2020 by Thrak

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Geoffa30 said:

Just spotted this video on YouTube. Seems like things are sparking to life for a resume of cruising in spring 2021. Fingers crossed.

 

 

 

Video in above post indicates three Princess ships will arrive in California by the end of the year.

 

Of course then they will need to go through the CDC requirements to be able to resume normal cruising.

 

6 hours ago, HaveWeMetYet said:

 

Stick with the Carribean for summer cruises. West coast will be among the last to start up in my opinion. Florida to private islands for the first several months is the best chance.

 

[Grego]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

Video in above post indicates three Princess ships will arrive in California by the end of the year.

 

Of course then they will need to go through the CDC requirements to be able to resume normal cruising.

 

 

Obviously some promising good news.  We have indication that the Enchanted is also making its way to Port Everglades hopefully to join the Caribbean Princess and the Crown Princess.  No word on when they may be able to sail the Caribbean market.  We still have our early January booking on the Enchanted and had to final payment moved to December 9.  I'm sure we'll know by then what the schedule will be for resumption of cruising.

 

[Tak8]

I would stick with Caribbean.  

[CineGraphic]

If sailing from FLL, I believe that the itinerary will be changed to private islands only.

Princess Cay and Half Moon Cay, are natural choices. If the cruise lines decide to cooperate with each other, NCL & MSC both have private "islands" as well. Otherwise, you'll have more sea days than in the recent past.

Edited November 19, 2020 by CineGraphic

[voljeep]

36 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

If sailing from FLL, I believe that the itinerary will be changed to private islands only.

Princess Cay and Half Moon Cay, are natural choices. If the cruise lines decide to cooperate with each other, NCL & MSC both have private "islands" as well. Otherwise, you'll have more sea days than in the recent past.

wonder if Princess will consider changing some of the 7 day cruises to a 5-4-5 day itineraries just to Princess Cay for say a month - not a money maker, but confidence maker for all

 

yes, I know it's more people involved and more exposure 😷

 

I guess a 7 day PC, St Thomas, PC would work also ... but Princess needs to get it's mind right on the Pricing - such as balconys at inside prices ...

[LoriPhil]

We’d book a 12-day round-trip Alaska out of Vancouver.  Alaska is our favorite itinerary and we’ll have cancelled two of these cruises by the time travel is permitted.  Hopefully Princess will offer this again - we’ve only seen it offered as a one-time itinerary (in May) before the regular 7-day season begins in full roar.   

[voljeep]

and over 100,000 people have since signed up, he said. Royal Caribbean isn't charging anything for the test cruises. 

Royal Caribbean's test cruises will take passengers to the company's private island, CocoCay, which is intended to be a kind of "bubble" away from the pandemic. 

[caribill]

15 hours ago, voljeep said:

and over 100,000 people have since signed up, he said. Royal Caribbean isn't charging anything for the test cruises. 

Royal Caribbean's test cruises will take passengers to the company's private island, CocoCay, which is intended to be a kind of "bubble" away from the pandemic. 

 

And one of the requirements for signing up (and being chosen):

 

All volunteers must be 18 years or older, and have written documentation from their healthcare provider certifying that they have no medical conditions that would place them at high-risk for COVID-19.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5730/

[Grego]

20 hours ago, voljeep said:

wonder if Princess will consider changing some of the 7 day cruises to a 5-4-5 day itineraries just to Princess Cay for say a month - not a money maker, but confidence maker for all

 

yes, I know it's more people involved and more exposure 😷

 

I guess a 7 day PC, St Thomas, PC would work also ... but Princess needs to get it's mind right on the Pricing - such as balconys at inside prices ...

I would be OK with the PC stop and a few sea days to get adjusted to the new protocols.  There is a financial benefit to a itinerary like that because the ship has a captive audience for its shops and gaming areas that they wouldn't have it there were port days included.

The various ports around the Caribbean might have some say in the resumption of normal itineraries if they feel they can handle the passengers and they feel the pinch of lack of tourist trade.

[Grego]

Well, all is not lost.  Princess has decided to err on the side of caution and wait to see how the others (RCI, Celebrity and Norwegian) fare in their initial voyages.  After the crap that Princess suffered when the virus hit I guess I would not be in a real hurry to have another PR incident.

We will continue to monitor the situation and book one of the first voyages available in the Caribbean probably on the Caribbean Princess.  Until then we will take some mini road trips and drive down to Port Everglades just to say, Hi!

[Tapi]

Well, the California coastal cruise in June is now gone from the website, so that makes the decision easier. 😂. At this point in time, the “wait and see” approach is probably the most sensible one. 

[Roberto256]

On 11/19/2020 at 3:38 AM, caribill said:

Video in above post indicates three Princess ships will arrive in California by the end of the year.

 

Unfortunatly, with Princess' subsequent announcement, the video was just a tease.  😞

 

With regard to the original posters question...

 

Which cruise first, after princess restarts ... I think it sort of depends on what season that

happens to occur in.

 

And, the itinerary you listed ... I wonder if ensenada would be a service call...

[Cruise Raider]

4 hours ago, Tapi said:

Well, the California coastal cruise in June is now gone from the website, so that makes the decision easier. 😂. At this point in time, the “wait and see” approach is probably the most sensible one. 

 

Well, all cruises from California ports looked to be on the cancellation list at least through September 2021, even the ones that are under 8 days.  It kind of looks like the Ruby out of SF and Crown out of LA are not going to get the green light even if they do resume operations in the spring.  They may have had to work out some schedules with Carnival, which also sails out of those two areas.  Whether they actually resume operations here in California in early 2021 is another story ... maybe they will, maybe they won't.  I can't believe we're in another lockdown status here.  Our numbers weren't even bad enough in our county but, a couple of nearby counties had a sharp rise in cases and boom!!  We are back to the 2.0 phase of the great TP shortage of 2020.  

 

 

[kiwimum]

Our June Mexican Riviera cruise on the Crown has not been cancelled.  Our PVP indicated something was in the works for this cruise and to wait for an email from Princess.   

[trbarton]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

Well, all cruises from California ports looked to be on the cancellation list at least through September 2021, even the ones that are under 8 days.  It kind of looks like the Ruby out of SF and Crown out of LA are not going to get the green light even if they do resume operations in the spring.  They may have had to work out some schedules with Carnival, which also sails out of those two areas.  Whether they actually resume operations here in California in early 2021 is another story ... maybe they will, maybe they won't.  I can't believe we're in another lockdown status here.  Our numbers weren't even bad enough in our county but, a couple of nearby counties had a sharp rise in cases and boom!!  We are back to the 2.0 phase of the great TP shortage of 2020.  

 

 

FYI....Princess has removed some cruises from there web site but that doesn’t mean that they are cancelled. I’m on 2 of them in April from San Francisco & I have heard that they decided to not take any new bookings until they see what happens.
 

I look at a couple of good YouTube sites & there has been no discussion about any West Coast cruises being cancelled. 
 

Carnival is bringing 2 ships to the US to do the test cruises. They already have crew onboard. 
 

I guess time will tell. 

 

Tom😀

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, trbarton said:

Carnival is bringing 2 ships to the US to do the test cruises. They already have crew onboard. 

which US cruise port is going to be open to that ? I know Carnival sails out of Port Canaveral ...

[trbarton]

6 minutes ago, voljeep said:

which US cruise port is going to be open to that ? I know Carnival sails out of Port Canaveral ...

I’ll see if I can find the YouTube site that I listened to & post what I heard. This was from a formal cruise member that was in contact with other crew members. 
 

Tom

[Cruise Raider]

17 minutes ago, trbarton said:

FYI....Princess has removed some cruises from there web site but that doesn’t mean that they are cancelled. I’m on 2 of them in April from San Francisco & I have heard that they decided to not take any new bookings until they see what happens.
 

I look at a couple of good YouTube sites & there has been no discussion about any West Coast cruises being cancelled. 
 

Carnival is bringing 2 ships to the US to do the test cruises. They already have crew onboard. 
 

I guess time will tell. 

 

Tom😀

 

I believe those are on the list of cancellations per Princess.  That's where I was getting my information.  Note the third bullet point. 

 

• All cruises sailing through March 31, 2021

• All cruises longer than seven days sailing in and out of United States ports through November 1, 2021

• A small number of other cruises that will no longer be commercially feasible (see list below)

 

 

[trbarton]

It’s the Carnival Breeze and Horizon. 
 

Use this link to get more information....

Tom😀

[trbarton]

10 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

I believe those are on the list of cancellations per Princess.  That's where I was getting my information.  Note the third bullet point. 

 

• All cruises sailing through March 31, 2021

• All cruises longer than seven days sailing in and out of United States ports through November 1, 2021

• A small number of other cruises that will no longer be commercially feasible (see list below)

 

 

Can you post a link to the information that you have?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

[Cruise Raider]

Just now, trbarton said:

Can you post a link to the information that you have?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

 

Sure thing....here is the link to Princess's announcement:  Princess Cruises Pause Extension Into 2021

 

The first page has the language with the third bullet point and the last page shows the cancellations for the Ruby out of SFO at least through the middle of Sept, as far as the cancellation list goes.  

 

 

[John99]

Tom I hope this helps!

 

1)  Princess Web Site

(Go to bottom of the screen)

 

2)  Cruise News & Announcements

View all news & announcements

(Use link on bottom of the screen for announcements)

 

3)  Princess Cruises Extends Pause of Global Ship Operations Into 2021

(New screen)    (Click on title)

 -- now go to Information on Impacted & Cancelled Cruises

(located at the bottom of screen)

 

4)  Information on Impacted & Cancelled Cruises

Updated November 20, 2020 6:00am PT

 

5)  You can find out details on your cruise by clicking the link that matches your sail date below.  There are many PDF files to chose from.

 

Have fun going thru all the PDF files (lists).  John