TA on Escape 4/16 - Looking Less Likely :(

[LCfromFL]

We booked the 15-day TA cruise (4/16/2021 - 5/1/2021) on the Escape after our 7-Day Alaskan cruise (4/2020) was cancelled. In my mind, this pandemic situation would have surely resolved by April of 2021 - heck, I was even looking at cruises for last autumn because the pandemic was only supposed to last a few months, right?  My company transitioned to a 'work from home' approach right after the pandemic began and my DH is retired...so we were planning to spend a month or so in the UK following our cruise. I was REALLY hoping this whole COVID situation would have fizzled by now - but it just doesn't look like it's happening any time soon. 😩  The DH and I are both under 65 - and not healthcare workers/first responders. So I'm not sure when we'll be eligible for the vaccines (we ARE planning to get them). I keep playing the calendar game ('if we get the first vaccine by XX date...and the second by YY date...and if the UK opens by ZZ date...') but we're running out of calendar days. It looks like NCL is issuing refunds for cruises cancelled through March 2021 - rather than do the 125% FCC.  Their business has been closed for a year - while they've continued to incur expenses. That worries me about the future of the company. Businesses across America are closing forever and I'm concerned that the cruise industry will also see something similar.

 

Stupid COVID. 

[njkate]

I feel your pain. My TA on the Jade 4/22/2021 won't be sailing, have not received official notification yet, but I anticipate the next round of cancellations for April is coming.

 

Yes, a year of no sailing, I feel so bad for the crew who have no jobs currently 😞

[JayS]

I am with you on the Escape.  I haven't booked return air and will wait until I am sure it will sail. 

[BirdTravels]

We'll see what happens. First read of the cruise framework would not allow a long cruise, but cruise lines have not cancelled these yet, so there must be some other loophole in the framework. And, unless it is for the sole purpose of transporting crew back to the US, brining the ship to the US to operate 2 Caribbean cruises, then sailing the ship empty back to Europe doesn't make any sense (the Escape has been hanging out in Rome lately). We'll see what April ends up being. We have an April cruise on NCL and May cruise on RCCL during this startup period. 

[Vyhanek]

Im guessing the only cruises that these mainstream lines will run in all of 2021 will be more local, Caribbean, Mexico perhaps Bermuda.    Nothing TA, Europe, etc.