Holland America cruising plans

[laddie]

According to a recent article on cruise critic, cruise lines operating in the United States  will not resume cruising until the end of calendar year #0221. I am booked aboard Holland America ship Westerdam on a Med cruise scheduled to depart in the month of September calendar year 2021(from Venice, Italy). My question regards the safety of this plan. Are Holland America ships sailing in Europe inherently more safer than those that dail from the United States? I am concerned about the safety of this cruise. Please advise me with regard to this issue. Thank you

[Host Kat]

19 minutes ago, laddie said:

According to a recent article on cruise critic, cruise lines operating in the United States  will not resume cruising until the end of calendar year #0221. I am booked aboard Holland America ship Westerdam on a Med cruise scheduled to depart in the month of September calendar year 2021(from Venice, Italy). My question regards the safety of this plan. Are Holland America ships sailing in Europe inherently more safer than those that dail from the United States? I am concerned about the safety of this cruise. Please advise me with regard to this issue. Thank you

 

@laddie

 

Howdy! 

 

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[CruiserBruce]

38 minutes ago, laddie said:

According to a recent article on cruise critic, cruise lines operating in the United States  will not resume cruising until the end of calendar year #0221. I am booked aboard Holland America ship Westerdam on a Med cruise scheduled to depart in the month of September calendar year 2021(from Venice, Italy). My question regards the safety of this plan. Are Holland America ships sailing in Europe inherently more safer than those that dail from the United States? I am concerned about the safety of this cruise. Please advise me with regard to this issue. Thank you

I am not sure how one can say any one cruise line is "inherently safer" because there has been no finalized policies announced or implemented, or experience sailing under these policies, so how can we determine this? We can't evaluate one cruise lines safety versus another at this point. I can feel pretty comfortable saying American oriented cruise lines like Holland America will likely be required to use the same policies and procedures in the US, and elsewhere.

 

End of 2021 is centuries from now, in Covid years. Nobody can tell you what is going to happen in the next 2 months, none the less 18 m onths.

 

 

[ski ww]

If you don't feel safe the best thing is to stay home, if you still don't feel safe by final payment date cancel the cruise. It's any's guess what the world will look like in Sept 2021.

[msmayor]

I'm not even sure that anyone can ever say that a cruise is completely safe.  How many times have we heard about Norovirus infecting groups of passengers on a sailing that affects the ability of the entire ship to enjoy a 'normal' cruise?  

 

For a period of time I recall consistently having to fill out a health questionnaire and being asked if we had any nausea or digestive issues in the past 48 hours, or fever.  How many times have we read about the inaccuracy of these questionnaires, because people would rather skirt the truth that lose thousands on a vacation?

 

We can only be guided by our personal gut feelings on how safe WE as individuals feel a trip is for ourselves.  What feels safe for one may feel very risky to another.

[terrydtx]

We are  on a Sept 24 2021 cruise  on the Westerdam from Athens to Venice. I see this cruise as at best 50/50 that it will happen. My wife and I have been vaccinated and are not afraid of being with others on a ship, no more than being around people who have the seasonal flu. Unfortunately the ultimate decisions about resuming cruise will not be up to the cruise lines or their customers, it all depends on governments willing to open up their borders and ports. We are prepared to social distance and where masks while onboard if that is what it takes to cruise again.

 

At 71 we are not ready to waste any more of our prime retirement years staying home shutdown to travel. We spent the last 20 years saving and investing so that when we retired we would have both our health and financial means to travel how and where we wanted. Our travel budget for the next few years is substantial and we want to spend it.

Edited March 16, 2021 by terrydtx

[ssawjo]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

 

 

At 71 we are not ready to waste any more of our prime retirement years staying home shutdown to travel. We spent the last 20 years saving and investing so that when we retired we would have both our health and financial means to travel how and where we wanted. Our travel budget for the next few years is substantial and we want to spend it.

You sound just like us.  Time stops for no one and we are wasting it at home.  We are a bit younger and plan to travel extensively the next three years or longer.  We are booked for a July 13 Barcelona/Venice cruise on HAL but I too have severe reservations that it will happen.  

 

Good luck in the future.

[kazu]

For those that want to travel, nothing wrong with a land adventure if cruising doesn’t work out IF the countries are open and willing.

that’s what we are watching as well as cruising.  

Sadly the news isn’t great today but it’s only March - a lot can happen between now and when you want to travel.  JMO.

[oaktreerb]

On 3/14/2021 at 6:10 PM, laddie said:

According to a recent article on cruise critic, cruise lines operating in the United States  will not resume cruising until the end of calendar year #0221. I am booked aboard Holland America ship Westerdam on a Med cruise scheduled to depart in the month of September calendar year 2021(from Venice, Italy). My question regards the safety of this plan. Are Holland America ships sailing in Europe inherently more safer than those that dail from the United States? I am concerned about the safety of this cruise. Please advise me with regard to this issue. Thank you

Ships in Europe are not safer than US sailing ships.  The ships in the US have to follow the rules set up by the CDC and have to also follow rules established by Canada if they sail in Canadian waters.  I would be concerned about the safety of the international flight and the safety of health regulations in the ports you will be visiting.  By September the US should be fully vaccinated as long as the populace follows health guidelines.  The same may not be true for other countries.  Even if you are healthy and vaccinated your cruise will still be at risk due to local health regulations and conditions.  

[CruiserBruce]

5 hours ago, terrydtx said:

At 71 we are not ready to waste any more of our prime retirement years staying home shutdown to travel. We spent the last 20 years saving and investing so that when we retired we would have both our health and financial means to travel how and where we wanted. Our travel budget for the next few years is substantial and we want to spend it.

We have been in this mode since we fully retired about 7 years ago. We have been pretty low profile during Covid, but we are venturing out a little bit more. We will both be vaccinated by early next month, so hoping to ramp up the vacations...

[DeeDee Groff]

7 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We are  on a Sept 24 2021 cruise  on the Westerdam from Athens to Venice. I see this cruise as at best 50/50 that it will happen. My wife and I have been vaccinated and are not afraid of being with others on a ship, no more than being around people who have the seasonal flu. Unfortunately the ultimate decisions about resuming cruise will not be up to the cruise lines or their customers, it all depends on governments willing to open up their borders and ports. We are prepared to social distance and where masks while onboard if that is what it takes to cruise again.

 

At 71 we are not ready to waste any more of our prime retirement years staying home shutdown to travel. We spent the last 20 years saving and investing so that when we retired we would have both our health and financial means to travel how and where we wanted. Our travel budget for the next few years is substantial and we want to spend it.

 

I hear you loud and clear, your viewpoints resonate with me, and I hope to meet you on the Westerdam because I am scheduled to board in Venice on September 12 for 24 nights after having been cancelled on virtually the same itinerary twice earlier in this year!

[terrydtx]

3 minutes ago, DeeDee Groff said:

 

I hear you loud and clear, your viewpoints resonate with me, and I hope to meet you on the Westerdam because I am scheduled to board in Venice on September 12 for 24 nights after having been cancelled on virtually the same itinerary twice earlier in this year!

Our Westerdam cruise in our third Greek cruise rebooking. If you haven't already you should join the roll calls for both segments of the cruises. If our Celebrity Spain cruise gets canceled, we will  add the September  12 cruise on the Westerdam.   We get to Barcelona on September 7 and we will go from there to Athens a few days early. We got a great deal on business class air and don't want to lose the tickets.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

We feel like many here, we’re retired, ages 67 and 69, cruising is our preferred way to travel.  We feel as though we’re losing precious travel time.  One of us has already had cancer and is doing fine now, but having looked the grim reaper in the face once, we realize that time is a perishable commodity.  We have both been fully vaccinated and are more than ready to get out there on the sea again.

[cruisegirl]

3 hours ago, Cruiz'nBaers said:

We feel like many here, we’re retired, ages 67 and 69, cruising is our preferred way to travel.  We feel as though we’re losing precious travel time.  One of us has already had cancer and is doing fine now, but having looked the grim reaper in the face once, we realize that time is a perishable commodity.  We have both been fully vaccinated and are more than ready to get out there on the sea again.

I share your feelings. We are 82 and 85 and I too have had cancer. We are anxious to cruise before we lose any more time. We have had three cruises canceled and are on our fourth booking. If this one is canceled we will go for #5. Not giving up.