Common sense cruising.

[hollyjess]

After reading the latest information from P&O does anybody really think there will be any rush to book a cruise for the first 6 months of 2021? We love our cruises and are lucky to enjoy 2 a year including Christmas and New Year but even we are now hesitant. Would love to hear how many brave cruisers have booked from April onwards.

[yorkshirephil]

We have a river cruise booked for June which we are keeping our fingers crossed for. The next one is Jan 2022 which was booked when released. We have FCC outstanding which we will sit on until we have more idea what is happening. There is no way I will book another cruise until things have settled down, the proposed restrictions mean it is not the cruise style we want. I don't want to keep rebooking using the FCC. It has hit us quite hard as we retired 3 1/2 years ago to travel while we were still healthy and have spent between 3 and 4 months of each year at sea and have ticked off quite a few bucket list cruises. We also love the longer cruises to the Caribbean in Jan/Feb, however we will deal with it and hope by summer things are a bit clearer.

[terrierjohn]

Because we need an accessible cabin we always book early, so we have 2 booked for next year. One in July and the other in October, plus 2 more for 2022, and we are hoping they all go ahead.

 

[ann141]

We haven't got any cruises booked at the moment.If P and O announced in Jan or Feb that balances wouldn't be due until a month before sailing we would probably book but I don't want to book anything early next year until I feel confident that the 'R' number is reducing and hopefully I will have had a vaccine.The first cruise on Britannia in April is a good price at the moment and includes 2 new ports (for us) but the balance would be due at the end of January when things will still be uncertain so we would rather just wait and see even if it means the price shoots up nearer the time(in which case we wouldn't book as there are a few cruises we are interested in)If anyone at P and O is reading this board I think lower deposits and delaying the balance due date would encourage people to book !!

[bobstheboy]

Booked Ventura, August 2021 and Iona, February 2022. Both low deposit and with the option to move to another date, so very little risk losing your money.

[L751]

We have booked July 21 and July 22

[cruisenewbie1976]

7 hours ago, hollyjess said:

After reading the latest information from P&O does anybody really think there will be any rush to book a cruise for the first 6 months of 2021? We love our cruises and are lucky to enjoy 2 a year including Christmas and New Year but even we are now hesitant. Would love to hear how many brave cruisers have booked from April onwards.

I'm not sure they're expecting a rush of bookings for when they restart. They'll probably just hope to keep hold of some of the bookings that will have been made pre covid. I think the latest info sounds reasonable. Not ideal that you can't get off the ship of your own accord though. That'll put a lot of people off, I imagine. 

[wowzz]

53 minutes ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

I'm not sure they're expecting a rush of bookings for when they restart. They'll probably just hope to keep hold of some of the bookings that will have been made pre covid. I think the latest info sounds reasonable. Not ideal that you can't get off the ship of your own accord though. That'll put a lot of people off, I imagine. 

And also, even if you have booked you might not actually be able to cruise, if P&O have to reduce the number of pax.

[sueandphil]

We've got three booked in 2021.  One in July on MSC, one in August on Viking and the TA on Britannia in October.  All booked in 2019 before the pandemic.  Hoping that at least one goes ahead

[terrierjohn]

25 minutes ago, wowzz said:

And also, even if you have booked you might not actually be able to cruise, if P&O have to reduce the number of pax.

Moley believes that P&O have already made steps to limit the numbers to covid rules levels,

[No pager thank you]

We have a Ventura booking in May from the 2019 pre registration. 

 

There does appear to be a low % chance that this cruise will sail.

 

I would agree that the booking terms and conditions do not encourage passengers to "cruise with confidence..."

 

1/ Long balance due dates...

2/ Risk of a FCC at embarkation...

3/ Lack of clarity in terms of a risk of "on board quarantine" if there is an outbreak...

4/ £50+ "penalty" each and every time you want to disembark at a port, assuming you wish to re-board...

5/ Lottery style system for getting your money back without excessive delay and effort...

 

All of the above, at least to some extent, within their control, even with the very challenging circumstances faced.

 

[P&O SUE]

I did have one booked for September 2021 but moved it a couple of weeks ago to June 2022. I have to think of booking my holiday at work and this doesn’t help if I chop and change! I can see the prices shooting up in 2022 if the vaccine rollout is successful so decided to change now. Plus as I mentioned in another post the stress waiting to see . It was an expensive cruise for us so didn’t want it spoilt with no going onshore on our own etc. If we holiday in the UK we want June/ July rather than late September, all factors in me changing.

[SargassoPirate]

I cancelled all cruises for 2021 quite some time ago.  I have two cruises booked for 2022, one sailing in January and the other in November.  Both are "Bucket List" cruises and while I am confident that a widespread vaccine will normalize cruising sometime mid-to-late 2021, at this point I am only gambling my deposit.  If the situation doesn't look rosy by the time my final payment is due, I'll cancel.

 

Stay well.