Cruises from Malta 2021 - do you think they'll go ahead?

[tesni]

Hi, any speculation on whether the 2021 summer cruises from Malta will sail? Or is it safer to book a cruise from Southampton? 🤔

[Jennizor]

We have two cruises booked from Malta, the first 13th May. I booked a second in September as I was not sure if the May one would go. Still waiting to hear. Crazy times. 

[wowzz]

Personally, I'm not booking anything for next year. Far too many imponderables  - CV19 tests, social distancing, masks, no independent shore visits etc.   

Edited December 13, 2020 by wowzz

[yorkshirephil]

I would like to think they will sail in summer, the alternative is somewhat dire. I am amazed that some of the cruise lines have held out so long. Hopefully the next vaccine will get approved soon which should give us a better idea come Spring.

[Son of Anarchy]

Personally, I think the clue will be if PandO release a repositioning cruise from Southampton to Malta.

 

Of course, PandO may sail over Malta empty of pax.  I'm sure the bean counters at Carnival have already done the sums on whether or not this financially viable, but there may of course be other matters that prevent them from taking pax on that journey, but it remains profitable for Azura to go there.

 

In which case, I think that at some point there may be a clue on Southampton VTS cruise ship schedule.

[joeecco]

Our wedding is onboard Azura in July so we are keep everything crossed. A wedding on Ventura in the Baltic Sea is not what we were hoping for 😂

[grapau27]

On 12/13/2020 at 11:44 PM, wowzz said:

Personally, I'm not booking anything for next year. Far too many imponderables  - CV19 tests, social distancing, masks, no independent shore visits etc.   

We normally would have 3 cruises booked for the following year but have nothing booked for 2021.

[yorkshirephil]

On 12/13/2020 at 11:44 PM, wowzz said:

Personally, I'm not booking anything for next year. Far too many imponderables  - CV19 tests, social distancing, masks, no independent shore visits etc.   

That is exactly how we are viewing it. We are sitting on our FCC until things have settled down.

[Guest ccpm]

It is very difficult to know what to do. It has been a miserable year and next year looks no better as yet. Life here in Norfolk is OK but even here we suddenly became Tier 2. I know its hard for everyone but I feel for the elderly their last years impacted so hard. My aunt was stoic and very concious of all the things she needed to do but nonetheless developed the virus and subsequently died alone on a covid ward. Its not what should have been her last hours. It has already been almost a year and looks likely to be 2 of the pandemic, when you are 88 thats your end of life impacted. I feel for everyone but the elderly even more so.

 

[yorkshirephil]

3 minutes ago, ccpm said:

It is very difficult to know what to do. It has been a miserable year and next year looks no better as yet. Life here in Norfolk is OK but even here we suddenly became Tier 2. I know its hard for everyone but I feel for the elderly their last years impacted so hard. My aunt was stoic and very concious of all the things she needed to do but nonetheless developed the virus and subsequently died alone on a covid ward. Its not what should have been her last hours. It has already been almost a year and looks likely to be 2 of the pandemic, when you are 88 thats your end of life impacted. I feel for everyone but the elderly even more so.

 

Sorry to hear your aunt passed away. It is very sad. I think a lot of us will now realise how difficult it is for the elderly being stuck at home, possibly alone, some of us have had a taste of their life. We used to take my Mother in law out once or twice a week and that was the highlight of her week and what she looked forward to the most, now in tier 3 that stopped.

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, ccpm said:

It is very difficult to know what to do. It has been a miserable year and next year looks no better as yet. Life here in Norfolk is OK but even here we suddenly became Tier 2. I know its hard for everyone but I feel for the elderly their last years impacted so hard. My aunt was stoic and very concious of all the things she needed to do but nonetheless developed the virus and subsequently died alone on a covid ward. Its not what should have been her last hours. It has already been almost a year and looks likely to be 2 of the pandemic, when you are 88 thats your end of life impacted. I feel for everyone but the elderly even more so.

 

So sorry to hear about your aunt.

Not being able to see loved ones in hospital before they die must be heartbreaking for the individual concerned and the family too.

Graham.

[AndyMichelle]

10 hours ago, grapau27 said:

We normally would have 3 cruises booked for the following year but have nothing booked for 2021.

We have a December 21 cruise booked on Iona and am optimistic, but who knows what is round the corner. 

Andy 

[poorer]

We had booked Azura for April 2021 but was cancelled by P&O.

Ironically this was a replacement for another cruise cancelled.

So next cruise August 2021.

Hopefully will go ahead need a holiday as we have both have worked all through this pandemic.

My husband takes a weekly test for his work and is now doing the instant test with a result in five minutes.

Maybe this might be used for future cruises.

Who knows

[Britboys]

I was part of a large Zoom meeting tonight which included a Senior Manager of a small, upmarket cruise line.  The general thinking at the moment is that uk-based cruise lines are hopeful of a restart in the Spring - 0bviously Spring lasts from March to May!  It is also thought that initially, there will be a lot of shorter, close to home cruises.

I assume Azura's Malta season is due to start May?  If so, I guess it is doubtful whether they will be able to commence then so it will maybe depend whether they can make suitable, profitable, arrangements to start the Malta season later in the Summer???

As has been said before, it must be an absolute nightmare for the cruise lines at the moment.  They are used to planning itineraries anything between 2 to 4 years ahead and now all they are doing is constantly amending ones already planned.

All guesswork on my part....

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, poorer said:

My husband takes a weekly test for his work and is now doing the instant test with a result in five minutes.

Maybe this might be used for future cruises.

Who knows

Is it the lateral flow test?  Care homes were going to use lateral flow tests in order to allow people to visit residents indoors.  I had an update today from the care home which my Mum lives in, saying that the company have decided not to use the lateral flow test due to inaccuracies where those have been used for mass testing.  Luckily the home has a visit pod, so people can still visit, albeit in a sort of high security American prison setting.

[molecrochip]

I think there are still lots of variables regarding the Malta season not least, the appetite of Malta itself, getting the air transfers sorted and thats without re-establishing the stores supply chain!

 

It would not surprise me to see an empty repositioning cruise as this provides time for the crew to isolate onboard. Currently, crew board two weeks before starting work and isolate in their cabin 24/7 for two weeks. Then they start work!

 

That said, Azura's dry dock is confirmed.

[Cathygh]

I guess there is not a short cut to getting the crew vaccinated? as I understand it only governments and not companies like P&O can distribute the vaccine.  Can't be good for their mental health to have to self isolate in their cabin for 2 weeks. 

Cathy 

 

[wowzz]

Even if the crew are vaccinated, it will be well into next year before a significant number of the population are vaccinated, and even longer for the under 5Os to get the vaccine.

P&O can't wait that long - I would have thought that a negative test result  from no more than 3 days prior to boarding will become inevitable,  similar to the situation in the Canaries. 

[joeecco]

4 hours ago, molecrochip said:

I think there are still lots of variables regarding the Malta season not least, the appetite of Malta itself, getting the air transfers sorted and thats without re-establishing the stores supply chain!

 

It would not surprise me to see an empty repositioning cruise as this provides time for the crew to isolate onboard. Currently, crew board two weeks before starting work and isolate in their cabin 24/7 for two weeks. Then they start work!

 

That said, Azura's dry dock is confirmed.

Woohoo when is the dry dock? Has it yet been confirmed that all the refit will have been complete before recommencing sailing? 
 

I see Fred Olsen have cancelled one ship until

2022 due to fly cruise logistics. Will this influence P&O and/or are they already thinking along the same lines.

[Snow Hill]

Crewing the ships is going to be difficult especially if vaccinations are required for crew members. A lot will depend on how each nation deploy the vaccine, in the U.K. it seems sort of defined on age, health conditions and key public workers. No doubt other countries will have their own priority lists, the big question is when will the vaccine roll out in India & Philippines where a significant portion of P&Os crew are from. 
 

There are concerns that the western world is buying up the vaccines and leaving the likes of Africa & the India sub continent behind, there are calls from countries in these regions for the patents to be relaxed to enable generic versions of the vaccines to be produced under licence. There was some concern as to whether these countries would be vaccinated to a safe level by 2023. Cruise lines may need to rethink their recruitment strategy especially with the hospitality area of cruising. 

[terrierjohn]

18 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Crewing the ships is going to be difficult especially if vaccinations are required for crew members. A lot will depend on how each nation deploy the vaccine, in the U.K. it seems sort of defined on age, health conditions and key public workers. No doubt other countries will have their own priority lists, the big question is when will the vaccine roll out in India & Philippines where a significant portion of P&Os crew are from. 
 

There are concerns that the western world is buying up the vaccines and leaving the likes of Africa & the India sub continent behind, there are calls from countries in these regions for the patents to be relaxed to enable generic versions of the vaccines to be produced under licence. There was some concern as to whether these countries would be vaccinated to a safe level by 2023. Cruise lines may need to rethink their recruitment strategy especially with the hospitality area of cruising. 

I think it's more likely they are waiting for approval of the AZ/Oxdord vaccine, where AZ have already widely licensed it to be sold at cost price.

 

[joeecco]

I think this is looking like the way they are heading. 

[tesni]

Thank you all for your comments. The deposit on the potential Southampton school holiday 2021 cruise I was looking at has amazingly dropped by about £600 today, so that was an unexpected surprise (needed a cabin for 3 and there were only 2 left). 

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, tesni said:

Thank you all for your comments. The deposit on the potential Southampton school holiday 2021 cruise I was looking at has amazingly dropped by about £600 today, so that was an unexpected surprise (needed a cabin for 3 and there were only 2 left). 

Prices suddenly dropping! - I'm an old sceptic,  but I smell a rat. P&O are going all out to get bookings/deposits at the moment.  

And, when you say there were only 2 cabins left,  how exactly did you find that out. 

[tesni]

19 hours ago, wowzz said:

Prices suddenly dropping! - I'm an old sceptic,  but I smell a rat. P&O are going all out to get bookings/deposits at the moment.  

And, when you say there were only 2 cabins left,  how exactly did you find that out. 

 

On the P&O booking website 🤔 (Balcony cabins, I should have added)

Edited December 17, 2020 by tesni
Missed some info out